June 6, 2019 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Pea Vine!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Pea Vine: Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below); Pea Vine & Spinach Green Drink (See Below);  Pea Vine Cream Cheese

Potato Onions: Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below); Pea Vine Cream Cheese; Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens with Brown-Butter Hot Sauce Vinaigrette

Green Garlic: Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below); Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens with Brown-Butter Hot Sauce Vinaigrette; Green Pancakes

Red Radishes: Vanilla Butter with Radishes

Asparagus: Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below); Pea Vine Cream Cheese; Baked Asparagus Fries

Baby White Turnips: Pancetta Wrapped Baby Turnips; Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens with Brown-Butter Hot Sauce Vinaigrette

Cilantro: Cilantro Lime Dressing; Easy One Skillet Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken; Pea Vine & Spinach Green Drink (See Below) 

Baby Spinach: Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below); Pea Vine & Spinach Green Drink (See Below);  Green Pancakes; Spinach-Mushroom Scrambled Eggs

Salad Mix: Cilantro Lime Dressing

Lets kick off this week’s cooking discussion with a simple, yet tasty and very green pasta dish.  This week’s featured recipe is Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce (See Below).  Last week a CSA member sent me a link to a recipe for Avocado Pasta with Asparagus and Peas.  She had made her own version of this recipe using a lot of the vegetables in the box and based upon her recommendation (as well as her husband’s endorsement of this “really good recipe”), I decided to give it a try and adapt it to this week’s box contents.  There are a couple steps to this recipe, but it comes together really easily and uses a whole bunch of pea vine, potato onions, green garlic and asparagus.  It’s creamy without being too heavy.  You can serve it as the main dish or as a side along with grilled chicken, fish, etc.  If you're short on time, are looking for a quick way to eat your greens, or you just want something healthy and invigorating, try the recipe for Pea Vine & Spinach Green Drink (See Below).  It's super simple, travels well and gives you a little burst of feel good energy.  

Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens with Brown-Butter Hot
Sauce Vinaigrette

Last week we featured baby white turnips, so if you missed last week’s feature article and recipe, take a minute to check out the article as well as the recipe for Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens with Brown-Butter Hot Sauce Vinaigrette.  It’s a tasty recipe that is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner and leftovers reheat easily.  If you’re looking for another way to use turnips, consider making these tasty Pancetta Wrapped Baby Turnips.  You may want to cut the turnips in half this week as they are a little bit larger. This recipe uses just the turnips, but don’t throw away the greens!  Chop them up and saute them with a little bit of butter or add them to scrambled eggs, rice, etc.

Asparagus Fries
photo from damndelicious.net

Looking for a classy summer appetizer to have with friends for a summer get together?  Check out this recipe for Vanilla Butter with Radishes.  Serve the radishes whole with the tops still on, or cut them in half if they’re a little bigger.  This vanilla butter is easy to make and the only other thing you need is a little salt.  Serve it along with crackers or some good crusty bread.  You could also make a batch of Pea Vine Cream Cheese to serve with crackers and, if you haven’t already used your asparagus, roast some on a sheet pan and serve spears of Baked Asparagus Fries.  Add a glass of wine and you’re set!

While we’re waiting for some of our other fresh herbs to grow big enough for harvest, we’re happy to have cilantro available to fill the herb slot.  This recipe for Cilantro Lime Dressing is on the agenda for this week.  The basic vinaigrette will be good tossed with this week’s salad mix.  You can turn it into a full meal by adding some chickpeas, grilled steak or chicken to the salad.  The author also suggests adding yogurt to make it a creamy dressing that could be used as a sauce for grilled meat or roasted vegetables or as a sauce for tacos or the like.

Green Pancakes

Another option for employing this week’s cilantro is Easy One Skillet Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken.  This is an easy recipe that will allow you to have dinner on the table in 30 minutes!  Serve this with Green Pancakes and you have a complete meal.  The green pancakes might add a little time to your dinner prep, but they can be made in advance and reheated in the toaster or oven.  This is a savory pancake made with spinach (or any other green you have available) and lots of green garlic.  You can serve them with a dollop of sour cream, but in this meal they’ll be really good with the cream sauce on the chicken.

I think we’ve made it to the bottom of the box.  If you have any other greens hanging out in the refrigerator, use them to make Spinach-Mushroom Scrambled Eggs.  The recipe calls for spinach, but you can substitute any greens you have (radish tops, turnip tops, hon tsai tai from the week before, etc).

 

That pretty much finishes off box number 5!  What’s coming up for next week?  Well, we’re going to be picking strawberries very soon and the garlic scapes are starting to push up from the center of the garlic stalks.  We also have our eyes on a gorgeous field of head lettuce, including a deep, dark cherry red oak lettuce with soft rounded leaves. Have a great week!

Vegetable Feature: Pea Vine

Pea Vine is actually an immature pea plant that is harvested before the vine starts to develop blossoms.  It has a mild, sweet pea flavor and may be eaten raw or lightly cooked.  We look forward to pea vine every year because it has such a bright, gentle pea flavor and is a nutrient dense green that just seems to leave you feeling invigorated and refreshed!

While the tendrils and leaves are tender, the main stem can sometimes get tough depending on how mature the plant is at harvest.  This week’s pea vine is at an in between stage.  Most of the upper stem is still tender while the lower portion may be a little more coarse.  In past years we’ve had members comment that the pea vine is “stringy.”  Here’s how we tackle this issue. If you find this to be the case, pick the tender leaves, tendrils and thin stems off the main stem.  I must admit, I don’t like to spend a lot of time sorting through a bunch of pea vine and I prefer to use as much of the bunch as I can...plus there is a lot of flavor in the stem!  Thus, when the pea vine is more mature and some of the stems are more tough, I tend to use pea vine in ways that allow me to chop it finely in a blender or food processor.  The other way I like to use pea vine is in sauces, soups or broth.  I generally chop the pea vine into smaller pieces and add it to hot broth or a sauce base.  Let the pea vine simmer briefly to extract the flavor, but don’t overcook it or you’ll lose the bright pea flavor.  Once you’ve infused the flavor of the pea vine into the sauce or broth, you can strain it out to remove it.  If you’d like to extract just a little more flavor, blend the mixture before straining it.

Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad

Pea vine goes well with cream, butter, cheese, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon and ham, lemon, lime, mint, parsley, chives, spring onions, green garlic, radishes, asparagus, and mushrooms.  Some of my favorite past recipes using pea vine include Pea Vine Cream Cheese, Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad and Spring Noodle Bowl with Pea Vine Broth. 

As I mentioned in the introduction, pea vine, as with many greens, is packed with nutrients.  Farmer Richard always says “Eat your greens every day!”  Why is this so important?  Greens are rich sources of a variety of minerals, vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants.  When we include them in our diets on a daily basis, we’re essentially giving our bodies the daily boost they need to remove toxins from our systems, support our immune system and fuel our metabolic pathways that produce energy.  Of course this is a very simplified explanation of what really happens in our amazing, intricate body systems, but the bottom line is pretty simple…eat your greens!  From time to time you might even want to “drink your greens!”  Some of you may be accustomed to adding greens such as kale and spinach to a fruity smoothie.  You can also make more savory green drinks that are not only a great nutrient boost, but they’re convenient to take with you to work as part of your lunch or an afternoon snack.  In addition to nutrients, they’re also a great way to meet your daily water intake and, if you don’t strain them, you’ll get some fiber as well!  So this week I included a very simple green drink recipe that includes not only the vibrant, delicate flavor of pea vine, but it also includes spinach and cilantro.  It’s simple, refreshing and if you’re simply running short on time and need something quick you can pull this off in short order. 

I hope you enjoy and appreciate the delicate flavor of pea vine this week and remember, within the next month we’ll be enjoying peas in the pod!

Pasta with Asparagus & Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce

Yield:  4 servings

8 oz small pasta (e.g., orecchiette, macaroni, fusilli, etc)
1 bunch pea vine
1 stalk green garlic, chopped finely
1 medium ripe avocado
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp salt plus more to taste
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3-4 green onions (1 cup thinly sliced)
2 cups fresh baby spinach or arugula
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta and set aside.
2. While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce.  Cut the bottom one-inch off the pea vine stems.  Finely chop the pea vine, leaves and stem.  Place the pea vine and chopped green garlic in a food processor or blender.  Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop the flesh out of the skin.  Add it to the food processor along with yogurt, lemon juice, ½ tsp salt and ground black pepper.  Process on high for 20-30 seconds.  Stop and scrape down the bowl.  Continue to process until the mixture is well combined.  It will be very creamy, but not completely smooth.
3. Once the pasta is cooked and the sauce is made, heat olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat.  Add the green onion and saute briefly until softened.  Add the asparagus and saute for several minutes, stirring periodically, until the asparagus is bright green and cooked al dente (tender but still a little crunchy).
4. Add the baby spinach along with a few tablespoons of the pasta water.  Cover the pan and steam just until the spinach is wilted, 1-2 minutes.  Remove the lid and add the cooked pasta and the sauce to the pan.  Stir to combine.  Add additional pasta water if the sauce is too thick, or simmer for a few minutes if the sauce is too thin.  Once warmed through, taste and adjust the seasoning with additional lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed.
5. Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan.

This recipe was adapted from one entitled “Avocado Pasta with Asparagus and Peas,” originally published on www.wellplated.com.  

Pea Vine & Spinach Green Drink

Yield:  1 quart

3 cups roughly chopped pea vine

2 cups fresh spinach

½ cup chopped cilantro

2 cups water

4 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 to 1 ½ cups ice cubes

¼ tsp salt, plus more to taste

1. Put all ingredients in a blender.  If you can’t fit all the greens in the blender cup, just put about half in at first with the remaining ingredients.  Blend briefly to create more space and then add remaining greens.
2. Blend on high speed until all ingredients are finely chopped and the mixture is smooth.
3. If you want a very smooth, velvety juice, pour it through a fine mesh strainer before serving.  If you don’t mind a little thickness in your juice from the vegetable pulp, then skip the straining step.  There may also be a layer of foam on top from the high speed blender action.  Just take a spoon and skim it off the top.
4. Adjust the seasoning to your liking with more salt and lemon juice.  Serve over ice for a cold drink or gently and briefly heat it to lukewarm on the stove top for a warm drink.  Store any extras in the refrigerator.  The juice will separate in storage, just shake it before serving.

Recipe by Chef Andrea