monochrome

We got the last of our spring farmboxes last week. Sad because gone are the spring veggies, like delicate salad mixes and pea shoots, but happy because in come the tomatoes! the eggplants! the basil! of summer.

We had fava beans for the first time. They are big tender beans that taste like peanuts to me. The pods are very spongy and cozy. We had them smashed up with fresh peas and mint, and paired with this asparagus ribbon salad. Recipe for Jamie Oliver's smashed peas and fava beans below..

broccoli, but better

These broccoli are a far cry from their grocery store cousins. Where the grocery broc has thick, stringy stalks, these lanky stems are tender and sweet. The grocery broc has spongy, mushy florets, these are flavorful and firm. A light steam, a drizzle of olive oil, and the zest and juice of one half lemon is all it needs to become a delicious, simple side dish.

sat morning brunch

The best way to use leftovers from last night's salmon dinner? Next day's brunch, if you ask me. Nutty toast, topped with baked salmon, farmbox avocado, a poached egg, and cajun hollandaise sauce.

bleeding beets

The first beet I ate was a mushy burgundy thing at the PFM (professional food management a.k.a. the high school cafeteria). It had been sitting in one of those warm water baths for a couple hours, straight from the can, I'm sure. It was like a mouthful of dirt. It wasn't until now, almost 10 years later, that I decided to give them another go (and only because I couldn't bear to throw out produce from the farmbox). I cut them up and roasted them the only way I know how: with a big glug of olive oil, light on the salt and a generous grind of fresh black pepper.

And they were amazing - slightly sweet with a good corn-y taste. To think of all those potential beet-eating opportunities wasted! I have a lot of catching up to do.

farmbox

The produce continues to flow from the Growing Experience. A delicious and nutritious bouquet of kale, swiss chard and broccoli.

farmbox

We really have the best pals. The kind of pals that gift us fresh local farm food for a year. The kind that know cooking and eating together is the bestest of the best and that it can even mend the sores from last night's hatefest (unc v. duke).

Our box this week (from the growing experience) includes: 9 assorted radishes, 2 avocados, bunches of parsley, swiss chard and collards, a couple lemons, six guavas, a heavy bag of gorgeous salad mix, dried sweet bay leaves (what do i do with this? we get this, like, every week, and i don't make that much soup!), and three handfuls of tart and sweet rumbly tumbly kumquats. We ate them before we could unpack everything, skin and all.