August 4 veggies

As the weeks go on, those bags just get bigger and heavier, don't they? And more intoxicating, too, with the basil and tomatoes and, for the full share crowd, sweet and musky blackcurrants. More about those in a minute. Here's the breakdown for this week:

Full share:

• tomato & jalepeno & basil & dill & parsley & onion tops
• fava beans & snow peas
• Brussels sprouts or broccoli or guay lan or beans or chard
• half a Melissa Savoy cabbage or turnip or head of lettuce
• spicy lettuce mix
• beets (with tops)
  
• blackcurrants

Half share:

• tomato & cuke or zuke or pepper
• onion tops
• half a Melissa Savoy cabbage
• fava beans
• beet
• bonus: blanched cabbage leaves if you wanted them

The blanched cabbage leaves will be fine in the freezer for a while, or you can thaw them out right now and make cabbage rolls. There are a bunch of different ways to make cabbage rolls, as they seem to be an almost universal food. You can find a fairly mainstream Canadian recipe here, or just type "cabbage rolls recipe" into Google, preceded by "Greek," "Lebanese," "Southern," "Indian," "Russian," "Korean," or whichever ethnicity of food you love and there's a good chance you'll find something to suit your tastes. I think I might take my cabbage leaves and fill them with a rice and pine-nut stuffing, like in this recipe for stuffed vine leaves.

When I was looking for blackcurrant recipes to link to, I found out that someone had already done the job for me. If you aren't familiar with blackcurrants, they're very popular in Australia, New Zealand, and in Europe, but pretty much neglected here in Newfoundland (although they grow very happily all over St. John's). They're wonderful in a sauce for meat; because they're so assertive, they can hold their own with wild meat like moose and caribou (although they're lovely with a pork roast, too). They're often used for jams and jellies, and, indeed, the jelly they make is transcendent, especially when the blood-burgundy juice is bolstered with some spiced port. Beautiful for Christmas, if you can keep your paws off it that long. I, for one, will be using mine to make this Danish blackcurrant schnapps. I have a feeling it will go very well over ice cream for a boozy winter dessert (for the grown-ups only, mind you).

Happy eating!