There are some exciting new additions on offer this week. As per usual you can find us at:

We are at Nutrition World Farmers Market every Saturday from 11:30am-1pm.

See you at Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday from 4-6pm.

CSA:
Green leaf lettuce
Hakueri Japanese salad turnips
Colorful Spring Radish
Red Russian Kale
Rainbow and Giant Ford Hook Swiss Chard
Collard Greens
Tarragon

Market:
Baby Red Leaf Lettuce
Young Green Butter lettuce
Salad mix with Red Kitten Spinach, variety of colorful lettuce, kale, spicy Asian mustard and edible flowers
Toscano, Red Russian and Siberian Kale
Spicy Asian Mustard (horseradish bite)
Giant Ford Hook and Rainbow Swiss Chard
Dense, tender Red Kitten Spinach
Easter Egg, Crunchy Royal and D’Avignon Radish
Hakueri Japanese Salad Turnips
Toscano, Collard and Spicy Asian Raab-delicious sautéed or roasted
Variety of herbs.

Spring and summer are resplendent with fresh herbs that are a joy in any kitchen. But sometimes they can seem like the shortest-lived flavors of the season, gone before you know it.

We’ve all been there—paying too much on fresh herbs at the supermarket for just one special recipe, or getting a beautiful little bouquet at the farmers market only to find that those little green leaves brown and spoil before you have a chance to fully enjoy them. I can’t count the number of times I’ve found once-green basil blackened and limp in the crisper drawer of my fridge, or once bright cilantro reduced to slimy mush.

Losing herbs is often feels more disappointing to me than when other food spoils because herbs can be so expensive at the store and their shelf life seems mysteriously short. If you’re as excited as I am about the parsley and oregano appearing at the market the past couple weeks, you won’t want to waste one flavorful sprig. Fortunately, there’s a few different ways you can enjoy your soft and hard herbs for as long as possible.

Soft herbs are any like parsley, mint, and cilantro, with a soft stem and leaves. Hard herbs are any with a more twig like structure, such as rosemary, thyme, and oregano. The key to keeping herbs fresh is knowing what type you’re dealing with and treating them accordingly.

Parsley yellowed from improper storage.

There are several methods for preserving soft herbs. They’ll last for a few days in the bag they come in at the farmers market— but to keep them fresh longer than that you’ll ultimately you want to find the right balance of moisture, oxygen, and light. Soft herbs already hold a lot of moisture, so it’s easy for them to rot quickly. Too much light, and they’ll become limp and yellow. But unless you want to dry them purposefully, you don’t want to avoid moisture entirely.

One method, if you have room in the door of your fridge, is to put the herbs stem down and leaves up in a jar or glass with just enough water to cover the base of the stem, like you would for a bouquet of flowers. Put a plastic bag over the leaves of the herbs, careful not to crush them, and secure with a rubber band. This will help the herbs continue to “live” even though they’ve been harvested and absorb moisture as needed.

Another method for longer term storage is to freeze your herbs in water or oil. Some experts suggest oil better maintains the fresh flavor of soft herbs, but you’ll want to choose depending on the kinds of recipes you often cook and what you’ll be using the herbs for.

Oil preserved parsley or basil can quickly be thrown in with fresh, warm pasta or into the blender to be finished into pesto with some kale, radish tops, walnuts, cheese, etc. Or mint and cilantro frozen in oil can be thrown in at the end of fixing a quick weeknight curry, chimichuri, or marinade. Water preserved herbs might be better for something like spaghetti or pizza sauce.

To preserve your herbs in oil or water, simply wash them, gently dry them in a salad spinner or by blotting with paper towels, chop them, and fill the compartments of an ice cube tray with your herbs. Add just enough water or oil to surround the herbs. Freeze and pop a cube or two our when you need it for up to three months (though even frozen herbs are best used sooner rather than later).

For hard herbs like rosemary and oregano, you can store them in the short to mid-term by rolling them up in damp paper towels and putting them in an airtight container or plastic bag, being careful to squeeze the air out. For the longer term, you’ll want to dry your herbs to preserve them, rather than freezing them. Simply hang upside down with a string around their stems in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.

Basil and mint can be tricky because they are soft herbs that are sensitive to the cold. These often do best left to dry on the countertop out of direct sunlight.

There are some exciting new additions on offer this week. As per usual you can find us at:

We are at Nutrition World Farmers Market every Saturday from 11:30am-1pm.

See you at Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday from 4-6pm.

If you are worried about the weather on Wednesday, April 5th we can bring your share to the car if you pull up by our truck at the far end of the market. You can also arrange pickup on Saturday at @nutritionworldchattanooga instead! Just let us know what you need!

CSA:
1. Green leaf lettuce
2. Hakueri Japanese salad turnips
3. Colorful Spring Radish
4. Siberian Kale
5. Rainbow Swiss Chard
6. Oregano
7. Green Onion

Market:
Green leaf lettuce
Toscano, Red Russian and Siberian Kale
Tender Collard Greens
Giant Red Mustard
Spicy Asian Mustard (horseradish bite)
Ford Hook and Rainbow Swiss Chard
Dense, tender Red Kitten Spinach
Colorful Spring Radish
Hakueri Japanese Salad Turnips
Nutrient Dense and Medicinal Chickweed for salads, smoothies, teas and tincture
Variety of herbs.

Next week we will have Easter Egg Radish for the up coming holiday.

Coming soon will be kohlrabi, pak choi, and daikon radish!

I first learned about the simple pleasures of spring radishes on toasted bread with good butter from a friend who married a Frenchman.

It was such an easy, minimalist concept, such a pleasurable morning ritual. The slicing of the bread off the loaf. The transformation of the round, red and long, pale radishes into slivers so thin the light passes through them. A thick smear of bright butter. A sprinkling of salt. It was like a little poem.

And then there was the poetry of the eating itself. The crunch of the crust and forgiveness of the crumb, the peppery flavor of the radishes hovering over the sweetness of the butter and the sparkle of the fleur de sel.

We took breakfast very seriously back then. It was an all morning affair, with everyone contributing something— a pot of black, rich coffee, a bunch of grapes, hardboiled eggs and asparagus left over from last night’s dinner, yogurt with honey and nuts. And of course, the radish tartines. My favorite out of everything lovely on the table.

I still make these on the regular, especially when the first spring radishes come in. I like to play around with the concept—after all, tartine means nothing more complex than an open-faced sandwich with quality, special ingredients. There’s a whole restaurant named for and devoted to the concept in San Francisco, and while I did have the best croissant of my life there, I still like the home-made version best, because I can play with my food.

If you want to make your morning ritual extra enjoyable all week long, it doesn’t take much pre-planning. All you need to start is a good loaf of bread. I make mine from scratch these days with my sourdough starter, and a loaf will last me a week. You can also buy a lovely loaf from a number of Chattanooga bakers, including Bread and Butter, Niedlov’s, The Bread Basket, or Bluff View.

Next, you’ll wand some kind of spread to add moisture and flavor to your tartine. Think good butter, pesto, jam or savory preserves, nut butters, hummus, soft cheeses like ricotta or boursin, mashed fava beans, or even avocado.

After that, the world is your oyster. Top your tartine with avocado, feta, eggs, and sprouts for a green breakfast packed with protein and healthy fats. You could do classic bread and jam. Or you could try pesto, radishes, and asparagus tops. Slick butter over the bread and pile on greens from your share like the Red Kitten Spinach or Spicy Asian Mustard Greens, and top with a fried egg to get a jumpstart on your veggies for the day.

A thick spread of tahini and hummus with herbs, radishes, an egg, and a sprinkle of exotic spices like z’atar or berebere seasoning can sweep you away to Morocco before your coffee has even kicked in. Miso-pickled mushrooms could add an umami Asian flare to your pairings. A little mayonnaise or aioli and left over roast chicken or seitan is a great way to use up leftovers besides brown bagging your lunch.

There are endless ideas for how to top your toast. My favorite is still the simplest—radishes, butter, and a little salt. What will your new favorite be?

These Spicy Asian Greens are great additions to salads, smoothies and sandwiches. Alone and raw they can dominate the plate. Long simmering can break them. We needed a way to tame them not break them. This is a fun, easy and quick recipe. Be ready to move fast once you start cooking.

Ingredients
-1 bunch Spicy Asian Greens
-1 bunch Spicy Asian Rabe
-1 cup kimchi with liquid
-2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
-5 Spring onions
-1 inch piece of ginger
– sea salt

Directions
-Tear greens into small pieces (picture will show you what you want)
-Wash and cut onions into 1 inch pieces
-Slice 1/8 inch coins out of ginger then lay on side cutting 1/8 inch julienne strips
-Heat large saute pan till smoking hot (put a couple of drops of oil in pan when it smokes your ready)
-Add oil to smoking hot pan stir in onion and ginger keep it moving for thirty seconds
-Add greens to pan and spread them out let sit for 15 seconds
-Begin to turn over greens we need to wilt and get a little color on greens season with a few pinches of salt
-Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of kimchi liquid that will finish cooking and remove pan from heat
-Split greens into portions and add cold kimchi on top and serve

This is a very flavorful dish. It’s best to share with people who like strong flavors. Enjoy!!!

We have an exciting array of vegetables for you this week as we continue to Walk Into Spring. New things are growing all the time, both on the farm and in the beautiful Pigeon Mountain area. Heres what you can look forward to this week!

We are at Nutrition World Farmers Market every Saturday from 11:30am-1pm.

See you at Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday from 4-6pm.

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March 29nd Produce

Here are the items you can expect at Market {M} and in the CSA {CSA}:

• Toscano Kale {CSA} Red Russian and Siberian Kale {M}
• Rainbow {M} and Giant Ford Hook Swiss Chard {M/CSA}
• Colorful Spring Radish (M/CSA]
• Spicy Asian Mustard Greens {CSA}
• Tender Spring Collards {CSA}
• Red Kitten Spinach {M/CSA}
• Collard and Spicy Asian Raab {M}
• Herbs: Rosemary {M/CSA}, Parsley, Oregano, Tarragon, Sweet Mint, and Peppermint {M}
• Edible Asian and Arugula Flowers {M}
• Medicinal and Nutrient Dense Chickweed for Smoothies, Teas or Tincture

“The first gathering of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby—how could anything so beautiful be mine?” Alice B. Toklas

When I think of spring, I think of dark earth, smoke, and the rich colors of the season’s first intrepid buds and blossoms. The earth tilts back to face the sun, and the days grow lighter and longer. The soil is damp and far from still, moving with the work of roots and rabbits and leaves pushing up out of the dark into the chilly sunshine. The time of singing has come. And the time of feasting on the unique flavors of the season.

After the heavy fare of winter’s kitchen—stews and roasts and starchy root vegetables— I get green fever hard. It feels so good to eat those nourishing, vegetal shoots that are as light as the late March sky. It’s hard to pick and choose between kale and collards, chards and chives. I want them all. And this recipe is the perfect way to blend all the bounty of early spring into one hearty, delicious dish.

Farmers Market Pizza

My favorite way to make a pizza this time of year is to fire up the charcoal grill and flash cook the pizza to a smoky, bubbly finish. It’s especially wonderful if you grill the toppings before you cook the crust to get even more of that lovely wood-tinged taste. But this recipe will work equally well in the oven if you follow the baking instructions that come with your favorite pizza crust recipe.

All good pizzas start with a good crust. I like to follow the simple, reliable instructions from King Arthur Flour for both sourdough and yeast pizza crusts, depending on whether I have sourdough starter in my refrigerator. It takes a little planning—you’ll want to let the dough rise a couple hours before you get started, but otherwise this is a quick and easy supper that comes together on the fly, even on a busy weeknight.

As for the toppings, the beauty of the Farmers Market Pizza is the flexibility of the flavors. It’s the perfect way to play with whatever you find in the fridge, and to use up any ingredients that are getting close to compost time, since the grill or oven will crisp them back up. Here are a few ideas that will get you started on incorporating items from your share into a lovely spring pie:

Pizza Sauce

Blend herbs like parsley, rosemary, garlic chives, or English thyme into your red pizza sauce, either pre-bought or homemade. It’s easy to whip up at home with a little tomato sauce, a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, a glug of red wine or splash of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt, some minced garlic, and your favorite seasonings. You can make your sauce as mild or spicy as you like. Pizza sauce can be made to most any taste, so the only thing to keep an eye on is the thickness of the sauce so it doesn’t slide off the crust or make for an overly moist pie.

Pesto

Herbs and earthy or spicy greens like kale, collards, and spicy Asian mustard greens are great blended together with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice for a bright spring pesto. Add in walnuts, pecans or Parmesan if you like—they’ll give the pesto a lovely creaminess. This recipe would work well.

Toppings

Shred some chard or Red Kitten spinach to top your pie—it will wilt beautifully as the pizza finishes cooking.

Meat (if you partake)— sausages, chicken, pork, or a meat substitute would be lovely on the grill and pick up a smoky flavor that compliments the bright, earthy flavor of the vegetables.

Onions (green, red, or white)— diced, slivered, or chopped. Sauté or grill before you put on the pie. If you are grilling, place the onions on the grate in halves or fourths and char before you dice them. If baking your pie, chop and then sauté in a little butter or olive oil on the stove (especially with minced garlic).

Asparagus, artichokes, olives, nettles, and even broccoli can be great toppings that contribute to your green-hued spring pie. Avocado can be grilled in slices or simply blended in raw with your pesto.

Cheese— mozzarella and parmesan are traditional pizza toppings, but you can get inventive. On the pie pictured I used a good reblochon, but you can also try anything from blue cheese to brie to cheddar, depending on the other flavors.

The Process

If you are grilling your pizza, I recommend this recipe, in which you grill one side of the dough, flip it, and then quickly add your sauce and toppings that will wilt, melt, and blend as the bottom side cooks. It takes a little organization and careful timing, but it makes for a very quick pie, a crisp and bubbly crust, and a great smoky flavor.

If you are baking your pizza, you can be a little more leisurely. Follow the instructions in your recipe of choice for whether the crust needs to be pre-baked before you top it or if the whole raw pie can go into a hot oven and do its thing.

Hello,

This is the third week of the “Walking to Spring” CSA session and we hope you are enjoying it!

We will have a variety of potted tomatoes and herbs available for sale. Please let us know if you would like to reserve any of the items below!

• Tomatoes: Cherokee Purple, German Johnson, Brandywine, Sun-gold, Valencia, Matts Wild Cherry and Roma Paste
• Herbs: English Thyme, Dill, Garlic Chives and Basil

See you tomorrow at market!

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April 6th Produce

Here are the items you can expect at Market {M} and in the CSA {CSA}:

• Toscano, Red Russian & Siberian Kale {M/CSA}: have you purchased any fresh turmeric at market lately? It is a nutrition powerhouse and has been used medicinally for ages. If you pick some up, try pairing it with our super healthy kale in this Tropical Turmeric Cleanser Green Smoothie!
• Tender Collards {M/CSA}: I eat plenty of collards but I usually fall back on the same old recipe (pressure cooked with some onion and a little sugar). I have been craving a new way to enjoy these greens and think this Ethiopian Spiced Collards sounds like just what I need!
• Rainbow Swiss Chard {M/CSA}: even if you don’t have broccoli stems, I think the combination of chards, apples and ginger in this Broccoli & Chard Stem Ferment sounds wonderful!
• Spring Radishes {M/CSA}: if you haven’t done so yet, please check out our latest recipe – Radish and Green Onion Tzatziki! It is really fresh and zingy and pairs well with starchy, crusty and fried food.
• Red Butter Lettuce {M/CSA}: if you aren’t a big fan of salads, here is a post on other ways to use your lettuce. I think the Lettuce Cups with Red Pepper Lentils and the Arugula, Apple and Chickpea Salad Wraps sound great!
• Awesome Asian & Lettuce Salad Mix {M/CSA}: I made another batch of our Hemp Seed “Ranch” Dressing this past week and it was so good on this salad mix! The creaminess works so well with the bold flavored greens. You can switch up the herbs and make it your own.
• Pak Choi {M/CSA}: Pao Cai, or Chinese Fermented Pak Choi, sounds so easy and delicious. As an added bonus, you should be able to find daikon radish and scallions at the market this week too!
• Bold & Peppery Arugula {M}: I think any grain, from brown rice to farro to barley, would work equally as well in this Arugula, Dried Cherry and Wild Rice Salad.
• Spicy Asian Mustard Greens {M}: wow, look at all of the vitamins and minerals these bad boys contain! Also, they are a great way to lower your cholesterol naturally: “The cholesterol-lowering ability of steamed mustard greens is second only to steamed collard greens and steamed kale in a recent study of cruciferous vegetables and their ability to bind bile acids in the digestive tract. When bile acid binding takes place, it is easier for the bile acids to be excreted from the body. Since bile acids are made from cholesterol, the net impact of this bile acid binding is a lowering of the body’s cholesterol level. It’s worth noting that steamed mustard greens (and all steamed forms of the cruciferous vegetables) show much greater bile acid binding ability than raw mustard greens.”
• Mint & Peppermint {M}: parsley and mint soup many sound strange but they combine beautifully to create a fresh, invigorating tonic. Check out the recipe below!

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Recipe :: Parsley & Mint Soup

This is from The Herbal Kitchen by Jerry Traunfeld. It makes 6 servings.

• Ingredients:
  • 3 cups sliced leeks, white and light green parts only
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon white rice
  • 4 cups gently packed flat-leaf parsley sprigs, large stems removed
  • 1/2 cup spearmint leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Directions:
  • Cook the leeks in the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring often until they begin to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and the rice. When the soup begins to boil, cover the pot and let the soup slowly simmer at low heat for 20 minutes, or until the rice is very tender.
  • Stir in the parsley, mint and a few grinds of black pepper into the simmering soup and then remove it from heat. Puree it in 2 batches in a blender until very smooth. Be very careful when doing this: fill the blender no more than half full so that the hot soup does not splash out, and pulse it in quick spurts before switching it on continuously. Allow the blender to fun at least a full minute for each batch, or until the soup is golf-course green and the texture is very smooth. Pour the soup back in to the saucepan, stir in the cream and reheat it. Taste and add salt if needed.

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Alice O’Dea Article

Have you read Alice O’Dea’s recent article? This week Alice talks about the ease and benefits of a meal topped with an egg.

Hello,

We are in between CSA sessions currently with the “Walking to Spring” session starting March 16th or 23rd. It is currently full but we may open more shares so please check back with us if interested!

See you tomorrow at market!

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March 2nd Produce

Here are the items you can expect at Market:

• Toscano, Red Russian and Siberian Kale: check out our latest post – Super Greens & Sunflower Seed Pesto. There isn’t anything revolutionary here but I do like a pesto recipe that uses seeds over other expensive nuts. Also, the flavor of sunflower seeds stands up really nicely to a mix of greens but just plain kale would work great too.
• Swiss Chard: I try to only go to the grocery store once, maybe twice a week. So there are times when there isn’t much left in the refrigerator and I need to feed a hungry 2-year-old (not to mention myself and an equally hungry husband). That is where this type of recipe comes in – bread, veggies and cheese will make anyone happy. You could really use any type of veggie but I think sauteed greens would be delicious.
• Tender Collards: I am planning to use the collards from last week in a sweet potato coconut soup tonight. If the recipe turns out well, I will share it in a few days!
• Mild Red Mustard: I haven’t experimented with mustard greens raw but I think this recipe, where it is tossed with walnuts, pears, Pecorino and a persimmon-shallot vinaigrette, sounds like a great salad option.
• Peppery Arugula & Spicy Wasabi Arugula Flowers: these flowers would be a great addition to our Wasabi Arugula Rice Salad with Miso-Ginger Dressing recipe. You could use all sorts of greens in place of the wasabi arugula and then just top each plate with the flowers.
• Chickweed: a couple options for the chickweed – 1) I think it would be great in our Dead Nettle and Henbit Pistou or 2) in this Chickweed Power Salad recipe. The pistou comes together in minutes whereas the salad takes a while to put together. Both delicious in very different ways but equally as enjoyable to consume 🙂

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Alice O’Dea Article

Have you read Alice O’Dea’s recent article? This week Alice shares her favorite online resources for home cooks – one of which is our blog!!