Recipe: Wilted Mustard Greens

Wilted Mustard Greens

Peppery mustard greens are spicy and delicious raw but can be wilted like spinach and served warm. Here I decided to use some leftover cooked chicken for a fast and tasty lunch for me and the kids.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups mustard greens, ripped into large pieces
- 10 garlic scapes, chopped
- 2 small chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp chicken broth
- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Heat olive and sesame oils on medium. Enjoy the yummy sesame fragrance.

2. Add garlic scapes and cook about 5 minutes or until softened

3. Add mustard greens and chicken broth and stir gently

4. Add chicken and stir all together until greens are thoroughly wilted, about 2-3 minutes

5. Serve and enjoy, ideally with a couple of goofs at the table!

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Recipe: Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic Scape Pesto

The quintessential garlic scape recipe for those new to scapes and not sure what to do with them. I've substituted walnuts for the pine nuts traditionally used in basil pesto because they are less expensive and often easier to find. This recipe can also be done later in the summer when basil is available, but for a true early summer garlic scape pesto we used arugula.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups garlic scapes, trimmed below the flower bulb

- 1 cup arugula

- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

- 1/2 cup olive oil

- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Add all ingredients except for olive oil to food processor

2. Pulse until finely chopped and thoroughly mixed

3. Run the food processor while pouring the olive oil in a steady stream

4. Continue to mix after olive oil is added for 1-2 minutes until blended into a soft paste consistency

5. Serve with your favorite pasta

Yum!

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Low tech irrigation

While I'm lucky to have inherited a number of frost-proof hydrants to run water from around the farm, the closest one is still about 400' from the main garden.

The simplest solution? 400' of large diameter garden hose.

This year I mowed a strip before I rolled it out so the hose is easier to find and I'm not always worried about running over it with a tractor or other equipment. I'm sure I'll have to do it again in a few weeks.

The biggest downside of using a small hose for a long run like this is loss of pressure. Fortunately I'm not using high pressure sprinklers which waste water and can create disease by wetting the foliage, so the simplest solution works out in the end.

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Recipe: Wilted Spinach Salad

Wilted Spinach Salad

We're near the end of spinach and this week we're starting to pack tasty garlic scapes into the food boxes. So what to do? Throw the two together with some feta and dried cranberries for a delicious salad!

Ingredients:

1 large bowl of spinach
3 garlic scapes
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
50 g feta, crumbled
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Steps:

1. Wash spinach and set aside in a large bowl.

2. The top part of the garlic scape (the part that looks like a bulb or flower bud and beyond) is the toughest, so I typically cut it off and use the more tender bottom portion.

3. Dice the garlic scapes.

4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil on low-medium and cook garlic scapes for 5 minutes.

5. Add garlic scapes to spinach and mix.

6. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and add feta, melting and stirring for 1 minute.

7. Add 2 tbsp vinegar and mix quickly, taking the pan off the heat.

8. Add to spinach and garlic scapes and mix thoroughly, wilting the spinach and coating it in the dressing.

9. Sprinkle cranberries (or dried fruit of your choice) on top. Nuts would also be a great addition.

Sylvia is still skeptical about the deliciousness of spinach, but we're working on it!

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Fresh Grass

The chickens have made a big leap in size. Suddenly their grassy patch doesn't look so, um, grassy:

They definitely stayed a few days too long before I realized that they had made the leap from little fluffy chicks into scratching and pecking machines.

A quick move of the chicken tractor later and the chickens are on fresh grass.

It was pretty gratifying to watch them literally jump with joy as they scratched and pecked in the new grass, completely ignoring their feeder.

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Recipe: Glazed Turnips

Baby turnips in the spring are the tiny, tender cousins of their fall counterparts. They cook up fast and have a more delicate flavour than the turnips of the fall. As a wonderful bonus their greens can also be cooked and the two served together make a delicious combination.

Glazed Turnips:

Ingredients:

1 cup turnips chopped
1/3 cup water or enough to cover turnips halfway
2 tsp butter
1/4 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Steps:

1. chop turnips and set aside greens (stems trimmed and discarded)

2. place turnips, water, 1 tsp of butter, salt and sugar in pan and bring to a boil on high heat

3. reduce to medium-high heat and cook for about 10 minutes or until turnips are tender and liquid nearly gone (there should be a very light syrup remaining to coat the turnips)

4. wilt greens with 1 tsp of butter on medium heat for 2-3 minutes

5. mix greens and turnips together and serve

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Eva Mae Farm