Beachwood Canyon CSA pick-up & Panade Recipe

Vollies John and Laura with CSA shareholder Fran at the Beachwood Canyon pick-up.








Here's what Farmer John had for us at the Beachwood Canyon pick-up today:

turnips (pictured left)
arugula
Russian Kale
red & golden beets
curly mustard (pictured below)
japanese cucumbers
celery
adolescent romaine (red & green)
fresh garlic
mint
butter lettuce

Meanwhile, Mars, who happens to be launching a unique neighborhood school in Beachwood Canyon, sent in this amazing recipe for Panade - a savory bread casserole.

Make Panade with greens (kale, mustard, beet tops, turnip tops) and bread - even if it's old, stale bread - it doesn't matter. Mars brought some Panade to the CSA pick-up for us to taste and it was DELICIOUS. Here's her recipe, dapted from Judy Rodgers’s recipe from The Zuni Café.

Panada - a savory casserole

Choose a 2 quart soufflé dish or cast iron dutch oven, The size will be a gauge as to how much bread etc you will need.

2-3- thinly sliced yellow onions
mushrooms of all kinds
Garlic cloves peeled, as many as you like
ham
Salt
1 lb green Swiss Chard, thick ribs removed, or any bitter green (kale, mustard or beet green) cut into ribbons
Day old chewy bread (not sandwich bread) cut into cubes-enough to fill your casserole
Big box of chicken stock or vegetable broth
Fontina or Gruyere or swiss cheese coarsely grated (2 cups loosely packed) or more!

HEAT ¼ cup of the olive oil, add the onions and garlic, cook 3 minutes, stir and repeat.

When golden, add garlic, reduce heat to low with a few pinches of salt.

Stew, stir occasionally -- 15 minutes. Onions should not be mushy. Remove from pan.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees so as to cook for 1 hour 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 250 degrees so as to cook 2 hours 45 minutes.

In same large pan as you cooked the onions, wilt the chard with a drizzle of water and oil. Add a few pinches of salt.
3-4 minutes. It will taste bitter—ignore that. Toss in the bread with few T of olive oil and some stock.
Arrange layers of bread and greens with handfuls of cheese and a grind of pepper. Place cheese on top.

Bring the stock to a simmer and taste of salt.
Add stock to dish, nearly to the brim (1 inch below) Wait till it is absorbed.

BAKING THE PANADE
Cover the top with parchment paper then loosely wrap the top and sides with foil--With dull sides out.
Place a piece of foil on the floor to catch the inevitable drips.
It will rise a little, lifting the foil with it.
The top should be pale golden in the center and slightly darker on the edges.
Not really necessary but you can finish by uncovering the panade and raise temp to 375 for 10-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Excellent the next day. Great for freezing.

Thank you Mars! tara