In the Box 1: Madison
Herbs! We are really big on herbs at Circle M. Of all the unique new experiences one could have in a CSA over a year’s time, we think that some of the most significant you’ll have will be the amazing flavors you can achieve cooking with fresh herbs. We will try to give you lots of good ideas to implement as the season goes on. Herbs are traditionally one of the first things to be available in any garden since they are often perennial plants – meaning they live through the winter and are already growing strong when most plants are being seeded. And herbs have to be harvested hard right about now if we want to enjoy them throughout the season, or else they will go to seed at the very start of the summer and stop putting energy into the leaves we want to eat. And so – this first box of the year is a cornucopia of rapidly growing herbs with which you can cook fresh, make tea or dry to use later. You’ll find most of them in a big bouquet in your box, and it’s not a bad idea to treat them like a bouquet, either. If you are not going to dry them immediately, put them in a vase in the fridge and pick off of them for a week or more. To dry, simply turn them upside down and hang in a dry-ish place out of the sun. When they appear to be dry throughout, crumble and store in sealed jars or bags.
Here’s what’s in the box:
Herb Bouquet: We like to bunch our herbs in big bouquets because they are pretty and they are easy to just stick in the fridge in some water that way. We don’t label them individually because it would be too time consuming, so you’ll have to get good at exploring your herb bouquet with lots of touching, tasting and comparing each week. When in doubt about an herb, simply take a nibble and think about what you’d like to taste it with! This week we’ve got so many herbs they are in several different bags and bunches. Enjoy!
Leek Scapes – These strange pod-looking things are the beginning of last fall’s late leeks going to seed. Used like garlic scapes, these pods and stems are all very spicy-hot like a very strong garlic bulb. Mince finely and add to any recipe that wants garlic or onion flavor.
Tarragon – These very finely-cut, rather flimsy long leaves on a tall firm stalk are a wonderful addition to soups, bean dishes and salad dressings. In fact, you can take the whole stalk, bruise the leaves and steep the whole thing in a jar of apple cider vinegar for a wonderful simple salad sprinkle. This French herb is the basis of Bearnaise Sauce.
Chocolate Mint – This highly aromatic sweet mint is distinguished by red/brown stems. Use this in any recipe where you want a sweet mint, like ours for Mojitos. Or just chew the leaves to freshen breath and settle the stomach. We put in our lemonade pitcher all summer.
Dill – This unmistakable herb is the bomb on beets, green beans and pickles. Cut the light, super thin, ferny leaves finely with a scissor and add to eggs.
Cat Mint – This mint has fuzzy grey-green leaves and is the very one your cats go crazy for. You must bruise the leaves to get their attention. But it’s good for you, too, and makes a great relaxing tea. Use it when your mind is racing and it might mellow you out a bit, as it eases nervousness and restlessness. Use to make a tea by covering a few leaves or even the whole stalk in warm water and letting it sit overnight. In the morning, strain off the water and drink.
Lovage – One of my favorite herbs, you’ll find it’s large celery-like leaves on a skinny hollow stalk. To me it tastes like a combination of celery, nutmeg and curry. This is actually a perennial celery and you can use it to flavor soups, egg salad, whatever else you season with celery. Chop the stalk and use it if you’ll be cooking the dish.
Tansy - This large, rough leaf that looks a bit like an underwater fern is an herb that tastes bad, and that’s just it. Don’t eat this, but put a leaf in your fruit bowl or near your bananas and you won’t get fruit flies. Amazing! Thanks to Farm Member Sam for this great tip!
This week you’ve got a separate bunch of Peppermint, Marjoram (Greek Oregano) and Chives from Sam, who had a surplus in her garden and shared them with us. The mint is light green and you’ll know the smell. Add a leaf to every iced tea you drink this week. Or crush with sugar and make syrup to drizzle on ice cream. The oregano is amazing in red pasta sauces or pizza. The chives are great on potatoes, in eggs, over a salad. Use the blossoms as a lovely edible flourish on a salad – simple pull the individual little bulbils off the pink flower and sprinkle.
Thyme – This tiny creeping herb gets it’s own bag because you need a lot of this. I use this extensively all summer long – in salad dressing, on eggs, sauteed with zucchini, with potatoes, on meats and in pasta sauce. I think if you start trying it, you’ll want it on everything, too. Don’t try to pull the leaves off unless you have already dried them. Instead, throw several whole sprigs into what you are cooking. After a few minutes, the leaves will fall off and you can fish out the stems.
Spring Garlic – Ooooh, what a treat! These tender, not-yet-firm bulbs of garlic are just baby soft and you can use them all the way up the stem like scallions.
Rhubarb – My mouth watered the whole time I picked this. Oh my oh my. Like juice in a stem. If the gemstone ruby had a flavor, it would have to be this. Try this succulent healthy treat in our friend Bryn’s muffin recipe below. Apparently, we have some nice recipes coming in from Members, so check the website in the next few days.
Baby Head Lettuce – So pretty and crisp, these little baby lettuce heads will keep better than baby greens that are cut with a knife, but still try to use them up in a few days. We’ve tried to give each of you a mix of red and green, ruffled and straight, sweet and spicy.
Spinach – We planted this spring last fall so you’d have winter spinach in your first box. Yum! The taste of spinach that has been frozen is richer and deeper, yet sweeter than summer spinach.
French Breakfast Radishes – These little guys weren’t really the size we wanted to harvest, but the heat is making them so spicy we thought we’d better get them out of the ground before they were like horseradish. My absolute favorite way to eat radishes is sliced on a piece of buttered baguette. Then salted. Mmmmm. Really good for breakfast, actually.
Winter Onion – Last year was a true banner year for onions, and so we’ve still got lots stored from the fall harvest. You’ve got a wonderful variety called Frontier.
Pea Shoots – One of the first sweet treats out of the garden each year, these are little snips from the top of our snap pea vines. Eat them raw in a salad, or saute briefly in olive oil and serve over pasta. An ethereal pleasure that only lasts as long as the vines are young.
Finally, we’ve potted up some special plants for you to stick in the ground or even in a pot somewhere. You have two heirloom tomatoes – German Green and Ida Gold. At least we think that’s what they are. The label situation got pretty chaotic during this weekend’s mad dash to get the tomatoes in. You’ve also got Gigante Parsley, an herb I use constantly all summer long, and calendula, also known as pot marigold. Calendula has lots of medicinal properties, but what we use it for is to make confetti for our salads or to decorate cakes and such. All you do it pluck off a flower – pretty yellow and orange daisy-like blooms – and pull off the individual petals.
Mint Mojitos
I was introduced to this drink by Cuban friends in Chicago. Wherever you drink it, it’s thirst-quenching and irresistible.
1 teaspoon powdered sugar (My Cuban friends prefer to use raw sugar cane. I actually like Raw Sugar, but powdered sugar is a bit easier to mix in)
Juice from 1 lime (2 ounces)
4 mint leaves
1 sprig of mint
Light rum (2 ounces)
2 ounces club soda
Place the mint leaves into a long mojito glass (often called a “collins” glass) and squeeze the juice from a cut lime over it. You’ll want about two ounces of lime juice, so it may not require all of the juice from a single lime. Add the powdered sugar, then gently smash the mint into the lime juice and sugar with a muddler (a long wooden device pictured below, though you can also use the back of a fork or spoon if one isn’t available). Add ice (preferably crushed) then add the rum and stir, and top off with the club soda. Garnish with a mint sprig.
I personally think these are much easier to prepare in a pitcher (you’ll want more than one anyway). Just multiply times 4 or 8, and prepare the whole thing at once.
Rhubarb Streusel Muffins
This recipe comes courtesy of farm members Bryn and J.D. who modified a Joy of Cooking recipe. Yum!
Combine in large bowl:
2 C. flour
2/3 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp lemon zest
Combine in small bowl:
2 beaten eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C. buttermilk
4 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 400. Add contents small bowl to large, mixing just until combined. Scoop into buttered muffin tin. Chop 1/2 lb (about 2 cups) rhubarb and sprinkle over muffins. Make streusel and top muffins, press into tops. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
Streusel: Combine 2/3 C. flour, 1/3 C. brown sugar, 1/3 C. sugar, pinch salt, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 5 Tbsp butter.
A word about packaging: we try to use it as little as possible, that’s why your lettuces are loose in the box with your rhubarb. We don’t want to use bags unless we absolutely have to. And we prefer to reuse as much as possible, so please do return your box to us. We’d like all boxes back, with their liners, to reuse.
