May 25, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Hon Tsai Tai

 

Cooking With This Week's Box

Photo from www.ohsnapletseat.com
Coconut Chicken Curry with Potatoes

Russet or German Butterball Potatoes:

Oven Baked Potato Chips 

Coconut Chicken Curry with Potatoes 

Overwintered Potato Onions:

Grilled Green Onion Dip 

Drop Biscuits with Green Onions 

Hon Tsai Tai:

Spring Hon Tsai Tai & Mushroom Miso Soup (See Below)

Sesame Soy Hon Tsai Tai & Chicken Salad 

Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce

Photo from www.101cookbooks.com
Asparagus Panzanella

Asparagus:

Asparagus and Quinoa Salad with Feta Cheese

Asparagus Panzanella

Green Garlic:

Pizza with Green Garlic, Potatoes and Herbs

Green Garlic Risotto

Baby Arugula:

Super Simple Arugula Salad

15 Minute Thin Crust Pizza with Arugula & Hot Honey 

Salad Mix:

Spring Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette 

Roasted Asparagus Green Salad

Photo from www.homeadefoodjunkie.com
Sweet & Spicy Rhubarb Ginger Sauce

Rhubarb:

50+ Rhubarb Recipes—Sweet & Savory

Rhubarb Baked Beans 

Pan Fried Rhubarb Chicken

Sweet & Spicy Rhubarb Ginger Sauce 

Rhubarb & Greek Yogurt Popsicles 

Mini Green Romaine Head Lettuce:

Chicken Taco Lettuce Wraps

Welcome back to our fourth week of CSA deliveries!  We’re wrapping up the month of May and getting ready to move into June.  There are little strawberries set on in the strawberry field, the kohlrabi are starting to form little bulbs and next week we’ll be harvesting the first of our baby white salad turnips!  Early in the season our CSA boxes are heavy with spring greens, as is evident with this week’s box!  So lets kick off this week’s Cooking With the Box article with a focus on our featured vegetable, Hon Tsai Tai.  First of all, don’t be intimidated by the name.  If this is your first time using this green, please take a moment to read this week’s vegetable feature article.  This green may be eaten either cooked or raw.  Our feature recipe this week is for Spring Hon Tsai Tai & Mushroom Miso Soup (See Below).  This is a super simple, and pretty quick recipe to make while also being packed with flavor.  I added rhubarb to this soup on a whim, with the concept of Hot and Sour soup in mind.  I think the tang of the rhubarb helps to brighten the soup, but try it for yourself and see what you think.  The recipe calls for adding udon or ramen noodles, but you could serve it with steamed rice instead or omit any additional starch.  It would also be good with the addition of chicken or beef if you want to add additional protein.  I also included links to two popular recipes from past newsletters.  Sesame Soy Hon Tsai Tai & Chicken Salad is a member favorite and is substantial enough to be an entrée salad.  You’ll likely have extra dressing, which you could use as a dip with this week’s mini romaine lettuce!  The other recipe that has been popular in the past is this Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce.  Potstickers take a little time to assemble, but this is a great recipe to involve the whole family in!  

If you have not yet checked out our private members only Facebook Group, I encourage you to do so.  There have been some great posts in there so far this year.  Over the past week one member posted this simple recipe for Asparagus and Quinoa Salad with Feta Cheese.  I definitely want to give this one a try.  Another member provided a link to this collection of 50+ Rhubarb Recipes—Sweet & Savory.  There are a lot of great rhubarb recipes in this collection including Rhubarb Baked Beans and Pan Fried Rhubarb Chicken that uses this Sweet & Spicy Rhubarb Ginger Sauce.  Check it out, I’m sure you’ll find at least one recipe to put this week’s rhubarb to good use!

I also included a few suggestions for a simple pizza and salad kind of meal plan.  Consider trying this recipe for Pizza with Green Garlic, Potatoes and Herbs or 15 Minute Thin Crust Pizza with Arugula & Hot Honey.  Pair your pizza with Spring Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette or Roasted Asparagus Green Salad.

Have a great week of cooking and I’ll see you back next week with some recipe suggestions for Baby White Turnips, and more asparagus and rhubarb.  We may be harvesting our first crop of cilantro next week and we have a new crop of spring radishes coming in!  

--Chef Andrea

 

Vegetable Feature: Hon Tsai Tai

by Andrea Yoder

Hon Tsai Tai (pronounced hon-sigh-tie) holds an important place in our spring vegetable line-up because it matures more quickly than other spring-planted greens.  It is in a group of plants referred to as “flowering brassicas.”  While it is related to such vegetables as mustard greens and Bok choi, what sets it apart is that it has beautiful purple stems that produce a sweet, delicate, edible yellow flower. The sweetness of the buds and flowers is the part we love the most! While other vegetables in the brassica family also produce flowers, they do so towards the end of their life cycle and at that point there are often undesirable flavor changes in the edible portion of the plant. Hon Tsai Tai is unique in that it produces the flower early in its life when all the parts of the plant still taste good.

Hon Tsai Tai has a mild mustard flavor that is very well-balanced this time of the year. The entire plant is edible and may be eaten raw or cooked. The thin purple stems are more tender when the plant is young. While still flavorful, they may become more coarse as the plant matures, so should be cut very finely at this stage.  Hon Tsai Tai is delicious in stir-fries or lightly steamed, but may also be incorporated into soups, ramen bowls or added to fried rice. It is tender enough to also become the base of a raw salad, either with just a simple vinaigrette or dress it up and make it a main dish with the addition of protein, chopped nuts and seeds, other spring vegetables, etc. 

If you do a search for recipes using Hon Tsai Tai, you will likely be directed to some basic recipes for sauteed Asian greens, or you’ll be linked back to our past newsletters!  Hon Tsai Tai is in the same family as Bok choi and mustard greens. You can expand your recipe search to include these two vegetables and use Hon Tsai Tai interchangeably in most recipes. Given Hon Tsai Tai has a pretty mild flavor, you may also incorporate this green into any recipe calling for spinach or other greens of similar texture.  The most intimidating thing about this green is its name, but beyond that it’s quite versatile in its uses!

Store Hon Tsai Tai loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator until ready for use. Prior to using, remove the twist tie and wash the greens in a sink of water. If you are using the greens for a raw salad, be sure to pat the leaves dry.

Spring Hon Tsai Tai & Mushroom Miso Soup

Yield:  4-6 servings

2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

8 oz sliced cremini or shiitake mushrooms

¾ cup thinly sliced green onions (white base and green tops)

½ cup thinly sliced green garlic (white base and green tops)

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

1 cup finely diced rhubarb

6 cups broth (vegetable, chicken or beef) or water

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 bunch Hon Tsai Tai

4-6 oz ramen or udon noodles (optional)

3 Tbsp sweet white miso**

1. Heat the toasted sesame oil in a medium saucepot over medium heat. When the oil is warm, add the sliced mushrooms, green onions, green garlic, fresh ginger and crushed red pepper. Stir to combine and sauté until the mushrooms are soft.
2. Add the rhubarb, broth or water, soy sauce, 1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper. Increase the heat a bit to bring the soup to a rapid simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. While the soup is simmering, prepare the Hon Tsai Tai. Cut the stems into ⅛ to ¼ inch pieces. Cut the leaves into thin strips. If the leaves are larger, you may want to cut them in half the long way and then slice them horizontally to create smaller pieces. Add the Hon Tsai Tai to the soup. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes. If you are adding ramen or udon noodles to the soup, add them accordingly based on how much time the noodles will take to cook.
4. Once the vegetables and noodles are tender, remove the soup from the heat and stir in the miso. Sometimes it’s easier to put the miso in a small bowl and add about ½ to ¾ cup of the hot liquid from the soup.  Stir to incorporate the miso into the liquid and then pour the hot miso liquid back into the soup pot. 
5. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning to your liking by adding additional soy sauce, salt, and/or miso as needed.

**Miso is a fermented staple ingredient in Japanese cooking. It adds depth of flavor to food while also contributing beneficial probiotic bacteria that are beneficial to our gut health. If you are not familiar with this ingredient, check out this article entitled: “What Is Miso, and How Do I Choose the Right One for What I’m Cooking?”  or read more on the website for South River Miso.  You will find miso in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, often displayed near eggroll and wonton wrappers and/or other fermented foods like kim chi, sauerkraut, etc. There are different varieties of miso. Sweet White Miso is a good place to start as it has more of a mild flavor. If you like more full-flavored foods, you may want to try a darker miso such as red miso or one that has been aged a little longer. I recommend adding miso right at the end of cooking so you preserve all of the beneficial probiotic bacteria that may otherwise be killed by extended time in simmering liquid.  Miso stores for a long time in your refrigerator, so don’t worry about only using 3 Tbsp this week.  Keep it in the refrigerator with the lid tightly secured on the container and you can use it over the course of the season.

Recipe by Andrea Yoder, Harmony Valley Farm