Hot Shots - August 19, 2022
Hot Shots - August 19, 2022
Severin R-B Danieli
Hello all,
Hope everyone is staying cool, it is a hot week on the coast!
Nothing super new to report, the latter half of August has been much more relaxed than the first few weeks, so I am just coasting into the weekend with minimal plans. I finished up my permaculture course last weekend, which I am sad about, but am looking forward to applying what I have learned to next years growing season.
This course just scratched the surface of all that permaculture has to offer, so I will most definitely be looking into getting my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in the coming years.
In the meantime however... let's chat produce!
Nectarines.
Harker's Organics, in the Cawston Valley, have supplied us with some of their delicious local nectarines. A slow start to the local season, but they are here! We have a few different sizes to suit any need, these include: 40/48ct, 50/54ct, 60/64ct, 70/72ct and 12x2# pouches.
I've mentioned on a few hot shots that, when it comes to stone fruit, nectarines are top of the list for me, followed closely by cherries. A ripe nectarine, used in either sweet or savory, is always a hit.
Nectarine upside down cake? A salad? cobbler or crisp? Roasted or baked with puff pastry and burrata? The list goes on and on.
Garlic!
Peeled garlic to be exact. This has been a sought after item lately and we are so excited to let everyone know we have their peeled garlic back in stock!
Coming from California, these easy to use cloves are ready to make any dish more mouthwateringly savory. Garlic is a very versatile member of the allium family, and has a whole list of benefits.
My favourite ways to use garlic all year round is freshly crushed in a salad dressing to bump up any salad, alongside roasted root veggies, in creamy fettucine alfredo, on crispy garlic bread... oh my, I'm starting to get hungry!
Leeks!
Ralph's leeks are back in stock, and everyone is stoked. One of our buyers mentioned that we were getting Ralph's leeks in this week and everyone in the meeting got very excited.
A favourite recipe of mine is potato leek soup, either chunky or pureed, but in this heat, a soup is not on my roster. I did come across this Creamy One-Pot Spaghetti with Leeks and it has almost 6 thousand ratings of 5 stars! I'll have to try this out soon and report back.
Ralph's farmer Ray and Tim grow over 45 acres of leeks, which has awarded them the title of Leek King. Ralph's is one of the farms I want to visit the most... and I am thinking about driving down to Seattle for a comedy show in September, so maybe there will be a pit stop!
Shallots.
Or as I like to call them, fancy onions.
The third amaryllidaceae family item this week (garlic, leeks, now shallots), these multi-cloved bulbs were first named 'ascalon' after an ancient city in Israel, situated along the coast of the Mediterranean, that first introduced these bulbs to Greece.
Available at Disco from Coke Farms in 10# boxes from California, these shallots are ready to be tossed into a salad, caramelized, or fried up with potatoes to make delicious hash browns.
Romaine lettuce.
There isn't many options for romaine lettuce, besides a topper on a burger or various types of salads, but, I recently had a charred romaine Caesar salad and it was extra delicious.
The New York Times put together a quick and easy recipe for grilled romaine and I'll link it here, as well as the Food Network has a recipe for a charred Caesar salad - right here!
Romaine lettuce comes from the middle East and the Mediterranean area, with its most recognizable name coming from the papal gardens in Rome where it has grown for years and years, and has a history stretching back at least 5,000 years.
We are getting some beautiful and fresh romaine lettuce from our local farms, such as: Snow Farms, Longview, Two EE's, and Myers.
A Disco staff shout out!
This is Tyler. He has been a member of the QC & Receiving team since spring of 2019, and here he is with fresh local celeriac root from Two EE's Farm.
Tyler's favourite recipes for celeriac are roasted with other root veggies, doused in olive oil, oregano and salt and pepper or a roasted celeriac and garlic dip.
Thank you for your hard work Tyler!!
Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli