[Week 6] A Polarizing Vegetable, Another Way to Store Parsley + 6 Recipes to Make This Week
Cabbage, Summer Squash, Eggplant, Peppers, Banana Bread & More
In this week’s share, we are expecting beets, a vegetable people tend to love or hate. If you fall into the hate camp or if you are cooking for someone who falls in the hate camp, I have some thoughts and recipes, some of which have been known to push beet-naysayers into the love camp.
Before I get to the recipes, let's review:
As with radishes, turnips, carrots, etc., trim the beet greens from the roots. I like to store the beet greens separately from the roots and use them in recipes with other dark, leafy greens.
Beets: Eat ‘em Raw 🎉
Sometimes the process of cooking beets deters me from tending to them — whether you roast them or steam them, you’ll have to deal with the messy process of rubbing off their skins, which isn’t terribly taxing, but which is one. more. step.
And so learning that beets can be eaten raw has been a huge revelation and help for me. Now, when I don’t have the energy to cook them, I run them down the chute of my food processor fitted with the shredder attachment, and I throw the shreds into chopped salads with lots of other vegetables and a bold, spicy dressing.
Note: Shred or slice beets shortly before you use them — if you cut them too far in advance, they'll oxidize and lose their vibrant color.
If you are receiving Chioggia beets, also known as candy-striped beets, consider slicing them on a mandoline — they are so pretty. Once cooked, they lose that clearly defined striped motif.
How to Cook Beets
There are many ways to cook beets from simply boiling them stovetop to steaming them in an Instant Pot to steam- or salt-roasting them in the oven. My preference is to salt-roast beets — for reasons I cannot completely explain, this is the method that has turned many people I know into beet lovers. I think it has to do with texture mostly, but also a more concentrated flavor.
Knowing, however, that many people don't love wasting so much salt, I've updated this recipe for salt-roasted beet salad with goat cheese and toasted walnuts (pictured up top) to include a steam-roasting method, which is a little simpler.
Two tips:
Using paper towels makes peeling beets a painless task.
Refrain from tossing roasted beet salads — the beets turn everything into a big red mess. In this salad, you'll season and dress each layer. As you serve the salad, the ingredients will unite in a more classic tossed salad fashion, but the individual colors will be preserved.
How to Store Parsley
A friend recently dropped off a few bundles of parsley and basil from her garden. She had tucked the bundles into old jam jars filled with a little bit of water. As you know, this is how I store my farm share basil, but not parsley, which I’ve always just tucked in a bag and stored in the fridge.
But when I saw how beautifully my friend’s parsley kept stored at room temperature in a glass filled with water, I immediately pulled last week’s farm share parsley from the fridge. As you can see in the photo above, it was looking a little tired. After I trimmed the ends and plopped the bundle into a glass of cold water, it perked right up:
Week 6 Vegetables
Fennel → Fennel Recipes
Cucumbers → Cucumber Recipes
Onions → Onion Recipes
Cabbage → Cabbage Recipes
summer squash → Zucchini & Summer Squash Recipes
scallions → Scallion Recipes
kale → Kale Recipes
peppers → Pepper Recipes
Eggplant → Eggplant Recipes
arugla & head lettuce → Salads
beets → Beet Recipes
snow peas → Snow Pea Recipes
Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables
6 Recipes
As this week’s share is similar to the first five, definitely check out the archives for more recipe ideas. I will be making this raw snap pea salad again as well as
Veggie-Loaded Stuffed Bell Peppers
Chilled Peanut Noodles with Cucumbers and Scallions
Broccoli and Cabbage Slaw with Miso-Carrot Dressing
We are not yet receiving tomatoes in our farm share, but I know that those of you who live in other parts of the country may be farther along seasonally than we are. Moving forward, I’ll include a recipe each week featuring more later-season produce. This is a favorite:
Pasta with Simple Cherry Tomato Sauce
Unrelated to the farm share but relevant to summer is the matter of quickly ripening bananas and what to do with them: banana bread, of course. I freeze peeled very ripe bananas in airtight containers or bags. When I’m ready to bake, I thaw and drain them in a colander. This recipe comes from Mrs. Myers, a dear friend’s mother, and it is truly the best I’ve ever tasted.
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 :)
I love how you describe beets as polarizing! Spot on! Right up there with pineapple on pizza.
We love beetroot. It is great roasted and tossed with fried halloumi, green beans and drizzled with honey and red wine vinegar. Also, it makes an exciting risotto.