October 20, 2022 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Tat Soi

 

Cooking With This Week's Box

Tat Soi:  

Photo from melaniemakes.com

Tat Soi Coconut Curry with Chickpeas (See Below)

Soupy Rice with Pork and Greens (See Below)

Orange Carrots:  

Ultra Satisfying Chicken Noodle Soup 

Southwest Carrot & Black Bean Soup 

Red Prairie Potatoes:  

Classic Potato Gratin 

Simple Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes 

Sweet Potatoes:  

Sweet Potato Muffins with Pecan Streusel 

Moroccan Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup 

White or Yellow Cauliflower or Broccoli Romanesco or Broccoli:  

Garlic & Lemon Roasted Cauliflower/Romanesco 

Photo from food52.com

Broccoli & Cheese Baked Potato Casserole 

Italian Garlic:

Simple Chickpea Soup with Rosemary & Garlic 

English Muffin Garlic Bread 

Yellow Onions:  

How To Cook Spanish Onions 

Spanish Onion Soup 

Salad Mix:  

Mesclun Salad with Avocado, Radishes and Oranges 

Baby Arugula:  

Best Vegan Raw Rainbow Veggie Hummus Wraps with Dipping Sauce 

Starry Night Acorn Squash or Jester Squash:  

Herb-Roasted Acorn Squash with Queso Fresco & Pomegranate 

Vegetarian Stuffed Acorn Squash 

Red Cabbage:  

Asian Red Cabbage Slaw 

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples & Bacon 

Photo from giveitsomethyme.com

We have had a chilly start to every day this week including a temperature of 19 degrees this morning! Temperatures that low remind us that winter is right around the corner and our days of eating fresh greens from the field are limited. But we still have a beautiful selection of greens in this week’s box so let’s get cooking!  This week’s featured vegetable is Tat Soi. This is the dark green vegetable in your box with spoon shaped leaves and green stems. It’s an important vegetable in our seasonal line up and it is delicious!  It is also easy to prepare as it may be eaten raw or cooks quickly. This week’s recipe suggestions are very simple. Tat Soi Coconut Curry with Chickpeas (See Below) is a simple recipe from Andrea Bemis. It’s warm, hearty and nutritious.  Serve it with a bowl of rice and you are set. If you have some rice and tat soi leftover, use it the next day to make Soupy Rice with Pork and Greens (See Below). This is a basic Chinese recipe that makes good use of leftover rice, bits of bacon and some greens.  It’s fast and nourishing.  

I intended to select some soup recipes but ended up with a few more than I realized when I finished the list!  I guess my body is ready to transition to warm, comfort food.  You can start with a  basic Ultra Satisfying Chicken Noodle Soup or spice it up a bit with 

Southwest Carrot & Black Bean Soup. This Moroccan Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup also looks quite tasty.  Serve any of these soups with a simple Mesclun Salad with Avocado, Radishes and Oranges or this  Vegan Raw Rainbow Veggie Hummus Wraps with Dipping Sauce.

This week’s potato selection brings us back to the basic red skin, white fleshed potato. This potato is a good choice for either Classic Potato Gratin or Simple Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes. These are family favorite types of recipes and are a nice accompaniment for meatloaf, roasted chicken, pot roast or even simple smoked ham.  

We are nearing the end of our delivery season, with just five more vegetable deliveries remaining! I am working on laying out the box contents for our final boxes.  We still have some new items to feature in upcoming boxes including Brussels sprouts and baby ginger!  We’ll also have to see how the radicchio, escarole and remaining tat soi look after last night’s frost.  Fingers crossed we can still harvest some of these items! 

Have a great week and I’ll see you back here next week for more fine eats!

--Chef Andrea 

 

Vegetable Feature: Tat Soi

by Andrea Yoder

This week we are delivering one of our favorite late season crops, Tat Soi! Tat soi has dark green, spoon shaped leaves with light green stems that grow from a base. We grow tat soi as a baby green to include in salad and sauté mix, but when you allow tat soi to grow to full size it becomes a beautiful flower-like vegetable! It is related to bok choi and has a mild mustard flavor. We reserve it for the very end of our season because it is more cold hardy and, in our opinion, the flavor is best after a bit of cold treatment!  If you see a little browning on the edges of the leaves, this is likely a little frost damage from a chilly night over the past week.  This is actually a good sign because it tells you its had the frost treatment that makes it go from tasting “good” to “spectacular!”  

Nearly the entire plant, leaves and stems, is edible and you’ll find both to be tender enough to eat raw as well as cooked.  Prior to use, use a paring knife to cut the stems away from the base. Wash the stems and leaves vigorously in a sink of cold water. If you’re using it to make a salad or stir-fry, make sure you pat the leaves dry or dry them in a salad spinner. If you’re using them in a soup or just wilting them, just shake a little water off of them.  

As mentioned above, tat soi may be eaten both raw and cooked and I consider it to be one of nature’s fast foods. Aside from a little time to wash it, the prep involved with tat soi is pretty minimal. It is very similar to spinach and bok choi, so consider using it in recipes or preparations where you may use greens such as these.  In its raw form, I like to use tat soi in tasty salads with lots of fall vegetables such as winter radishes (daikon or beauty heart), carrots, cabbage, etc. and a simple, light vinaigrette. Turn it into a meal itself by adding nuts, seeds and/or meat such as grilled steak, roasted chicken, or seared salmon. It may also be stir-fried, steamed and sauteed in just a few minutes. The stems may need a slightly longer cooking time, so it’s best to add those to the pan first.  The leaves cook very quickly and need just a few minutes to become silky and tender. You may choose to use it in egg rolls, won tons, fried rice, or added to soup.

I tend to use tat soi in dishes with some Asian influences, and rightfully so as it pairs well with ginger, miso, soy, sesame, etc. But it also pairs well with other ingredients including lemon, beans, grains, pasta, winter root vegetables, etc. Of course, you may also choose to incorporate it into casseroles, hot dishes, egg preparations such as quiche and scrambled eggs, pasta dishes, etc.

It’s best to store tat soi in a plastic bag or a covered container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.  I have stored this green in my refrigerator for several weeks, but we recommend eating it soon for the best quality.

Soupy Rice with Pork and Greens (Shang Hai Pao Fan) 

Yield:  2 servings

2 dried Shiitake mushrooms

A slice or two of bacon

2 cups tat soi or bok choi, chopped

1-2 Tbsp cooking oil

4-5 slices of peeled fresh ginger

1 scant cup cooked, cooled rice

4 cups chicken stock

Salt, to taste

Ground white pepper, to taste

1. Soak the mushrooms for 30 minutes in hot water until soft.
2. Remove and discard any rinds from the bacon and cut into slivers. Cut the mushrooms into slivers and slice or chop the tat soi or bok choi.
3. Heat the oil in a wok (or sauté pan) over a high flame. Add the bacon and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the ginger, stir a couple of times, then add the mushrooms. Stir a few more times, then add the greens and stir-fry until wilted. Add the rice and stock and bring to a boil. 
4. Simmer for a couple of minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Recipe sourced from Fuchsia Dunlop’s book, Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking.

Tat Soi/Bok Choi Coconut Curry with Chickpeas 

Photo from dishingupthedirt.com

Yield:  4 servings

1 cup basmati rice (or rice of choice)

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 medium sized onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp curry powder

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ cup vegetable stock or water

1 (15-oz) can chickpeas, drained

1 (15-oz) can coconut milk

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

3 cups roughly chopped bok choi or tat soi

1. Cook the rice according to package instructions.
2. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 5 minutes).  
3. Add the garlic, curry powder, red pepper flakes and a healthy pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook for 1 minute longer, stirring often to coat the onion and garlic in the spices.
4. Add in the vegetable stock, chickpeas and coconut milk.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the lime juice and greens and keep on low heat until the greens wilt down.  Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
5. Serve the soup with a scoop of rice and enjoy.

Recipe borrowed from Andrea Bemis’s blog, DishingUpthe Dirt.com