Hau Do You Do?

Googlemaps has betrayed me. Last weekend I decided to take a multitasker's vacation: after finishing market and getting in a quick tutoring session with one of my students, I hit the road for Athens, GA and its surrounding farmland. My plan was the visit Cedar Grove Farms--a small organic farm some friends recently established--rush back into Athens for the later half of my cousin's play, and then visit my grandfather, who had recently been involved in a car accident. I had everything timed down to the minute.

Alas, 6:15 found me sans cell reception at the tail end of a dirt road in what could easily pass for Deliverance country. This was not the farm I was looking for. After some backtracking, the interrogation of one rather bemused jogger, and several frazzled cell phone conversations, I found my farm, in the process relinquishing all hopes of accomplishing many tasks in a single day. My hosts were extremely gracious about my delay (perhaps because of the baked goods I brought?) and kindly gave me the tour of their young operation.

At three years old, Cedar Grove and Serenbe are close in age, though Cedar Grove carries the distinction of having been started by total rookies. My friends had never farmed before setting up shop at Cedar Grove, but they have learned fast. As proof of their resolve and hard work, they are already nearing the end of their first asparagus harvest. That may not sound like such an accomplishment, but consider this: it takes three years for asparagus to produce a first harvest. They must have hit the ground running.

I spent the better part of three hours touring the three acres they have under production, swapping stupid chicken stories, favorite plant varieties, and general growing advice. As the late spring twilight settled into the corners, we moved inside and our conversation moved to the future: for their farm, for Athens' Farmer's Markets, and for the world in the face of a global food crisis. By the time I finally left Cedar Grove my headlights were turned to highbeams and my backseat was stuffed with produce. Their greenhouse is an unheated hoophouse, in which they grow greens all winter long, so their Swiss chard and dwarf Siberian kale were farther along than our own. In addition to the chard and kale, they supplied me with two of my favorite springtime treats, fresh asparagus and tiny, succulent strawberries. I'm hard pressed to think of a better birthday present!


Swiss Chard Gratin
Serves 6
This is a phenomenally tasty yet simple recipe that celebrates chard. Do it right by using good cheese and whole milk. Your tastebuds will thank you, I promise.


2 lb (12-16 leaves) swiss chard, stems sliced and leaves cut into 1-inch ribbons
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, halved and sliced
2-3 shitake mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 cup grated Gruyere or Asiago cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the chard stems and cook for 2 minutes. Add the leaves and cook and additional minute. Drain well and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with butter.

Melt butter over medium high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Wish in the flour to form a paste. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the hear and stir in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Fold in the chard.

Transfer to the prepared dish and sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is browned.

Portuguese Kale Soup
Serves 4
I had a lot of veggies on hand this week (more so than usual) so I did quite a bit of cooking. As a matter of fact, all of that time in the kitchen--coupled with full days on the farm--are probably the reason for my rather sporadic blogging as of late. Hopefully, after sampling this recipe, you'll agree that my absence was worth it. I was introduced to kale less than two years ago, and I can still remember eying the massive, tough leaves with apprehension. Luckily, the CSA program I had subscribed to included a delicious recipe (which I have since lost...good one, MK) and I have been a fan ever since. This soup is a snap to make, filling enough to stand alone as a meal, and according to my cookbook is one of the national dishes of Portugal. When I first read the recipe I feared that it was too simple to be particularly flavorful. How wrong I was!

1/2 lb chorizo sausage, sliced
8 cups chicken broth
2-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
12 oz. kale, stems discarded and leaves chopped (8 cups lightly packed)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the chorizo and stock in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer while you prepare the potatoes.

Combine the potatoes with water to cover in a medium-size saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and briefly mash with a potato masher for an uneven, lumpy texture. Add to the chicken broth along with the kale.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the kale is quite tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Eat Your Greens

Enough musings on vegetables, let's talk about how to eat them! While plenty of produce tastes fantastic raw, fresh-plucked from the soil, I'm not one who would claim that nature cannot be improved upon. For tonight, however, let's keep it simple.

Kale is a leafy green from the Brassica family with which I was unfamiliar before my first CSA box arrived about a year and a half ago. Though kale was never a fixture on my plate growing up, kale is a popular crop everywhere from Brazil to Scotland to Germany, probably due both to its super-food qualities and its general hardiness in the field. We at Serenbe can attest to kale's toughness...we returned to the farm this morning to find the leaves of our little kale seedlings coated in a lacy layer of frost. We had meant to "harden them off" to prepare them for life outside the greenhouse, not freeze them to death! We quickly returned our charges to the shelter of the greenhouse and within an hour they had almost universally sprung back to their former vigor.

For many vegetables, the act of applying heat (in layman's terms "cooking") actually reduces the nutrient value of the food substantially. What is lost in terms of nutrition, however, is gained in ease of digestion and cultural capital. Not being cows, we humans are prone to favor a meal with a little bit of a story to it and one which does not resemble grazing material. But what if you could have it all: taste, nutrition, and a five minute prep time? Massaging kale may sound like a the height of absurdity, but it is an excellent way to break down the tough fibers in kale and add some additional flavors, all which preserving the cocktail of beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium packed into those leafy green fronds. Hey, if your Kobe beef gets a daily massage, why shouldn't your kale?

Massaged Kale

Begin with a bunch of kale, as much or as little as you like. Shred it finely across the center stem. Dress it with something tasty: salad dressing (I'm a huge fan of soy ginger), walnut oil, vinegar, citrus juice, pickle brine, or whatever you prefer. Mix the kale with the dressing until coated and then begin to squeeze handfuls of kale with gusto. Your goal here is to fully saturate the kale until it is wilty and the juices in the leaves have been expressed. You can add additional ingredients for a more well-rounded salad: I recommend craisins with the soy ginger marinade, but nuts, other veggies, or additional herbs can all work equally well. As you can see, this is less of a recipe than a technique. Massaged kale will store well in the refrigerator if you have leftovers--the flavors will meld nicely.

My thanks to Sandor Katz's The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved for this, my new favorite way to serve up kale in a flash.