Green Garlic and Egyptian Walking Onions

Lunch for May 23-27

MONDAY - Vegetable and Ham Penne, Green Salad with Green Garlic Vinaigrette.
TUESDAY - Hot Dogs with Texas Hot Sauce and chopped onions, Pasta Salad with chives, carrots, and Egyptian walking onions, baked beans
WEDNESDAY - Lentil soup, Spinach and Arugula Salad with Curry Vinaigrette, Whole Wheat Rolls
THURSDAY - Stir Fry Beef with peppers, Egyptian Walking Onions, and Arugula, Green Garlic rice and a Fruit crisp
FRIDAY - Black Bean Chili, Green salad and Habanaro Cheese, Cornbread and butter.

DINNER

MONDAY - Green Garlic and Egyptian Walking onions test recipes
TUESDAY - Steak Frites and Green Salad
WEDNESDAY - BBQ Spare Ribs with rhubarb chipotly sauce, and Arugula/spinach Salad
THURSDAY - Tuna Melt, Mixed Green Salad
FRIDAY - Sesame Pork, with rice and greens, Asparagus

Spinach, Arugula, and Watercress

It's all about Spring and Spring greens, this week the menu is:

LUNCH
Monday-Hamburgers, Spinach salad, Sunchoke Salad, Potato Salad
Tuesday-Curry Pork with Parsnips and ramps, Maple roasted carrots and black radish.
Wednesday-Vegetable Cheese Quesadillas, fruity Barley Salad
Thursday-Pot roast with lots of vegetables, Harvard Beets, Green salad
Friday-Beef Lasagna with Habanaro rhubarb and Chive radish cheeses, spinach and arugula salad

DINNER
Monday-White lasagna with spring veggies, apple salad
Tuesday-Faleful pitas, carrot salad
Wednesday-Morel cream sauce over Sirloin, penne, steamed asparagus
Thursday-Pork with red chili sauce, spiced coconut spinach
Friday-Quiche with spinach, ramps, sorrel, and cheese, roasted veggies

Spring greens, nettles, sorrel, and spinach-yum

This week we are utilizing spring greens in the salads, galettes, and soups.

Menu for May 9-13
Monday-Chili corn chowder, Corn and ramp muffins, Sunchoke salad, Spinach salad
Tuesday-Szechuan BBQ pork, Mashed parsnips, Sauteed spinach and ramps
Wednesday-Black bean pot with sweet potatoes, Brown rice, Baked pears with dates
Thursday-Spicy porcipine meatballs, Roasted vegetables, Red cabbage and apple slaw
Friday- Tomatillo Pork soup, Brown rice, Corn tortillas, Apple muffins

Dinner
Monday-Citrus pork chops with couscous
Tuesday-Falafel pita with carrot salad
Wednesday-Sirloin roast, Beets with horseradish sauce, Mashed potatoes with roasted ramps
Thursday-Ham steak, Galettes of Spring greens with Brebis cheese, (sorrel, nettles, spinach)
Friday-Tuna Penne in a creamy vegetable sauce, Watercress and orange salad

Have a great week and eat with the seasons bounty

What a lovely day, sunny and reasonable warm for the next to last day in April. I finished the menu for next week so want to post it. We had 12 more workers start today so beginning Monday we will have 45 for lunch.

Monday May 2-Beef Pot Pie with Herb Biscuit topping, Fresh Fruit Cup
Tuesday May3-Spanish Rice, Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette and Jenny is having a birthday today and she is bringing cookies for everyone.
Wednesday May 4-Vegetable Barley soup with sorrel fresh from the fields, Whole wheat dinner rolls, Raspberry jam and fresh Apples.
Thursday May 5-Soft tacos, Brown rice, Black beans, German Chocolate Cake for Richards birthday. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Friday May 6-Sage Pork and Cheese Strata, Roasted Potatoes, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

DINNERS
Monday-Braised Beef Cheeks, Sweet Potato Pangratlato, Caramelized ramps and turnips
Tuesday-Stuffed Cabbage over Brown rice, Salad
Wednesday-Spinach and Cheese Omelette, Sweet Potato Hash
Thursday-Brandy Pepper Steak, Mashed Parsnips, Salad
Friday-Pork Scallopine over Brown Rice, Spinach Salad

The last week in April now onto May flowers.
The menu for this week is:

Lunches
Monday-Beef Stew and chili corn muffins
Tuesday-Meatloaf with braised cabbage and fruit cup
Wednesday-Potato Corn Chowder with ramps and sorrel, Apple Cobbler
Thursday-Ham and Scalloped Potatoes and Baked Beans
Friday-Beef Fajitas with refried beans and brown rice.

Dinners
Monday-Orange glazed Ham and nutty Couscous Salad
Tuesday-Indian style lentils, spinach salad
Wednesday-Beef Bourguignonne
Thursday-Pasta Primavera
Friday-Loin Pork Chops and barley salad

Have a great week-end and eat healthy and deliciously.

Thursday Night Dinners

Over the last few weeks, I have really enjoyed Thursday night dinners! Cooking dinner for Richard, Andrea, Terri, myself, and a few guests here and there have been a blast. It's been a great way to play with recipes for the newsletters.

Seared Jack Fish that Richard and Andrea caught in Costa Rica with scallopini squash, green beans, tomatoes, and salsa verde. On the side, a cucumber, carrot, arugula, and beet salad with grilled bread. And of course some wine :)

Smoked trout with beet, potato, zucchini pancake, clonboo cheese, veggies, and creamy dill sauce. We also had peach gazpacho. Andrea and Tom getting excited to eat!!!

"Katie's Window in the Morning" What a view!!! Notice the hummingbird. I'm a lucky gal!!

Our New Chef Rocks!

Katie is cooking up a storm for the crew (the boys are back in town - more on that saga later) & averaging 40 plates each noon hour.  She's doing it with a smile on her face and the crew seems pleased - going back for seconds!

This week's lunch menu:
Monday:  Beef Roast, Spicy Lentils, Apple & Turnip Salad
Tuesday: Chili, Cornbread, Creamed Spinach & Parsnips, Chocolate chip cookies
Wednesday: Coconut Ginger Pork, Rice, Braised Burdock & Carrots, Orange & Spinach Salad
Thursday: Beef & Spinach Lasagna, Roasted Rutabaga & Onions, Rhubarb Crisp

Friday: Ham & Beans, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Slaw, Cranberry & Kumquat Relish

For dinner we had:

Monday: Pork Chops, Cranberry Quinoa, Roasted Parsnips & Carrots

Tuesday: T-Bone Steak, Sauteed Ramps, Celeriac & Sweet Potato Gratin

Wednesday: Parsnip Soup with Spinach Puree, Grilled Beef & Cheese sammies
Thursday: Skirt Steak, Pasta salad with Celeriac, Carrots & Sogne cheese, Creamed Rutabagas
Tonight it's Turtle Two Ways - Fried & in soup.  Jake was a bit perturbed that Richard caught the turtle that he saved from the road, but Katie was game for preparing it, so I'm eating turtle for the first time tonight!

Next Week's Menu

Lunch:
Monday: Turkey Corn Soup, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Spinach Salad
Tuesday: Meatloaf, Roasted Potatoes, Parsnips, Strawberry Dessert
Wednesday: Soy Marinated Flank Steak, Sesame Carrots & Turnips, Rice, Apples
Thursday: Hot Dogs, Pickled Vegetables, Baked Beans, Brownies
Friday: Arm Roast, Curried Chickpeas & Ramps, Braised Turnips, Fruit

Dinner:

Monday: Skirt Steak, Sorrel Pesto, Pasta
Tuesday: Beef Gyros, Yogurt Sauce, Bulghur
Wednesday: Sirloin, Cous Cous, Curried Turnips
Thursday: Tenderloin & Flat Iron, Potatoes, Spinach Salad with Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
Friday: Waffles, Fig Compote, Eggs & Bacon (breakfast for dinner!  my favorite!!)

I don't have a chance against these 20 pounds I'm fighting, do I?

Spring veggie pizzas

After work last Friday, I left the farm with an armload of leftover produce (okay, so it was a shopping bag, an overflowing shopping bag) and headed home for the weekend with fresh Harmony Valley arugula, spinach, salad mix, green garlic, and some tiny red beets leftover (and still fresh!) from the fall.
My parents and sister were visiting for the weekend, and I thought it would be a fun idea to have a few neighbors over for a little pizza party. My mother was concerned that cooking for 11 people might not be a relaxing way to spend a day off; I tactfully pointed out that after cooking for 35 people a day, dinner for 11 ain't no thang.
For pizza # 1, I finely chopped several bunches of green garlic, then pureed it in the blender with olive oil and a little apple cider vinegar. I spread it raw on an uncooked pizza crust and topped it with mozzarella and sliced summer sausage.
For pizza #2, I roasted all those tiny little beets with olive oil until super tender, then peeled them and pureed them with balsamic vinegar, oil, oregano, and black pepper. I spread this on my pizza crust as the sauce for a pizza featuring fresh chopped morels (the last of my stash for this year!) simmered in butter, Fontina cheese, and a little bit of Sterling Country Jack goat cheese. Yum.
Pizza #3 was a simple combo of sundried tomato, Capri goat feta, and lots of chopped spinach with just a little olive oil.
Served it all with a huge lovely bowl of salad and a maple balsamic vinaigrette.
So how did it turn out? Well, definite thumbs-up to the green garlic sauce. Try it. The pie's cooking time was just long enough to take the edge off the raw garlic bite, but it was still robust enough to be fun ("fun" and "garlicy" are basically synonyms in my mind.) I have been having a reeeeeeeally good time with the green garlic these last few weeks.
The morel and beet pizza was equally delightful, although the flavor of the morels sort of got buried in all of those other ingredients. I tried to select milder cheeses for this one, and felt that the earthy flavor of beets would be a nice complement to the tasty wild mushrooms. I guess the mushroom to crust ratio was just a little low. Eh, c'est la vie. There's always next year.

CSA members, start your engines...

Well, I'm sure we are all very excited for the beginning of CSA boxes starting next week. Here in the Harmony Valley kitchen, I am charged with preparing dinner using the vegatables in each week's CSA box -- one week ahead of the actual pickup date. So this week I have a box full of next week's forecasted CSA veggies. The week's lead time gives me a chance to experiment with veggie combinations and, hopefully, develop some fun recipes for the newsletter. So I am your guinea pig here on the farm. Actually, Andrea, Terri, and Richard are the real guinea pigs.

So far this week, I have made a burdock beef stir fry (not bad- the burdock retains a pleasant crunchy texture. Make sure to cut it pretty small, or it becomes a tiresome mouthful) and am planning a turkey and sorrel salad for tomorrow night's dinner. I have ideas for the ramps, chives, spinach, and of course the parsnips, which are always a delight to work with. I'm not quite sure yet what to do with those sunchokes. This is complicated by the fact two members of the household are not on very friendly terms with sunchokes. Still, eat from the box we must, and eat from the box we shall. We'll find something to do with those sunchokes.

Good enough to write home about!

OMG it smells so good up in the office! I can't believe I have to smell these smells & not eat for another 3 hours!

Meet our new Summer Chef, Bri. She is awesome. She spent last week getting acquainted with the kitchen, planning some menus & doing an inventory of meat & pantry supplies.

This week she got a practice run, cooking for an abbreviated crew of about 15 before the rest of the crew arrives on Monday & she'll be cooking for about 40! (Word is that ALL of last year's crew passed their H2A interviews & will return, plus a bunch of new guys. Yay!)

Here's what we've had this week:

Monday - Cream of parsnip soup with ham, Sunflower bread (homemade) & strawberry jam, coleslaw
Tuesday - Beef chili, Rhubarb corn muffin (yum!), steamed carrots & turnips

Wednesday - Beans & sausage, braised cabbage, biscuits, fruit salad (apples & strawberries -yum!)

Thursday - Lasagna, garlic bread (homemade - I should have taken a picture - the loaves were so beautiful!), apple walnut cabbage salad (yum! this woman is creative with the cabbage!)

Friday - this is what I smell this morning, I bet it will taste as good as it smells! Turkey dumpling stew, roasted veggies (she's not sure yet what veggies she'll do - she doesn't want to repeat the turnips & carrots (even though they were really good), but since we've been cleaning the coolers & rearranging, she can't find exactly what she wants), & chocolate cupcakes.

It's always a good sign when a bunch of the crew goes back for seconds!

She also cooks dinner for Richard, Andrea & myself (and anyone else who might come to live at the farm). She can be a little more experimental with us and maybe test out some new recipes to use in the CSA newsletters. Here's what we've feasted on this week:

Monday - Cheeseburgers with carmelized onions, burdock fries, baked apples with rhubarb & walnuts

Tuesday - Garlic ginger pork (yum!), rice, orange almond salad (OMG yum!)

Wednesday - Steak with a ramp & bleu cheese sauce, sweet potato wedges, quinoa salad (which garnered a "this girl is cool" response from Richard):

Spring Confetti Salad
This colorful, crunchy side dish gets its flavor from fresh ramps, one of our customers’ favorite early spring vegetables.

½ cup quinoa
½ cup black radish, grated (or lightly steamed chioggia beets, sliced)
½ cup Carrot, finely diced
½ a bunch of fresh ramps
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa in several changes of fresh water. If you do not have a fine enough sieve or colander, you can strain it with the lid of a small saucepan.
2. Cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Cook covered for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Strain off any excess water and chill quinoa.
3. Rinse the ramps and cut off the leaves from the white stalk. Reserve the white part for use in another recipe. They are great lightly sautéed, or use in any recipe as you would an onion.
4. Cut narrow ribbons of the leaves crosswise with a sharp knife.
5. Mix cooled quinoa, carrot, radish, ramps, and olive oil. A good, flavorful oil is best. (we like the Frog Hollow 2008 pressing!)

Last night, Thursday: Roast turkey & giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots

Tonight, I look forward to a corn chowder with bacon & a grilled cheese sandwich (maybe on some of my sister & brother in law's bread from their bakery, Falls Baking Co.)

I really look forward to tasting what she creates with the multitude of ingredients that will soon be available to her!