Green, Green...

The most beautiful words of the Spring: "the farm in Pennington is now open."

And with that, the farm season at the Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington has begun. Our first pickup for this year was Sunday, and it was an impressive first day haul: a huge bunch of leeks, 4 enormous heads of curly green leaf lettuce in shades of deep green and chartreuse, a pound of baby bok choy, a pound of dark green, spicy arugula and SIX pounds of spinach.

Do you have any idea how much SIX pounds of spinach can be?

The farm was buzzing with eager members when we arrived on Sunday after church, everyone standing in line to sign in for the season and receive their fluorescent pink ID badges, milling around the counters filled with all of the greens we'd be taking home that day, kids playing out on the lawn under the giant gnarled tree and on its branches. It was a great first day, bursting with enthusiasm.

When I got home I bagged everything as quickly as possible for the fridges, trimmed and julienned the leeks for quick grilling next to the London broil I planned for dinner. Much of the leeks ended up sprinkled atop mashed potatoes, a nice little garnish. One of the giant heads of lettuce and a big fistful of arugula made more than enough salad for dinner, along with rainbow grape tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and chick peas.

On Monday, I knew I had to start utilizing the spinach and searched online for a recipe for "chicken and spinach". Here's what I selected, from Food.com:


Bowties with Chicken and Spinach

Ingredients:

Servings:

  6   6

6-8

Units: US | Metric

• 16 ounces bow tie pasta
• 1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 lb spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:

1. 1
   Boil the pasta until done.
2. 2
   Meanwhile, cook the chicken in oil over medium-high heat.
3. 3
   Add the onion, red pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper with the chicken.
4. 4
   Continue to cook and stir 5-7 minutes until chicken is almost cooked through.
5. 5
   Add the broth and spinach then cook until spinach is wilted and chicken is done.
6. 6
   Combine chicken mixture with hot drained pasta and toss well.
7. 7
   Top with cheese and parsley then serve.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   It turned out to be a great recipe. I had twice the amount of boneless chicken breast, so I just doubled up all of the ingredients.  Sophie wisely chose tomato-carrot farfalle, which we had on hand in the pantry, for the bowtie pasta and it really made for an attractive dish.  I amped up the garlic a bit, and used about a pound and a half of the spinach. Simple, full of spring/summer flavors, and it used a quarter of the spinach. Now I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the spinach.
   
   
   Any ideas?