Endive (escarole or radicchio), Garlic, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Sugar snap peas, Squash, Basil, Cilantro, Nanking cherries or white currants
Unfortunately (for me, anyway) my sciatica rules out me sitting down long enough to craft—if that is really the apt word—one of my usual newsletters. Perhaps I should figure out how to type while lying next to the desk, not that lying down feels a whole lot better just at the moment. Fortunately I feel considerably better when farming so even though you won’t get the standard two pages of irrelevant blather and vague cooking tips, you do get some produce.
Actually, I lied. You will get some vague cooking tips. Such as this. Do not overcook the peas. Even if you like mushy peas, don’t do it. It is just a waste of some fresh snap peas. Boil them in well salted water just long enough to turn them bright green and the tiniest bit tender and then either eat them right away or put them in cold water (otherwise they keep cooking).
Or this. Cut your squash end to end into two or three slices, brush them with olive oil and grill them until slightly charred and tender. Put the slices in a dish and top with a clove or two of minced garlic, chopped basil, a little more oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and perhaps a little hot pepper. Stick the squash in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours. You can eat the squash straight. I also like it in a sandwich. And for those of you who got round squash (which are supposed to be that way) and are wondering which way to slice them, it does not matter.
Or this, which is actually an anti-cooking tip. You can cook kohlrabi, but I do not recommend it. It is perfectly fine cooked, but one of the main pleasures of kohlrabi is its crunchiness, and it won’t be crunchy if you cook it. So just peel the kohlrabi, slice it and eat it (you are allowed to sprinkle it with salt and a little vinegar or lemon juice).
If you have not used the basil on the squash you could put it in a blender with the cilantro, a garlic clove, lime juice and some olive oil, puree it and make a nice green sauce that you could use with all manner of things, such as grilled squash or slices of raw kohlrabi.
And finally, how to deal with the punnet of odd berries. Or should I say odd and odder? White currants (actually, pinkish) are a variation of red currants, which are not that odd. The white ones are slightly sweeter, but still tart. Nanking cherries (bright red), on the other hand, are not particularly common in this country, though I am led to believe they are quite popular in the Russian far east. They taste quite like pie cherries (and have a pit too). Whichever fruit you have can be eaten straight, which is what my younger son, a keen berry eater, would recommend. Or you could put them in a pot with some water and sugar and simmer them until the fruit is very soft, then strain the pulp through a fine sieve and you will have yet another tasty sauce. Not one, admittedly, that goes well with grilled squash or kohlrabi, but it tastes a hell of a lot better on ice cream or yogurt than the green sauce.
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