Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Week Two: Garlic Scapes

This week was not as leaf-intense as last. We picked up radishes, garlic scapes, cabbage, beets, lettuce, collard greens, and more “radishes”. I’m putting the second “radishes” in quotes because they were labeled “salad turnips” this week – and there were also teeny tiny cute radishes, which looked much more like the radishes I assume most people think of when they hear “radishes”. We also picked some herbs: lavender, chives, oregano, and a mystery leaf that we can’t recall the name of. While wandering around, we also sampled some pineapple mint – jury’s out on whether it’s worth picking lots of.

Oregano, Lavender, Chives, Mystery Leaf

Our winning item this week was definitely the garlic scapes. We got to pick eight things from the barn (instead of last week’s seven), and each ended up grabbing 10 scapes. Aly couldn’t resist biting into one, and then told me I MUST do the same – oh wow. It’s a very “green” garlic taste, almost like biting into a clove of garlic, with a little of the heat of an onion, too. In the pick-your-own field, I found the cutest, most perfectly tiny strawberry in existence. It was everything a strawberry should be – bright red, heart-shaped, and outrageously sweet and juicy. 

In relation to the "real" radishes. How cute?

I got last week’s chard all blanched and into the freezer – hopefully it tastes good when I actually use it! My pink stems looked a little droopy, but the yellow ones seemed fine. At least I’m adding some color to my freezer? I did the same for the spinach I had left over from the failed smoothie. I know spinach condenses a lot when boiled, but jeez, shouldn’t I have ended up with more than 2 ounces from more than a half pound of the fresh stuff?

I’m much less busy this week than last, so I was able to plan ahead what I might be able to make with this week’s harvest, thanks to the CSA newsletter. I’m defrosting some dough for a pizza with chicken for tomorrow (as our plans were rearranged thanks to the Bruins), and will probably make a cabbage salad as well. I also made a Pinterest-inspired lavender mojito. Yum!
Letting the booze infuse...


To make this week:
Garlic Scape Pizza (it's only fair to give Smitten Kitchen credit for this inspiration, even if the only similarities shared between her recipe and mine are pizza dough and tomato sauce!)

Caesar Cabbage Salad (via New York Times)

Blanched greens
- boiling water
- greens, stems chopped into 1-inch pieces and leaves cut into ribbons (roll the leaves to make this easier)
- ice water

Drop the stems (or leaves) into the boiling water, cover, and boil for two minutes (one source I looked at stressed that this should be exactly two minutes and not a second more or less. Something about enzymes.). Use a slotted spoon or strainer to remove leaves/stems from the boiling water and immediately submerge in the ice water. Swish everything around to stop the cooking, and then strain/squeeze out excess water. Store in zip top bags in the freezer.

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