Spring produce and recipes

Garlic scape - from various types of garlic

Garlic Scapes

Scapes are the flowering stems of the garlic plant. They have a fresh garlic flavor and can be used in a variety of ways. Scapes can be sliced and added to stir fries and even used in pestos. Use them with your spinach or peas for a light garlic flavor.

Herb - Sorrel

Sorrel

We love adding sorrel to our scrambled eggs. Anton grew up eating sorrel thanks to his French mother as it's widely eaten in France as a traditional spring green. Sorrel is sometimes called sour grass and we think you'll find it to have a refreshing flavor. We saute' the sorrel in melted butter and add it to the eggs. They are best when just set. You can add anything you want to them. Avocado, sorrel, or crab meat are our favorites.

Here's a recipe for Sorrel Omelet/Scrambled Eggs:

Sorrel omelet:

Start by slicing your sorrel into thin slivers, use the stems too, just discard the very ends.

Take out the frying pan you'll use for the omelet and melt 1teaspoon to 1tablespoon butter (to your taste) and add salt and pepper to your taste.

When the butter is melted, add the sorrel and stir it into the butter. It will wilt and turn an unpleasant green color--this is normal!

Once all the sorrel has changed color (about 10-20 seconds) put it aside into a bowl.

Mix up your favorite omelet recipe and add to the same frying pan the sorrel was cooked in.

After the egg mixture is in the pan, spread the sorrel evenly on top by dropping it in by spoonfuls over the cooking omelet.

Puree of Sorrel and Potatoes

from: The Norman Table by Claude Guermont

This is another one of our favorite ways to eat sorrel.

Serves 2-3

3 tablespoons butter

1 bunch sorrel coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sliced onions

2 cups

3/4 cups potatoes, washed peeled, and coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan (the same one you'll use to cook the soup). Add the chopped sorrel leaves and cook until they turn dark green.

2. Add the sliced onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring well.

3. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped potatoes , cover, and simmer for approximately 30-40 minutes (until everything is tender).

4. Remove the soup from the heat and puree in a blender, food mill, or food processor.

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Snow pea - Golden Sweet

Yellow snow peas? Yes! We like to find unusual varieties and introduce them to our customers. We strongly feel that a trip to the farmers' market should turn up little treasures you cannot find in the grocery store. These peas are flavorful and tender . . . and are easy to grow. A true winner in our eyes. Eat them in a stir fry, lightly steam or even eat fresh in a salad.

Escarole - Eros

Lettuce - Forellenschluss

Lettuce - Emerald Oak

Lettuce - Red Sail

Enjoy this recipe for a French rice salad that can be eaten as an entire meal:

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Rice

Vinegar (balsamic or red wine)

Olive oil

Eggs

Fresh or canned tuna*

Salt

Black pepper

Rinse your lettuce and arrange leaves in individual bowls.

Prepare rice (2 cups rice, 2 cups water, simmer until water evaporates)

Boil eggs (1 egg per person)

When rice is cooked, spoon equal portions into each bowl over the lettuce. The hot rice will wilt the lettuce.

Generously sprinkle equal parts oil and vinegar over the rice and lettuce (about 2 tablespoons each of oil and vinegar).

Peel the hard boiled eggs and slice in halves or quarters and arrange around the perimeter of the bowl.

Place your tuna in the center of the bowl over the rice. (If you used fresh tuna, cook it to your liking).

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

*We like to use Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans available at C.A.M. (Columbus Asian Market) on Bethel road. Dace is a fish that is deep fried and canned in oil with salted black beans. It's delicious, not at all fishy but deeply satisfying.

Our favorite recipes come from our parents and also from sources such as www.epicurious.com. If you subscribed to Gourmet (sadly no longer published), you'll find the recipes familiar as epicurious.com was the companion website.

For more ideas on how to use your vegetables, check out Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider. It's a great source of information for everything vegetable and incredibly well researched with wonderful photography throughout.