This week’s box included: garlic scapes, Kirby cucumbers, beets, cabbage, zucchini, radishes, collards, spring onions, tomatoes. You can see a photo that can help with identification on our Facebook page or check out our weekly video on Instagram.
Need storage instructions? Visit our fruit & veggie home pages. Click on the pic and a new page opens with storage instructions and a list of recipes curated by Conne over the years.
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Garlic scapes!
It’s such fun when something completely unexpected shows up in our boxes. If you’re new to Georgia CSAs in general, you may not have recognized that little pigtail green vegetable. Honestly, I thought we were going to miss them this year, but there were a half dozen in my box today. I’m so excited. The only recipe we have at grassfedcow.com is this one for Garlic Scape Pesto. But you can just chop them up and saute them in any dish where might have used a green onion but want the taste of garlic. You can also cut them up and put them in a jar, cover with olive oil, and then sprinkle them on salads. They’ll keep refrigerated for about a month.
We also received beautiful tomatoes, a bunch of collard greens, green onions, beets, radishes, zucchini and one of my favorites, Kirby cucumbers. The cucumbers and some garlic scapes were chopped up into some yogurt as a version of tzatziki (which I can eat by the bowlful, I love it so much) as soon as the box arrived. I may make tabouli from the collards, green onions and tomatoes. It’s traditionally made with parsley, but I’ve learned that we like it made with all kinds of greens. It’s what I did with the mustard greens from maybe two weeks ago? Even if you don’t have bulgur wheat on hand, just the combination of the chopped vegetables (I threw in some radishes, too) with olive oil and lemon juice is so refreshing.
Another cabbage means a chance to think about some of the slaw recipes on the cabbage page for the coming holiday weekend. And we have several beet salad recipes on the beet page. I’m particularly fond of this beet and mint slaw.
Last week I mentioned the recipe for Laab Gai we published in the AJC last summer. Delicious on lettuce leaves, delicious on cabbage leaves. It’s appended below.
Laab Gai (Chicken Salad)
The herbs, citrus and fish sauce provide rich bright flavor for this salad. The ingredients include toasted sticky rice powder which adds a nutty flavor. Look for it at a store carrying Asian groceries, or make it at home by toasting glutinous rice and grinding it with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.
The filtered fish sauce here is the Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce found at Asian grocers and in grocery stores well-stocked with international food.
Asian grocery stores may have frozen chopped lemongrass available and Rouamvongsor says that’s an acceptable substitute for fresh.
The salad is served by scooping the chicken mixture onto cabbage leaves.
1 tablespoon water
1 pound ground chicken breast
Pinch of table salt
6 large Makrut lime leaves, finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons finely chopped light green part of lemongrass stalk
2 tablespoons filtered fish sauce
4 tablespoons lime juice, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 cup whole mint leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sticky rice powder
Thai chili pepper flakes or thinly sliced fresh Thai chili peppers, to taste
Cabbage wedges and lime slices, for serving
Add water to a large skillet over medium-high heat. As soon as the water is steaming, add ground chicken and cook until done, about 5 minutes, breaking up the chicken as it cooks until it is in fine crumbles. Season with salt while it is cooking. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, then drain off any liquid in the skillet.
In a medium bowl, combine cooked chicken with Makrut lime leaves, lemongrass and fish sauce. Add lime juice. Taste and add more lime juice if desired. Add cilantro, mint, and rice powder and toss to combine. Add Thai chili pepper flakes or fresh Thai chilis or chili pepper flakes. Move mixture to a serving platter and add cabbage wedges and lime slices. Serve immediately.
Makes: 3 1/2 cups