What’s in the box?

Snow peas, garlic scapes, broccoli/Chinese broccoli, stir-fry greens mix, bok choy,

baby kale, salad turnips, lettuce mix, arugula.

• Snow peas are a delicious snack – just pop the whole pod in your mouth & enjoy! That’s the beauty of snow peas – no shelling, no cooking (unless you want to), just eating! We only made 1 planting of snow peas this year so they will appear in your box only this 1 time.
• First it was green garlic. Now there are garlic scapes. Scapes grow out of the top of the garlic plant and curl around in a loose coil. If we left them they would eventually flower and go to seed. But we prefer that the plant uses its energy to form large garlic bulbs underground instead, so we remove the scapes. Fortunately they can be eaten and are delicious! Use them wherever garlic bulbs are used – raw or cooked. Their flavour is a bit milder. They are also great on the BBQ. Coat the whole garlic scape with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Grill for a few minutes on each side until well charred & tender.  Garlic scape pesto is a favourite and we have included a recipe below. Here’s a link to an interesting article, “10 things to do with garlic scapes, the best veg you’re not cooking yet”.  https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/garlic-scapes
• There will be broccoli in your CSA share this week – either the broccoli we are all familiar with, or  Chinese broccoli which is less common. While both broccolis have a similar taste, they look different. Broccoli has thick, crisp stalks with a large head of green florets. Chinese broccoli has thinner stems, large flat leaves and tiny florets. It is best after a quick steam, saute or stir-fry. We have some of both ready for harvest, but probably not enough of either. Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care that we would really prefer 140 same-size heads of broccoli, or 140 even bunches of Chinese broccoli for our CSA boxes this week. Once we start picking tomorrow we’ll see what we get & divide things out accordingly! Either way, your broccoli will be fresh & delicious!
• This is our stir-fry mix!
  
  This beautiful greens mix includes red & green mustard, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, tatsoi … which give it a variety of colours, textures and flavours. We call it stir-fry mix because that’s probably the best way to enjoy it. Our go-to stir-fry sauce recipe can be found below.
• Add your bok choy, salad turnips and broccoli to the stir-fry for a really delicious dish!
• Salad greens this week include lettuce mix, baby kale, arugula. The extreme heat of late has not been kind to the spinach – it quickly becomes oversized and tough and goes to seed. So there will be none this week. But there will be more coming (weather permitting!). Lettuce can also become bitter due to the heat – but so far it’s still tasting good.

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1-2 tbsp lemon juice (or lime)

1/4 pound roughly chopped garlic scapes

1/2 cup olive oil

salt to taste

Directions:

Puree scapes, olive oil, & lemon juice in a blender or food processor until nearly smooth. Gently stir in cheese. Taste & adjust juice & salt to taste.

Serve as a spread on bread or crackers, a dip for vegetables, or on pasta or pizza.

Store in refrigerator for 2 -3 days. Pesto can be frozen for longer storage.

Easy Stir-fry Sauce