Spinach Early Spring 2007—Tasty Greens
OK, I wasn't going to put this up because I was told that we bought it all on the last order and didn't think I would have time to get is out before it was all gone. I'm talking about winter spinach grown at Tantre Farm and it is damn good. I think it's the best "salad" spinach out there. Also I thought I might have brought this up last year but I couldn't find my notes. So I am letting you know again so you don't miss out.
As you know fresh green leaves to eat can be a rarity around here in the winter but it is possible to grow them all winter long if you plan right and get a little cooperation from the weather. Check out any of Elliot Colman's books on the subject. He puts it in plain English. Tomorrow we are getting our second order of about 30 pounds. It will come in 5-6 pound bags that are about the size of one of those yoga balls or a crab ball if you've played that. Each one will make around two large salads for the case. Or another weeks worth the way the deli has picked up. It is all grown in a hoop house which really is just a half circle covered with clear 6 mill plastic with the ends covered. The ground never freezes. The plants are put in the ground late late fall and do pretty well for the first few weeks in their warm manufactured environment. Then winter really starts to hit hard, the daylight gets extremely short and the cold never goes away. This is when the plants sort of just hang out, not really growing and producing more leaves, but more in a dormant state. Some times the spinach needs to be covered again with a thin veil of a tissue like paper so they don't totally freeze on the super cold nights. Like with this year, when it warms back up in March with a little more light and the plants wake back up. They get whacked and sent to us.
So this is why I like this stuff so much: It has a small uniform leaf that is perfect fork size so you don't have to cut and bruise it up. We just dunk it, spin it dry and serve it. Secondly the leaf structure is great, it holds dressing well and won't wilt right off the bat, which is a big deal if you're making salads in our case. Most salad greens that you get in the heat of the summer are a little on the thin side and dressing tends to destroy them. This spinach has a nice rigidity to it. Yet another sweet item is the low levels of oxalic acid in these plants. Oxalic acid is what gives spinach that tang, that lingering after taste. If you want a strong example of what it tastes like just go out and buy a bunch of Sorrel and eat that. It has an unmistakable flavor that you won't forget. With the cooler and slower growing environment the plant produces more sugar than acid giving it a sweeter flavor without the tang. It really is a special thing.
Some of the great things you might see with it in the case could be: Country Spinach. A classic bacon and hardboiled egg combo with apple cider vinegar and great Zingerman's horseradish mustard. No mayo in this one. The dressing is made with the yolks and mustard. Spinach and grapefruit dressing with a few dark toasted Freddie Guy Filberts is also nice. Green Goat is a good salad with the Creamery's fresh goat rounds a few piquillo peppers and some pine nuts. Maybe we'll even make a few special batches of Spinach Feta. Sorry you won't see any Catalan Spinach this time around. The price to our door is too much to make a "cooked" salad out of it. And one more thing—eat the stems they are the sweetest part.
Thanks,
Chef Rodger
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