2019 CSA Share ~ Late Season Week #3
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSA BOXES…..As we head into the last few weeks of delivery, we would sure appreciate if you look around for any stray CSA bins that have made their way home with you. The fewer new boxes we need to purchase for the new season, the better. If you find any, just bring them back to your pick up site in the weeks ahead….thanks so much!
FILL YOUR PANTRY! Come join us at the Lane Events Center this Sunday, Nov. 10th for the Fill Your Pantry event….it will run from 1pm – 5pm. Stock up on beans, grains, flours, nuts, frozen meat, honey, garlic, onions, squash, and more. Support your farmers while filling your pantry, and know that you are contributing to a strong local food system. Learn more here!
WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK:
- Brussels Sprouts or Green Cabbage
- Red Russian Kale
- Root Bag w/Carrots, Parsnips & Purple Top Turnips
- Red Butter Lettuce
- Onions
- Winter Squash ~ either Orange Kabocha, Delicate or Sweet Dumpling
- Pears ~ Red Bartlett
RECIPES:
Spicy Cabbage Salad w/Turkey & Peanuts
Some of you may remember when the “Real Dirt on Farmer John” movie and cookbook were having their hay day. If you haven’t experienced the movie, it is a must see and I even saw it at my local library recently! The cookbook is also a treasure, stuffed with wonderful recipes, stories, farming info and anecdotes. Invest in a copy and you won’t regret it. Here is one of my favorite recipes from it…..
Brussels Sprouts w/Portabella Mushroom & Sunflower Seeds
- 1 lb Brussels Sprouts
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced (about 1/2 tsp) *I add more, cuz I love garlic!
- 1 large Portable mushroom, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh oregano (or dried if you don’t have fresh)
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese or more to taste (optional)
Place the Brussels sprouts in a steamer basket set over 1 1/2 inches boiling water and cover. Steam until tender crisp, 5-10 minutes: overcooked Brussels sprouts have an unpleasant flavor and texture. Transfer the Brussels sprouts to a serving platter.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion: sauce until translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic: cook for 1 minute more. Add the mushroom, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper to taste: cook, stirring, until the mushroom has reduced in size and released most of its liquid, 8-10 minutes.
Pour the mushroom mixture over the sprouts. Top with cheese. Serves 4-6 Enjoy!!
Here’s another of my favorites from the same “Real Dirt on Farmer John” cookbook…it’s recipe for 6 people, but you can scale it down for the size of your group, and it uses many of the ingredients included in your share this week!
Baked Squash w/Kale and Pear
- butter or oil for greasing the pan
- 3 Squash (originally calls for Acorn, but I’ve used every squash available on the farm and it has been delicious, so experiment!)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large leek, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 4 cups coarsely chopped kale
- 1 cup veggie or chicken stock
- 1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, diced
- 1 tsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves, but feel free to add more to taste)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 pear, firm-ripe, peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 cup)
Preheat the oven to 375˚. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch pan with butter or oil. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet: bake until tender, 30-45 minutes. Turn the squash halves over and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the leeks: sauté until soft, about 5 minutes Add the kale, stock, bell peppers, garlic, and remaining 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bring to boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and increase the heat to medium high: cook, stirring frequently, until kale is tender and the liquid evaporates, 8-10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the pear: sauté until lightly browned and tender, but not mushy, 2-3 minutes. Add the pear to the kale mixture and stir well. Spoon the kale and pear filling into the squash halves. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Bake for 10 minutes. Yummmmmmm!
Life has been busy on the farm this week!! We have been taking good advantage of the dry weather to get more roots out of the ground. We were able to harvest many totes of Burdock root for wholesale markets, and many totes of carrots as well. We had hoped to use our Scott Viner implement (check the link to hear Alden explain how it works!) to pull the carrots out by the green tops, but the tops were a bit too fragile for the process to work properly, so we ended up having to hand dig them. It was a lot of “knee work” for our crew, and a crew from AgriHelp, but we got the job done!
We have also been getting organized for the Fill Your Pantry event this weekend. We have been cleaning and sorting pre-ordered squash, turnips, parsnips, onions and potatoes, labeling and staging them for delivery to the Lane Events Center. The doors open to the public at 1pm, but we have to be there much earlier to set up and be ready
for fire inspection by 11am. If you have pre-ordered, you’ll just come to our booth and let us know your name, and we’ll sort out your order for you. If you haven’t pre-ordered, we’ll be there help you pick out what you would like to fill your pantry with. It should be a fun day, and we hope to see you there!
In your box today you will receive either Brussels Sprouts or Green Cabbage. While we typically like to give you your Brussels Sprouts on the stalk, this year, due to the early rain and then the very cold temperatures, the stalks just didn’t hold up well, and honestly
just didn’t look that good. We cleaned the sprouts off of the stalk and have them bagged for you. Next week, we’ll send reverse the order so everyone gets their share of both veggies. The Winter Squash in your box this week will either be the Orange Kabocha, the
Delicate (long and yellow with green spots), or the Sweet Dumpling (short and squat, yellow with green). Not sure which one you will receive, but all are delicious and interchangeable in any of the recipes I’ve provided. The Pears this week are Red Bartlett…next week we’ll have apples for you!
Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend, and week ahead….enjoy your veggies!
Linda and all of your Winter Green Farmers