Weekly Share October 24th – 30th

Spicy Asian Salad Mix
Broccoli or Yu Choy Sum
Scallions
Cilantro
Napa Cabbage
Daikon Radish
Red & Green Mustards
Bok Choy or Thai Eggplant
Misato Rose & Red Meat Winter Radishes
Chiles: Aji Dulce, Khmer Thai, & Cuban Hat

We are scrambiling around getting ready for our Fall Farm dinner; which is exploring Indian food. It has been a very rewarding process creating the menu and working through the vegetable centered dishes for this meal. We have been introduced to different techniques, making us work outside our comfort zone so to speak. The results have been inspiring and we are very excited to share the meal with a group of hungry people. The farm dinners give inspiration to coming years crop list, as we always discover herbs, peppers, or crops that we want to work with. These dinners are created around what we are growing; perimeters that create a great framework for exploration and research when working with a particular cuisine. It also is a reminder of how marginalized our access to most cuisines has become. With Indian food for example almost all restaurants in the US serve Punjabi style food, a cuisine influenced by the Moghul food, a group of people whom settled in northern India, bringing influence from Persian culture. Punjabi food only represents one type of cuisine and most of these restaurants have more or less the same menu, even though Northern Indian cooking is rich and diverse in style. If you think about it, most ethnic cuisines in the US have been whittled down to a small set of dishes; which it can be assumed is not representative of a large country’s diverse food culture. It is always inspiring to learn more and to taste more.

This week’s share is full of spicy vegetables; from sweet and spicy winter radishes, to warm spicy mustard greens, and hot chiles; but it also includes subtle vegetables as well, such as meaty thai eggplant or crisp and fresh bok choy or napa cabbage. This might be a great week to make pickles or kim chi for the Winter or enjoy a fresh raw salad with scallions, cilantro, and grated radishes. Check out some of the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian

Pickled Mustard Greens

Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Daikon with Crisp Tofu

Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup

Northern Thai Eggplant Salad Recipe

Jaw Phak Kat: Northern Thai Mustard Green Soup With Tamarind and Pork Ribs – Pok Pok by Andy Ricker

Asian Cabbage Slaw from The Kitchen Garden
This recipe is an adaptation for cabbage of Thai green papaya salad (som tam) and makes a refreshing and fat-free alternative to mayonnaise-based salads (not that there’s anything wrong with mayonnaise!).
1/2 to 1 head cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, grated
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small hot red or green chili, minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Thai basil, spearmint (optional)
1-2 scallions, chopped
¼ cup roasted shelled peanuts, ground or chopped fine
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp light colored vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fish sauce (optional)

Mixed thinly sliced cabbage and grated carrot in a large bowl with the garlic, chili, cilantro and other herbs if using.  Add the lime juice, salt, sugar, vinegar and fish sauce and stir well (the volume of salad should decrease within minutes as the cabbage sheds its liquid).  Refrigerate until needed.  Just before serving garnish with the ground peanuts and chopped scallion.