We finally got some much needed rain this weekend. The hot weather is ripening up lots of our spring plantings and this week we have a variety of new items to share with you this week.
Your weekly share Includes:
Sweet Corn– 1st of the season, Purple Basil, Baby Red Potatoes and Red Callaloo
Along with some of your tasty favorites; Tri-colored Green Beans, Mixed squash, Cucumbers, & Rainbow carrots.
Red Callaloo– Also known as Amaranth or African Spinach is a heat tolerant leafy green originating from West Africa and made popular in Caribbean cuisine. The medium-green, oval to heart-shaped leaves are overlaid with burgundy red. Comparable to spinach in flavor it is often used in soups, or cooked similarly to collard greens- as a side dish: chopped and steamed in a pot with scallions, garlic, thyme, scotch bonnet (a Caribbean chili) and coconut oil. Some variations include the addition of chopped okra, tomatoes, diced pumpkin or carrots. Check out this recipe for cooking Callaloo- Jamaican Style
Purple Basil– Purple basil can be used in any recipe that calls for sweet basil, but until you have tried it, it is best to use slightly less purple basil–the flavor is more intense than traditional sweet basil. Here are some tips from Farmgirl Fare.com :
—Add it to a white bean salad with some red peppers and green onions
—Throw it into a pot of beans, tomatoes, potatoes, zuchinni, and onion
—Put it in a red sauce made from fresh tomatoes
—Garnish anything that the flavor of basil will complement
—Stir into a slaw of chopped carrots, fennel bulb, and garlic just before serving
—Make purple basil lemonade or, better still, purple basil watermelon/honeydew melon agua fresca
Weekly Featured Recipe:
Incorporating your Red Potatoes, Green Beans, Cucumber and Basil into a light and refreshing side salad.
