The veggies are here!

Welcome to July, Seed to Spoon farm-share friends!

So, as I type this up, the weather isn’t exactly hollering, “summer picnic time.” It’s a bummer of a way to start the season. But you know what might make everyone feel better? A big bowl of freshly stir-fried organic veggies, that’s what. Or perhaps a big salad?

In your hands this week you’ll find an array of delicious greenery to grace your dishes and fill your bellies:

• the last of the sweet, delicious Hakurai turnips – enjoy them now, because there won’t be any more until next year!

• a bag of salad greens (lettuce, arugula, herbs)

• bag of sturdy stir-fry/steaming greens (Swiss chard, kale, spinach, turnip tops)

• rhubarb – another crop whose time is ticking, so enjoy it while you can!

• spring onion tops

• half a Melissa Savoy cabbage OR bag of broccoli sprouts/guay lan (Asian sprouting broccoli)

• a beet OR a few baby carrots

If the bags seem a little light, don’t worry – it’s still very early in the season, and the fields and greenhouses are bursting with growing vegetables that will be making their way home with you in the coming weeks.

Since it’s still a little wet and chilly out there, maybe you ought to take some of your new tasty veggies and put together a nice grainy salad for some serious fortification. Pick out your favourite whole grains, or combination of grains: maybe barley, bulghar, wheat berries, amaranth, or my top combo, brown rice and quinoa. Cook them according to package instructions to make about 3 cups. If you’re combining grains, cook them separately, or else you might end up with one very mushy grain and one undercooked one.

I’d hesitate to call this a recipe, but here’s what I do.

Combine: 3 cups cooked grains (cooled slightly)

1 large handful of favourite nuts and seeds (raw cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, soy nuts, toasted pine nuts, whatever is on hand)

1 handful of raisins

Make a vinaigrette of:

1 part vinegar (red wine, apple cider, rice)

2 parts oil (olive, canola, grapeseed, vegetable, or a combination)

salt and pepper to taste

Shake this up in a bottle and douse your grains/seeds/raisins liberally. Set the bowl in the fridge to cool completely.

When the grains have cooled, add in a big handful of each of the following:

spring onion tops, finely chopped

finely sliced Savoy cabbage, broccoli or sprouts (whichever one you found in your bag)

finely chopped spinach leaves

one diced apple, some grated carrot, thinly sliced red onion, whatever else you might have laying about

Stir to combine, add some more salt and pepper or vinaigrette as desired. Serve over a great tangle of salad greens and enjoy.

This salad keeps for days and days in the fridge, so you could just keep munching on it all week. It’s also easily increased if you have a bunch of people to feed.

If you’re looking for more ideas for eating up those cooking greens (Swiss chard, kale, spinach, turnip greens), there are a couple of tasty pasta recipes over at the Scope site:

Pasta with Kale, Bacon and Feta

Pasta with Fresh Green Veggies and Goat Cheese

Also, did you know that, in the Mediterranean, spanikopita is usually made with greens that are more like Swiss chard than like spinach? Why not substitute your mixed cooking greens for spinach in your favourite spanikopita recipe?

Enjoy your veggies, and see you soon!