6/11/25 Ultra-Seasonal Eating
One of the things that’s exciting about the CSA is truly eating seasonally and this week’s box feels Ultra-Seasonal with two items that you really can not get out of season: Fava Beans and Garlic Scapes. AND these are two items that I really only see locally. As such, you may not be super familiar with them and I’ll spend quite a bit of space writing them up. This is one of the joys of a CSA, exploring the seasons through food.
Flowers too! Sometimes flowers are even MORE seasonal. This week we have the first of our Clarkia (the pink blooms in the photos today) which is a North American native and a host plant for many good beneficial pollinators. We grew for the first time thanks to CSA member Carol Carr who wanted us to grow more host plants. Plus Sweet Peas, Campanula and other May/June flowers.
Produce Notes & Recipes
This Week’s Box
Panisse Lettuce
Baby Bok Choi
Kale: Red Russian (Santa Rosa) OR Green Curly (West County)
Bulb Fennel
Fava Beans
Garlic Scapes
Herb: Basil (Santa Rosa) OR Parsley (West County)
Family: Broccoli & Hakurei Turnips
Garlic Scapes are the flower stalks of hardneck garlic plants. We are growing two garlic varieties this year, hard neck is a Chesnok Red. The Scapes curl upward as they grow and if harvested before they straighten are yummy and tender. They also store a LONG time. I accidentally lost a bunch in the back of my fridge last summer and ate 6 weeks later and they were still good (I’m not recommending that but they do store well). Here are some ideas. They've got a mild garlic fragrance and a mellow garlic flavor.
Some say you get the most from garlic scapes by using them raw. They're terrific chopped or very thinly sliced added to a tuna or chicken salad, stirred into hot rice or scattered over a salad, the way you might scatter sliced scallions or an herb.
Cut into green bean lengths and cook in butter for 5-6 minutes and eat on toast (Yum!);
Dice into scrambled eggs;
Chop into short sections and add to stir-fry or add to a veggie sauté (like today’s Bok Choi and Kale recipe);
Make pesto from scapes (this seems to be a very popular way to use them - see recipe) or add them to a basil pesto;
Use in any recipe that calls for onions but where you would like to add the taste of garlic;
Add to tomato based soup or chicken soup;
Chop and use just as you would garlic cloves.
Garlic Scape Pesto (by Kim O’Donnel Washington Post)
1 c garlic scapes (~ 8-9), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Note: For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 Tbs of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.
We have our second round of our Fava Beans this week from a second succession with all of you getting a pound. After this they’ll likely just be on add-ons. The 5/21 has a full Fava Bean write up plus pasta, fava bean, kale and herb recipe. Here’s a shorter write up and Hummus recipe.
Fava beans require a bit of work and as such we only provide a couple weeks a year. They must be shelled twice. Remove the beans from the pod. Next blanch the beans, boiling in salted water for about a minute, drain and plunge in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and use your finger nail to pierce and slip the skin off each bean. When our kids were kids they loved eating them straight out of their skins, and honestly sometimes I just do the blanching step and let people pop them out at the dinner table but they are amazing with pasta and garlic scapes, basil or as hummus!
Fava Bean Humus (adapted from a friend - made like regular humus)
1 cup shelled and peeled fava beans
1 small clove garlic
1 Tbs tahini (ground sesame seed)
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper
Place all ingredients in a food processor.
Serve as a dip for bread, pita bread or raw vegetables.
Today’s Baby Bok Choi is a bit lacy. It’s a great season for growing Bok Choi and as you’ll see it’s not so “baby”. It was planted May 21st so had exactly 4 weeks in the ground. That was fast! But the laciness of it is from flea beetles who are also really “in season” as they overwinter in mustards and our neighbor vineyard just tilled under all their winter cover crop mustards a final time so these guys were looking for a new home en mass and love this mustard-family bok choi. They don’t harm it and aren’t gross but make the leaves not look so nice. As such, I’m giving you a recipe for cooked Bok Choi… I would try it with Garlic Scapes this week instead of Garlic.
Bok Choi & Kale Fried Rice with Fried Garlic (Serious Eats)
1 whole head of garlic, peeled (or 1 bunch scapes)
Kosher salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
For the Fried Rice:
3 cups day-old cooked jasmine or short grain rice
2 cups chopped kale (about 4 ounces)
2 cups chopped bok choi (about 4 ounces)
1 Thai bird's eye chili, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon soy sauce
For the Fried Garlic: Transfer garlic to the bowl of a food processor or mini food processor. Pulse until garlic is very finely chopped but not a paste, about 12 short pulses, scraping down sides as necessary. Set aside 2 teaspoons and toss remaining garlic with a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
Set a fine mesh strainer over a heat-proof bowl. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, stirring. Garlic should maintain a gently bubble. If bubbling vigorously, reduce heat. Cook until garlic is light golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes, then immediately strain. Transfer garlic to a paper towel-lined plate to cool. Reserve fried garlic and oil separately (see note above)..
For the Fried Rice: Heat 1 tablespoon garlic oil in a wok over high heat until smoking. Add the kale and bok choy, season with salt, and stir-fry until the vegetables are bright green and barely wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Heat 1 more tablespoon garlic oil in the wok over high heat until smoking. Add reserved raw minced garlic and bird's eye chili and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add rice and stir immediately, breaking up any large chunks and adding remaining garlic oil as necessary to prevent sticking.
Season rice with salt and white pepper, then add soy sauce. Return kale and bok choy to rice and toss to combine. Transfer to warm serving bowl and sprinkle generously with fried garlic. Serve immediately.
Note: For best results, use day-old cooked rice that has been stored in the refrigerator overnight. If cooking same day, cook the rice then spread it in an even layer on a wide plate or rimmed baking sheet. Let cool for at least 1 hour before stir-frying. Once cooled completely, extra garlic can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 2 months.
Rotations
We have 2 rotations this week (Kales and Herbs). For a detailed discussion on Rotations read last week’s newsletter. You can tell with is yours based on your pick up site (SR) is Santa Rosa OR (WC) is West County
This week’s we have a Kale Rotation in the second of two weeks (next week is likely Rainbow Kale for all). A Bunching Green rotation is going to be very common for us. Likewise a Herb Rotation is also very common. We hope to switch up the herb rotation in a couple weeks. This just keeps us harvesting all of these at a consistent rate for ideal crop health. We’re taking a break from our Cucurbit: Summer Squash & Cucumbers rotation this week to allow us to swap it next week so those of you on Every-Other-Week get a change up.
Extra Shares
Flower Share: Clarkia are in and are the highlight!
Lettuce Share: Lettuce Leaf Mix 🥬
Bunched Greens Share: Toscano Kale
Egg Shares: We still have openings for Egg and also all the other Extra Shares… just email us.
🥚🥚 EGG NOTE!! 🥚🥚
We are excited to be moving to reusable BLUE PLASTIC egg cartons. Please get these back to us and they’ll get washed and reused.