Tuesday, June 23, 2009

This week's share-Greens Galore!














Pictured is a salad course created by Bryan Sikora of Talula's Table featuring Inverbrook lettuce (hidden underneath a delicious buttermilk dressing) and pea shoots/flowers--hopefully it will provide a little inspiration for dealing with the greens included in your share this week.

This week's share includes:
Peas--snow, snap and a small amount of shelling
Lettuce Mix
Cooking Greens
Summer Squash
Butterhead Lettuce
Bok Choy
Pea Shoots/flowers
Dandelion Greens
Mint

Fresh chickens available this week.

Recipe Ideas:

Hot and Sour Salmon with Greens
from A Spoonful of Ginger by Nina Simonds

Six Servings

2 1/2 pounds of Bok Choy stem ends and leaf tips trimmed
8 to 9 whole scallions, ends trimmed, cut into thin julienne slices on the diagonal
3 helping tablespoons fresh ginger cut into very thin julienne shreds

Dressing
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 1/2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
2 tablespoons minced garlic

6 salmon steaks, about 6 ounces each

1. Trim the touch outer leaves from the bok choy and discard. Rinse the stalks and leaves and drain. Cut the stalks in half lengthwise. Cut the halves diagonally into 2-inch sections. In a bowl, toss the scallions and ginger with the bok choy sections. Arrange on a heatproof platter.
2. Mix the ingredients of the Dressing, and pour into a serving bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the salmon steaks on top of te greens. Pour into a roasting pan several inches of water and heat until boiling. Carefully place the platter of salmon and vegetables on top of the rack or steamer tray in the roasting pan. Cover the top of the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, or until the fish is cooked.
4. Serve the salmon from the heatproof platter or arrange the steamed vegetables and salmon on serving plates. Spoon some of the dressing on top and serve with steamed rice.

And just incase you have tons of lettuce/salad greens left over from past shares...or have noticed the lettuce getting a little too bitter for your liking--try this recipe for Julienne of Five Lettuce Soup from Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love.

Julienne of Five Lettuce Soup
Just befoe my lettuce bolts in the hot sun, I have more lettuces of different kinds than I can use. The Haitians recommend lettuce soup to calm the stomach and the nerves. This soup does that and uses up the extra lettuce as well....Different lettuces can be substituted, but try to preserve the ratio of bitter to sweet and soft to firm.

1 cup packed romain lettuce leaves (ribs removed)
1 cup packed Boston/Buttercruch lettuce leaves
1 cup packed leaf lettuce
1 cup packed escarole leaves
1/2 cup packed chicory/dandelion leaves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 cups of basic chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wash leaves and dry well. Cut into 1/8-inch strips: This is easiest to do if you stack serveral leaves at a time, roll into a tight wad and slice them across. You can also use the medium slicing disk on a food processor.

Melt the butter in a medium suacepan. Add the lettuces and toss with the butter. When the lettuces are wilted, add the chicken stock and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the toughest leaves are tender.

In a small bowl. mix the cream with the egg yolks. Gradually stir a small amount of the hot soup into the cream mixture to slowly raise the temperature of the egg yolks. Keep adding soup until the mixture is warm. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the soup and cook, stiggin constantly, without letting the soup boil, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
Serves 6 to 8 as a first course.

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