THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: lettuce, kale, new potatoes, snow peas, snap peas, kohlrabi, zucchini, DILL, garlic scapes (half shares), and carrots.

Our first SUBSCRIBER DAY OF THE YEAR IS THIS, Sunday, June 22^nd   from 11:00 to 3:00.  We will contribute pizzas, lead farm tours and host the potluck lunch.

Carrots are a notoriously fickle and difficult crop.  They are difficult to germinate (we need to move drip irrigation tape to lay directly on each seeded row every day for 2+ weeks), they can die if they dry out for a few hours when they are young, are difficult to weed and thin, and are a favorite snack of deer, rabbits, mice, and gophers.  Even our own dogs have learned to dig them up on their own when they want a snack! They also have their own pest named specifically for them, the carrot rust fly.  On top of it all, from year to year you can think you’ve done everything the same as when the carrots grew well and you will have totally different results.  All of this is part of why we seed carrots 5 times a year (February, April, May, June, and July).  Spreading out the seeding spreads out the work, varies the conditions to (we hope)  give us the best chance to hit the right conditions, and we are able to harvest fresher carrots for longer.  This week’s carrots are the April seeding.  Not our most successful iteration, but a very welcome addition to the baskets.  Perhaps the best way to prepare them is the recipe below.

ROASTED CARROTS WITH DILL

1 bunch carrots, peeled

2 Tbs Olive oil

salt and pepper

fresh dill, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss carrots with oil, then season with salt and pepper.  Put them in a roomy baking  sheet and roast, turning at least once, until they are tender and and browning.  Sprinkle with chopped dill and serve.

The peas are booming!  The recipe below is a basic technique we use with both peas (snap and/or snow) as well as beans when they are in season.

GARLIC PEAS WITH FILBERTS

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

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 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 pess and cook stirring until they take on a dark green color.

While the recipe below calls for 1 yellow potato, I think it is even better with sweet new potatoes.

PENNE WITH KALE AND POTATOES

½ lb. kale

2-3 Tbs. salt

1 large yellow-fleshed potato, ¾” cubes

14-16 oz. uncooked penne pasta

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

3-4 Tbs. olive oil

fresh black pepper to taste

Clean the kale, removing tough ribs, and cut it into thin strips.  Bring 5-6 quarts of water to a rolling boil, add salt, potatoes and kale, cook for 5 minutes.  Add pasta and cook for ¾ of recommended time (should offer considerable resistance to the tooth).  Meanwhile, put the garlic in a large skillet and drizzle with 1 Tbs. olive oil over moderate heat.  When garlic begins to sizzle, remove from heat.  Drain pasta and vegetables, reserving 2 cups of the cooking water.  Add the pasta and vegetables to the garlic in the skillet and add 1 cup of the cooking water.  Cook over high heat, covered, until the pasta is done and surrounded by a creamy sauce.  Add more cooking water as needed.  Serve in bowls, topped with a drizzle of remaining olive oil and pepper.  Serves 8.  Adapted from Red, White and Greens by Faith Willinger.

Garlic puts up a flower stalk at the same time the cloves start to form in the head.  By taking the flower buds (called scapes) off  when they are young and tender, we force the plant to put more energy into making larger cloves and heads.  We also get to eat these lovely treats.  While they can be used any way you would use scallions or regular garlic, the easiest way to use them is to sauté them in butter and then scramble eggs into them.