7/3/13

Today’s share is almost the same as Monday’s so take a look at this page: 7/1/13

However it has the addition of fava beans.  This Mediterranean treat can be eaten a number of ways, including soups, stews, and sautees.  Usually people shell the beans out of the pod, and then remove the waxy outer later of each bean to reveal the tender darker green inner bean inside.  Here’s one easy simple way to prepare them: http://localfoods.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/Sauteed-Fava-Beans.htm

Another page I found talks about not having to take off the waxy coating off each bean, which is time consuming.  However I’m not sure if the favas are young enough to still taste good this way.  I think I will try it.  It would be great to save the extra effort!  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324659404578501233872401520.html

I’ll try to give out more favas on another day so you can have more to play around with.

One other slight difference from Monday’s share is you got rainbow swiss chard instead of just golden swiss chard.

Thanks to folks who are sending me recipes to post!  Please keep it up!  Here’s one from Nieka for quick pickling – she did chard stems and garlic scapes but you can use any veggie you wan to pickle.  Thank you Nieka!:

“this was the recipe I used for my quick chard stem and garlic scapes pickle.  I like dill pickles 🙂  the picture attached looks like my chard stem pickles, but my pictures turned out poorly because of the light…  but it will look this awesome in reality!
All-Purpose Refrigerator Pickle Brine
chard stems or garlic scapes (cucumbers, sliced turnips, carrot slices, or any veggie you want to pickle)
2 cups warm water
2 cups white vinegar
Lots of dill plumes, or dried dill to taste
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped in half
1 1 /2 TB salt
1 TB pickling spice, or to taste
2 whole dried red chilies
enough clean wide mouthed quart  jars and lids for your vegetables
In a large non-reactive pot, stir water and salt until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. heat till just boiling.  Pack vegetables in jars. Make sure each jar gets a garlic piece. Ladle hot brine over vegetables. Cover with a lid and refrigerate for at least a week before enjoying. You may re-use the brine to pickle a couple of times.  Any brine you have left over can be refrigerated and reheated for another batch the following week!
also, I would recommend blanching chard stems for a minute or two.  I didn’t do it and I think it would improve the texture.  it’s a little stringy.  You could also slice the chard stems as you would celery to make them easier to bite into.

modified  from the version at preservedhome.com  by LAURA MACKLEM