Hello Subscribers,
It’s finally time to share some of the Broccoli we’ve been watching grow all this time, and some of you had a sampling of last week. In fact, it’s a bit past the time of the first heads being ready. One of the challenges I find in distributing produce with the CSA model is that it only happens once a week. And the plants are working hard 24/7 to reach their ultimate goal of producing flowers and then seeds. As you remember from the many flowering mustard plants this spring, that can happen quickly, and our goal as cultivators and eaters is to swoop in just before that happens which is usually the time they are at their peak eating.
With the several days of 90+ degree weather we had last week, several of those big broccoli heads decided it was time to show some flowers just two days after last week’s distribution. There are more plants ready for this week, and others just starting to head, so no worries, but I wanted to use this example to show you how this food thing is really an everyday affair. I think often about how to accommodate the plants’ schedule and get produce to you at it’s peak. I know at least one of you think we could really help this situation with tweets on Twitter. And I’m thinking they might just have something there based on my limited knowledge of Twitter. “Broccoli’s ripe! Meet at the garden this afternoon!” It gives me much food for thought how to evolve the CSA. Your thoughts?
So for this week, besides Broccoli we’ll have scallions, peas, the last of the salad greens for a while, cilantro, parsley, mint, and lemon balm.
I’ve been re-inspired by Jeff Kingman, who writes the Kitchen Dances blog and has been helping get some press for the new Hawthorne Urban Farmers Market, to get you some recipe ideas every week for the produce available. He is a credentialed chef who can throw together a menu in a heartbeat, as you’ll see in his blog he did for Week 2 of the Hawthorne market. So here are some ideas around this week’s produce.
BTW, a huge thanks to Marie of Sellwood Garden Club for the many hours she’s putting in to help shape and promote the new market. This besides the very long days she puts in as an urban farmer. If you haven’t been to the new market yet, go check it out, and support a farmer’s market that is more like the one’s of older days than you will see anywhere. Everything from the best local produce around to local flowers, soap, furniture, a Reiki healer, and live music. Sundays 1-6 PM at SE 43rd & Hawthorne next to Common Grounds Coffeehouse.
Here are some recipe ideas for the week’s produce, rather than step by step instructions. If you need a little more detail you can do a Google search on any dish name or combination of ingredients and find many detailed recipes. I want to give you some of the basic building blocks of a dish and some options to go with them. If you’d like to peruse some good recipe sites I suggest Allrecipes, Food Network and CDKitchen.
Broccoli Pasta Salad
1 lb pasta cooked al dente (slightly underdone). Any pasta will work but best with a bigger shape that will stay on a spoon like Farfarelle (bowtie), Rotini (corkscrew), Shells, or Penne.
1 large head of Broccoli cut up into bite-size florets (uncooked)
2 or 3 scallions sliced at an angle for eye appeal
Cheese 1/2 to 1 lb, shredded or cut into small cubes. Cheddar is good, crumbled Feta for Greek style, or try your fave.
Nuts 1/2 cup. Try slivered almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts.
Fruit or Herbs for a little zing. Fruit can be grapes, raisins, cranberries, currants, something that won’t break down in the salad too easily. For herbs, anything will work but fresh herbs are really good here. From the garden this week you can try cilantro, parsley, mint, or even lemon balm.
Salad Dressing 1 bottle or jar of your fave. You can try Cole Slaw dressing, Blue cheese (maybe omit the cheese above or crumble in more blue cheese), Ranch, etc. Or you can make something yummy yourself from plain yogurt, mayo, veganaise, sour cream, and some herbs, etc. You’ll need about 2 cups.
Toss everything together reserving just a bit of the salad dressing, and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two. You can toss the salad before serving with the rest of the dressing.
There you go, Pasta salad 101. Ask me if you need help (or need a bigger challenge). And when you’re creating, try doing as chefs do. Think of the flavor of an ingredient in your head (sometimes I like to munch the ingredient as I’m creating), think of another ingredient and see how it would taste with the first, and find combos that seem appealing. Most good chefs can create a recipe this way without ever touching the food.
Something else chefs do is just vary a few of the ingredients of things like a pasta salad to get a different ethnic themed dish. For a Greek pasta salad add Feta cheese, olives, and a little fresh oregano or parsley. For an Asian Pasta salad try a Sesame-Ginger salad dressing, snow peas, shredded carrot, scallions, cilantro and maybe some sesame seeds. The snow peas you’ll receive this week are a perfect mix to add some of the younger ones whole, and the bigger ones that have swollen up you can add the shelled peas and thinly slice the pods to add.
Happy eating!
Peace and Broccoli,
Calliope
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