Week 1 Of Our Winter Organic Food Box
The Winter Bounty Continues
We have begun receiving another month of organic, locally grown produce from Growing Washington. This week we received some of our favorite vegetables:
- The Elephant Kale and the Braising Mix are one of the most healthful and tasty vegetables ever. Back in October I posted a recipe for cooking greens with pictures. Here’s a reprise of the recipe:
How to Prepare “Greens”
Here’s what you need to prepare kale, Swiss chard or beet greens:
A large bunch of greens
2 table spoons of olive oil (or butter if you dare!)
2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped
1 finely chopped scallion (or several tablespoons of finely chopped onion)
1 cup of vegetable/chicken stock or water
A pinch of salt
A big pinch of black pepper
Hot pepper flakes (to taste) or chop in a jalapeno or other picquant pepper
Heat the olive oil/ butter in a large sauté pan and then add the onion and sauté until the onion softens. Then place the chopped greens into the pan at medium high heat. Mix the greens with onion until they start to melt. Then toss the garlic on top of the greens and mix them in…
As you can see, the greens “melt as they cook. After you add the garlic, toss everything together add some of the stock to enhance the cooking process (and add flavor to the dish).
During the next 10 minutes or so, continue to add some stock to keep the greens from drying out. At this point, go ahead and add salt and/or the red pepper flakes. Mix this together and continue to cook until the greens are soft. Please note: sometimes you’ll get a batch of greens that resists getting tender……..deal with it! Sometimes greens are going to be chewy (my wife loves them like that!).
In the end, make sure the greens are not “dry” when you serve them. They should be moist.
Greens are one of the most healthful things you can eat. They go well with almost any dish and they are easy to prepare. Here in the Northwest our greens taste good almost all year round; however, kale is at its peak in the late Winter after it has been frosted (which makes them sweet). I hope you try them this year!
- Leeks are the king of onions and in September I wrote about their preparation. I think a lot of people are intrigued by leeks but have no idea how to cook them. Well check this out:
LEEKS, MY FAVORITE ONION IN THE KITCHEN!
Leeks are King in my kitchen. They have an amazing flavor and are incredibly versatile. They are also, sadly, under-utilized by cooks in North America. In Europe, cooking leeks in many ways and used in many preparations is common. I believe part of the problem for cooks in the U.S. is that leeks aren’t present in many recipes nor are they common in many grocery stores. Also, they are expensive: at $2.99 per pound, they don’t seem worth it. I suspect one other stigma is attached to leeks. Every time they are mentioned in cook books there’s always this note next to leeks: Make sure to clean the leeks thoroughly as they tend to be dirty inside and out! So when the recipe says one can substitute onions for leeks, the conservative cook will choose the former.
The fact is, in most American supermarkets, leeks are not really that dirty. By this I mean the following: Leeks start out as long thread-like sprouts. These are dropped into long holes in (preferably) sandy soil. As they grow, the gardener “blanches” or mounds dirt up against the stem of the leeks in order to create as much white coloration up the stem as possible. This is the prized portion of the leek used in soups and other dishes. As the dirt is pushed against the stem, it is captured in the layers of the leek:
Here in the U.S. leeks tend to be mass produced and they aren’t the works of art one sees in England which are white way up the stem and are like mini-tree trunks. If you look at the picture above, you’ll see one of the leeks from our box. I cut the green portion from the top and bisected the leek to show you that it really isn’t that dirty. In fact, all one needs to do is cut the leek length wise and run it under water to remove any dirt or sand.
One other thing: When I buy leeks, I cut the greens off, wash them and then freeze them for use in stocks. They impart an extremely complex, wonderful flavor to vegetable or chicken stocks. In future posts, I’ll make something fun to show you how nice leeks can be.
- We also received Bush Delicata Winter Squash, small yellow onions, an eggplant, Bartlett pears and red potatoes
I hope you have an opportunity to try out the greens recipe!
