If you haven't dropped by the farmers'
market, located in Smithville behind Ace Hardware, this is the
perfect weekend to come on down. We've got two vendors selling fresh
produce, so you can get the season's first lettuce, cabbage, kale,
chard, and spring onions. The early birds got the eggs and fried
pies; they go quick. There are all kinds of baked goods, canned
goods, handmade soaps and lotions, vegetable and herb plants, fresh
and dried herbs, and the best barbecue, hot wings, and smoked meats
you've ever put in your mouth.
Saturday, June 9th we'll really kick
off the produce season with a “grand re-opening”, but there's
plenty of good stuff to be had right now!
The fresh produce season starts off
with a profusion of greens. I've encountered more people than I can
count who have been turned off eating greens by a run-in with mushy,
bitter greens. I can't emphasize enough that properly prepared
greens are never mushy, never
tough, and not bitter.
One of the leafy
greens that's in season right now is Swiss chard. Swiss chard looks
almost identical to beet greens because it's in the same family as
beets. Chard leaves are rich in phytonutrients, which provide
antioxidants with powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. One cup of
cooked chard will supply you with more than your recommended daily
allowance of vitamins K and A, in addition to a slough of other
vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C, E, and B vitamins, and
minerals including calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron,
fiber, and protein. Believe it or not, that list isn't complete, but
it serves to demonstrate what a nutrient-dense food chard is.
Since chard is
rich in protein and fiber, it is an excellent addition to your diet
if you're managing diabetes. Protein and fiber help regulate the
speed at which carbohydrates are converted to simple sugars during
the digestive process, which minimizes blood sugar spikes.
Fresh chard isn't
tough; you can use both the leaves and the ribs. I am absolutely in
love with the bright colored ribs produced by the Bright Lights chard
we grow at our farm. The variety of colors of the ribs represents a
variety of phytonutrients, so including as many colors on your plate
as possible ensures a wide variety of nutritional benefits!
You can use chard
raw to dress your green salads, but people with a sensitivity to
oxalic acid should eat their chard cooked. Quickly boil the chard,
but only for 3 minutes. Pour off the water and season with a touch
of salt and pepper and a dash of your favorite vinegar. You can also
lightly sauté a bunch of chopped chard in some heated olive or
coconut oil and season it the same way. It only needs to be sautéed
for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat. The color should still be
green when it's done cooking—never, never brown! Sautéed chard is
a great side dish served with pork chops, steak, chicken breasts,
fish fillets, or tempeh or tofu.
Chard pairs
remarkably well with tomato sauce, so when it's in season, I almost
never make spaghetti without chard leaves in the sauce. I chop up
the ribs and sauté them with the onions and garlic that start off my
spaghetti sauce. About five minutes before the sauce is ready to
eat, I throw in the uncooked, chopped chard leaves with a handful of
fresh herbs. After just a few minutes of lightly simmering, the
leaves are still bright green, and the herbs have infused the sauce.
As an aside—did you know that six leaves of oregano have the same
antioxidant content as an entire apple?
Another fantastic
fresh green available right now is kale. If the only kale you've
ever eaten was out of a can or that pre-chopped abomination in the
grocery store, I implore you to give it one more try.
Kale is a
nutritional powerhouse. It contains vitamins K, A, and C, manganese,
and fiber, in addition to having antioxidants and anti-inflammatory
properties. Its nutritional profile also includes high
concentrations of carotenoids and flavonoids which have powerful
cancer preventative properties.
Any of the recipes
listed above for chard work just as well for kale. In fact, kale and
chard mixed together make an excellent combination. However, my very
favorite way to enjoy kale is by eating an entire cookie sheet worth
of baked kale chips.
Baking kale chips is the ultimate
route to winning over new kale eaters. No kidding, it's as easy as
this: Lightly toss the washed and dried leaves with a little olive
oil. They shouldn't be drenched, just lightly dressed. Arrange the
leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet and season with a very
small amount of sea salt and pepper; add some garlic powder if you're
into that. If you're feeling fancy, sprinkle on a little freshly
grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 350º
oven for 7-12 minutes, depending on your oven. You want the leaves
crispy and dried but only barely browned. Before trying it, you
can't conceive of how delicious this easy recipe really is.
Fresh salads are
another delight of the spring season. Lettuce can shake off a light
frost, and some varieties will hold out through some hot weather, but
by the time the tomatoes are rolling in, the lettuce will be gone.
Iceburg lettuce is popular and familiar, but the world of lettuce is
vastly more exciting and aesthetically pleasing than those ubiquitous
light green heads. You can grow varieties that are lime green with
splashy red speckles, some with frilly, curled leaves, heads that
grow a foot and a half tall, intense red frilly leaves, loose-head
buttercrunch varieties with soft red speckles, iceburg style heads
with pink speckles; the list goes on and on and on.
We've all tried
the usual ranch, honey mustard, and French style dressings, but you
shouldn't limit yourself to such a finite palate. Fresh dressings
are infinitely variable and extremely easy to make. I usually make
them in a canning jar so I can put a lid on and shake to emulsify
(combine) the ingredients and store the leftover dressing in the
fridge.
Here are a few of
our farm's favorite dressings:
For a simple
vinaigrette dressing use a 1 to 3 ratio of vinegar to oil. Combine
red wine, balsamic, or white wine vinegar with extra virgin olive
oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper and maybe some dried herbs.
Shake until emulsified and eat up! You can add freshly chopped
garlic or garlic powder, use freshly chopped herbs instead of dried
herbs, or try out grapeseed or sunflower oil instead of olive oil.
You can't mess it up, so just experiment until you find a flavor
combination that knocks your socks off. This style of simple
vinaigrette goes great with a salad that's dressed up with feta
cheese, green onions, and chopped kalamata or black olives.
To give your salad
a more gourmet, exotic twist, try a ginger, peanut butter dressing.
I know this combination of ingredients will sound a little strange,
but I absolutely guarantee it'll blow you away. Combine about a
tablespoon of peanut butter (the creamy, natural kind works best, but
I've been known to make this with the regular crunchy kind, too), a
teaspoon of soy sauce or Bragg's amino acids, a plop of honey, a half
inch chunk of fresh ginger, grated, a dash of black pepper, a couple
tablespoons of white wine or apple cider vinegar, and about a ¼ cup
of olive oil. Shake, shake, shake until all the ingredients have
combined, and give it a taste. Depending on your palate, you might
want a little more tang, so add some more vinegar, or maybe a little
sweeter, so add some more honey. I usually end up adding twice as
much ginger because I just can't get enough of it. The recipe is
just a guideline; play with it to suit your taste. We love this
dressing so much, sometimes I'll make an enormous salad just as an
excuse to make this dressing.
Since you've got
ginger leftover from trying the peanut butter dressing, the next
night you can try out a lemonade ginger dressing. Combine equal
parts sugar and lemon juice, add as much freshly grated ginger as you
want, a dash of salt to bring out the flavor, and top off with extra
virgin olive oil at the same 1 to 3 ratio, using the lemon juice
instead of vinegar. This sweet and tangy dressing pairs phenomenally
well with a salad that's jazzed up with some chopped fruit, like
apples, strawberries, or peaches.
Just because most
of the fresh produce right now is green doesn't mean it has to be
boring or bland. Part of the joy of seasonal eating is enjoying the
changing palate throughout the year and becoming a more robust and
creative cook. Experimentation is fun. There's literally no end to
the number of dishes you can create utilizing fresh greens!
