[Week 23] Pickled Vegetables on Everything

Plus: Collard Green Wraps for The Win

Hello Farm Share Friends!

Last week’s arrival of carrots, daikon, and cilantro had me craving bánh mi, the Vietnamese sandwich typically loaded with pork, pâté, pickled vegetables, herbs, chilies, and condiments.

Several years ago, I made a tofu variation from Cook’s Science, and the exercise made me realize it wasn’t the richness of the meat that made the sandwich for me — it was all the fixins’: the pickled carrots and daikon, the mayonnaise, the sliced jalapeños, and the generous scattering of fresh cilantro.

Curious as to how the bánh mi elements might fare in a collard green wrap, I gave it a go this week. I’ve long found collard green wraps to be visually enticing and appetizing, but even so I had low expectations. It won’t be the same, I thought. I will miss the bread.

But friends, I am a convert! After making one wrap, I found myself looking forward to them in the days that followed. It was such a treat having a stash of the wraps in the fridge, and, moreover, blanching the collard greens extended their shelf life. I find collard green leaves start to yellow within a few days of bringing them home, but blanching them preserved their vibrancy for the week.

Here’s how it went down: first, I made the wraps following Clean Foodie Cravings guide, which calls for shaving away the thick stem or removing it altogether:

Blanch the greens for 30 seconds:

Then transfer to an ice bath:

Drain, dry, and store in the fridge for up to a week or put them to use immediately:

As noted, I was craving bánh mi, so first I quickly pickled the carrots and daikon:

Toss thinly sliced carrots and daikon with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 2 teaspoons vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes. (Incidentally, this batch lasted for about 3 days in the fridge and would have lasted longer had I not used it all up.)

Ready to roll! Kewpie mayonnaise, marinated and pan-fried tofu, shredded and briefly salted purple cabbage (from the farm share), pickled carrots and daikon, and cilantro.

Friends! I was shocked by how delicious it all was, and I attribute 90% of the deliciousness to the pickled carrots and daikon, which provide crunch, bite, and a touch of sweetness.

I also made one with leftover grilled chicken:

And though I didn’t snap a picture, I made one with my kids’ favorite taco filling. As I was making it, my 8-year-old, who was watching the process, asked if she could have half of it, which she then gobbled right up. Collard green wraps for the win!

If you are looking for more guidance on quick pickling, read this post from last year: How to Quick Pickle Anything. It’s the simplest recipe, and it’s such a great preserving technique for so much of the farm share veg.

If you have any favorite pickled vegetable recipes or applications, please share!

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Week 23 Vegetables

This week I’ll shoot to use the kale first. I’ll store the sweet potatoes and onions at room temperature. Everything else will go in the fridge and will keep just fine for the week.

• cabbage → Cabbage Recipes

• onions → Onion Recipes

• parsnips → 19 Parsnip Recipes via Bon Appetit

• kale → Kale Recipes

• beets → Beet Recipes

• carrots → Carrot Recipes

• sweet potatoes → Sweet Potato Recipes

• watermelon radish → Radish Recipes

Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables

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8 Recipes to Make This Week

Ever since making the sweet potato cornbread a few weeks ago, I’ve been more intrigued/more open to using root vegetables in baked goods. This pecan-crusted sweet potato pound cake recipe from King Arthur Flour looks really good:

Roasted Parsnips with Chili Maple Butter: Addictive.

Love and Lemon’s Kale Pesto: I like the idea of making and freezing this for the months ahead.

We are not receiving cauliflower, but, as I’ve mentioned many times, this is a recipe I make on repeat throughout the fall/winter/early spring: Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower… I used yellow cauliflower here, which is so pretty, and I omitted the parmesan for simplicity:

Cabbage Pad Thai-ish… an oldie but a goodie:

Crispy Roasted Cabbage Wedges

Saw this on Smitten Kitchen’s IG recently and am dying to make it: Sweet Potato Salad with Pepita Dressing:

And Feasting at Home’s Beet Salad with Feta and Pistachios looks festive and fabulous:

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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 :)