share details- mid July

This morning we managed to finish 95% of the harvest before the rain picked up. Even as we thinned the final beet bed we were only met with a modest sprinkling, a miracle considering the weather report for the remainder of the day.

SHARE OFFERINGS:
BASIL
BEET GREENS
AMARANTH
MIXED SALAD GREENS
GREEN ONION
CARROTS
RED EXPRESS CABBAGE

This is the first week we are offering BEET GREENS, AMARANTH, and CABBAGE.

Both BEET GREENS and AMARANTH can be tossed into the MIXED SALAD GREENS for ease, and bigger salads. Or, to highlight their more specific flavors, you can choose to stir fry them as the main green.

mature amaranth in blossom

Personally, I have never cooked with AMARANTH, but I'll probably include a recipe that I do end up enjoying in here along the way. For now, I've been doing some research. Flip showed me her copy of "The Oxford Companion to Food" by Alan Davidson, where I learned quite a bit about the plant. While we are providing greens, AMARANTH is also used as a grain, though widely, they are only an ornamental plant. AMARANTH got its' name by two ways of confusion: "it is derived from the Greek amarantos (unfading), because of an ancient belief that it was immortal [confusion #1]. However, a false idea arose that the name meant 'love flower' (Latin amor, love, and Greek anthos, flower) and its name thus acquired a final 'h' [confusion #2]" (Davidson).

If you came to the garden morning this past Saturday, you know that I did concoct a RED CABBAGE and CARROT salad, with the help of the other apprentice, Lauren. If you are interested in making your own, here is the recipe I used. If you're curious but not sold, it has a mustard-y and citric based dressing that uses parsley, dill, and garlic. It complements the fresh, tender CABBAGE nicely.

Lastly, if you've been finding yourself with extra veggies towards the end of the week, I highly recommend chopping them up and making one big frittata out of them. I know, the name makes it sound fancy and probably complicated, but I promise, it's not. The great thing about frittatas is that they store well as leftovers, unlike an omelet or scrambled eggs. We had a few extra slices that made a great lunch the next day. Here are the very inexact directions I used to make mine:

Garden VEGGIE frittata
ingredients*:
CARROTS
arugula
broccoli
ONION
garlic
parsley
eggs (I used 10)
cheese of choice
seasoning of choice
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil of choice
*really, don't pay attention to this in terms of the veggies. Use what you have. Though carrots were a very pleasant surprise, and I do recommend them!

directions:
-preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
-heat oil of choice on stove top. I did mine in a cast iron pan because I knew everything would be going in the oven at some point anyways, so I wanted to make less dishes.
-add vegetables in order of cook length. I did the ONIONS, garlic, and CARROTS first, then broccoli, then finally added the parsley, arugula, and ONION greens. If using CARROTS, let them get soft, but not totally done. They'll finish cooking in the oven.
-add any seasonings you like to the veggies now, and the salt. Let it cook one more minute.
-spread the cooked veggies evenly throughout the pan, or transfer them to the container you will be putting in the oven, and top with cheese.
-whisk enough eggs to just cover the veggies. This was tough, at least for me, to eyeball, but I ended up using ten eggs. If you have to, whisk another and just keep adding.
-put the pan back on the stovetop until you see the edges of the egg start to become solid, around 4 minutes.
-transfer pan to the oven. My frittata was fairly thick, so it had to cook for around 20 minutes. A good rule of thumb would be to check after about 10-12 minutes. When the entire surface has become solid, or you can stick a knife in and pull it out clean, you're done! (If you're a cheese lover like me, this might be a good time to grate just a little more on top).
-Enjoy!