CSA 2018 - Week #4

Summer weather is here!  Our crops are growing well in this heat, but we need to irrigate (farmer talk for watering) or we'll start losing crops.  Our soil is very sandy here on Long Island and it does not hold moisture for more than a few days.  If crops dry out, they will die, so regular irrigating is essential.  During a dry spell, we run our irrigation pumps daily, pumping water from underground wells which tap into an aquifer.  If you wonder where Long Island's water comes from, it's right under your feet!  Think carefully about what you spread on your lawn...it all sinks down and ends up in our drinking (and irrigation) water system!

THIS WEEK IN THE SHARES...

Baby Arugula - Super baby size, tender, melt-in-your-mouth!  Don't cook it at this size.  Wash gently, spin dry and eat!
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Uses: Raw in salad  When to use: Within 3 days.  

Escarole - Looks like lettuce, but it's not!  It's escarole, a member of the chicory family and well-loved in Italian cuisine. Quick Tip!  The thicker, outer leaves are best cooked.  The inner, light-colored leaves and white stem are best eaten raw in a salad.  You can get two meals out of these giant heads!  
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Uses: Cooked or Raw  When to use: Within 5 days.  

Collards - In the summer, I use all my collards as wraps.  They can be blanched ahead of time and kept in the fridge ready to wrap up all types of yummy fillings!  
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Uses: Cooked or Raw  When to use: Within 5 days.  

Red Beets - Beets are another two-for-one veg because the beet greens are super delicious! Cook them like spinach.  The roots are great roasted or boiled and then sliced in salads or served warm.  You can shave or grate them raw in salads.  So sweet and tender this time of year!  
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Separate the roots from the greens first. Uses: Cooked or Raw  When to use: Within 5 days.  

Specialty Bunching Broccoli - Three cheers for a new veg!  The floret AND the whole stem are edible and delicious.  Just cut off the very base of the stem and stem until tender.  This bunching broccoli is new to our farm crop list this year.  We saw it in the seed catalogues this winter and thought about the possibility of harvesting broccoli in the summer for our members!  We just couldn't not grow it.  The thing is, it has a funny way of growing that requires picking every few days.  New shoots form and mature off the center stalk and it keeps producing as long as we keep picking.  So it's in rotation this week.  Some groups will receive it and others will receive it in a future week. Tell us what you think!  
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Uses: Cooked or Raw  When to use: Within 5 days.  

Garlic Scapes - This is the top of the garlic plant and it's a rare delicacy only harvested during a short window in June.  We remove this part of the plant to encourage the garlic bulbs to thicken up.  You eat the whole scape, but remove the flower bud (the small bulge on the thin end). They can be used in place of garlic in recipes, but they're also delicious cooked in usual ways - like grilled until tender, roasted in the oven until tender, or thrown into the food processor and made into pesto! 
Storage: In airtight storage in the refrigerator. Uses: Cooked or Raw  When to use: Within 5 days. 

RECIPES

Escarole Salad with Parmesan Dressing
Escarole & White Bean Soup
Garlic Scape Pesto
All about Collard Green Wraps
Peanut Chicken Collard Green Wraps
Beet & Quinoa Salad - Uses raw beets & great for picnics!
Roasted Beet Salad with Kale and Almonds

QUICK NO-RECIPE IDEAS
Collard Wraps (see above)
Juice the Beets
Grill the garlic scapes until tender