Not Pie

I was pretty disappointed at the Member Farm Day when David said the rhubarb went to seed to early thinking we wouldn't get any, so the two stalks in this week's share were a happy surprise.  Just enough to make this unique pound cake, which uses cornmeal.  The recipe is written for strawberries, but works perfectly with rhubarb.  I assume everyone else has no strawberries left by the time the box gets home.

Strawberry/Rhubarb Pound Cake

Week 7 Lists

Apart from the snap peas and rhubarb, nothing new this week that we haven't seen already.  There's more of stuff, though, so those small shares are looking happier.  Also, I'm excited for our new additions.  Our snap peas barely made it through the pictures before my kids spotted them and they were inhaled, so don't hesitate to pull off the string and crunch away.  Grab them by the flower end, snap near the tip, and pull away the string.  Sweet, crunchy, and ready for dipping in some hummus.

I, for one, have lettuce coming out of my ears.  Luckily it is holding up well, but I need to eat more salads.  Maybe sliced snap peas and microgreens will entice me to make a different salad than usual, but I've had difficulty persuading myself to buy tomatoes or cukes in the store.... I know they'll be so much tastier if I can wait for them to get ripe here in Utah.  I'll do us all a favor and find a few non-standard salad recipes so we can branch out.

Top, LtoR: spinach, blue kale
Middle: onion, shallot scape, red sail lettuce, rhubarb, garlic scape
Bottom: yellow snap pea, microgreens / strawberries, snap peas

SMALL
Yellow snap peas
Snap peas
Microgreen mix
Strawberries
Rhubarb (the first and last of it, sorry)
Spring onion
Garlic scapes
Shallot scapes
Red sail lettuce
Spinach
Blue kale

LtoR: shungiku, Chinese broccoli, Swiss chard, snow broccoli

MEDIUM
Chinese snow broccoli
Chinese broccoli
Swiss chard
Shungiku

Top, LtoR: great lake lettuce, microgreens, snap peas, salad mix
Middle: small bok choy, garlic chives, amaranth, asparagus, yu choi
Bottom: short baby bok choy, romaine lettuce

LARGE
Salad mix
Short baby bok choy
Small bok choy
Yu choi
Romaine
Amaranth
Garlic chives
Asparagus
Great lake lettuce
extra Snap peas
extra Microgreen mix


Rhubarb
Rhubarb looks like red celery and is most commonly thought of in combination with strawberries.  Very tart when raw, it is generally cooked to reduce the tartness.  You can make a tasty jam with other dried fruits, an applesauce type concoction for eating right away, stewed rhubarb as a topping for ice cream, or strawberry-rhubarb pie.  To make a strawberry - rhubarb pie filling, you'll need more strawberries than we received this week, a couple of cups at least.  This site has lots of great pictures.  I'll try to get a couple more recipes by week's end if you're not into pies.

10-minute soup

I spontaneously found a way to use up several of our odder ingredients at once last night, in a way that pleasantly accentuates their flavors.  The shungiku and amaranth greens really shine through in something this simple.  This was partly dependent on ingredients I keep in my cupboard, namely Udon noodles (a thick Japanese noodle, but you could sub egg noodles) and Tsuyu soup base (a starter broth for Japanese noodle soups, called hontsuyu or mentsuyu - basically soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar -- you could sub any chicken, fish, or vegetable stock with comparable results).  And I realize this is a warm dish in our warm weather, but it was perfect yesterday when I came in from cutting grass and was sitting near the swamp cooler.

10-minute soup
about 5 cups water or stock
3-4 tablespoons soup base
two shallot scapes, chopped
one handful shungiku greens, chopped
one handful amaranth greens, chopped
two bundles udon noodles
white (or black) pepper to garnish

Start the water to boil and add your stock flavoring.  As it heats, throw in the scapes and greens.  About the time it comes to a boil, add the noodles.  Udon cook quickly (<5 minutes) so you won't have to wait long.  Turn off heat, serve, and sprinkle with white pepper.

Small shares and Meat

Hello everyone,

Two quick updates.

Not so Plump Produce
For those who are thinking that the shares are a little thin this week and last, you're right.  Funny weather left the crops not too productive in this gap of time.  Everything is growing, though, and you'll find your boxes plumping back up.  And the season started so early this year that David will be providing an extra week at the end of the season for no charge.  He'll have produce coming out of his ears with the end of the market season, and you'll reap the benefit and receive your "fair share" to make up for these lean weeks.

 Meat
The animals David sent out for slaughter last week are being portioned out now.  We're looking at lamb (ground, leg, loin roast, and stew meat) and beef (ground chuck, ground sirloin, and ground round).  David is wanting to deliver it to members next week, but cannot leave it at the drop site as he just doesn't trust it to stay frozen.  You'll need to meet him there when he is delivering (between 12:00 and 3:00, depending on your location), and he's trying to arrange it so he stays at each drop site for half an hour to an hour to facilitate pickup by members.  I will put up a detailed price list and pickup window times for you for each drop site later this week, and you'll just need to email me by around noon the day before your pickup with your selections.