Asparagus, related to lilies, is one of the early crops of spring. Ancient Egyptians were known to cultivate asparagus as early as 3000 BC. It's a great source of fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E, and K, and chromium. Chromium is a trace mineral in the human diet that helps insulin work.
Asparagus will stay fresh in your crisper drawer for several days, often a week or more. If you stand the spears up in a coffee cup with an inch of water, they can stay fresh even longer. If the spears become limp or rubbery, they can be refreshed by rolling them up in a damp paper towel and leaving them sit for half an hour or so.
The thinner the spear, the more tender it will be. The bottoms of asparagus spears tend to be more woody than the tips, and tougher to eat. When preparing asparagus, hold it up by the cut end. You'll see it bend at a point an inch or so up the spear. Cut off the part that didn't bend and compost it; you'll be left with the yummy tender parts.
I love the combination of asparagus with citrus. Generally, the spears are either steamed or roasted. After steaming, a little salt and pepper and a squeeze of citrus, and you have a very fast and tasty side. To roast, toss lightly in oil, salt and pepper the spears, and roast at about 425 for 10-12 minutes.
From that base, add complimentary flavors. Thyme always pairs well with lemon, ginger with lime, or clove with orange. For the non-vegetarians out there, bacon makes lots of things better, even asparagus at breakfast. Pancetta does too. Asparagus is also a classic addition to spring pasta dishes, like this one.
It's the eternal debate. The two major schools of thought for coleslaw. The dressing is usually either based on vinegar, or on a mayo or mayo-like sauce. Growing up, my mom always made one based on a creamy Marzetti's dressing. Sorry, mom. When I make coleslaw, I base mine on some kind of vinegar now. Besides the difference in dressing, both types of coleslaw are pretty similar. It involves shredded cabbage, and often some other veggies. Shredding cabbages is pretty simple to do with a good, sharp chef's knife. Quarter the head, leaving the core in place. Start from the top edge, diagonally away from the core. Slice down through the quartered head, thinly, working your way toward the core. The first couple of times, you won't get really thin shreds. But, a little practice and you'll find that it gets better. Or, joining the 21st century, run it though the shredding disc of your food processor. Personally, I'm too lazy to haul it out of the cupboard and then do the extra dishes. So I've gotten lots of practice with my knife. Other veggies that work in coleslaw include sweet peppers. Not just bell peppers, but try a cubanelle or sweet banana pepper and try that with a vinegar-y dressing. Cabbage and peppers appear together in your CSA boxes in the fall. The zip really makes it interesting. Other options include carrots, cucumber, fennel, your Vidalia onions if you have any left, scallions, shallots, avocado (especially yummy in a creamy dressing)... Just remember to either grate or very thinly slice all of it. You then create a dressing, toss your veggies in it, and (this is very important) let it sit in the fridge overnight. Slaw is pretty much always better after the goodies marinate for a while. Stirring in some other additional bits of a different texture really makes it interesting, too. Try toasted pine nuts, raisins or dried cranberries, sesame seeds, or the like. As for that dressing, there are some pre-made options, such as Marzetti or Green Goddess dressings. A little Miracle Whip and some lemon juice works great too. For those on the vinegar-y side, use some sort of vinegar (obviously) like white, cider, malt, white balsamic, or even a more creative acid like lime juice. Add some salt and some sweetener (sugar or honey) and it's dressing. Spices work well in either. As in our previous discussion on spice palettes, pick a region and use complimentary ones. And that's how you ad lib coleslaw. If you'd rather work from a recipe or read some for inspiration, this is my go-to one (the pickled one), but the other ones at the same link are good too. This one is more creamy, using avocados and tomatillos to make a slaw for salmon tacos -- which are really fantastic. This one has a vinegar dressing with dijon mustard. And, as soon as we get fennel in the store, this one is my next one to try. (link requires a subscription to Cooks Illustrated) Happy shredding!
This week’s box features fresh, local kale. Wandering around the store today, I noticed that there were lots of Vidalia onions as well as beautiful white mushrooms.Vidalia onions have a mild, sweet flavor that just screams, “Caramelize
me!”While you can use these in any
recipe that calls for onions, you might want to save these for something where
you can cook them loooooow and sloooooow.A little butter, a small pinch of salt, and a good bit of time over a
medium-low flame turns them into magic.
Don’t crinkle your nose over plain ol’ white mushrooms,
either.Chefs around the world prize
these mushrooms, due to their versatility and flavor.Remember to never wash mushrooms.All
they need is a soft brush to remove any debris on them (a clean paper towel
works well too), and they’re ready to go.Quarter the big ones and halve the small ones, toss them in with your
caramelizing onions, and you’ll have a great side for steaks or topping for
brats.
Kale has become quite the nutritional star lately.It’s a great source of fiber and
vitamins.If you’d like to show off your
skills in the kitchen a bit more, make a frittata.Sounds impressive, right?
Just between you and me, that translates to, “Fancy Italian
omelet.”It sure sounds more impressive
to say frittata, though.Making them is
about as simple as an omelet, too.So,
your mushrooms and onions are done caramelizing, right?The kale goes quicker.First, tear off the leafy part from the firm
stems.You can save the stems for stock,
or even prepare them like a root vegetable.In a hot skillet, add a little olive oil and put in the leaves.Toss them with tongs, and in a minute or two
they’ll wilt.You still want them to be
bright green, so take them out as soon as they do wilt, and mix with your
mushrooms and onions.Now, the omelet
part.It’s meant to be shared, so figure
2 eggs per person and beat them all together.A splash of milk in the eggs makes it fluffy.With a frittata, you beat the eggs until
they’re a little foamy so that it’s lighter.The “fixins,” meaning your kale, mushrooms and onions, are mixed in with
the eggs, too.Don’t forget salt and
pepper.Pour into an oven safe skillet
(a cast iron pan is even better) over medium to medium-high heat and just let it sit.Yes, the bottom and sides will set up
before the top does.When all but the top
has set, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and place under a low broiler until the
top sets.See, now you’re impressing
everyone!
When I told one of my foodie friends what would be in the
box this week, she said, “Oooh, you have to tell them to make Sexy-Time
Pasta!”Pardon me…?Well, here’s the details:
Sexy-Time
Pasta
ingredients:
1-2 tbsp olive
oil
3-6 slices of thick
cut bacon, cut into bite size pieces
(the more bacon you
use, the less olive oil you'll need)
10 oz sliced
mushrooms
1 pint cherry
tomatoes, sliced in half
1 med onion, diced
small
1 bunch of kale or baby
spinach
1 lb short pasta (e.g.,
rotini)
3/4 c. grated Parmesan
(Or more. I love cheese.)
Salt & pepper to
taste
directions:
1) Heat olive oil and
bacon in skillet over medium heat until bacon is golden.
2) Bring a large pot
of salted water to boil. Add pasta and spinach, cook about 3 min until spinach
is vibrant green. Scoop out spinach and rinse under cold water to stop the
cooking. Drain well and set aside. Continue cooking pasta for another 7 min
until almost al dente. When draining, reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
3) Move bacon to
edges of pan and add mushrooms, onions and a pinch of salt to middle of pan, in
as close to a single layer as possible. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook
until mushrooms and onions start sizzling and turning brown (about 5 min). Reduce
heat to medium, add cherry tomatoes and stir bacon and mushrooms together, cooking
until mushrooms are tender. (5-7 min)
4) Reduce heat to
low. Add drained pasta to skillet. Gradually stir in 1 cup of pasta water. Toss
over low heat until sauce is silky and pasta is well coated.
5) Turn off heat. Add
spinach and cheese and season with pepper. Toss well. When serving, sprinkle
more cheese on top. (And then maybe some more. Because really, I love cheese.)
Serve immediately for best results, but can also be served cool as pasta salad.
It’s a variation on pasta
carbonara, with tomatoes instead of the rich egg, and you could easily
merge the two recipes.Yes, I asked her
why it’s called “Sexy-Time” pasta.And
no, she wouldn’t tell me.
Oh,
did you see the cool
trick for slicing cherry tomatoes?What a time saver!
There is no surer sign of spring
turning to summer than when the red tidal wave of strawberries hits. This week we’re getting strawberries! Can you tell
I’m a little excited? Every year, I buy
ridiculously more than I’ll ever need or use.
Why? Do I really need to answer
that? We all (my wife, 5-year-old son,
and I) eat them until we’re pretty much sick.
Let’s just say, during strawberry season, vitamin C intake isn’t a
problem for us.
But when you do have
more than you can use, or in my case way more than you can use, what are your
options? Preserves! I know, I know, everyone’s intimidated about
preserving. I was at first, too. Causing my family a slow, agonizing death by
food poisoning isn’t high on my list of things to do, either. With a little care, and follow the rules,
your jars will fill with deliciousness and not disease. For some basic reading, Ball’s website (they make jars) is
very helpful. There are a number of
fantastic canning blogs around, too. My
favorite is Food In Jars. Lots and lots of good recipes.
First, you need some jars and lids. They’re easier to come by than you
think. You can get them from Amazon, or
two really good local sources are the Ace
Hardware in Old Town and the Shoppers right near Nalls. For fruit preserves, you will mostly want
half-pint jars, but pint jars work as well.
I don’t know about your house, but to eat a quart jar of preserves would
take the three of us forever. I also
like using the Weck jars, which are popular
in Europe. World Market has a good
selection.
Remember that everything needs to be sterilized before putting
food in it, preferably as close to the time you fill them as possible. To do this, the jars need to be completely
submerged in water at a rolling boil for at least 10 minutes. After filling, the jars are sealed by again
immersing them in boiling water. For
most fruit preserves, 10 minutes is enough to seal the jar, but follow the instructions
in the recipe.
My favorite way to make strawberry preserves is a just plain
old-fashioned strawberry jam, with a little vanilla added to it. Here’s
the recipe. (By the way, I bought
the tall pot mentioned in the article and it’s one of the most useful things in
my kitchen!) I always make way more than
we’ll eat, but they make great gifts. My
coworkers really appreciate a little flavor of summer as a Christmas present.
There’s
an old saw that says, “Bakers can’t cook and cooks can’t bake.” In my experience, there are very, very few
who are both talented in and passionate about both. I definitely fall on the cooking side, but I
keep trying and trying. Maybe one decade
I’ll get the hang of baking. But my
strawberries went to make a “strawberry
galette,” which is basically a free-form strawberry tart. It was pretty easy and fantastically
delicious. I guess I just need more
practice in rolling out dough and making it even and circular…
Spring and fall crop share boxes are a steady stream of leafy
green stuff. It comes in a variety of
sizes, and often times with yummy things attached to the bottom of it. Beets, for example. Or the kohlrabi you made a couple of days
ago. This week, we saw Swiss or rainbow
chard in our boxes. Lettuce is another
staple seen often this time of year. Southern
traditional cooking has myriad tasty ways to prepare leafy green stuff. Many involve bacon, which in my book isn’t
necessarily a bad thing. Okay, having it
every day, or even alternating days between bacon and salt pork, probably isn’t
what the local cardiologist wants to hear about. But geez, bacon makes lots of
things tasty.
My wife is vegetable-phobic.
Don’t get me wrong, she loves
broccoli. Adores it. Pretty much anything other than broccoli,
however, I’d need a pile driver to get down her throat. (Alright, alright, since she’s probably
reading this, I’ll be nice from here on out.
Or do my best to anyway.) She’ll
enjoy a salad with most types of lettuce, and eat her broccoli, but anything
else I have to get really creative to
get her to eat it. When I first started
getting a crop share, one of the first boxes had beets, greens attached, and
collards. I started simple, and there on
the table they sat. Determined, I would make greens she’d eat. Grrrr…
So I put on my war paint and my toque.
Yes, I actually have a toque.
My godson gave it to me for Christmas one year. No, I don’t ever wear it. Ever.
But the white jacket is awesome and since I’m messy, it covers more than
an apron.
I dug around looking for dishes using greens and having strong
flavors. Is there anything out there
that uses half the spice drawer? I
stumbled across this. I loved it. My wife?
Not so much. She has an aversion
to anything with a strong vinegary taste.
So I dissected the recipe a bit.
It involves wilting the greens (chard, beet, almost anything
will work), using a particular spice palette, and finishing with a
dressing. In the case of the above
recipe, the spices are North African in origin:
cumin, paprika, harissa. Let’s
see how we can modify that. She likes
Greek cuisine. A Greek palette would
have some combination of oregano and dill, garlic, and lemon juice. Modifying our basic recipe, a dash of dried
oregano and dill, a little garlic sautéed in the oil before wilting the greens
(briefly, garlic cooks quickly and
remember light brown = good, black = bad).
Sprinkle some cardamom in too, and maybe nutmeg. We’ll skip the hot sauce. For the dressing, a Greek dish would commonly
use lemon juice. Sprinkle a touch of
crumbled feta cheese on top and…
Holy cow, she ate it!
And that was fun! Sprinkling
something extra on top can definitely kick it up a notch. The feta would give a wonderfully salty flavor
to greens. If you like the North African
spices, try some raisins and toasted pine nuts.
(That’s essentially this recipe, which she also ate.)
Hmm… shall we try another?
Something a little farther afield?
French, perhaps? Awesome! First off, what are the three main secrets to
French cooking? Butter, butter, and…
butter. Seriously. Instead of olive oil, we’ll wilt the greens
in a bit of butter. Herbs de Provençe
usually contains marjoram, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. We’ll use that. Season with salt and pepper too. Instead of strong white vinegar, try a bit of
Balsamic. Very nice!
What I’m trying to condense here is several years of my life
spent screwing things up in the kitchen, and countless hours reading cookbooks
of all sorts. This is the approach I use
to “branch out” recipes. First, figure
out what palette the seasonings come from.
Switch to a different palette, and use the same techniques in the
recipe. Give this a try with any recipe
you’ve prepared often enough to be very familiar. Pick a different region’s flavors, and you’ve
just invented something new and fresh.
Trust me, there will be plenty of, “Uh, yeah, that particular
combination doesn’t work and let’s not do that again.” By and large, experience will be your teacher
but only if you give her a chance.
If you modify one of your recipes, post a link to the original
in the comments and tell me what you changed.
I can’t wait to see how creative you can be. Happy cooking!
First off, let me introduce
myself. I’m Burt, and I’ll be writing
most of the posts on this blog. This is
my first foray into food blogging, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for
some time. I’m really looking forward to
sharing my culinary experiences with you, and learning of yours as well. Ideas, recipes, questions, comments and rude
remarks are all welcome at burt@nallsproduce.com. Well, not just yet, though. Waiting for the technology fairies to set it up. Bonus points for the first one to tell me who
the quote “Questions, comments, rude remarks?” comes from.
Kohlrabi is a vegetable common
in northern Europe. The name even comes
to us from German. It’s an amalgamation
of the words for “cabbage” and “turnip.”
That sort of explains the taste as well:
a mild cross between turnip and cabbage.
(Quite logical, those Germans, aren’t they?) You can eat it raw, or boil it until tender
and then do lots of different things with it.
I’m from the northern Midwest, and
there are lots of German influences in that part of the country. Growing up, my mom would make kohlrabi
frequently when it was in season. When
we had it, the preparation was quite simple:
boil them until tender, then make a simple cream sauce and bake for a
couple of minutes. mmm… I can still
remember having that. As a matter of
fact, I think that’s what I’m going to do with the ones in my box this week.
Here’s what you do. While the entire plant is edible, I just use
the root bulbs. Take off the stalks, and
either save for stock or compost. Peel
the bulbs until you just see the white flesh.
Slice into disks about ¼ inch thick, cutting in half if they’re
large. Boil the kohlrabi until you can
pierce them with a fork, drain, and set aside.
To make the cream sauce, over medium heat melt some butter or margarine
(maybe 2 tablespoons, more if you’re feeding an army). Add an equal amount of flour, and
continuously stir. This is called a roux, and you can use it to thicken
sauces and soups. You can use flour and
an equal amount of any liquid fat: oil,
butter, bacon grease, duck fat… okay, let’s not get too crazy.
The longer you cook the roux, the
darker it’ll get. The darker it gets,
the stronger (more smoky) the flavor becomes.
When your roux is ready, add maybe a cup of warm milk, whisking to make
sure it doesn’t get lumpy. Let it
thicken just a little, then add the kohlrabi and some salt and pepper. If your sauce doesn’t cover all of the
veggies, then add a touch more milk and let it thicken again. Bake it in a 350-ish oven for maybe 10
minutes, and enjoy!
I’ve heard you can make a simple au
gratin with it as well, but I’ve never tried it. If you do, let me know how it goes.
Kohlrabi can also be eaten raw,
usually by cutting it julienne and making a slaw. I’ve used this
recipe, which includes apples and parsley.
Another thing on my list to try is to use it in the slaw for fish
tacos. I’ve found some likely candidates
for recipes here,
here
and here.
One
last parting word. It’s also Herb Season.
It’s not too late for you to plant some pots of herbs. If you don’t think you’d like to go through
the trouble, just take a stroll through a grocery store and see how much fresh
herbs go for. Buying one plant is about
the same cost as one package of cut herbs, which will last you maybe a
week. Plus, growing herbs is pretty
fool-proof. Trust me, I’ve tried to mess
it up. If I can grow herbs, you can
too. If you don’t have a lot of space,
you only need a couple of small pots to tuck on a windowsill here and
there. Fresh herbs are one of the best additions
you can make to your cooking. Stop by
and ask one of Your Friendly Neighborhood Nalls Employees, and they’ll have
plenty of advice to get you started.
If
you have more interesting recipes or tips for this week’s CSA contents, please
leave them in the comments. One of the
great things about Nalls is that it’s part of the community, of which you are
also a part. Join the discussion, and
we’ll all be fantastic home chefs. Happy
cooking!
Don't ask us how to pronounce it! My guess is tart-oh-bley. Please correct me if I'm wrong and save me the embarrassment of having people over for an elegant feast of tart-oh-bley. Swiss chard and apples work very well together. Even just lightly baked in olive oil, the two make a wonderful combination. Toss them both in a green smoothie or a salad for some extra color and flavor too.
This recipe from Urban Cookery looks quite scrumptious and would make for an ideal Mother's Day brunch! With ingredients like swiss chard, apples, gouda and rum, you can't go wrong.
It's here! It's here! It's Spring Crop Share time! Although it's starting to feel a whole lot like summer around here. For this round, we will be seeing more and more local produce. The first of the season local tomatoes we had last week were already on point. Makes me so excited for tomato sandwiches, watermelon and all things summer.
I came to love eggplant kind of late in life. I really discovered it when I went vegetarian for a few months and had the most delicious eggplant lasagna. Something I would never order before. Since then, I've used eggplant in stir-fry, pizza, burgers and more. Having it lightly breaded with a little mozzarella, marinara and basil is probably my favorite way to have it. Turn it into a fun appetizer, and I am in.
Try out these snack sticks as a side dish or an appetizer at your next gathering. Get the recipe from Taste of Home here.
Want to make your own dip for these? Use those grape tomatoes and try this recipe.
Sometimes procrastination really pays off, because I waited until late this week to finally cut into the cantaloupe we got in the last share of the Early Spring Crop Share (which speaking of, are you registered for Spring yet, because if not, you should be! Register online, as the Spring round kicks off on 5/9!), and oh holy night it was perfectly sweet and juicy. Possibly one of the best cantaloupes I've never had and it's not even the peak of melon season yet!
Some friends were making shrimp kabobs at their place, so I contributed Quinoa Tabbouleh and then used up the rest of the mint to throw together this lovely Melon & Mint Salad. While it was crazy juicy, I wanted some sort of added dressing that wasn't loaded with sugar, so I just whisked up 1 tsp each of local honey and lemon juice, and added some extra juice from the melon and ta-da, a perfectly fresh and fragrant melon salad. Which good thing I added the mint since I also made garlic sauce, and we were all fire breathing dragons by the end of the meal! So as we head into summer, make this your go to fruit salad base or any melon. Mmm, mint and watermelon might actually get me over my watermelon phobia!
And now for the bittersweet part of this post's title...this is my last, official post at the helm of Nalls' Kitchen. I'm still sticking in as a Crop Share member and I'll definitely still send the Nalls team guest posts when I come up with a winner, winner veggie dinner, but after today I'll be turning the reigns back over to Valerie and the rest of the Nalls Produce team. I would have loved to continue this indefinitely, but any of you who've followed since my departure from Nalls, back into my family's business, know that the posts have been getting fewer and not coming as prompt as they once did. That's not fair to you all or to the team at Nalls. So gear up for a new round of Crop Share and a new voice here in Nalls Kitchen!
Now onto the food!
Melon & Mint Salad
Ingredients:
1 cantaloupe, skin removed, seeded and cubed (save any juice to use in dressing)
2 Tbsp mint, chopped
1 tsp local honey
1 tsp lemon juice
Toss cantaloupe and mint together in a large bowl. Whisk honey and lemon juice, and any reserve juice from the cantaloupe in a separate bowl, then pour over fruit and toss to fully coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 1 hour to allow flavors to set up.
Alright folks, that's all she cooked!
Keep it fresh in your kitchens, and if you must "selfie" do it the foodie way and shove ignorant bits of delicious food into your mouth. Because, it makes it classy.
.JPG)
