Week 4 in brief

Hi everyone,
So this is going to be short and sweet, because I can barely keep my eyes open...
But the contents of your bags this week include:
Arugula (smallest bag of greens, leaves are bright green with a peppery flavor)
Asian Greens (medium bag, different colored leaves in many different shapes- spicy and great in a stir-fry!)
Summer Squash (yellow, green, or in between, it's still summer squash)
Snow peas (flat pods)
Sugar Snap peas
Salad mix (biggest bag of greens)

Feel free to email me (luckymoonfm@gmail.com) with recipe ideas or post them as a comment to this blog post.

All the best,
Sarah
for Lucky Moon Farm


Thursday, July 14th
Here are two recipes from Lars that work with many of the veggies you're getting in your bags.

Arugula Pesto (from simplyrecipes):

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed

1/2 cup of shelled walnuts

· 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

· 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

· 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

· 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, salt, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

3b Mortar and pestle method: Combine the nuts, salt and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.

Serve with pasta, over freshly roasted potatoes, or as a sauce forpizza.

Yield: Makes 1 heaping cup.

-Note: Lars suggested using the hot peppers (if you still have any from last week) in the stir-fry. I also often add peas and sliced summer squash to stir-fries. Happy cooking!

Stir Fry (modified from food.com):

Ingredients

· 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

· 11-14 ounces mixed Chinese greens

· 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

· 1 tablespoon sesame oil

· 1/2 tablespoon thinly sliced ginger

· 1 clove garlic thinly sliced

· 4 scallions, finely shredded

· 2 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

· 1 tablespoon soy sauce

· 2 pinches of sugar

· juice of 1 lime

· salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put the oil, garlic and the ginger into a very large, hot wok or other suitable pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken stirring constantly until the outside is cooked. Add the scallions and the rest of the ingredients apart from the greens and seasoning. Stir, then add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, lime juice and greens and toss so that everything is coated in sauce. The oyster and soy sauce will reduce, just coating the greens, which will begin to wilt. At this point season to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. Stir-fry for a further minute and serve immediately over steamed rice.