Once again we had a large group. We counted 37 at lunch! Three people came from the Senior group that we started last year. It was a busy time as Mark started with wheat threshing & grinding AND made pancakes. Then onto my demo’s of how to use purslane – which Mark needed out of his peppers, so we obliged with a variation on a recipe Danielle got from one of the women in her English class. While prepping the purslane, everyone tried it raw and liked it, so we talked about using it in salads! We also made Mark’s version of arugula (sylvetta) into a wilted salad with chevre, a delightful cherry vinaigrette with fresh frozen cherries from my orchard! Everyone loved the dressing and they learned they could use any fresh cherry or frozen OR any type of berry that appeals! We took some time to answer questions about last month’s class, which inspired many of them go home and make bread. It was really heartening!! Then we made arugula/sylvetta pesto… it was a very busy class.
We served ourselves to all of the above…definitely new tastes, textures and dishes for all and everyone really liked the food. I was anticipating more…”It’s okay” comments for the flavors are not very standard American fare. It appeared the all the adults loved them, a few of the children expressed the “I don’t like that” about the purslane. Which is good – because we got everyone out and trying different plants that they can make into meals. It actually was a really nice meal with the hot bread and Mark was SUPER happy that his two unusual veggies were such a hit!!
Next we try asclepius with caterpillar.
ha ha – just kidding!
