Week of June 1: What we got from the farm this week: basil, spicy crinkly cress, radishes, turnips, salad mix, garlic scapes, tatsoi, bok choy, mizuna, red russian kale, and zucchini.
So, after picking up this more than generous portion from the Byrd House Market yesterday and portioning out our share among the three of us, I got to work thinking about what to make for dinner. I have always loved kale, but I didn't have that much experience cooking it, so I figured this was a good time to try a good recipe. I went online and looked at a variety of recipes, and this one stood out to me as sounding quite good:
Savory Sweet Kale from All Recipes dot com: (I altered it a bit to make it vegan, subbing veggie stock for chicken stock--don't get me started about using animal stocks for perfectly good veggie dishes--ha, and I didn't use the sugar)
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 4 teaspoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 4 cups stemmed, torn and rinsed kale
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard, sugar, vinegar, and vegetable broth, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook 5 minutes until wilted.
2. Stir in the dried cranberries, and continue boiling, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by about half, and the cranberries have softened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sliced almonds before serving.
This dish is light, slightly sweet, and it makes the kale tender and absolutely delicious! It's a perfect kale dish for those folks who are suspicious of green things. With the kale, I made polenta (following directions on the package, except I added chopped basil and those chopped garlic scapes from the Farm, along with a little rice milk). The garlicky polenta complemented the sweet kale quite nicely. I also mixed some of the tatsoi in with the salad mix , added chopped radishes, and topped it with a strawberry vinaigrette that I made from last week's strawberries that were starting to turn (I just pureed the remainder of the strawberries, pushed the puree through a sieve, and added a little grapeseed oil, white pepper, and salt).
This has been a fantastic experience for me so far because it's gotten me out of the grocery store rut, gotten me back in the kitchen, and making more foods from scratch. It also feels good to support our friends who own the farm and to eat local (and it's great to be able to WALK to get food--yay!). We also sat down and did the math last week, and our CSA share is saving us about 10 dollars a week because we don't have to buy grocery store produce (which is expensive if one buys organic at the grocery store). It's a little bit of money up front (to purchase the share all at once), but Fertile Crescent Farm has ways to make even that aspect more affordable.
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard, sugar, vinegar, and vegetable broth, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook 5 minutes until wilted.
2. Stir in the dried cranberries, and continue boiling, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by about half, and the cranberries have softened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sliced almonds before serving.
This dish is light, slightly sweet, and it makes the kale tender and absolutely delicious! It's a perfect kale dish for those folks who are suspicious of green things. With the kale, I made polenta (following directions on the package, except I added chopped basil and those chopped garlic scapes from the Farm, along with a little rice milk). The garlicky polenta complemented the sweet kale quite nicely. I also mixed some of the tatsoi in with the salad mix , added chopped radishes, and topped it with a strawberry vinaigrette that I made from last week's strawberries that were starting to turn (I just pureed the remainder of the strawberries, pushed the puree through a sieve, and added a little grapeseed oil, white pepper, and salt).
This has been a fantastic experience for me so far because it's gotten me out of the grocery store rut, gotten me back in the kitchen, and making more foods from scratch. It also feels good to support our friends who own the farm and to eat local (and it's great to be able to WALK to get food--yay!). We also sat down and did the math last week, and our CSA share is saving us about 10 dollars a week because we don't have to buy grocery store produce (which is expensive if one buys organic at the grocery store). It's a little bit of money up front (to purchase the share all at once), but Fertile Crescent Farm has ways to make even that aspect more affordable.
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