Week 6 of the Main Season CSA

This Week’s Veggies:

Carrots

Cabbage

Broccoli

Strawberries

Cilantro

Snap Peas

Salad Mix

Basil*

Purple Kohlrabi*

Mustard Greens*

Nancy Butterhead lettuce*

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

This Week's Recipe: Carrot and Broccoli Stem Slaw

1 bunch salad turnips (or kohlrabi, or bok choy, or whatever is lurking in your refrigerator)
1 bunch carrots
Broccoli stems
1 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chili sauce

3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced finely

Fit food processor with large-hole grating disk. Working with a few pieces at a time, push turnips, carrots, and broccoli stems through feed tube until all vegetables are grated. Transfer vegetables to medium bowl. Add green onions. Whisk vinegar, ginger, oil, garlic, and chili sauce in small bowl to blend; pour over vegetables and toss to coat. Season with salt and serve.

News from the Farmers:

The gloomy weather continues... luckily, I don't have to worry about running the irrigation system. And the cabbages and broccoli are certainly enjoying this damp, cool weather; on the other hand, the zucchini plants look ready to burst with frustration: they are still tiny little things, but trying hard to bloom and make fruit. They are very jealous of the greenhouse plants: the tomatoes have stretched to the top of their trellis strings, the peppers are setting fruit, and the little Mexican Sour Gherkins are sending out long viny tendrils. For those of you who missed them last year, the Sour Gherkins are one of my favorite odd veggies: the plants look like miniature cucumbers, but the fruits look like dollhouse-sized watermelons. They are bite-sized, crunchy and lemony-- not a lot of yield, but so much fun that I had to grow them again this year. The beets in the field are starting to fill out, but it will still be a couple weeks before they are big enough to harvest-- this year's varieties include Bull's Blood, Chioggia, Merlin, and Touchstone Gold. We had trouble getting the seeder setting just right for the beets this year: The first bed is too thick, the second bed is too thin. For the third planting, I sat down with the seeder and adjusted seed cups, brushes, etc. until I was sure I had it just right, then planted two beds, to make up for the earlier mistakes. Sure enough, those beds germinated just right. So, we'll be short on beets for the first part of the summer, but then we'll have an abundance.

Week 5 of the Main Season CSA

This Week’s Veggies:

Carrots

Japanese Salad Turnips

Beets

Broccoli

Cabbage

Oakleaf Lettuce

Bok Choi*

Garlic Scapes*

Spinach*

Galactic Red Lettuce*

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

This Week's Recipe: Pasta With Beet Greens, Goat Cheese, and Raisins

1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch beet greens (about 6 ounces), stems trimmed, leaves coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel

1/2 pound orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta)
5 ounces soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet)

Combine raisins and lemon juice in small bowl. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beet greens and raisin mixture. Cover and cook until greens wilt, about 5 minutes. Mix in ginger and lemon peel. Season greens to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Return pasta to pot. Toss pasta with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add greens and goat cheese. Toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta to large bowl and serve.

News from the Farmers: Your carrots this week are the first from the field-- we've finally finished off the last of the greenhouse carrots. Seems like we just finished weeding two carrot beds, but there's another two that need weeding now. This summer we'll have some colorful carrots: White Satin, Yellowstone, Atomic Red, and Purple Majesty. Alas, almost all of the melons in the field have succumbed to a combination of cold weather and a fungus; luckily we still have a few in the greenhouse, and a variety that is new to us, Arava, appears to have survived. Next to the carrot beds is our odd roots bed: we've planted parsnips, parsley roots, salsify, and scorzonera. The latter two are tall and vigorous already, but the parsnips and parsley root are slow to germinate and slowly growing.

Week 4 of the Main Season CSA

This Week’s Veggies:

Carrots

Green Garlic-- Xian

Panisse Lettuce

Bok Choi

Arugula

Spinach

Beets*

Cabbage*

Basil*  

Merlot Lettuce* 

Radishes* 

*”Large” share items; not included in the “small” share.

Please Remember to Wash Your Vegetables Carefully and Thoroughly.

Grilled Fontina, Mushroom, and Arugula Sandwiches

Bon Appétit  | August 2001

Ingredients

6 tablespoons (about) olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
4 very large portobello mushrooms, stemmed, dark gills removed, caps thinly sliced

8 1/2-inch-thick slices country white bread (each about 3x6 inches)
Dijon mustard (optional)
8 ounces Fontina cheese, thinly sliced
1 bunch arugula

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add rosemary and stir 30 seconds. Add mushrooms. Cover skillet and cook until mushrooms are tender, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Season mushrooms to taste with salt and pepper; transfer to plate. Wipe out skillet.

Arrange 4 bread slices on work surface; spread with mustard, if desired. Top bread slices with cheese, then mushrooms and arugula, dividing equally. Top each with bread slice; press to compact. Brush tops lightly with oil.
Heat reserved skillet over medium heat. Place sandwiches, oiled side down, in skillet. Brush tops lightly with oil. Cover and cook until golden on bottom, occasionally pressing with spatula, about 5 minutes. Turn sandwiches over. Cover and cook until golden on bottom and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer sandwiches to plates; cut in half and serve.

News from the Farmers: This morning I squeezed the kohlrabi-- they're still too small to harvest, but they're beginning to round out and look plump. In the greenhouse, the first of the cherry tomatoes are turning color-- but it will still be quite a while before they are ripe. Walter the Jack Russell Terrier has been very busy chasing rabbits-- we still see so many bunnies every evening and morning, but we are seeing much less damage to the veggies compared to last year. Maybe it's because we've been reducing their brushy habitat by clearing blackberries; maybe it's a natural fluctuation in the rabbit population; but Walter would like to claim credit for scaring the heck out of the bunnies (he hasn't yet managed to catch one, but he sure tries).