What to do with all that bok choy?

This week, Green Fence Farm made its first delivery, on Capitol Hill, and both the full and half share members got what had to be the biggest bok choy ever grown. I have to admit, in handing these out, I broke one the rules my daughter, Viv, wrote when she was six years old (in a treatise called “Rules for the City”): “Never eat anything bigger than your head (sensible advice, almost as good as the rule that said “don’t spread tacks around where people are going to drive”).” But, unless our poor CSA members want to try to keep the heads alive and enter them in county fairs come August, eat it we must. To that end, here are some ideas on what to do with it. The first is from a NW CSA member, and it is what I’ll be cooking tonight:

I love bok choy. So far I've had no luck growing it so I'm excited to hear
we'll be getting some. Here is one of my favorite recipes for it. It's
straight from "A Taste of China" by Ken Hom.

1 lb bok choy
1 T. peanut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 t. salt
1 T. water

- Prep bok choy by quartering (if big) or halving (if small) and removing core.
Cut leaves from stem.

- Heat oil over high, add garlic, stir fry for about 30 sec.

- Add salt and bok choy stem, stir fry about 1 min.

- Add bok choy leaves, stir fry for till all is cooked. If the mix gets dry,
add water.

This next recipe is what I WAS going to cook tonight, but it is too hot, plus I have no milk or cheese in the house:

Bok Choy Gratin Gourmet | February 2003

The most commonly found Chinese vegetable is also one of the oldest — bok choy has been cultivated in China since the fifth century a.d. You can find many kinds of bok choy at Asian markets, all differing in shape and size; this recipe works well with any mature variety.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Yield: Makes 6 side-dish servings

Active Time: 40 min

Total Time: 1 hr

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
2 1/2 lb bok choy (not baby), tough stem ends trimmed
1 shallot, finely chopped
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 oz Gruyère, coarsely grated (1/2 cup)
1/2 oz finely grated parmesan (1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart gratin dish and dust with 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.

Cut bok choy stems and center ribs into 1/2-inch pieces and coarsely chop leaves. Cook stems and ribs in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes, then add leaves and cook 30 seconds. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Squeeze out excess water by handfuls.

Cook shallot in 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add bok choy and cook, stirring, until greens are coated with butter and shallot, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread bok choy in baking dish.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then add flour and cook roux, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes. Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper, then stir in Gruyère and 2 tablespoons parmesan and pour evenly over bok choy.
Toss remaining 1/4 cup bread crumbs with remaining 2 tablespoons parmesan in a small bowl and blend in remaining 2 tablespoons butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle mixture evenly over gratin and bake in upper third of oven until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Kate again – there were several comments on this recipe, but this one summed them all up:

I've made this recipe a few more times w/ minor changes and it's now become one of my favorites. I mix half of the mornay sauce in with the greens and spread the remainder on top. This melds veggies and sauce together and makes the whole thing taste delightfully cheesy. I also double the breadcrumb topping, for extra crispy contrast. I've used swiss chard, kale, chinese mustard and bok choy. I also like to add thinly sliced potatoes and/or turnips into the boiling water before adding the stems from the greens. The potato/greens combo is fantastic and will make anyone love leafy greens. Doing the shallot step in the pan you used for the greens will eliminate one extra pan. Still, this makes a lot of dishes.

And finally, a recipe I would have made (since it is so hot, I don’t even want to stir fry), but we already have salad greens out our ears, and my traditionalist family would balk at more than one salad on the table:

ORIENTAL BOK CHOY SALAD
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. white sugar
1 bottle of sesame seeds (1 oz.)
2 pkgs. Ramen noodles (broken up), do not use flavor packet
1 sm. pkg. slivered almonds
2 lbs. bok choy lettuce (chopped coarsely)
5 to 6 green onions, tops and all chopped
In large skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add sesame seed, noodles, almonds and sugar. Stir all the time until lightly browned. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Toss bok choy and onions together, mix and chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, break up the crunchy mixture, add to bok choy, pour dressing over, mix and serve.

DRESSING:
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
Mix well and chill until ready to use.

Rhubarb Crisp

Thank to Capitol Hill CSA member Jean Flemma for pointing this out.

So easy – and I have to agree with Mark Bittman: better rhubarb alone than with strawberries. CSA members, take note. You should have enough rhubarb for this, and for the rhubarb bread I am making later this week (recipe to come)…

The only thing I disagree with is the whole peeling off the fibrous outer strings “as you would with celery.” I’ve never peeled celery OR rhubarb.

Rhubarb Crisp That Stands Up to Pie
By MARK BITTMAN
WHEN you think of rhubarb you probably think of strawberry-rhubarb pie, a quintessential spring dessert, especially if it’s made by someone who makes good pies. I usually manage around one pie crust annually, so I need alternatives. Thus, when the spring’s first rhubarb showed up, I adjusted the execution and produced a crisp.
Perhaps equally intriguing is that I ditched the strawberries. Not that I don’t like them, or the combination, but good rhubarb arrives much earlier than good strawberries do (they don’t really show up in the Northeast until June). Besides, with each passing year I appreciate rhubarb solo more.
If rhubarb is young and fresh, you can trim it in seconds. If it has fibrous outer strings, peel them off as you would those of celery. Just slide a paring knife under the topmost layer, grab the outer skin of the stalk with your thumb, and pull. This might take a minute.
Toss the rhubarb with orange or lemon juice and zest, and only a little sugar. I use a quarter cup or so — it seems to be enough — though you won’t go awry by adding another couple of tablespoons. (You can also substitute strawberries for some of the rhubarb if you want the classic combination.)
Blend the ingredients for the crisp topping in a food processor, but be sure to add the oats and pecans last so that you retain some crispness in your crisp. Crumble the topping over the rhubarb mixture, and bake — it is nearly effortless and as good or better than a pie.

Rhubarb CrispTime: About 1 hour, largely unattended



6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for greasing pan

2 1/2 to 3 pounds rhubarb, trimmed, tough strings removed, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (about 5 to 6 cups)

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon orange or lemon juice

1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste

Pinch salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup pecans.



1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking or gratin dish with a little butter. Toss rhubarb with white sugar, orange or lemon juice and zest, and spread in baking dish.

2. Put the 6 tablespoons butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt, and pulse for about 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together. Add oats and pecans and pulse just a few times to combine.

3. Crumble the topping over rhubarb and bake until golden and beginning to brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

I actually wrote this post last week, but the original picture I had of Mary the lamb was on one of my many emergency back-up cameras, the one with the battery that works, but with the picture storage thing that doesn't seem to fit into my computer or any of the other 319 cords I have for transfering pictures from one place to another. So this week, I took another picture on the right camera, then took it again after recharging the batteries, and only today got it uploaded. In any case, this is what I wrote last week, when it was timely, and to go with a completely different picture:

Our first (and thus far, only) lamb arrived last week, but I thought I would save her (yes, a she) for today. She is a week and a half early, but not premature, her birth coming around 143 days after our stud jumped the fence (143 days being the gestation period of the Icelandic sheep, give or take a couple of minutes).

Her mom is from our Bambi breeding family, a long line of horned, hardy sluts – a compliment in the sheep world. She is the first non-white sheep we’ve had from this line (the white gene is super dominant, and the moorit (that’s sheep for brown) is recessive. The mother’s father was a moorit, and the father this year was a moorit, so there was a 50-50 chance we’d get one).

The rest of the sheep are ready to pop any minute. Get ready for more pictures!

DC Kids to Get Good Food in School

I am so proud of the District!

This article makes me happy – I’ve stopped drinking soda, but I might just go out and buy a crate full just to support this program.

If you are a District resident, please contact your councilmember and let them know how much you appreciate their support for this (I think it is important to contact politicians when they do something you like, not just when your angry – the chai latte antidote to the Tea Party). You can find their email and phone numbers here; the vote is supposedly tomorrow. Post if you call!

The picture, by the way, is Alice Waters – THAT Alice Waters – who has endorsed the DC program.