Hello Rootabaga Subscribers,
Welcome to another delicious week of local eating! I am thrilled to announce that we have 2 new vegetables to share with our subscribers this week – stinging nettle and asparagus! If you’re unsure about what to do with stinging nettle, I will talk more about it later in the post. Asparagus is a familiar favourite and I can’t wait to taste the first few stalks of the harvest! Otherwise, we are still in the shoulder season where we have some of last year’s crops, some greenhouse varieties, and some early summer crops popping up. To help you spruce up the sweet potatoes we have been eating all winter, this week I’ve included a recipe for Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes, which you can check out below. This week the small share has:
Asparagus – Vermeulen Farm, conventionally-grown
Stinging Nettle – Taproot Farm, certified organic
Sweet Potatoes – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Salanova Head Lettuce – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Hot House Tomatoes – Den Haan Greenhouses, conventionally-grown
Cucumber – Den Haan Greenhouses, conventionally-grown
Turnip – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
The large share has everything above as well as:
1lb of asparagus instead of ½ a lb
500g of stinging nettle instead of 250g
Jalapeño – Stokdijk Greenhouses, conventionally-grown
Frozen Cranberries – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
Stinging nettles are grown worldwide. They’re often considered a weed and in some places an invasive species. Both the leaves and stems of young plants can be eaten, and they’re very high in calcium, iron, magnesium, and other minerals. The name “stinging” comes from the tiny barbs or hairs on the underside of the leaves and the stems, which can cause skin irritation. However the stinging effect is completely removed by any form of cooking, even a quick blanching. They have a similar flavour to spinach and can be used in any recipe that asks for cooked spinach. It’s best to handle them minimally when raw. I like to open the bag and directly dump them in a colander to rinse off, then I dump the colander of clean nettle leaves and stems directly into my steamer basket. Once bright green, remove them from heat and serve with a little salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon. They’re delicious eaten simply like this, or you could go for something a little more elaborate like this Stinging Nettle Pesto: https://honest-food.net/nettle-pesto/. A word of caution: it is unclear whether it’s safe to consume stinging nettle during pregnancy, so if pregnant I encourage you to do your own research before eating it.
This week I’m sharing a long time favourite recipe for Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes. Think a classic stuffed baked potato, but instead a sweet potato with toppings typical in Tex-Mex cuisine: black beans, guacamole, fresh tomato, shredded lettuce, cilantro, and sour cream. It’s a flexible dish that you can adjust to your tastes and with what’s in your fridge, and it’s a unique and super satisfying vegetarian meal.
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- Olive oil, for roasting the potatoes
- 1 can black or pinto beans
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 or 2 ripe avocados
- 1 tomato
- 1 lime
- Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
- Sour cream or Ran-Cher Acres Goat Yogurt (it's a perfect drizzling consistency)
- Shredded lettuce, pea shoots, or greens of choice
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes, leave the skin on and slice them in half lengthwise. Rub olive oil on the sliced half and place them face up on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Puncture the potatoes a few times with a fork. Roast until fork tender, about 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare your toppings. Make guacamole if desired, or just mash the avocado with half of the lime’s juice and a pinch of salt. Dice the tomato, chop the lettuce, and prepare the cilantro. Grated Knoydart Cheddar Cheese goes well here too.
- For the beans, drain and rinse the can of beans. Put the beans in a sauce pan and heat them over medium heat, add the tomato paste, a splash of water, the dry spices, and salt and pepper. Squeeze the remaining lime half on the beans.
- When the sweet potatoes are finished, load up your potatoes! Place half a potato on a plate, pile with beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream or goat yogurt, guacamole, and anything else you fancy. Elmridge Salsa, corn, or your favourite hot sauce are also great options.
This meal might be out of the ordinary, but I encourage you to give it a try as it really is a crowd pleaser! The sweet and creamy potato, Tex-Mex spiced beans, and fresh tomato, lettuce, and guacamole are a really great combination.
Lastly, this week we are so excited to welcome asparagus to our shelves and fridges! I’ll assume that everybody has a favourite way to eat asparagus already so we will save the recipes for later in the season. What you might not know is the best way to prepare the stalks for eating. Wash the stalks, but rather than cutting the ends off of each spear you’re going to use your hands to crack the stem off. Hold one end of each spear in each hand, bend the stalk near the stem and where the stalk naturally wants to break is where the woody part ends and the tender edible part begins. It’s a neat trick that ensures you will only ever eat the good part. Save the ends of the asparagus for flavouring veggie broth.
That’s it for this week folks. Thank you for joining us for another fun week of seasonal spring eating! It really is such an exciting time for local foods as more and more products start hitting the shelves.
Until next time,
Robin