What We Ate This Week

Friday, June 26, 2020

Happy Friday Email Subscribers!

I told myself that I was going to get this email out on Thursday! I realize that an email sent on Friday about the farmers market on Saturday is just not enough notice. I will try my darnedest to get this out earlier next week!

Here's what you need to know today:

What we've got:	BROCCOLI RABE and ZUCCHINI! Peas, salad turnips, head lettuce, tat soi, salad mix, arugula, spinach (baby and full leaf), and of course, lots of radishes
Where you can get it:	Port Angeles Farmers Market, Transit Center, Saturday 10-1 Our farmstand: 43 Black Diamond Rd. Honor system: exact change only, PayPal, or Venmo. Sapor of PA has been buying our greens and radishes every week and I'm sure they glam them up in the way our veggies deserve
What's sizing up:	Carrots, I hope! Is there anything better than a homegrown carrot? Maybe a homegrown tomato

I want to talk about food this week because I love food. It's 33.33% of the reason I became a farmer. (I'll tell you about the other 66.66% another day.) We've been stuck in a cooking rut for...well, too long. We spent the winter cooking glorious wintry meals: soups, stews, roast chickens. But then we never stopped cooking those wintry meals. It was mid way through June when I finally realized we were still going heavy on the meat and potatoes diet and it just had to stop.

I always say "the farmer eats first" but I was totally hoarding all of our food from the fields to sell at market and not saving any for our own enjoyment! I used to "tsk tsk" my mom for doing this exact thing (she's a farmer too), thinking she was ridiculous for selling all of her own eggs to her customers and then heading to the grocery store to stock up for herself. Sadly, that's often the more economical decision for small scale farmers...

But this week we whipped out our go-to cookbook and did some real meal planning. My favorite cookbook, in the modern cookbook category, is "Six Seasons" by Joshua McFadden. It divides the year into the four seasons plus two shoulder seasons, early summer and late summer. It further divides the seasons into sections by vegetable and has 3-4 recipes that showcase each of those vegetables.

There are a few things I love about this cookbook. When Josh McFadden says the recipes are seasonal, he means it. In Spring, you will find ingredients that are truly only available in Spring. It's not just that the main ingredient is seasonal, every ingredient is, and I appreciate that. I also love that he highlights many vegetables that you may never usually think to buy or use; think celeriac, rutabaga, and kohlrabi. I also love how liberally he uses chile flakes (my style) and there are these flavored butter recipes that are uh-mazing and gorgeous. This would be the perfect cookbook if you joined a CSA and needed inspiration for some of the unfamiliar items in your box of produce. Maybe buy it now so you're prepared when Hidden Penny Farm sells CSA shares in a few years...ah, I'm getting way ahead of myself.

So let me tell you what we ate this week and maybe it will inspire you! I'm italicizing the recipes from Six Seasons to give you an idea of what you might find within it's glorious pages.

Monday: Crispy Sugar Snap Peas with Tonnato and Lemon. As well as Radishes with Tonnato, Sunflower Seeds, and Lemon on butterhead lettuce. Tonnato is basically tunafish dressing which I realize sounds not super appetizing as I write this, but trust me, it's amazing.

Tuesday: Salad Towers. This is something I made up. Basically take a bed of lettuce and pile on rice, beans, and all the veggies. We did carrots, zucchini, bok choy, scallions, and chive flowers. I think some people call these "Buddha Bowls" but I don't know what's so Buddhist about them, so I renamed ours Salad Towers. The name inspires you to pile everything very high and makes eating fun and slightly risky in an exhilarating way.

Wednesday: Cheeseburgers and grilled zucchini (from our garden)

Thursday: Bitter Greens Salad with Melted Cheese, or as I like to call it, "Salad Nachos". This is a great way to use all the greens in your fridge, and if anyone is wary of the idea of warming up your salad in the oven, let me say that I was too, and let me also say, you shouldn't be any longer. We also had Roasted Radishes with Brown Butter, Chile, and Honey on a bed of farro. (The cookbook has a simple way to cook farro that is crazy good. We had never had farro before getting this book, now we cook it all the time) Also, if you're getting tired of radishes by July, start roasting them.

Friday: Pork Ribs seasoned with a dry rub and Sugar Snap Peas and New Potato Salad with Crumbled Eggs and Sardines. We haven't eaten yet, but I mean, it has to be delicious.

This may be a crazy thing to offer, but if any of these recipes sound appetizing let me know. I'll send you a copy of the recipe. We were in dinner heaven every night this week. Summer is too short to not enjoy what you eat!

And now for my no-shame-here plug: You can get all of the ingredients and more from our farm! If you miss the market, come to the farmstand! We love fresh food, love how nutritious it is, and how healthy we feel when we eat it. We love that our food not only makes us healthier, but growing it allows our land to thrive as well. And we love feeling connected to what we eat. Everything has a story, shouldn't your food have a story you are happy and proud to tell?

All the best from our tiny farm,

Melissa (and Andy, Wendell, Ellie, Little Bean, hens, roosters, and pigs)