Recipes

You are currently browsing the archive for the Recipes category.

Fava Bean Bonus

As Persephone split share subscribers, we got a bag of fat fava beans for the second week in a row. These are mysterious, possibly magical beans. Until last year I only knew of fava beans as the side dish favored by Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter in the oscar winning “The Silence of the Lambs“. Creepy! Don’t let that turn you off to fava beans, turns out they are delicious and it’s a treat to get them fresh from the farm down the street. A bit of googling and chatting with apprentices, Caitlin and Greg inspired my fava bean lunch…

Fava beans with Walla Walla onions

Fava Beans with Walla Walla Onions

Fava Beans with
Walla Walla Onions

Shell the beans, drop into boiling water and boil for 2 minutes. Drain the water and, so you can handle them, rinse a bit with cool water. Then remove the outer skin of each bean. Just pinch the fat end of the bean and cut the small end with a paring knife. Pinch a bit more and the bright green inner bean slides out. Easy enough. Although you can eat the outer skin, the inside is the good stuff. Heat up a bit of good olive oil, add some sliced Walla Walla onions (also in this week’s box) and gently saute until they soften a bit. Add the fava beans and heat them up. Then you’re done. I added some of Judith’s fresh chèvre, and salt and pepper (oh and some Parmesean cheese too). It was lovely.

Here’s some more info on fava beans. Did you know they were the only beans Europeans ate before they discovered America and all its legumes? So says this NPR article by Bonny Wolf.

Tags: , ,

We’ll be giving our CSA subscribers plenty of green garlic and garlic scapes this season. We recommend you use it right away. We chose a couple of recent recipes from the NY Times we hope will let you enjoy the bounty.

Here’s one for green garlic Ceasar Salad with Anchovy Croutons.

And you may want to take a look at this one for Green Garlic and Asparagus Soup.

Enjoy.

Tags: , ,

Sauteed Frisee

Our first full-week CSA pickup included Frisee, a wonderful salad green. Our friend, Abra Bennett, a professional chef and blogger at French Letters gave us this Frisee recipe. We thought we’d share it with you.

Sautéed Frisée

Recipe By: Abra Bennett for Persephone Farm

1  Large head very fresh frisée
1  T  olive oil
1  T  bacon fat (or use 2 T olive oil)
1  T  water
3  Cloves garlic
1  T  lemon juice
1  T  heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the frisée, not too finely. Heat olive oil and bacon fat in a large
skillet with a tightly-fitting lid. Add the frisée to the fat in the pan,
add the water, cover tightly, and let simmer 3-4 minutes, stirring
occasionally, until thoroughly wilted.

Remove lid, add garlic, and sauté another minute or two. Add lemon juice
and sauté to combine. Add cream and sauté to combine. Taste for salt and
pepper.

The greens will be slightly bitter and piquant. They’re delicious with rich
foods like duck, pork, macaroni and cheese, or stirred into a bowl of penne.

Serves one person who really loves greens, or two more reasonable people.

Tags: , , ,

Right away subscribers found rabe in their boxes.

“Perhaps more than any other vegetable, broccoli rabe is known by various names, including rapini, broccoli raab (pronounced rob), raab, rape, rapa, broccoli di rape and rappi. In the U.S., it is most commonly called broccoli rabe or rapini. It is not, however, the same thing as broccolini or baby broccoli, which are much sweeter.”

So says, San Diego food writer Susan Russo in an article on npr.org (June 7, 2010).

She writes about growing up eating broccoli rabe every Sunday. It was a staple in the Italian-centric area of Rhode Island where her family resided. She says “You don’t have to be Italian to eat broccoli rabe” and shares favorite recipes that sound pretty darn good. Pictures included.

Broccoli Rabe, Fennel And Hot Sausage Pizza
Lemony Broccoli Rabe And Cannellini Bean Crostini
Broccoli Rabe And Mushroom Frittata With Grape Tomato Salsa

Read the article and recipes here.
Susan is a farmers market fan, her web site is Food Blogga.

Tags: , , , ,

Ingredients

2 bunches of broccoli rabe

salt to taste

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

6 oil-packed anchovy fillets or to taste

1 t hot red pepper flakes or 1 small dried red chili, chopped, seeds and all

1 lb orecchiette, cavatelli or other pasta

4 quarts water

freshly ground black pepper to taste

grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

Instructions

Clean and coarsely chop the broccoli rabe.

Bring about 1 inch of lightly salted water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Add the broccoli rabe and cook until it is tender and only a few tablespoons of liquid are left in the bottom of the pan-about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how finely the vegetable is chopped.

Set the pan of broccoli rabe aside, but keep it warm.

In a separate skillet or sauté pan, gently sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it is soft, then melt in the anchovy fillets by crushing them in the garlicky oil with a fork.

Add the red pepper and stir to mix well.

Turn the garlic-pepper oil into the broccoli rabe and mix.

Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water until done. Drain the pasta and immediately combine with the seasoned broccoli rabe. Turn it into a warm serving bowl, add pepper, and serve immediately.

You can pass grated cheese at the table.

Recipe from GourmetSleuth.com

Tags: , , , ,

A bounty of beautiful leeks were in subscriber’s boxes last Wednesday. Before becoming a subscriber last year I don’t recall ever having fresh leeks in our fridge. This year, I’ve vowed to be more ambitious with the veg, not just stir fries. With the wet, chilly weather we’ve been having it seemed appropriate to try making soup. I know, potato leek soup, that sounds like winter comfort food. Well, it’s spring in western washington, soup is on! So in the Central Market parking lot, a quick iPhone google turned up this winner:

Potato and Leek Soup by Emeril Lagasse
82 reviews, 5 stars, it must be good. And it was. I followed the recipe, but many reviewers made substitutions and still loved the results. We still have leeks left to stir fry, I think a quiche is too advanced for this cook. I must admit this is the first (but not the last) time I’ve made soup that didn’t involve opening a can.

~Leslie (CSA Subscriber)

Tags: , ,

« Older entries