This week your basket contains:  cabbage, leeks, celeriac, potatoes, and carrots.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Well, it turns out we planned to skip deliveries on the two weeks we wouldn’t have been able to harvest and deliver anyway.  We also feel lucky that we didn’t travel this year and were able to take steps to protect the veggies prior to the cold and snow.  We spent much of the 24^th & 25^th harvesting things we thought might not survive the predicted low temperatures (mid to low teens) such as cabbage, celeriac, and carrots.  We also covered other slightly hardier crops (or ones that can’t be stored) like the overwintering broccoli and cauliflower, winter cabbages, Swiss chard and the ends of things like celeriac that we couldn’t harvest & store in the cooler.  In the end, we had up to 5” of snow on the ground and, unlike other years, it stuck around for the coldest nights (that never did get below 19^o.)  With that nice insulating blanket of snow keeping things close to 32^o, especially on the row covers we laid out, it looks like things have come through very well!  We would have liked to have a bag of greens for you this week, but made the decision that they would be better off if we gave them a bit more time to recover.  The good news is that they will be in your basket soon.

When we looked at this week’s basket, the recipe below (which we tried recently) came immediately to mind.  We used finely chopped leeks instead of spring onions.  We also used a different dipping sauce (that recipe is below the main one).

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VEGETARIAN OKONOMIYAKI

4 eggs

80 g plain flour (~ 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp pureed ginger

Black pepper

120 g finely shredded green cabbage (~ 2 cups)

1 small carrot, grated

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp oil

To serve:

Mayonnaise

Sriracha

Chopped spring onions

Sesame seeds

Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, and add the plain flour. Whisk together to form the pancake batter. Add the soy sauce, pureed ginger, and plenty of black pepper, then add the finely shredded cabbage, carrot and spring onions. Mix well to combine. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan, and spoon in 1/4 of the pancake mixture. Cook over a medium-low heat for a few minutes, until the underside is golden brown, then carefully flip the pancake with a spatula, and cook for another couple of minutes, until fully cooked. Repeat with the remaining pancake mixture, to create four pancakes in total. Serve the vegetarian okonomiyaki with with salad cream (or mayonnaise), sriracha, sliced spring onions and sesame seeds.  From EasyCheesyVegetarian.com

SESAME GINGER STIR-FRY SAUCE

4 Tbs toasted sesame seeds

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 Tbs grated ginger

4 Tbs soy sauce

3 Tbs rice vinegar

1/4 cup veg. or sesame oil

hot pepper oil (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Whisk together oil, lemon juice, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, sesame seeds, and hot pepper to taste.  Pour over stir-fry when all ingredients are cooked and mix well.

CREAM OF LEEK AND CELERIAC SOUP

2-3 leeks

1 1/2 Lb celeriac

1 large potato

3 Tbs butter

4-5 cups chicken broth

1 cup light cream (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Wash leeks and slice until you have approx 2 cups.  Peel and chop celeriac into 1/2 inch cubes (3-4 cups).  Peel and coarsely chop the potato.  Melt butter in a large sauce pan and stir in the leeks, cooking until wilted.  Stir in celeriac and potato then add 4 cups of broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20-25 minutes.  Puree in a food processor or blender.  If very thick, thin with cream and additional broth.  Season with salt and pepper.