Harmony Valley Farm: cilantro

This week crops in the fields have really started to change and grow. We are still heavy into spring greens with this week’s box, but that will be shifting pretty soon. This is our final week for green garlic, hon tsai tai, pea vine and asparagus. Next week we are planning to start harvesting strawberries, kohlrabi, broccoli and zucchini! Our first crop of beets are still small, but we’ll be including them in your boxes within the next few weeks along with fennel. Every moment of the season gives us something to enjoy and something else to look forward to!

Spinach Quesadilla Photo from naturallyella.com

Lets dive into this week’s box starting with the featured vegetable, cilantro! The featured recipe this week, Red Lentil & Coconut Milk Soup with Spinach, Rice and Spiced Yogurt (See Below), is a recipe I adapted from a Deborah Madison recipe. The ingredient list for this recipe is a little long, but it comes together pretty quickly. You just need to have a little patience while it simmers and the red lentils soften. This soup is very flavorful with an interesting combination of spices that provide a nice background flavor for the soup. This is also a very nutrient-dense soup as fresh cilantro and spinach is blended in towards the end of preparing this soup. You can eat the soup on its own, but it becomes a more substantial dish when served with hot cooked rice and a dollop of the spiced yogurt. While the recipe calls for spinach, you can use any cooking green in this recipe such as pea vine, bok choi, sauté greens, chard, amaranth, kale or even tat soi. The versatility of this recipe makes it a great CSA greens recipe as you can prepare it at any time of the year with whatever greens are available! I also think it would be good garnished with some fresh chopped tomatoes in the summer or maybe add some sweet peppers in late summer/early fall. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

While we have a lot of greens in this box, there are many different ways you can put them to use. The mini heads of romaine lettuce are the perfect size for making Korean Steak and Noodles Lettuce Cups and Grilled Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. The bok choi can be used to make these tasty Soba Noodles with Mushrooms & Bok Choi or use it to make Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Peanut Sauce, a recipe that would pair nicely with these Cilantro Pesto Chicken Skewers.

Mixed Greens Spread photo from twistsandzest.com

For those of you who are into smoothies, I have to mention the Frosty Sorrel and Banana Smoothie recipe one more time. This is one of my personal favorite spring recipes, but others have offered a lot of positive feedback on this recipe over the years and again this spring. It’s a great way for kids and adults to enjoy greens! Some members also posted in our Facebook Group that they used last week’s pea vine in smoothies, so I had to give it a try this week. It is so delicious! Mild flavored, fresh and invigorating are the words that come to my mind. Both sorrel and pea vine are packed with vital nutrients and energy that you can really feel when you eat them, especially if you start your day off with them in a smoothie! Go ahead, give it a try! By the way, how are you doing with that challenge I posed last week to try to incorporate more vegetables into breakfast? If it’s going well and you want to try something a little outside of the box, consider making Armenian Cold Yogurt & Sorrel Soup or Savory Miso Oatmeal with Greens & Jammy Egg. These savory recipes are actually appropriate for any meal of the day, breakfast included! The oatmeal recipe calls for kale, but you could easily substitute hon tsai tai, sauté mix or even turnip greens.

Alright, I’m going to wrap it up for this week. As always, let us know what you’re cooking by posting your creations in our private Facebook group. We have new members joining every week and it’s a great way to engage with a like-minded community! Have a good week—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Cilantro

by Andrea Yoder

Cilantro is a very important crop on our farm and is one of our top “bread and butter” crops that we supply to our major wholesale distributors in this region. Last year we planted 370 pounds of cilantro seed starting in April and planting nearly every week through the end of August. This strategy allows us to move right from one crop into the next as we harvest cilantro starting in mid to late May through October or the first part of November. Over the course of the season we will end up planting 16-18 acres of cilantro total! Each crop has the potential to yield as many as 18,000 to 24,000 bunches! Some of our experienced crew members can make more than 100 bunches of cilantro an hour when they are harvesting. That is a lot of cilantro and, as you can see, it’s a big deal for us!

Our first crop of cilantro this spring

Cilantro, also sometimes called coriander, is used extensively in a wide variety of cultures and cuisines across the globe ranging from Mexico to Asia. While we often think of it as an herb which is used more sparingly as an accent to other foods, don’t be afraid to use cilantro in more bold ways where it is a main ingredient. With many herbs, recipes tell you to pick the leaves off the stems and only use the leafy part. I am an advocate for using stems as well, especially for herbs with tender stems such as cilantro. There’s a lot of flavor in those stems, so it seems like such a waste to throw them out!

Cilantro is often used in salsas, fresh vegetable salads and as a condiment for tacos, curries, soups and more. It’s also a delicious ingredient to incorporate into spreads and sauces such as chimichurri (with cilantro in place of traditional parsley), pesto, vinaigrettes, etc. You can also incorporate it into smoothies and green drinks because of its contributions to health related to detoxifying the body.

Cilantro in harvest totes,
ready to be washed & packed!

Some people love cilantro, others are learning to like it and some have an aversion to it because to them, it tastes like soap. This latter group is actually a pretty small subset of the population. To them, a natural chemical compound in cilantro has an unpleasant soapy taste. If you experience this, we’ll let you take a pass on eating this vegetable. But for everyone else, eat your cilantro as it has some valuable health benefits! It is an excellent source of zinc as well as vitamins A, C, E and K. It also works as a chelator and detoxifier for our bodies removing toxins, heavy metals, molds, yeast and fungi. It’s on the green cleaning team, which is why it’s a common ingredient in green smoothies and drinks!

For the longest shelf life, we recommend you remove the twist tie and wash your cilantro in a sink of clean, cold water. If you have a salad spinner, use it to remove excess water from the cilantro before storing it in a plastic bag or container. If you don’t have a spinner, just blot or shake off as much excess water as you can. Before storing, remove any damaged or spotty leaves. It may also be helpful to put a dry paper towel in the bag or container you’re storing it in. For best results, use within 7-10 days.

Red Lentil & Coconut Milk Soup with Spinach, Rice and Spiced Yogurt

Yield: 6 servings

2 Tbsp butter, coconut oil, or sunflower oil

1 cup minced green onion and/or green garlic (see note)

1 ½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of hot red pepper flakes

2 cups red lentils, rinsed

6 cups water or vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

3 cloves

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

6-8 ounces (4-6 cups) spinach or other seasonal greens, roughly chopped

¾ cup chopped cilantro (stems and leaves)

One 15-ounce can coconut milk

Juice of 1 large lime or lemon, or to taste

Steamed rice, 6 servings (optional)

Spiced Yogurt (recipe follows)

Spiced Yogurt

½ cup plain yogurt

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground paprika

¼ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of salt

Place a 4 quart saucepot on the stove with medium heat. Add the butter, coconut oil or sunflower oil and heat until it just starts to shimmer. Add the minced green onion/green garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Next, add the turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and sauté for about 30 seconds more. Immediately add the lentils and 6 cups of water to the pan. Increase the heat to medium high and bring the soup to a rapid simmer. Add the bay leaves, cloves and 1 ½ tsp salt. Cover and adjust the heat to hold it at a simmer.
Simmer for 10-20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and breaking down. Remove from the heat and carefully extract the bay leaves and cloves. Stir in the chopped cilantro and spinach or other greens until they start to wilt down in the hot soup.
Now it’s time to puree the soup using either a stand blender or an immersion blender. If using a stand blender, carefully transfer the soup to the blender. You may need to work in batches depending upon the size of your blender. You may choose to blend it completely smooth, or blend it a little less and leave some of the texture of the greens in the soup.
Return the soup to the pan and put it on the stove over low heat. Stir in one can of coconut milk along with lemon or lime juice. Taste the soup and season with salt and black pepper as needed. You may also need to add more lemon or lime juice until the flavor is balanced to your liking. Heat the soup just enough so it is hot, but do not cook it too much more or the greens and cilantro will lose their fresh flavor.
Prepare the spiced yogurt by putting all the spices, a pinch of salt and the yogurt in a small bowl. Mix until well combined.
To serve, put a portion of hot, cooked rice in each bowl and ladle the hot soup over it. Serve with a dollop of spiced yogurt.

Note: This is a great CSA “greens” recipe that may be adapted over the course of the season to include whatever seasonal greens are available. Some options may include spinach, bok choi, pea vine, nettles, chard, amaranth, kale or tat soi. While this version of the recipe calls for green onions and/or green garlic, you may substitute whatever type of onion is available throughout the season. You may wish to create some variations of your own along the way such as adding some fresh chopped tomatoes as a garnish in the summer or sautéing some sweet peppers along with the onion in late summer. Have fun with it!

Recipe inspired by and adapted from Deborah Madison’s recipe for Yellow Pea and Coconut Milk Soup with Spinach, Rice and Spiced Yogurt as published in her book, Vegetable Soups From Deborah Madison’s Kitchen.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

June Farm Update—Welcome to Summer!

Gorgeous Potato Field under blue skies, HVF 2020

Here we are, just past the halfway mark in the month of June. The first day of summer is approaching at the end of this week on Saturday, June 20. So, as we do an official transition from spring into summer we thought it fitting to do a farm update so you know what’s happening in our valley! This Sunday, June 21, is also the day we were scheduled to host our annual Strawberry Day event. When the pandemic infiltrated our world back in March we hoped for a quick resolution and return to “normal,” however we quickly realized we had to be realistic that this wasn’t going to end as quickly as we hoped it may. So, as the pandemic continues to persist we are cancelling Strawberry Day for the first time in HVF history! While we’re still doing our best to minimize contact with the outside world, continue to wear masks and practice social distancing, continue daily cleaning and sanitizing, etc, we also continue to farm and do what we know how to do best—grow vegetables. So while we can’t invite you to join us on a wagon tour to experience our fields and valley views for yourself, we’ll do our best to take you on a virtual tour through this week’s article, complete with pictures Andrea and Richard have been taking over the past few weeks! So, get comfy and claim your seat on our virtual wagon as we take you through the fields and update you on farm happenings!

May 2020: HVF CSA Box # 3

As we write this article we’re preparing to pack our 7^th CSA box of the 2020 season and this week we’re welcoming our Peak Season Vegetable share members. While our early season boxes were filled with a wide variety of greens, radishes, ramps and asparagus, we’re just starting to see the transition from spring crops to summer crops. We started picking strawberries last week and while they taste quite delicious, we have to be honest with you that we are not going to see prolific yields as we have in previous years. When we pulled the field cover back early this spring, and loosened the straw mulch, we found that some of the plants had not survived the winter. What exactly was the cause? It’s hard to say, but likely a combination of a warm March followed by a cold April. This is our first year to harvest from this planting. While it’s a bit disappointing, we’re hopeful that the plants will shoot out runners to help fill in the gaps. If we manage the field correctly after we’re done picking this year, we may be able to establish more plants for next year’s’ harvests. So, while we will still have strawberries, there won’t be as many as in past years. Now that we have that bit of news out of the way, lets move on to some other fields!

Look closely and you'll see the cutest little Green Zucchini!

By the end of this week we’re hoping to start picking the first zucchini and in just one more week we’ll add cucumbers to the harvest list! We had a field cover on these plants after we transplanted them back in May, with hopes that a little extra heat gain would encourage their growth. We didn’t intend to take the cover off, but Mother Nature had a different idea when she sent high winds our way a few weeks ago! So, we let her do her thing and once the cover was off we were pleased to see nice, healthy plants! Right next to these crops we planted our first planting of melons and watermelons. The plants are still small, but they look very healthy. Manuel Morales and Jose Antonio have been working hard irrigating many crops. Crops such as zucchini and melons are planted on beds covered with plastic mulch and have drip lines running underneath the plastic to deliver not only water but also nutrients and beneficial microbes to support the plant’s growth and fruit development. Before the melon vines grow too much and extend into the wheel tracks in between the beds, we are trying to maximize every effort to control the weeds that seize every opportunity to grow in open spaces.

Jamie & Felix running the Kult Cultivator
through the melon field

Last Saturday Jamie and Felix used our Kult cultivator set up to clean up this field. They are doing a great job as a 2-man weed killing team! Thanks to the efforts of all these guys, we’re hopeful we’ll have some delicious melons to send your way in July and August!

We are very thankful all of our crew members remain healthy and well. At the end of May we greeted two more crew members who returned from Mexico after receiving their visas! Juan Pablo and Alfredo are brothers and have worked at our farm for many years. They had to take last year off, but were ready to come back this year and we are so glad they did! Once they arrived we greeted them from a distance at the airport where we left a vehicle for them along with keys to a house we had kept vacant and reserved for “quarantine” needs. With a tank full of gas, a cell phone so we could communicate with them, and a fully stocked kitchen, they quarantined themselves away from the rest of the crew and the community.

Juan Pablo & Alfredo spending time together
as brothers weeding our onions!

They did have a very productive quarantine spent going between their house and whatever weeding mission they were assigned to for the day. Over the past two weeks they have spent a lot of quality time together bonding as brothers and as yet another 2-man weed killing team! They have managed to hand weed horseradish, early beets and carrots, parsnips and the entire onion field! Thankfully they reached the end of their quarantine healthy and well, still thankful to be brothers, and they by no means put themselves out of a job—the weeds continue to grow!

Saturday, June 13--Mulching and Transplanting Tomatoes!

Summer isn’t summer without tomatoes and basil! We’re happy to report we now have two fields of tomatoes planted! The first planting has already been staked and tied to keep the plants growing upright both to keep the fruit clean as well as to allow airflow through the foliage. Pretty soon we’ll need to add another string to the stakes and will continue to weave the plants into place as they grow upward. Last weekend the mulching crew had the transplanting crew right on their heels as we worked hard to achieve our goal of getting the second tomato field planted. We had some rain the week before as well as about 2 inches earlier in the week. The fields were too wet to work in, but the tomato plants were growing quickly in the greenhouse turning from small plants to tomato trees right before our eyes! They really needed to get to the field before they got much bigger or we would risk breaking them when we tried to plant them. The crew pulled it off and the field looks great!

Basil Planting #1 looking quite beautiful
after the cover was removed!

As for the basil, we have planted two of our five plantings in the field and have a third one in the greenhouse that will be ready to take to the field in a week or so. The early plantings of basil also get covered with a field blanket to protect the delicate leaves from chilly spring nights, but also to trap heat to accelerate growth. We pulled the cover off at the end of last week and were pleased to see beautiful basil plants underneath! If you look closely at the plants you can see them smiling, now fully exposed to the sun and emitting a sweet, herbal fragrance in the air all around them! We should also mention the pepper and eggplant fields look quite nice and we’re hopeful they’ll produce well come late summer.

While we’re just beginning summer, we’re already looking ahead to fall. After a two week delay in getting our sweet potato slips from North Carolina due to poor weather conditions, we were able to get the last shipment of plants last week and by the end of the week the sweet potato field was completed. The winter squash field has also been planted and we’ll be transplanting and planting the first of our fall broccoli, cabbage, rutabagas, etc later this week. We also have a gorgeous field of celeriac that the guys have done an excellent job of cultivating and hand weeding. I have a feeling summer is going to fly by and fall will be here before we know it!

Precision cultivating of cilantro

Cilantro, dill and red radishes are pretty important crops for our farm, not only because we like to include them in CSA boxes from time to time, but also because they are important wholesale crops for us. We’ve had some very abundant crops this spring which we’re very thankful for! Our harvest and washing crews have been bringing in about 15,000 bunches or more of cilantro each week for the past few weeks. In order to keep a constant supply of these crops we have to plant them every week, which means Amy stays busy keeping the seed containers filled and managing inventory. Tomas, Manuel, Luis and Rafael have helped not only plant the crops, but also have been doing a good job with timely flame weeding and mechanical cultivation to kill weeds. Did we mention the weeds continue to grow?

One thing we can hardly wait to eat are freshly dug new potatoes! It won’t be long before those tender-skinned new potatoes with red skin and creamy white flesh are ready for harvest. If you’ve never eaten a freshly dug potato, you are in for a special treat! The potato field looks quite nice and we spotted the first potato blossom at the end of last week! What else goes nicely with fresh potatoes? How about some of those tender little carrots with their green tops still attached? Or maybe the first beets of the season? Yes, those are all coming within the next few weeks as well.

Immature Broccoli head hidden amongst the leaves

In the meantime, we have our eyes on the second half of our first crop of broccoli and there are three more very nice crops coming up behind it! Within the next week or two we’ll be cutting one of our favorite early season cabbages, the beloved sweetheart salad cabbage. Cauliflower will also be coming soon. We anticipate we’ll need to tie the first planting by the end of this week. Why would we do that? When we “tie” cauliflower we wrap a rubberband around the leaves to hold them together. This keeps the plant closed in order to keep the head of cauliflower from being exposed to the sunshine thereby blanching it so it’s snowy white.

Lupe planting Ginger in the cold frame greenhouse

You asked for ginger, and you will get ginger! On last year’s survey this was one of the most frequently requested crops you asked us to grow this year. Last weekend Jose Antonio, Simon, Tomas, Lupe and Jorge worked hard to get the ginger planted in our cold frame greenhouse. Hopefully we’ll have some nice baby ginger to send your way in October or November!

We can’t give a field report without mentioning garlic! Can you believe we’ll be harvesting this year’s garlic crop in less than one month!?! Yikes! We’re hopeful that we’ll have a bountiful harvest and so far things are looking good.

We hope you continue to enjoy this journey through the seasons with us, embracing each week and the bounty in each box. We have so many more delicious things to share with you, so get ready to have some fun! Thus concludes our virtual wagon tour. We hope you enjoyed the fresh country air, the wind in your hair, blue skies and a little time in nature. Until the next time…….Farmers Richard, Rafael and Andrea

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

June 4, 2020 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Cilantro!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Baby Spinach: Noodles with Miso Cilantro Sauce (see below); Moroccan Salad with Cilantro Orange Dressing; Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus

Potato Onions or Green Garlic: Noodles with Miso Cilantro Sauce (see below); Creamy Cilantro Dressing (see below); Pea Vine Cream Cheese; Pasta with Asparagus and Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce; Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad; Radish Top Pesto; Sesame-Soy Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad

Asparagus: Pasta with Asparagus and Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce; Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus

Red Radishes: Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad; Radish Top Pesto; Quick-Pickled Radishes; Sesame-Soy Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad

Salad Mix: Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus

Baby Arugula: Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus

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

Cilantro: Noodles with Miso Cilantro Sauce (see below); Creamy Cilantro Dressing (see below); Moroccan Salad with Cilantro Orange Dressing

Pea Vine: Noodles with Miso Cilantro Sauce (see below); Pea Vine Cream Cheese; Pasta with Asparagus and Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce; Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad

Baby White Turnips: Sesame-Soy Hon Tsai Tai Chicken Salad; Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy-Pickled Eggs; Andrea Bemis’s collection of excellent Baby White Turnip recipes

Things are changing fast around here! Crops are growing like crazy now that we’ve crossed over into June! Richard picked the first 5 ripe strawberries of the season on Monday, the broccoli is starting to head up and it won’t be long before the zucchini starts to blossom! Get ready, there are so many good things coming your way!

This week’s box is packed with more green goodness and our featured vegetable is cilantro, a very common and popular herb. I love simple recipes and in the midst of a busy week I like simple recipes that are also fast and low maintenance. So the first recipe for this week is Noodles with Miso Cilantro Sauce (see below). I really like this recipe because it basically has two easy components. Boil noodles and make a fresh sauce in the blender. This comes together in about 20 minutes! The sauce is very green, packed with not only cilantro but also greens. The original recipe calls for baby spinach, but I tried it with chopped pea vine and it was delicious! So, take your pick or use some of each. If you aren’t familiar with miso or don’t have it in your pantry, you could leave it out and the sauce will still be good. If you do have access to this ingredient, I highly recommend you use it and keep a tub or jar of miso in your refrigerator. You can usually find it at food co-ops in the refrigerated section near the fermented foods, tofu, etc. It stores for a really long time in the refrigerator and a spoonful added to soups, sauces or vinaigrette can really offer a nice flavor boost.

The second recipe is for Creamy Cilantro Dressing (see below). This is another quick recipe to assemble using either a food processor or a blender. If you don’t have either of these appliances, just chop everything finely using a knife and mix it in a bowl with a whisk or spoon. It might be more coarse, but it will still be delicious. The thing I like about this recipe is that its uses are versatile. Use it as a dressing on salads, or use it as a sauce on top of grilled meats, quesadillas, tacos, scrambled eggs, etc. This morning I put it on our breakfast burrito and it was delicious!

Pasta with Asparagus and Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce

This week we’re harvesting our first crop of Pea Vine. This crazy green is actually an immature pea plant that gives us a teaser taste of that fresh pea flavor we can’t wait to taste in crunchy sugar snap peas! My top three favorite recipes for pea vine come from past newsletters. So, if you’re new to HVF this year, I encourage you to start with one of these selections. My all-time favorite recipe is for Pea Vine Cream Cheese. This is so easy to make and is awesome on a toasted bagel, spread on a tortilla to make a veggie wrap, or just use it as a dip for fresh radishes. My second favorite recipe was a recommendation from a member last year. This Pasta with Asparagus and Avocado-Pea Vine Cream Sauce is so delicious! My third favorite pea vine recipe is for Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad. Along with fresh green onions and crunchy radishes, this is just a simple, fresh recipe to make.

Moroccan Salad with Cilantro Orange Dressing
photo from pinchofyum.com

I have a new blog to recommend this week. A member mentioned this blog to me earlier in the year and I finally had time to take a look at it this week. PinchOfYum.com is a blog by a Minnesotan named Lindsey! She has a lot of really great recipes on her blog including this one for Moroccan Salad with Cilantro Orange Dressing. Not only does it include our featured vegetable, but also baby spinach, although you could easily sub in pea vine or other greens. She also has a tasty recipe for Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus. This is a perfect way to use this week’s salad greens, spinach and/or arugula along with asparagus!

There were more great suggestions coming through in our Facebook group this week, including a suggestion to make Quick-Pickled Radishes! The member who made this recommendation says “Tastes great on nearly everything!” I love having little treasures like these tucked away in the refrigerator to add to meals throughout the week. You can use these on tacos, salads, sandwiches, toast, or anywhere else you might want a little tangy, crunchy contrast! If you make these pickles with the roots, you still have the tops to make Radish Top Pesto. This recipe calls for 4 cups of radish greens. You may not have enough greens from one bunch, so I’d recommend making up the difference with some of the baby spinach or pea vine in this week’s box. This is another one of those refrigerator treasures that can help you put a quick dinner on the table in just a few minutes. Use it as a spread in wraps, quesadillas, pizza, on toast with cheese and/or egg, or as a condiment for grilled steak, chicken or fish.

My recipe for Sesame-Soy HonTsai Tai Chicken Salad made an appearance on several members’ tables over the past week, as evidenced by the comments and posts in our Facebook group. I created this recipe back in 2014 and every year members come back to this simple, fresh, tasty salad when hon tsai tai is in season. Hon Tsai Tai is the “greens” base of the salad topped with fresh baby white turnips, radishes and a flavorful sesame-soy dressing. You may have more dressing than you need for this serving size. If that’s the case, save it and make the salad again or use the dressing on some of your other salad greens this week!

Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy-Pickled Eggs

If you missed last week’s vegetable feature and featured recipe for Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy-Pickled Eggs, check it out this week. You can also head over to DishingUpTheDirt.com and check out Andrea Bemis’s collection of excellent Baby White Turnip recipes!

That brings us to the bottom of another CSA box! Have a wonderful week, enjoy eating fresh, seasonal meals, and get ready for more vegetables next week including rhubarb and possibly broccoli and strawberries (cross your fingers!)—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Cilantro

By Chef Andrea

Cilantro is an important crop on our farm. We plant cilantro every week for about 20 plantings starting in April and going through the end of August. Our goal is to move right from one crop into the next as we harvest cilantro starting in mid to late May through October or the first part of November. Over the course of the season we will end up planting 16-18 acres of cilantro total! Each crop has the potential to yield as many as 18,000 to 24,000 bunches! Some of our experienced crew members can make more than 100 bunches of cilantro an hour when they are harvesting. That is a lot of cilantro and obviously more than we could use for CSA boxes. Cilantro is one of our top “bread and butter” crops that we supply to our major wholesale buyers supplying this region. As you can see, it’s a big deal for us!

Cilantro is used extensively in a wide variety of cultures and cuisines across the globe ranging from Mexico to Asia. While we often think of it as an herb which is used more sparingly as an accent to other foods, don’t be afraid to use cilantro in more bold ways where it is the main ingredient. With many herbs, recipes tell you to pick the leaves off the stems and only use the leafy part. I am an advocate for using stems as well, especially for herbs with tender stems such as cilantro. There’s a lot of flavor in those stems, so it seems like such a waste to throw them out!

Cilantro-Garlic Scape Pesto served on fish

Cilantro is often used in salsas, fresh vegetable salads and as a condiment for tacos, curries, soups and more. It’s also a delicious ingredient to incorporate into spreads and sauces such as chimichurri (with cilantro in place of traditional parsley), Cilantro-Garlic Scape Pesto, vinaigrettes, etc. It is also often incorporated into smoothies and green drinks because of its contributions to health related to detoxifying the body. So, as you can see there are many different ways to use a bunch of cilantro!

Some people love cilantro, others are learning to like it and some have an aversion to it because to them, it tastes like soap. This latter group is actually a pretty small subset of the population. To them, a natural chemical compound in cilantro has an unpleasant soapy taste. If you experience this, we’ll let you take a pass on eating this vegetable. But for everyone else, eat your cilantro as it has some valuable health benefits! It is an excellent source of zinc as well as vitamins A, C, E and K. it also works as a chelator and detoxifier for our bodies removing toxins, heavy metals, molds, yeast and fungi. It’s on the green cleaning team, which is why it’s a common ingredient in green smoothies and drinks!

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Yield: 1 cup

1 cup packed cilantro

1 clove garlic or one stalk green garlic

4 Tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream

2 ½ Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp honey

1 tsp lime juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 tsp water, as needed

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Add the water as needed to adjust the consistency of the dressing.
Serve as a dressing for green salads or as a sauce on fish, chicken, vegetables, etc.

Recipe adapted from PinchOfYum.com

Noodles with Miso-Cilantro Sauce

Yield: 2-3 servings

1 Tbsp white miso

1 garlic clove or one stalk of green garlic, roughly chopped

½ cup sunflower oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar

¼-⅓ cup water (as needed)

4 cups baby spinach or chopped pea vine

2 cups cilantro leaves and stems, rough chopped

Kosher salt, to taste

10-12 oz ramen noodles or other thin noodles

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Toasted sesame seeds, for serving

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil.
While the water is heating up, make the sauce. In a blender jar or food processor, combine miso, garlic, oils, lemon juice, vinegar and a few pinches of salt. Blend until the mixture is smooth and very green. You may need to add ¼ to ⅓ cup of water to the blender to adequately mix all the ingredients. Use the water sparingly. Season the sauce with salt and set the sauce aside.
Once the water is boiling, cook the noodles according to package instructions. Once cooked, drain the noodles and add to a medium size bowl along with the butter. Allow the hot noodles to melt the butter, then toss until all noodles are evenly coated. Mix in enough of the miso-cilantro sauce to generously cover all the noodles.
Divide the noodles between individual bowls for serving and top with toasted sesame seeds. If you have any extra sauce, save it and store in the refrigerator for several days or freeze it.

This recipe was adapted from one originally published in Bon Appetit Magazine in March 2018.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Vegetable Feature: Garlic Scapes

by Andrea Yoder

Back in the early 90’s garlic scapes were not a vegetable you would’ve seen featured on any menu or in one of our newsletters. In fact, we used to cut them off the plant and throw them on the ground! Garlic scapes are a curly shoot that forms on a hardneck garlic plant and grows up from the center of the plant in June. All of our varieties of garlic are hardneck garlic. This type of garlic produces scapes as part of nature’ s plan for the plant to propagate itself. The scape extends from the middle of the plant and forms a small bulb on its end. If left to choose its own destiny, that bulb would eventually tip over and plant itself in the soil. We want the garlic plant to focus its energy into producing a nice bulb of garlic, so we remove the scape from the plant.
We were the first farm in the Midwest to start saving the scapes and actually encouraging people to eat them. In the early 90’s there was a woman from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles. We thought this was odd (remember we used to throw them on the ground), but saved some for her anyway. She shared a jar of pickled scapes with us and we realized how good they are for eating! We stopped throwing them away and started eating them!
Nearly the entire scape is edible. They are best when harvested young and tender. I recommend trimming off the skinny end near the little bulb and sometimes you’ll need to trim the other end a bit as well. The entire scape is edible and doesn’t need to be peeled….Easy! Scapes have a bright, mild garlic flavor. They can be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would clove garlic. You can turn them into a simple pickle, or you can do a whole host of things with them including tossing them on a grill and then using them as a topping for a pizza. They are a great addition to eggs, are tasty when mixed with butter to use as a spread, or toss them into a stir-fry.
They’ll keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. You could also take advantage of their unique & dramatic appearance and use them as a decorative item on your table for a few days before you decide to use them!

Pickled Garlic Scapes

Recipe borrowed from the blog Foodie with Family (www.foodiewithfamily.com)

Yield: 1 pint
1 bunch garlic scapes (washed and trimmed)
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cups water
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon raw sugar (can substitute granulated white sugar if necessary)
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon mustard seed (not ground mustard)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (can omit if you’re sensitive to heat)
¼ teaspoon coriander seeds (not ground coriander)

Coil each garlic scape and insert into a sterilized pint mason or ball jar. When you have filled the jar to within ¼ –inch of the top of the jar, coil or break any extra scapes and stuff them down into the center of the jar. When the jar is full of scapes, add the spices to the jar. Set aside.
Bring the apple cider vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Carefully pour the boiling brine over the garlic scapes. The garlic scapes will probably pop up and look like they are trying to get out of the jar. Use a sterile chopstick or butterknife to push it back into the jar. Wipe the rims of the jars, then fix the lid tightly into place. Let the jars come to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator for 6 weeks before opening and tasting. Be patient. It’s worth it!
The pickled garlic scapes will store well for up to 8 months when stored tightly covered in the refrigerator. If at any point the scapes stick above the brine and develop mold, remove the entire scape that has mold. The rest should still be alright.

Garlic Scape & Cilantro Pesto

This recipe was recently published in the Edible Madison, Season by Season 5th Anniversary Edition. We’d encourage you to take a look at this publication, either in print or online: http://digitaleditions.sheridan.com/publication/?i=261309 or at their website:

http://ediblemadison.com/recipes. It features seasonal recipes contributed by seasonal cooks and chefs from the region. Dani Lind is responsible for this recipe. Dani is a long time friend of Harmony Valley Farm and a talented chef and owner of Rooted Spoon Culinary in Viroqua. If you’re in our area this summer, check out her website to see what special events she has going on. (www.rootedspoon.com)

Serves 6 (Makes approximately 1 ½ cups)

1 cup garlic scapes (6 to 8 scapes, or about 1 bunch), cut into 1-inch pieces, tips removed and discarded

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds, toasted and cooled

1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems coarsely chopped

⅓ cup cold-pressed sunflower oil

2 tsp lime juice or apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine scapes and pumpkin seeds in food processor and pulse until coarsely ground.
Add cilantro, lime juice and oil; pulse until evenly chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Use within a week in the fridge or freeze.

**HVF Serving suggestions: Toss with hot pasta and grated cheese for a quick dinner; Stir into scrambled eggs, use as a spread on a sandwich, mix with sour cream or plain yogurt and use as a dip for fresh veggies.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Vegetable Feature: Cilantro

by Sarah Janes Ugoretz

This week we’re excited to feature cilantro, one of the most healthy herbs out there! Beyond its renowned fragrance and its bright, citrusy flavor, cilantro is a powerhouse when it comes to medicinal properties. In Sarma Melngailis’s cookbook, Living Raw Food, she cites some of cilantro’s unique nutritional properties including one of its most unique features in supporting chelation. This process refers to cilantro’s ability-as a “substance that has a great molecular surface area and a negative ionic charge”-to essentially remove various toxins, heavy metals, molds, yeast, and fungi from our bodies. This is an especially important property for those of us who reside in urban areas and are exposed to a number of airborne pollutants on a regular basis. Beyond its work as a chelator, cilantro is also an excellent source of zinc, thiamin, dietary fiber, and vitamins A, C, E, and K--just to name a few.

Thought to have originated in Greece, cilantro’s culinary history spans millennia. According to Lynda Balslev, writing for a 2010 National Public Radio article, coriander seeds were found in 8,000 year old caves in Israel, are referred to in the Bible and in ancient Sanskrit texts, and were even sprinkled across the floor of King Tut’s tomb. It wasn’t until the 1600s that these seeds made their way to the Americas, but today, cilantro is widely used throughout the American Southwest, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Here in the Midwest, you’re most likely to encounter cilantro in salsas or guacamole, but it is also an excellent addition to shakes, salads, and-as you’ll see in the accompanying recipe-in soups.
Outside of the U.S. and Mexico, cilantro often goes by other names--primarily, coriander, pak chi, or Chinese celery. Unlike most of Europe where the entire plant is referred to as coriander, in the U.S. we identify the seeds as coriander and the leafy part of the plant as cilantro. Though they come from the same plant, coriander seeds and cilantro have entirely different flavor profiles.
For storage purposes, cilantro keeps best if kept upright in a jar with water. Cover with a plastic bag and place the jar in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that you can use not only the leaves, but the stems as well since they are thin and tender enough to blend right in with any dish!

Spring Shiitake & Cilantro Soup

by Andrea Yoder

Serves 4-6

2 Tbsp Sunflower oil

⅔ cup green garlic, greens & bulb chopped finely

3-4 green onions, greens and bulb separated

1 Tbsp minced ginger

6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly (approx. 2 to 2 ½ cups)

1 ½ tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Freshly ground white pepper, to taste (optional)

⅛ tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp mirin or rice wine vinegar

⅔ cup asparagus, cut into ½-inch pieces

4 baby white turnips, tops removed, chopped finely

½ cup chopped cilantro

Toasted sesame or peanut oil, to taste

Heat the sunflower oil in medium sauce pot over medium heat. Finely chop the bulb or lower portion of the green onion. Thinly slice the green onion tops and set aside to garnish the soup at the end. When the oil is warm, add the finely chopped onion and the green garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes and then add the ginger and shiitake mushrooms. Sauté for 2-3 more minutes or until the mushrooms start to soften.
Add the salt and season with black and white pepper and crushed red pepper if desired. Add the chicken or vegetable stock, cover and return the soup to a simmer. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
Remove the cover and add the soy sauce, mirin and asparagus. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the finely chopped turnip, cilantro and green onion tops.
Adjust the seasoning to your liking with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Portion the soup into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of sesame or peanut oil.

Cocount Rice with Lemongrass & Cilantro

Recipe borrowed from Lorna Sass’ book, Lorna Sass’ Complete Vegetarian Kitchen

2 ½ cups water

1 stalk fresh lemongrass, cut into 1-inch pieces, or 2 tsp dried lemongrass, placed in a tea ball or tea bag

1 cup long-grain or basmati brown rice

½ cup unsweetened, grated coconut

¾ tsp salt

⅛ to ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flaces

¼ cup chopped cilantro

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, bring the water and lemongrass to a boil. Add the rice, coconut, salt, and red pepper flakes. Return to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, until all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
Remove the tea ball or pieces of lemongrass. Stir in the cilantro as you fluff up the rice with a fork.