In Your Share (May 17th edition)

This week your share may include…

• Dry Beans: Choose from Calypso or Etna beans this week. Calypso has a beautiful black & white pattern and can be used like a black bean. Etna is a cream colored bean with maroon striping which is similar to an italian borlotti or american cranberry bean.
• Green Garlic: These are the young shoots of the garlic plant. They have a mild garlic flavor and can be used like green onions – chopped & sprinkled raw over salad or sauteed.
• Bunched Greens: Choose from mizuna, arugula, and rapini. The mizuna has frilly leaves and very mild flavor. Arugula has lobed leaves and a stronger flavor, but is not at all spicy. Rapini (aka Broccoli raab or Sessantina Grosso) has slightly savoyed leaves and a spicy flavor. All of them can be added to salad or sauteed.
• Leeks: This variety, King Richard, is unusually long and white which means more tender flesh. The green tops are tougher, but still have good flavor – I often use them in soup stock.
• Napa Cabbage: When picked small these can be used like bok choi – the green leaf is flavorful, the white stem is mild & crunchy. Great in stir fry but it also works anywhere cooked greens are called for – lasagne, spanikopita, over pasta, or in a fritata.
• Spring Onions: These baby red onions have a tiny tender bulb and the greens are good too.
• Pea Shoots: The tender leaves and tendrils from the pea plants are a tasty & fun addition to salad. They have a mild flavor like the pea pods they will eventually turn into and are good lightly cooked too.
• Scapes/Whistles: These are the flowering stems from a variety of plants in the allium family. Onion & Shallot scapes have a thick walled stem but are hollow inside. Leek & garlic scapes are solid all the way through. I like to toss them with a bit of olive oil & salt then roast them whole – like you would asparagus – until slightly carmelized. They can also be diced & sauteed to add a mild onion or garlic flavor to any dish.