Last week, we had received Pac Choi and Garlic Chives and we hadn’t yet used them in time for my post. We did cook them up that night for dinner! Dave made a stir fry which included both vegetables, an onion, and tofu.
This week we received:
Our farmer says: “The spring garlic is simply a garlic plant before it starts to develop a bulb. Use it as you would a leek – chop the white or pale green sections and use it to add a wonderful fresh garlic flavor.”
Our farmer says: “For those of you unfamiliar with fennel – don’t panic! It is a unique veggie, sort of like a mild celery with a bit of licorice flavor. As always, I recommend a quick web search. Popular recipes in my house and amongst CSA members from last year include sliced fennel on pizza, roasted fennel, salad of slivered raw fennel, fennel with salmon, etc. Most recipes use only the white/pale green bulb, but I also like to finely chop the tender leaves from the young center stalks, mix them with a little plain yogurt, a dash of salt and lemon juice. It makes a nice, quick sauce.”
What We Cooked:
This week I used 3 our of 4 of our vegetables in one dish! I love when that happens. We chose to use a recipe from allrecipes.com called White Bean with Fennel Soup. Here is my slightly edited version of the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Box of Tabatchnick’s Vegetable Broth
Sprinkle ground black pepper
1 small bulb fennel, trimmed and sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
1 bunch fresh spinach leaves
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans (cannellini), undrained
Directions:
1. Stir the broth, black pepper, fennel, onion and garlic in a 5 1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours. Add more water as needed.
3. Add the spinach, tomatoes and beans. Turn the heat to HIGH. Cover and cook for 1 hour or until the vegetables are tender.
It turned out yummy! I didn’t use all of the spinach in the soup, so the remainder was added to the red leaf lettuce and eaten as a salad. Can’t wait to see what vegetables we will get tomorrow!