Basil Recipe - Lemon Basil Aioli

Lemon basil is one of those must have herbs after the mainstay herbs are in. The citrus highlights and flavor are very unique. This recipe for Lemon Basil Aioli is great on chicken or fish. Basil will be our herb of the week at the Farmers Market.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup finely chopped Lemon Basil
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise (make your own)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together and let the flavors combine. Refrigerate if not used right away.

Kick It Up

1. Add a clove of black garlic
2. Make your own mayonnaise
3. Use lime juice instead of lemon

Basil Recipe - Thai Basil with Sesame Noodles

Thai Basil has that wonderful cinnamon like flavor, and beautiful dark green and purple leaves. Sounds good already. It grows rapidly and likes to be harvested to stimulate new growth. This recipe for Thai Basil and Sesame Noodles is good for the vegetarian basil lovers.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or coconut oil)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 head of garlic, minced
3 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1 pound angel hair pasta or Chinese egg noodles
12 scallions (green onions), thin sliced
1/2 cup chopped and roasted peanuts
1/2 cup thin sliced Thai Basil leaves

Directions

1. Heat peanut oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; saute 1 minute. Set aside in a bowl. Add next 6 ingredients. Whisk to blend.
2. Cook noodle with water and salt until just tender, stirring. Drain and rinse until cool. Mix with sauce. Add green onions and mix to coat noodles. Let stand ant room temperature until flavors are mixed. Maybe 1 hour. Stir in peanuts and Thai Basil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Kick it up

1. Add some finely gratted carrots
2. Add 2 heads of garlic
3. Add some Thai peppers

Basil Recipe - Holy Basil Chicken

Holy Basil is an Asian version of basil used in Thailand and surrounding area. Basil will be our featured herb of the week at the farmers market.  The aroma and flavor are exotic, yummy and Asian. This recipe combines chicken, Holy Basil, garlic, chilies and rice. It is the real deal.

Ingredients

3 cups holy basil and a little more for garnish
2 heads garlic, mince the cloves
6 fresh Thai chilies
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Fresh ground pepper
Jasmine or sticky rice

Directions

1. Mash garlic and chilies together with the flat side of a large knife. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add mixture of chilies and garlic. Cook, stir continually, until garlic is golden brown (30 seconds).
2. Add chicken pieces; cook, stir often, until chicken is fully cooked, 5 minutes. Stir in soy sauce, sugar and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add Holy Basil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Serve over rice. Use basil as garnish.

Kick it up

1. Add fish sauce.
2. Add 1/4 cup of peanut butter
3. Use Thai noodles instead of rice
4. Use shrimp instead of chicken
5. Add some cashews or pine nuts
6. Reduce chilies if you like a milder dish

Red Russian Kale

Red Russian Kale is one of the premium ingredients in our spring mix. We also offer it separate as baby kale. It is great in soups or a crunchy salad, although we have also had people buy it to make kale chips. It is very popular with our salad loving folks with unsurpassed tenderness and sweet flavor.

Russian traders brought this kale from Siberia to Canada in the 1800's. Kale is in the brassica family and has some of the same healthy ingredients as broccoli and cabbage.

I planted a 30 foot by 4 foot bed, so we will have a good supply. It does well at cut and come again, so the beds can be harvested for several weeks before succession planting. Kale loves this years cool wet weather and has great disease resistance. So bring on the spring showers.

When choosing Red Russian Kale look for bright, fresh, firm leaves and wash well before using.

A quick tasty side dish can be made by sauteing the washed and trimmed leaves in a little butter and garlic. Or use olive oil and add bits of bacon, red pepper, onion and a spicy sausage. Yumm.

This can also be added to pasta dishes such as linguine or spaghetti.

Spring and summer kale is wonderful and healthy. Similar to many other vegetables, the light frosts of fall sweeten the kale further for the peak of the season.

Amazing Arugula

Did you know arugula looks just like baby broccoli when it germinates? It also has some of the same cancer fighting phytonutrient that broccoli has. Both are close cousins botanically and so, have similar baby leaf and stem characteristics.

To get the arugula to perform at its absolute best flavor and nutrition you  must have peak mineralization in your soil. We are constantly working on remineralizing our soils using kelp, highly mineralized salt, fish emulsion, rock powders and compost.

We occasionally sample arugula from the store in the winter and it won't hold a candle to the flavor and shelf life of our arugula grown in mineralized soil. Our kids love arugula on salads and sandwiches. It also makes a zesty brilliant green pesto, which is good on pasta or bruschetta.

There are a number of different arugula types. The more highly serrated leaves are a little more zesty and the smooth leaves are a little milder. We like to cut arugula at the baby leaf stage.

We had never even heard of arugula before about 7-8 years ago. Then it started to appear in more of the gourmet magazines and people started asking for it. So what the heck, we tried it and we were hooked as were our customers.

We typically have a very good product and some of the upscale restaurants buy from us at the market.   Nosh, ZZest, and Pescara are all frequent buyers.

Market Menu for June 8, 2013

We will have the following items at the market for Saturday, June 8, 2013 (New items are in Bold Print)

Radishes
Asparagus
Baby Spinach
Baby Spring Mix - Lettuce, Beet Greens, Kale
Baby Red Russian Kale
Arugual - Yea! Limited Supply
Baby Cilantro - Herb of the Week (see Recipes on the VF Blog)
Cress
Fresh Cut Herbs - Mint, Oregano, French Tarragon, Rosemary, Cilantro
Dandelion Greens
Shallots
Worm Farms - Red Wigglers, Worm Bedding, Worm Castings
Potting Mix
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Jumbo Pansys
Herb Plants
- Rosemary
- Basil - Sweet Italian, Tai, Lemon, Holy
- Mint - Spearmint, Chocolate, Organge, Apple
- Tyme - English, Posey, Lemon
- Sage, Tricolor Sage
- Parsley - Curly, Flat Leaf
- Stevia
- Cilantro - Herb of the Week
- Hyssop
- Chives, Leeks
- Arugula
Tomato Plants
- Brandwine
- Early Girl
- Big Beef
- Yellow Pear
- Sweet 100
- Red Grape
- Roma - Assorted
- Lemon Boy
Pepper Plants
- Red Bell
- Yellow Bell
- Jalapeno
- Habernaro
Watermelon Plants - Red, Yellow (Biggest Selection in Rochester)
Cucumber Plants
Pumpkin Plants
Bean Plants, Pea Plants
Dried Garlic
Dried Herbs
Lisa's Soap

Heavenly Tasting Greens

It is show time in the garden for those heavenly tasting greens. Lettuce, spinach, kale, mizuna, tatsoi, cress and arugula are our favorite greens. They are especially flavorful compared to store purchased greens. We have been told this by our customers many many times and they often ask why this is. Some customers have even gone so far as to do a taste test.

There are several reasons for this amazing flavor.

First we work very hard at remineralizing our soils. We add kelp meal, low magnesium lime, and highly mineralized salts. These minerals replace those removed from the soils over the years of farming activity.

Second we use several inches of compost in each bed. The substrate for this compost is vegetable matter such as leaves and alfalfa hay that brings up minerals from deep in the soil. These minerals are maintained by the compost. Compost is not a fertilizer perse, but it does contain a nice amount of slow release nitrogen that is just right for light feeding greens. It is more of a soil amendment that feeds the microorganisms in the coil. A primary purpose for the compost is to provide a weed free shield for the greens to get ahead of any weeds that may be present. This makes for a low maintenance growing site.

Third we harvest the greens Friday night right before market. They are extremely fresh for the market and that gives them incredible shelf life. We have had many customers tell us that they have been able to enjoy their salads for two weeks after purchase.

The best way to get the maximum shelf life is to wash the greens you purchase and then spin or pat the greens free of moisture. Then put them in a zip lock bag with a paper towel to collect any residual moisture. It is the anaerobic conditions where drops of moisture collect that cause spoilage.

Fire Flies

Fire flies are winged nocturnal beetles the produce their soft golden light by oxidation of a chemical called luciferin. I explained that to the girls but they seem far more interested in skipping around like Alice in Wonderland than in scientific explanations.

When they were little, the girls were taken back by these "buzzes" that flashed. Jenna called the potato patch the "deep blue sea" and that is where Andrea found the first few, which were soon followed by dozens of their cousins. The night was filled with wonder,

Cage Fight: How to Cage Tomatoes and Peppers

After your tomato and pepper plants get established it is time to consider cages.

To cage or not to cage your tomatoes. Well I say it depends. We cage the large indeterminate heirloom tomatoes. We typically don't cage the smaller determinate roma tomatoes.

I have made cages from concrete reinforcing wire. The are typically about five feet tall and two feet in diameter. They have six inch openings to reach through to pick fruit. We stake the cages so they don't fall over in the wind. I bought a 150 foot roll of wire at Menards to make the cages. I cut them with a bolt cutter and wrapped the wires around the opposing end with a fencing pliers.

I don't use cages on the roma tomatoes and just let them sprall because they are compact and close to the ground. I also let cherry tomatoes spread out on the ground. Though we do put the cherries on row covers.

We use the small three ring cages that are sometimes call tomato cages to support the taller hot peppers such as Serano.

Cilantro Recipes - Easy Guacamole

Easy Guacamole breaks with the theme of mostly local ingredients. In the tomato off season we often "dip" into avocados. So let me recommend that you purchase your avocados at Peoples Food Coop. They will be organic and the Coop is a local business.

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados (PF Coop)
1/3 sweet onion, minced (1/2 cup) (Petersen's) Use scallions until sweet onions are available
1-2 chipotle peppers (Petersen's)
3 tablespoons baby cilantro (Petersen's)
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly grated black pepper to taste
Optional: 2 sun dried tomatoes (rehydrate by 15 minutes in hot water, drain), or 1 fresh Roma tomato

Directions:

- Avocado, remove seed and peel. Mash in a bowl. Leaved chunky.
- Add chopped onions, cilantro, lime/lemon, salt, pepper and mix or mash.
- Experiment with the right amount of chipotle peppers, can also use Jalapeno or Serrano in season
- Cover Guac with plastic wrap until serving to prevent oxidation from air, refrigerate
- Fresh tomatoes should be added before serving, dried tomatoes can be added at preparation and will be best if allowed to sit an hour or two before serving.

Kick it Up:

- Add some hot salsa
- Add sour cream, or Greek yogurt
- Add black garlic (when available)
- Add cottage cheese
- Add grated pepper jack
- Add goat cheese (market vendors)