In the share this week:
1 head napa cabbage
1 head bok choy
1 medium garlic
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bag baby kale
1 bunch swiss chard
1 butternut squash
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
This week's share is full of greens! I want to give you a few different ideas for how to cook down some of your greens so you don't get too overwhelmed with them. We are always making curries at our house, and curries that include some kind of cabbage are my absolute favorite. Napa cabbage, especially, just melts down into the sauce. The turnips and greens would be awesome in a curry as well, maybe you could use both if you are making a big batch. Here is an idea for a cabbage curry:
https://thebrookcook.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/napa-cabbage-curry/
Another fun thing to try with napa cabbage is to make kimchi. We were watching some foodie shows recently that featured Korean families making traditional kimchi. I was surprised to see that they used whole cabbage leaves and rubbed them with their spice mixture before packing into jars to ferment. I haven't tried this method myself, so I'm not sure how difficult it is. This site looks great because it has links to several different types of kimchi recipes if you want to try a simpler one:
Bok choy is a perfect stir-fry vegetable and can be combined with the turnips, garlic and/or onion and some type of protein and served over rice for a hearty meal. My 12 year old son has been getting really into cooking lately and made a delicious stir fry with tons of farm veggies a couple of weeks ago. The sauce for his recipe was pretty simple, combining four ingredients (tamari, maple syrup, rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil). We served that dish over buckwheat soba noodles. Here's an idea for a side dish with bok choy and turnips:
The baby kale is a small red russian kale with tender leaves and stems that is great for eating raw in a salad, and also amenable to cooking or using in a green smoothie. We love this variety!
Hope you all have a great week!