Hello Rootabaga subscribers & welcome to April!
This week we are thrilled to be sharing with you a sure sign of spring – fresh spinach! One of the most rewarding parts of eating locally is really getting to enjoy the seasonal shifts in eating habits. When you’re not eating fresh leafy greens all year they’re that much more special when they start to grow again in the spring. And the spinach we’re sharing this week is beautifully deep green, crisp, and tender. Though the real treat this week is an easy and delicious recipe for Crustless Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Quiche. Also in the bag this week is cilantro! Below I’ll share some tips on how to keep it fresh longer and some different ways to cook with it. But first let’s get into the small subscription, this week we have:
Spinach – Noggins Corner Farm, spray-free
Cremini Mushrooms – Valley Mushrooms, spray-free
Yellow Onions – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
Red Potatoes – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
Red Beets – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Cilantro – Riverview Herbs, conventionally-grown
Empire Apples – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
The large subscription has all the above, as well as:
½ lb of spinach instead of a ⅓ lb
3lbs of red potatoes instead of 2lbs
3lbs of empire apples instead of 2lbs
Mini Cucumbers – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
To celebrate the start of spinach season, we have a Crustless Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Quiche. Fresh spinach paired with sliced cremini mushrooms, Ran-Cher Acres Goat Feta, and carmelized onions is a classic combination for good reason – it’s delicious! If you find the idea of a crustless quiche abominable you could use this filling with your favourite pie crust recipe, though I found I didn’t really miss the crust and it makes the meal come together quickly in about 45 minutes start to finish.
- Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- ⅓ lb (the full bag) of spinach, stems removed and roughly chopped
- 4 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- ½ cup Ran-Cher Acres Goat Feta
- ½ cup milk or ¼ milk and ¼ cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper
- Method:
- Heat a skillet to medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Fry the onion until translucent, add the mushroom and some salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms have released all their juices, about 8-10 minutes. Then add the spinach and cook for another 5-8 minutes or until all the juices are released, this is the important part of avoiding soggy quiche. Make sure some salt is added as it helps draw out moisture.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch pie plate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk and or cream, salt, and pepper. Crumble the feta into the mixture, leaving some larger chunks.
- When the veggies are ready, fold them into the egg mixture. Pour the filling into the pie plate and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Until the filling is set all the way through.
That’s it, easy and delicious crustless quiche. To me quiche is an anytime kind of meal, but to make it for dinner, I served it with roasted potatoes tossed in olive oil, paprika, dried oregano, salt and pepper and a side of pickled red beets – yum! The pickled beet recipe I use is found here: https://bellyfull.net/refrigerator-pickled-beets/. It’s a refrigerated pickled beet recipe, meaning you don’t have to go through the whole rigmarole of canning the beets. Instead you roast the beets, top with brine, and let them sit for a minimum of 24 hours before eating. They last in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. We also sell sweet pickled beets and caraway golden beets in-store.
If pickling your beets doesn’t speak to you, boiling your beets then tossing them in butter and a fresh herb like dill, parsley, or cilantro also makes a simple and yummy side dish. And for some past Rootabaga recipes with red beets, see:
Stewed Lentils with Beets and Feta: https://www.uprootedmarketcafe.ca/2023/03/02/rootabaga-march-3-stewed-lentils-with-beets-recipe/
Beet Risotto: https://www.uprootedmarketcafe.ca/2022/11/16/beet-risotto-recipe/
Pink Feta Linguini:
https://www.uprootedmarketcafe.ca/2023/02/01/pink-feta-linguine-recipe/
Cilantro is also relatively new to Rootabaga this week! To keep your cilantro fresh longer, fill a jar half way with cool water, place the stems in the water like you would a bouquet, then cover the jar with a plastic bag secured by a rubber band. Cilantro (and other leafy herbs), will last much longer this way. Cilantro is great in tacos, curries, salads, or soups. The roots, stems, and leaves are all edible. I often save my stems for flavouring homemade veggie or chicken broth while roots are often used in Thai curry paste recipes. An easy and delicious way to use cilantro is in a quick fresh salsa. Dice a couple tomatoes, an onion, and a big handful (or more) of cilantro leaves, squeeze with lime juice, and season with salt or pepper. A diced jalapeño is a great addition for a bit of heat. Fresh salsa is delicious with corn chips or served with black bean tacos or burritos. If you’re someone who doesn’t love the unique flavour of cilantro, using it in a recipe where it’s cooked will diminish the flavour.
Lastly for this week, we’re switching things up with a new apple variety – welcome Empire apples! Empire apples are a hybrid variety stemming from McIntosh and Red Delicious varieties. The result is a crisp juicy apple with white flesh that doesn’t bruise easily. They’re a great all-purpose apple and we hope you enjoy them! Please let us know if you like them as much as the other varieties we typically carry like ambrosia’s or gala’s.
That’s it for this week folks. I hope you enjoy the taste of the growing season’s first leafy greens as much as I do! I’m already looking forward to packing up the next round of Rootabaga subscriptions.
Thank you for reading,
Robin
