Week #3 (June 28- July 1)

 What’s in the big box?     What’s in the little box?

Strawberries!                         Strawberries!

Radishes                                Radishes

Lettuce                                   Lettuce

Rhubarb                                 Rhubarb

Cucumber                              Scallions

Spinach                                   Spinach

Beets                                       Garlic Scapes

Scallions                                 Basil

Zucchini

Basil

Mesclun Mix

Garlic Scapes

Strawberry season continues while the Garlic Scapes twists and turns, making its way up from the bulb and onto your plate!  My dear friend Natanya is back in town assisting as both Pick Your Own Patch master and baker.  Her bread is rustic and crusty and great to enjoy with this season’s crop.  Moreover, it is wonderful having someone in the farmstand kitchen, christening the oven, the burner, and the deep deep sinks.  So far we’ve played around with breadmaking and popcicle freezing… also eating (of course).

FFore hlhAsAsjnflksdf   Tips, Tricks & Recipes:

ROMAINE & RADISH SALAD (marthastewart.com)

• 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 6 radishes stemmed, and cut into wedges

1. Make dressing: In a small bowl or jar, whisk or shake together red-wine vinegar, olive oil, and ground cumin. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper.
2. Just before serving, place lettuce, and radishes, in a large bowl. Toss with dressing.

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO (yessssssssss!!! I love this stuff))

·         1 cup garlic scapes (about 8-9)… since we could only send out 5 scapes a share, use your basil to bulk up the recipe

·         1/3 cup walnuts

·         ¾ cup olive oil

·         ¼-1/2 grated parmigiano

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         Black pepper to taste

METHOD:

Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth.  Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated.  With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl.  Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper.  Makes about 6 ounces of pesto.  Place in airtight container in the fridge-  keeps up to 1 week.  Also, great to freeze.

For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well cooked.

OTHER WAYS TO USE THE GREAT SCAPE:

·         Dice into scrambled eggs

·         Add to a veggie saute’

·         Garnish

·         Soups

·         Frittata

·         Great as a “cut flower” place flat side down into a water filled vase- simply beautiful.

WHAT IS A SCAPE AND WHY DO WE CUT IT?

The Garlic scape is a curly shoot from the garlic bulb- We cut the scape from the garlic to keep the plant from flowering.  When the garlic plant- or any plant- flowers it takes a lot of energy away from the root and disperses it into the flower head.  So, we cut the scape for two reasons: 1) enjoy its flavor 2) to beef up the garlic bulb.

Enjoy!