Radishes

Radishes are one of the earliest vegetables that farmers harvest in the year. On Leafy Greens Farm, we just harvested a lot of radishes! Most people either love or hate radishes. Radishes can range from having a mild to an extremely spicy flavor. Most people usually just think about eating radishes raw, but radishes can be cooked in a variety of ways to decrease the spiciness and mixed with other vegetables for great salad of flavor. Check out the recipes listed below.

As far nutritional value, a 1/2 cup serving (about 12 medium radishes) of sliced radishes is only 12 calories and provides a good amount of potassium, vitamin C, folate, and fiber. According to several sources, radishes also can provide many health benefits including: improves blood circulation, good for liver and stomach, anti-congestive and thus gives relief from respiratory congestion, and helps reduce chronic headache problem.

In order to enjoy these healthy vegetables, I have compiled several radish recipes for you.

Roasted Radishes

Ingredients

• Radishes
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• Fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Toss radishes with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast on a
   baking sheet at 450 degrees, stirring once, until slightly tender and
   charred, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with lemon juice. 

Simple Radish Salad 

Makes 1 or 2 servings

4 radishes thinly sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

Juice of ½ a lime

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

a sprinkle of salt

In a small bowl combine oil, lime juice, cilantro and garlic.  Toss with sliced radish and sprinkle with a little salt.

 

Glazed Radishes

Ingredients

• 3 bags (6 ounces each) red radishes (about 45), ends trimmed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. Cut large radishes in half; leave small ones whole. In a 12-inch skillet, combine radishes, butter, sugar, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has reduced and radishes are tender and glazed, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve.

Radish Greens Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 bunches radish greens (about 2 cups), cleaned
• 6 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cut into1/2-inch dice
• 4 1/2 cups Homemade Chicken Stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 5 radishes, zested
• Chervil, for garnish

Directions

1. In a medium stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in onions, and saute until transparent, about 4 minutes. Add radish greens, and cook until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken stock, and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender, about 35 minutes.
2. Working in batches, pass the mixture through a food mill into a medium bowl. Stir in cream, and season with salt and pepper. Strain the pureed mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into the original pot. Bring soup just to a simmer over medium heat. Serve garnished with radish zest and chervil

 

"Lettuce" Plant more

Well, we don't always get the most perfect weather to plant, but we are not complaining. Today, we had our rain boots on and were planting in the mud.  Checking on the lettuces we planted a few weeks ago, inspired us to plant some more. Our radishes, carrots, and beets are popping. The cabbages are looking great. The little spinaches are getting bigger.  This farm will be booming with awesome edibles soon!

In one week, the lettuce grew many more leaves

Waiting, wading in, and working hard!

Well, the rains came full force this week!  After last year's drought, you will not hear any complaining from us about rain! The rains hopefully let our newly transplanted lettuces,broccoli, and brussel sprouts get settled into their new home at the farm.

 However, the intense rains sometime prevent us from getting spring planting done. First, we have a small creek crossing the road to the farm and  it becomes a full-blown river after a lot of rain! We've decided that if our car can't cross it, that is when we WADE IN! Walking through a small river and in the mud is a great work-out. Thank goodness for rain boots!


Secondly, we have to be very careful when the ground is so saturated. We spent so much time tilling and supplementing our soil with compost to make soft, fluffy raised beds for our veggies to grow in. When it is so wet, we sometimes step on our beds and squish all that soil into hard brick again. So, planting got put on hold for a little while this week.

Tomorrow, the sun will be out full force and we are excited to work hard to get more veggies in the ground.WE have a few more cabbages, spinaches, broccoli, and other veggies to plant tomorrow.

What is green, red, and pink all over? --- Our baby plants at the farm!

We had a truck bed full of vegetable transplants at the beginning of the weekend and now we have most of our early spring vegetables in the ground! We are so excited to let these plants stretch their roots and grow.  We worked hard all weekend and wrapped all of our vegetables in row cover at the end of the weekend to protect from bugs. Our hands are stained with dirt and we are really worn out! Time to go catch some zzz's.

Baby lettuce

Damian planting lettuces

Watering the plants

Row Cover

At the end of the day, we have hands stained with dirt and love it!.

Burning and breaking ground at the farm!

It has been pretty muddy and cold the past couple of weeks, but we were finally able to break ground at the farm. Since we took last fall off of farming, there were many weeds that took over while we were gone. We have found that one of the best ways to get rid of weeds is by converting them to carbon. We started by burning the old weeds up with Damian's favorite tool - the propane-fed roofing torch. After a few more days of no rain, we were able to get the tiller in the ground and loosen up the soil. We can't wait to get some of those transplants in the ground soon and start providing our new 2013 CSA members with fresh veggies!

Still smiling on soggy, cold days

Burning up the weeds

Damian tilling up the ground

Beautiful soft soil

Kale Salad

We love kale and think it is one of the most beautiful plants we have grown on our farm. Kale tastes great when cooked in soups, rice dishes, or baked into kale chips. However, our biggest complaint is that it is bitter when it is in a raw salad. The trick is massaging chopped kale leaves with a combination of lemon juice, salt, and oil. That combination cuts the bitterness and makes the leaves soften. Here is a recipe for kale salad that we thought we would share.

 

"MASSAGED" KALE SALAD

1 bunch kale (black kale is especially good), stalks removed and discarded, leaves thinly sliced
1 lemon, juiced
3 tbls extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons honey
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of dried fruit

Small handful of sunflower seeds, about 2 rounded tablespoons

Small handful of shredded carrots

Sliced sweet pepper

1 tablespoons feta cheese

Directions

In large serving bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk remaining lemon juice with the honey and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 3tbls of oil while whisking until a dressing forms, and you like how it tastes.

Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the dried fruit and sunflower seeds. Toss and serve.