| The First Muse Newsletter - Week 2, June 12 |
| Written by Calliope Pappadakis | |||
| Tuesday, 12 June 2012 00:00 | |||
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Greetings, Friends, I'm thankful for the rain after a hot, sunny and fun weekend. We fixed the sink in the high tunnel so we can dunk produce immediately after harvest to remove the heat of the day; we tied back the 10-foot tall asparagus ferns so the surrounding potatoes and flowers can share the sunlight; and we cleaned up a corner of the high tunnel and set up 6 palettes in the open space. We'd eventually like to add trays and soil and grow lettuce and other shallow-rooted crops there. The irrigation is already available, so I'm looking forward to easily adding this new growing area to the tunnel. I am envisioning pac choi, turnips, endive, and more! If you'd like to read more about our adventures here in the valley, visit our site: www.thefirstmuse.net. The cast of characters in the basket this week are: a miniature redheaded Romaine lettuce ("Breen") and a buttercrunch head ("Dancine"), Socrates Cucumbers, Goldy Summer Zucchini-Squash, Ruby Red Swiss Chard, Purple Haze Carrots OR Hakurei Turnips, Chioggia Radicchio OR Garlic Scapes, Yukina Savoy, garlic chives, Fresh Rosemary, Deep Purple Scallions, Cutting Celery, and a lovely bunch of flowers.  If you aren’t accustomed to eating radicchio, it is a slightly bitter green; it's actually a lovely red with very little green color, if any at all. It resembles a small head of red cabbage. We slice the head, toss it into our salads and add fruit to balance out the bitter (pears or dried fruit, gorgonzola, and radicchio make a fine trio, especially with a light vinaigrette) Another suggestion is to fire up the grill and brown wedges of radicchio with olive oil and sea salt. This recipe uses the scallions, lettuce, and radicchio from today's harvest.Here’s a favorite rosemary recipe. We eat these taters once a week in high-potato season (coming soon). A share member last year put them on a salad – yum! I can’t think of a better “crouton”. If you'd like to make a side dish of the carrots, turnips and rosemary, I recommend this recipe. It's not quite parsnip-season, so use the carrots and turnips in lieu. Delish. We heard from a member last week about another way to enjoy Hakurei turnips: shave them raw into a salad. I can't wait to try this since these kinds of turnips are so tender we should find ways to eat them raw. Wondering what to do with Yukina Savoy? We enjoyed it in an omelet this week, but a member said they tried it with orzo, sauteed yellow squash, and a garlic scape-basil-walnut-pecorino pesto. Hello! What a dish! We'd love to hear about and pass along what recipes are working for you! Have a terrific week, and thanks for reading. --Calliope & Jim
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