Nature's first green is gold...
Those famous words from Robert Frost are never truer to me than when I see the first leafy greens in my CSA box. The days have passed where most of the produce in this area isn't actually produced but is from storage or shipped from somewhere else. If you are consciously trying to eat local, winters can be hard. Or at least boring. But invariably, the thaw comes, and soon you will eat less of what comes from below the ground you live on and more of what shoots out of it and unfurls under the sun. Thank heaven. Thank you, May.
But May's greens are the best of the year in the way that Frost meant it. I relish the greens in my salads in May, but by August, they are still there, but they fade into the background, serving merely as a backdrop for the fresh tomatoes and grilled squashes that are the stars of the summer. In reality, the greens' quality doesn't change from the first shoots to the last in the way that fruits do. For that reason, this month, I reached for old recipes that are mostly about the greens: summer rolls, salads and soups that rely heavily on the pepperiness of Asian or Italian greens and pasta that celebrates the shoots of garlic rather than the bulb. And, just as Frost lamented, none of May's greens could stay.
Brunch
Lunch
Dinner
Green Garlic Butter Pasta
Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Carrot Cucumber Slaw
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