The New Roots Farmers are super excited about delivering vegetables to families in Maine this week!
The heat and sun after all the rain this spring has done the vegetables a lot of good. We hosted a MOFGA workshop at our farm last week to showcase what a cooperative farm looks like. We had a lot of fun and got to teach some farmers-to-be about our cooperative approach.
The early summer/spring season is filled with lots of healthy greens. Chard, kale, spinach, and other greens are common in CSA bags in the beginning of the season.
New Roots farmers love cooking greens. Cooking greens are very common in the southern United States and all over the continent of Africa. In general, the darker the green the healthier it is for you.
Collard greens, a favorite among your farmers for their nightly dinners, is high in folate, calcium, dietary fiber, Vitamins A, C, K, and E. Collard greens are used for energy in Somalia, and in the United States they are known to be good for their anti-inflammatory properties as well as benefits to detox support, heart health, and cancer prevention.
The farmers’ favorite way to cook collard greens is to stew them, stems and all, with tomatoes, garlic, salt, and onions. Sometimes they add goat meat or beef.
The Somali farmers serve their cooked green (collard greens, kale, and/or chard) with grits, the grits forming a bowl-like holder for the steamed greens. A friend of mine, Jessica, hated collard greens until she ate Somali collard greens. For the grits, you can buy white corn grits or white corn meal. You can also use yellow corn grits, but that isn’t the Somali traditional way.
Here’s a picture of Batula’s cooked greens:
If you want the exact recipe, well, we don’t write our recipes down much, but here is what my mom told me:
Ingredients
- 1 bunch collard greens and/or kale
- 2 diced tomatoes or 1/2 can diced tomatoes
- 3 carrots
- 2 beets
- 1 onion
- 3 TB oil
- Meat or veggie crumbles (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Chop stems from leaves. Saute onion and garlic in oil until transparent. Add tomatoes, carrots, and beet. Mix well. Add chard and/or kale and/or collard greens and a pinch of salt. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes until soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook grits according to the package while vegetables are cooking. The farmers like to add a little drop of oil so the grits don’t stick to the pan.
Strawberry Kale Salad with Nutty Granola Croutons
INGREDIENTS
Kale salad
- 8 ounces Tuscan kale or regular curly kale (1 medium bunch)
- 1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 4 to 5 medium radishes, sliced thin and roughly chopped
- 2 ounces chilled goat cheese (or about 1/3 cup cup goat cheese crumbles)
Lemon honey mustard dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 small lemon)
- 1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Nutty granola “croutons”
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup raw shelled pistachios (or walnuts or pecans)
- 1/2 cup whole almonds
- 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- To make the granola: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, toss the oats, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, salt, and cayenne pepper. Stir in the beaten egg white, oil, and honey or agave nectar until well blended. Transfer mixture to a rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring halfway, until golden, about 16-19 minutes. Let the granola cool on the baking sheet.
- To make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey until emulsified. Season with a dash of sea salt and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.
- To prepare the kale: Use a chef’s knife to remove the tough ribs from the kale, then discard the ribs (or feed them to your dog!). Chop the kale leaves into small, bite-sized pieces. Transfer the chopped kale to a big salad bowl. Sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt over the kale and massage the leaves with your hands by lightly scrunching big handfuls at a time, until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant.
- To assemble the salad: Drizzle in the salad dressing (you might not need all of it) and toss well, until all of the kale is lightly coated in dressing. Add the sliced strawberries and chopped radishes, then use a fork to crumble the goat cheese over the salad. Toss again, then sprinkle with a couple handfuls of granola. For best flavor, let the salad rest for 15 minutes before serving (this gives the dressing time to soak into the kale).
Recipe from: https://cookieandkate.com/strawberry-kale-salad-with-nutty-granola-croutons/
Thanks for reading, and, as always, feel free to contact us at 207-513-0125 or newrootscooperativefarm@gmail.com.