Creasy greens
We are extra excited to welcome Creasy Greens ~ a really important green to the African, African American and African Diaspora. Creasy Greens aka Land cress or Peppergrass are spicy.
Creasy greens have a kick! They are one of the hottest mustards we grow in the garden. Creasy greens love salt, vinegar and sugar to sing. To reduce their spicy flavour its best to cook them.
We are extra excited to grow Creasy greens for our CSA. This wonderful mustard is a really important green to the African, African American and African Diaspora. Creasy Greens are also known as Land cress or Peppergrass, and they are spicy.
These greens are fantastic sautéed, and to really reduce the bitterness they are often boiled first for at least 10 mins. If you enjoy their spicy flavour, they make a great addition to a salad raw.
Mache
Mache, aka lambs lettuce or corn salad is a delicate winter green. Mache has an almost floral flavour, and a soft tender texture.
Mache, aka lambs lettuce or corn salad is a delicate winter green. Mache has an almost floral flavour, and a soft tender texture.
30 September 2021
We recommend preparing Mache as you would spinach, its good eaten fresh and cooked. Mache is so delicate that if you do plan to enjoy it fresh ~ we recommend eating it in the next four days or so.
We’re being a be a bit cheeky when we say ~ Mache was the modern lettuce of 18th century Europe. It was very popular as a winter hardy vegetable before lettuce was bred and popularised to replace it. Mache is native to India, North Africa and the Mediterranean and has been a popular foraged green for many peoples for thousands of years.
The mache in the box this week is mache rapini. It has small just opening flower clusters, and it’s stalks are tender. The whole plant can be eaten and added raw to salads, eaten on top of soups, added to pasta or pizza, or popped into a sandwich. It is also commonly gently cooked with garlic and olive oil. We are going to be cooking it whole to celebrate its flowering shape.
Wosun
Wosun is the Chinese name for a type of lettuce that is selected and grown primarily for its stem. Wosun is very popular in China and Taiwan, where it has been cultivated since at least 600-900 AD
Wosun is the Chinese name for a type of lettuce that is selected and grown primarily for its stem. Wosun is very popular in China and Taiwan, where it has been cultivated since at least 600-900 AD.
1 December 2021
Other names for Wosun include AA Choy, Stem lettuce, Celtuce and Asparagus lettuce. Wosun is the name for the fleshy stem, the leaves are generally prepared separately and are called Youmaicai.
Summer feels properly here today and the garden is really starting to breathe and dry. We had record rains this spring~ its been challenging managing the rising water table below, and the rain from above. In the garden we’ve been practicing:
~ Learning to sleep on the pillow of doubt ~
We’ve made it to summer with you ~ and we are very humbled to grow the beautiful plant Wosun, and introduce it into the box this week.
Wosun has a mild flavour and a crisp, moist texture, and can be eaten raw, stir-fried, steamed or pickled.
To prepare Wosun, remove the Youmaicai leaves and keep them aside for later. Peel and julienne the stem into matchstick slices.
Vivian Aronson 袁倩祎, prepares stir fried Wosun
The Youmaicai leaves are a reasonably bitter lettuce leaf, similar to romaine. They are wonderful stir fried as you would bok choy or gai lan.
Dill
Cha ca is a famous turmeric, dill and fish dish from Hanoi, Vietnam. In Hanoi there’s a street named Cha ca after the dish, its that infamous.
Dill is native to the eastern Mediterranean and has been cultivated there and in India and South-east Asia for millennia.
Farmer Nguyen Quy in his field of flowering Dill, Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam.
21 July 2021
Cha ca
Cha ca is a famous turmeric, dill and fish dish from Hanoi, Vietnam. In Hanoi there’s a street named Cha ca after the dish, its that infamous. The original restaurant that famously first served cha ca to French colonial soldiers during the 19th century, is still operating. Some writers suggest that this original Cha ca restaurant also housed and fed members of the colonial resistance.
We love using Adam Jame’s (aka Rough Rice) Hemp and Buckwheat ‘soy’ sauce as a fantastic fish sauce and shrimp paste replacement. Its funky and musky ~
Catalogna chicory
Catalogna chicory are from Puglia, Italy and are eaten as both fresh and cooked greens. When they’re raw they are nice and crunchy, a little sweet and a little bitter.
Catalogna chicory are from Puglia, Italy and are eaten as both fresh and cooked greens. When they’re raw they are nice and crunchy, a little sweet and a little bitter.
Nov 2022
The vibrant and bitter catalogna chicory is back this week. In my family some members love it, and my dad finds it…super challenging.
I really like chicory bitterness with balsamic vinegar, salt & EVOO. Boiling the chicory really minimises the bitterness. In Italy its a traditional and very common practice to boil green chicories and other wild greens for half an hour, before further cooking. I thought the recipe below looked super tasty and simple and rich, I’m going to make it this week for us.
29 September 2021
This week we welcome Catalogna chicory into the box. These greens are sometimes called dandelion greens, although they aren’t common dandelion. Rather, Catalogna chicory is very closely related to Puntarelle.
The Catalogna chicory that we currently grow at Broom and Brine Farm have been selected to have wide green leaves that run far down its white ribs. Other landraces may have wider ribs, thinner ribs, more variegated leaves, and some even have pink ribs.
Fave e cicoria
Fave e cicoria, or Fava beans with chicories, is a very traditional peasant dish from Puglia. It is very tasty, creamy and salty. It really lets the Catalogna chicory shine.
You’ll need: 1 bunch of Catalogna chicory; Dried Fava beans ~ we buy ours from Eumarrah or Unpacked; Potatoes; Bay leaves; Salt; EVOO.
Check out the recipe here.
Insalata di campo primavera
Insalata di campo primavera or Spring Salad is fresh way to enjoy Catalogna chicory raw. Vinegar, salt and pepper plus fresh greens with bread ~ prima sunny picnic vibes. If there’s any erba stella left in your fridge from last week ~ this recipe for the Spring Salad by the late Antonio Carluccio, could be a real nice way of enjoy it with the Catalogna chicory.
Spinach
Spinach is such a regular vegetable, that one might assume its history and development as such a ubiquitous crop worldwide, might be dull. But we’re writing today to try & persuade you otherwise.
Spinach is such a regular vegetable, that one might assume its history and development as such a ubiquitous crop worldwide, might be dull. But we’re writing today to try & persuade you otherwise.
22 September 2021
Spinach was domesticated in Iran thousands of years ago, and wasn’t consumed by Ancient Greeks or Romans. Rather, it was a domesticated vegetable of the Persian Empire. Its migratory route throughout the world is still, surprisingly, unresolved and ongoing.
There are records of spinach reaching China and being cultivated there during the 7th century. Spinach is believed to have been introduced to continental Europe by Arab peoples via the Iberian Peninsular by the 12th century.
There are now two main categories of domesticated spinach in the world today. One is from Africa, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. These varieties tend to have a round and savoyed leaf shape. The spinach we are growing at the moment, and that is in the box this week falls into this category.
The second main category is from Southern and Eastern Asia. These varieties have a more pointed, spear shaped leaves. We recently purchased some seed of this type & are really looking forward to growing it at Broom and Brine Farm in the coming months.
Wild spinach is an important third category that has only recently been studied more thoroughly. Wild spinach is collected and eaten by people in Anatolia. Its big flat leaves are sometimes used in recipes for sarma. Check out this recipe for chickpea stuffed grapevine leaf sarma.
Purple sprouting broccoli
Purple sprouting broccoli, or PSB for short ~ is sometimes called asparagus broccoli. Cook it up as you would asparagus or broccolini ~ a light steam or gentle sauté with garlic is all it really needs.
Purple sprouting broccoli, or PSB for short ~ is sometimes called asparagus broccoli.
Cook PSB up as you would asparagus or broccolini, a light steam or gentle sauté with garlic is all it really needs. As its a purple colour, with those purple anthocyanin pigments, sometimes it can be a little more fibrous towards its stem.
Spring 2022
This years PSB is an experiment. Last years was a wonderful open pollinated variety, this years is a hybrid variety bred in part by the one and only Phil Griffiths who we keep banging on about.
Some of these PSB’s come up almost to our chins, their leaves are lush and their stems are crunchy and their florets are sweet. This variety is huge! The florets are more tender than last years, the plants are just gigantic and the big leaves are juicy to eat.
We don’t see much cultivation of PSB in the general market place because it needs to spend so much time in the ground. I't’s one of our favourites to grow, we hope to have it in the CSA for at least three weeks all going well. A short and sweet season until next year. Enjoy PSB like you would broccolini ~ the entire stem is a tender delicacy. Its brilliant steamed, roasted, sautéed and blanched.
15 September 2021
We’re really happy to welcome Purple Sprouting Broccoli ~ into this weeks box.
The Eastern Mediterranean and particularly Italy, is considered the hot spot of the world for genetic diversity of brassica oleracea. PSB is one of the fantastic vegetables that belong to this group. PSB is still a pretty wild crop and hasn’t received a lot of attention from modern plant breeding until recently. Its genetic diversity lays in landraces across the Mediterranean.
PSB requires a period called vernalisation to induce budding, the parts we eat. Vernalisation is a period of weather cumulatively at or below 10C for 6 weeks or so. However PSB also winter-kills below -7C. Most modern plant breeding work on PSB focuses on crosses with cold tolerant collards. The aim is to improve PSB cold tolerance so that it can be grown more widely.
Here in southern lutruwita we have a wonderful cold/mild climate well suited to this special vegetable. We hope that we’ll be able to include PSB in the box more over the next month.
Shungiku
Shungiku is a very popular vegetable throughout Asia and small parts of the Mediterranean, and is a member of the daisy family…
Shungiku is a famous aromatic green with a floral flavour and wonderful soft texture. There are many distinct varieties, each with unique leaf shapes.
Shungiku is a very popular vegetable throughout Asia and small parts of the Mediterranean, and is a member of the daisy family. It has a wonderful unique flavour that is popularly enjoyed in hot pot soups, tempura, stews, side salads and stir fries. Shungiku is typically blanched or stir fried quickly, before being added to hot dishes at the end of a cook to retain its colour and texture.
Shungiku is Glebionis coronaria or edible chrysanthemum’s, Japanese name.
It goes by Chon ho in China, Gul chi in India, , Ssukgat in Korea, Kek wah in Malaysia, Cai cui in Vietnam and Mantilida in Crete.
August 18 2021
Gardener Suguru Fukuda from The Seiko Farm, Tokyo, plants Shungiku seedlings in his organic vegetable garden. These gardeners are really wonderful to watch, follow them on instagram.
Recipe: Shungiku goma-ae.
Goma-ae is a delicious Japanese sesame dressed salad.
150g of shungiku
Dressing:
1 Tbsp ground sesame seed
1/3 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp soy sauce
1. Trim and blanch shungiki then rinse in cold water
2. Squeeze water out of shungiku and cut into 2” lengths
3. Mix the dressing and pour dressing over greens just before serving
Recipe: Shungiku with Shira-ae
Tonight we’ll be trying this recipe for Shira-ae, a Japanese tofu sauce, with Shungiku. This is a recipe from Elizabeth Andoh's book Kansha: Celebrating Japanese Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.
Recipe: Shungiku tempura
We really had to post this video ~ tempura shungiku is a recipe for the brave! There is a lot written on tempura ~ and the differing opinions surrounding the use of eggs, the frying temps and the addition of alcohol. If your interested ~ check out this vegan udon recipe ~ it calls for a shiitake mushroom and kombu dashi, which Grace has made before and it is~ legit.
Happy frying!
Garlic
Dunganski requires a long, cold period to stimulate bulb production and as a result of this it also produces true seed.
Garlic we love you. You are possibly the best vegetable ever.
Summer 2022
Thank you for your understanding re Covid and the harvest/delivery changes. We really appreciate your support so much , we love growing food for you all. The garlic is cured, the last of our onions have been harvested and the first of the corno di toro peppers are ready ~ we are certainly coming towards autumn. Rest is coming for all of us, we are looking forward to gently shifting gears.
This terracotta figure was made in Ancient Greece in 350BC. The mule is carrying a mortar, inside is a pestle, cheese grater, a round of cheese and a bunch of garlic. It’s one of Graces favourite artefacts.
We gave our garlic a little bit longer in the ground this year ~ if you harvest too early the bulbs don’t have time to fully develop. But if you harvest too late the plants will begin to shoot and as a result, the garlic rots in storage. We’re getting better at finding that balance, and as a result lots of the cloves have their distinct purple skin and juicy bulbs.We are so happy to be cooking with cured, spicy full flavoured garlic again, we missed it!
22 December 2021
These young, green flower stems are known as scapes and are absolutely delicious! Commonly added to anything and everything, they are relatively mild and can be used raw as well as cooked. They make a great pesto!
Juicy garlic scapes are perfect in Christmas day salads, roasted or grilled whole with EVOO and salt.
This year we’ve continued to grown Dunganski garlic which is a purple stripe type. Classification names are not always the most inventive! However out of all the other garlic types commonly cultivated around the world it remains genetically closest to its wild counter parts in central Asia. In fact researchers think that all other cultivated garlic types have been bred out from this ancestral group.
Dunganski requires a long, cold period to stimulate bulb production and as a result of this it also produces true seed. Many garlic types that are more suited to warmer climates don’t require such conditions for bulb production however they don’t produce a seed head.
13 October 2021
The change in season is definitely here when we welcome Spring garlic. Spring garlic, AKA green garlic ~ is immature young garlic. At this stage in their growth, their cloves haven’t formed, their flavour is less spicy, and most of their greens are tender and ready for eating.
To prepare and eat it, we like to use it like scallions or leeks. There’s no need to peel any part of it, just chop the end off where the roots were, and chop the more brittle older green leaves away. We eat all the tender green leaves and all the white rib and developing white cloves.
Spring garlic is delicious chopped up finely and eaten raw in salad dressings. It tastes and looks beautiful charred on a grill, and its also very tasty pickled for a few hours in pickling liquid. In our kitchen we’re still eating heaps of soups, Spring garlic is perfect added fresh on top. Its great tossed through pasta, stewed with beans and is legit eaten on top of avocado on toast.
4 August 2021
When Grace was in Turkey she ate an Anatolian garlic and red kidney bean stew called Barbunya Pilaki ~ she ate it a lot. Its a simple, delicious soup that is all about the garlic ~ and in Istanbul its served with extra garlic paste on the table in case you want to add more.
This recipe for the stew is by Turkish chef Saniye Anne. Find it in Turkish here. Grace translated Saniye Anne’s recipe from Turkish, using google translate ~ here's the recipe below. We’ve imbedded Saniye Anne’s fabulous recipe video below too.
Anatolian garlic and red kidney bean stew
Ingredients: Half a kilo of boiled kidney beans; half a glass of water; 1 tablespoon of chili paste; 2 cloves of garlic; 1 potato; 1 tomato; 1 carrot; 1 onion; half a glass of olive oil.
“Method: Red Kidney Bean Stewing
Let's add water to the pot and chop the onion for food and soften it with water. Let's add olive oil on the transparent onions and continue to fry. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the pot. Then add the tomato paste and fry it until it smells. Let's add the peeled and finely chopped tomatoes on the roasted tomato paste .
Let's put the grated carrot on the softened tomatoes. After mixing for about a minute, let's pour the diced potato into the pot. After mixing for a few turns, let's add the boiled kidney beans to the pot. After mixing and adding salt, let's add enough water not to go over it. Kidney Bean Stew, which we left to cook on low heat, will be ready after about 20 minutes. Bon Appetit…”
Radicchio
Radicchio are a group of Italian chicories famously grown & cultivated in North-Eastern Italy, all loved for their bitterness. Radicchio is traditionally sautéed and served with olive oil, salt and vinegar.
Radicchio are a group of Italian chicories famously grown & cultivated in North-Eastern Italy, all loved for their bitterness.
Radicchio is traditionally sautéed and served with olive oil, salt and vinegar. They are often eaten raw in salads, on top of soups, pasta or pizza.Red radicchio contain the highest concentrations of phenolic content among the leafy greens and are a very nutritious striking addition to any meal.
Chicories have been gathered and eaten as food and medicine across the mediterranean from time immemorial, and have been cultivated since the 17th century. Radicchio varieties are namesakes of the province they were traditionally cultivated in.
July 23, 2022
Sometimes you just get so used to things, that its hard to really appreciate whats there.Its such a cliche, but this is exactly whats happened to me.
On Sunday Dylan and I got massages and ate nachos together. On Monday we went to the farm and did some planting, and discussed what was going to go into this weeks box. We have our minds so focused on summer coming, and honestly we’re already enthusiastically chatting about next years asian green plantings that will be harvested during next years autumn and winter.
The gorizia raddichio have been in the ground since January, and we’ve been forcing them in the field for about 6 weeks. I walk past them every day I’m at the farm. Radicchio are famous for looking skanky and inedible in the field and once they are harvested and washed they take your breath away.
These beauties are the smallest and most delicate of our radicchio. Its safe to say they dont ‘pack weight’. They grow with a very large and long growth habit for most of their growing season, then the buds we harvest grow in the final weeks before harvest. We’ve read some growers export these radicchio across the world and charge upward of 60 euro per 100g.
And we were so used to seeing them tied up in the field that we really forgot about them. It wasnt until I started looking for recipes for this email that I remembered how special these tiny radicchio are.
The province of Gorizia is right next to Slovenia. Across the border in the Slovenian region of Goriska these radicchio are called Nova Gorica.
Gorizia’s cuisine combines traditions from Eastern Europe, Slavic, Friuli and Venitian cooking. Traditionally Italian Gorizia is eaten raw, dressed with vinegar with potatoes and beans. Its commonly lightly sauted and dressed with horseradich, vinegar and eaten with meat. It may accompany a famous barley risotto.
The recipes below are both in Italian, and I used google translate to translate the whole page and read them.
17 June 2022
Rosa del Veneto, or roughly translated ‘The Rose of Veneto’ is stunning. We planted these plants back in January, and now we can enjoy. The frost encourages the pink colour, and its been cold enough for these plants to be pink for months.
When cooked these loose heading radicchio are famous for becoming tangy sweet. Enjoy them as you would any radicchio: raw, roasted, grilled, baked or with pasta. Enjoy.
13 April 2022
The ‘rose that you eat’ has been grown and consumed since the late 19th century and is the result of a cross between treviso radicchio and escarole. There is an old story in the Veneto of a noblewoman from Castelfranco attending a wintertime premier at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan who adorned her gown with a head of Castelfranco radicchio. Everyone believed it was an exotic flower imported from far away.
Castelfranco radicchio have a beautiful tulip-like shape, the leaves are thin, yet crisp. Like other variegated radicchio they start out green with red flecks and become buttery yellow with more red flecks as you move towards the heart. The flavor is mild for a chicory, but still with some lovely radicchio bitterness. This ‘tulip of winter’ is one you can definitely eat raw. Perfect with fruit, vinegar, salt and something creamy like nuts or cheese.
8 December 2021
This week we have some loose headed Bel fior radicchio in the box~ they are green with red speckles~ a really pretty variety. Bel fior translates into beautiful flower in Italian.
To celebrate these little bitter radicchio, and any remaining fennel from last week thats still tucked away in the fridge.
One of our members shared this recipe with us ~ thank you eee ~ its beautiful!
6th October 2021
This week things are getting a little bitter in the box ~ and we welcome Chioggia radicchio ~
These Chioggia radicchio are a small and pretty vegetable in the chicory family, named after their namesake town near Venice in Northern Italy.
We planted these Chioggia radicchio in the middle of winter as an experiment. These super late winter plants miraculously managed to form nice round heads ~ they are really small, but they were too pretty not to pop in this week’s box and be enjoyed.
Chioggia radicchio look and taste beautiful & bitter ripped up into salads. They are fantastic, and much less bitter, gently roasted for 10 mins and covered with a sweet balsamic. Salt, vinegar and EVOO make Chioggia radicchio sing ~ We’ll be growing more of these in the coming months so just consider these a little taste of some larger radicchio to come.
28 July 2021
We are really happy to have grown some small and humble radicchio di treviso for you. We hope you enjoy their dark red bitter leaves and the sweeter white mid ribs.
Radici e fasioi is a traditional radicchio and bean dish. It is so tasty, we have been eating this for weeks now. It’s become a staple in our house. Usually the beans are served over the top of chopped radicchio, we unconventionally serve them below because~ the radicchio!
We use this recipe for the beans.
Puntarelle
Puntarelle is a visually strange and oddly beautiful chicory from Southern Italy. It’s a little daunting to approach in the kitchen because its so unfamiliar…
Puntarelle is a visually strange and oddly beautiful chicory from Southern Italy.
Puntarelle a little daunting to approach in the kitchen because its so unfamilar, however it’s simple to prepare, and has very little bitterness. The whole plant can be eaten, and is traditionally prepared both in raw and cooked dishes.
14 July 2021
We are really elated to grow Puntarelle for our CSA members~ Neither of us had ever come across it, let alone cooked with it. Dylan has never been to Italy, and when Grace was there she was partying, not taking much notice. There are plans to travel together to Italy for Puntarelle, Radicchio, Cime di rapa and Mugnoli.
To prepare the Puntarelle, remove the leaves and separate the protruding spears. Cut the spears into matchstick shaped slices, and soak them in cold water for a minute or two, until they start to curl.
Puntarella alla Romana, is a traditional Italian recipe from Rome that has subtle flavours and is really fresh and crunchy. In fact this vegetable is famously cultivated by farmers surrounding Rome and it’s rarely found outside this region. We make a vegetarian version omitting the anchovies, and adding capers and olives in their place. The salad is simple and beautiful. Find the recipe here.
Puntarelle can also be enjoyed in pasta too, find the recipe here. To eat the Puntarelle leaves, either chop them up and eat them raw in salads or on top of soups. They are also sometimes blanched briefly before being sautéd in olive oil and garlic.
We grow Puntarelle seed from an Italian seed company called Smarties.bio. This seed company breeds and develops commercial quality seeds of crop varieties relatively unknown outside of specific regions of Italy. They are great advocates of biocultural diversity, and we are very fortunate to have been gifted these seedlings from our friends at Felds Farm and Fat Carrot Farm.
Smarties.bio was co-founded by the Italian seed breeder Andrea Ghedina. You can watch an interview with Andrea, speaking in English about the Puntarelle seed he produces, and we grow at Broom and Brine Farm. We look forward to placing a seed order with Smarties.bio in the next few months so that we can grow and celebrate more of these special vegetables with our CSA members.
Image source:
1. https-//decoratosementi.com/catalog/conventional-seeds/chicory/catalogna-puntarelle-di-galatina/.jpeg
2. https-//professionale.saissementi.it/en/prodotti/cicoria/cicoria-catalogna/pigna-2/.jpeg
Claytonia
Claytonia is a fleshy, winter hardy green that has succulent leaves and a mild tart taste. It's often used in salads, or as a soup, pizza or pasta garnish.
Claytonia is a fleshy, winter hardy green that has succulent leaves and a mild tart taste. It's often used in salads, or as a soup, pizza or pasta garnish. It makes a fantastic substitute for all types of Purslane, which is commonly stewed.
21 July 2021
Claytonia is commonly known as miners lettuce, spring beauty and winter purslane. It is indigenous to Eastern Asia and North America, and now grows across the world. Although no longer considered a true Purslane, Claytonia was reclassified in the last decade as its own separate genus, it is commonly eaten as one.
In addition to salads and a tasty nutritional garnish, Claytonia can be prepared like purslane, in many dishes. In Morocco, dinner often starts with cooked salads on bread. This Morrocan Purslane dish is one such starter.
In Turkey various wild purslanes are prepared in a variety of dishes, depending on the region. Pirinçli Semizotu, or Purslane with rice is traditionally cooked in Central Anatolia and looks fantastic [2]. We'll be cooking this recipe tonight.
Erba stella
Erba stella is a mild tasting green with thick succulent leaves, akin in flavour and texture to spinach.
Erba stella is a lovely mild tasting green with thick succulent leaves, akin in flavour and texture to spinach. Chop it finely and add it to salads or on top of hot soups.
7 July 2021
Erba stella is a juicy tender green, traditionally harvested and cultivated across the Mediterranean coastline. It’s a highly adaptive wild plant that grows next to the sea across Spain, Germany, France, Ireland, Portugal, southern Scandinavia and down into Morocco and Egypt.
We grow Erba stella seeds that are imported from Italy, where it is cultivated in some regions. Erba stella is traditionally harvested and served in Misticanza salad, a salad of wild and cultivated leaves thats traditional to the Marche region of Italy, find a recipe for the salad here. In regions of Italy Erba stella is gently steamed and eaten as a side dish with olive oil and salt.
We steam Erba stella and add it to frittata’s, along with steamed escarole, kale and spigarello. I really like making this frittata recipe that uses chickpea flour instead of eggs. Its really easy and so so tasty. I add about five times the amount of greens though, and steam them before adding to the frittata mixture.
Erba stella is a plantain belonging to the Plantaginaceae group. Planta translated from latin to mean foot. Plants in the Plantaginacea group have leaves that growing laying flat on the ground. When we walk down to the beach from our house in Kingston Beach, we can see heaps of small Erba stella plants growing on the limestone rocks along the beach. They are much smaller and grow closer to the ground then the cultivated type we grow, with hairy wild leaves that are no so shiny.
Erba stella translates into Star grass in the South Tyrolean dialect, up in far Northern Italy on the border of Germany. The recipe is by the South Tyrolean Farmers Organisation, a sister organisation of the Southern Tyrolean Farmers Union. They are a group of women who care for community and advocate for strength and status of women in farming.
Star Grass Cake:
For the pastry: 100 g of sugar; 200 g of butter; 300 g of flour; 1 pinch of salt; 1 egg.
For the filling: 200 g of fresh quark cheese; 1 egg; 2 tablespoons of honey; Grated lemon zest to taste; 50 ml of whipping cream; 75 g of chopped walnuts; 1 handful of star grass leaves (also with flowers); 1 handful of delicate herbs such as plantain, lemon balm and lamio; 2 apples or other fruit, peeled and cut into wedges.
Preparation: After letting the shortcrust pastry rest for at least two hours, spread it out in a buttered and sifted round pan with breadcrumbs or lined with baking paper. Pierce the dough several times with a fork. Finely chop the herbs and add them to the other ingredients of the garnish. Pour the cream over the dough and distribute the apple wedges. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 ° for 40 - 50 minutes.
Erba stella hazel nut pesto:
This recipe is by Ivana Mennini, I translated it directly from her website.
100 g of Erba stella
30 g of hazelnuts
100 g about extra virgin olive oil
2 - 3 tablespoons filled with parmesan cheese
"Wash the star grass [Erba Stella], drain it and wipe it with a dry cloth to dab and dry it well. Put the star herb in the blender with the hazelnuts and oil. Blend well several times so as not to overheat the blade. When we have reached the desired creaminess, add the Parmesan and mix well, adding oil to your liking."
Sugarloaf cabbage
We grow several varieties of cabbage at Broom and Brine Farm. Some cabbages are very sweet and crunchy, and are fantastic roughly chopped…
Sugarloaf cabbage is a sweet, water rich variety of cabbage and is fantastic cut up fine and eaten raw in a salad.
We do our best to grow several varieties of cabbage at Broom and Brine Farm. Some cabbages are very sweet and crunchy, and are fantastic roughly chopped and eaten raw. Others, particularly red cabbages, are more fibrous and better chopped finely. All cabbages are good roasted! And they all love vinegar and salt.
14 July 2021
When we was researching sugarloaf cabbages and their origins, we came across some info about a town in Germany called Leinfelden-Echterdingen that celebrates Filderkraut Fest.
As we suspect none of us will be venturing to Germany to chug beer and dance at Filderkraut Fest soon, we thought we’d attach a pic ~ and this rich, butter, bacon and cream Swabian sugarloaf cabbage cake ~ because its cold ~ and its dark.
30 June 2021
We welcome the Sugarloaf cabbage into the box. We love roasting all our vegetables and, as we’re pretty obsessed with the miso & mustard combination, were excited to find this recipe for miso-mustard lightly roasted sugarloaf. Its good.
Tony, from Rocky Top Farm in Penna, grows Sugarloaf cabbages in lutruwita that are infamous ~ and we're really happy to be participate in the local love of Sugarloaf, and to be growing this sweet cabbage for you folks.
In Germany a variety of Sugarloaf cabbage called Filderkraut is very popular and prized for its large, long shape and sweet leaves.
At Broom and Brine Farm we dont grow the Filderkraut variety, but we certainly appreciate its gigantic form, its history and its popularity! The Filderkraut cabbage makes famously good sauerkraut.
Choy sum
Choy sum is a delicious brassica, and one of the most popular green vegetables used in Cantonese cooking.
Choy sum is a delicious brassica, and one of the most popular green vegetables used in Cantonese cooking. Its tender leaves cook quickly, its often blanched in hot water with salt, and then served with a soy and garlic sauce.
30 June 2021
We currently grow a variety thats been selected to be non-flowering and is popular because of its crunchy green stem and wide flat leaves. Some varieties of Choy sum are selected for flowering, some for thick stems and others like ours are selected to be large, flat plants.
Choy sum is a variety of Brassica rapa, chinensis. Choy sum is directly related to bok choy and pak choy, these are a subspecies of Brassica rapa that don't form a head. Wombok and Pai tsai belong to a secondary group of Brassica rapa called the Pekinensis group.
Brother Chaozhou from Chaozhou, China cooking Choy sum.
Fennel
Fennel is a perennial plant, related to carrots, parsley and parsnips. We grow a bulbing fennel thats white bulb is particularly delicious eaten raw…
Fennel is a flavourful bulbing herb whose delicate flavour comes into its own when roasted.
Fennel is a perennial plant, related to carrots, parsley and parsnips. We grow a bulbing fennel thats white bulb is particularly delicious eaten raw and roasted. The whole plant is edible, and the tiny leaves are really delicious in teas and as soup and salad garnishes.
14 July 2020
The fennel, carrots, parsley and dill in our fields had a rough time and suffered a little frost burn during the last week when it got down to -3.5 at the farm
This sicilian fava bean and fennel stew feels appropriate for the cold & is right our my alley
Spigariello
Spigariello is a pretty wild, old cultivar related to calabrese broccoli. Spigariello is selected for its tender leaves, unlike calabrese broccoli that is…
Spigariello is a pretty wild, old cultivar of broccoli.
Image 1. Spigariello growing in the field at Broom and Brine Farm.
23 June 2021
Spigariello is a broccoli that has been selected for its tender leaves, unlike calabrese broccoli that has been selected for its large flowering head. There are at least two different kinds of Spigariello, one is Liscia, a smooth leaved type. The second is Riccia, which has serrated leaves that tend to be a little thicker.
Spigariello can be eaten raw in salads or blanched and cooked in oil on the stove top with garlic. Its fantastic added to soups or shredded on top of pizza! Spigariello is particularly famous in Southern Italy & Naples.
Escarole & Frisée
Escarole is a chicory, and a little bitter. Its typically blanched briefly before being sautéed, stuffed or added to soup. Its also often eaten raw in salad.
Escarole and Frisée are sister loose heading chicories with a little bit of bitterness and quite thick leaves that can withstand lots of cooking.
These sister plants are Mediterranean eaten by the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks (G.T Prance, 2005) They weren’t introduced into central Europe until the 16th C, where they’ve both become very popular. We love this French lentil soup with Escarole that uses green lentils ~ which are very tasty ~ and red wine.
Winter 2021
Our new arrival is frisée also known as curly endive. We like to enjoy the bitterness of frisée like a lettuce- dressed in heaps of vinegar. Frisée is also really good sauteed gently with garlic. We think frisée truly shines added raw into a sandwich with lots of mustard and red onion.
7 September 2021
Escarole is back in the box ~ Its fleshy, salty & a little bit bitter ~ super good raw, wilted, boiled, baked and stuffed.
In the spirit of spring ~ and summoning more of that hot weather ~ we tracked down a recipe for an escarole salad. This salad is lightly cooked to reduce the bitterness of the leaves and to tenderise them.
Escarole contains a prebiotic called inulin. The inulin in the Escarole, the fibre in the lentils & those polyphenols in the red wine ~ our gut microbiomes will be pretty happy. We know Italians adore Escarole. Grace translated a recipe for Scarola alla napoletana, or Italian sauteed escarole with raisins, pine nuts and black olives.
Scarola alla napoletana
Italian sautéed escarole with raisins, pine nuts and black olives.
This recipe is by Francesca Marcuccio, and was translated by Grace from Italian to English using google translate.
Ingredients: 1 kg escarole; 2 cloves Garlic; 2 anchovies in oil; 1 tablespoon pine nuts'; 1 tablespoon Salted capers; 100 g Black olives; Chilli pepper to taste; Salt; extra virgin olive oil.
Preparation: Toast the pine nuts in a non-stick pan. Rinse the capers to remove excess salt and chop them; Clean the escarole by removing the most damaged and leathery outer leaves, wash it well in plenty of water, rinsing often; In a low and wide pan (it must contain the escarole) pour a little oil , add the garlic cloves and the chilli pepper and let it brown for a few moments. Add the anchovy fillets , the pitted olives and the capers and leave to flavor for two or three minutes; Add the escarole leaves cut into two or three pieces, mix and leave to dry for 5-6 minutes, then put a lid on and leave to cook for about twenty minutes. Salt the vegetables a few minutes before the end of cooking. Enjoy your meal!
7 July 2021
We made this stuffed frisée recipe by Antonio Carluccio.
Instead of frisée we used escarole! In our version we omit both the anchovies, eggs and cheese~ and wow we love this recipe! Its very rich & salty, and the raisins just make it off the charts tasty.
23 June 2021
We blanch our escaroles using elastic bands for 10 days to get a very light, sweet centre. Escarole is salty and a little bit bitter, and Grace thinks it tastes a little bit like the ocean.
We made a version of this pizza di scaroloa, or escarole pie for the Autumn Picnic, and it was delicious! After attempting the dough, and failing...puff pastry was brought from the shops and it was honestly so delicious. We served the pie cold with a big frizee salad~ The pie can be served cold, warm & hot.
Pai tsai
Its cultivation history is complex ~ Pai tsai is a cultivar of Wombok which has been grown in China for many hundreds of years.
Pai tsai is approximately pronounced ~ pats-eye. These plants are loose heading Chinese cabbage and have very soft leaves that are very tender & perfect for salads, soups or stir fries.
16 June 2021
Pai tsai seed is often sold as Tokyo bekana in the Australian and American seed market. Its cultivation history is complex ~ Pai tsai is a cultivar of Wombok which has been grown in China for many hundreds of years.
Pai tsai is a brassica and is fast becoming a popular lettuce substitute in some of the hot climates of the US. Its quite fantastic to enjoy a very mild tasting cancer fighting cruciferous food, raw in a salad. 16 June 2021
Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is a brassica related to broccoli, cabbages and turnips. It is particularly popular across Asia and Europe. In Cyprus its called kouloumpra…
Kohlrabi is a sweet bulbing stem vegetable that’s juicy. In winter we call them brassica apples because they just get so sweet.
Kohlrabi is a brassica related to broccoli, cabbages and turnips. It is particularly popular across Asia and Europe. In Cyprus its called kouloumpra, in Vietnam its called su hào and in Bangladesh its called olkopi.
Kohlrabi marinates really well, and takes on stock, spices and other flavours beautifully. Its a versatile vegetables that can be boiled, steamed, sautéed, roasted or fried, as well as thinly sliced into salads.
16 June 2021
This video is one of my favourites ever on the internet.
Andreas Louros is a gardener from Cyprus. And he grew this kohlrabi that weighs 7 kg and is 60cm tall.
Andreas says he has also grown a gigantic radish of similar proportions. Amazing.
This Bangladeshi kohlrabi curry recipe is wonderful, and demonstrates the versatility of this veggie. The kohlrabi is treated very much like a potato: its peeled, boiled with the potatoes and added to the curry at the end of the book.
I use this recipe thats in English. Its pretty simple and really tasty.
This video shows chef Andros Charlambous Pyliotis of Cyrus, preparing kohlrabi and demonstrates how to peel it and enjoy it fresh in salad. If however you are looking for something a little more rich, this greek-style gratin pie with kohlrabi looks heavy & delicious!