Tasty Bytes

a leek, that is…

it’s been a cold and wet one…I keep trying to figure out if I should get the garden ready for planting or build an ark. Well, we’ve been working on the garden between rain storms – weeds took over through the winter so the spring ritual is to pull them all out. Things are taking shape – our backs and knees can atest to the progress. We’re about half way there so I’m contemplating what we want to be nibbling on this summer. Here’s the list so far: green beans, sugar snap peas, pak choy, chard, kale, tomatoes, zucchini, basil, cilantro, lemon cucumbers, beets, strawberries and a few peppers. Looks like I’ll need to replant the herbs too so in will go some tarragon, oregano and thyme. And, we can’t forget Mochi (she’s nudging me now to tell you with her chin resting on my lap), she loves carrots freshly yanked out of the ground (which she has learned to do herself.) I know this sounds like a lot of vegetables but believe me the snails will get their fair share 😉

In the meantime, we got our first Terra Firma CSA box last wednesday. What a lovely assortment of carrots, potatoes, leeks, green garlic, asparagus, mineola tangerines, ruby red grapefruit, lemons, beets, kale and spinach. Whew, that was a lot of veggies to eat up! We still have a few potatoes, carrots and citrus left – here’s what I did with the veggies this week…

I roasted the beets (325F for 30 minutes or til tender) in a covered casserole with a splash of water. Cooled then peeled them and tossed with grapefruit segments, olive oil, feta and salt and pepper. This would be equally yummy with the mineola’s.

Lightly sauteed the beet tops with the kale in olive oil and a clove of garlic.

Made a ‘hash’ with sauteed leek and a couple of the potatoes.

Most of the veggies went to the once a month (more or less) lentil soup. Every few weeks I make a big batch of lentil soup and freeze in portions for those busy week days when I don’t have much time to cook. This week’s soup: 2 cups of lentils soaked overnight with 2 T of lemon juice. Chopped up a bunch of veggies (include if you can onion, carrot and celery – the remaining veg can be whatever is in your crisper and in season. I used green garlic, leek & not in season peppers) to make about 6 cups. Sauteed these veggies with a few teaspoons of salt in olive oil with a couple of bay leaves. Tossed in a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained lentils, 1/2 cup of quinoa and 8 cups of water (you can use vegetable broth or chicken stock.) Simmered for 30-40 minutes. At this point you can add a few diced potatoes or winter squash. Simmer til just tender. Then I add some chopped greens (I used the spinach). Stir until just wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can season this soup any way you like. This time I added some lemon zest and lemon juice. I just wanted something simple this time around. I then portioned out the soup into 1/2 quart portions to freeze.

Some times I make it Indian style, or maybe French with some herbs de provence or South of the Border with some chili powder – any of these flavorings you would add during the vegetable saute step if you want the whole batch flavored in that way -Or – you can just flavor each portion as you heat to serve. Oh, and fresh herbs are also great. Add the herbs towards the end of the big batch to keep those flavors fresh or add to the smaller portions when heating to serve.

Now we just pray for sunshine…