[Week 22] You Know How Curly Kale Can Be...

… well, a little tough?

Even if you pulse it in the food processor…

… and massage it with a little salt?

On Friday, around lunchtime, I made a salad, following the steps above, thinking the fine chop, the massage, and the salt would be enough to tenderize the greens.

I added roasted honeynut squash and quick-pickled turnips (see recipe below), both of which I thought might further soften the kale, and tossed it all with an apple cider vinaigrette. I had high hopes, but it still tasted tough. Tasty, but tough.

I ate a small bowl, then packed the salad away and stashed it in the fridge. My parents were arriving that evening, and I had planned to roast some vegetables for dinner, but instead, I pulled out the kale.

We were making pizza, and by the time we sat for dinner, the salad had returned to room temperature. I crumbled in some blue cheese, gave it a toss, and, channeling Julia Child, made no apologies before serving it.

Friends! The kale was not tough! It was tender but not at all soggy.

My parents kept oohing and aahing, inquiring about the various elements, asking for the recipe. It turns out TIME was the key ingredient, and it made me think that the toughness may actually be a virtue: should you need a make-ahead salad to pack for lunch or should you need to prep a salad in advance for company, curly kale is your gal!

Friends, let me know if you have any other curly-kale tricks up your sleeves.

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Week 22 Vegetables

This week I’ll shoot to use the collards first. I might blanch them today when I bring them home; then store them in the fridge until I’m ready to use them (see recipes below). I’ll store the squash, potatoes, and onions at room temperature. Everything else will go in the fridge and will keep just fine for the week.

• cabbage → Cabbage Recipes

• beets → Beet Recipes

• daikon radish → Radish Recipes

• collards → Collard Greens Recipes

• cilantro → Herb Recipes

• carrots → Carrot Recipes

• winter squash → Squash Recipes

• onions → Onion Recipes

• potatoes → Potato Recipes

Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables

PS: We are not receiving turnips this week, but should we receive them again, an easy way to prep them for a salad is to quick-pickle them: thinly slice them, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar, then drizzle over some vinegar. The pieces don’t have to be submerged. Give them a toss, then let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

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8 Recipes to Make This Week

This week I am determined to make a wrap with the collard greens. I’ve seen some recipes that call for using the greens raw, but I think going through the effort to blanch the leaves first would make for a better eating experience, right? Have any of you used collards for wraps? If so, I’d love to know if you blanched the greens first.

This post on Clean Foodie Cravings outlines how to blanch collards and notes you can do this and store the blanched collards in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Oven Fries: A family family favorite.

Roxbury Farm shared this recipe, and it looks good: Maple-Roasted Beets and Carrots

Colu Henry’s White Bean and Savoy Cabbage Stew is exactly what I want on these chilly fall nights. We’re not receiving Savoy cabbage, but I think the green cabbage would sub in fine.

For the cilantro: cilantro-lime chickpeas

Lukas Volger’s broccoli dumplings look heavenly:

Susan Spungan shared a recipe from her book, Veg Forward, on Susanality, and it looks like a perfect fall salad: Roasted Squash Salad with Burrata and Quinoa Crunch

I’ve found myself thinking about the holidays, which are right around the corner. These cheesy roasted cabbage wedges look delicious:

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Fellow Farm Sharers: Please share in the comments links to recipes you are loving for your farm share vegetables! Tips, questions, and suggestions are always welcome, too. Enjoy your vegetables! 🥦🥬🥒🌶🌽🥕 See you next week :)