Vegetable Highlights at Outer Aisle

Eating just got a whole lot more exciting this week!  

Last week we rounded up the first of the summer squash for an early Spring treat, but had no asparagus or strawberries to offer due to bad weather!

This week everything is different! Ample helpings of beautiful asparagus, the sweetest strawberries of the season, tender spinach bunches from the garden that will melt in your mouth. Baby salad greens, snap peas, fava beans, English peas, sweet red spring onions, fresh garlic and the list goes on.  

Equally exciting is the first cherry harvest of the year. The first variety to grace our tables is the Brook cherry, developed in California in 1988, it is a cross between Rainer and Burlat. It precedes the Bing by a couple of weeks, has a sweet tart flavor and is highly regarded as a great first crop cherry.

Orange, Ginger, Cranberry Pear Balsamic Salad Dressing

Marisolio in Murphys has a great white Balsamic that we used for this dressing. It'll make you just want salad for dinner and two helpings at that!

Juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup olive oil

Grated ginger

1/8 cup Cranberry Pear Balsamic

2 cloves of fresh garlic

1-2 tsp Agave nectar

2 tsp peanut butter

Combine with fork, whisking in the peanut butter until all the ingredients are blended. Taste and adjust sweet, oil or vinegar accordingly.

ORANGE, GINGER, SESAME SAUCE FOR PORK OR TURKEY 

Cook this in the sun oven, stove-top or oven.

Marinade:

Juice of 2 oranges

1 TBSP Sesame oil

2 TBSP Soy sauce or Tamari

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 TBSP Agave nectar

1" section of Ginger root, chopped finely (reserve 1/2 for cooking with the meat) 

1 tsp Dried Cayenne flakes

Combine ingredients. 

Ingredients:

2-3 Pork Chops or Turkey tenderloin or breast

1-2 Spring Red onions, sliced

2 TSP olive oil or coconut oil  

1/2 bunch cilantro, leaves pulled 

Heat 1 TBSP of oil and caramelize the onion on low heat, until slightly browned and soft. Remove from heat. Heat the remaining 1 TBSP oil and cook the meat, adding half the ginger reserved from Marinade. Once the meat is browned on both sides (stove top) begin to glaze with marinade small amounts at a time. At this point, if you are using an oven or sun oven, put into a casserole pan and pour all of the marinade over the meat. Continue glazing until the meat is cooked and the juice from the marinade lines the pan.  

Garnish with cilantro and serve with spinach salad and dressing above.  

GARDENING:    

Here's a sneak preview of the size of our tomato plants!

We are hoping that we'll have the first real ripe tomatoes in the county.  

Bragging aside, we know you can't wait for tomato season. It's not too late to plant. We just put in 300 tomatoes plants today, that'll be ready around mid September.

We still have plenty of tomatoes, peppers, basil and eggplant seedlings left for sale. $1.25 each or $1 each for 6 or more.  

Compost is available through Brice Station between Murphys and Avery. You must call ahead: Stuart Mast 768-7262.  

Plenty of irrigation supplies at the store and check out the amazing gopher traps that are revolutionizing our operation. Eric will be available on Thursdays to answer your questions.