10 Ways to Enjoy Walla Walla Sweet Onions!

Walla Walla onions

You’ve got to taste these Walla Walla sweet onions to believe them!

Our very own Kia Armstrong (Nash’s sales manager and a super bass player) has put together a great set of cooking tips for using those delicious, succulent Walla Walla sweet onions:

1. Grilled Sweet Onions

Peel and cut onions crosswise into thick slices or into medium-sized chunks. Toss or brush with olive oil, then skewer and grill! Sprinkle with salt or drizzle with sherry or red vinegar and serve with thick slices of raw tomato or other grilled goodies.

2. Roasted Sweet Onions

Peel the sweet onions, toss them with olive or vegetable oil to coat them, sprinkle them with S&P and roast at 375°F until browned and tender, about 30 minutes. Combine with radishes, cauliflower, broccoli or other summer roastables. Leftovers are great with eggs for breakfast or on cold salads for lunch.

3. Sweet Onion & Avocado Salad

Peel and chop Walla Walla and avocado or two. Drizzle with olive oil, a splash of lemon/lime juice, fresh cilantro, dash of ground cumin/cayenne, and salt to taste. Chopped radish, cucumber, sweet corn kernels, or chopped red pepper all make excellent additions.

4. Sweet Onion Raita (Yogurt Salad)

Peel and finely chop onion. Add enough plain yogurt to coat the onions, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add freshly chopped dill, parsley, mint, and/or cilantro. Serve with grilled meats or salmon.

5. Sweet Onion Rings

Cut onions into thick slices and separate into rings. Dip in buttermilk and dredge in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne. Heat an inch or two of vegetable or organic canola oil in a large, heavy pot until oil is about 350°F. Fry onions rings until golden brown, drain, and season with more salt.

6. Sweet Onion Sandwiches

Spread two slices of bread (white bread is good, but dark rye bread is better) with mayonnaise. Sprinkle each side with chopped parsley or basil, if you like. Place a thick slice of sweet onion on one slice, top with a thick slice of tomato, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and close sandwich with second piece of bread or go open-face.

7. Sweet Onion Taco & Enchilada Topping

Peel and finely chop a sweet onion. Toss with fresh lime juice, add a generous amount of finely chopped cilantro, and season to taste with salt. Add a healthy dollop of this mixture to tacos or on top of enchiladas.

8. Sweet Onion Tossed Salad

Sweet onions are a mild addition to your favorite tossed green salad. They match particularly well with mild Boston lettuce or butter lettuce leaves, cucumber, carrots, and radishes.

9. Onion Egg Scramble

Saute chopped onion on med-high heat until they begin to soften and are caramel colored. Crack egg into pan, season with fresh herbs and S&P, scramble until cooked and enjoy atop a bed of quinoa or favorite toast.

10. Slow Cooked with Ham Hock

Chop an huge onion into the crock pot, add two cups of dried beans and a ham hock, cover with water about two inches above veg/beans, and simmer on low or med heat for 6-8 hours, or until everything is cooked and tender! You can also add spices and fresh herbs, a can of tomatoes, or additional veggies.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

Arugula Quiche Filling

arugula

Arugula isn’t just for adding a peppery spice to salads. It can also flavor this lovely quiche.

1 1/2 cups mushrooms, thinly and evenly sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups arugula (roquette)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup pouring cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese plus a little extra for sprinkling
Freshly ground black pepper
Pastry dough

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9” pie pan. Place rolled-out pastry dough into pie pan, and press in and trim edges.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan. Once the oil and butter start to swirl, add the mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and shake the pan around. Saute for another 2-3 minutes, then transfer mushrooms to a bowl to cool.

Use the mushroom pan to lightly cook the arugula until just slightly wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.

Make filling by combining the eggs, cream, milk, cheese, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Whisk mixture thoroughly to combine the ingredients.

Spoon mushrooms and arugula evenly at the bottom of the pie pan, then slowly fill it with the egg mixture until about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle with a little extra cheese.

Bake quiche for 30 minutes or until firm and golden. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool further.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

About Hulless Oats

Oat groats

The naked oats in your farm share box this week can be made into a tasty and hearty oatmeal breakfast.

Also called “naked oats,” the variety of these hulless oats is appropriately called Streaker. When harvested and threshed, the oat kernels are almost free of the tough, inedible hulls of common oats. After winnowing, the grain is ready to cook for oatmeal or grind for oat flour. Remove any lingering hulls by floating them off in water, then check for any tiny pebbles that may have gotten through in the threshing process. Once soaked, hulless oats can be sprouted because they are a healthy living grain, unlike common oats that are de‐hulled by a heat process that actually damages the whole grain. Use oat sprouts in salads or in your leftover turkey sandwiches.

Hulless oats contain lots of dietary fiber, cancer-fighting phytochemicals, protein, vitamin B complex, and minerals like magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, copper and iron. They help lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart disease, prevent type 2 diabetes, and aid in weight control. Soaking sprouts prior to cooking is recommended, especially if you want to prepare them as a porridge, and they do wonderfully in a crockpot. You can also soak them overnight, put them raw in a blender with juice, milk or yogurt, and the sweetener of your choice, and blend until smooth. Then layer chopped fruit, raisins, nuts, etc. with the blended oats to make a beautiful breakfast parfait!

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Using Fresh Dill

dill, bunched

What’s your favorite use for dill? Let us know in the comments below!

Looking for dill-flavored inspiration? Here are several fantastic uses for dill that you might not have thought of.

  • Add sparkle to a tuna sandwich.
  • Enhance a cold gazpacho soup.
  • Mix 1/4 cup fresh dill with 1/4 cup vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 sliced cucumbers, 1 cup sliced red onion, and 2 cut-up tomatoes. Toss, and let stand at least 15 minutes before serving.
  • Got a favorite pureed carrot soup recipe? Be sure to garnish it with some delicate dill fronds for a treat that’s not only tasty, but visually appealing.
  • Dill with salmon is a marriage made in heaven. Add finely chopped garlic, too!
  • Add to Greek green salads, with romaine, sliced scallions and crumbled feta.
  • Make your own sourdough bread? Throw in some olives and dill.
  • Chop 1/2 cup dill fine and mix with 2-3 tablespoons butter, salt, and pepper.
  • For an incredible roasted chicken, use a spoon to get dill under the skin of the breasts, thighs, and legs, and massage it around the meat. Stuff some into the cavity of the chicken with lemon slices and garlic.
  • Add to potato soup, or potato salad with lemon and green onion.
  • Add to cole slaw, omelets, lentil dahl, or borscht.
  • Make dill sauce with plain yogurt, mayo, sour cream, garlic, lemon, and salt and pepper.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

Chard Frittata with Garlic Sauce

rainbow chard, bunchced, on display

Rainbow chard stalks stay vibrant even after you cook them!

1small onion, chopped
1 bunch chard, stems and leaves separated and chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
6 eggs, whisked
Cheese for topping
Ground black pepper

In a skillet, saute onion and chard stems with basil until tender. Cover and stir occasionally. Add chard leaves. Pack it in and replace lid. When shrunk add scrambled eggs, stir quickly and press evenly in pan. Cover and turn heat down very low. Top with cheese and sprinkle with pepper. Cut with pie server when egg is cooked and top with sauce.

Sauce
1 cup yogurt
3 garlic scapes, finely chopped, or 6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup cream (optional)

Mix together and serve generously on chard frittata with fresh tomato.

We thank Teri Crockett of Nash’s Farm Store for this recipe.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

What to Do with Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes

Curlicues of bunched garlic scapes look whimsical, but scapes are seriously tasty.

Do you love garlic but have run out of last season’s garlic cloves? Not to worry—garlic scapes are here! Scapes are the tall flowering stalk of the garlic plant. They have a mild garlic flavor and can be used to add garlicky goodness to so many dishes. Here are several tasty suggestions.

Garlic Scape Pesto
—Blend with pine nuts, Parmesan, olive oil, lemon, and salt and pepper. Add basil, if you want.

Grilled or Roasted—Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper, and grill for 2 minutes on each side.

Hummus—Swap scapes for garlic cloves. Great in a lemony, tahini-free hummus.

Compound Butter—Add some lemon and fresh thyme.

Pizza—Delicious on a white grilled pizza with caramelized onions.

Stir-fry—They lose some bite when sautéed, so use 3-4 times as much.

Salads—Blanch them first, like you would green beans.

Soup—Add to soup towards the end to get the best flavor from the scapes.

Pickled—Add to your favorite pickle recipe, or just pickle the scapes themselves in vinegar, salt and dill.

Sautéed—Great with shrimp.

Quesadillas—Grill them first and add lots of cheese!

Omelets—Add cut-up scapes, arugula and a little basil along with cheese.

Pork Burgers—Mix with Nash’s Italian sausage or ground pork, and a little rosemary. OMG!!

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

Strawberry Ideas

Strawberries in pints 2014

Strawberries are here, strawberries are here! Hurry and make as many delicious strawberry dishes as you can before they’re gone!

Salads—Great with spinach.

Smoothies—with yogurt, milk, juice, bananas and oranges.

Syrup—Boil in a little water, allow to cool, and use on Nash’s buckwheat pancakes, or on ice cream. Add a little chopped basil for a taste explosion!

Desserts—Dip in melted chocolate; add to a fruit pie; slice and put on vanilla ice cream, drizzle with high-quality Balsamic vinegar, garnish with mint.

Butter—Chop fine and add to softened butter with a little pepper.

Popsicles—Crush into chunky liquid, mix with a little sugar, put into popsicle forms and freeze. Kids love ‘em!

Ice Cubes—Put one strawberry into each ice cube section of an ice tray, freeze and put in lemonade, wine coolers, etc.

Trail Mix—Dry in a food dehydrator and mix with nuts, raisins, etc.

Soup—Blend 3 cups strawberries, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup Reisling, and 1/3 cup sugar. Chill and drizzle with olive oil and a dash pepper.

Salsa—Chop and mix strawberries, chives, cilantro, dried cranberries, and avocado. Mix with red pepper jelly, lime juice and a little dried crushed red pepper.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!

Farm-Fresh Baby Quiches with Quinoa Crust

Spinach in the field

Awww, baby quiches are so cute!

6 large fresh eggs
1/4 cup jack cheese
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 bunch spinach, steamed and well-drained
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup quinoa, cooked in 2 cups water with a little butter and salt and pepper

After the quinoa has cooled down, press it into greased or lined muffin tins. Blend eggs until foamy. Add all other ingredients until well incorporated. Spoon egg mixture into muffin cups just to the brim. Bake in a medium oven for 20 minutes or until puffed up and fully cooked.

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Nettle Shiitake Quiche

Nettles

Nettles are so full of nutrients, plus they’re super-tasty with mushrooms and potatoes in this quiche.

Serves 8-12

2 baked pie shells
1 pint shiitake mushrooms
6 cups nettle tops
1 large russet or 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes
1 onion, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup goat cheese
1 tablespoon tamari

Clean and cube potato(es) and boil until partly soft. Rinse nettles and cook in water until tender, then drain immediately. Sauté the onion and some garlic if you wish in half the oil until partly soft. Slice the shiitake and add to onion with the rest of oil and sauté for three minutes. Remove pan from heat and add potatoes and nettles. Put in crust. Combine milk, eggs, goat cheese and tamari and pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes, until center is set.

Adapted from Healing Wise by Susun S. Weed.

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Raab Frittata

lacinato kale raab

Which raab is your favorite? Try this frittata with kale raab, cabbage raab, brussels raab, arugula raab, and any other raabs that come you way, and let us know which is best in the comments below!

1 small onion, chopped
1 bunch raab, stems and florets/leaves separated and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil (or 1 tablespoon dried basil)
6 eggs, scrambled
3/4 cup grated cheese
Pepper to taste
Frittata sauce (see below)
Fresh tomato, chopped

With olive oil in skillet, saute onion and raab stems with basil until tender. Cover and stir occasionally. Add chopped raab leaves and florettes. Replace lid. When the saute has shrunk, add eggs and stir quickly, then press evenly in pan. Cover and turn heat down very low. Top with cheese and sprinkle with pepper. Cut with pie server when egg is cooked and serve with sauce (see below) and fresh tomato.

Frittata Sauce
1 cup yogurt
6 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup cream (optional)

Mix together and serve generously on frittata with fresh tomato.

Have you tried this recipe? Tell us how it turned out!