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Category: Greens

  • Mache and Claytonia

    This week you will have a choice of getting a mix of claytonia and mache in your CSA share. You probably have never heard of these greens unless you have grown them yourself. I have never seen them for sale anywhere. They are a winter green that grow, very slowly in cool and cold weather. These are really young, you can see how tender and delicate they are.

    They taste a little sweet and have a texture like a mix between very young lettuce and spinach, you can use them like you would baby lettuce or spinach. They don’t have a strong taste but the delicate freshness and texture is certainly a welcome addition to heavier winter meals. I have been adding them to top just about everything I eat, to add a bit of  green vegetable freshness to my meals. We made pizza the other night and usually top it with arugula but I used claytonia and mache, yum.

    I have also made some really simple salads. I  dressed the greens with a little olive oil and wine vinegar and let the mache and claytonia stand out on their own. I wouldn’t use a heavy dressing on these greens.

    Claytonia and mache are a delightful winter treat to get in our last CSA. I have had this bag of claytonia and mache for 5 days and it is fine. I think it will be fine for a few more days. So, I would say it lasts about as long as arugula.

    Thanks for hanging with us this crazy 2020 year. Happy Holiday’s.  Be well and hopefully you will join us next year and we will be back to normal and we can see your smiles.

    With love and gratitude.

    Mo

  • Lentil Soup using any Root Vegetable and any Green

    Any root vegetable is good here; rutabaga, potatoes, carrots or turnips (scarlet or Hakurei) or parsnips would all be good.

    This is super simple to make and it makes a lot, so you will have leftovers and the leftovers are great. You can throw in any extra grains or vegetables you have to freshen up the leftovers and eat this all week, oh and this just happens to be vegan.

    I love adding a little bit of vinegar to lentil dishes, I add a splash about 1/2 way through cooking when I add the greens, if I am using greens and usually a little more right before eating it. If you don’t think you’ll like the vinegar just start with just a little and add more to taste or leave it out. It will be delicious either way.

    To make this you’ll need;

    • 1 1/4 cups green lentils
    • 12 oz canned (or cartoned?) or fresh tomatoes —  (1 1/2 cups)
    • 2 large onions, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 2 tablespoons to a 1/4 cup vinegar to taste – I used white balsamic, I like the slight sweetness but any vinegar is good – red wine vinegar is good.
    • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme leaves
    • 2 cups peeled and diced root vegetable(s)
    • 2 cups diced carrots
    • 2 cups chopped greens – collards, spinach, chard – green are totally optional
    • 6 cups water
    • crushed red pepper flakes to taste
    • freshly cracked black pepper to taste

    Peel and dice the rutabagas and dice the rest of the vegetables you are using. I don’t peel carrots. Put everything in the amounts above in a pan except the vinegar and greens.

    Simmer that for a total of about an hour. About 1/2 way through cooking add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar and your greens and finish cooking until all the vegetables are cooked through. It’s fine to cook it longer. This photo is when I added the greens it needs to cook at least 1/2 hour longer.

    I like eating this with an added splash of vinegar and olive oil and bread or croutons.

    See you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

  • Saag Paneer

    We are getting lots of greens in our CSA share of late, here is a great way to use lots of those greens up.

    Saag is a quick easy one dish meal or side dish. It travels well and is good warm or at room temperature. Saag is usually made with spinach, but you can use any green. I actually think saag means ‘leafy green’, so use kale or chard, or turnip greens-use what you have! You can make it luxuriously rich making it with cream, or vegan by using coconut, or any plant based milk like almond or soy. If you don’t have or like paneer sub, tofu, garbanzo beans, cubed potatoes, cauliflower or just make saag and let it stand alone.

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    Basically you cook some garlic and onions and ginger in a pan and add some Indian spices, then add a TON of finely chopped greens to that pan. When the greens have wilted down you add the liquid you like and cook that to a creamy texture. Sometimes I  use an immersion blender or a regular blender to get a really smooth texture, other times I leave it a little choppy.

    Here are two basic saag recipes that you can springboard off.

    I pretty much followed the recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I like that she uses weights for the spinach. I’ll note the changes I made in parentheses.

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 1/2 pounds fresh baby spinach, well washed and dried (I used collards and chard)
    • 2 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter, or unsalted butter
    • 8 – 12 oz paneer cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
    • 2 medium onions, finely chopped (I used a mix of our CSA green garlic, leeks and scallions)
    • scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (see my note above)
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I used two tablespoons)
    • 1 tablespoon spice mixture* see below (I used a premix Indian spice)
    • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
    • 1 cup buttermilk (I used a mix of butter milk and yogurt because I didn’t have enough of either. Feel free to use coconut milk, or a plant based milk. )
    • splash of cream or dollop of plain yogurt (I like it with a splash of cream)
    • fresh lemon to finish, and toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle

    INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Chop the spinach well, and set aside in a large bowl.
    2. While you’re chopping spinach, cook the paneer in one tablespoon of the butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Make sure the paneer is in a single layer and use a spatula to flip it regularly so all sides get deeply brown. This typically takes 7 minutes or so. Remove from the pan and set aside.
    3. Heat the other tablespoon of butter in your largest soup pot. Add the onions and salt, and saute until the onions soften up, five minutes or so. Add the garlic, ginger, spice mixture, and turmeric. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and nicely combined – a minute or two.
    4. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the spinach to the pan all at once, if possible. Cook, stirring all the while, until the spinach is collapsed and wilted, a couple of minutes. If you need to add the spinach in batches (adding more spinach as it collapses), that is fine too, just do it as quickly as possible.
    5. Stir in the buttermilk and cream and heat gently while stirring. If the mixture seems dry, add more buttermilk a splash at a time (this rarely happens to me). Taste and add more salt if necessary and more red pepper flakes if you like. Add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice, stir in the paneer, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

    This is my biggest mixing bowl full of a bunch of collards and a bunch of chard. Next photo is step #1 all chopped up and then the other ingredients assembled.

    Step #3 and #5 look how much that cooks down.

    The next two pictures are, first, where I left the saag chopped and second, where I used a blender to puree it. I prefer to puree it when I make it with more hefty greens like collards and kale. I cook it a little longer too and added an extra dollop of cream. It makes it a little less chewy.

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    If you don’t already have saag in your ‘easy meal’ repertoire I hope you give it a try.

    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

  • Miso Soup with Bok Choy

    Wyatt suggested this healthy quick meal because it is so adaptable to any array of vegetables that may come your way via CSA.

    I used bok choy, green garlic, a handful of kale, soba noodles and an egg. But feel free to replace or add any vegetables or protein you have.

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    Here is the basic recipe, it makes enough for 2 bowls and takes about 10 minutes to make.

    • 3 ounces dried soba noodles
    • 2 – 4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste I used white miso, I like red too)
    • 4 cups of water or broth
    • 2 – 3 ounces firm tofu or 2 eggs or chicken
    • a handful vegetables washed and chopped
    • 2 or 3 green onions or green garlic (garlic scapes would work too) finely chopped
    • Grated fresh ginger to taste- I used about 2 tablespoons

     

    • Cook the soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking,  set aside.
    • In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water or broth to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and add the chopped vegetables, onions and garlic and simmer for 3-5 minutes until they are just cooked.
    • Pour a bit of the hot water (or broth) into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste – so it thins out a bit and keeps the miso from clumping.

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    • When the vegetables are cooked turn off the heat and stir the miso into the pot. You don’t want to boil the miso because will kill the probiotics in it. Taste, and then add more (the same way) until it is to your liking. Taste and see if it needs any salt, some misos are saltier than others.

    Split the noodles and grated ginger between two  bowls, and pour the miso broth over them and divide up the vegetables between the bowls.

    Serve and enjoy!

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  • Greens and Beans

    Stop me if you have heard this one before. Greens and beans, my comfort food.

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    Like most comfort meals you can use what you have on hand and what you like.

    I had a little more than 1 bunch worth of different greens.

    Here is the basic recipe and what else you will need;

    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 chopped onion
    2 cloves garlic, sliced
    Red pepper flakes if you like, they are nice with greens
    1 to 1 1/2 bunches of kale, chard, collards, beet greens, anything you have, washed, stems trimmed and chopped.
    1 (15- ounce) can of beans. I used white beans today, drained
    About 2 cups of any kind of stock you have on hand. Sometimes I use miso,  in a pinch water will do.  But  broth with the greens and beans make a nice pot liquor.

    Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a pan large enough to hold all the greens.
    Add onion and garlic slices. Saute until tender about 3 minutes. Add the greens and saute until it cooks down slightly. Add the beans and the chicken stock.

    Cover and cook for 10 minutes or so and add red pepper flakes if you are using them and taste and see if you need salt or pepper. Greens are naturally salty and stock is usually salted so you might not need any.

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    I love this with rice or grains or pasta.

    Have a great week. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Chopped Salad with Romaine and Bok Choy

    I have probably made this salad 5 or 6 times in the last few months. This has become my go-to salad for family dinners and potlucks. It is substantial enough for a main dish but is great as a side dish too. I love me some leftovers and this salad is great the next day.

    I follow the original recipe here  pretty much to the letter, except the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce and radicchio. I use what I have, but I always use one lettuce and one more substantial green. This time I had some Romaine lettuce and Bok Choy.  I’ve made it with kale and chard, or Romaine and arugula.

    The vinaigrette is really simple. This makes more than you will probably need for the salad, but it will keep so go ahead and make it all, you will find a use for it.

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    You chop up all the ingredients into bite size pieces so every forkful has little bit of all the chopped up goodness. It’s like a delicious submarine sandwich without the bun.

    Those pepperoncini peppers are super delicious, but you can sub any pickle or pickled peppers you have, just make sure you use some sort of pickle. Olives are good, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, eggs… I can’t think of much that wouldn’t be good in this salad.

    Now add about 1/2 the vinaigrette  and toss, toss, toss. You want to get every single bit coated with the dressing.

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    Look at that. See how every bite has a little bit of everything in it?

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    Oh, avocados are good too. Looking at that I wish I had an avocado.

    Have a great week. See some of you at the Red Wagon Farm pickup tonight.

    Mo

     

  • Green pancakes

    These are some hardy savory pancakes packed with lots of greens. I really like this dish because it is really simple and quick to put together. You can make the batter early in the day, or even the day before and have a quick satisfying brunch or dinner in  no time.

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    Here’s how you make them.

    Green Pancakes

    You’ll need;
    1 cup all­ purpose flour
    1 teaspoon  of salt and few cranks of fresh pepper
    4 eggs
    1 garlic clove chopped or equivalent of green garlic or garlic scapes
    2 tablespoons dry white wine (optional I used vermouth)
    1/2 cup milk (or unflavored, unsweetened nondairy milk)
    a bunch of Swiss chard leaves or spinach or kale, finely chopped really chopped!
    Olive oil for cooking

    To make;

    In a medium bowl, combine the flour salt and pepper. In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients, then combine wet with dry. Cover and refrigerate the batter for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
    When ready to cook, remove the bowl from the fridge and mix in the chopped greens.

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    In a heavy skillet, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the batter to the hot skillet for each pancake.

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    Cook until the edges are set, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 to 4 more
    minutes, take your time and go slow with the heat so the pancakes cook through.

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    This makes about 10 or 12 pancakes.

    You can serve them with yogurt or sour cream or some of that cashew aioli  we made last week, that is what I used.

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    These make great leftovers too and are good cold or reheated. I hope you try these.

    Mo

     

  • Chard Pizza

    IMG_0094Friday nights are often pizza nights here. I like to clean out the refrigerator vegetable and cheese drawer and throw whatever I find on the pizza. This Friday I had some chard, so I made a couple of chard pizzas and boy were they good. I took a couple pictures to share here, and maybe inspire you to do something a little different with your CSA  greens and maybe make a chard or kale or spinach pizza.

     

    I usually make my dough, but sometimes I’ll buy the dough from the store. I stretched out the dough, and I shredded about 1/2 a bunch of chard and mixed that with some cheese and a little drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Then I tossed it in a bowl.

    Then I put it on my dough.IMG_0091

    And baked it. I could have used more chard. I will use about twice as much next time.

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    The second pizza I left the chard leaves whole and rubbed a little olive oil on them and I used fresh mozzarella (and pepperoni on 1/2 the pizza).

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    I liked the second pizza best, with the whole chard leaves.

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    I think anything we get in our CSA share would be great on a pizza I could have put lots more vegetables on and I will next time.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

  • Braising Mix aka Spicy Salad Mix

    I got an email asking for ideas on how to use the braising mix you got last week in your CSA share.

    We get this question a lot so let’s try to demystify this offering.

    To start with the name is confusing. Sometimes it is called Braising Mix and sometimes it is called Spicy Salad Mix. Braising Mix and Spicy Salad Mix are the same thing.
    Here is my bag of braising mix/spicy salad mix dumped out.

    braising mix

    As with all your vegetables you want to wash your braising mix. Use lots of water because sand and grit can get stuck in the leaves. The stems should be tender enough that you won’t have to take them off. You can use the mix as is. No prep other that washing.

    The mix of greens might change a little through the season but our braising mix usually has some kale, mustard, tatsoi and maybe arugula or chard.

    Braising Mix, or Spicy Salad Mix can be eaten either raw or cooked. The greens are always young and tender in this mix, but add some bitterness and a little heat to a dish.

    I blogged a recipe on this site for Spicy Salad Mix if you would like to try it raw. You need some strong flavors in your dressing and any added ingredients to stand up to this mix. Grains and beans go great with Spicy Salad mix.

    You can substitute Braising mix for any recipe using kale, chard, spinach, or collards. Just know that when you use braising mix you will get a little bite and heat.

    My favorite way to eat braising mix is to make some grains and while the grains are hot I add my braising mix so it just wilts and isn’t cooked, just soft.

    I also like to use it in a Massaged Kale Salad.

    I hope this helps. Keep those questions coming!

  • Storing greens

    We work really hard to get our greens (kale, chard, broccoli raabe, collards) to you fresh and full of life. Here’s how you can keep them that way.

    If you store your greens properly they will stay fresh in your refrigerator for a week. Modern frost free refrigerators have moving air that will dehydrate food uncovered, so you need to keep your greens sealed in a plastic bag, or some sort of sealed container.

    When you pick up your CSA share it would be best to put your greens in a plastic bag or container immediately at the pick up. We have bags available if you forget to bring your own. If you don’t want to use plastic you can use a cloth cotton bag. You need to rewet the cloth bag every day or the greens will wilt as soon as the cloth bag dries. You don’t want to pack the greens too tightly in the any bag or squish them either. they need to be stored loosely so some air can move around the leaves.

    This is a bunch of kale that was harvested Friday and kept in a plastic bag in my refrigerator for three days. It looks just like it did when it was harvested.

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    This is a bunch of kale that was kept in my refrigerator unwrapped for 12 hours.

    Red Russian Kale

    I’m sorry kale. I did it for the good of the blog.

    The second bunch of kale is still edible. It is just dehydrated. You could cook it and it would be fine. If I left this bunch of kale much longer uncovered it would start to get slimy. Slime happens when the cell structure breaks down and the kale starts to decompose. When that happens you don’t want to eat it.

    So, sealed and wrapped greens store nicely for one week in the refrigerator and unwrapped greens store for less than one day.