Scallion and Cheddar Frittata with Dried Tomatoes

This frittata is loaded with scallions, which are just coming into season now, plus local eggs of course. Substitute spring onions if you like.  I also added dried tomatoes, a pantry staple in our house.  I still have lots left from the 2012 season.

6 eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch scallions, chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup dried tomatoes, rehydrated in hot water and chopped
Hot sauce (optional)

Combine the eggs and cheddar in a medium bowl and stir well.  Add salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet.  Add the scallions and rehydrated tomatoes and saute until the scallions start to get tender, about 1-2 minutes.  Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and stir to combine, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook gently until the egg is mostly set.  Turn on the broiler while you do this.  When the egg is mostly set, pop the skillet under the broiler for about 2 minutes to finish cooking the top.

Serve hot or room temperature, with hot sauce if desired.

Serves 3-4.

Chipotle Chard Polenta

I bought a big batch of Swiss chard at the farmers market last weekend, can you tell?

3 cups water
1 cup polenta cornmeal
1 tsp salt
Olive oil
1/2 cup garlic scapes
1/2 - 1 cups chopped spring onions
4 cups chopped Swiss chard
1 large chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, seeds removed (or more to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 - 3/4 cup tomato sauce
3-4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt, and whisk in the polenta meal. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to stir with a spoon. Be careful, as the cooking polenta is viscous and can bubble up and burn you. Cooking time will vary with the type of polenta you are using. The kind I get at Green Fields Market, in the bulk section, thickens up very quickly. You want it to be pretty stiff for this application. When the polenta is cooked, remove from heat, cover, and set aside for now.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Ad the scapes and onions and saute until tender, 3-5 minutes.  Add the chard and chipotle and saute until the chard is nicely wilted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Oil a 10-inch oven-proof skillet or a 7x11-inch baking dish. Spread the cooked polenta in the bottom. Spread the tomato sauce over the polenta, then add the chard mixture.  Top with cheddar.

Bake the polenta for about 15 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown. Serve hot.

Serves about 4.

Grilled Summer Squash and Onions

Grilled onions - you can use any kind you like, including scallions cut into 1- or 2-inch lengths - are flavorful, sweet, and delicious. They work well here with some of the first zucchini or summer squash of the season. Use any variety of summer squash, or a mix. Red onions make a particularly attraction combination with the squash.

4 cups cubed summer squash
2 cups sliced or cubed onion or scallions
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh herbs (optional)

Toss the squash and onion with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill in a grill basket over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve hot, topped if desired with a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano, dill, whatever sounds good).

Serves 4-6.

Late Spring Crops

As we get further into the summer, the number and variety of foods in season locally will explode, but for now we are still waiting and watching eagerly as each new one appears. Or at least I am!

Spring starts out with greens grown in hoophouses, asparagus, rhubarb, some herbs, and maybe some leeks that were either overwintered or grown in a hoophouse. But now that we are getting further along into the season, we are seeing green garlic, radishes, bunching onions and spring onions and a shift to greens grown in the field, while the asparagus, rhubarb, and herbs continue.

Now, at the beginning of June, we're at a tipping point. The really good stuff, the crops that feel like treats, are just about to start coming in. I have been harvesting my earliest snap peas in the garden and I expect to start seeing peas--snap, snow, and shelling--in the farmers market quite soon. The garlic in my garden has also just started forming scapes (stalks with would-be flowers), which are delicious. Growers cut them off to encourage the plants to form larger bulbs, so we'll be seeing scapes in the farmers market soon, too. And, of course, STRAWBERRIES! If we're lucky here in Greenfield, some of the vendors from further south in the valley might have early strawberries this weekend. Otherwise, we'll need to wait just a little longer. I am personally looking forward to picking some, maybe at Uppingil Farm in Gill, so I can stash them away in the freezer as well as enjoying them now.

The folks at the farmers market are always a bit ahead of my garden, it seems--some because they are further south and some because they are growing in hoophouses. So it probably won't be too many more weeks before we start to see other things like baby carrots, more summer leeks, more herbs, and maybe early fennel. As I wait for each new item to make its appearance, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas--right down to imagining all the wonderful things I'm going to do with the anticipated treats.