Lettuce, Lettuce, and More Lettuce

On my pick up day of the second week, it was raining cats and dogs and lizards and snakes. I debated about whether to go at all and re-read the rules about switching pick up days. You can switch days if you call in advance and you’ll be able to pick up the produce that they harvest for you on a different day but you can’t pick your own vegetables on other days. So I put on my poncho and headed to the farm. I dressed in a light t-shirt and pants underneath. I arrived and had my first experience with picking up the vegetables that they had harvested. At the farm stand that week they had lettuce and arugula. I had checked the farm’s blog before going to see what would be available that day. The blog mentioned a “little lettuce” and arugula. When I arrived, I realized that my definition of “a little” was different from the farmer’s. My share included four heads of lettuce and a pound of arugula! I laughed. What was I going to do with four heads of lettuce? Even at our most diligent, there is only so much lettuce that we can eat in a week. And a pound of arugula? When you go to the supermarket and you pick up a clamshell container of arugula or other greens, the container looks big but it is usually only 5 or 6 ounces of greens. Imagine loading up the scale with a pound of greens. It makes for a lot of volume.

There were strawberries to be picked still and I decided to go picking despite the rain. It wasn’t raining heavily – and I did have my poncho on – but the wind made it cold. What made me think that mid-May rain was going to be warm? I trekked the significant distance to the fields and began to pick. It was slow going because of the rain and my glasses began to collect rain and obscure my vision. The wind whipped at me periodically. By the time I was done, I could barely wait to get home. My fingers were so frozen I couldn’t uncurl them, and the two paper quarts of strawberries became too wet to hold all those strawberries. A tear developed in one of them and by the time I got to the car, the bottom fell out and with it, all the strawberries. I picked them up from the gravel and put them in a plastic bag. In the car I turned on the heat, which quickly warmed up my frozen fingers. Next time if it rains, I’ll pick a different day to go picking.

But oh, those strawberries were worth it.

The lettuce found its way into my usual green salad consisting of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and carrots. Arugula took a little more thought because I didn’t remember what it tasted like or knew what to do with it. Sure I’ve had it in salads when I've gone out to a restaurant but I’ve never bought it. When fresh, the taste is bitter and surprisingly spicy. How could a green be spicy? Over the course of the week, I made two different arugula salads, one using both arugula and strawberries. It makes me feel clever to make use of more than one weekly CSA ingredient in one dish.

Arugula Salad

(adapted from a Whole Foods recipe)

2 Tbsp. lime juice

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

¾ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground cumin

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups baby arugula leaves

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk in the olive oil. Add the arugula and cilantro and toss. Adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Strawberry Arugula Salad

(adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)

3 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

4 cups arugula

Salt

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Mix the strawberries with the balsamic vinegar and let stand for ten minutes. Add the arugula, salt and olive oil and toss. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

The First Week: Strawberries!

I turned down a road at the sign for the Watershed Reserve and immediately saw farmland ahead. The quiet country road is flanked on both sides by tall grass and farmland. The farm entrance was not too far away. I parked by the farm stand and checked in with the attendant who had set up a table near the field. He explained that this was the first week and they didn’t have the name badges ready yet. I signed in and got my two single quart containers to pick strawberries. The field for picking was a bit of a walk past the herbs (which I could also pick) and some tall grass. Now, picking strawberries isn’t something I had done in more than ten years. My only experience with picking strawberries entailed bending down twenty times a minute in 90-degree heat trying to find some reasonably ripe strawberries underneath wilted leaves that had sprawled into the dusty channels between strawberry beds. It was then that I had decided that I’d stick to store-bought strawberries. The only problem is that store-bought strawberries are usually disappointing and I haven’t tasted a good strawberry in years.

I came to the strawberry beds and picked one to taste. What a difference! It was sweet and juicy, not hard and bland like supermarket strawberries. The strawberries were plentiful and easy to pick. The challenge was how to pack my quarts efficiently with as many strawberries as possible.

Opening day actually fell on my pick-up day: Tuesday. When I signed up, the application asked me to choose a pick up day. Without knowing anything about the best day, I picked Tuesday. As I picked, there was another man picking who told me that in previous years picking always started on a Wednesday. After he complained that “Tuesday don’t get a break,” they decided to start on a Tuesday this year. How lucky for me!

With my quarts full of strawberries, I made my way back and stopped to pick a few herb sprigs. Never (well, almost never) having cooked with fresh herbs before I can tell you that I don’t know the difference between sage and oregano and wouldn’t be able to identify either of them by sight or by taste. I mean, who knows what oregano tastes like if it’s mixed into jarred pasta sauce? I picked oregano, sage, chives and mint. Perhaps I can get a crash course in cooking with a wide variety of herbs this year.

At home, I added chives to an omelet and made some fresh mint tea by steeping mint in boiled water. Delicious! But I didn’t know what to do with the sage or oregano. At least, not yet.

As for the strawberries, most were eaten fresh. I sliced them up for my kids and they devoured them. My daughter in particular likes strawberries. As the days wore on however, half a quart of the strawberries began to languish in the fridge. Unthinkable! So I made some strawberry yogurt pops. My daughter loves these and thinks they are a “treat” when, in reality, they are a healthy snack.

Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

2 cups strawberries, washed and with stems removed
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1-2 teaspoons honey, or to taste

Blend everything to desired consistency, pour into ice pop molds and freeze. If you want a smoother consistency without strawberry chunks, puree the strawberries first and press the mixture through a sieve to separate out the seeds. Then, blend with the yogurt and honey. If you don’t have special ice pop molds, you can pour the mixture into small Dixie cups. Cover each cup with foil and stick a wooden popsicle stick into each.