This week’s box included: tomatoes, celery, zucchini, rainbow swiss chard, Napa cabbage, rainbow carrots, onion, cucumbers (salad & Kirby), yellow squash, and either broccoli, cauliflower, or iceberg lettuce. 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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This week’s box wasn’t as heavy as some weeks (just wait until melons start arriving) but it offered such wonderful variety. Our box had Iceberg lettuce but I hear others received broccoli or cauliflower. Slicer tomatoes, Kirby cucumbers, the very first sweet onion of the season, Swiss chard, fragrant celery, Napa cabbage, and for us, one zucchini and two yellow squash.
We don’t see Swiss chard very often in our boxes and this week’s bunch was just beautiful. I’m serving the Swiss Chard Salad from Alexandra Stafford below for dinner tomorrow but it calls for just the leaves, not the stems. On my countertop is a tiny jar of conserve made with Swiss chard and raisins by Stella Dillard of Dandelion Food & Goods. I may try my hand at reproducing that conserve, or in the Riverview collection of Swiss chard recipes, there’s another recipe from Alexandra Stafford (who apparently loves greens) that could use the stems along with some of that Napa cabbage, Freekeh Salad with Roasted Kale & Cabbage (Or Chard!).
And I think summer squash is one of those love it or bored with it vegetables. So try this pizza idea. It’s not at all the presentation you’re expecting from summer squash. Or browse through the dozens of summer squash recipes at grassfedcow.com. There’s a different take on summer squash pizza there, one we shared 11 (!) years ago.
Swiss Chard Salad with Lemon, Parmesan & Bread Crumbs
This is a recipe from Food 52, adapted by Alexandra Stafford.
1 bunch Swiss chard
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
sea salt to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, optional
1 lemon
3/4 grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use.) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
Warm 1/4 cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup of the olive oil.
Add the Parmesan and about 2/3 of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.
Summer Squash Pizza
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery. And if you don’t want to make your own pizza dough, just buy a ball of dough from your favorite grocery store or Fellini’s sells their yummy dough and you really can’t beat it for flavor.
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for fingertips
1 ball pizza dough
Summer squash, trimmed
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere
2 to 3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
Heat your oven to 500°F with a rack in the center. Brush either 1 13×18-inch rimmed half-sheet pan or 2 9×13-inch quarter-sheet pans with olive oil. Divide your dough in half and use oiled fingertips to pull, stretch, nudge and press the dough across the bottom of the pan. The dough will be thin and imperfect; just try to get it even. If holes form, just pinch them together.
Use a food processor with a grater attachment or the large holes of a box grater to grate the squash. In a large bowl, toss together the squash and salt. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes (more, if you have the time), until the squash has wilted and released its water. Drain the squash in a colander and then use your hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, a fistful at a time. Back in the large bowl (wiped out if still wet), toss the squash with the grated Gruyere, being sure to break up any clumps of squash. Taste the mixture; it should be seasoned enough from the salt, but you can add more, plus ground pepper or pepper flakes if desired.
Spread the squash mixture over the dough(s), going all the way to the edges of the pan and piling it a bit thicker at the edges, where it will brown first. Sprinkle messily with the bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the topping is golden. Remove from oven, cut into squares and dig in.