Penne with Greens and Goat Cheese

This is a fast, versatile dish. You can use virtually any green from the CSA share. Currently greens are abundant at the farm. They cook down small so go ahead and use up the few bunches you've stock piled in the refrigerator from the last few shares.
Suggested greens: Dandelion, Chard, Kale, Spinach, Beet Greens

Making the pasta
1st: Start your water to boil for the noodles.
2nd: Prepare the greens
note- The main thing to remember is that you may want to de-rib or de-stem the greens before use. This will help it not to be stringy. I make the greens first by washing, preparing, and sautéing the greens in olive or coconut oil. Sometimes I like to add garlic and herbs. Ready in minutes. You'll know they are ready when they are tender and sweet.
3rd: Boil your noodles. And strain.
Lastly: Mix the greens and noodles with a little more olive oil, salt and pepper and add the goat cheese tossing gently.
Enjoy

Posted by Rio Gozo Farmers

Hot Greens with Crispy Onions

I was craving some greens, so I used everything left in the box. You could try the same thing with Escarole or Dandelion greens. 
Oh my. So freaking good.

You need
2 onions sliced thin
2 cups oil
Couple slices bacon
Bacon drippings
Olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
Tablespoon water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
A bunch of greens, use what you got, I had 2 bunches chard, kale,
purple cabbage, Savoy cabbage, and spinach
Cut out the tough stalks from your greens!

1. Fry the onions in batches in 350 degree oil. They'll be golden
brown and awesomely crispy. 2 minutes max.

2. Dissolve the sugar in one tbsp of water for about 5 minutes over
medium heat, then boil without stirring until sugar turns amber. Then
add the pepper flakes and cider vinegar and stir til the Caramel
dissolves. Cool, like a polar bear's toenails.

3. Next do your bacon low and slow til crispy.

4.Put two tbsp of bacon drippings and a tbsp of peanut or olive oil in
a large pot over medium high heat. Add half of greens and stir til
wilted, then add other half and cook until desired doneness, I like it
pretty al dente- so it took about 8 minutes.

5. Re- warm the gastrique, and pour over greens. Add crumbled up bacon
and top with crispy onions. Oh hell yeah!

Dandelion Greens with Bacon and Blue

This dish knocked me over.  Dandelion Greens, I could eat them every other day. Cooking the dandelion mellows the lion. Saute them hard in bacon fat. Drizzle with thick sweet balsamic reduction. Crumble bacon and just about any kind of distinctive cheese: blue, goat, sheep.  The cheese helps tame its bitterness.

Dandelion Filled Beet Ravioli

We made ravioli out of the ingredients from this week's box. This was no ordinary pasta night at the farm, so don't think we're the idyllic DYI farm house making homemade pasta every night. We're not. It was time consuming, but totally fun and we used up 1/2 the ingredients from the CSA in one go. Here's what we used: Beets (for the pasta), Dandelion Greens, Fennel, Leeks, Chard (for the filling), Parsley (for the sauce). If you make the dough and the filling a few hours ahead then the main work of rolling out the pasta and making the ravioli happens just before dinner.

Ingredients For the Filling

2 Tbsp Olive oil or butter

Dandelion Greens, 1 bunch chopped

Chard, 1 bunch chopped

Fennel, 1 bulb finely chopped

Leeks, 1 or 2 finely diced

Cheese of your choice (blue or gorgonzola goes nicely with the bitter greens)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

(Prepare the filling ahead and let it cool)

Sauté the leeks and fennel in the butter or oil on medium- low heat to caramelize. (you could add a dash of white wine or balsamic reduction)

Add the chopped greens and cook until softened. The longer you cook your dandelion, the less bitter.

Mix the sautéed veggies with the cheese (we used a food processor) and salt and pepper to taste.

For the Pasta

(make ahead, it will need to rest for 2 hours)

Beets (1/2 cup, 2-3 beets)

2 tsp olive oil

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Salt

Semolina flour, for storage

Boil the beets until soft, drain, peel and purée

Add eggs and yolk to purée and process until combined. Add flour and 1 heaping tsp salt and process only until dough comes together (20 secs)

Transfer to a well floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes). Your dough should not be sticky, if it is add more flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic and let rest for 1-2 hours.

Rolling out the Pasta:

Cut dough into 8 pieces and flatten into an oblong shape slightly thinner than the pasta machine's widest setting (number 1). You can roll out Ravioli without a machine but we were having fun with our gadgets. Feed through the machine once. Fold into thirds and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat twice on same setting to smooth dough and increase it's elasticity.

Turn the dial to next smaller setting. Pass dough through twice, supporting it with your palm. Pass dough twice through finer settings until desired thickness (for us it was #7). You want the dough to be almost translucent and thin without falling apart. Dust with flour if it gets sticky. Flour is your friend. Use a dry brush to dust off the flour at the end.

Get your largest pot of water boiling now.

Cutting and filling the ravioli:

There are a lot of ways to cut your ravioli. Lay the rolled pasta on a cutting board and cut into desired shape. One way is to lay the rectangular strips down and dot the filling onto the dough evenly spaces. Place the next strip over the top, slice into square and crimp the edges firmly with the tines of a fork. Or you could cut small rectangles and fill each ravioli one by one.

Boil the ravioli in batches. The pasta should sink and then float to the surface when they are ready.

For the sauce:

I made a bechamel sauce of- cream, butter, flour to thicken, nutmeg, pinch of finely chopped rosemary and parsley, salt to taste. (you could also use grated parmesan or gruyere- think fancy mac and cheese)

Garnish the ravioli with parsley, take lots of photos to post on facebook.

Gloat immediately, and serve.

Dandelion Greens

Dent de lion

"Lion's Tooth"

Rio Gozo Farmers are delighted the dandelions are back. It is the second year we've grown them and though they are time consuming to harvest, the pick is oddly satisfying. Dandelion greens are an old world plant brought to the North America by early European immigrants. Every part of the plant is edible. I've tried them all: the roots can be roasted as a coffee substitute, the stems and leaves are delicious in salads; tasting much like endive, and the flowers are fun and decorative fried as fritters. Dandelions can have a diuretic effect as implied by it's Italian name "piscialletto" (piss the bed).

Here are a couple easy recipes to play with:

Dandelion Pesto

2-4 crushed cloves of garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

2/3 cups dandelion leaves

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Squirt of lemon

Dash of salt

Put all of the ingredients in the blender. Blend well until it is a good consistency.

Enjoy!

Dandelion Greens

1 bunch of dandelion greens

1 red onion

Pinch of sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil or butter

2 cloves of garlic

Squeeze of lemon

Goat cheese

Sauté the onion and salt in olive oil or butter until they are caramelized.

Add the garlic and sauté for a minute more. Add the dandelion greens and sauté until wilted.

Remove from heat, add a squeeze of lemon and the goat cheese, and serve.

Dandelion can be added to other cold salads. I had a delicious side of winter squash salad with goat cheese and dandelion greens at The Local Cafe in Ventura. It is a great place to get inspired how to prepare what's in season.

More recipes borrowed (with permission) from Mariquita Farm

http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/dandelion.html

Posted by Elizabeth

Weed Soup

Some greens are more challenging than others to work into the weekly routine, and dandelion is one of the ones that gives people more trouble than most. In truth, it can be handled just like you would any bitter green, but since you can only have so many days of sauteed greens with garlic, it's handy to have a few other recipes in your arsenal. That's where Weed Soup comes in.

This recipe comes from the midwestern Mennonites and can be found from the highly useful book Simply in Season.

1/2 lb sausage
1 C onion, or green onion
garlic scapes to taste (coming soon!)
4 C broth
1 C potatoes, diced
1 1/2 C evaporated milk
1 - 3 C tender greens, esp dandelion, kale, burdock, or spinach, washed and roughly chopped

Saute sausage in a soup pot. Set cooked meat aside and drain basically all of the fat. With the fat still clinging to the pan, saute the onion. Add broth potatoes, evaporated milk, and scapes and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are soft, 10 - 15 minutes. Add greens and simmer a few minutes more.