The Bounty Begins!

This past Saturday marked the beginning of my farm pick-ups for the season; I “own” a share of Stillman's Farm, Lunenburg, MA, by way of their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
The first few weeks are usually light in terms of what you get in your pick-up, and as the season goes on, each week gets progressively bigger and bigger. This week actually was not that light. It included 2 huge bunches of arugula, 2 huge heads of red-leaf lettuce, 2 huge bunches of ENORMOUS scallions, like over a foot long, 2 bunches of bok choy and a quart of the most delicious strawberries. I also got 2 X 4 begonia flats.
So, the inundation begins. I usually end up pickling most things, because there is so much each week and if I don’t pickle, things might go to waste. I use a wonderful recipe for Sweet and Hot pickles; I have adapted the recipe into a Lemon pickle and I go back and forth between the 2 recipes. Nothing is immune from getting pickled: cukes, zukes, summer squash, carrots, onions, broccoli, corn, you name it….
I brought this week’s bounty home and got to cleaning up the greens. IT’S SALAD SEASON!!!!!! Having an abundance of arugula led me to make an arugula pesto:
Arugula Pesto
Lots of Arugula
Some Basil
Handful of toasted pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
Healthy portion of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Juice of half a lemon
Tablespoon of honey
Lots of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
S+P
In a food processor, process the greens, and garlic, and pine-nuts. Drizzle in the extra-v olive oil.
Mix in the cheese, lemon juice and honey.
Season with S+P.
Now, I know what you are going to say. Lemon juice and honey, in pesto? Well, I found that the bite of the arugula was too sharp despite the basil, so I added the juice and honey to round it out. It was delicious.
I used it yesterday on some grilled panini I made (in my Belgian waffle maker). I only had whole wheat bread in the house, and to tell you honestly, I liked the flavor a lot.
Here is the Sammie:
Whole wheat bread brushed with Olive Oil
Layer of arugula pesto
Layer of cheese (either fresh mozzarella or provolone)
Layer of salame (either Genoese or Milanese)
Another Layer of cheese
Whole wheat bread brushed with Olive Oil
Press in waffle maker and then devour!!!!!!!! Who needs a panini press? The Belgian Waffle make works fine.

The pesto didn’t even really put a dent in the amount of arugula that I have. So, I made a salad with bulgar wheat:

Bulgar Salad with Arugula
Bulgar Wheat
Lots of Arugula, cut in chiffonade style (ribbons)
Diced tomatoes (seeded)
Handful of toasted pine nuts
Handful of Thompson raisins
Lots of crumbled Feta cheese
S+P
Mix together, and dress with a vinaigrette. I made a lemon vinaigrette:

Lemon Vinaigrette
6 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 TBS fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
1 tsp honey
pinch of ground mustard
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper
Mix together until homogenous.

I also did some baking over the weekend.
I made a whole wheat nectarine upside down cake, which came out great. I used whole wheat pastry flour and added some ground flax. I love to watch my kids eat it – they have no idea how good it is for them.
Yesterday, I made a whole wheat blueberry bread, with dried blueberries. Again, I used whole wheat pastry flour and the ground flax. I left this morning for work and my daughter, Louise, 19 months old, was sitting in her little denim seat with a big slice of it in her hand, chomping away.

Tonight for dinner will be sirloin steak served with the arugula pesto, and a big, fat salad....