Week 2

Not sure why the Gator chard is called "Gator", but it sure tasted good. Sauteed with a little vegetable stock, soy sauce and olive oil, it was delicious. Did the spinach the same way, only added a touch of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds at the end.

I switched out the turnips for some micro greens - good sprinkled into anything from salads to a saute.
I must admit, the baby beets are still in the fridge. I have a recipe in mind, but need a run to the store to get all the ingredients.

Paid for the radishes because during the season, the best thing in the world are sliced radishes topping a buttered piece of crusty bread. Some people sprinkle with salt, but I eat mine straight.

Ahh, potatoes. My go to recipe calls for sliced onions, minced garlic and olive oil tossed with the potatoes, cleaned and cut into chunks. Sprinkle salt and pepper and put in a 300 degree oven. Tossing occasionally, after about an hour, turn the temp up to 450 for about 10-15 minutes. The potatoes will be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside....yummy....

The Visitors

The challenge when having house guests is making food that everyone will eat. Last night was a surprising success in that department. The goal was to use as much of my share as possible. I started with the Swiss chard. Never having made it before, I checked on line and in some cookbooks I have. In what is turning out to be a treasure trove of excellent recipes, I found a simple, yet interesting one in Olive Trees and Honey, a collection of vegetarian recipes from Jewish communities around the world. It is called Tunisian Braised Chard. As I was cooking for children, I left out the hot pepper.

2 pounds chard
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic - I used the cloves from the fresh head I got last week.
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped. Again, I used the tomatoes from the share.
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Separate chard leaves from the stems. Cut the stems into 1/2 inch pieces and the leaves into 1 inch strips.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, then the garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, until soft. Add the card stems, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.

Add the leaves, red pepper if using and tomatoes and saute for 1 minute. Cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and salt.

With that done, I started on the pasta. I was planning on using the garlic scape pesto again and it didn't disappoint. Just excellent.

Finally, the fish. I made sole, using a basic onion, garlic, white wine base. Once done, I again tried the sorrel sauce. The sauce turned out more of a pesto consistency, but tasted good.

Everyone enjoyed.

Today our guests saw the Garden of Ideas for themselves. We spent a relaxing couple of hours there, first walking around and then just relaxing on a bench while the kids played in the sandbox, creating an entire ice cream factory out of sand. We went into the gallery there where we ran into Joe. After I told him about the sorrel, he suggested just sauteing it with oil and putting over pasta. Sounds good to me........