Harmony Valley Farm: Hon Tsai Tai

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**

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.
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.
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.
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.
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

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

May 20, 2021 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Hon Tsai Tai!

Cooking With This Week's Box

By: Chef Andrea Yoder

Chives:

Chive Cream Cheese

Garlic Bread Except with Chives!

Green Garlic:

Greens and Green Garlic Pesto (See Below)

Savory Greens Pancakes

Asparagus:

20 Asparagus Recipes to Make Right Now

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic and Parmesan

Baby Arugula:

Roasted Asparagus and Arugula Pizza

Grilled Chicken with Arugula and Warm Chickpeas

Green Top Red & Purple Radishes:

Mediterranean Tuna & Radish Salad

Mustard Crusted Salmon with Dill Radishes and Asparagus

Sorrel:

Sorrel-Lime Cooler

Armenian Cold Yogurt & Sorrel Soup

Sauté Mix:

Sesame Noodles with Wilted Greens and a Fried Egg

Mixed Greens Salad with Mandarins, Toasted Almonds and Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette

Hon Tsai Tai:

Spring Greens Pasta with Greens & Green Garlic Pesto (See Below)

Sesame Soy Hon Tsai Tai Salad with Chicken

Baby White Turnips:

Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens

Turnip Greens Pesto Pizza

Baby Bok Choi:

Bok Choi Salad with Sesame Almond Crunch

Bok Choi Stir-Fry with Crispy Tofu

This week’s box is packed with leafy greens, which is the focus of our articles and recipes! Spring greens are an important part of a seasonal midwestern diet and we’ve got you covered this week! Hon tsai tai is a specialty green we plant two times early in the season and is the featured vegetable this week. While it’s related to baby bok choi, it’s special in its own right and stands out with its purple stems and yellow edible flowers. You really can use it anywhere you would use baby bok choi, but this week you could use it to make the Spring Greens Pasta with Greens & Green Garlic Pesto (See Below). I also included a link to Sesame Soy Hon Tsai Tai Salad with Chicken which has been a popular member recipe in past years.

Green Garlic Pancakes

Throughout the season I will continue to encourage you to eat the green tops on pretty much every vegetable that has an edible top! Don’t be afraid to use your greens and green topped vegetables interchangeably in recipes such as the featured pesto recipe this week as well as Savory Greens Pancakes. Of course, you can always keep the greens with the roots, especially when we’re talking about the darling baby white turnips in this week’s box! I included two of my favorite turnip recipes from past newsletters, but there are more on our website too!

Make sure you get your fill of asparagus as the season is never long enough! This week I included another pizza recipe to couple asparagus and arugula, but I also found a nice article featuring 20 Asparagus Recipes to Make Right Now. Of course, there are some times when I just like to keep it simple and sauté asparagus with a little butter or toss it with olive oil and roast it.

Creamy Turnip Grits & Greens

This is our final week for chives. Next week we’ll start harvesting our spring potato onions which are a very savory, delicious multiplier onion. We also have a pretty crop of mini red romaine head lettuce that should be ready to harvest next week. We’re also hoping to harvest our first spring-planted spinach crop and possibly some salad mix. You can also look forward to rhubarb in next week’s boxes, so get your favorite rhubarb recipes ready!

Have fun in the kitchen, eat your greens every day and have an invigorating week until we check in again!—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Hon Tsai Tai

By: Chef Andrea Yoder

Description: Hon tsai tai is in a group of plants referred to as “flowering brassicas” and has a mild mustard flavor. It is a Chinese specialty green also sometimes called Kailaan. 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.

Preparation & Use: 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 or sautéed, but also makes a stunning and flavorful addition to raw salads. A common preparation in Chinese cuisine is to quickly stir-fry hon tsai tai with garlic, onions, and ginger, then add oyster sauce.

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

Nutrition: Hon tsai tai has specifically been studied to evaluate its antioxidant potential in the body. In comparison to other vegetables in this family, some studies have shown that hon tsai tai has more antioxidant effect and may be effective in retarding the effects of aging. Just one more reason to make sure you eat hon tsai tai and other vegetables in this family when available!

(Chen J, Zhang J, Xiang Y, Xiang L, Liu Y, He X, Zhou X, Liu X, Huang Z. Extracts of Tsai Tai (Brassica chinensis): enhanced antioxidant activity and anti-aging effects both in vitro and in Caenorhabditis elegans. Food Funct. 2016 Feb;7(2):943-52. doi: 10.1039/c5fo01241d. PMID: 26726147.)

Greens & Green Garlic Pesto

By: Chef Andrea Yoder

Photo from www.brooklynsupper.com

Yield: 2 cups

2-4 stalks green garlic (Greens and white portion)

½ cup toasted hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or almonds

2 cups chopped leafy greens, roughly chopped*

½ tsp salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ cup olive oil (or other flavorful oil)

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

2-3 Tbsp lemon juice

Cut the green garlic into approximate 1-inch pieces. Place in the bowl of a food processor along with the pepitas or almonds, leafy greens, salt and black pepper. Pulse to break down the ingredients into a coarse mixture.
With the food processor running, drizzle in the oil and mix just until combined. Stop the food processor, remove the lid and add parmesan cheese, lemon zest and 2 Tbsp lemon juice.
Blend until fully combined. You want the mixture to still have some texture, so do not try to blend it to be totally smooth. Taste and adjust to your liking by adding more lemon juice, salt and black pepper as needed.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

*Note: For “leafy greens” you may use nearly anything you have available! Radish & turnip tops, spinach, arugula, mustard, sauté greens, etc are all appropriate. Get creative!

Serving Suggestions: This pesto can be used in a variety of ways. Toss it with pasta or stir it into rice or other cooked grains. You can also mix a spoonful into scrambled eggs, spread it on toast or use it as a spread for a wrap or on sandwiches. Mix it with cream cheese and spread it on crackers. Serve it on fish, chicken or grilled steak. Toss it with roasted potatoes or other vegetables. As you can see, once you make this basic recipe there are a lot of options for how to put it to use!

Recipe adapted from www.brooklynsupper.com.

Spring Greens Pasta with Greens & Green Garlic Pesto

Yield: 3-4 servings

8 oz spaghetti noodles

4 oz bacon, sliced thinly (optional)

1 bunch hon tsai tai, or 2-4 cups of other “greens”

1-1½ cups Greens & Green Garlic Pesto (see recipe above)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving

Olive oil, for serving

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti per package instructions. When cooked to al dente, drain the pasta in a colander and set aside.
In a medium sauté pan over medium to medium high heat, cook bacon until crispy. You want about 1 Tbsp of fat in the pan once the bacon is cooked. If it looks like there is more oil than that, remove some with a spoon. If there is not enough fat, add a little olive oil.
Wash the hon tsai tai or whatever greens you are using. Shake off excess water, but note that it’s ok if they are not totally dry as you need some moisture to help them wilt down. Roughly chop them into bite-sized pieces.
Reduce the heat to medium and carefully add them to the pan with the bacon, if using, or to a pan with a little olive oil if you are not using the bacon. Be careful when doing so as the addition of moist greens to the pan with hot oil can cause spattering. After adding the greens to the pan, immediately put a lid on the pan and wilt the greens down for about 1-2 minutes.
Add the spaghetti to the pan along with about 1 cup of pesto. Stir to combine. Add more pesto to your liking.
When pasta is thoroughly heated through, taste and adjust to your liking with salt and pepper.
Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese.

Note from Chef Andrea: This is a very basic recipe for pasta tossed with greens and pesto. The beauty of this dish is that you can build upon this base by adding other ingredients of your choosing. Don’t limit yourself, rather use the ingredients you have available and turn this into whatever you want it to be!

If you don’t wish to use bacon, substitute another meat of your choosing (chunks of chicken, steak, or fish) or eliminate meat totally. Of course, you can add as many vegetables to this recipe as you wish! Just sauté any non-leafy green vegetables in a touch of oil before you add the spaghetti and leafy greens. Baby white turnips, asparagus and mushrooms would be tasty additions this time of year.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

May 23, 2019 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Hon Tsai Tai!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Baby Arugula or Baby Spinach: Balsamic Vinaigrette; No Bacon Pasta Carbonara Loaded with Greens

Overwintered Sunchokes: Sunchoke Chive Soup; Chili & Lime Sunchoke Salsa

Chives: Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce (see below); Roasted Radish and Herbed Ricotta Omelet; Sunchoke Chive Soup

Asparagus: Shaved Asparagus and Whipped Ricotta Pizza

Salad Mix: Spring Salad with Green Garlic Dressing

Red & Diana Radishes: Roasted Radishes with Brown Butter & Lemon; Pan Roasted Radishes in Bacon Cream Sauce; Roasted Radish and Herbed Ricotta Omelet; No Bacon Pasta Carbonara Loaded with Greens

Green Garlic: Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce (see below); Spring Salad with Green Garlic Dressing

Hon Tsai Tai: Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce (see below); No Bacon Pasta Carbonara Loaded with Greens

Don’t be intimidated by the length of the featured recipe in this week’s newsletter. The recipe is for Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce (see below). This week’s recipe will take a little time to assemble, but potstickers are both fun to make AND eat! If you recruit a friend or two or make it a family event you’ll have them made in no time. So what’s the story on potstickers?

Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers

Potstickers are a type of Chinese dumpling. The story, as told by Andrea Nyugen on her blog, is that potstickers date back to somewhere between 960-1280 AD. A Chinese chef was steaming dumplings in a wok, got distracted and let the pan go dry. The dumplings stuck to the bottom of the wok—uh oh, what to do? Well, they must not have been burned and he must’ve been in a pinch because he served them to the guests who actually really liked them! Thus, these little dumplings became known as potstickers because they stick to the bottom of the pan. So a potsticker is different from other Asian dumplings in that they are first fried in a thin layer of oil to get a crispy bottom, then they are steamed to cook the rest of the dumpling, then fried again at the very end to ensure a crispy bottom and a soft top with the filling thoroughly cooked. They are often made with ground pork or other ground meat, but I wrote this recipe with a vegetable only filling. If you like, you can add ground meat to the vegetable mixture. Potstickers are best served warm right out of the pan. They can also be frozen, so if you aren’t going to eat all the potstickers this recipe makes, freeze some of the dumplings on a parchment lined cookie sheet before they are cooked. Once they are frozen you can take them off the cookie sheet and put them in a bag in the freezer. I haven’t tried this myself, but from what I’ve read you want to pull them right out of the freezer and put them directly into a hot pan to start cooking them. If you thaw them first the wrapper will get soggy and might tear.

If you’ve never shaped potstickers before, here are a few videos that will be helpful and show you how to do this. Try this one OR this one. I hope you’ll consider making these and even more, I hope you have some fun doing it!

Shaved Asparagus and Whipped Ricotta Pizza
Photo from HowSweetEats.com

Ok, moving on to the other things in the box. I always love a good pizza and thought this recipe for Shaved Asparagus and Whipped Ricotta Pizza looked pretty delicious. Serve this with a baby arugula or spinach salad dressed with this simple Balsamic Vinaigrette. The acidity of the vinaigrette will be a nice balance to the rich cheese and prosciutto on the pizza.

It’s a radish kind of week! If you are a radish lover this is the week for you. If you are still learning to appreciate radishes, perhaps you might like them better roasted? Roasting helps to mellow the radishy-ness of radishes and even brings out a hint of sweetness. Try this recipe for Roasted Radishes with Brown Butter & Lemon. This is a pretty simple preparation. If you prefer something a bit more rich try this recipe for Pan Roasted Radishes in Bacon Cream Sauce. This is the recipe Richard prefers. You could serve this as a side dish or turn it into a main entrée by tossing the radishes with cooked pasta. I also found this recipe for Roasted Radish and Herbed Ricotta Omelet. This recipe calls for fresh herbs in the ricotta cheese, so I’d recommend using a generous addition of the chives in this week’s box. Chives and radishes are a great combo.

Don’t forget the radish tops! They make up more than half of the vegetable and so often they just get thrown away! One thing you could use them in is this recipe for No Bacon Pasta Carbonara Loaded with Greens. This is a great recipe to make use of any greens that might be hanging out without a purpose in your refrigerator. Radish or turnip tops, spinach, saute mix, hon tsai tai, nettles….what do you have?

Chili & Lime Sunchoke Salsa on top of seared salmon

If you’re looking for a light lunch option, that’s also pretty quick to make, consider using the salad mix to make a Spring Salad with Green Garlic Dressing. This recipe calls for baby spinach, but salad mix will work too. The greens are dressed with a simple green garlic dressing and the salad is topped off with cooked bulger, sunflower seeds and hard-boiled eggs. You could also serve this salad alongside Sunchoke Chive Soup. The two will make a great spring dinner on a cool evening. You could also use the sunchokes to make Chili & Lime Sunchoke Salsa. I like to eat this on top of seared salmon or as a topper for tacos. I also like to just add a spoonful to a bowl or rice or a simple green salad.

That brings us to the end of another week’s box. We’re hoping our little romaine head lettuces are ready for next week. I have a few lettuce wrap recipes I’m looking forward to trying. We are also planning to send baby white turnips, another spring favorite. And for one more little beacon of hope to leave you with….we’ll likely be picking strawberries in just 3-4 short weeks! Enjoy this week’s box!

Vegetable Feature: Hon Tsai Tai

Hon tsai tai (pronounced hon-sigh-tie) holds an important place in our spring vegetable line-up. It matures more quickly than other spring-planted greens and is very tasty when grown in cool spring weather. 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. 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 also makes a stunning and flavorful addition to raw salads. A common preparation in Chinese cuisine is to quickly stir-fry hon tsai tai with garlic, onions, and ginger, then add oyster sauce. This would also be a tasty green to use in spring rolls, pot stickers or fried rice. This vegetable is also a good addition to broth-based soups such as miso soup or could be a nice addition to a ramen bowl.

If you do a search for recipes using hon tsai tai, you likely won’t find much. Your best bet is to check out our recipe archive on our website for past recipes we’ve featured in previous newsletters. You can also use hon tsai tai interchangeably in recipes calling for bok choi or mustard greens. Store hon tsai tai loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator until ready for use.

Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers with Sesame Honey Dipping Sauce

Yield: 30-40 potstickers

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
½ cup minced green garlic
8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly and chopped
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or tamari
1 tsp ground coriander
1 bunch hon tsai tai, leaves and stems finely chopped
¼ cup minced fresh chives
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Salt and black pepper, to taste
36-40 dumpling wrappers (see note below)

Dipping Sauce:

¼ cup finely minced chives

⅓ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup toasted sesame oil

1 Tbsp Korean chili paste or chili sauce

2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or tamari

1 Tbsp honey

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the ginger and green garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until they are softened.
Add soy sauce and coriander. Stir to combine. Add hon tsai tai and season with a small amount of salt and black pepper. Cover the pan and steam for about 1 minute or until the greens have wilted down. Reduce the heat to medium. Stir in the chives and sesame seeds. Cook until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.
Remove from heat and taste a bit of the mixture. Season to your liking with additional salt, pepper or soy sauce. Set aside to cool while you make the dipping sauce.
In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients except for the chives. At the very end, stir in the chives. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve.
Now it’s time to assemble the potstickers. If you are using eggroll wrappers, make sure your potsticker wrappers are cut and ready to use. Lay the wrappers out on a work surface, 3-4 at a time. Leave the remaining wrappers covered with a towel or plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Put about 1 tablespoon of filling on each wrapper. Brush water around the edge of each wrapper with your finger. Fold the wrapper in half to create a half moon shape. Using your fingers, pinch the edges to seal them. The water will act like the glue to hold the two sides together. You want to have enough filling in the wrapper so the dumpling is full, but not too much or it will pop open. Once the edges are sealed, you can pleat the top by folding the edges over on themselves (there are videos online that demonstrate how to do this) and pinching the pleats to secure them. Place the formed dumplings on a platter and continue to form the remainder of the dumplings.
Once the dumplings are formed, heat a large skillet (or two if you want to cook them all at the same time) over medium-high heat. Add about 1 tablespoon of oil, or enough to just lightly coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil shimmers, add the potstickers to the pan. You want to leave a little space in between each, don’t overcrowd the pan. Once they are in the pan, let them cook for about 3 minutes or until the bottoms are light golden brown.
Next, you need to steam the dumplings to finish cooking them. To do this you will need to add ¼ cup water to the pan, but do so carefully and immediately cover the pan with a lid. Continue to cook, covered for about 3 minutes to steam the dumplings.
Remove the lid and reduce the heat just a bit. Continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. This will help crisp up the bottoms of the potstickers. Be careful not to get them too crispy though! Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

Recipe adapted by Chef Andrea from an original recipe featured at www.halfbakedharvest.com.

Note about dumpling wrappers: Dumpling wrappers are thin sheets of dough typically round and about 3 inches in diameter. You can make them (there are lots of recipes on the internet) or buy them premade. They are typically found in the refrigerated section near tofu, tempeh, kim chi and sometimes tortillas. If you are not able to find round dumpling wrappers, you can use egg roll wrappers which are made from a similar dough. Egg roll wrappers are rectangular, so you need to cut them into rounds using a biscuit or cookie cutter, a round glass, etc. I used egg roll wrappers when I made these and was able to use a 2½ to 3 inch cutter to get two round pieces from each egg roll sheet.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

May 31, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Hon Tsai Tai & Pea Vine

Cooking With This Week’s Box:

This Week’s Summary of Recipes & The Vegetables They Utilize:

Rhubarb: Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb and Green Garlic

Mini Romaine Lettuce: Romaine & Cheese Roll Ups (See explanation below)

Asparagus: Fettucine with Asparagus

Red Radishes: Radish & Scallion Salsa; Spicy Lentil Tacos with Radish & Scallion Salsa

Egyptian Walking Onions or Potato Onions: Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk and Mint (See Below); Sesame-Soy and Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad; Radish & Scallion Salsa; Spicy Lentil Tacos with Radish & Scallion Salsa

Hon Tsai Tai: Sesame-Soy and Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad

Green Garlic: Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb and Green Garlic; Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk and Mint (See Below); Sesame-Soy and Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad

Pea Vine: Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk and Mint (See Below)

Saute Mix or Salad Mix: Spicy Lentil Tacos with Radish& Scallion Salsa

Welcome back for another week of spring cooking! This week we’ll make the transition into the month of June which means strawberries and summer vegetables are just around the corner! Mark your calendars for June 17 and join us at the farm for our annual Strawberry Day event!

The theme of this week’s newsletter and box is “Greens.” This week I used the pea vine to create a new recipe for Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk and Mint. (See BELOW) This is a simple, brothy, light soup to prepare. The thing that’s so striking about it though is the bright pea flavor and aroma you experience when it’s freshly made. You can taste the vitality in this soup!

I enjoy the flavor of hon tsai tai most when it’s raw. So this week I’m going to make this Sesame-Soy and Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad that we featured in a 2014 newsletter. The recipe calls for baby white turnips, which aren’t quite ready. In their place, you can substitute roasted asparagus.

This week I’m going to make Melissa Clark’s recipe for Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb and Green Garlic. There’s even a video you can watch where Melissa shows you how to make this dish!

The remaining asparagus can be used to make this simple Fettucine with Asparagus. This will make a simple, light dinner.

I seldom get past red radishes with butter and salt…before I know it the whole bunch is gone. But this week I want to try this recipe for Radish & Scallion Salsa that can be used to make these Spicy Lentil Tacos with Radish & Scallion Salsa. You can serve these with either saute mix or salad mix as the recipe calls for “baby greens.” Any remaining greens will make a simple salad to serve with any leftover Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb and Green Garlic.

We’re down to a little head of romaine lettuce and some spicy radish tops. This week I’ve been eating the romaine lettuce as a snack. I take a leaf of the lettuce and spread a little bit of mayonnaise on the leaf and top it off with a slice of cheese. Wrap it up like a burrito and it makes a great afternoon snack! The radish tops have been making their way into Richard’s breakfast burritos this week. This week’s breakfast burrito has been bacon, scallion, radish tops scrambled with eggs and Parmesan. I spread a little sour cream on a warm flour tortilla and then wrap up the scrambled eggs in the tortilla. Simple, delicious, and a great way to use the tops of the radishes!

That’s a wrap...I’ll see you back next week to talk cooking and share more recipes!—Chef Andrea

Featured Vegetable: Hon Tsai Tai & Pea Vine

Hon Tsai Tai in the field

Hon tsai tai and pea vine hold an important place in our spring vegetable line-up. We rely on them to bridge the gap between the long winter and greater availability of other crops coming in from the fields. Hon tsai tai 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. 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 or sauteed, but also makes a stunning and flavorful addition to raw salads. A common preparation in Chinese cuisine is to quickly stir-fry hon tsai tai with garlic, onions, and ginger, then add oyster sauce. Store hon tsai tai loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator until ready for use.

Pea Vine is actually an immature heirloom snow 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. 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 may be a bit more mature and you may find some of the lower stem is a bit more coarse. If you find this to be the case, pick the leaves, tendrils and thin, tender stems off the main stem. I must admit that 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 and nutrition in the stem! Thus, when the pea vine is more mature and some of the stems are a bit more coarse, I tend to use pea vine in ways that allow me to blend it in a blender or food processor to make things such as pea vine pesto or pea vine cream cheese.

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

Pea Vine & Asparagus Soup with Buttermilk & Mint

Yield: 3-4 servings

¾ cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp olive oil or butter

1-2 pieces green garlic

2-4 green onions

½ pound asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth

1 bunch pea vine

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Fresh mint, to garnish (optional)

First, measure out the buttermilk and set it aside. You want to allow it to come to room temperature while you prepare the soup.
Heat olive oil or butter in a medium saucepot over medium heat. Separate the green tops from the lower white base of both the green garlic and green onions. Finely chop the white part of both the garlic and onions. You will need about ¾ cup total. Thinly slice the green tops and set aside.
Add the chopped garlic and onions to the pan and saute them briefly, just until softened.
Next, add the asparagus and broth to the pan along with freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt. Bring the soup to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the asparagus is bright green and tender. Be careful not to overcook the asparagus!
While the soup is simmering, prepare the pea vine. Remove the lower 1-2 inches of stem from the bunch and then roughly chop the remainder.
Once the asparagus is tender, transfer the soup to a blender and add the chopped pea vine. If you have a large enough blender container you can puree the soup in one batch, otherwise you may need to puree it in two batches. Be careful when blending the hot soup.
Blend the soup until all of the vegetables are incorporated and you have a smooth soup. You can choose to either strain the soup or leave it as is. If you like a silky, smooth soup, strain it through a fine mesh strainer. If you don’t mind a thicker soup, just move on to the next step and skip the step of straining.
Once the soup is blended (and strained if you choose to do so), return the soup to the pan and reheat it just enough to bring it to the temperature you’d like to serve it at. Please note this soup is good when eaten hot, room temperature or as a chilled soup. The soup should be a bright green color at this point. You want to minimize any further cooking time so you can keep the bright green color and the perky pea flavor of the broth.
Just before serving, stir in the buttermilk. Portion the soup into bowls and garnish with the sliced green onion and green garlic tops as well as fresh mint.

We enjoyed this soup served very simply with crackers, sliced radishes and a hard-boiled egg. As mentioned in the method, this soup is delicious eaten at any temperature.

Recipe created by Chef Andrea Yoder