Your box contains the following items, give our take any subs that happen as the week goes on.
- 2lb. green romaine/red butter lettuce/red little gems
- 1/2lb. mesclun
- 1/2lb. erbette chard
- 1/2lb. bull’s blood beet tops
- 1 bunch scallions
- 2 heads fennel
- 1 bunch baby white turnips
- 1 bunch rainbow carrots
- 1 large tarocco blood orange
- 1lb. mixed citrus
- 1lb. white/yellow peaches/yellow nectarines
This week we have a greens heavy box. We have large heads of green romaine, and lots of red butter lettuce, with the last of a large planting of red little gems. For more delicate salad needs, there’s the half pound of mesclun mix, which is made up of mizuna, arugula, frilly red mustard, upland cress, chervil, chrysanthemum leaves, and lettuces. For salad ideas, remember to zest your citrus, lemon or orange, into olive oil, to give you a bright citrus flavored vinaigrette. If you like fruit in your salad, try slicing some of your peach or nectarine into your salad after it’s all made.
Cooking greens are erbette chard, a flat leafed, thin-stemmed chard from Italy, as well as a half pound of bull’s blood beet tops, both from the Soledad farm. The bull’s blood beet tops will turn whatever you mix with them a beautiful red color. At least I like that color. That’s a good reason to cook them separately from the erbette chard. While it’s green, it is different from the other green chard you’ve been getting. It is thin stemmed, with a more delicate leaf, similar to spinach. It also has a more mild flavor. I like to cut it crosswise into one inch strips, and sauté it with garlic and olive oil. Maybe a splash of white wine or water to wilt it down at the end. Then serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.
The featured items of the week are two heads of fennel, and one tarocco blood orange, from Rising C Ranch in Reedley, CA. It’s unusual for a blood orange to be so good at this time of year, but when I tried one of these last week, it tasted as good or better than any blood orange I’ve tried this season. Included in the box are two heads of fennel, so you can make a shaved fennel and tarocco blood orange salad. If you have a mandolin, that’s best to shave the fennel. I like it as thin as you can get it. To prepare the blood orange, use a serrated knife if you’re not a serious knife person, as you need a super sharp chef’s knife to successfully cut all the skin off. Cut off about half an inch of the top and bottom of the orange. After placing the one cut end down on your cutting board, carefully cut the skin off the flesh from top to bottom, trying to get as little of the flesh as possible. Then cut slices crosswise. You can quarter those slices to mix with your fennel. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I like to add some fresh onion, so thinly slicing some scallions is an option.
I know I’ve been giving you a lot of carrots lately. Here’s a pickling recipe from Tartine Bakery in SF that will help you mix it up a little. https://www.7×7.com/secret-recipe-tartines-spicy-pickled-carrots-1787333732.html
Enjoy!
Martin