As you can probably imagine, all of us here at High Mowing are pretty food motivated. When you talk about growing delicious crops all day, it's hard not to develop a serious appetite. Spring is an amazing time for making meals and we know just how hard it can be to get creative in the kitchen when you've been hustling in the garden or field all day. Below we'd like to share some of our Commercial Grower Sales Representative's favorite recipes for the spring eating season.

Got a go-to spring recipe of your own to share? Post below in the comments!

Paul Betz @paul_betz

Paul is the High Mowing Organic Seeds Sales Manager.

Melting Potatoes

From the Eating Well Blog, melting potatoes have a creamy texture that melts in your mouth while, on the outside, they have a crispy flavorful crust.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch slices
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

Step 1: Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 500°F.

Step 2: Toss potatoes, butter, oil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Arrange in a single layer in a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan. (Do not use a glass dish, which could shatter.) Roast, flipping once, until browned, about 30 minutes.

Step 3: Carefully add broth and garlic to the pan. Continue roasting until most of the broth is absorbed and the potatoes are very tender, about 15 minutes more. Serve hot.

Ada Snyder @adasnyder

Ada serves commercial growers in the U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.

Chive Pesto

Ingredients for 1 ½ cups of sauce:

  • 4 cups (or more) chopped fresh common chives
  • 2 oz nuts (about 1/3 cup, I always use pine nuts and slightly toast them)
  • 1 cup freshly- grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped (I usually do 3-4 cloves..more is always good)
  • ¼ cup (or more) olive oil
  • Salt to taste

Toss the chives, nuts, cheese and garlic into the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are finely-chopped. Then, with the machine running, add olive oil to desired consistency. Add salt if desired.

One 1/4 cup oil will give you spread-able pesto; add more oil to produce a pourable sauce for pasta. Serve on crackers, on slices of toasted baguette, on cod or other white fish, or toss with pasta.

Paul Feenan @paulfeenan_hmos

Paul serves commercial growers in the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Wisconsin.

Kale and Beans with Italian Sausage and Brown Rice

Ingredients:

  • Short grain brown rice (other rice will work but this is really a dish for this type)
  • Sweet Italian sausage – Sliced after baking (Others will work too – i.e. Chorizo)
  • Kale – As much as you can stuff into a 12” skillet AND THEN SOME. Freshly washed (so it is still holding some water), chopped into strips.
  • 1 – 2 cans of Cannellini Beans – Pretty well drained
  • 1 onion (preferable sweet but it does not matter too much)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • Olive oil for sautéing
  • Rice wine vinegar (seasoned if you like)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Feta cheese for garnish

Cook a pot of brown rice (start this while you prep everything else.) Bake sweet Italian sausage in the oven at 375.

In a 12” skillet:

  • Sautee onion and garlic for a short period in ample olive oil.
  • Add beans and cook for a while. Increase temp in preparation for adding kale.
  • Add kale to hot pan and mixture. Moisture on kale should sizzle.

I use tongs to bruise and pressure the kale down so I can add more than the pan will want to hold in the first batch. Once the kale is starting to wilt, add a generous couple of dashes of the vinegar. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Serve sautéed kale and beans on rice and top with slices of your favorite Italian sausage. Add crumbled feta at the table.

Michelle Hochkeppel @michelle_highmowing

Michelle serves commercial growers in the U.S. states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Beet Burgers

These Beet Burgers from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s cookbook, “Color Me Vegan” are delicious. They are great because it’s a one bowl operation, you can bake them all off at once, and then freeze them individually so that you can just pull them out for a quick lunch.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups grated beets
  • 1 & 1/2 cups cooked quinoa or farro
  • 1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 3 tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (or, in our case, celery leaves)
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2-3 tbsp tamari soy sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • salt, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You should be able to make the burgers into shape without them falling apart, but if they do then add more flour so that they stick. I like to take either a round measuring up or a biscuit cutter and press the beet burger mixture into it. Bake the burgers for 25 minutes, flipping them half-way through.

Aaron Varadi @aaron_varadi

Aaron serves commercial growers in California and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan, as well as the territories of Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.

Roasted Radish Recipe

This time of year, I always seem to have more radishes than I know what to do with. But it took me about 5 years into my farming career to come across this simple yet revolutionary recipe: roasted radishes. Something about it wasn’t very intuitive, but once I tried it, it’s been my go-to. And kids find it a more appealing way to eat radishes, as the roasting cooks off that Brassicaceous heat and pungency, and you’re left with a silky smooth, sweet, delicious root.

Ingredients:

  • 2 bunches radishes, trimmed and halved
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of any herb you like
  • Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Stir olive oil, garlic, and whatever herbs you’re using together in a large bowl, then add the halved radishes and toss it all together to coat the radishes. Spread the radishes onto the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Roast until tender but firm in the center, tossing every 5 minutes for a total of 15-20 minutes.