Sustainably Grown Vegetables & Flowers – Indianola, Washington
May Day was warm and beautiful. Perfect for a visit to the farm. Persephone Farm’s early crops are coming in! (A month late). Some of Persephone’s season extension tricks: low tunnels, row covers, and an unheated lean-to greenhouse. We saw the cute and fuzzy two day old baby chicks keeping warm under lamps in the barn.
A few CSA shares are still available, to learn more download the CSA brochure.
Photo by Tim Celeski
Contrary to popular belief Spring is really here. Today is opening day of the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market. Join in the celebration. We hear there will be the traditional goat cheese toss and free horse & wagon rides through town. Of course we’ll be there today and every Saturday through out the season, ending October 29. The market is located at Town Square at City Hall (map) 9 a.m – 1 p.m. Please come by and visit us. Remember CSA subscribers get receive a 10% discount when buying from us at the Bainbridge market.
Bill has written a new post at The Season he describes the pre-spring activities on the farm and explains the CSA model. Most importantly, he say’s that spring is just over the horizon. We’ll it can’t come soon enough, this winter has been harsh, wet and cold. The mention of planted pea shoots gives me hope. I look forward to a bountiful season of fresh veg from the farm. And so it’s time to sign up for the 2011 CSA.
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
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.
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.