Spring CSA

Week Eight of the Spring CSA will include the following: Mesclun Salad Greens, Bok Choi, Spinach, Cortland Apples, Purple Daikon Radish, and fresh herbs (either Cilantro or Dill). Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image.

The weekly letter will be coming to your inbox the day before your pickup and is also available at stillmansfarm.com/blog and stilllifefarm.wordpress.com.  

Weekly Featured Item: Spinach

At this point of the season, we usually have TONS of spinach.  It has been overwintering in the greenhouses, and when we start having a little warmth and extra sun light it just grows like crazy.  Spinach is a great source of Vitamins A, C, and K1, Folic Acid, Iron, and Calcium.  The benefits of spinach include increased eye health, reduces oxidative stress, helps prevent cancer, and reduces blood pressure levels. So, get your “Popeye” on!

Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms
From Smitten Kitchen

This recipe can be adjusted to fit your family size.  The ingredient list below has been tripled from the original recipe…the origina recipe is perfect for the quantity of spinach in the CSA this week 😉

2 pounds (32 ounces) ounces fresh baby spinach or regular spinach leaves
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
3 small garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced (I use creminis)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (optional; I skip this)
12 large eggs
6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese

If you’ve just washed your spinach, no need to dry it before wilting it in the pan. If it’s already dry, bring 1/2 inch water to a boil in a very large ovenproof heavy skillet, then add half of spinach and cook, turning with tongs, until wilted, about 30 seconds. Add remaining spinach and wilt in same manner, then cook, covered, over moderately high heat until spinach is tender, about 1 to 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and cool under cold running water. Gently squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much liquid as possible, then coarsely chop. You will have about 2 cups fairly tightly packed cooked spinach.

Wipe skillet dry, then melt butter over medium-low heat. Cook onion and garlic until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high, then cook, stirring, until mushrooms have softened, exuded liquid and that liquid has cooked off, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg (if using), and chopped spinach and bring back a simmer. Remove skillet from heat.

If baking eggs in this skillet, make 12 large indentations in mixture, each large enough to fit an egg. Otherwise, you can transfer this mixture to a 9×13-inch baking dish and do the same there. I like to use 2 teaspoons to make the wells; I press the backs of them together to “pinch” up the spinach mixture to form taller walls so that the eggs will not merge together.

Do ahead: You can then set this aside for a few hours or up to one day in the fridge, covered.

When you’re ready to bake the dish, or about 30 minutes before serving, put oven rack in upper third of oven and heat oven to 450°F. Crack an egg into each well. Bake until whites are firm and yolks are still runny. You can check this by inserting a toothpick into various parts of the eggs and seeing whether they’re runny or set, which takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. The range is long due to different ovens and baking vessels. It’s better to have to check more often than to let them overcook.

[Cooking note: It is nearly impossible to get all 12 eggs to cook evenly. The ones in the center will be more runny; at the edges, they’ll be more firm. But don’t fret. I’ve found that almost all people have an egg preference (more runny vs. more firm) and each egg manages to find the right home. Just ask people their preference as you serve them.]

Remove dish from oven, sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, plus grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Home-made dressing for all those salad greens. Mix together 1 tsp chopped shallots, S&P, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 3 Tbsp EVOO…you’ll have to taste and possible adjust some ingredients.  I love a hearty spring salad with the mesclun greens, storage radishes, and any roasted roots I have kicking around.

Gochujang-Sesame Noodles from Bon Appetit. Another greens recipe that I thought the Bok choi would be a perfect fit for (just sub out the broccoli raab).

Spinach-and-Cilantro Soup With Tahini and Lemon, NYT

 

Farm Dirt

Stillman’s Farm. The whole family enjoyed an absolutely beautiful Easter holiday at Stillman’s farm, complete with a farm fresh ham dinner and Kip’s first Easter egg hunt.  We hope that you all had a blessed holiday week as well.  In farm related news, the major achievement of the week was transplanting 4500 tomatoes into multiple high tunnels for early production. A big project and an important project so we can all enjoy local tomatoes as soon as possible!  The retail tomato and pepper seedlings have been transplanted from their tiny starter cells to larger grow cells and will be ready for your gardens soon. Glenn has a lot on his mind between greenhouse jobs and field prep jobs and is trying to keep everything moving forward.  It’s a busy time of year.

Still Life Farm. This week we are enjoying a visit from our very dear friends who have driven up from Wichita, KS.  In theory we are attempting to have a “staycation”, but that is easier said than done on the farm.  I think what is actually happening is our friends are having a “farm labor” vacation, but they are being good sports about it…lol.  Kip is absolutely thrilled to have two other kids to play with at the house!  On the farm side of things, we have been trying to pick and sell as many greenhouse greens as possible since they are growing out of control.  Curt and Tony have a dug an entire row of our orange raspberries and transplanted them to a new field in hopes that they have more space and sunlight to thrive at that new location.  There’s a skunk who has taken up residence under our chicken barn and it’s pretty annoying.

Eat well & love your food,

Halley Stillman (Still Life Farm) & Genevieve Stillman (Stillman’s Farm)