Catalogna chicory

Catalogna chicory are from Puglia, Italy and are eaten as both fresh and cooked greens. When they’re raw they are nice and crunchy, a little sweet and a little bitter.

Nov 2022
The vibrant and bitter catalogna chicory is back this week. In my family some members love it, and my dad finds it…super challenging.

I really like chicory bitterness with balsamic vinegar, salt & EVOO. Boiling the chicory really minimises the bitterness. In Italy its a traditional and very common practice to boil green chicories and other wild greens for half an hour, before further cooking. I thought the recipe below looked super tasty and simple and rich, I’m going to make it this week for us.

Recipe: Spaghetti with catalogna chicory

29 September 2021

This week we welcome Catalogna chicory into the box. These greens are sometimes called dandelion greens, although they aren’t common dandelion. Rather, Catalogna chicory is very closely related to Puntarelle.

The Catalogna chicory that we currently grow at Broom and Brine Farm have been selected to have wide green leaves that run far down its white ribs. Other landraces may have wider ribs, thinner ribs, more variegated leaves, and some even have pink ribs.

Fave e cicoria

Fave e cicoria, or Fava beans with chicories, is a very traditional peasant dish from Puglia. It is very tasty, creamy and salty. It really lets the Catalogna chicory shine.

You’ll need: 1 bunch of Catalogna chicory; Dried Fava beans ~ we buy ours from Eumarrah or Unpacked; Potatoes; Bay leaves; Salt; EVOO.
Check out the recipe here.

Insalata di campo primavera

Insalata di campo primavera or Spring Salad is fresh way to enjoy Catalogna chicory raw. Vinegar, salt and pepper plus fresh greens with bread ~ prima sunny picnic vibes. If there’s any erba stella left in your fridge from last week ~ this recipe for the Spring Salad by the late Antonio Carluccio, could be a real nice way of enjoy it with the Catalogna chicory.

Spinach

Spinach is such a regular vegetable, that one might assume its history and development as such a ubiquitous crop worldwide, might be dull. But we’re writing today to try & persuade you otherwise.

22 September 2021

Spinach was domesticated in Iran thousands of years ago, and wasn’t consumed by Ancient Greeks or Romans. Rather, it was a domesticated vegetable of the Persian Empire. Its migratory route throughout the world is still, surprisingly, unresolved and ongoing.

There are records of spinach reaching China and being cultivated there during the 7th century. Spinach is believed to have been introduced to continental Europe by Arab peoples via the Iberian Peninsular by the 12th century.

There are now two main categories of domesticated spinach in the world today. One is from Africa, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. These varieties tend to have a round and savoyed leaf shape. The spinach we are growing at the moment, and that is in the box this week falls into this category.

The second main category is from Southern and Eastern Asia. These varieties have a more pointed, spear shaped leaves. We recently purchased some seed of this type & are really looking forward to growing it at Broom and Brine Farm in the coming months.

Wild spinach is an important third category that has only recently been studied more thoroughly. Wild spinach is collected and eaten by people in Anatolia. Its big flat leaves are sometimes used in recipes for sarma. Check out this recipe for chickpea stuffed grapevine leaf sarma.

Shungiku

Shungiku is a famous aromatic green with a floral flavour and wonderful soft texture. There are many distinct varieties, each with unique leaf shapes.

Shungiku is a very popular vegetable throughout Asia and small parts of the Mediterranean, and is a member of the daisy family. It has a wonderful unique flavour that is popularly enjoyed in hot pot soups, tempura, stews, side salads and stir fries. Shungiku is typically blanched or stir fried quickly, before being added to hot dishes at the end of a cook to retain its colour and texture.

Shungiku is Glebionis coronaria or edible chrysanthemum’s, Japanese name.
It goes by Chon ho in China, Gul chi in India, , Ssukgat in Korea, Kek wah in Malaysia, Cai cui in Vietnam and Mantilida in Crete.

August 18 2021

Gardener Suguru Fukuda from The Seiko Farm, Tokyo, plants Shungiku seedlings in his organic vegetable garden. These gardeners are really wonderful to watch, follow them on instagram.

Recipe: Shungiku goma-ae.

Goma-ae is a delicious Japanese sesame dressed salad.
150g of shungiku
Dressing:
1 Tbsp ground sesame seed
1/3 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp soy sauce
1. Trim and blanch shungiki then rinse in cold water
2. Squeeze water out of shungiku and cut into 2” lengths
3. Mix the dressing and pour dressing over greens just before serving

Recipe: Shungiku with Shira-ae

Tonight we’ll be trying this recipe for Shira-ae, a Japanese tofu sauce, with Shungiku. This is a recipe from Elizabeth Andoh's book Kansha: Celebrating Japanese Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.

Recipe: Shungiku tempura

We really had to post this video ~ tempura shungiku is a recipe for the brave! There is a lot written on tempura ~ and the differing opinions surrounding the use of eggs, the frying temps and the addition of alcohol. If your interested ~ check out this vegan udon recipe ~ it calls for a shiitake mushroom and kombu dashi, which Grace has made before and it is~ legit.
Happy frying!

Radicchio

Radicchio are a group of Italian chicories famously grown & cultivated in North-Eastern Italy, all loved for their bitterness.

Radicchio is traditionally sautéed and served with olive oil, salt and vinegar. They are often eaten raw in salads, on top of soups, pasta or pizza.Red radicchio contain the highest concentrations of phenolic content among the leafy greens and are a very nutritious striking addition to any meal.

Chicories have been gathered and eaten as food and medicine across the mediterranean from time immemorial, and have been cultivated since the 17th century. Radicchio varieties are namesakes of the province they were traditionally cultivated in.

July 23, 2022

Sometimes you just get so used to things, that its hard to really appreciate whats there.Its such a cliche, but this is exactly whats happened to me.

On Sunday Dylan and I got massages and ate nachos together. On Monday we went to the farm and did some planting, and discussed what was going to go into this weeks box. We have our minds so focused on summer coming, and honestly we’re already enthusiastically chatting about next years asian green plantings that will be harvested during next years autumn and winter.

The gorizia raddichio have been in the ground since January, and we’ve been forcing them in the field for about 6 weeks. I walk past them every day I’m at the farm. Radicchio are famous for looking skanky and inedible in the field and once they are harvested and washed they take your breath away.

These beauties are the smallest and most delicate of our radicchio. Its safe to say they dont ‘pack weight’. They grow with a very large and long growth habit for most of their growing season, then the buds we harvest grow in the final weeks before harvest. We’ve read some growers export these radicchio across the world and charge upward of 60 euro per 100g.

And we were so used to seeing them tied up in the field that we really forgot about them. It wasnt until I started looking for recipes for this email that I remembered how special these tiny radicchio are.

The province of Gorizia is right next to Slovenia. Across the border in the Slovenian region of Goriska these radicchio are called Nova Gorica.

Gorizia’s cuisine combines traditions from Eastern Europe, Slavic, Friuli and Venitian cooking. Traditionally Italian Gorizia is eaten raw, dressed with vinegar with potatoes and beans. Its commonly lightly sauted and dressed with horseradich, vinegar and eaten with meat. It may accompany a famous barley risotto.

The recipes below are both in Italian, and I used google translate to translate the whole page and read them.

17 June 2022
Rosa del Veneto, or roughly translated ‘The Rose of Veneto’ is stunning. We planted these plants back in January, and now we can enjoy. The frost encourages the pink colour, and its been cold enough for these plants to be pink for months.

When cooked these loose heading radicchio are famous for becoming tangy sweet. Enjoy them as you would any radicchio: raw, roasted, grilled, baked or with pasta. Enjoy.

13 April 2022

The ‘rose that you eat’ has been grown and consumed since the late 19th century and is the result of a cross between treviso radicchio and escarole. There is an old story in the Veneto of a noblewoman from Castelfranco attending a wintertime premier at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan who adorned her gown with a head of Castelfranco radicchio. Everyone believed it was an exotic flower imported from far away.

Castelfranco radicchio have a beautiful tulip-like shape, the leaves are thin, yet crisp. Like other variegated radicchio they start out green with red flecks and become buttery yellow with more red flecks as you move towards the heart. The flavor is mild for a chicory, but still with some lovely radicchio bitterness. This ‘tulip of winter’ is one you can definitely eat raw. Perfect with fruit, vinegar, salt and something creamy like nuts or cheese.

8 December 2021

This week we have some loose headed Bel fior radicchio in the box~ they are green with red speckles~ a really pretty variety. Bel fior translates into beautiful flower in Italian.

To celebrate these little bitter radicchio, and any remaining fennel from last week thats still tucked away in the fridge.

One of our members shared this recipe with us ~ thank you eee ~ its beautiful!

6th October 2021

This week things are getting a little bitter in the box ~ and we welcome Chioggia radicchio ~

These Chioggia radicchio are a small and pretty vegetable in the chicory family, named after their namesake town near Venice in Northern Italy.

We planted these Chioggia radicchio in the middle of winter as an experiment. These super late winter plants miraculously managed to form nice round heads ~ they are really small, but they were too pretty not to pop in this week’s box and be enjoyed.

Chioggia radicchio look and taste beautiful & bitter ripped up into salads. They are fantastic, and much less bitter, gently roasted for 10 mins and covered with a sweet balsamic. Salt, vinegar and EVOO make Chioggia radicchio sing ~ We’ll be growing more of these in the coming months so just consider these a little taste of some larger radicchio to come.

28 July 2021

We are really happy to have grown some small and humble radicchio di treviso for you. We hope you enjoy their dark red bitter leaves and the sweeter white mid ribs.

Radici e fasioi is a traditional radicchio and bean dish. It is so tasty, we have been eating this for weeks now. It’s become a staple in our house. Usually the beans are served over the top of chopped radicchio, we unconventionally serve them below because~ the radicchio!

We use this recipe for the beans.

Puntarelle

Puntarelle is a visually strange and oddly beautiful chicory from Southern Italy.

Puntarelle a little daunting to approach in the kitchen because its so unfamilar, however it’s simple to prepare, and has very little bitterness. The whole plant can be eaten, and is traditionally prepared both in raw and cooked dishes.

14 July 2021

We are really elated to grow Puntarelle for our CSA members~ Neither of us had ever come across it, let alone cooked with it. Dylan has never been to Italy, and when Grace was there she was partying, not taking much notice. There are plans to travel together to Italy for Puntarelle, Radicchio, Cime di rapa and Mugnoli.

To prepare the Puntarelle, remove the leaves and separate the protruding spears. Cut the spears into matchstick shaped slices, and soak them in cold water for a minute or two, until they start to curl.

Puntarella alla Romana, is a traditional Italian recipe from Rome that has subtle flavours and is really fresh and crunchy. In fact this vegetable is famously cultivated by farmers surrounding Rome and it’s rarely found outside this region. We make a vegetarian version omitting the anchovies, and adding capers and olives in their place. The salad is simple and beautiful. Find the recipe here.

Puntarelle can also be enjoyed in pasta too, find the recipe here. To eat the Puntarelle leaves, either chop them up and eat them raw in salads or on top of soups. They are also sometimes blanched briefly before being sautéd in olive oil and garlic.

We grow Puntarelle seed from an Italian seed company called Smarties.bio. This seed company breeds and develops commercial quality seeds of crop varieties relatively unknown outside of specific regions of Italy. They are great advocates of biocultural diversity, and we are very fortunate to have been gifted these seedlings from our friends at Felds Farm and Fat Carrot Farm.

Smarties.bio was co-founded by the Italian seed breeder Andrea Ghedina. You can watch an interview with Andrea, speaking in English about the Puntarelle seed he produces, and we grow at Broom and Brine Farm. We look forward to placing a seed order with Smarties.bio in the next few months so that we can grow and celebrate more of these special vegetables with our CSA members.

Image source:
1. https-//decoratosementi.com/catalog/conventional-seeds/chicory/catalogna-puntarelle-di-galatina/.jpeg
2. https-//professionale.saissementi.it/en/prodotti/cicoria/cicoria-catalogna/pigna-2/.jpeg

Claytonia

Claytonia is a fleshy, winter hardy green that has succulent leaves and a mild tart taste. It's often used in salads, or as a soup, pizza or pasta garnish. It makes a fantastic substitute for all types of Purslane, which is commonly stewed.

21 July 2021

Claytonia is commonly known as miners lettuce, spring beauty and winter purslane. It is indigenous to Eastern Asia and North America, and now grows across the world. Although no longer considered a true Purslane, Claytonia was reclassified in the last decade as its own separate genus, it is commonly eaten as one.

In addition to salads and a tasty nutritional garnish, Claytonia can be prepared like purslane, in many dishes. In Morocco, dinner often starts with cooked salads on bread. This Morrocan Purslane dish is one such starter.

In Turkey various wild purslanes are prepared in a variety of dishes, depending on the region. Pirinçli Semizotu, or Purslane with rice is traditionally cooked in Central Anatolia and looks fantastic [2]. We'll be cooking this recipe tonight.

Erba stella

Erba stella is a lovely mild tasting green with thick succulent leaves, akin in flavour and texture to spinach. Chop it finely and add it to salads or on top of hot soups.

7 July 2021

Erba stella is a juicy tender green, traditionally harvested and cultivated across the Mediterranean coastline. It’s a highly adaptive wild plant that grows next to the sea across Spain, Germany, France, Ireland, Portugal, southern Scandinavia and down into Morocco and Egypt.

We grow Erba stella seeds that are imported from Italy, where it is cultivated in some regions. Erba stella is traditionally harvested and served in Misticanza salad, a salad of wild and cultivated leaves thats traditional to the Marche region of Italy, find a recipe for the salad here. In regions of Italy Erba stella is gently steamed and eaten as a side dish with olive oil and salt.

We steam Erba stella and add it to frittata’s, along with steamed escarole, kale and spigarello. I really like making this frittata recipe that uses chickpea flour instead of eggs. Its really easy and so so tasty. I add about five times the amount of greens though, and steam them before adding to the frittata mixture.

Erba stella is a plantain belonging to the Plantaginaceae group. Planta translated from latin to mean foot. Plants in the Plantaginacea group have leaves that growing laying flat on the ground. When we walk down to the beach from our house in Kingston Beach, we can see heaps of small Erba stella plants growing on the limestone rocks along the beach. They are much smaller and grow closer to the ground then the cultivated type we grow, with hairy wild leaves that are no so shiny.

Erba stella translates into Star grass in the South Tyrolean dialect, up in far Northern Italy on the border of Germany. The recipe is by the South Tyrolean Farmers Organisation, a sister organisation of the Southern Tyrolean Farmers Union. They are a group of women who care for community and advocate for strength and status of women in farming.

Star Grass Cake:

For the pastry: 100 g of sugar; 200 g of butter; 300 g of flour; 1 pinch of salt; 1 egg.

For the filling: 200 g of fresh quark cheese; 1 egg; 2 tablespoons of honey; Grated lemon zest to taste; 50 ml of whipping cream; 75 g of chopped walnuts; 1 handful of star grass leaves (also with flowers); 1 handful of delicate herbs such as plantain, lemon balm and lamio; 2 apples or other fruit, peeled and cut into wedges.

Preparation: After letting the shortcrust pastry rest for at least two hours, spread it out in a buttered and sifted round pan with breadcrumbs or lined with baking paper. Pierce the dough several times with a fork. Finely chop the herbs and add them to the other ingredients of the garnish. Pour the cream over the dough and distribute the apple wedges. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 ° for 40 - 50 minutes.

Erba stella hazel nut pesto:

This recipe is by Ivana Mennini, I translated it directly from her website.

100 g of Erba stella
30 g of hazelnuts
100 g about extra virgin olive oil
2 - 3 tablespoons filled with parmesan cheese

"Wash the star grass [Erba Stella], drain it and wipe it with a dry cloth to dab and dry it well. Put the star herb in the blender with the hazelnuts and oil. Blend well several times so as not to overheat the blade. When we have reached the desired creaminess, add the Parmesan and mix well, adding oil to your liking."

Escarole & Frisée

Escarole and Frisée are sister loose heading chicories with a little bit of bitterness and quite thick leaves that can withstand lots of cooking.

These sister plants are Mediterranean eaten by the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks (G.T Prance, 2005) They weren’t introduced into central Europe until the 16th C, where they’ve both become very popular. We love this French lentil soup with Escarole that uses green lentils ~ which are very tasty ~ and red wine.

Winter 2021

Our new arrival is frisée also known as curly endive. We like to enjoy the bitterness of frisée like a lettuce- dressed in heaps of vinegar. Frisée is also really good sauteed gently with garlic. We think frisée truly shines added raw into a sandwich with lots of mustard and red onion.

7 September 2021

Escarole is back in the box ~ Its fleshy, salty & a little bit bitter ~ super good raw, wilted, boiled, baked and stuffed.

In the spirit of spring ~ and summoning more of that hot weather ~ we tracked down a recipe for an escarole salad. This salad is lightly cooked to reduce the bitterness of the leaves and to tenderise them.

Escarole contains a prebiotic called inulin. The inulin in the Escarole, the fibre in the lentils & those polyphenols in the red wine ~ our gut microbiomes will be pretty happy. We know Italians adore Escarole. Grace translated a recipe for Scarola alla napoletana, or Italian sauteed escarole with raisins, pine nuts and black olives.

Scarola alla napoletana
Italian sautéed escarole with raisins, pine nuts and black olives.
This recipe is by Francesca Marcuccio, and was translated by Grace from Italian to English using google translate.

Ingredients: 1 kg escarole; 2 cloves Garlic; 2 anchovies in oil; 1 tablespoon pine nuts'; 1 tablespoon Salted capers; 100 g Black olives; Chilli pepper to taste; Salt; extra virgin olive oil.

Preparation: Toast the pine nuts in a non-stick pan. Rinse the capers to remove excess salt and chop them; Clean the escarole by removing the most damaged and leathery outer leaves, wash it well in plenty of water, rinsing often; In a low and wide pan (it must contain the escarole) pour a little oil , add the garlic cloves and the chilli pepper and let it brown for a few moments. Add the anchovy fillets , the pitted olives and the capers and leave to flavor for two or three minutes; Add the escarole leaves cut into two or three pieces, mix and leave to dry for 5-6 minutes, then put a lid on and leave to cook for about twenty minutes. Salt the vegetables a few minutes before the end of cooking. Enjoy your meal!

7 July 2021

We made this stuffed frisée recipe by Antonio Carluccio.
Instead of frisée we used escarole! In our version we omit both the anchovies, eggs and cheese~ and wow we love this recipe! Its very rich & salty, and the raisins just make it off the charts tasty.

23 June 2021

We blanch our escaroles using elastic bands for 10 days to get a very light, sweet centre. Escarole is salty and a little bit bitter, and Grace thinks it tastes a little bit like the ocean.

We made a version of this pizza di scaroloa, or escarole pie for the Autumn Picnic, and it was delicious! After attempting the dough, and failing...puff pastry was brought from the shops and it was honestly so delicious. We served the pie cold with a big frizee salad~ The pie can be served cold, warm & hot.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a sweet bulbing stem vegetable that’s juicy. In winter we call them brassica apples because they just get so sweet.

Kohlrabi is a brassica related to broccoli, cabbages and turnips. It is particularly popular across Asia and Europe. In Cyprus its called kouloumpra, in Vietnam its called su hào and in Bangladesh its called olkopi.

Kohlrabi marinates really well, and takes on stock, spices and other flavours beautifully. Its a versatile vegetables that can be boiled, steamed, sautéed, roasted or fried, as well as thinly sliced into salads.

16 June 2021

This video is one of my favourites ever on the internet.
Andreas Louros is a gardener from Cyprus. And he grew this kohlrabi that weighs 7 kg and is 60cm tall.
Andreas says he has also grown a gigantic radish of similar proportions. Amazing.

This Bangladeshi kohlrabi curry recipe is wonderful, and demonstrates the versatility of this veggie. The kohlrabi is treated very much like a potato: its peeled, boiled with the potatoes and added to the curry at the end of the book.

I use this recipe thats in English. Its pretty simple and really tasty.

This video shows chef Andros Charlambous Pyliotis of Cyrus, preparing kohlrabi and demonstrates how to peel it and enjoy it fresh in salad. If however you are looking for something a little more rich, this greek-style gratin pie with kohlrabi looks heavy & delicious!

Daikon

Daikon radish come in different shapes, sizes and colours. We grow three cultivars: White, Red and Purple and hope to grow many more of these beauties in the future.

1 September 2021

We pulled the last of the white daikon radish for a couple of months ~ so we’re celebrating the last of the winter daikon this week.

Wild radish is believed to be native to: somewhere between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Kaneko et al, 2007). Wild radish roots were eaten in Ancient Egypt since 2700 BC, where it was also later cultivated. Radish was introduced and cultivated in China almost 2500 years ago, and in Japan 1300 years ago.

Some researchers believe that varieties of wild radish are actually native to some coastal areas of Japan. They argue that Japanese wild radish traveled with tides and currents, eventually crossing with introduced species of radish along the silk road via contaminated grain, to form other varieties (Kaneko et al, 1993).

Daikon is a water rich root vegetable that is wonderful enjoyed raw in salads, fermented as kimchi, steamed for 10 mins, or roasted. Roasted daikon is very delicious. Add a miso & maple glaze and it gets taken to the next level.

For the maple glaze: Add 1tbsp of miso to 1 tbsp of maple syrup & whisk.

To roast daikon: Cut the daikon into 1cm disks. Roast in the oven at 200C (fan forced) for 20 mins or until the slices become a little caramelised. Add the roasted daikon to the maple glaze in a bowel & coat well. Put the disks back to the oven for 5 mins.

We are in awe of kimchi master Kwang Hee Mama Park, and her dandelion kimchi broke our hearts ~ this interview is legit.

Daikon radish is very often a central ingredient to kimchi. Some researchers argue that the practice of preparing and eating kimchi is some 4000 years old (Jang et al, 2015). Other researchers argue that the practice of eating kimchi is only 100 years old. The contention in the literature seems to surround the introduction of hot chilli plants and wombok cabbages into Korea.

Large kimchi jars remain dug into the ground at the Temple de Beopju in the Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea. This temple has opened its doors for over 1500 years.

If you’d like to read more about this kimchi contention, you can read this paper for free online. We recognise kimchi as being a cultural practice dating back thousands of years. It’s an interesting subject where genome mapping, cultural histories, art and religion all meet.

11 August 2021

Daikon is back this week <3 After having the best law bok gow radish cakes from Tasty Buns on Collins street, Grace was inspired to make some. She used this recipe from Cooking with Dog ~ amazing.

21 April 2021

Purple daikon.
You'll notice cutting into purple daikon that they've got thick purple skins. The purple colour comes from anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid that are super healthful! All purple vegetables that carry the anothocyanin trait also tend to be much more fibrous. The thick skin on the purple daikon is a sister trait of the anthocyanins ~ the same goes for purple cabbages, kohlrabi’s & purple sprouting broccoli.

Image source:
Image 1: www.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Zuev_(professor_of_TSAU)_hold_on_daikon_growing_in_Uzbekistan
Image 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618115000451#bib6
Image 3: https-//www.cycleblaze.com/journals/japan2007/day-32-iwakuni-to-tsuwano-we-cross-paths-with-the-velomad-team/

References:
Kaneko Y, Kimizuka-Takagi C, Bang SW, Matsuzawa Y (2007) Radish. In: Kole C., editor. Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants. vol. 5. New York: Springer: pp. 141-160
YUKIO KANEKO, YASUO MATSUZAWA, in Genetic Improvement of Vegetable Crops, 1993