Harmony Valley Farm: June 3, 2021 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Pea Vine!

Welcome to June! We’re approaching the end of spring and will officially welcome in the summer season in just a few more weeks. The strawberries are just starting to ripen, the zucchini and cucumber plants are finally taking off, and the first crop of basil is nearly ready to harvest! It’s always exciting to see what’s coming up next and this week’s featured vegetable, pea vine, is always the precursor to the start of picking peas. Yes, peas will be coming soon but this week we’re enjoying pea vine! I’ve included some additional recipe links to some of the member favorite recipes that we’ve featured in past newsletters. Hopefully you will find a recipe you’d like to try with this crazy, delicious green!

This is likely our final week of asparagus, so make sure you savor every last bite! You’ll find links to Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk and Mint and an Asparagus Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Perhaps these two recipes may even go together as a meal in itself!

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

This week’s box continues to be loaded with greens, both for eating raw in salads as well as for cooking. The beauty of spring salads is that you can get creative with the toppings, dressings, etc. Perhaps this week you’ll try the Pea Vine Vinaigrette (See Below) that is our featured recipe. If you don’t care for that recipe, there are several other links to additional salad dressing options including a Creamy Cilantro Dressing.

Looking ahead to next week, we’re crossing our fingers that the kohlrabi will make it and we’re hoping to have enough ripe strawberries to include them in all boxes! We’re happy to have sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s which will certainly help to encourage some of these upcoming vegetables to grow!

Have a great week and I’ll see you back here again next week!

--Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Pea Vine

By: Chef Andrea Yoder

Description: 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. Pea vine has a bright, subtle pea flavor and, as with all leafy greens, is packed with nutrients that leave you feeling invigorated!

Preparation & Use: 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 mid to lower portion may be a little more coarse. In past years we’ve had members comment that the pea vine is “stringy.” There are several ways to deal with this issue and still extract full flavor and benefit from the pea vine. The first option is to pick the tender leaves, tendrils and thin stems off the main stem. You can use those in salads or lightly cook them. Do not throw the stem away as it still has flavor that can be extracted! You can simmer the stems in hot broth, sauces or soups to extract the flavor, then discard the stems.

Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad

I must admit, I don’t like to spend a lot of time sorting through a bunch of pea vine, so I typically utilize option #2 when the pea vine is more mature. Option 2 is to blend/chop leaves, tendrils and much of the stem in a blender, food processor, or simply with a knife. I will still discard the lower few inches of the bunch if that portion of the stem is more tough, but I typically utilize the remainder of the plant. If you chop it very finely and use a good blender or food processor, you can add it to pesto, smoothies, soups, cream cheese, etc. If you are using pea vine in sauces, soups or broth, I recommend rough chopping the pea vine into smaller pieces and adding 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 goes well with cream, butter, cheese, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon and ham, lemon, lime, mint, parsley, chives, spring onions, green garlic, radishes, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Storage: Store pea vine loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator until ready for use.

Additional Pea Vine Recipes: Visit our website where you’ll find some of our favorite recipes utilizing pea vine that have been featured in past newsletters. These are the recipes that have become member favorites!

Pea Vine Vinaigrette

Yield: 1 ¼ cups

2 cups rough chopped pea vine (tender stems and leaves)

3 Tbsp dijon or stoneground mustard

3 Tbsp maple syrup

4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

½ tsp salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

⅔ cup sunflower oil (or other neutral salad oil)

1 Tbsp minced pickled ginger (optional)

Place pea vine in a blender or food processor. Add mustard, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, ½ tsp salt and black pepper. Blend or process briefly to start chopping the pea vine and combining the other ingredients.
With the blender or food processor running, slowly pour in the oil. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically. Continue to blend until the mixture is mostly smooth and well combined.
Taste and adjust to your liking by adding more salt and/or apple cider vinegar as needed. Add pickled ginger and stir just enough to fold it into the dressing. Refrigerate until ready for use.

Note from Andrea: This recipe is an adaptation of Sarah Britton’s Maple-Mustard dressing, originally found in her book, My New Roots. This is my go-to salad dressing and one I shared in a newsletter last fall. I typically make the basic dressing in a bowl and just whisk it to combine everything. In this adaptation I chose to make it in the blender which helps to not only chop up the pea vine, but also emulsifies the dressing so it does not separate.

Simple Spring Lettuce Salad with Pea Vine Vinaigrette

Servings: as many as you wish

Head lettuce, washed, dried and torn into bite-sized pieces

Radishes, thinly sliced

Feta cheese, crumbled

Pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted

Pea Vine Vinaigrette (see above)

Cooked chicken, fish or tofu (optional)

Adjust the quantities of the ingredients above according to the number of salads you wish to make. Put the lettuce directly into the bowls you are using to serve the salad.
Top the lettuce with radishes and feta cheese. Drizzle or pour pea vine vinaigrette over the salad, quantity to your liking.
Top off the salad with crumbled feta cheese, pumpkin seeds and protein of your choosing if you wish. Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

June 3, 2021 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Pea Vine!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Vegetable Feature: Pea Vine

Pea Vine Vinaigrette

Simple Spring Lettuce Salad with Pea Vine Vinaigrette

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