Given last week's relative barrenness at USG and the freezing-cold temps, I wasn't expecting much from this morning's trip. The hydrangeas pictured were certainly the most glamorous and colorful scene at the market today, but I was much more excited by the color green.It's really happening:
1/4 lb. pea shoots
1/2 lb. collard greens
1/4 lb. lacinato kale
1 lb. white button mushrooms
3 lbs. mixed apples
Total spent: $22
Not only did I find marvelous (albeit pricey) young lacinato kale and collard greens at Norwich Meadows Farm, the farmer who grows my favorite carrots and shell peas in the world had pea shoots. Fresh greens! I couldn't stop smiling.
With my bounty, tonight's dinner was a salad of the pea shoots, with my standard simple dijon mustard vinaigrette, and kale stir-fried with lots of sesame seeds, ginger, and shoyu. The young and tender greens cooked up very quickly, and had so much flavor - I can't wait to try the collards tomorrow.
In other produce news, I've been making jam thumbprint cookies like crazy the past week with last season's homemade peach jam, because it turns out that jam made with agave only lasts a couple of weeks once opened. And as I'm off toast at the moment, I've got to find ways to use this stuff. Luckily the cookies are quick to make, and I haven't had trouble finding folks to eat them.
3 comments:
I noticed you mentioned you made jam with Agava Nectar. Would you be willing to share that with me? I am always looking for ways to make jam healthy-er.
whew, I am so jealous of your market already! Pea shoots!? *sigh* Our market opens this coming Saturday and I'm only expecting potatoes, onions, and maybe some wintered-over greens. But I'll take those gladly!
Lacey,
Making jam with agave is easy. You just need to use a type of pectin that's meant for low/no-sugar recipes. I use Pomona's Universal Pectin, and it works great. I often use the recipes inside the Pomona's package, or from pickyourown.org (great resource!), and just use about 3/4 the amount of agave as white sugar the recipe calls for. But I always taste to make sure I've got it right for every batch. The only caveat with agave jam is that once you open a jar, it only lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge, because it doesn't have the preservative agent of white sugar. Otherwise, though, I haven't found much difference.
Carter,
It was a surprise - made my week!! You'll have tasty options soon enough I'm sure...though it never really feels like soon enough, does it? Hang in there.
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