New Harvest & New Recipes

We are in between lettuce growing seasons, but that doesn't mean the end of leafy greens. Fortunately, there are a lot of hearty leafy greens that are able to withstand the heat of the summer such as rainbow chards, kales, and radicchios! We found that our romaine lettuces and bibb lettuces do not fare well in the heat and become bitter if left too long in the ground at temperatures over 90 degrees. So, we are enjoying new salads and recipes with these greens that we would like to share with you.

Sautéed Rainbow Chard

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt to taste (optional)

Directions

Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed.

Grilled Radicchio Salad with Balsamic Vinegar

·         2 heads radicchio, quartered through the core so that the leaves don’t fall apart

·         3 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste

·         2 cloves of minced garlic

·         salt and pepper to taste

·         1 -2 tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette

·         Feta or Parmesan cheese

·         1 orange or lemon (optional)

Directions

1.      Rub each quarter of radicchio with olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2.      Grill them over high, till they’re tender and nicely charred, 5 to 10 minutes depending on your fire.

3.      Drizzle them with balsamic vinaigrette and top with feta or Parmesan cheese

4.      Garnish them with orange zest or lemon zest and give them a squeeze of juice.

Kale Chips

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1 pinch sea salt, to taste

Directions

1.      Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

2.      Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard; tear the leaves into pieces of uniform size. (I made my pieces about the size of a small potato chip.) Wash torn kale pieces and spin dry in a salad spinner or dry with paper towels until they're very dry.

3.      Put the kale pieces into a large resealable bag (or use a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily). Add about half the olive oil; seal and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces. Add the remaining oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly 'massaged.' Sprinkle the vinegar over the kale leaves, reseal the bag, and shake to spread the vinegar evenly over the leaves. Spread the leaves evenly onto a baking sheet.

4.      Roast in the preheated oven until mostly crisp, about 35 minutes. Watch very closely toward the end. You want the edges brown, but not the whole chip. Otherwise, it will taste charred. Season with salt

Garlic - It is a long complicated affair

One of the things we have been most excited about growing on our farm is GARLIC! It is something that you plant in the fall, overwinter, and harvest in the late summer. Garlic is something that takes about 8-9 months to grow. For us, harvest came early this year because we notice its leaves were browning, scapes were flowering it's stalks were leaning over - the tell-tale signs that garlic is ready to come out of the ground.  Since we had such a mild winter, we think that the garlic got a jump-start on growing during what was suppose to be the cold months.

Since this is our first year growing garlic, we are learning as we go. We had no idea that garlic plants send up a garlic scape - or a tall, slender stalk with an intense garlic that grows out of the middle of the garlic leaves and has a bulb that flowers. They are beautiful and can be used in cooking. They have an intense garlic flavor and can be used in stir-fry or pesto. Or, they can be left in a vase to flower and they create a huge purple bloom - only this bouquet has a distinct garlic odor.

When to harvest garlic is a judgment call, but basically it’s ready to go when the lower leaves start to brown or the stem starts to lean over. Harvesting too soon will result in smaller cloves that don’t store well. Leaving the bulbs in the ground too long and the cloves may be bursting out of their skins, making them unstorable and open to disease. We harvested a few to see if they were ready in early June and sure enough. They were!

We found that digging the garlic out is difficult. Since the bulbs were several inches down in the soil and developed a strong root system, we could not just pull them out. We used a small shovel to loosen the dirt around the bulbs and then dug underneath the bulbs to pop them out. We had to be very careful not to hit or slice the bulb with the small shovel because it wouldn't be able to be stored with a slice through it.

After all that waiting for it to grow and the effort it takes to dig them up, we still have to wait to actually use the garlic! I never knew that garlic has to "cure," or dry, for three to four weeks after harvesting it. We are curing it in a well-ventilated and dry, shady place. After that month, we can go crazy with all of our garlic recipes and we can store the garlic for about 7-8 months as long as we keep it in cool place at about 32°F.

Do you know who your farmer is?

Most of us search the internet or ask others to find out about the best restaurants, doctors, mechanics, or hair stylists are in our area; however, have you ever researched or asked about the best produce farmers in your area? It is strange that we know so little about the people that grow our produce and how carefully we chose other details in our life. We are used to the year-round variety of fruits and vegetables from all over the world in our grocery stores and there is a disconnect between the consumer and the produce farmer.

A few years ago, we didn't really think about where our food came from, but now that we are farming it is hard not to think about it! For us, there have been several things that changed this disconnect. Becoming a part of the organic trend has brought attention to importance of healthy growing practices of the farmers that deliver produce to the grocery stores. The label "organic" gives us insight into how our produce is grown, but not necessarily who grows it. The trend to "eat local" has also helped us connect to  local farmers by going to farmer's markets or participating in a CSA (community supported agriculture). There is something truly enjoyable about meeting the farmers that grow our produce and hearing their stories!

Recently, Damian and I were able to sell our produce through a local market called Sappington Farmer's Market and participate in one of their "Meet Your Farmers" event on a Sunday afternoon. We stood by our produce and talked to customers as they came into the store. We really enjoyed spending time at the event and meeting customers. We have never talked about lettuce and kale so much in our lives. There was quite an age range in customers and we were impressed by the individuals who felt that organic and local produce was important. We also were impressed by the variety of people who told us about the fun dishes they create with local produce - from kale chips to delicious sounding salads and soups. For us, it is not just about knowing who our farmer is. It is also about knowing who our customer is and knowing that they enjoy fresh vegetables as much as we do.