Emerging
The radishes are sprouting, the chives are flowering, and to our delight, some seeds in the compost from last year’s overgrowth have started sending up new lettuce heads all over the garden. Nina is very intrigued.
I’m finding more joy than ever in seeing new growth right in our backyard, given that we haven’t emerged yet from stay-at-home life. Last Saturday, I put on my mask and got into the backseat of my dad’s car for the first time in about two months to get to Long Island City and pick up our first farm share of the CSA season. This food, real and green, will always be one of our essentials.
Week 1 gave us mixed greens, loose leaf lettuce, pea shoots, broccoli rabe, French breakfast radishes, Hakurei turnips, flowering chives, and hot sauce.
Photo credit: Brooklyn Grange
I grated radishes into butter and chopped chives onto bagels with cream cheese for lunch after getting home from the farm. The next morning, the radish butter was spread on toast and topped with avocado, fried eggs, and lettuce. During the week, I found precious time to make myself a real breakfast before settling into another work from home day. I used the radish butter to pan-fry my eggs and slices of turkey breast. It was a fun experiment that resulted in little bits of charred radish that were crunchy and delicious. Chopped chive flowers sent it over the top.
Throughout the week, we turned to our classic trusted flavor profiles: lemon, garlic, Parmesan, again and again. We had salads of mixed greens and lettuce with lemony mustard dressing--zest included of course. After taking an invigorating Conscious Kitchen virtual workshop hosted by Brooklyn Grange’s own Anastasia Cole Plakias a few weeks ago, never again will I throw away an unzested lemon. Use everything as much as you can. In the spirit of which…
Our radish and turnip greens went into a saute pan with some spinach and garlic, then topped with lemon and grated Parmesan. The radishes and turnips themselves got tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted in the oven alongside a tray of thinly sliced beets. They came out sweet and salty and were perfect over Greek yogurt. This dinner was tiny but magnificent.
I turned to the good old interwebs for a good meal honoring pea shoots. I found a cacio e pepe-adjacent pasta recipe over at Life as a Strawberry that really spoke to me. Angel hair pasta coated in a sauce of lemon juice, olive oil, and plenty of Parmesan and black pepper and then tossed with heaps of pea shoots. I enjoyed the hell out of this and will definitely be making it again and substituting whatever greenery we have around. I topped ours with sauteed broccoli rabe and garlic, sprinkled with—you guessed it—lemon juice and zest.
Nina is becoming very fond of trying to grab our plates from us. Now that we’re gradually introducing her to real foods, the fun of family meals and seasonal eating is only just beginning.
