Howdy salmonberries,
This week's peak season fruit and veg planned (subject to quality/availability)
strawberries - apples - carrots - lacinato kale - italian garlic - sugar snap peas - asparagus - spring walla walla onions - cherries - eggs - mushrooms - p patch
always organic/organic practice, always from the family farms of Washington.
Taking a break from lettuces this week but hope you enjoyed last week's salanova, it's a cool specialty Dutch seed varietal from our buddies at Hayshaker. Strawberries are all Albion, the everbearing variety: unusually good this year. Cherry variety is Tieton, a nice dark cherry from Tonasket. Kale is classic lacinato, asparagus a thicker stemmed varietal Manny prefers called Millenium.
Most of this week stores sturdy. Preserve carrot greens either for something like pesto or stock or prepare as an herb salsa: wash and chop finely, then macerate a small amount of alliums like a shallot or one of the spring onions in a couple ounces of tasty vinegar or citrus juice, mix in the carrot greens before serving on top of proteins, schmear on toast, or the like. I always try and use greens early but don't be afraid to blanch kale to revive it even a week later. Sugar snap peas and asparagus are super sturdy. Strawberries typically go faster than cherries, and I love how versatile they are for salads, smoothies, and as snacks, but I snack cherries straight up usually pretty quick. Apples we wanted to send this week just cause we like to stay up on them, but so much good early summer fruit yet to come.
What we're pairing:
Albion strawberries and a good red wine vinegar
Asparagus grilled with the garlic scapes from last week; asparagus and pearl couscous
mother recipe for herb salsa/salsa verde adapted from Samin Nosrat
1/4c finely diced allium
1/4c vinegar
1/4c finely chopped herb
1/4c evoo
sea salt to taste
Let the alliums macerate in the vinegar/citrus juice for 15m. Add the shallot to the parsley, olive oil and salt, and add remaining vinegar/citrus juice to taste. salt to taste and serve immediately.