This week your basket contains: spring onions, snow peas, lettuce, zucchini, broccoli or Asian broccoli, new potatoes, cucumbers, and elephant garlic.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO THE SUBSCRIBER DAY!  We had a great time, and it was wonderful to meet new subscribers and some long-time subscribers who had never been able to make it to one of our events in the past.  The potluck was fantastic, and we have had several REQUESTS FOR RECIPES.  If you brought a dish, please pass along the recipe to us.  We would like to create a PAGE ON OUR WEB SITE for all the recipes that we enjoyed on Sunday.

You can tell it is summer because the summer squash has really started to produce! A great way to use these early tender summer squash is to broil them with parmesan cheese. We first slice the squash lengthwise into two or three slices.  These are then steamed for only a minute or two to begin cooking them.  We then place them cut side up on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with herbed breadcrumbs, top with grated parmesan and grill until the cheese starts to brown.  They make a nice appetizer or side dish.

The recipe below is also excellent.  We thought it was even better the next day.

GREEK TAVERNA ZUCCHINI WITH LEMON

4 zucchini

3 garlic cloves

large pinch of salt

large pinch dried oregano

juice of ½ lemon

4 Tbs. olive oil

freshly ground pepper

15 olives

Slice zucchinis in half lengthwise then cut into large chunks.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add zucchini and cook 10-15 minutes or until quite soft.  Drain.  Crush the garlic in a mortar in pestle with the salt, then rub it into the cut surfaces of the zucchini.  Sprinkle with oregano, lemon juice and olive oil.  Season with pepper.  Garnish with the olives and serve at room temperature.  Serves 4.  From The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook vol. 2

Even though the recipe below is for green beans (which, by the way, have started to flower so harvest is only a couple of weeks away) It works equally well with snow peas.

GARLIC BEANS WITH FILBERTS

1/2 lb. beans, cut to 1-2 inch pieces

2-3 small carrots, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup chopped filberts

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. butter

salt to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a heavy frying pan.  Sauté onions and garlic until the onions are translucent.  Add carrots, chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts can be substituted for filberts) and salt.  I tend not to use much salt when I cook, but this is one recipe where I use more than usual.  The effect you are shooting for is for the nuts to take on a salted, roasted taste.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add the beans and cook stirring until they take on a dark green color.  This recipe is also great with snow peas instead of green beans.

BAKED ELEPHANT GARLIC

Elephant garlic is not a true garlic, it is a leek.  It has a milder garlic flavor which means you can use it the same way as regular garlic in even larger quantities.  The mildness also makes it very well suited to mashing in potatoes, roasting on kabobs or slicing into scalloped potatoes.  Our favorite way to use it is roasted: take a knife and cut through the wrappers at the neck of the garlic.  Peel the wrapper so that the head stays intact at the root end.  Pour 2 Tbsp. olive oil or a pat of butter on top of the head, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until the skins on the cloves are browning.  Add a little water to the bottom of the pan and keep baking for 15 minutes.  The garlic should be soft.  It can be squeezed out of the clove onto crusty French bread.  Top with goat cheese and accompany with red wine.  Enjoy!

Thank you to all of you who have been sending us egg cartons.  At this point we have a sufficient supply, and it is becoming a bit of a storage issue for us.  For the time being, please don’t send us any more.  If/when we start running low again, we will let you know.