June 10, 2009 – This week’s featured fruits and vegetables include kale, salad or head lettuce, herb, garlic scapes, onions, peas, and strawberries.

Farmer Pam was still picking as this post was being written, so there may be extra goodies too – but she’s been dealing with harvesting in incessant rain, so then again there may not. That’s real-life food for you!

Recipes: Scape Escapades!

It’s garlic scape season! These curly little marvels can be used in any recipe in which you’d use garlic – or for fun, substitute just a few into recipes that call for scallions for a mild garlic buzz to go with the onion taste. Here are a few specific ideas:

I can personally recommend the Spinach and Scape Frittata. When I first made this recipe I substituted Swiss chard for spinach (chopping it and then steaming it for 1 minute for spinach-like tenderness), so I’m sure one could use kale as a spinach substitute as well. Using fresh herbs, whether parsley or basil, will really bring this dish alive. Do note that one needs lots of scapes for this recipe – I used about 10, the last time I made it.

When I went searching for kale and scape recipes, I found Rolled Kale With Feta and Olives, which looked tasty – and quick!

For another kale possibility that can serve as a main dish, I liked Lemony Chickpea Stir-Fry. The recipe is a little vague on how long to saute the chickpeas – mine took about 10 minutes. When I cooked this, I also marinated my tofu for about an hour in 2 T olive oil, 3 T lemon juice, 1 t soy sauce, and some fresh chopped thyme and rosemary. It was tasty, but those who marinate the tofu should omit the lemon juice and possibly the lemon zest at the end of the recipe – it’s easy to get lemoned out!

Happy eating!

Food For Thought: Food Inc. Comes to DC

Remember our previous post that featured a trailer for the food-industry documentary Food Inc.? Well, we’ll all have a chance to get up close and personal with the film when it comes to the DC area on June 19th. Food Inc. will be playing at the Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington DC and at the Shirlington 7 Theater in Arlington VA on Friday, June 19th – check with the theaters for showtimes.