3 Variations on a Theme

Today is CSA Monday - Hooray

What arrived today?

• Curley Parsley
• Kholrabi
• White and sweet potatoes
• Romaine lettuce (huge)
• Dill
• Spring onions
• Clemintine oranges
• Tomatoes
• Rocket
• Cucumbers
• Young lubia beans (like cowpeas or asparagus beans but sweeter)
• Young beet greens

Having concentrated on bread this weekend, I had a bit of a surplus of greenery and I thought I would try variations on the theme of Chinese style greens.

First up was snowpeas with dried shitake mushrooms, ginger, garlic, dark soysauce, sesame & chili oils. The sweetness and crunch of the peas nicely counterbalanced the salt of the soy and the chewy texture of the reconstituted shitakes, and were a huge treat, not having had snowpeas in years - they are not easily found here, and when you do find them you need a mortgage to buy them.

Next up were the lubia. Stirfried with ginger, garlic and szechuan pepper, doused in wine and then drizzled with oyster sauce and sweet soy and topped with coriander. These were meaty, crispy and oozing with wok hai.

Last on the list was Swiss chard with ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, sesame & chili oils. Swiss chard seems to be my new favourite vegetable. These were succulent, spicy and salty-sweet, I managed to obtain not only wok hai by seriously heating my pan but an amazing case of umami, without having any meat. Of the three different stirfries, this combination is the one that I am planning on making again, and very soon...