The Deri Air
A Blog and Farmcast About a Vegetable Farm and Then Some
Beets & Beet Greens
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Beets, Crops
Beets and beet greens are quite popular here at Deri Farm. Beets are in the same plant family as Swiss Chard and are essentially the same as chard, except they have a root the swells up! Or you could say chard lacks the swelling root of a beet.
I think many people are surprised at how tasty beets can be. Many people only know beets from the boiled ones often seen at salad bars. One of my favorite ways to enjoy beets is to roast them. The skin on my spring beets is very thin, so there is no need to peel them.
I plan to post some beet recipes. A fellow farmer, Natalie, came up with a really tasty beet recipe: beet pesto.
Mustard Greens
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Crops, Garlic Scapes, Mustard Greens
Mustard greens can include many different varieties of mustard. A few specific examples are bok choi, arugula, kale, tatsoi, mizuna, etc. At Deri Farm, we grow a few different greens that don’t really get their own name and fall under the general category of mustard greens.
The greens can be cut and bunched as pictured above or cut as baby greens and included in salad mix. The photo is of a variety called pink lettucy mustard. I chose to grow it because it’s a mild mustard that looks quite nice both as a baby green and a full sized one.
Recipes
As with most other greens, the simplest method to cook them is to just braise/saute them in oil with a little garlic. Here’s a recipe that sounds tasty to me that uses a couple of items from this week’s share:
Mustard Greens with Garlic Scapes and Ginger
- wash, then chop or tear greens in to pieces, optionally remove stems
- chop garlic scapes in to 1/4 inch pieces
- mince 1 tablespoons worth of ginger
- heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in pan – olive oil is a good choice
- add scapes and ginger and cook over med-high heat for a minute or so
- add greens and cook for just a couple of minutes
Swiss Chard
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Chard (aka Swiss Chard), Crops
Swiss Chard (aka Chard or Silverbeet) is in the same family a beets. I recently learned that it is often called Swiss Chard to distinguis it from French spinach in catalogs back in the 1800s. Though they are very different plants, the fact is that it can be treated very much like spinach when cooking and are popular substitutes for each other.
During the main summer season, I tend to grow the Bright Lights variety. It gives a variety of colors, tends to be a bit milder and doesn’t bolt (or go to flower.) As the colder weather moves in, I like to grow Fordhook which can handle the cooler temperatures a little better.
Most of the time, we cut and bunch the chard when the leaves are about 6-12 inches. Sometimes, you might see smaller chard added to salad or braising mixes. In fact, at markets you can often buy small chard loose like a salad mix. However it is harvested, it’s a great vegetable…and even seems popular with kids!
Recipes
Most simply, you can cook chard just like you would most any other green. Just chop up the leaves and braise or steam them. I recommend folding the leaves in half lengthwise, then cutting along the stem to separate the leaf and stem. The stem can be chopped up and cooked first, followed by the greens. Being the stem, it is a bit more fibrous and needs a little more cooking than the leaf portion. The consistency of the stem is much like celery, though not stringy.
Otherwise, chard can be used just as you would spinach. Add it to casseroles, soups, omelets. I’ve even heard of some people stuffing the larger leaves like you would stuff cabbage.
Do you have a creative way to cook Swiss Chard? Let me know…
Garlic Scapes
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Crops, Garlic Scapes
Garlic scapes usually make an appearance for a couple of weeks in early July. This year, they have arrived a bit early with all the warm and dry weather. The scapes grow out the top of the garlic plant, while the garlic cloves/bulbs grow underground. The 1 inch long bulbous portion of the scape contains bulbils or miniature bulbs. In theory, one could plant those bulbils when they mature and then harvest garlic two years later. Most people just save a certain amount of the cloves and plant those.
I know that some people believe that cutting the scapes off causes the plant to focus energy to the cloves. I have also heard that is doesn’t change the yield. I don’t know one way or the other, but I do know that cutting the scapes has no adverse effect on the garlic. Instead, it’s a nice early allium crop!
Recipes
Garlic scapes are milder than there subterranean sister, the clove. I compare them to a scallion vs an onion. In fact, you can use them in much the same way you would a scallion. Scapes are excellent in stir fries, added to eggs or meat rubs, or in a dish like mashed potatoes. If you have enough, they can also be turned in to a garlic scape pesto!
Hakurei Turnips
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Crops, Hakurei Turnips
The Hakurei Turnip is a particular variety of salad turnips. Salad turnips aren’t not at all like your grandmother’s turnips. The whole plant is quite delicious and a wonderful vegetable that usually marks the start of the season. The white root is delicious eaten raw…some people just munch on them and don’t bother slicing them while others prefer to slice them over a salad. The greens are excellent as a cooked green.
Recipes
The whole plant is quite delicious, from root to leaves. I enjoy the bulb sliced and put in a salad or just as a snack. But this vegetable does equally well when cooked. If you have eaten roots first and are now left with just the greens, try sauteing them in a little oil or a nice butter.
Sauteed Hakurei Turnip Greens
Wash and cut the greens in to 1-2 inch pieces — don’t bother drying the greens because the water will help steam them later. If you want, chop up some garlic scapes or just a clove of garlic. In a pan, heat a couple tablespoons of oil (olive oil is good, but for a more eastern flavor, I use toasted sesame oil) over a medium-high heat. Add garlic or scapes to hot oil and cook a few minutes until it softens. Add greens and a pinch of salt. After about 30 seconds, stir the greens and then put a lid on them to steam them. Then check them every minute or so and stir/turn them. Within about 4 or 5 minutes, you should have beautiful cooked greens.
That’s the short and simple cooked greens recipe. It’s really quite fast. If you want to cook the root part as well, I suggest cutting the greens off, quartering the white bulbs and cooking those first until they are soft and tender. Remove the roots from the pan, cook the greens and the marry the two and add final seasoning.
I’ve seen some great recipes for things such as curried hakurei turnips. I’ve also thought they could be grilled or gently roasted. One final note, unless the turnips are over two inches wide, it’s a waste to peel them. The skin is very tender.
I’d love to hear any recipes you have. Send me pictures of your creations!
A Few Items from the First Harvest on 6/15/10
Posted by Deri Farm | Filed under Chard (aka Swiss Chard), Crops, Garlic Scapes, Hakurei Turnips, Harvest Logs
Our first harvest for the CSA shares went well. In spite of my back being thrown out and a few hitches expected with the first large harvest, quite a bit came in from the fields. With all the cut greens and various veggies that needed bunching, we ended up running a little past the 2:00 PM deadline.
Some of the items we harvested included: radishes, hakurei turnips (aka salad turnips), broccoli, garlic scapes, swiss chard, mustard greens and a spicy salad mix (mostly from the mustard family – e.g. baby kale, mizuna, tatsoi, arugula, vitamin green and red mustard.)
