From JEFF COX

I know a place in the deep woods of Pennsylvania where a spring bubbles up out of the ground. Someone long ago built a small cobblestone house about the size of a doghouse over the spring, and to the front fixed a door with a screen to keep out insects. The water exits through a small sluice below the door and runs away down a gentle slope. Along the first 20 feet or so of its length, watercress grows. As the spring comes on, first a few leaves appear, the more, then more, until by June there’s a big bank of it. In the cool and pretty month of May, the cress is at is finest—juicy, crunch, and slightly peppery, with a clean, refreshing flavor that’s the vegetative equivalent of the spring water itself.

This is my memory of that place, and I drank there often as a boy and enjoyed a few leaves of watercress, plain and raw. It’s been many decades since I’ve been there, and I hope it hasn’t changed a wink, since the world needs places like that for boys and girls to find and to know the taste of pure, natural spring water bubbled fresh through subterranean rocks, and the watercress that grows in it.
~

Nasturtium officinale
As the botanical name shows, watercress is the official nasturtium; while it shares a spicy, peppery quality with the brightly colored garden flowers we call nasturtiums, those garden flowers are Tropaeolum majus, botanically a different plant. Watercress is a member of the mustard family along with cabbage, kale, hohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, and other common herbs and vegetables. Most of these mustards have the pungent quality that makes watercress such a pick-me-up in salads.

Watercress grows just about everywhere in North America that water flows, and foraging for your own leaves can be a wonderful way of getting he freshest, crispect organic leaves imaginable. Be aware that watercress will grow just fine in polluted ditches along roadsides and farm fields so if you are gathering from the wild, make sure that the water in which it grows is pure. It can also be grown in the garden as long as the soil is kept well moistened.

The Organic Factor
Like the other members of the brassica, or mustard, family, watercress is attacked by flea beetles, among other insects, and conventional growers will spray pesticides to keep them from eating holes in the leaves. Organic growers use traps, nontoxic repellent sprays, and mesh row covers or other physical barriers to keep the insects away. The B&W Company, which sells watercress to Europe as well as the United States, is the largest supplier of certified organic watercress in the country.

Nutrition
Fresh watercress is a nutritious plant. Just 3 ounces (a small bunch) gives us 200 percent of our daily requirement of vitamin C, and it’s also rich in calcium, beta-carotene, iron, and the antioxidant selenium. It stimulates the production of the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, which protects the colon’s mucosa from cancer-causing foodstuffs like nitrites and charred meat.

Seasonality
Watercress is a perennial whose roots survive the winter in all but the coldest regions of the country. Watercress can get too peppery fairly quickly in the spring, so early spring is the prime time for this leafy green. I find that by the time watercress starts blooming, it’s too pungent and is past its prime.

What To Look For
The best watercress shows no blooming stalks or even unopened flowers. Its leaves are small and its stems delicate and juicy. When picking over watercress at the market, avoid any with thickened or tough stems, or with leaves that have started to yellow.

Preparation
Wash your watercress carefully, inspecting both sides of the leaves, as small snails and a particular sort of little black beetle enjoy the cress, too. If the stems are thick, you might want to remove and only use the leaves on the thinnest stems, especially in salads.

Uses
Use watercress as soon as possible after you get it home, as it quickly loses its fresh, sweet quality Watercress stars in salads, providing pungency to brighten the mild flavor of lettuce. Try crisp watercress instead of lettuce in your next sandwich. Puree raw watercress with a bit of liquid to make a quick and easy sauce to stir into soups (such as vichyssoise) right before serving.
~

Organic Watercress, Beet, and Orange Salad

Serves 4

The flavors in this salad are remarkable in the way they harmonize and complement each other. The roasted beets will need time to chill, so make them a day ahead.

3 small beets, with root tip and 1 inch of stem left attached
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of fresh or dried thyme
1 bunch watercress, washed well and drained
1 small head butterhead lettuce, rinsed and dried in paper towels
1 head Belgian endive
1 mandarin orange, peeled and segmented (other sweet citrus can be used, but remove tough membranes and seeds)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup soft goat cheese (2 to 3 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Roast the beets on a sheet pan for about 1 hour, until the beet flesh shrinks away from its skin. Let cool, peel, place in a plastic bag and refrigerate until cold, 3 hours or overnight.

2. In a jar with a screw cap, combine the vinegar, salt, mustard, olive oil, pepper, and thyme, and shake vigorously for half a minute.

3. Quarter the beets. Pick through the watercress, removing large stems, yellowed leaves, and roots.

4. In a salad bowl, make a bed with the lettuce leaves. Cut the endive in half lengthwise, then cut each half into thirds. Separate these and sprinkle over the lettuce. Scatter the watercress over the salad, then the beets, the orange segments, and the walnuts, and sprinkle the top with the parsley. Finally, make dots of goat cheese over the surface of the salad. Shake the vinaigrette vigorously once more, then sprinkle over the salad. No need to toss as the dressing will coat the salad as it is served.
~~

From GENE LOGSDON

About this time of year, I unload the finished compost from the “hot box,” as we call our concrete block compost bin and refill it with fresh sheep manure from the barn. It will heat up gloriously in a few days and when the highest heat and ammonia subside, we can transfer plants started in the house safely to this hot bed, with a plastic cover at night if necessary.  This job means I am back to pitching manure, a task otherwise reserved for July and August after the manure has aged in the barn for four or five months.

As a boy and younger man, I rejoiced when tractor front end loaders and skid loaders came into vogue to lift the manure and relieve us of long hours of manual labor. But there is something to be said for forking manure by hand. For some reason, it inspires philosophical meditation if you are alone, and philosophical conversation if you have company. I don’t know why. Following Buddhism, perhaps this menial, repetitious task empties the mind of all worldly care and a kind of Nirvana enfolds. The mind becomes centered on the job instead of flitting restlessly from one distraction to another. This concentration somehow (ask Buddha) allows the mind to enter a sort of transcendental peace. Then comes a chance for deep thought.

Or it may just be that the ammonia emanating from the manure produces a kind of chemical high that causes the mind to reverberate with impassioned thought processes and/or talkativeness. Coffee, not to mention bourbon, will set me off the same way.

At any rate, to enjoy forking manure, one must be in good physical shape and understand the principles of leverage. You can’t just jab the fork deep into the manure pack and lift up a forkful. That’s a good way to get a slipped disc or a hernia.  The manure and bedding have been trampled down solidly by the livestock and is easier to pry out in somewhat thin layers. Start along the wall of the stall not out in the middle of the pack.  Right next to the wall, the manure and bedding will lift away more easily. Slide the fork under only a few inches worth and push down on the fork handle. The curve of the fork tines will act as a fulcrum to lever the forkful looser from the pack. Next, if you normally grasp the middle of the fork handle with your left hand (right hand out on the end of the fork), set your left knee under your left hand and push further down on the fork handle with your right hand, using your left knee as a fulcrum. (If you normally grasp the fork handle in the middle with your right hand, use your right knee as the fulcrum.) The forkful will come loose much more easily than if you just try to muscle it out of the pack.  Proceed to remove the manure in layers that way.

Some of my most treasured memories are of long talks while forking manure. Once in the seminary, where I led a rather eerie, lopsided life (you can read about it in my novel, The Lords of Folly), studying philosophy in the morning and forking manure in the afternoon for example, a conversation I remember fondly went something like this:

“I don’t get that metaphysics stuff, do you?” a fellow forker asks.

“Not really.” (In fact I almost flunked the course.)

“Well, what do you think it is.”

I puffed up, proud to have been asked. “Far as I can figure, it is sort of like, well, you can look at a particular object just as it appears in nature. An oak tree, for example, rather than just any tree. That’s the first degree of abstraction. In the second degree of abstraction which is mathematics, you can count the number of trees in the woods, for instance. Or how many board feet of lumber is growing there. In the third degree of abstraction, you contemplate sheer treeness, that which makes you recognize a tree every time you see one no matter how different trees are from each other. That’s metaphysics, learning what the idea of tree is all about.” I had no idea what I was talking about.

My companion, not wanting to seem any stupider than I, nodded as if in comprehension. “I’ve always wondered about what tractors are really all about. Metaphysically, I mean. The idea of tractor must be all about tread. Right?”

Buddha would have been pleased. I think.  And in the process, one more field got fertilized the right way.
~
Image Credit: Ten Apple Farm
~~

From WILLI GALLOWAY
DigginFood.com→

I love to make pizza, but I do not cook my pies on a pizza stone. Instead, I use my trusty cast iron skillet.

When we bought our 786 square foot house, we adopted a strict rule: every tool must have more than one purpose. I’ve since had to abandon my desire for a pizza stone (and bulb planter, and olive pitter, and pickle grabber) at our door.

Luckily, my preferred pizza preparation technique (which I learned from a Real Simple recipe a few years back) uses the bottom of a hot cast iron skillet in place of a pizza stone. The hot skillet prevents soggy crusts by evenly distributing heat across the surface of the dough as it cooks. I’ve made a lot of pizzas this way. They turn out perfect every time and make me love my cast iron skillet even more!

Potato, Caramelized Onion and Sausage Skillet Pizza
Adapted from Potato and Onion Flat Bread, Real Simple, May 2006

Use the technique in this recipe as a starting point for creating your own pizza topping combinations. Homemade pesto with goat cheese, roasted garlic, and sundried tomatoes is always a winner at our house. If caramelized onions don’t fall onto your favorite topping list, preheat the skillet by placing it over medium heat for about 6 to 8 minutes. One pizza, if served with a generous salad, makes a nice meal for two people.

What you’ll need:
1 10- to 12-inch cast iron skillet
1 pound of pizza dough (I package of refrigerated dough)
Olive oil
1 small yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 small, well-scrubbed ‘Yukon Gold’ potatoes, very thinly sliced
1 hot Italian sausage, cooked and sliced into rounds
1 tablespoon whole rosemary needles
¼ cup provolone picante cheese, finely grated
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in the cast iron skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onions, give them a good shake, sprinkle with a bit of salt, and cook until they soften and turn a deep, nutty brown (about 8 to 10 minutes). Place the caramelized onion in a bowl and add the potato, sausage, and rosemary. Toss to combine.

Wipe out the skillet and set it upside down on a heat-proof surface. Sprinkle the corn meal evenly over the bottom of the skillet. Divide the pizza dough in half and place one half on a floured work surface (use the other half to make an additional pizza or place it back in the refrigerator). Roll out the dough into a round that fits the bottom of the skillet.

Place the dough on the upside down skillet (make sure it doesn’t overhang the sides). Brush it with olive oil and then arrange the potato mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the potato mixture and then dust it with the cheese. Set the skillet into the oven on a middle rack and bake until the crust becomes golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven; slide it onto a cutting board and slice.
~
See also A Fast and Furious Weeknight Skillet Dinner at Grist→
~~

From LISA BARNES

Some call edamame, or vegetable soy beans, the super or wonder food because it is almost the only vegetable that contains all nine essential amino acids. This makes edamame a complete protein source, similar to meat or eggs, which are especially important to vegetarian and vegan babies. My son loves his puree blended with plain yogurt.

Makes 12 servings

1 cup fresh or frozen organic green soybeans (edamame), shelled
½ cup purified water

Place fresh soybeans in a steamer basket in a pot filled with about 2 inches of lightly boiling water. Do not let water touch soybeans. Steam fresh soybeans for about 20 minutes. Follow package directions for cooking frozen soybeans.

Puree soybeans in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Slowly add liquid and continue to process to a smooth paste, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl midway through processing. Add more water to achieve desired consistency.
~
Image Credit: © Laurin Rinder | Dreamstime.com
~~

From ChefAnn.com

Welcome to the Lunch Lessons Revolution!

I’m the Renegade Lunch Lady. My life’s work is to transform how we feed our children in school each day, from highly processed to highly nourishing food — one school lunch at a time.

Join the network of people throughout the United States and the world working to change the way our children are eating. Together, we’ll tackle outdated district spending policies, commodity-based food service organizations, political platforms with no mention of school food or child health — and ultimately the USDA — to ensure that kids everywhere have wholesome, nutritious, delicious food at school.

Sign up for “Ann Alerts” or take the “School Food Challenge” to connect with new ideas, strategies, tips, recipes, and others who care as deeply as you. If your school or community is working on food systems change be sure to check out thelunchbox.org: Healthy Tools to Help All Schools, there may be resources there that can help you. Your passion and commitment will help us make a difference for future generations.

I challenge you to do just one thing to make a difference in your own schools –eat lunch in a local school and see what you think, then inquire about the wellness policy in the local school district, volunteer in the kitchen, form a local task force, meet with school board members, plant a garden or at least the idea for a garden at a local school. One thing – Go for it and keep us posted of your progress on the Community Page at www.thelunchbox.org.  Together, we’ll transform local changes into a stronger and healthier community for all children in every school. Let the Lunch Lessons Revolution begin!

Chef Ann
Renegade Lunch Lady
~~