Farm share, week 6

[magid]

• two pounds of small carrots
  
• two medium heads of cabbage
  
• six uncured onions with their greens (aka scallions; I think these might be Ailsa Craig varietals)
  
• eight summer squashes of various types
  
• four pickling cucumbers (I chose small, as usual)
  
• a pound of mixed salad greens
  
• two medium-small Italian-style eggplants (wholly unexpected, and very happy-making!)
  
• four heads of garlic
  
• two bunches of the herb of the devil (aka cilantro; swapped for two more heads of cabbage, since that seemed easiest of the options in the swap box)
  
• two bunches of cooking greens (I chose one of green curly kale and the other Bright Lights Swiss chard)

First thoughts: it is too hot to apply heat to food. However! Cabbage and carrot slaws (Asian-ish or US-style). Green salad with the lettuces and cucumbers, or maybe something around deconstructed spring rolls/wraps? Perhaps it's time to start some sauerkraut, or roast cabbage chunks. Saute the greens with garlic. Massaged kale with mashed potatoes (also maybe the scallion tops, which are hearty enough to do better with a little heating, at least), or a kale salad with lemon-tahini dressing again? Not sure about the eggplant yet, though I do have pureed basil from last week to pair with it. I might try the summer squash baba ganoush recipe in last week's farm share email.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

I have found that soaking cilantro in acid or cooking it removes or at least tames the terrible over-taste.

As ever these posts are such an inspiration. After I finish my potato salad maybe I will try to figure out "colcannon salad".

[magid]

I can't bear even the smell of cilantro; the taste is even worse. I'm one of the people with whatever genes who just can't do leaf cilantro at all, and it is definitely not something that I'm going to bother to deal with when I can swap it for something else (otherwise, it would have gone directly into the free fridge a few feet away from the distribution site).

I'm glad you like the farm share posts! For me, "colcannon salad" is more like mashed potatoes than cubes, with massaged kale and/or salt-wilted cabbage, optionally sauteed with onions and/or scallions. If I were tending more towards the 'salad' end of things, then I'd start to think of all the lovely potato salad add-ins like dill, hard-boiled eggs, scallions, and tiny peas. (But not the vinaigrette salad that the Russians make, adding carrots, beets, pickles, and peas to their potatoes - also delicious, but in a different way).

Also, I love how the Irish have colcannon, the Brits have bubble and squeak, and the rest of us... don't bother with this combination enough to name it? (Or I've never run across what it's called elsewhere. That's always a possibility too.)