Of garlic scapes and beet greens

This week's CSA share contained some strange items.

From a quick google search, I learned that garlic scapes can be made into pesto, grilled with five spice powder, used to garnish bruschetta, or even pickled. They also apparently make good bracelets ;). I made mine into a dip, a la the New York Times. (recipe at the end of the post)

Beet greens are supposedly just as versatile--although I did get so excited researching garlic scape recipes that I didn't look up very many beet green recipes. The beets themselves, on the  other hand, made an excellent salad:

For this salad, I drizzled the beets with some balsamic vinegar and oil, and roasted them on 400 for about 45 minutes (my beets were small, so they cooked through quickly). I peeled and chopped them, then returned them to the balsamic reduction and chilled them. The salad is the balsamic roasted beets, toasted walnuts, mandarin orange slices and crumbled bleu cheese, with a balsamic vinaigrette.

I served the salad with garlic scape white bean dip, and a pile of freshly made pitas.

First week of the Produce Share!

This week I picked up my first batch of fresh produce from Heron Pond Farm's CSA. Not a bad haul for the first week of June!

This week's share is perfect for two recipes: Strawberry Stuffed French Toast, and a delicious Cobb Salad.

I'm certain that you can all figure out from the picture how to make an Cobb Salad ... so I'll leave you with my new favorite salad dressing recipe:

Cilantro Green Goddess Dressing

Ina Garten modified this dressing, which traditionally includes tarragon, to include basil. I may not be as good of a cook as Ina Garten, but I figured I could make my own modifications. I had cilantro in my fridge, and no basil, so I used that. It turned out even better than I had hoped -- so much so, that I never even tried it with the basil ;). Cilantro has a much milder flavor than basil, but tastes very fresh. That, combined with the lemon juice and green onions, is a perfect accent to a Cobb Salad.

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped green onions (white and green parts; about 3-4)

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

freshly squeezed juice from one lemon

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It keeps for a good week in the fridge, but tends to separate after that. Makes a little more than a cup. (And as you can tell, there is nothing "light" about this recipe-- this made plenty to serve 8 people for a side salad.)