In the Kitchen

When you get this box home, put it all in the refrigerator, in plastic bags. Bag the rosemary separately; sometimes I see suggestions to put it stem down in a cup of water, but I’ve never found this to be necessary. I might cut the tops off the fennel to make the bulbs easier to store.

As our Round Red Tomatoes, Sungold Cherry Tomatoes, and Greenhouse Cucumbers slowly edge into production, we are trying to get our boxes populated with as many of these treats as possible. If you are one of the luck ones, leave the tomatoes out of the refrigerator, and store out of the sun. Cucumbers like it a little warmer than other vegetables, so I might put them in a paper bag (for a bit of insulation) in a warmer part of the refrigerator, like up at the top.

We continue to work with our simple salad mix, although we did add in some spicier greens this week. Enjoy with a light vinaigrette dressing.

I’m not sure of how we came up with such an abundance of Escarole this year, but I have to take responsibility since I made the crop plan. This will be the last of it until fall. I really enjoy this sliced into ribbons for salad, or sautéed as follows.

Sautéed Escarole

1 head escarole
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp anchovy paste

Separate the leaves of the escarole, and slice into coarse ribbons. Heat the oil in wide skillet over medium-high heat until just before smoking, then add the escarole, pepper flakes, and anchovy paste. Reduce heat after an initial sear to moderate, and cook, stirring occasionally until the escarole is tender and any liquid is evaporated, about 15 minutes.

We are having quite the Beet year this year. I think the highest use for beets is to roast them in the oven, a technique that seems to enrich the flavor instead of watering it down. The piney-ness of the Rosemary complements the sweet, earthy flavor of the beets.

Baked Beets in Rosemary Butter

1 lb beets
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped rosemary

Preheat oven to 400. Halve beets if they are large, otherwise use them whole. Place them in a covered baking dish with a little bit of water, and bake for one hour or until tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter and olive oil together with the rosemary, infusing the flavors over very low heat for about five minutes. When they are fork tender, hold the beets under cold running water to slip the skins off. Place in a serving dish and pour the butter-olive oil mixture over the beets. Serve warm.

Rainbow Swiss Chard, like all of the chards, is also known as a leaf beet, since they share a species designation and intermate freely. Known also as silverbeet and perpetual spinach, Swiss chard can be used in much the same way as spinach. I like to strip the leaves off of the stems (botanically speaking, they’re petioles), then chop and cook the stems until softened before adding the leaves. Sautéed thoroughly and topped with a little bit of butter and salt, Swiss chard is delicious.

Some of the scallions got a little large on us, but the flavor is still quite nice. Slice thinly for salads, use them in place of onions, or, big Ben says, put them on the grill.

Grilled Scallions

Scallions
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Juice

Toss the scallions with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Place on a hot grill, using tongs to roll them once or twice (you could also run several skewers crosswise through the scallions to form a solid grid). Cook until softened and charred in places, about 5 minutes total, depending on the size. Remove from the grill and sprinkle with lemon juice.

We harvested the last of the spring fennel this week. The beautiful, fat bulbs just have a fantastic flavor, and the fronds can be fun and tasty as well. The hollow stems make a nice crudite, or you can chop them up and use as the base for a bed of steamed fish. The fine leaves can be used in the same way – and in many of the same recipes – as you would dill leaves. For the annual Fourth of July pig roast and pot luck at my neighbors, I took a bowl full of the following grilled fennel, which was met with surprising enthusiasm for this semi-exotic vegetable.

Grilled Fennel

Put a pot of water on to boil, and start heating the grill. Cut off the fronds, slice fennel bulbs in half lengthwise, then cut the halves again into halves or thirds. Add the fennel to the boiling water, and cook for about ten minutes, until just tender. Drain and cool, until cool enough to handle. Skewer the fennel with metal or soaked-wood skewers (work the skewer through the center stalk and everything will stay together). Brush with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Grill, turning occasionally, until lightly browned. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.