Cascading Kitchen Week 3 recipes: (Including a couple great fennel recipes!)
http://www.summerinajar.com/category/recipes/jubilee-csa-weekly-recipes/week-three/
Liz’s Boxletter Recipes:
This week sees the end of June. How did that happen?!? I hope you all were able to use and love the scapes last week as much as I do. They were a bit of a late addition so I didn’t get anything written up for them. I love eating them almost as much as I love harvesting them. There’s something quite satisfying in popping the top off each garlic stalk and you’re left smelling quite nice for the rest of the day, your hands covered in their sticky fragrant juiciness. I mean, until you wash your hands when you get back to the barn. -Liz
Garlic Scape Pesto
Pesto’s can be used in so many ways, this one in particular is amazing. Scapes tend to have a milder garlic flavor so an entire pesto recipe made with them isn’t overpowering. You can however do all scapes or do a mix of scapes and herbs. Parsley and basil are great in here. This freezes quite well, I like to do so in ice cube trays so they are a great little portion size. Stirred into a pot of soup in the middle of winter brings a hint of spring when you need it most.
1/4 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes
Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
A few generous grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
n a small, dry pan set over very low heat, lightly toast the pine nuts, stirring or tossing occasionally until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Keep a close eye on these as they’ll burn in a blink. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese.
Grilled Garlic Scapes
This ‘recipe’ if you can even call it that is worth a try. Putting a little char on the scapes brings out their sweetness and tones down the garlicky flavor. Great with a sprinkle of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon.
One bunch scapes, or more if you have them
Lemon
Sea salt
Take one bunch of scapes, grill over direct heat for about two minutes flipping once half way through. They will be just tender enough with some good char in a few spots. Remove from heat, squeeze a bit of lemon and sprinkle with salt and enjoy. (See what did I tell you, barely worth calling it a recipe 😊)
Summer of Slaw
I made this declaration at my house this week, it will be the ‘summer of slaw’. As of writing this on Monday night I’ve had some form of slaw the last 3 nights. Slaw is the perfect hot summer night side, raw and cool with no cooking involved. The coleslaw of my youth was always heavily mayo’d and overly sweet and just plain gross. I’ve cut the dressing here with greek yogurt, add extra veggies and herbs and use it in everything from tacos to sandwiches to a bed for a piece of grilled salmon. Or at least that’s what I’ve done at home the last 3 days. 😉 The veggies I add here were what I had on hand, but I’ve made this with the cabbage/kale base and thin sliced snap peas, carrots, fennel, even a very non-locally grown avocado.
Slaw Dressing
½ C Nonfat plain greek yogurt
½ C mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced (or more if you’re garlic crazy like me)
2 T olive oil
Juice of a lime
¼ -½ C chopped herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, heck even lemon balm would work here)
½ small head shredded cabbage
½ bunch kale, shredded
3 baby turnips, thinly sliced (a mandolin works wonders here)
3 radishes, thinly sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
In a large bowl, whisk yogurt and mayo together. Stir in the rest of the dressing ingredients.
Add all your veggies and toss together pretty close to serving.
This will keep a day or so in the fridge, but it will sog out a bit. Still great for snacking on, but not pretty enough for feeding company if you get my drift.
Roasted (or Grilled) Radishes (or Turnips or both)
I’ve had a hard time with radishes over the years until I discovered how awesome they are when roasted. I mean how many do you really eat when you make a salad? Then I discovered I could achieve the same roasted effect on the grill in a cast iron pan and there was no looking back!
1 bunch radishes or turnips, or a combination of the two.
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat an oven to 375 or fire up that grill.
Trim greens of radishes and turnips, set aside. If they are nice, chop those guys up and you can toss them in at the end of cooking.
If there are any particularly huge radishes or turnips, halve them. You want these guys to all be relatively the same size. Toss with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet or place in a cast iron pan large enough to keep them in a single layer. The more contact they have with the pan, the more brown, caramelized sides you’ll have. Roast or grill for about 20 minutes, turning as once or twice. If you want to add the greens, do so now and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes till greens are wilted.
Miso Harissa Butter
Occasionally I add this concoction to the radish/turnip mix about half way through cooking. It caramelizes nicely and adds a ton of flavor. This can be doubled/tripled etc. and will keep for a very long time in the fridge. Try this butter on a grilled or broiled oyster, it’s awesome! The miso mixes with the brine of the oyster creating the best little soup shooter you’ve ever had.
2T unsalted good butter, softened
1T white miso
1T harissa
Mix all ingredients together. Add a few pats to the veggies and stir to combine as the butter melts.
Jubilee Farm 