Things are happening quickly this week. The strawberries have kicked into gear, the potatoes and tomatoes look strong again, and the greenhouse is emptying fast. It is a significant annual benchmark when the summer planting is done, and we move into the tending and harvesting phase.

One crop that has just peaked is the frisee endive. The slender leaves of this salad green are mild and tender. The center of the heads are especially fine, blanched a beautiful white and light green. The summer heat ruins them, so enjoy them now.

Frisee in the field

We recommend having your butterhead lettuce and frisee over several meals. The first time you make a salad peel and use the outer leaves, leaving the hearts. Your next salad use the tender centers. Tough to duplicate.

A staple dish the last couple weeks have been greens and pasta. Mark Bittman got us using this dish after we made his Spaghetti and Broccoli Raab recipe. Below is a recipe for a recent slant on the dish where we used kale. You can use about any combination of greens, spring alliums, herbs, cheese and pasta.

Kale, Green Onions, Bow Tie Pasta and Goat Cheese

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of green onions
bow tie pasta, cooked
goat cheese
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

Method
Chop the kale leaves and stems separately. Chop the bottom half of the green onions. In a sauté pan heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and cook the kale stems and green onion bottoms for 3 minutes on high heat.

Add kale tops and salt, stir and cook for 2 minutes more. Turn down heat to medium and cook 10 minutes, adding liquid if it burns. Push vegetables to one side of the pan. Fill the other half of the pan with pasta, toss to warm. Serve topped with goat cheese and green onion tops.