In Kim's Kitchen

The leaves of this week’s Over-Wintered Spinach have grown compared to last week, but still taste so good that I came in from harvest full of spinach. Warmer soil temperatures lead to a greener crop this week as the soil nitrogen became more mobilized. We have especially enjoyed the spinach in salads of all kinds over the last week, and we also put some in an omelet over the weekend. The stems of winter spinach have a sweeter flavor than that of the lusher summer leaves, and can be left on for a flavor boost.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Dried Tomatoes

½ lb fresh spinach
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed
½ cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts or almonds
½ cup dried tomatoes (or raisins)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt
freshly ground pepper

Rehydrate the dried tomatoes and chop coarsely. Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the nuts and tomatoes and cook over low heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic near the end. Pour over the spinach, scraping in as much of the oil as possible. Toss until spinach is coated and the nuts are well distributed. Sprinkle in the vinegar and salt and pepper, toss again, and serve.

Penne with Portobellas, Spinach and Lovage
Lovage gives this basic pasta dish a blast of spring.
8 oz spinach
2 portobello mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic greens
1cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. chopped lovage
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb pasta (we like penne)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta and drain. Heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic greens and mushrooms, cook until garlic is golden and the mushrooms are soft. Add spinach and chicken broth, cook until the spinach wilts, being careful not to overcook (about 3 minutes). Add lovage, red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper. Toss with pasta and serve.

We packaged the cress in a plastic clamshells to keep it from getting banged around, and because it looks so nice. The small leaves have a peppery tang similar to, but distinct from, arugula, and we have enjoyed their flavor-boost in salads this week. I think it would be fantastic heaped on a fresh-from-the-grill steak or a savory sandwich.

Lovage, which looks like parsley but smells like celery, was an essential ingredient in an ancient Roman cooking. Expect a taste a little like celery on steroids—a little bit goes a long way. Use in soups or stews, or chopped finely and added to salads, as a flavor booster, akin to parsley, but don’t get carried away. Also, the fibrous stalks should be used for flavoring but discarded before serving. We used the following vinaigrette to dress our salad of lettuce leaves and spinach, as well as over some steamed potatoes.

Lovage-Lime Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp chopped lovage
2 Tbsp lime juice
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients and whisk to emulsify, or put in covered jar and shake vigorously.

Even in the greenhouses, crops continue to move slowly, but we have some nice looking Baby Red Oak Lettuces this week. We enjoyed a fantastic salad on Wednesday night with a lovage vinaigrette. The Baby Bok Choi has sized up nicely since last week. This tender, vase-shaped green tastes delicious raw or just lightly cooked; since the baby bok choi is a tender green relative to its full-sized, white-ribbed cousin, don’t make the mistake of cooking it to death.

We have continued to access last fall’s harvest of Yellow Onions and our World-Famous Carrots from the dark of our walk-in cooler. People always ask us how we store them so long, and the answer provides insight into the best way to store most roots and greens: we keep them in our walk-in cooler, in the dark, in a loosely closed plastic bag. Now, our plastic bag holds 2,000 pounds of carrots, and our cooler is a little over 600 square feet, but the principle is the same: cold and humid, but not wet.

Chives have been loving this cool weather, and our new planting from last summer has come up quite vigorously this spring. We find that they taste great with just a little thrown in everywhere, whether in salad dressings, eggs, or dressing up a grilled salmon fillet.