Recipes & Tips for School Garden Produce (Summer 2020)

For the first time since School Gardens started, we’ve been doing Online Produce Sales (instead of the in-person sales we’re so fond of and used to). Even though we probably won’t do it this way forever, we are pretty sure this information will be handy. We wanted to compile some resources about how to work with different kinds of produce in your kitchen as well as some recipe ideas.

Some of the recipes we’ve linked to are recipes we’ve actually made, and others are recipes that just sound really good to us. We’d love to hear about recipes you might know of for specific fruits or vegetables as well.

You can always send us an email at info at lcschoolgardens dot org

Pretty (delicious) Produce
(Photo from LCSG)

This is also the first time that we’ve sold something we’re calling the Super Bag (aka The Bag of Abundance) which includes a variety of pre-selected produce all in one bag, for a set price each week. The contents of these “Super Bags” will change as the season progresses (and the price may increase as well based on contents), but right now they include:

  • A bag of Leafy Greens (hearty greens – kale, collards and/or chard)
  • A handful of other seasonal items – could include some of the following: snap peasfava beans, rosemary, rhubarb, lemon balm, basil, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, berries, plums, potatoes, tomatoes and/or arugula

Recipes, info and tips

We may figure out a better way to organize this information at some point. If you use CTRL + F on your keyboard a box will pop up – you can type in a specific fruit or vegetable that you’re looking for and it will show you where that item shows up on this page.



Arugula

Wild Arugula
(Photo from LCSG)

We’ve also been harvesting some incredibly beautiful arugula from one of our gardens…

Arugula has a slightly bitter, somewhat spicy flavor that goes well in salads (with walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds + pear or apple slices), to top a cooked pizza, mixed in with hot pasta just before serving, added to sandwiches, or eaten with peaches and hard cheese. So fancy!

Here are a few arugula recipes to try:

https://www.veganricha.com/mediterranean-quinoa-salad/

https://picturetherecipe.com/recipes/watermelon-salad-with-arugula-mint-and-feta/

https://tasty.co/recipe/arugula-pesto

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-simple-arugula-salad-254833

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017359-sheet-pan-chicken-with-potatoes-arugula-and-garlic-yogurt

https://recipes.oregonlive.com/recipes/angel-hair-pasta-with-roasted-garlic-and-arugula



Asparagus

Asparagus
(Photo from LCSG)

It has been tradition to have “Asparagus Week” during Spring Garden Clubs each year; harvesting the fresh spears with students, mixing them with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and sometimes some minced garlic and throwing them in the camp stove to roast for a bit. They’re usually served alongside freshly toasted bread with garlic butter. Each year we are delighted when students taste asparagus for the first time and proclaim just how much they love it. We usually aren’t surprised – it is really really deliciousHere’s a recipe that’s somewhat similar to our style of preparing asparagus at School Gardens.

Asparagus is typically planted from crowns that look rather like flying spaghetti monsters. After being planted we patiently wait 2-3 years before harvesting any, in order to give the plants a chance to establish themselves in the soil.



Italian Basil

Mmmm, basil!
(Photo from LCSG)

Basil sure has a way of brightening a meal, and just the fragrance seems like it can sometimes brighten a day.  There are so many ways to enjoy this herb, but pesto definitely has to be near the top of the list for us, along with Caprese salad. 

We often make Caprese salad (on a toothpick!) as a snack for our annual September Volunteer Training. That’s a time of year when the basil and tomatoes are both pretty abundant.

This isn’t the specific recipe that we use, but it’s pretty darn close:

Caprese Sticks from https://wholefully.com/caprese-sticks/#recipe

Side angle shot of Caprese Sticks on a white plate
Caprese Sticks
(Photo from https://wholefully.com/caprese-sticks/#recipe)

These light and fresh Caprese Sticks are a quick protein-packed snack! They’re colorful, flavorful and ready for summer.
PREP TIME 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME 10 minutes
YIELD 24 STICKS

Ingredients

  • 24 long toothpicks
  • 8 ounces fresh Ciliegine mozzarella balls
  • 24 cherry tomatoes (about 1 pint)
  • 12 large basil leaves, cut in half (or 24 small leaves)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Thread a mozzarella ball, basil leaf (cut in half if large), and a cherry tomato onto a toothpick. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
  2. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Notes
Serve with a drizzle of olive oil or balsamic reduction for an easy and fresh appetizer platter.


Another dish that includes basil and often can include a lot of summertime freshness (cukes, tomatoes, peppers, onions) is an Italian salad called Panzanella. There are a whole lot of ways it can be made, but we’ll add a few versions here soon…

A recipe for pesto that uses both arugula and basil
https://www.lettyskitchen.com/basil-and-arugula-pesto/



Snap Peas

Crunchy, sweet snap peas
(Photo from LCSG)

Snap peas are so delightfully crunchy and sweet in the early summer — and they are abundant in School Gardens during that season! We really like eating snap peas fresh (you can eat the pod and all!), added to a salad for some extra crunch, roasted with other veggies in the oven, or added to a batch of pesto. 

Snap Pea Pesto 
Recipe adapted from https://www.lifeasastrawberry.com/5-minute-pea-pesto/
2 cups fresh snap peas (the whole pod, w the “strings” and stems removed)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly minced
1 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup walnuts, pine nuts or almonds
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
optional: 2 TBSP shredded hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino

1. Place snap peas, garlic, lemon juice, basil, walnuts (and cheese if you’re including it) into a food processor. Pulse a few times until everything is coarsely chopped. 

2. While the food processor is running, slowly stream in olive oil and let the processor run until everything is incorporated into a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula and pulse one more time to incorporate those bits. 

The pesto will be thinner than your usual basil pesto — this is because of the moisture content in the snap peas. Another way to make the recipe would be to roast your snap peas in the oven before including them. 

Delicious on toast, mixed in with hot pasta, or used as the base for a salad dressing. 

More snap pea recipes:

A simple one with just a few fresh and dried herbs and 8 minutes in the oven!
https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/roasted-sugar-snap-peas-recipe/

A salad that includes carrots and snap peas, with a dressing made of hoisin, lime juice and fresh ginger (if you don’t have hoisin on hand you could substitute soy sauce or miso paste, and powdered ginger could work in place of fresh)
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/carrot-sugar-snap-salad

A recipe using Chinese flavors (if you prefer the dish be vegetarian you could substitute firm tofu for the chicken and veggie stock for the chicken stock)
https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-chicken-and-snap-peas-224293



Shiso

Shiso plant
(Photo from LCSG)
This variety of shiso, called ‘Oriana’s Tia To’ is green on top and the underside of the leaves are a purple/crimson color.
(Photo from LCSG)

In years past we have tried to grow shiso but have done so with donated seeds and often had some trouble with germination. This year our Horticultural Coordinator ordered shiso seeds from one of our favorite seed growers, Uprising Seeds in Bellingham, WA.

The variety they grow is called Oriana’s Tia To and the description from their website reads:

Perilla frutescens An eye-catching plant notable for its beautiful color contrast of green leaf tops and vibrant purple leaf bottoms, with a pleasantly pungent aroma. This particular variety likely stems from the Vietnamese Tia To, although Chicago-area Paw Paw and Asian Pear farmer Oriana Kruszewski has let it self-sow on her farm for 20 years now, and its original provenance is lost to history. Eric and Erica loved the deep flavor and vivid color of Oriana’s shiso, but she had no seed, so they set a flowering bunch in a glass of water and matured seed on a Chicago windowsill. Oriana reports that it is excellent for making umeboshi, all kinds of pickles, and tea. A surprising hit in the heat of summer is fresh leaves brewed as a sun tea, lightly sweetened with honey and carbonated to make a shiso soda. The serrate leaves may be picked at any stage, and both flowers and leaves may be dried and used in tea. 2-3′ plants when grown outdoors, but reaching head height if left to mature in a greenhouse. And if you find, like we do, that your plants are overly abundant, the addition of them to a flower bouquet is as pleasing as it is fragrant!

We’re still learning new ways to use this beautiful herb, but we do know that it is sometimes called ‘Japanese mint’ or ‘perilla’. A Garden Friend recently shared this link with us after noticing our shiso plants when passing by the Northlake Garden one day.

Please let us know if you are familiar with this lovely herb and have some favorite ways to use it.



Grape Leaves

Grape leaves still on the vine
(Photo from LCSG)

Recipe for Dolmas
This is another delicious dish that has become a tradition to make for our annual Volunteer Tea. (Unfortunately because of covid regulations, the Volunteer Tea did not happen as normally scheduled. We’re hoping to still find a good way to honor and acknowledge the folks who have been helping out with keeping the gardens going through this strange season.) The recipe was passed along to us by a dear friend (and founder) of School Gardens, Dr. Lee Ann Gekas. We usually scale the recipe up in order to make about 150 dolmas, but the recipe below makes 40 – 50 instead.

Adapted from Adele Gowdy — Lebanese cook extraordinaire!

1 lb fresh grape leaves
1 cup uncooked short or medium grain rice
2 bunches parsley chopped
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas
2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
lemon juice from 1-2 lemons
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 yellow onion finely chopped
can also add mint, and pine nuts or walnuts

Pour hot water over the fresh grape leaves and set aside for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain chickpeas well.

Rinse and drain rice well.

Saute garlic, onions in olive oil. Take off stove. Mix with rice, parsley, chickpeas, tomatoes, and nuts and/or mint if using them. Add salt, allspice and a bit more olive oil and mix well.

Stuff leaves with mixture – clip stems off with scissors; start with the shiny side of the leaf down (inside of the grape leaf is the inside of the dolma). Arrange in rows in a deep cooking pot. Add enough water or broth to cover the top of the dolmas. Place a round flat plate on top of dolmas then a glass jar of water on top of plate to prevent the rolls from loosening while cooking. Squeeze half a lemon’s juice over each layer, plus a few extra cloves of garlic for more flavor.

Simmer for 90 minutes. Check on amount of liquid part way through cooking to be sure it hasn’t all evaporated. Add more as needed.

Tips on harvesting grape leaves:
Bigger is not better – 7 or 8” across is plenty big. Leaves should be light green, and very tender. The best are those below the new growth at the top of the plant and above those close to the grapes. Rule of thumb: count down three leaves from the new growth at the end of the vine, and pick the next 2 to 3 leaves, then move on to the next stem.
Store covered in fridge. To prep for assembly, cover leaves with boiling water for 10 minutes.

Grape leaves are also used fresh in some pickle recipes to help pickles stay crunchy!

If you’d like to “put up” some grape leaves for using during a season when they’re not available fresh, here is a recipe for pickling grape leaves:
https://honest-food.net/foraging-recipes/pickle-recipes/preserved-grape-leaves/



Lavender

Lavender doesn’t just smell amazing and look beautiful, it can also be used in the kitchen!
(Photo from LCSG)

Lavender is often grown as an ornamental, but really has so many uses!
At LCSG we mainly grow “Grosso” and “Royal Purple”, but there are a few unnamed varieties growing in our gardens as well. Lavender is beautiful to look at and to smell, but it can also be used in cooking (in small amounts) and craft projects of course. 

One of our favorite ways to enjoy lavender is in this recipe for Lavender Shortbread:

Lavender Shortbread

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp dried lavender, and 2 tsp fresh lavender (this recipe only calls for the dried but I added the fresh to give it more of a kick)
  • 2 Tablespoons minced mint leaves
  • 3 sticks (3/4 pound) salted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup brown sugar 
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 5 cups all purpose flour

Directions

  1. Finely mince the lavender 
  2. Mix together the butter, sugar, mint and lavender until combined and spread around the bowl.
  3. Add the vanilla and mix just until it disappears.
  4. Add flour to the bowl, and mix together until a dough ball forms.
  5. Roll the dough out on a baking mat about 1/2″ thick, then cut desired shapes. Squares, rectangles, and circles all work well. You can also just roll little balls and squish them lightly as a shortcut.
  6. Place the cookies on a sheet tray, and refrigerate for 1 hour
  7. Preheat oven to 350F.
  8. Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden brown on the edges.

Here are some other ideas:  https://purplehazelavender.com/lavender/cooking-lavender/

If you’d rather not eat your lavender, you could use it to craft this neat project: Lavender Wands

If you’d rather not get fancy, you can also just bundle your lavender tightly with a ribbon or rubber band and suspend it from a hook or string in a warm location with good airflow where it can dry. Lavender maintains its fragrance for a very, very long time.



Fava Beans

Fava beans that have been removed from their pod, cooked for a short period of time and then popped out of their skin.
(Photo from https://flavorthemoments.com/how-to-cook-fava-beans/)

Fava beans are usually a springtime treat. They are often grown as a cover crop in the fall or winter. Cover crops are plants that help replenish the soil and keep it from washing away and/or adds nutrients that have been used up by other plants or crops. Not only are the beans edible, but the flowers and leaves are as well.

A dip/spread made using fava beans and just a few other ingredients: 
https://healthynibblesandbits.com/fava-bean-dip/

A pasta dish that includes fresh fava beans (some whole snap pea pods could also be added if you don’t have enough fava beans for the recipe): 
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/herbed-fava-beans-with-pasta-recipe-2042460

A recipe for grilling whole fava bean pods! 
https://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/grilled-fava-beans-recipe.html

Another great recipe using fava beans and peas (whole snap pea pods can be used in place of shelled peas): 
https://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/spring-ragout-recipe.html



Ground Cherries

A pile of ground cherries
(Photo from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/five-ways-to-eat-ground-cherries-98470003/)

Ground cherries are a student favorite in the School Gardens. These cute little fruits from the tomato family come individually “wrapped” in their own papery husk, similar to the husk of a tomatillo.

Ground cherries are also known as “husk cherries”. The variety that we grew this year at LCSG is called “Aunt Molly’s” and the seeds came from Fedco Seeds.

This article from Smithsonian Magazine has some great information and includes a few recipes for using your Ground Cherries. It should be known that they are also just really delicious fresh out of the husk.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/five-ways-to-eat-ground-cherries-98470003/

A recipe for Pizza Dough

Many folks have been asking for the recipe we use to make pizza dough…

  • 6 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 TBSP kosher salt

Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl using a whisk or a fork.

  • 3 cups luke warm water (if water is too hot it will kill the yeast)
  • 1 TBSP yeast
In a separate bowl or pitcher, mix water and yeast together and let sit until yeast gets happy and smelly (15-20 min).
Just before pouring liquid into flour/salt, mix 1/8 cup olive oil with the yeast and water, using a whisk.
Pour liquid into flour/salt and mix together with bare hands or wooden spoon. Don’t over-mix, and  you don’t have to do any kneading of the dough.
Cover bowl with a dry towel or loose lid and allow to sit on the counter for a few hours, then place in fridge, covered, until you are ready to use it.
For pizza made at home, take a piece of the dough out of the fridge (it’ll last around a week in the fridge but after that it starts to get a little more on the sour side) and let it sit for a few minutes before working with it. Use a decent amount of flour and a rolling pin to roll it out and then put it on a baking pan, or stretch it out directly on the baking pan. Then add toppings, etc. and bake at 450 degrees for about 10 – 15 minutes. You can also par-bake the crust if you want to add more substantial amounts of toppings.
For our big events, we make many trays of dough balls:
After dough has risen on the counter for a few hours and then has spent some time in the fridge, form the dough balls. With floured hands, grab a baseball-sized hunk and cut it off with scissors.  Instead of trying to wad and squeeze it into a ball, you want to stretch and pull the sides around, forming a tight round skin. The underside, where the stretched sides come together, will look messy and ragged. Watch this guy do this with a larger loaf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDBJkxoNpE8
Space the dough balls, smooth side up, on an oiled baking sheet. Use these balls in a few minutes, or cover w plastic wrap and return to fridge for later use (up to a week).  We like to stretch the dough to form thin crusts, but occasionally use a roller.
(The original recipe from “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” is here. The only difference with turning it into pizza (instead of a loaf of bread) is this: instead of shaping it into a loaf, you simply shape it into a thin flat disc, using as much flour as you need to keep it from sticking to your hands or to a pan. Add minimal ingredients on top and throw it into a 450-degree oven for about 10 minutes – could just be on a sheet pan, or a pizza stone if you’re fancy.)

Back to Basics ~ tips and techniques to create a great loaf in 5 minutes a day.