Week 4: Planted

You may recall that two weeks ago we were wringing our hands a bit over the excessive rain we had in June that kept chasing us out of the fields during our normal planting season.

Well, the weather turned (mostly!) and we have been able to get the bulk of our planting done in these last two weeks.

We've put in about three quarters of an acre of beans (both dry and bush) that look like this right now.

We've also planted something in the range of 10,000 transplants.

The plants always look a little meh just after transplant, while
the roots are developing. Then they explode with top growth and
we eat them up :)

So things are looking good now. We'll be finishing up the planting of the fall crops, like our storage carrots and winter radishes, this week, which is right around the same time we got them in last year.

And in the meantime, we've got the first spring planting of carrots to start harvesting! 

This week's share will include: Mesclun, Braising Mix, Pac Choi (the full size Joi Choi again), Spring Onions, Hakurei (beautiful, perfect, free of root maggots!!), Carrots, and Fresh Herbs.

The carrots in this week's share are from our first planting which went in late May, before the June rain hit. They are still on the small side, but definitely ready for munching. It was a big planting so we'll be enjoying them for a while as they size up.

The hakurei are from our second planting. They are so very wonderfully perfect (where do the root maggots go after May we wonder....) that I decided to feature them in this week's recipe.

Hakurei Perfection
Remember to eat those Greens!!!!

If, however, you find that you have eaten all of your Hakurei raw before you make it to the kitchen, this recipe would be excellent with Joi Choi in place of the Hakurei.

Beef and Hakurei in Simple Coconut Curry

• One top round steak (about 1 to 1.5 lbs of meat), sliced into half inch slices against the grain
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 2 teaspoons high quality Curry Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Cayenne Pepper to taste (this will depend completely on your fondness for heat and the spiciness of the curry powder you're using)
• 4 Spring Onions, greens and all, sliced thinly
• 1 can Coconut Milk
• 1 bunch Hakurei, turnips cut into 1/2 inch cubes and greens roughly chopped into bite sized pieces 

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. 

Add the tomato paste, curry powder, salt, cayenne, and sliced spring onions. Stir constantly until very fragrant, about one minute.

Add the sliced top round steak. Stir well to coat the steak with the seasonings. Turn as needed until the meat is browned on all sides, about two minutes.

Add the coconut milk, stirring well. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and let cook for twenty minutes.

After 20 minutes of simmering, stir in the chopped turnips (but not the greens quite yet) cover and continue simmering for 10 more minutes.

After 10 additional minutes of simmering, stir in the chopped greens. Turn off the heat and stir until the greens are well wilted, which should take no longer than 30 seconds.

Serve over rice or something similar like quinoa. We ate ours over rice noodles.