Week 4

Vegetable List

Astro Arugula
Golden Beets
Green Cabbage
Napa Cabbage
Curly Kale
Lacinato Kale
Kossak Kohlrabi
All The Head Lettuce
Baby Lettuce
Gold Frill Mustard Greens
Mystery Hot Peppers
White Ice Scallions
Spoon Spinach
Some Sungolds
Some Kind of Zucchini and/or Summer Sqush
PYO Herbs
A Few PYO Flowers

Notes from the Farm

Napa Cabbage is not cabbage... it's a lettuce that you can cook if you want. Napa Cabbage is the perfect vegetable. It is sweet, crisp, tender, flavor forward, stores indefinitely, and is culinarily dynamic. My favorite romaine lettuce is Napa Cabbage. My favorite iceberg lettuce is Napa Cabbage. Napa Cabbage, sliced thin from the top makes the best Cesar Salad; Quartered, or eighthed, makes the best Wedge Salad; Thin sliced and lightly dressed, makes the best burger topping.
Napa Cabbage is not cabbage... it is a robust lettuce.
That said, it is also amazing cooked with chili sauce and noodles, quick pickled into kimchi, or used as a wrapper for steamed dumplings.
And to be sure that none of all you all try and use it like cabbage, this week we also included a cabbage...
I think most all vegetables deserve to be looked at a second time. It's so easy to box vegetables into a certain roll... reduce them to the repetitive lane they were assigned in 1952. Vegetables are just like people, like that little child in you that thinks they can fly or that unicorns exist... vegetables dream of flying just like us, and are too often scolded into the mundane.
It's never been easier to get weird with food... next time you're at Hannaford's, grab some hard to pronounce jarred sauce you've never tried from the International aisle, pour it over some Kohlrabi and beets you've roasted together, lay it over a bed of Napa Cabbage, and then come back the next week and tell me I'm a goober and you'll never trust my cooking advice again.
I'm a huge believer that the goal isn't to cook a perfect meal, food is for adventure, and more often than not, the best adventures typically don't go as planned.

Recipes

Zucchini-Scallion Fritters

1 pound (about 2 medium) zucchini, coarsely grated
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 large egg
2 scallions, finely chopped
½ cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
½ cup vegetable oil
Sour cream, for serving

Place zucchini in a colander set in the sink, and toss with 1 teaspoon salt; let drain 10 minutes. Press out as much liquid as possible.
Whisk egg in a large bowl; mix in zucchini, scallions, flour, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until combined.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook fritters in two batches: Drop six mounds of batter (2 tablespoons each) into skillet; flatten slightly. Cook, turning once, until browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a papertowel-lined plate; sprinkle with salt. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately, with sour cream.


Zucchini Bruschetta

2 medium zucchini
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup minced scallion
¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Toasted baguette slices
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving

Shred zucchini on the large holes of a box grater. (You should have about 4 cups.) Toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a colander set over a bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess moisture with your hands.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add scallion; cook 1 minute. Add zucchini; cook until tender and golden, 5 minutes. Stir in red-pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper. Serve atop baguette slices, drizzled with olive oil.

Zucchini Gratin

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium zucchini (about 7 ounces each), sliced crosswise ¼ inch thick
2 medium yellow squash (about 7 ounces each), sliced crosswise ¼ inch thick
2 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup panko
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat; add zucchini, yellow squash, shallots, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and squash are crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
Add cream, and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; stir in 1/2 cup panko and 1/4 cup Parmesan.
Spoon mixture into a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining panko and Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Bake until top is golden, 8 to 10 minutes.