Good Eats Newsletter -November 18, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Lettuce Head; 1 Large Head of Napa Cabbage; 1 Bunch Sweet Salad Turnips; 1 Bunch of Kale; Bag of Braising Greens; 1 Bunch of Leeks; 3 lbs Rutabaga; 2 Bulbs of Garlic; 2 Small Winter Squash (Delicata, Acorn or Sweet Dumplings);

The following sites will also receive 1 Bunch of Cilantro:
Red Hen; On the Rise; Sweet Clover; Grove St; Adams Court; Shelburne Vineyard; Hen of the Wood

Localvore Offerings Include
Elmore Mountain Flax Seed Bread
Butternut Mountain Farm Maple Sugar
Dancing Cow Bouree Cheese
Pete's Applesauce

Pick Ups Much Better Last Week, Thank you!
We had far fewer pick up issues last week. Thanks to everyone for being careful! There were still a few mistakes that were avoidable... A replacement that we sent out for someone was brought home by a different share member. And I think there were quite a few stalks of brussel sprouts and boxes of cranberries left over because some people didn't read through the pick up instructions carefully (which instructed people to take two of each of these). The pick up instructions change every week of course, and you should take a moment to read them so you don't short yourself or another member. Still, all in all, I was very happy with last week.


Bulk Order Pick Up This Week
Our first bulk orders go out this week. Bulk orders will be packed up and labeled with share member's name on the box or bag. There are also some chicken orders this week and some turkeys. Please be careful to take only those items that you should be taking for the share and not someone's bulk order or replacement item. Please refer to pick up instructions and take only what is indicated there.

A few adjustments to bulk orders:
We didn't have quite enough Quebec Flax Seed and Butterworks Bread Flour. Those of you who do not receive these items this week, will get them next week. Maple Cream, Honey Gardens Wild Cherry Syrup and Elderberry Syrup will be delivered next week. Unfortunately, for now we will not be able to fill the orders for cornmeal. Butterworks Farm has had a complete loss of their corn crop due to the wet summer and resulting mold in the corn. I'll be sending refund checks to those of you who ordered and will not receive the cornmeal. There's still hope, Jack Lazor may buy in another farm's organic crop and mill it, but that plan is not set in stone yet. Fingers crossed.

Next Week Pick-Up is on TUESDAY
We will be delivering your shares next week on Tuesday November 24th. Please mark your calendars and be sure to remind your share partner, spouse or anyone who participates in your weekly pick up!

A sneak peek at next week's share...
We plan to include: 3 lbs potatoes, 3 lbs carrots, 2 lbs yellow onions, 1 Sunshine squash, frozen pumpkin puree (for baking pie), either mesclun greens or spinach plus several other as yet undetermined vegetables. The localvore portion will include Red Hen Bread, eggs, Cortland apples (for baking more pie!), and Quebec rolled oats.

Pete's Musings
What a beautiful November! I can't remember one nicer. The great weather is allowing us to work on some important infrastructure projects. Steve is polishing off our moveable greenhouses, running water and power, constructing better endwalls, and generally making them ship shape. Next he will prepare an insulated pad for another insulated tractor trailer that we will add behind the barn. This will be used for storing boxes this year but will likely be onion or other vegetable storage in the future. Then we will run hot water lines in the soil in one of our moveable greenhouses - allowing us to grow earlier tomatoes and cukes in that house.

I have been busy building an equipment shed that will allow us to get most of our equipment under cover. We have quite a pile of iron and steel at this point and it is no fun watching it sit outdoors rusting. It will feel great to have it tucked away protected from the elements. ~ Pete

Next Bulk Order is Dec 9
Originally planned for Dec 16 we have moved the next bulk order to December 9th. We need all orders in by Friday Nov. 27, and once again we have a mail holiday to deal with on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Please try to get your orders in as early as possible! Please visit the bulk order page and download the order form to get a jump on ordering.

Pastured Turkey
There are still 24 Gopher Broke turkeys available, and we'll be taking orders for them as long as they last. George and Jane raise their birds out on pasture on their farm in Wolcott, VT.

There are 9 standards left (broad breasted whites and bronze) with weights between 18 and 29 lbs at $4.25/lb and 15 heritage birds (a mix of Beltsville Midgets, Heritage Bronze, Naragansetts, and Eastern Wild Turkeys) in the 7 to 13 lb range at $6.50/lb.

















Pete's Pastured Chicken

You can order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site most weeks except for the weeks that we deliver meat shares (the first Wednesday of each month).

Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form.

Our birds are raised on endless grass and greens throughout their lives. The nutrients in all the forage they consume is stored in their meat making this meat far more nutritious than most chickens you can find out there in the marketplace. Our chickens live a charmed chicken existence roaming the fields to their hearts delight in the good company of our six pigs. They are also the happy recipients of lots of the veggie seconds that come from the washhouse as well.

This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.


Storage and Use Tips

Sweet Salad Turnips - The Salad turnips you receive today may be tops on or tops off. We had planned on sending them all out tops off, but some of the greens looked so good we couldn't bear to chop them off. Sweet Salad Turnips can be eaten raw or cooked. Raw they have a texture similar to a radish, but are not so sharp. Or slice, dice, or quarter them and saute with butter or oil. Cook until just tender and still a little crisp. Just a little salt or maybe a little bit of vinegar is all they need. Cooked with butter and given a slight drizzle of honey or maple syrup and even picky kids may gobble them up. Don’t forget the greens! Turnip greens are tender and flavorful. Chop and saute with the turnips for a side dish, or cook up with other greens, or by themselves. I often chop them and toss them into pasta sauces.

Rutabaga - The rutabagas in the share today have some superficial damage. You may see some worm track damage across the surface of the vegetable, but it should be only skin deep. And you should peel the exterior of your rutabaga anyway so it shouldn't affect your use of the vegetable. Closely related to turnips, rutabagas are even sweeter than turnips. I like mine boiled and mashed with a little butter, just as one would cook mashed potatoes. They are also great mashed with potatoes. Store in the fridge wrapped in plastic. They will last a couple weeks or more.

Localvore Lore
Blair and Andrew have been hard at work baking loaves for us again this week at Elmore Mountain Bakery. This week's bread is a Flax Seed Bread. It is made with Milanaise winter blend, Milanaise whole wheat and whole rye, Quebec flax seeds, sea salt, sourdough and yeast.

Nick was in the kitchen much of the day yesterday making the yummy applesauce in the share this week. Great stuff and super fresh, it will keep in the fridge for several days to a week. If you plan to save it for Thanksgiving, put the container in the freezer. It freezes very well. The applesauce is made with a mix of apples from Champlain Orchards.

At Dancing Cow Farm in Bridport, Karen and Steven Getz make their cheese from raw cow's milk from a single milking, which flows directly from the milking parlor uncooled into the cheese vat. Each batch of cheese is a bit different depending on the pasture the cows are on. After the cheese is formed and salted, it is moved to the Cellars at Jasper Hill where the wheels of cheese are washed, gently brushed, and turned to nurture their development. The cheeses ages in the cellars for a minimum of 80 days. Dancing Cow Bourree is a "washed rind cheese with an earthy aroma, supple paste and a rich, creamy texture that melts into a beautiful smoky, meaty, lingering finish." Bourree was a 2008 American Cheese Society winner.

The Maple Sugar comes from Butternut Mountain Farm in Johnson. We are fortunate to be able to provide it as Butternut is one of only two operations in the US to make maple sugar. Maple sugar is produced simply by boiling all of the water out of the syrup and mixing it into a granulated state. I thought it might be nice to have it on hand to sprinkle onto Thanksgiving carrots or squash, or to make pumpkin or apple pie next week! Some cooking tips from Emma Marvin:

Maple sugar is highly versatile. I use it when making chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies in place of the brown sugar and some of the white. I use it on salmon sprinkling maple sugar, ground sea salt and pepper over the top just prior to cooking. It makes a great maple salad dressing! Mix approximately equal parts of olive oil, maple sugar and vinegar (cider or rice wine works well). I’m sure there are infinitely more ways to use maple sugar, but these are just a few of my favorites. We'd love to hear about any recipes you find yourselves using our maple sugar in!

Recipes

Rutabaga Purée
This is the oh so simple classic recipe. If you have never met up with a rutabaga before... From the Sep 2004 Bon Appétit.

3 pounds rutabagas, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons butter

Cook rutabagas in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 45 minutes. Drain well. Transfer to processor; puree until smooth. Return to pot. Stir over medium heat until any excess liquid evaporates. Add butter; stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand uncovered at room temperature. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring often.)

Variation:
add some carrots and or squash chunks and puree together sprinkling with maple sugar



Winter Squash Galette
Gourmet February 2009. Adapted from Venus Restaurant in Berkeley, CA. The delicate crust of this galette gets a warm spiciness from fresh sage.

For pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped sage leaves (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 to 6 tablespoons ice-cold water
1 large egg, lightly beaten

For filling:
1 (2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2- by 1/4-inch slices (4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced crosswise
6 ounces soft mild goat cheese, crumbled

Make dough:

Pulse flour, butter, sage, and sea salt in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle ice water evenly over mixture and pulse until it just forms a ball. (Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.) Gently press dough into a 5-inch disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Make filling while dough chills: 

Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle.
Toss squash with sea salt and 1 Tbsp oil and arrange in 1 layer in a 17-by 12-inch shallow baking pan. Roast, stirring once halfway through roasting, until golden brown on edges and undersides, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove squash from oven and reduce oven temperature to 375°F.
Meanwhile, wash leeks, then cook in remaining 2 tablespoons oil with a pinch of sea salt in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool slightly. Add squash, goat cheese, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and toss gently.

Make galette:
Roll out dough into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Transfer to a baking sheet. 3Arrange filling in an even layer in center of dough, leaving a 2- to 3-inch border. Fold dough in on itself to cover outer rim of filling, pleating dough as necessary. Brush pastry with beaten egg and bake galette until crust is cooked through and golden on edges, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack 10 minutes before serving.

Maple Shortbread Cookies
From the King Aurthur website.

1 cup unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
1/2 cup pure maple sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping
2 tablespoons pure maple sugar

Directions
Beat the butter with the sugars, salt, vanilla, and maple flavor until well blended. Beat in the flour to form a smooth dough. The dough will be crumbly at first, but will come together as it's mixed.

Divide the dough in half, pat each half into a disk, wrap well, and chill for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
Sprinkle the dough and your work surface lightly with flour. Roll the dough till it's a scant 1/4" thick. Cut cookies with a cookie cutter.

Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, and sprinkle with maple sugar.

Good Eats Newsletter - November 11, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Braising Greens; 2 Stalks of Brussel Sprouts; 3 lbs Mixed Potatoes; 1 Sunshine Squash; 2 lbs Yellow Storage Onions; 1 Bunch of Mixed Kale; Upland Cress or 1 Bunch Dandelion Greens; 2 Heads of Garlic;

The following sites will also receive 1 Bunch of Cilantro:
Craftsbury, Newport, Johnson, Laughing Moon, Concept 2, Hardwick, Montpelier Mud, and National Life

Those that don't get Cilantro this week will get Cilantro or its equivalent next week.

Localvore Offerings Include:
Red Hen Bread
Tullochgorum Farm White Lightning Popcorn
Vermont Cranberry Company Fresh Cranberries


Please Be Attentive When Picking Up Your Share!
Hi Members,
We are having considerably more pick-up snafus than in the past. Some have definitely been our fault and this week we are making the necessary changes to fix those problems. Some are the fault of members who are not following the pickup sheet instructions. Please read the pick-up instructions sheet carefully and pick your items as instructed. When you pick up more than your share we have to replace the missing items that others do not receive. We are replacing so many items that it is beginning to affect the profitability of Good Eats. We want to keep providing you with great food at the lowest cost possible so please do your best to pickup properly. Thanks everyone. ~ Pete

Things We Will Re-Use
Please bring back your vegetable bags and other clean grocery bags, egg cartons, and the plastic containers that we send out the pickles and kraut and such in. You can leave them at your pick up site and Tim will pick them up the following week. Please stick to these items or check with me first of you think there are others we might like. We have made a choice not to re-use the rubber bands and some of the other accoutrements you might get in the share.

And please, please, please DO NOT bring other recyclables or other household goods to pick up sites. One of our hosts reported that two weeks in a row boxes of free cast off coffee mugs, kitchen accessories, knit blankets and scooby doo sneakers have appeared on his porch on pick up day. He would prefer his porch not to look like a second hand store. We are guests at the homes and businesses of our site hosts. Please respect the commitment they are making and tread lightly.

Thanksgiving Week Pick-Up is on TUESDAY
Yes, it's true. Thanksgiving Week, we will be delivering your shares on Tuesday November 24th. We did this last year at the request of many because so many people travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ideally, this will give you a chance to receive your food and take it with your or get a jump on your Thanksgiving cooking. Mark your calendars!

Nov. 18 Bulk Order
Order your local Thanksgiving feast! We are taking bulk orders for potatoes, winter squash, carrots, onions, beets, turnips, celeriac and lots more root and storage crops. From the localvore list you can order local organic oats, popcorn, tamari, miso, sunflower oil and more. You can line up your Pastured Thanksgiving Turkey too. There's still time to get in on this first bulk order of the season. If I receive your form by Friday Nov 13, I can get you into the system for a bulk order delivery on November 18. Click here to go directly to the bulk order page and download an order form.

Pete's Pastured Chicken
It's nearing the end of the chicken growing season but we have some birds in our freezer for your ordering pleasure. You can order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site most weeks except for the weeks that we deliver meat shares (the first Wednesday of each month).

Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form.

Our birds are raised on endless grass and greens throughout their lives. The nutrients in all the forage they consume is stored in their meat making this meat far more nutritious than most chickens you can find out there in the marketplace. Our chickens live a charmed chicken existence roaming the fields to their hearts delight in the good company of our six pigs. They are also the happy recipients of lots of the veggie seconds that come from the washhouse as well.

"Free range" is the the term used to describe chickens that have access to sunlight and fresh air. Sadly though, most free range chickens on the market never taste a blade of grass. They are housed in barns with access to a small area outside that they can visit (usually very overgrazed and covered in poop). Free Range is far better than the industrial model which maintains a much higher animal density, feeds lots of antibiotics, and gives animals no access to outside at all. But pastured poultry is a far and away the healthier (for human and bird alike) and conscientious choice.

This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.

Storage and Use Tips

Brussel Sprouts - This week we're providing the sprouts still attached to the stalk. Store the whole stalk wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge and then remove the little heads just before you're going to cook them. They will stay fresher this way. Don't leave them too long though because they are better the fresher they are! Brussel sprouts can be cooked a variety of ways, and can be eaten raw as well (they can be shaved fine and tossed into a salad for example). They are really great roasted as it brings out their sweetness. A recipe for Roasted Brussels is below plus a scrumptious sounding Brussels slaw.

Dandelion Greens - These nutrition packed greens can be eaten raw in salads, braised or sauteed, or tossed into dishes calling for greens. The level of bitterness in the greens depends on several factors from the age of the greens to amounts of rainfall and sunlight they have received while they have grown. How to tell? Try a piece! Bitter greens will mellow in flavor with more time in the skillet. They are delicious sautéed for about 20 minutes with onions and garlic in olive oil, with perhaps a little homemade wine added before they're done. Some people like to cook them with sweet vegetables like sliced carrots and parsnips to reduce any bitterness.

Localvore Lore
Randy and Eliza at Red Hen Bakery have baked their new Cyrus Pringle bread this week, made with the organic Vermont flour from Aurora Farms Organic, organic whole wheat flour from Gleason Grains, baker’s yeast, organic barley malt, & salt. They have just started selling this bread to stores in the area but instead of the round loaves, they have baked us Batards this week (slightly shorter and fatter than a baguette). It's pretty exciting to have an all Vermont bread around! Randy would love to hear your feedback on the Cyrus Pringle so please email him if you have comments!

It's harvest time at the Vermont Cranberry Company and Cranberry Bob delivered super fresh cranberries for the share yesterday. Fresh cranberries will stay fresh for several weeks in the fridge so you can save them for use in a Thanksgiving dish if you desire. They also freeze very well so if you don't have plans to use them right away, save them for later. Cranberry sauce is incredibly easy to make from scratch - I have provided a recipe below.


A couple times a year, Lorraine and Steve Lalonde load up their truck and bring us their farm grown popcorn. Tullochgorum Farm is in Quebec, and the Lalondes grow two varieties of popping corn, a blue variety and a white. Last year they had a crop loss on the blue, and it's still too early yet to tell whether there will be blue this year. If it pans out, we'll be getting the blue popcorn on their next trip to see us. You won't be disappointed by the white though. This is the most delicious popcorn I have eaten. It's noticeably different and very flavorful. This photo of Steve and Lorraine was taken in front of their organically grown fields of popping corn.


Recipes

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

1.5 lbs brussel sprouts
3 TB good olive oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a sheet pan and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt ( I like these salty like French fries), and serve immediately.

Brussels Sprout Slaw with Mustard Dressing and Maple-Glazed Pecans
Bon Appétit November 2009. Serves 8.

Vegetable oil
1 cup large pecan halves
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (grade B is best)
1/2 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt plus additional for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Make the Candied Pecans:
Oil a large sheet of foil. Place pecans on small rimmed baking sheet. Whisk maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in small bowl. Add to nuts and toss to coat; spread in single layer. Bake nuts 5 minutes. Stir. Continue to bake nuts until toasted and glaze is bubbling thickly, about 6 minutes. Immediately transfer nuts to prepared foil and separate. Cool completely.

Make the Dressing:
Whisk mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar in small bowl; whisk in oil. Season with coarse salt and pepper.

Cook the Brussels:
Bring large pot of water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon coarse salt. Add brussels sprouts. Cook until crisp-tender and still bright green, about 5 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water. Cool on paper towels. Using processor fitted with 1/8- to 1/4-inch slicing disk, slice brussels sprouts. Transfer to large bowl.

Toss brussels sprouts with enough dressing to coat. Let marinate 30 to 60 minutes. Mix in some pecans. Place slaw in serving bowl. Top with remaining pecans.

Cranberry Sauce
This is a tried and true, simple cranberry sauce recipe. I make this sauce every year or so and can lots of it so I can pull out a jar whenever needed. It will also freeze great and keeps in the fridge for a long time too.


3 cups cranberries
1.5 cups water
1 to 1.5 cups sugar

Boil sugar and water together 5 minutes; add cranberries and boil without stirring (5 minutes) until all skins pop open. Remove from heat when popping stops and allow the sauce to cool.

Gingered Winter Squash and Kale (or other Greens)
I have been making this dish several times a week lately. I just can't get enough of it! And it's incredibly healthy. Even my sometimes picky spouse hasn't yet objected to my serving it - AGAIN. This is less a recipe than an idea - amounts of things are totally flexible, as are substitutions.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, minced
vegetable oil
Braising liquid: water or broth or cider
1/2 - 1 TB Tamari
1-2 cups of cooked winter squash
1/2 bunch of kale or other greens, chopped

optional: a drizzle of maple syrup

Heat a skillet or sauce pot over medium/low heat. Add oil and the garlic and ginger and heat a couple minutes, adding some liquid to the pan if the garlic threatens to burn. Once fragrant, add the greens with the braising liquid of your choice and the tamari and cover to wilt the greens well. You may need as much as 1/4 to half cup of braising liquid to cook the greens through. When greens are cooked, add the squash and stir it all together. Taste. You might want a drizzle more of tamari. Sometimes I add a drizzle of maple syrup.

Serve alongside brown rice (and salmon!) for a delicious meal.

Classic Polenta Gratin with Greens Recipe
Polenta is a Mediterranean standby: coarse-ground cornmeal is cooked until it becomes tender and creamy and it is often served with vegetables and cheese as a golden, tasty alternative to pasta. The traditional stove top method of cooking requires much stirring, but this one is much simpler. Adapted from Cooking New American, by the Editors of Fine Cooking (Taunton Press, 2004). Serves 4.

1 cup medium-ground or coarse cornmeal, preferably organic stone-ground

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/4 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes

freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound mixed chopped greens (braising greens, chard, kale with some dandelion thrown in or cress too)
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. In an oiled 3-quart ovenproof skillet, stir together the cornmeal, water, and salt. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a very large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, chile flakes, and a pinch of black pepper; cook for 1 minute. Pour half the oil into a 1 1/2 or 2-quart ovenproof serving dish, reserving the garlic in the skillet, and then pour another tablespoon into a cup to be drizzled over the final dish. Brush the seasoned oil all over the inside of the serving dish. Add the chopped greens to the oil and garlic remaining in the skillet, cover, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until wilted and tender, about 10 minutes. Discard the garlic. Season the greens with salt and pepper. Uncover the greens and increase the heat at the end to evaporate any liquid.
3. When the polenta has cooked 40 minutes, quickly stir in the greens and half of the cheese until combined. Taste and add salt if needed. Transfer to the oiled ovenproof serving dish, drizzle with the reserved oil, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted, another 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Dandelion Greens
Dandelion greens are cooked with chopped onion, minced garlic, chile pepper, then topped with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 2.

1/2 pound dandelion greens
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 whole small dried hot chile pepper, seeds removed, crushed
1/8 cup cooking oil
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

Cut leaves into 2-inch pieces. Cook greens uncovered in small amount of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. Sauté onion, garlic, and chile pepper in oil. Drain greens; add to onion garlic mixture. Taste dandelion greens and season with salt and pepper. Serve dandelion greens with grated Parmesan cheese.

Good Eats Newsletter - November 4, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
1 Bunch Sweet Salad Turnips; 2 lbs Celeriac;
2 lbs Carrots; 1 Large or 2 Small Heads of Green Savoy or Red Cabbage; 1 Head Radiccio; 1.5 lbs Mixed Green or Purple Kohlrabi; Braising Greens; Pac Choi; 2 lbs Fresh Red Storage Onions;

plus, separate from the prepacked veggie bag....

one large Head Lettuce -or- 2 small Head Lettuce
1 Bunch of Yukina Savoy -or- Swiss Chard
1 Medium Buttercup -or- Acorn Squash

Like last week the pick up instructions will indicate whether you are to take one or two lettuce heads. At some sites there will be small heads and you'll need to take two, at others there will be large heads. Please check the pick up instructions before selecting!

Localvore Offerings Include
Elmore Mountain Maple Apple Bread
Pa Pa Doodles or Gopher Broke Farm Eggs
Bonnieview Coomersdale Cheese

MEAT SHARE MEMBERS --
THIS IS A MEAT SHARE WEEK!

Storage and Use Tips

Celeriac - Clearly the ugliest vegetable in your bag this week, celeriac also goes by the name of celery root. Though entirely different in appearance from celery in the grocery store, celeriac is in the celery family. It is grown for it's root instead of its stalk, however, and has a hint of celery taste and smell. A tip for preparing celeriac - cut the root in large slices about 1 inch thick, then lay each slice flat and cut off the skin as if you were cutting the crust off a pizza. Then continue to process the now unskinned pieces as your recipe dictates. Do your best to peel celery root without loosing too much of its cream colored flesh. Celeriac makes a tasty raw salad, though it should be mixed in with a bit of acid like vinegar or lemon juice to keep it from turning brown. It is also delicious in soups, casseroles, gratins, or boiled and mashed with potatoes. Celeriac should be stored unwashed, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.

Kohlrabi - A member of the brassicas family, kohlrabi is often misidentified as a root vegetable. But, it's actually the bulbous stem of the plant that you'll find in your bag. Kohlrabi, which comes in green and purple varieties, can be eaten raw dipped in dressing, or tossed in a salad. It is also very tasty sauteed, braised or included in a casserole or soup. However you decide to prepare your kohlrabi, be sure to peel off the tough outer layer before cooking or eating. Store kohlrabi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer, where it should stay fresh for a couple of weeks.

Yukina Savoy - Some of you will receive this Asian green in your bag today while others will get Swiss Chard. Yukina Savoy is a member of the Brassica family. Young tender leaves and stalks are excellent for salad mix and also stand up very well in a stir-fry dish. The flavor of Yukina Savoy has a slight bitter bite like mustard greens or arugula but less peppery.

Radicchio - A member of the Chicories family along with endive and escarole, radicchio resembles a small red lettuce. You can chop radicchio and add it to your salad for some color and added bite. It is also quite good brushed with olive oil before tossing on the grill. Try adding some to risotto. Keep unwashed radicchio in a perforated plastic bag in the crisper drawer for up to a week.

Bulk Orders Delivered One Week Before Thanksgiving
By tomorrow we will begin to take bulk orders for potatoes, onions, turnips, beets, cabbage and many other root crops and storage vegetables and some of our localvore products like flour, oats, cooking oil, miso, tamari, oats and other grains. We have also partnered with a neighboring farm who has some pastured turkey available. The bulk order form will be available on our website on the bulk order page by tomorrow Nov 4 - I promise! Placing an order will work the same way as it does for chicken orders. Your printed order form and payment must arrive by mail no later than Nov 11th, one week before the November 18th delivery date. A second bulk order delivery day will be scheduled for December 16th. Stay tuned for more news on this. An email will be sent as soon as the bulk order form is available on line.

T-Shirts
Those of you who signed up early and paid in full for your Pete's Greens share will get a Pete's Greens T-shirt this week. They'll be bagged at the sites with your name on them. Please do not take a T-shirt if your name is not on it!

Environmental Action 2009
This Saturday, hundreds of Vermonters will get together to share ideas, strategies and skills to foster a healthy and sustainable Vermont at the 2009 VT Environmental Action Conference. Pete's Greens is cosponsoring the conference, which will feature skills and informational workshops, a conversation with Vermont's gubernatorial candidates and a keynote on climate change by Middlebury College professor Johnathan Isham. The event is Saturday, Nov 7th at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, and Pete's members who preregister online by Thursday Nov 5th get a $15 discount off of day-of registration! To register please go to http://www.vtenvironmentalaction.org.

Pies for People and Soup for Supper Update
A couple weeks ago we told you all about the second annual Pies for People event. The event is coming together amazingly well with support for the effort from so many Hardwick area people and businesses. The event which aims to make pies and soup for schools, nursing homes, the food shelf, and other places where home cooking will be appreciated has pooled together resources from all sectors. The Center for an Agricultural Economy is organizing the event. The squash were raised and donated by High Mowing, picked and packed by Sterling and UVM college students and Pete's Greens employees. The squash were then cooked and pureed and frozen at Pete's. The crusts will be made by Patchwork Bakery using (hopefully) donated butter and flour. The filling will be made using the donated squash, eggs from Agape Farm and other donated ingredients. Claire's Restaurant is creating the recipe for the soup. Pete's will make the broth. Salvation Farms has offered their facility for food storage. And many, many people will volunteer their labor for making pies and soup and distributing. This is a fantastic example of a community coming together to feed its own community.

Localvore Lore

Blair and Andrew have developed a special bread for the share this week. Using Milanaise whole wheat and winter white flour, Champlain Orchards oven dried apples and apple cider, Butternut Mountain Farm's maple sugar, sea salt, Elmore Mountain's yeast and a wee bit of cinnamon, they have created Elmore Mountain Maple Apple Bread. I can't wait to try this one!

At Bonnieview Farm, Neil and Kristin Urie rotationally graze their 170 ewes, milk the sheep, and make great cheese. Coomersdale is made from unpasteurized sheeps milk. It is a semi-hard cheese, similar to a young pecorino, made with a recipe originally from the Pyrenees. In 2008 Coomersdale was awarded a second place by the American Cheese Society.

Once again we have eggs from our two egg people, Deborah Rosewolf and George Nash. We will be supplying eggs as often as we can while working with the capacity of the 400 hens at Pa Pa Doodles and Gopher Broke Farm. You can expect eggs every 2-3 weeks.

Meat Share
Pete's Greens Pastured Chicken - You can count on a Pete's chicken for most weeks of the share. Our chickens are moved to the fields as soon as they are old enough to be contained in the move-able poultry netting fencing that we use. They spend their days foraging on lush pasture and also get fed lots and lots of vegetables from the farm. The vitamins in all of the grasses, legumes, and vegetables assimilate in the meat of the birds making these chickens super nutritious and tasty. You can also order additional Pastured Chickens and have them delivered to your pick up site. Click here for details and an order form.

Shuttleworth Farm Pork Spare Ribs or Country Style Ribs - Most everyone will get the Pork Spare Ribs but Kelli didn't have quite enough and substituted a few shares with Country Style Ribs. Either way, you'll be receiving some very succulent pork from Shuttleworth Farm in Westfield, VT. Kelli and Todd raise sheep, pigs, chickens and turkeys. The animals graze the fields in succession, with the hoofed animals grazing first, followed by poultry that break up the manure, remove parasites and eggs from the manure and soil and aerate the soil and leave their own super nutrient packed manure behind. Then as needed the pigs come in to till what needs tilling and make use of vegetable waste.

Brotherly Farm Certified Organic Ground Beef - Craig and Angela Russell own Brotherly Farm, a small organic farm in Brookfield . They milk 100 cows selling the milk to Horizon, and they raise organic chicken, pork, beef and veggies.

Bonnieview Farm Sweet Italian Lamb Sausage - Just down the road from us in Craftsbury Common is Bonnieview Farm, owned and operated by Neil and Kristin Urie. The land has been farmed by the Urie family for four generations, bought first by Neil’s great-grandfather in 1890. Not only does Bonnieview turn out award winning cheeses, they also make some great lamb sausage. The sweet italian sausages are Neil's favorite sausages and are made from their pastured lamb, fennel, sugar, salt and pepper.

Greenfield Highland Beef Stew Beef - In Greensboro Bend, VT Ray Shatney and Janet Steward raise their Highland Beef Cattle solely on grass and their own hay. Highland cattle are reknowned for their ability to thrive and put on meat in cold climates and mountainous terrain on nothing but grass. The meat from Highland cattle is much lower in fat from other breeds of cattle but still maintains a great flavor profile. I've included Janet's recipe for Highland Beef Stew below.

Recipes

Creamy Kohlrabi and Celeriac Gratin
For a hearty and satisfying lunch, try frying up leftover wedges of this gratin with eggs on the side. Serves 8.

1 cup thinly sliced shallots
3 TB butter
1 lb. celeriac, peeled, quartered, then thinly sliced.
1 lb. kohlrabi, peeled, quartered, then thinly sliced
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup whole milk
1 tsp dried, crushed tarragon
dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a deep dish pie plate. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium heat and saute shallots until translucent, but not yet browned, about 3 minutes. Set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients, including the 2 tablespoons of butter, in a large pot. Cover and place over medium-high heat.

As soon as the mixture boils, remove the pan from the heat and mix in sauteed shallots. Pour into prepared pie dish, smooth and cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for about 15 minutes more, until the veggies are tender, the top browns and the sauce bubbles thickly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Grilled Radicchio with Balsamic Glaze
This recipe comes from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." It would be delicious sprinkled with some blue cheese. It would be a great accompaniment to the gratin above.

1 lb Radicchio, cored and quartered
1 TB sunflower oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TB honey
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your grill to a moderately high heat. Brush the radicchio with the oil, taking care to keep the wedges in tact. Stir the honey into the vinegar and set aside. Place the radicchio wedges on the grill, cut sides down. Grill for a minute or two, then turn and brush (or drizzle) with the vinegar mixture. Cook until just starting to crisp and char around the edges, another couple of minutes. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with blue cheese, if desired.

Butternut Squash (or other Winter Squash!) and Radicchio Papardelle
In this healthy pasta dish sweet winter squash temper the bitter edge of the radicchio. Gourmet January 2009. Serves 4-6 as a main course.

1/2 stick unsalted butter (you can use 1/2 of this with good results)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts (walnuts would be great too)
1 pound butternut or other orange winter squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
3/4 pound radicchio, cored and thinly sliced
1 (8-to 9-ounces) package pappardelle (preferably egg pasta), broken into large pieces
1/2 cup coarsely grated ricotta salata or Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 ounce)

Optional:
Substitute chicken broth for the 1 cup of cooking water below
Add 1/2 red onion sliced thin to the skillet at the same time as the radicchio.

Melt butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, then continue to cook until it is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add oil, then nuts, and cook, stirring, until nuts are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate.

Add squash to skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add radicchio and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until wilted and just tender, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pappardelle in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoon salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta. Add pasta to radicchio mixture with 1/2 cup cooking water and toss over low heat until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add more cooking water to moisten if necessary.
Serve topped with nuts and cheese.

Stir Fried Turnips with Greens
From Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. Serves 4.

3/4 cup orange juice
2 TB soy sauce
3 medium scallions
4 med garlic cloves
1 TB minced ginger
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 TB plus 1 tsp peanut oil
1.5 lbs Salad Turnips or Spring Dug Turnips, cut into 3/4" wedges or chunks
5 cups packed, stemmed greens (Pac Choi, Braising Greens, Yukina Savoy, Chard, etc)

Combine orange juice and soy in measuring cup. Place scallions, garlic ginger, red pepper flakes in small bowl. Heat 1 TB oil in large skillet over med high heat until shimmering. Add turnips and stir fry until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Push turnips to edges of pan, spread garlic mixture in center of pan. Drizzle remaining 1 tsp oil over mixture and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir to combine with turnips. Add orange juice mixture to pan, cover and cook, until turnips are creamy and tender and liquid has reduced to a few tablespoons (2-3 minutes). Add greens, cover and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. (If the contents of the pan are too soupy, simmer with the cover off to reduce the liquid to a sauce consistency.). Serve immediately.

Highland Beef Stew
From the kitchen of Greenfield Highland Beef. Serves 6.


2 Ib. Highland stew meat

1/4 c. flour seasoned with salt & fresh ground pepper

2 onions, chopped

2 large stalks celery, sliced

2 large carrots, thickly sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 bay leaf, crumbled

2 c. liquid (dry red wine, beef broth, water or mix)

1/4 Ib. bacon slices, cooked

(opt)
1/4 c. brandy
(opt.)
1/2 tsp. hot sauce or cayenne


Roll beef cubes in seasoned flour. Place cooked bacon in bottom of flameproof casserole. Pour diced tomatoes into casserole. Layer half of beef cubes over tomatoes. Cover with half of the vegetables. Repeat with remaining beef and vegetables. Mix wine, broth &/or water with brandy, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and seasoning to taste. Pour over meat and vegetables. Bring to a simmer on stovetop. Cover w. lid and cook in oven at 300°F for 3 hours or until meat is tender.

Crispy Maple Spareribs
There are so many completely different recipes for spare ribs. But these maple glazed ribs caught my eye, and the recipe is quick and easy and calls for basic ingredients. Recipe from
Martin and Jean Collins of Collins Tree Farm and Sugarhouse, Putney, VT
. Courtesy of Sustainable Table ®. Serves 2.


1.5 lb. lean pork spareribs
3 oz maple syrup

1 tb. chili sauce
1/2 tb. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tb. red wine vinegar

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Dash of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Roast ribs on a rack in pre-heated oven 400°F for 30 minutes. Combine the remaining ingredients in a pan and bring to boil for 5 minutes. Remove ribs from rack and reduce heat to 350°F. Place ribs in a baking dish and cover with the sauce. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, basting frequently.

Good Eats Newsletter - October 28, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Head Lettuce; Napa Cabbage; Upland Cress; Large Leeks; 3 lbs of Mixed Potatoes; 2 lbs Yellow Storage Onions; 2 Sugar Dumplings Squash; 1 Fennel Bulb; 1 bunch Thyme -or- Rosemary -or- Oregano; plus 1 Green Pepper

The peppers in the share are an extra. They got slightly frosted and there may be some translucent spots on them. But they were too good otherwise and we decided you'd all probably enjoy them anyway.

Localvore Offerings Include
Pete's Greens Sauerkraut
Aurora Farms Vt Grown Organic White Flour!
Stateline Farm Sunflower Oil

Upland Cress - There are many types of cress, the type in the share today is upland cress. Eaten cooked or raw, cress has a very mild peppery flavor. It may be eaten raw as in a simple salad with oil and vinegar, or wilted in soups or other dishes. I love it on sandwiches and in salad. Watercress is a very powerful antioxidant. A two year study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2007 determined that eating watercress daily can significantly reduce DNA damage to blood cells, which is considered to be an important trigger in the development of cancer. It is brimming with more than 15 essential vitamins and minerals. Gram for gram, it contains more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than milk.

Fennel - Fennel is crunchy and slightly sweet with the flavor of anise. It is delicious and slightly sweet served raw but is just as often served cooked on its own or in other dishes. Though most often associated with Italian cooking, it has an uncanny ability to blend with other flavors adding a light and fresh note. It is delightful in many dishes, and in soups and stews and sauces and is particularly great with tomato sauce dishes. Fennel is composed of a white or pale green bulb from which closely superimposed stalks are arranged. The stalks are topped with feathery green leaves near which flowers grow and produce fennel seeds. The bulb, stalk, leaves and seeds are all edible. To prepare, trim off the fronds and stalks and reserve them for garnish or seasoning. Cut off the hard bottom and slice vertically or into quarters. Or cut the bulb in half lengthwise, cut out the core, and cut into strips. Add it raw to salads or try some thinly sliced fennel on your sandwich. Top thinly sliced fennel with plain yogurt and mint leaves. Or braise, roast or saute it. It is done when tender enough to pierce easily with a skewer.

Leeks - Leeks are easy to use, and their delicate, irreplaceable flavor makes a meal special. The subtle, buttery taste of leeks imparts elegance to many dishes, including old standbys that call for onions. Though generally only the white part and an inch or so of the green is used in dished, the rest of the green leaves add great flavor when tossed into a pot with other vegtables for vegetable broth. Loosely wrap unwashed leeks in a plastic bag and store them in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. They will keep for at least a week

Bulk Orders Delivered One Week Before Thanksgiving
Later this week we will begin to take bulk orders for potatoes, onions, turnips, beets, cabbage and many other root crops and storage vegetables and some of our localvore products like flour, oats, cooking oil, miso, tamari, oats and other grains. We have also partnered with a neighboring farm who has some pastured turkey available. The bulk order form will be available on our website on the bulk order page later this week. Placing an order will work the same way as it does for chicken orders. Your printed order form and payment must arrive by mail no later than Nov 11th, one week before the November 18th delivery date. A second bulk order delivery day will be scheduled for December 16th. Stay tuned for more news on this. An email will be sent as soon as the bulk order form is available on line.

T-Shirts!
Some of you were entitled to receive a free Pete's Greens T-shirt for signing up early and paying for your share in full. We had intended to get these right out to you with the first share but we have been so busy! The Ts will go out to sites with next week's share - I promise!


Pete's Musings and 8000 lbs of Squash
Squash, squash, buried in squash. We are blessed by being close neighbors and good friends with High Mowing Seeds. Founder Tom Stearns and I started our businesses at about the same time and have enjoyed many joys and tribulations together over the years. Much of our seed comes from High Mowing seed and it will be exciting to watch this business over the next few years. This year High Mowing grew Honey Nut butternut and Musque de Provence pumpkins as seed crops. Honey Nut is a new variety, a miniature butternut with orange flesh and great flavor. Musque de Provence is an old French heirloom with a Cinderella pumpkin flattened shape, deep ribs, and a tan color. It happens to have exceptional flesh and makes by far the best pumpkin puree we have ever tasted.

Squash on pallets in the barn. Phillipe dumps squash into the barrel washer.

Here's how the process of making squash puree from a seed crop works:

• Squash is gathered in High Mowing's fields into boxes and put onto pallets
• We load our flatbed truck with palletized squash
• Back at Pete's Greens we unload the pallets of squash for storage in our barn
• We barrel wash the squash to clean them and cut off all the stems with a machete like whack with a large knife. This step is alot of work as the Honey Nuts are not very big so there are alot of them.
• Katie from High Mowing arrives with the seed extractor. This gizmo chops the squash and tumbles it down a barrel. The seeds fall through the sides of the barrel and the squash flesh goes out the end. Nick and Steve catch the flesh in clean crates and palletize.
• Squash chunks are cooked in the tilt skillet and steam kettle until soft. This takes about an hour and a half. Once soft they are run through a food mill that purees the squash, and removes the skin and fibrous pieces.
• Puree is ladled into bags and the bags are chilled in a water bath
• Bags of puree are put in the freezer.

It's alot of work and by the end of this week we will have put away close to 2,500 quarts. Thanks to Nick who has been working overtime to make this happen and to High Mowing for the great squash. We will all enjoy eating it this winter. ~Pete

Pete and Deb hack the tops and bottoms off Honey Nut squash. Nick in the kitchen with a kettle of squash.

Localvore Lore

The sauerkraut in the share today was made on the farm by Nick Augsberger. He has made several kinds, the flavors of which are very similar but the ingredients differ somewhat. Nick usually starts with grated cabbage, onions, beets and then gets creative after that. Some of you will get the batch made with onions, napa cabbage, fennel, carrots, beets, dill seed and salt. Others will get onions, red cabbage, parsnips, beets, garlic scapes, dill seed and salt. The vegetables get layered and packed down into a barrel with salt. An airlock is created for the barrel and the lacto-fermentation process begins. Our sauerkraut has fermented for about 6 weeks. Sauerkraut should be kept in your refrigerator and should be good for several weeks or more.

A bit about the lacto fermentation and its benefits...
Lact0bacilli are present on the surface of all living things particularly the leaves and roots of plants growing near the ground. Left to ferment, lactobacilli convert the starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits into lactic acid which preserves the vegetables. The benefits of lactobacilli go far beyond just preservation. The proliferation of the lactobacilli on fermented foods enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. The lactobacilli produce numerous beneficial enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances and lactic acid also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine. This is an excellent food and it is highly recommended that we each eat a small amount of fermented vegetables each day.

We have Vt Grown Organic White flour today, thanks to a partnership between Red Hen Bakery and Aurora Farms. Randy George took some time to fill us all in on the flour's history and characteristics.

The flour in this week’s share is the product of a unique, fortuitous, and unprecedented combination of hard work, patience, luck, and cooperation. In the fall of 2006 (right in the midst of planting season for winter wheat), I approached Tom Kenyon of Aurora Farms in Charlotte about growing some bread wheat for us. He enthusiastically agreed and planted 25 acres that fall. Unfortunately, Tom had to suffer through two unsuccessful harvests in 2007 and 2008 before harvesting a crop that was worth milling into flour. When the wheat from this season’s 30 acres were harvested, the initial test results looked good enough to try milling it into flour and making bread with it. A sample of white flour was milled by Champlain Valley Mills (in Westport, NY). Being accustomed to baking with the finest organic wheat Kansas has to offer, I was hopeful that we could use a percentage of this Vermont wheat in some of our breads. Imagine my surprise when I combined this flour with water, yeast, and salt in the mixing bowl and found that it made a familiar-feeling dough! The resulting bread, although not perfect, was surprisingly good. Tom and I made an agreement with Champlain Valley Mills to mill Tom’s entire crop. Hillcrest Foods has been enlisted to warehouse and transport the flour to us. I insisted that Tom get the price he needed to get for the wheat and as a result we are blessed with a minor miracle: a white bread flour produced from locally-grown wheat.

Although we have laid claim to most of this flour for use in our new Cyrus Pringle bread (which we are now baking and delivering daily) and upcoming CSA breads, a small amount of it is being offered to Pete’s CSA shareholders. In the eyes of localvore bakers, this is gold. You can’t find this flour in any stores. But the good news is that a committed group of farmers is working hard to making wheat of this quality a regular reality in VT, so you may be able to find it more readily in years to com. But for now, savor what you have and make some of your own bread with it.

A note about baking with the flour: By normal standards for bread flour, this flour has low protein. It nearly falls into the category of all-purpose flour for this reason. But we have found that, with gentle handling, it can make excellent hearth breads. You may find that it is good for other breads and you should also find that it is good for a variety of other purposes such as muffins, biscuits, pancakes, etc. Enjoy… and happy baking! --Randy George

The organic sunflower oil in the share today comes from John Williamson's State Line Farm in Shaftsbury, VT. This is a good all purpose mild flavored oil that you can use wherever a recipe calls for vegetable oil. It will come to you in a plastic quart container, but we recommend transferring it to a glass container. If you will not use the oil quickly in your household, it's best to store it in the fridge. This is an unrefined product and can spoil. In the fridge it will last indefinitely. It may get a little cloudy in your fridge but this is normal and the cloudiness will disipate as it warms up. John Williamson and Steve Plummer have built Vermont's first on farm biodiesel facility using oilseeds grown on site. John and Steve are testing different oilseed crops, learning how best to grow and harvest and make biodiesel.

Recipes
Blue-Ribbon Black-Powder Buttermilk Biscuits
This recipe comes from the book A Measure of Grace, which is partly a cookbook and partly a story about a restaurant called Hell's Backbone Grill and the community it has become an integral part of in Boulder, Utah. I make these biscuits nearly every week and they get gobbled up immediately. The dough stacking technique shared in the recipe is key to making these layered flaky biscuits. Yet the method is still quick and easy. With a food processor I can have these biscuits on a cookie sheet ready to go on the oven in 10 minutes. These are marvelous with this new flour.

3 Tbsp. cornmeal
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. coarse black pepper
1 tsp. sugar
1 stick butter, cut into chunks
1 c. buttermilk (sub: 1 c. milk w/ 2 tsp. lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 450º, grease 9x11 cookie sheet, sprinkle 2 tbsp. cornmeal over surface.

Place flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together. Cut in butter with pastry blender until it looks like coarse crumbs. Or if you have a food processor, pulse about 7 times for one second each time or until when you run your forl through the mixture it looks like coarse cornmeal. You don't want it smooth! You want a few butter lumps ideally no large than a pea.

Add buttermilk in a pool in the center of the flour. Turn the flour carefully into the buttermilk pool carefully to blend, swiping it from the sides and puching it into the middle. You don't need a smooth dough, you just need to get all the moisture incorporated into the flour. You want inconsistency.

When the dough holds together as a messy, lumpy, somewhat wet mass, dump it out onto a floured board and flatten it with floury hands into a rectangle shape, 1" thick. Then cut the rectangle in half, and stack one half on the other. Flatten it into another rectangle and repeat, two more times. This stacking will increase the layering and flaki-ness of the biscuits. After stacking the third time, transfer to the cookie sheet and sprinkle with remaining 1 Tb or cornmeal. Then roll dough to 1" thick and cut 2x2 squares. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
Braised Fennel and Potatoes
In this dish the potatoes are perked up with fennel. The fennel becomes very tender and lends loads of moisture to the dish. Makes 4 to 6 side-dish serving. Gourmet February 2006.

1 large fennel bulb with fronds
1 large onion, halved lengthwise, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb red boiling potatoes
1/2 cup water

Quarter bulb lengthwise and core, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cook fennel, onion, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut potatoes crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Add potatoes and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt to fennel mixture and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, 3 minutes. Add water and cook, covered, stirring once, until potatoes are tender, 10 to 12 minutes more.

Spicy No-Mayo Coleslaw
This one is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook. Serves 8 as a side.

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, or to taste
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, or freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh chile (jalapeño, Thai, serrano, or habenero), or to taste, optional
1/4 cup peanut or extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups cored and shredded Napa, Savoy, green and/or red cabbage
1 large red or yellow bell peppers, roasted and peeled if you like, seeded, and diced or shredded
1/3 cup diced scallion, more or less
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves Instructions: Time: 30 Minutes

1. Whisk the mustard, vinegar, garlic, and chile together in a small bowl. Add the oil a little at a time, whisking all the while.

2. Combine the cabbage peppers, and scallion and toss together with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve. (It's best to let this rest for an hour or so before serving to allow the flavors to mellow; the cabbage will also soften a bit and exude some juice. Or let it sit for up to 24 hours if you like. Drain slaw before continuing.) Just before serving, toss with the parsley.

Apple Slaw Variation-- A little sweeter: Use carrots instead of bell pepper. Use 1 medium onion, grated, in place of the scallion. Shred or grate 2 medium or 1 large tart, crisp apples and include them in the mix. Lemon juice or cider vinegar is the best choice for the acid here.

Tuna Salad
I do love a tuna salad or tuna salad sandwich and figured that most of you would have tuna on hand to try this recipe. Rave reviews all around. From the Cookbook Starting with Ingredients: Quintessential Recipes for the Way We Really Cook by Aliza Green. Authors Note "The salad is light because the tuna is dressed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice instead of the usual mayonnaise. The fresh herbs give it brightness, and the red bell peppers and purple olives make for a colorful and appetizing preparation. The important thing here is to use the tasty tuna packed in olive oil enjoyed throughout the Mediterranean region, rather than the drier, rather mealy white tuna packed in water."

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
2 (6-ounce) cans tuna in olive oil, drained
1 small head fennel, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 of a small red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

Salad Mix:
1 pound mixed greens (head lettuce and watercress and maybe a bit of Napa?)
Tuna Salad
1 red or orange bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives

Using a whisk or an immersion blender, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, tarragon, and parsley. Lightly chunk the tuna, then toss it with the fennel, celery, onion, and most of the dressing. Reserve.
If you're using mixed greens, trim, wash, dry, and slice them cross-wise into 1-inch-wide strips. Toss the mixed greens or spring mix with the remaining dressing. Arrange on serving plates. Top with the Tuna Salad, and garnish with the bell peppers and olives.

Watercress and Potato soup
This is a simplified version of the French classic. The fresh bite of watercress adds interest to velvety smooth potato. Submitted by Jill Dupleix to The Times Aug 2007. Serves 4.

1 quart water
1 tsp sea salt
1.5 lb all-purpose potatoes
1/4 lb watercress leaves, eg, 2 bunches
2/3 cup milk
2 tbsp double cream
A little grated nutmeg
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the water and salt to the boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Cook the potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Pick the watercress leaves from the stalks and discard the stalks. When the potatoes are cooked, fish them out of the water (reserving the water) and mash them or put them through a potato ricer. Set aside. Add the watercress to the potato water and simmer gently for five minutes. Fish out the watercress and whizz it, with a little of the liquid, in a blender or liquidiser. Return the watercress and the mashed potatoes to the potato water in the pan, stirring well. Add the milk and reheat gently, stirring. Add the cream, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste, and simmer gently, without boiling, for five minutes. Serve in bowls, with a little extra swirl of cream on top.

Good Eats Newsletter - October 21, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Head Lettuce; 2 lbs beets; 2 Sugar Dumpling Squash; 1 Butternut or Buttercup Squash; 2 lbs fresh Red Storage Onions; 1 Garlic; 1 bunch Mizuna; 1 bunch Lacinato Kale; 1 lb Green Tomatoes; 1 lb Green Peppers or Eggplant

Localvore Offerings Include
Elmore Mountain Country French Bread
Pete's Greens Dill Pickles
Vermont Soy Maple Ginger Baked Tofu
Champlain Orchards Liberty Apples

First Week Pick Up Results

There were a few rough spots last week as people picked up for the first time, but all in all, it went pretty well. The big take home messages from last week are:

• Make sure you READ THE PICK UP INSTRUCTIONS when you arrive and carefully select your items. We count out the right number of each item, so it's important that when you pick up, you select just what the pick up instructions tell you to, so that the right number remains for people picking up after you.

• LOOK THROUGH ALL TOTES, BINS, AND BOXES! Last week a few people went home without some of their items and when I checked in with sites hosts, the food was there, just in an unopened tote. As totes are emptied by members they are often left on top of full totes. Look through everything before going away empty handed.

Fall Localvore Share is Full
We have filled the share to capacity! It was a busy last couple of weeks as new sign-ups came each day in the mail. We'll probably begin Spring sign up a bit earlier so that we aren't bombarded with quite so many last minute applications! We are thrilled to have reached our target number so quickly though, thanks to all of you for being with us this share.

Pies for People

The Center for an Agricultural Economy, in collaboration with Sterling College and University of Vermont, is organizing a second Pies for People project to benefit various organizations throughout Hardwick, Craftsbury and Greensboro. Last Tuesday, October 13th, a group of Sterling College students helped folks from Pete's Greens harvest thousands of squash from seed test fields at High Mowing Seeds. Yesterday, Nick was busy in the kitchen at the farm steaming and pureeing squash and preparing to freeze the puree in 5 gallon buckets. In early to mid November, volunteers will gather in the Sterling College kitchen to make hundreds of pies and gallons of soup which will be distributed to senior homes, schools, and food shelters in the area, all based on donated ingredients and volunteer work.

The Center for an Agricultural Economy is a membership driven non-profit that works to facilitate, support and create a locally-based 21st century food system in the greater Hardwick area bringing healthy local food to every plate. The Center relies on membership to support its mission. If you would like to receive information about how to become a member or to receive seasonal newsletters from the Center for an Agricultural Economy, please email Elena Gustavson at elena@hardwickagriculture.org or phone her at (802) 472-5840.












Localvore Lore
Blair and Andrew at Elmore Mountain baked us some of their Country French bread today. This bread is made with organic winter wheat, whole wheat, and rye from Meunerie Milanaise in Quebec, plus sourdough, sea salt, and spring water. It's a great hearty, crusty loaf that remains fresh for several days. I usually place mine in a plastic bag after I get it home to preserve freshness. Great sandwich bread.

This is the second time we have put these dill pickles in the share and we had some great comments from folks who tried them last round. Nick makes the pickles on the farm. These are made in barrels, by layering the pickles with salt and herbs and letting time do the pickling. They are a tasty treat alongside a sandwich!

I was just about to place an apple order a couple weeks ago when a member emailed and asked where we got those tasty Liberty apples last Fall. Good idea, I thought... So today we have Liberty apples for you from Bill Suhr's Champlain Orchards. Though not organic, Bill selects his apple varieties for disease resistance and sprays his apples very judiciously, preferring to be satisfied with some apple imperfections in order to satisfy the greater goal of cleaner produce. Champlain Orchards description follows. "A sprightly and juicy apple with deep red skin and pale yellow flesh resembling the flavor of its parent, Macoun. Flavor increases during first two months of refrigeration. Delicious dessert apple for eating, pies, and sauce."

The tofu in the share today debuted earlier this year from the Vermont Soy Company.

Our Baked Maple Ginger Tofu is a delicious sweet and savory tofu that is ready to eat. No preparation needed, simply cut to size and enjoy! Made with the highest quality ingredients, including Vermont Maple Syrup, our Baked Artisan Tofu is delicious on salads, in sandwiches, on crackers, or tossed into your favorite stir-fry.

It's actually quite delicious plain, right out of the package as snack food. But it's also fantastic in other dishes. Vermont Soy's mission is to source non-GMO organic soybeans from farmers in Vermont for all of their products. To that end, they work collaboratively with High Mowing Seeds, the UVM Extensions Program and local farmers on seed tria


Storage and Use Tips

FRESH! Red Storage Onions - The onions in your bag today are in an awkward stage between fresh and dry onions. The skins are ugly but a quick peel will make them pink and shiny. Storage onions should be kept in a cool, dry spot, such as a cupboard or a drawer.
Green Tomatoes - Of course, these are really red tomatoes that haven't changed color yet. Green tomatoes are great to make chutneys and relishes out of, not to mention the dish that made the movie famous, Fried Green Tomatoes. You can also ripen them yourself, if you don't like green tomatoes. Store them in a box or in plastic bags with a few holes for air circulation. If you have a cool, moderately humid room, simply place them on a shelf, just keep them out of direct sunlight. They may be stored in the dark. As tomatoes ripen, they naturally release ethylene gas, which stimulates ripening. To slow ripening, sort out ripened fruits from green tomatoes each week. To speed up ripening, place green or partially ripe fruits in a bag or box with a ripe tomato.
Winter Squash - Sugar Dumplings (or Sweet Dumplings) are the small white and green round winter squash in the share today.The buttercup is the darker green squash. Butternut is the tan oblong squash. Squash store well and are easy to cook. Store them out of the sun in a dry, temperature neutral place in your home. A bookshelf works just fine. A very simple way to cook them is to cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and place them in a baking dish in a half inch of water and cook until a fork or knife pierces them easily. Try simply stuffing with diced apple, walnuts and a pat or two of butter and drizzle of maple syrup. Yum. You'll find a more elaborate recipe in the same vein below.
Mizuna - Also known as spider mustard, mizuna is a Japanese mustard green with tender leaves and a pleasant, peppery flavor. You could substitute it, chopped, in a salad calling for arugula. It adds a nice zest to a stir-fry or saute. Store mizuna, unwashed, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.

Recipes

Stir Fried Tofu with Kale or Other Greens
This recipe, adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, uses several ingredients from this week's share (and other vegetables could be incorporated too!). You could use either the mizuna or the kale with this recipe. If using the lacinato kale, it might be good to first par boil it (place in a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes). It will probably require a longer cooking time than the mizuna. The tofu does not need cooking, just needs to be heated through.

.75 - 1.5 lbs Tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1.5 TB vegetable oil
1 onion, halved and sliced
1-2 green peppers, cored, seeded and sliced
1 TB chopped garlic
1 TB chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine, sherry, sake, white wine, or water
1/3 c vegetable stock
2 TB soy sauce
1/2 c. chopped scallions

Put 2 TB of oil into a large skillet, over high heat. When hot add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, until it begins to soften (a couple minutes). Add the peppers and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions and peppers are crisp tender and a little charred on the edges, about 5 minutes. Remove the peppers and onions from thepan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add remaining oil, garlic and ginger to center of pan and cook for about 10 seconds. Then add the tofu, wine and stock, and the greens and cook stirring until half of it evaporates and the greens are wilted and tender. Then add back in the peppers and onions.

Add the tamari or soy sauce and scallion and cook, stirring, until the scallion becomes glossy, about 30 seconds. Serve immediately alongside brown rice.


Baked Winter Squash with Apples and Maple Syrup
Winter squash and apples are a lovely combination. There are lots of recipes for squash and apple bakes and soups. This one was adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit November 1995. Serves 6.

1.25 to 1.5 pounds winter squash peeled, quartered lengthwise, seeded, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch-thick slices (about 3 cups)
1 pound medium-size apples peeled, quartered, cored, but crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 3 cups)
3/8 cup dried currants (or dried cranberries or walnuts would be nice too)
Freshly grated nutmeg
3/8 cup pure maple syrup
1/8 cup (1/4 stick) butter, cut into pieces
1.5 sp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook squash in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well. Combine squash, apples and currants in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Season generously with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Combine maple syrup, butter and lemon juice in heavy small saucepan. Whisk over low heat until butter melts. Pour syrup over squash mixture and toss to coat evenly. Bake until squash and apples are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
Cool 5 minutes and serve.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil; chill. Rewarm covered in 350°F. oven about 30 minutes.

Fancy Fried Green Tomatoes

4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1. Slice tomatoes 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Discard the ends.
2. Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat.
3. In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain them on paper towels.

Simple Fried Green Tomatoes
Not everyone wants to go through quite as much effort to fry up tomatoes. Luckily, there's lots of latitude for creating this dish. The recipe below is much simpler. You can also substitute flour, some fine bread crumbs or even crushed corn flakes for some of the cornmeal. You can dredge on a plate, but some folks just put the breading in a bag, toss the tomato slices in and gently toss them in the bag until coated. Salting tomato slices in advance will pull some moisture out. Medium heat is best. If the heat is too high, the breading will brown too much or burn before the tomatoes inside get a chance to cook.

4 to 6 green tomatoes
salt and pepper
cornmeal
bacon grease or vegetable oil

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 - 1/2-inch slices. Salt and pepper them to taste. Dip in meal and fry in hot grease or oil about 3 minutes or until golden on bottom. Gently turn and fry the other side. Serve as a side dish - delicious with breakfast!

Good Eats Newsletter - October 14, 2009

Important Share Information
Welcome to the new Fall/Winter Share! Your first pick-up is Wednesday Oct 14. If you are unsure of your pick-up times or site location, please visit our website's Pick-Up page. If you have any questions about your pick-up please email Amy Skelton. You can also leave a message on voice mail at 802.586.2882 x2, but in nearly all circumstances email will get a quicker response.

When Picking Up Your Share Please:

• Check off your share name on the pick-up list.
• Note that only one name is listed for the share. Be sure to look for your partner, if you don't find your name.
• Check the share type on the list. Share types are Localvore, and Localvore Vegetarian. If you are listed incorrectly, let Amy know via email.
• If you can't find your share name at all, do NOT take a share. Please contact Amy right away and we'll figure it out.
• Pick-up instructions are on a separate clipboard. Follow the specific item list/instructions for the share you have selected to assemble your share. (Localvore Vegetarian or Localvore)
• When splitting your share, coordinate with your share-mate to make sure that you DON'T take double the amount of any items.

Please note that the first Meat Share pick up is not this week, it is Nov 4th.

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
1 Head of Napa Cabbage; 3 lbs Mixed Potatoes; 2 Heads of Garlic; 1 Bunch of Red Russian Baby Kale; 1 Bunch Golden Frills Mustard; 1 Bunch of Dill; 2 Handfuls of Tomatillos; 1 Sunshine Squash; plus...

1 lb Tomatoes -or- Pint of Cherry Tomatoes

The Localvore Portion Contains
Elmore Mountain Honey Wheat Bread
1 Dozen Eggs (from Pa Pa Doodles or Gopher Broke Farm)
Champlain Valley Creamery Cream Cheese

Plus either:
Elmore Roots Pears ~or~ Elmore Roots Pear Jam

What To Do If You Have a Problem
Though we do our best to make sure that every delivery and pick-up goes smoothly, there are the occasional shortages and disappointments. Should you arrive at your pick-up spot to find that one or more of your items are missing or that some of your produce is in unsatisfactory condition, please let us know right away! Our goal is 100% satisfaction. If you can call or email Amy as soon as you discover the problem, she may be able to resolve it the same day. Sometimes, a site host is able to find items a shareholder may have overlooked and the shareholder is able to go back Wednesday evening or Thursday morning to retrieve the items. We've also had shareholders who have mistakenly taken an item call to see if they can deliver that item to the family who was shorted.

Our site hosts have instructions to distribute left over food by Thursday afternoon if we have not heard back from anyone. This assures that they don't end up with bad food on their hands. If you would like to receive an item that you missed at pick-up, you must contact Amy by Thursday morning.

If we can't resolve your issue right away, a quick call or email ensures that you will get on the pick list for the following week.

Storage and Use Tips
We have been working on a database of both storage and use tips for the vegtables we provide and for recipes. It is still not finished but we look forward to finishing it when things slow down a bit! Until then, you can find lots more tips and recipes on the Pete's Greens blog (which is searchable - just enter a term in the search-box).

Napa Cabbage - The flavor of Napa cabbage is somewhat milder and a bit sweeter than that of regular green cabbage. It is delicious raw or cooked, and can be substituted for regular cabbage in most recipes. Store in a sealed plastic bag in your refrigerator.
Mustard Greens - Related to kale, cabbage, and collard greens, mustard greens are the peppery leafy greens of the mustard plant. Young mustard greens are tender enough to liven up salads, and all are stout enough to stand on their own in steamed or stir-fried dishes. Store loosely wrapped in plastic in your fridge.
Tomatillos - These papery husked fruits are often cooked into salsas, sauces, stews, jams and marmalades. They may also be used raw in salsas and some salads. They can be a bit sweet to quite tart. Many cooks will add a bit of sweetener to balance acidity of very tart tomatillos. Store in a paper bag in the fridge for several weeks, or remove the papery husks, clean and pop into freezer-weight zip lock bags and use later.

Newsletter Intro
My name is Amy Skelton and I write the Good Eats newsletter each week. It goes out every Tuesday evening with helpful information, farm updates, the week's share contents, storage and use tips, localvore information and recipes. Pete or Meg will often chime in with farm updates, thoughts and pleas for feedback. The picking for the weekly share begins on Monday and the packing of shares is finished late Tuesday afternoon. Though we try to get the newsletter out just as early as we can, we do like to wait until the share is finalized. Sometimes there are last minute changes to the contents and we want to make sure that you've got the right information to go with your pick-up.

If, as happens occasionally, there are changes to the share that occur after the newsletter has been sent, you may receive a follow-up email Tuesday night or Wednesday. If you have any feedback on the newsletter, recipe contributions or just general questions about the CSA, feel free to email me.

We also post each newsletter on our blog at PetesGreens.Blogspot.com. It generally gets posted sometime on Wednesday. There's a good history there for recipes, farm stories and share contents.

If you have issues receiving the newsletter, it would be helpful to add amy@petesgreens.com to your address book.


Roots Harvest
The crew at the farm is deep into roots harvest at the farm right now. It's been going on for many days and Pete estimates at least 12 more full days with all hands on deck to get most of the roots out of the fields into the cellar. Harvest is still done with lots of manpower. The tractor goes through the rows first mowing down the foliage above ground. On the next pass of the tractor, a digging bar passes below the depth of the roots unearthing them from the soil and leaving them mixed with the soil at ground level. And then that is where the people come in, picking and sorting the roots for size and quality, trimming the remainder of the tops off with a knife, and filling the bins that will be taken to the cellar. It's often cold work this time of year, with many hours spent at cold ground level with a good breeze blowing through the fields.

Pete's Musings
Welcome to the new share period! Many of you are good procrastinators and while we were a little concerned by the slow rate of sign-ups early on we have been bombarded lately. Thanks for you support, everyone on the farm is excited and energized by how many share members we have now. We are also a little overwhelmed as we are starting a new share period at the same time that we are being hit with abnormally cold October weather. After tomorrow night we have 3 nights with lows in the low 20's. That is cold enough to wipe out a lot of outdoor production and even cold enough to damage exposed beets, carrots, and other roots. So we are hustling - wish us luck, we've got to get these roots out of the ground and into cellars. ~ Pete


Pete's Chicken Available For Order
An added bonus for Good Eats members is the ability to order the free range chicken raised on our farm and have frozen chickens delivered to Good Eats sites. Our birds are raised on loads of organic pasture and can't help but assimilate lots of healthy forage in their diet. The nutrients the birds take in on pasture become concentrated in the meat. Pasture-raised meats are much lower in fat, higher in heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA's), and are excellent sources of Vitamins A, B3, B6, B12, D and E. This is meat you really can feel great about eating.

More information about placing orders plus the chicken order form that you can fill out and mail with payment can be found here on the website: Pete's Pastured Chicken.

Localvore 'Lore
Each week in this section we highlight some of the localvore items in the Localvore Share. We try to mix up what you'll receive each week, so that everyone gets to sample a wide variety of locally grown and produced food items. We do our best to source items from within 100 miles of the farm, directly if at all possible. Though we occasionally wander outside this radius, it's pretty rare. Our 100 miles allows us access to many interesting products from Quebec, New York, New Hampshire, but the majority of products are from right here in Vermont.

Elmore Mountain bakes for the share a couple times a month. Andrew and Blair source their flour and most ingredients for their breads close to home. This just in from Andrew:

This week we are making Vermont Honey Oat. It is made with Milanaise Winter Wheat, Milanaise Whole Wheat, Quebec Oats, Vermont Honey from Butternut Mountain Farm, sea salt, spring water and yeast. This is one of our favorites. We have been baking it all summer for the Stowe Farmer's Market and it's become a favorite of many of our customers as well. We are very excited to be back baking for Good Eats again after our hiatus this summer. We have been working on finishing our new wood-fired brick oven and an addition to the bakery. The oven is slowly fire-curing and we are looking forward to using it the next time we bake for the CSA. ~ Andrew and Blair

To go along with Elmore's bread, we have Champlain Valley Creamery Cream Cheese this week. Made in Vergennes, this cheese is made from cultured fresh organic cow’s milk and cream using traditional methods. Last spring I asked Carleton Yoder to share with us a bit about how he makes this cheese:

We haul organic milk in cans from a dairy in Bridport, we separate the cream and add it to whole milk in the vat. We then vat pasteurize the milk/cream combo, cool and culture for 7 hours. The resulting thick curd is scooped into muslin bags and drained overnite, then pressed lightly in the morning. The cheese is emptied out of the bags and is salted and packed, all by hand. The cheese you are getting this week was milk last Wednesday, packed Thursday. The cheese is never reheated to stop the culture, and no stabilizers (like carob, guar or xanthan gums) are ever added. It's very unlike that ubiquitous foil wrapped gummy brick! It has the perfect balance of creaminess and tanginess that is unlike any other cream cheese you’ve ever tasted. It’s great on a bagel, on sandwiches, baked in your favorite dessert or simply on its own. ~ Carleton

In the past we have had trouble sourcing enough farm fresh and free range eggs for the share. Deborah Rosewolf, who works at Pete's Greens stepped up to the plate this spring and increased the size of her home flock considerably. Her hens have a great time at her place, and some of their escapades are chronicled in our blog. Like the time all 300 showed up for a barbecue. Or when some of them learned to use the doggie door and made themselves at home in her house. This week even Deborah's flock wouldn't quite meet the egg demand of the share, so we also have eggs from George Nash at Gopher Broke Farm in Hyde Park also. George and Deb have rounded up every egg for us this week, waiting til after collecting this morning's eggs to deliver. Some sites will be getting eggs Deborah collects Wednesday morning. Now that's fresh!

We are hoping that through these two suppliers we'll be able to provide eggs two weeks out of each month.

At Elmore Roots Nursery in Elmore, VT, David Fried grows a very wide variety of fruits trees and bushes and many other ornamental fruits and trees. David is one of the only certified producers of pears in our region. Yesterday he picked and packed like crazy trying to pull together enough pears for our quickly growing share. The big pears with russet banding are called Pattens. They will be crisp when they arrive but in a couple days in fridge or on counter top they will soften and sweeten. The smaller rounder pears are called Stacy, and these are ready to eat now, crisp and firm and sweet. David fell short of fresh pears and so a few sites will get his pear jam instead, made entirely of his organic pears and organic cane juice.

Recipes

Steamed Savoy Cabbage and Mustard Greens with Bacon
This is a great, tasty steamed greens recipe. From Gourmet November 1998. Serves 4.

6 oz sliced bacon
1 small head Savoy cabbage (about 1 lb)
1 bunches mustard greens
3 large garlic cloves
1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cut bacon into 1/2-inch pieces and in a large heavy skillet cook over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp and golden. With a slotted spoon transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
Thinly slice cabbage and discard coarse stems from mustard greens. In a large steamer rack set over boiling water steam cabbage, covered, until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer cabbage to a large bowl and keep warm, covered. In steamer rack set over boiling water steam mustard greens until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add mustard greens to cabbage and keep warm, covered.

Mince garlic. In a small saucepan heat garlic, butter, and oil until butter is just melted. Drizzle butter mixture over vegetables, tossing to distribute evenly, and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer vegetables to a serving dish and serve topped with bacon.

White Bean, Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup
This is one of those soups that will be even better the second day. Bon Appétit January 2000.
Vegetable oil
3 medium carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 Sunshine squash, peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 tablespoon olive oil

6 cups (or more) canned vegetable broth
4 cups finely chopped kale
3 large fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf

1 15-ounce can Great Northern beans, drained

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease baking pan with vegetable oil. Arrange carrots, tomatoes, onion, squash and garlic on sheet. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until vegetables are brown and tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Transfer carrots and squash to work surface. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces; set aside. Peel garlic cloves; place in processor. Add tomatoes and onion; puree until almost smooth.

Pour 1/2 cup broth onto baking sheet; scrape up any browned bits. Transfer broth and vegetable puree to large pot. Add 5 1/2 cups broth, kale, thyme and bay leaf to pot; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered until kale is tender, about 30 minutes.
Add beans and reserved carrots and squash to soup. Simmer 8 minutes to blend flavors, adding more broth to thin soup if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaf. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to simmer before serving.)

Fried Eggs on Corn Tortillas with Two Salsas (Huevos Divorciados)

Eggs, fresh salsas, served on fried corn tortillas make for a colorful, fun and flavorful meal. A side of black beans, bean and corn salad, or refrieds would complement nicely. Gourmet May 2000. Serves 4.



For red and green salsas:

1/2 lb tomatoes

1/2 lb fresh tomatillos, husks discarded and tomatillos rinsed

2 fresh jalapeño chiles

1 (1-inch) wedge of large white onion

2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 to 1/2 cup water


4 to 8 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 large eggs

8 (6- to 7-inch) corn tortillas
 


Make the Salsas:

Heat a comal (griddle) or a dry well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until a bead of water evaporates quickly, then roast tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapeños, and onion, turning with tongs, until charred on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. Core roasted tomatoes. Discard stems from jalapeños and discard half of seeds from each chile.

For red salsa: Coarsely purée tomatoes, 1 jalapeño, 1 garlic clove, half the onion, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor, then transfer to a bowl.

For green salsa: Coarsely purée tomatillos, remaining jalapeño, remaining garlic clove, remaining teaspoon salt, remaining onion, cilantro, and 1/4 cup water (add more if needed for desired consistency), then transfer to a bowl.

Cook eggs:

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a small nonstick skillet over moderately low heat until hot. Gently break 2 eggs into a cup, keeping yolks intact, then pour into skillet and cook, covered, 5 minutes, or to desired doneness. Season with salt and pepper.

Fry tortillas while eggs cook. Make more eggs in same manner, adding oil as needed.

Fry tortillas:

While each serving of eggs is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons oil in another small nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Stack 2 tortillas in skillet. Cook bottom tortilla 30 seconds on first side, then flip stack with tongs. While second tortilla cooks on bottom, turn top tortilla over with tongs, then flip stack again. Continue until both sides of both tortillas are cooked. Tortillas will soften and puff slightly, then deflate (do not let them become brown or crisp). Fry more tortillas in same manner, adding oil as needed.

Put two tortillas on each plate, overlapping slightly, and top with eggs. Spoon a different salsa over each egg.

Almond Pear Cream Cheese Tart
Here's a simple, tasty dessert - if you can bear to part with the cream cheese and pears. Decadent but yummy.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup flour

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

4 fresh pears, peeled, sliced

1/4 cup sliced almonds



HEAT oven to 425°F.
BEAT butter and 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.
BEAT cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the remaining sugar in same bowl with mixer until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Spread onto bottom of crust. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon. Add to pears in large bowl; toss to coat. Arrange over cream cheese layer; top with nuts.
BAKE 10 min. Reduce temperature to 375°F; bake 25 min. or until center is set. Cool completely. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen torte. Remove rim. Refrigerate tart 3 hours.

Good Eats Newsletter - October 7, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Mesclun Greens; 1 Sunshine Winter Squash!; 1 lb Green Peppers; 2 lbs Red Norland Potatoes; 2 lbs Carrots; 1 lb Walla Walla Onions or Yellow Storage or Red Storage Onions; 1 bunch Sweet Salad Turnips; 1 bunch Ruby Streaks Mustard; 1 Bunch Curly Parsley, 2 Garlic Heads
Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Champlain Orchards Localvore Apple Pie
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar

Meat Share Members! - This is a meat share week!

This is the last delivery week for the Summer Share!

Pete's Musings
Thanks everyone for joining us this share period. It has been a summer of challenges mostly weather related but we were blessed with 6 weeks or gorgeous sun in August and September. We have not had the best financial year ever but we have made some significant improvements in our farming abilities and general tidiness of the farm and that feels great. We have several tough weeks of storage crop harvest ahead of us but we'll get it done, we always do.

Last Friday night I was picking up pallets of cippolini onions with the tractor forks in the dark when it started to rain. They really should not get wet once in crates so I was not happy with the situation. These onions were grown in our rented field and near the field there was a spec house built last fall. It is a pretty little red house and this spring the builders added a garage with an open front, no doors. The house has been for sale and is unoccupied. There I was with it raining on my onions and that garage with the open doors just called to me. I don't know the owners but thought it might be ok to put the 6 pallets in the garage for the night.

Of course the next day I was way too busy and never made it over to collect the onions. Then Sunday came and I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing. I was feeding the chickens Sunday morning when a man came walking across the field. He introduced himself as the owner of the house and I got ready for an earful. Nope, he was just coming by to say it was no problem and then we talked about how I had raced his son in cross-country in high school. I asked about his house and he told me where to find a key if I want to show it to anyone. It was great. ~Pete




Sign Up for the Fall Share Now!
Last chance to sign up without missing the first share week
This is it folks. Last chance to sign up without interruption in your weekly food deliveries. I must have your sign up sheets and payment in hand by the weekend in order to deliver your share next Wednesday Oct 14th. If you have been procrastinating, time to dig for an envelope and stamp!

Head to the Fall/Winter Share page for details and to download your sign up form.
Meat Share info and form also available.


Looking to split your share?
The Members Seeking page works really well as a place to connect with someone who is willing to split a share. Quite a few people have made use of this service this Fall and have found people to split a share with. Please send me an email if you'd like to have me post something on this page for you. I just need to know the name of the site at which you'd like to pick up and any special details you might be considering.

New Sites Update

New sites confirmed:
Shelburne - Shelburne Vineyard located at 6308 Shelburne Rd. Pick up times still TBD as we fine tune the new schedule but they are likely to be noon to 5:30pm.
Richmond - On the Rise Bakery. Pick up times still TBD but should be between 11 am and 6 pm.

Site change:
Montpelier - along with National Life, we will also be delivering to Montpelier Mud at 141 River St (just a short distance from current May Day Studio location). Pick up times 11am to 9pm.

New sites under consideration:

Burlington - There's a very good chance we will have a site in the Northwest corner of Burlington for the Fall share. This is still coming together though, and the soonest we could anticipate delivering there is October 28.

Newport - We have a potential plan for delivering shares to Newport. The only detail holding us back is having enough Newport members committed to joining. If you are interested in a Newport pick up or know someone who is, please email me! And stay tuned for developments.

Johnson - We have a similar plan brewing for Johnson as we have for Newport and will need to hear from people who would like to take advantage of a Johnson pick up. The potential pick up location would be the Butternut Mountain Farm Store (aka Marvins Country Store) right next to the Woolen Mill in Johnson. If a Johnson pick up would help you or someone else be able to join, please email me!

Pete's Pastured Chicken
Order your chickens and fill your freezer. You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site. Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form. These are great tasting chickens raised on an abundance of greens and grass throughout their lives. This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.

Localvore Lore
As a thank you to all of you who have been a part of the Localvore Share this summer I wanted to send you something special. And who doesn't like apple pie and a good cheddar to go with it?

Champlain Orchards baked us pies this week, a full 9" apple pie especially made for us using the VT grown Aurora Farms flour, Cabot Creamery butter, maple syrup from Shoreham, a mix of apples from Champlain Orchards (Macintosh and Paula Reds), and organic spices.

And of course in keeping with the New England style of pie accompaniment, we are sending along a good cheddar. Not just any old cheddar though, the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar in the share today is a multi award winning cheese, judged best cheddar in many competitions, and even won the American Cheese Society's Best in Show Award in 2006 besting some 940 other cheeses from around the country in that year's competition. And it was a silver medalist at the World Cheese Awards taking home the title of the Best US Cheddar.

The cheese starts out at the Cabot Creamery. Immediately after the wheels are unmolded from their cheddar hoops at Cabot, they are loaded into a truck and delivered to the Cellars at Jasper Hill. Once there, they are bandaged with cloth and painted with lard. The cloth gives the wheels a breathable shield from the elements and the lard acts as a natural sealant, helping protect the cheese from the excessive drying during their 10-14 month stay. During the aging process a bloomy rind is allowed to develop which flavors the cheese. The cave environment is carefully monitored to age the cheese perfectly. The result is a traditional English type cheddar, with a slightly craggly texture, and flavors that are sweet and nutty.

Meat Share North Hollow Farm - T-Bone or Porterhouse Steaks!
From Mike and Julie Bowen's farm in Rochester, VT we have some excellent cuts of grass fed beef. The cows at North Hollow are born on the farm and graze the farm fields in spring, summer and fall, and in winter dine on hay and silage produced on the farm. I stumbled across a great article on line today about cooking 100% grass fed steaks. Lots of great tips here, definitely give it a look before cooking your steaks. Briefly though, don't overcook or allow to dry out! Because of the much lower fat content and resulting quicker cook time - lower the heat by 50°F, cook for 30% less time than grain fed beef recipes. Marinating in oil will add moisture and help seal in juices. Pan is better than grill for same reason of retaining juices. Turn with tongs, not a fork to hold in the juices. Cook to medium rare.

Maplewind Farm Andouille Sausage - This slightly spicy Cajun flavored sausage is made with Maplewind's pork and chopped garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme and salt. It's a classic in jambalaya and in gumbo recipes, and as such I have included a Gumbo recipe that uses a small whole chicken and this sausage. But it is also a classic in Po' Boy Sausage sandwiches so just grill it and throw it in a bun for a quick tasty lunch. Maplewind Farm in Huntington raises grass fed beef, pastured pork and chicken. They also grow 5 or 6 acres of vegetables that Bruce cultivates with his 2 Percheron draft horses and they operate their own seasonal CSA in Huntington. The pigs are born on the farm and spend their lives grazing and rooting around in rotationally grazed pastures.



Shuttleworth Farm Bacon - It has not been easy to round up enough bacon for the share so I was pretty happy to learn that Kelli had just put a bunch in her freezers. The Shuttleworth pigs are born on the farm and rotationally grazed around the farm, tilling up whatever needs tilling or cleaning up. This will be tasty bacon indeed.

Pete's Pastured Poultry - and of course we have also put one of our own chickens in the share. Our birds spend their days outside with moveable shelters and unlimited pasture. They actually now cohabitate quite happily with the pigs and the cows lately as we have to some degree given up on the in between fencing as long as the perimeter is secure. Everyone looks happy out there. The chickens live out a pretty relaxed life and forgae all day, every day. This means that their meat (and all grass fed meat) is lower in fat and vitamin packed. Enjoy!

Storage and Use Tips

Mustard Greens - Related to kale, cabbage, and collard greens, mustard greens are the peppery leafy greens of the mustard plant. Ruby Streaks Mustard has a delicate texture and mild, sweet yet slightly pungent mustard flavor. The greens are tender enough to liven up salads, and stout enough to stand on their own in steamed or stir-fried dishes or even soups.

Sunshine Squash - The squash in the share is a winter squash very similar to a Red Kuri. Sunshine Squash can be baked, braised, pureed, or steamed to be served as a side dish or used as a base for soups. Store all winter squash in a cool, dry, dark place with good ventilation, like a porch or garage, but make sure they do not freeze. They should last over a month at least. Once cut, you can wrap the leftovers in plastic and store in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days.
Recipes

Quick Coconut Vegetable Curry
I took one look at the share ingredients this week (potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, and squash) and the first thing that came to my mind was a coconut curry. I keep a couple jars of that commercially available red and green curry paste in the fridge and coconut milk in the cupboard and at certain times of the year a coconut curry is a common occurence in the kitchen. Of course you can do without the paste, and the recipe below calls for stuff you probably have on hand. This recipe calls for squash as the main attraction, which will be delicious. I would of course have to fiddle with this, substituting some portion of the squash with whatever I most wanted to use up. If you substitute mustard greens in this recipe, add them to the pot with the squash so they have a longer cooking time. From the GardenofEatin Blog July 2oo9. Serves 6.

1 medium-sized sunshine squash, halved, seeds removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 bunch chard or other cooking green washed, stems removed and chopped into 1-inch pieces, leaves cut into ribbons
2 big handfuls of other color vegetables (peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, etc washed and cut to size)
2 medium onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced (or more!)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger (definitely more!)
2 cans of coconut milk
3 cups of vegetable broth
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsps curry powder and/or garam masala (or more)
2 tsps sunflower oil or ghee
A pinch of red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp sugar
A very large handful of fresh cilantro, washed and chopped (optional)

Start by prepping the veggies: Peel the squash, cut in half, remove the seeds and then cut the flesh into 1-inch cubes. Wash the greens and remove the stems, chopping them into 1-inch long pieces. Slice the onions and mince the garlic and ginger. Wash and chop the cilantro, if using

Once all the veggies are prepped, put your rice on to cook. Short grain brown or Basmati would be great.

In a large pot, sautee the onions, garlic, ginger and chili flakes in the oil or ghee for several minutes, cooking until the onions have begun to soften and become translucent. Add the vegetable broth and the coconut milk to the pot then toss in the cubed squash (and potatoes and mustard greens if using) and season it all with curry powder, garam masala, pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the squash is beginning to feel tender when poked with a fork. Add the other veggies and the chard stems and simmer for another 3-5 minutes or until the green beans feel done to your liking. Then toss in the chard and the cilantro and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

6. Allow to cool slightly and serve over the warm rice.

Sunshine Winter Squash Soup
There are so many great winter squash recipes out there. This one is a pretty simple one with ingredients most of us have around.


1 medium to large red squash, peeled, seeded, large chop

2 medium onions, small dice

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

4 stalks celery, small dice

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme

Pinch of allspice and nutmeg

1 cup of heavy cream

Water

In a 5-8 quart stockpot add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to medium heat. Sauté onion, celery, garlic for 4 minutes. Add squash, red pepper flakes, nutmeg, allspice and thyme. Add cold water to pot up to 2” above the squash. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. When at a boil, turn back down to a simmer for 30 minutes. When squash is tender, puree with hand blender until smooth. Add heavy cream and check if salt and pepper is needed.

Spiced pepitas
2-3 cups plain pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup of olive oil
2 tsp curry
2 tsp nutmeg


In a large sauté pan add 1/4 cup of olive oil and heat on low. Add pumpkin seeds.
Sauté for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Strain through a fine chinois, reserve excess oil. Toss toasted pepitas [the now-cooked pumpkin seeds] with 2 teaspoons of curry, nutmeg, ground ginger, salt and pepper.
Garnish soup with 1 tablespoon of pepitas.

Mixed Greens
I like the long slow cook time for this recipe. The greens will be super tender, and this type of cooking takes the bitterness out opf stronger flavored greens. Sumbitted to Epicurious by Jessica B. Harris December 1996. Makes 6 servings.

1 pound mixed collard, mustard, and turnip greens
2 strips bacon
1.5 cups water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Hot sauce (optional)
Chopped onions (optional)
Vinegar (optional)

Wash the greens and drain well. Cut out the thick ribs. Tear the greens into pieces. Place the bacon strips in a large heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat until it is translucent and the bottom of the pot is coated with the rendered bacon fat. Add the greens and the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, covered until the greens are tender, about 2 hours. If too liquidy, take cover off at the end of cooking time. Add the seasonings and serve hot.
Traditionally, greens are accompanied by a hot sauce, chopped onions, and vinegar. In some parts of the South, cooks add a pinch of sugar to the greens to take away a bit of their bite.

Gumbo Ya Ya
This is a four star recipe that had lots of reviews to back it up. It uses both chicken and andouille sausage, and the broth that will result from cooking down the chicken carcass. The recipe calls for Creole seasoning and I found a make your own recipe for that here. If it were me, I would cook the chicken one day and take the meat off the bone. Then the next morning cook the carcass to make stock and then proceed with the recipe. Epicurious February 2000. Makes 6 quarts.

2 cups unsalted butter (can use oil)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
5 quarts chicken stock, heated
2 tablespoons Creole Seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 whole 4-pound chicken, roasted and deboned, cut into 2-inch pieces


1. First you make a roux. Melt the butter in a 12-quart stockpot. Whisk in the flour and cook until foaming. Cook, stirring often, until dark mahogany, about 1 hour.

2. Add the peppers, onion, and celery. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the chicken stock (make sure it’s hot), and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer. Stir in Creole Seasoning, black pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, thyme, chopped garlic, bay leaves, and kosher salt. Cook, skimming fat as necessary, an additional 45 minutes.

3. Add the andouille and chicken and cook for approximately 15 minutes. Taste, and adjust for seasoning.

Good Eats Newsletter - September 30, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
1 lb Tomatoes; 1 medium head of Napa Cabbage; 1.5 lbs Sweet Red Peppers; 1 lb Pac Choi; 1 Bunch of Large Leeks; Mixed Green and Purple Kohlrabi; Brussel Sprouts; Broccoli; 1 Bunch of Celery and 1 Bunch of Dill.

Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Red Hen All Vermont Potato Bread
Consider Bardwell Farm Manchester Cheese
Honey Gardens Apiaries Blueberry Honey



New Sites for Fall!

It's been a long time coming but we are finally adding some new sites to the Wednesday delivery schedule. So far we have added Richmond and Shelburne, we have traded one site for another in Montpelier, and we are considering adding a THIRD site in Burlington. It's exciting to have the opportunity to bring food to new people. We are also discussing a Newport option, and have explored Johnson a bit as well.

Shelburne - We have wanted to add a Shelburne location. Our new partner in Shelburne will be Shelburne Vineyard located at 6308 Shelburne Rd. Pick up times still TBD as we fine tune the new schedule but they are likely to be noon to 5:30pm.



Richmond - On the Rise Bakery will be hosting the share and pick up times will be between 11 am and 6 pm.

Montpelier - along with National Life, we will also be delivering to Montpelier Mud at 141 River St (just a short distance from current May Day Studio location). Pick up times 11am to 9pm.

Burlington - We'd like to add a third location on the Northwest side of Burlington and to that end are looking at a couple new site options. Stay tuned for more on this.

Newport - At this time, we are still just exploring this, but we may develop a partnership with some willing members who would pick shares up at the farm and bring them back to Newport for members there. Again, stay tuned for developments.











Pete's Musings
Fall harvest is in full swing, or would be if it could dry out a little. Last Saturday we harvested an acre and a half of gorgeous potatoes. They are stacked on 28 pallets in the barn and tomorrow we'll send them over the brush washer to clean off dirt and cull out the bad ones. We used our new digger which was great but has the unfortunate effect of making the folks working on it motion sick. There is a fast moving chain carrying soil, potatoes, and weeds, and the crew mans the sides of the digger to remove the weeds. I drove the tractor pulling the thing most of the day and only climbed onto the harvester for the last 4 beds. It made me so motion sick I went in the house and slept for 3 hours. Fortunately the rest of the crew is hardier than I am and only experienced minor discomfort. We have 3 more acres of potatoes and I'm growing concerned about the wet days we have ahead but I'm sure it will work out. After that we'll move onto Valentine radishes, followed by beets, turnips, carrots and celeriac and cabbage. All the crops look great and are appreciating the recent moisture. Greenhouse greens are looking nice, we'll be moving the moveable houses in another 3 weeks. Tomorrow we'll plant our large greenhouse in mizuna, arugula and tatsoi and that will finish our planting for the season. We hope you can join us for the fall CSA period, it will be better than ever. ~Pete


Just Two Weeks left before the start of the Fall/Winter share!
It's hard to believe that Fall share starts in just two weeks but it surely does. Please visit the Fall/Winter Share page for details and to download your sign up form.

Looking to split your share? If you are looking for someone to split a share with this Fall, take a peek on our Members Seeking page, where we post requests from people looking to split shares or share pick up duties etc. Already several members have found share partners for the Fall share. Please email me if you'd like to have a message posted there.

Pete's Pastured Chicken Order your chickens and fill your freezer. You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site. Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form. These are great tasting chickens raised on an abundance of greens and grass throughout their lives. This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.

High Mowing Wins Lawsuit Against Genetically Altered Crops The 9th Circuit Court in California ruled in favor of High Mowing Seeds, Center for Food Safety (CFS), Organic Seed Alliance and the Sierra Club in the lawsuit against the USDA regarding the premature deregulation of Monsanto's GMO sugar beets. This was an important victory and means that the USDA will likely require more thorough research and a full Environmental Impact Study prior to allowing more GE crops to be released. The lawsuit was brought by the groups in January 2008. They claimed that the agency failed to adequately assess the environmental, health, and associated economic impacts of allowing Roundup Ready sugar beets to be commercially grown without restriction. Sugar beet seeds are primarily grown in Oregon's Willamette Valley where seeds for other crops related to sugar beets, like organic swiss chard and table beets, are also grown. These crops would be at risk of contamination by wind pollination from the GM sugar beets. Some tidbits related to this story:

• 1.1 million acres were planted in sugar beets in 2009
• almost half of the sugar grown in the US comes from sugar beets
• Roundup Ready crops allow farmers to spray their fields with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide without killing the crop. Constant application of Roundup has resulted in Roundup resistant weeds, and there are now millions of acres across the U.S. of such "superweeds", and farmers are using greater applications of Roundup or other, even more toxic chemicals
• GM crops increased herbicide use in the U.S. by 122 million pounds – a 15-fold increase – between 1994, when GE herbicide-tolerant crops were introduced, and 2004

Support the Farm Share Program - Shop or Dine this Thursday
NOFA-VT's Share the Harvest Event
Each year for one day area restaurants that participate in Share the Harvest generously pledge 15% of their sales to support NOFA-VTs Farm Share Program. The Farm Share program enables limited income Vermonters to purchase a CSA share from a local participating farm by subsidizing up to 50% of the cost of the share. NOFA's annual Share the Harvest event is the sole fund raiser for the matching funds that NOFA contributes to the Farm Share program. Farm Share's ability to help people is dependent on the success of this event. So make your plans to dine out on October 1st. Or structure your week so that you can do your grocery shopping that day! A full 15% of what you spend that day will be donated to the program. The list of participating businesses can be found on the NOFA-VT website.

Localvore Lore This week's bread is an all Vermont Potato Bread from Red Hen Baking Co. Randy is baking this bread with a combination of potatoes from Foote Brook Farm and the fresh 2009 wheat flour from Aurora Farm in Charlotte. Randy is particularly interested to hear feedback on the breads made with this new wheat. Please share your comments by e-mail. I am really excited about the cheese in this share and really hope you like it as much as I do.

Consider Bardwell Farm is 300 acre goat dairy in West Pawlett, VT. The farm, originally founded by Consider Stebbins Bardwell was actually the site of the first cheese co-op established in VT in 1864. Now in the hands of four enterprising cheesemakers, the farm is once again gaining notoriety for the stable of award winning cheeses made there. Manchester is an aged raw goats milk cheese with an earthy, nutty flavor and bold bite. This cheese was an award winner at the American Cheese Society Awards in 2008, and was named one of the 100 World's Best Cheeses by Wine Spectator. Aged anywhere from four to seven months, Manchester is a robust and slightly spicy cheese. It’s texture and temperament make it perfectly suited to shave over salads, or as a table cheese. Please, please, please let this cheese warm to room temperature for full flavor!

We have a second serving of honey for you this week, this time Honey Gardens Apitherapy Honey is coming straight from the blueberry fields. Blueberries depend on honey bees for pollination for the setting of their fruit. When honeybees are brought to pollinate the blueberry flowers, the fruit crop is increased around 300% compared to relying on just the wild bees and other insects for pollination. Beekeepers bring their honey bees to the blueberry fields each season. Not only is pollination important to the berry farmer, but for the beekeepers the work comes at a time after a long winter where the income is gratefully received for all of the expenses of the honey season ahead. Todd Hardie writes:

The blueberry honey that we are sharing this week with Pete’s Greens comes from our friends in Quebec. It is the most remarkable blueberry honey that I have ever tasted. The blueberry flower is smaller than a honey bee, and in many seasons, the bees do not gather any “surplus” honey for their hives. In the last two years, the honey from the bees on blueberries has had between 10% and 30% blueberry honey in it. My sense is that this year the honey could be between 90% or more blueberry honey. The honey bees always go to the flowers that have the sweetest nectar in their neighborhood, and so depending on the season, with the blooming of flowers in a particular neighborhood, and the sun and the rain, the composition of blueberry honey is always different. Thank you for your support of the honey bees and those that work in agriculture. ~Todd

Storage and Use Tips
There are many, many storage and use tips on our blog for pretty much anything we have ever grown, you can enter veggie names in the search box to find info. Very soon we will be finished creating a new veggie info and recipe section on the website site which will be much more user friendly. Can't wait until it's finished! Until then please visit our blogspot if you want to know more about something in the share.

Kohlrabi - The name means cabbage turnip in German and that is a pretty accurate description. It is a member of the cabbage family and its outer skin would attest to that. The greens look more like turnip greens however and the inner bulb can be a bit fibrous, like turnip. Raw, it is crisp, sweet, and clean, strikingly reminiscent of raw broccoli stalks. Cooked, it touts a mild, nutty, cabbage-like flavor that adapts beautifully to many cooking styles. It can be eaten raw and is great in salads and slaws. I can also be boiled, steamed, baked, roasted, etc. The greens may be eaten cooked like turnip greens or any other cooked greens. To prepare the bulb, cut off the leaves and stems. Use a vegetable peeler to pare off the tough outer layer. Or use a chefs knife to slice it off. Dice or shave up the inner bulb according to your recipe. Store loosely wrapped in plastic in the fridge.

Recipes
Holy Brassicas! We have quite a showing from the veggie family that takes top rankings for health attributes. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, Napa cabbage, kohlrabi and pac choi - all are super healthy and packed with vitamins and cancer fighting goodness. I have selected recipes this week that highlight these power veggies.

Vegetable Strudel
This is a delicious dish from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Makes great leftovers and you can also freeze leftover squares and they re-bake beautifully. Serves 6-8.

1 tablespoon butter
2 cups minced onion
1 large carrot, diced
3 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups chopped broccoli
1/2 lb. mushrooms, minced
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoon minced fresh dill
5 scallions, minced
fresh black pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese
3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

1/3 to 1/2 c olive oil
1 lb. filo dough

Options: substitute some thinly sliced kohlrabi or Brussel sprouts here for some of the broccoli or cabbage.
For a lighter dish, use less layers of filo dough.


Preheat the oven to 375°F. Have ready a 9" x 13" baking pan.

Melt butter in a large deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add onion, and cook for 5 minutes. Add carrot, cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, and salt. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are just tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the caraway, garlic, lemon juice, dill, scallions, black pepper, cheese, and 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs.

Brush the pan with a little olive oil. Lay a sheet of filo in the pan and brush lightly with oil. Repeat this until you have a stack of about 12 layers. Sprinkle the stack of fill with the remaining bread crumbs, then add the filling, spreading it to within 1/2 inch of the edges. layer more fill over the filling, brushing each layer with olive oil, including the very top. Use the entire box of fill.

Cut unbaked strudel into squares and bake at 375 for 35 minutes or more until crisp and to desired brownness.

Lotus and Linguine with Wok-Fried Vegetables and Peanut Sauce
Peanut sauce drizzled over hot noodles and crispy wok-fried veggies makes a nourishing dinner. Leftovers become a welcome lunch. Adapted from the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook by Audrey Alsterberg & Wanda Urbanowicz. Serves 4.

1 recipe Peanut Sauce (below)
1 lb linguine noodles
1 TB sunflower oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 carrots, half moon slices
2 large red peppers, 1/2" triangles
1 Bunch Broccoli, florets and stem slices
1-2 Kohlrabi (tough outer skin discarded, and interior sliced thin)
1 small head Pac Choi or Napa Cabbage or combo, roughly chopped
2 bunches scallions, 1 inch long slices
sesame oil
optional: chopped peanuts, lime wedges

For the Peanut Sauce
1/4 c. smooth, natural peanut butter
2 cloves garlic
1 TB minced ginger
2 TB honey
1/4 c. minced cilantro (got any left from last week?)
juice of 1 lime (or a good splash from a bottle)
1 TB sesame oil
1 tsp sambal oelek (or substitute equivalent fresh hot red chile and a pinch of salt)
1/4 c. tamari or soy sauce
2 TB rice wine vinegar

In a food processor or blender, add all the ingredients through the sambal oelek or chili pepper and blend until smooth. Then add remaining ingredients and blend, seasoning to taste.

Peanut sauce tips - you may want more heat (peppers), or more or less ginger, or more or less cilantro. Make this to your liking! Also, this sauce will thicken a lot in the fridge. You can loosen it up by stirring in a little water or stock, or heat on stove top (or in microwave). Y0u can make this sauce a lighter creamier sauce by adding lite coconut milk in a 1:1 ratio.

For the Stir Fry
Heat a large pot of water for cooking the pasta. Begin cooking the noodles when you start your stir fry. The will take about the same amount of time. Have a colander ready to drain the noodles. Meanwhile in a small pot gently heat the peanut sauce, adding water to thin if necessary.

Heat a wok or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and when very hot, add onion and a pinch of salt. Stir fry the onion until translucent and then add remaining vegetables in order of their cooking times, beginning with carrots and ending with .., bok choy and scallions. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Continue tossing and stirring, keeping them crisp and brightly colored. If they start to stick, add a splash of water and cover briefly.

Toss the drained noodles with a splash of the sesame oil. Divide the noodles among the plates, top with vegetables and drizzle with warm peanut sauce. Garnish with chopped peanuts, freshly chopped cilantro, and a lime wedges, if desired.

Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Carrot Slaw
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit July 1998.

3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
2.5 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1.5 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
1 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoons minced garlic

1 Napa Cabbage chopped
2 kohlrabi peeled and cut into matchstick size strips
1 large red or yellow bell peppers, cut into matchstick-size strips
2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into matchstick-size strips
4 scallions, cut into matchstick-size strips
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk first 7 ingredients in small bowl to blend. (Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before continuing.)

If you have a food processor you can use it to grate the carrots, kohlrabi and cabbage and peppers. Otherwise hand chop and mix together in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Braised Brussels Sprouts in Maple Mustard Glaze
From the book The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without by Mollie Katzen.
Serves 4 to 5.

2 TB olive oil (or sunflower!)
¼ cup minced onion
4 c/1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved or quartered lengthwise (or left whole, if tiny)
½ tsp salt
4 to 6 TB water
¼ c. Dijon mustard
2 TB maple syrup
freshly ground black pepper

Place a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. After about a minute, add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it begins to soften. Add the Brussels sprouts and salt, and sauté for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in 4 tablespoons water, shake the pan, and cover. Cook over medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the Brussels sprouts are bright green and fork-tender. (You might need to add another tablespoon or two of water during this time to prevent sticking. Just keep your eye on it, and your fork intermittently in it.) Using a small whisk in a medium-small bowl, beat together the mustard and maple syrup until smooth. Add this mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature, topped with a shower of fresh black pepper, if desired.

Good Eats Newsletter - September 23, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Baby Arugula; 1 lb Red Onions; 3 lbs mixed Potatoes; 1 Bunch of Beets with Greens; 2 lbs Green, Red, or Savoy Cabbage; 1 lb of Romanesca Cauliflower; 1 lb of Broccoli; 1.5 lbs of Tomatoes; 1 Bunch of Cilantro plus ...

1 Bag of Tomatillos -or- Husk Cherries

Please Take Note!
The Tomatoes will be packed in a paper bag as usual.

In addition, the Tomatillos or Husk Cherries will be
in a second paper bag
WITH A BLACK STRIPE ON IT.

Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Red Hen Cyrus Pringle Bread
Vt Soy Maple Ginger Baked Tofu
Pa Pa Doodles Farm Eggs
Butterworks Whole Wheat Bread Flour (or Milanaise)


Pete's Musings
We had a great time with Emeril last week. He is a really down to earth guy, very curious about our farm and the other operations in the area. He did some pickling in the kitchen with Nick, and toured the farm harvesting potatoes and daikon with me. Classy crew, everybody was great to deal with. The show will air on his Emeril Green show on the Discovery channel in several months to a year. We'll keep you posted.

Several of you have commented to me in the past few weeks how much you have enjoyed your Good Eats shares. Putting together the share ingredients is one of the behind the scenes tasks that Meg does. She has taken over much overall general farm management, particular organizational tasks that I am not very good at. She organizes daily and weekly harvest schedules, runs farmers market, manages the farmstand, and works with me on long term planning for the farm. I realize how much she is doing when we decide to leave the farm for a couple days. Meg spends a couple hours writing lists and organizing the work for when we are gone, while my preparation is much easier.

Onions are in the greenhouse drying nicely. Awesome day harvesting them with the crew last Wedneday. We harvested and had under cover over 2 acres in a day. ~ Pete




















The Emeril Planet Green film crew at the Lakeview Dinner. Emeril with some of the Board Members for the Center for Agriculture: L-R, Tom Stearns (High Mowing), Andrew Meyer (Vt Soy), Emeril Lagasse, Pete Johnson, Andy Kehler (Jasper Hill).

VPR interview with Emeril
Jane Lindholm interviewed Emeril asking why he decided to visit Pete's Greens, High Mowing, Vermont Soy, Claire's, Jasper Hill and the Hardwick/Greensboro/Craftsbury community to film what's happening here for his Planet Green Show.
Click here to hear the interview.

Support the Farm Share Program - Shop or Dine on Oct 1
NOFA-VT's Share the Harvest Event
Each year for one day area restaurants that participate in Share the Harvest generously pledge 15% of their sales to support NOFA-VTs Farm Share Program. The Farm Share program enables limited income Vermonters to purchase a CSA share from a local participating farm by subsidizing up to 50% of the cost of the share. NOFA's annual Share the Harvest event is the sole fund raiser for the matching funds that NOFA contributes to the Farm Share program. Farm Share's ability to help people is dependent on the success of this event. So make your plans to dine out on October 1st. Or structure your week so that you can do your grocery shopping that day! A full 15% of what you spend that day will be donated to the program. The list of participating businesses can be found on the NOFA-VT website.

Fall/Winter share begins in just 3 weeks!
The sign up forms are rolling in now. Do we have yours yet? Please visit the Fall/Winter Share page for details and to download a sign up form. Plus, folks who sign up early may receive a colorful Pete's Greens T.

Looking to split your share?
If you are looking for someone to split a share with someone this Fall, maybe we can help. On our Members Seeking page, we post requests from people looking to split shares or share pick up duties etc. It's not an interactive page, so please email me if you'd like to have a message posted there.


Sign Up Early and Receive a Pete's Greens T-Shirt
The 1st 100 people who sign up and pay in full will receive a free Pete's Greens T shirt!

Summer and Summer Meat Share
We will continue to sign new members up for remaining summer share and meat share deliveries.
Summer Share
Meat Share

Pete's Pastured Chicken
Fill your freezers soon! Chicken orders will be available through October. You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site. Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form. These are great tasting chickens raised on an abundance of greens and grass throughout their lives. This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.

Localvore Lore

Randy George at Red Hen Baking Co. is working to perfect his new all Vermont flour Cyrus Pringle bread.
We’re getting more familiar with this bread as we work with it and have made some very small refinements that we think make it even better. Since we plan on making this a regular bread, we’re interested in what you like or don’t like about it and if there is anything about it that you’d like to see changed. ~ Randy

We'd love to hear your feedback on this bread made with fresh local Vermont grown wheat. Please e-mail us with your comments.

We have Vermont Soy's Maple Ginger Baked Tofu again for you this week but in its original freshly baked state. If you'd like to try making yourself some of that delicious fried tofu, there's a recipe provided below. This baked tofu is good on its own, or in stir fries, salads, and sandwiches. It's delicious.

I don't know about you, but with the change in the air this week it's starting to feel a lot like baking weather. To satisfy the urge, we have included local bread flour from Butterworks Farm plus a recipe for Honey Molasses Whole Wheat Bread below. And eggs from Pa Pa Doodles Farm too!


Recipes
VT Soy Baked & Fried Maple Ginger Tofu
For those of you still salivating over the fried tofu from a couple weeks back, here's the way back to nirvana.

Vt Soy uses organic soy oil, but canola or sunflower oil work well too. Heat the oil in a pot to 350 degrees, make sure there is enough oil to cover the pieces of tofu you are frying. Cut the Tofu into cubes or strips depending on your preference. Fry the tofu until it floats and browns. Scoop the tofu out of the hot oil using a utensil that allows the oil to drain away from the tofu. Place tofu on paper towels.

Potato Pancakes
I love that this recipe makes use of leftover mashed potatoes. The recipe calls for baking the pancakes but these can be done the old fashioned way too - frying in a little butter or oil on the stove top. Tomatilla salsa on the side?

1/4 cup butter
3 large onions, finely chopped
4 large eggs
3 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
Tabasco sauce or a little heat from another source
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, melt the butter, then add the onion and cook over moderate heat for 3 minutes, stirring. Remove from heat.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk three of the eggs till well blended, then add the cooked onions, potatoes, flour, salt, pepper, Tabasco and stir until mixture is firm.
Form the mixture into 16 round pancakes and place on a large greased baking sheet.
In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg with the water, brush the top of each pancake with the egg wash, and bake the pancakes till golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

Fresh Tomatilla Salsa
Gourmet September 2007. Makes about 1 cup.

1/2 pound small fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 large garlic clove
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Jalapeno or Cayenne pepper with seeds, or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons water

Coarsely chop tomatillos, then purée with remaining salsa ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth.

Tomato and Tomatillo Gazpacho
Gourmet September 2009 by Andrea Albin.

1/2 pound fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and quartered
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, chopped, divided
1/2 cup chopped white onion, divided
1 (or to taste) fresh Jalapeno or Cayenne pepper, coarsely chopped, including seeds
1 garlic clove, quartered
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup water

Puree tomatillos, half of tomatoes, and half of onion with chile, garlic, vinegar, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt in a blender until smooth.
Force through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.
Stir in remaining tomatoes and onion, water, oil, and cilantro. Chill until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Pirozhki
I like the fact that these little Russian pastries can be made ahead and frozen. You can take the frozen pastries out of the oven and bake them when you need a quick no prep meal. Gourmet February 1992.

For the dough
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon cold water if necessary

For the filling
3/4 pound baking potatoes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
3/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon butter (or oil)
3 cups chopped cabbage
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons water if necessary
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
an egg wash made by beating 1 large egg with 1 teaspoon water

Make the dough:
In a food processor blend together the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the butter until the mixture resembles meal. In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the sour cream, add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture, and blend the mixture until it just forms a dough, adding the water if the dough seems dry. Divide the dough into fourths, form each fourth into a flattened round, and chill the dough, each round wrapped well in wax paper, for 1 hour or overnight.

Make the filling:

Peel the potatoes, cut them into 3/4-inch pieces, and in a steamer set over boiling water steam them, covered, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are very tender. Force the potatoes through a ricer or food mill into a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the butter. In a heavy saucepan cook the onion and the caraway seeds in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is golden, add the cabbage, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 5 minutes. Cook the mixture, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes more and stir it into the potato mixture with the sour cream, the water if the mixture is too thick, the dill, and salt and pepper to taste. The filling may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled.

On a lightly floured surface roll out 1 piece of the dough 1/8 inch thick, keeping the remaining pieces wrapped and chilled, and with a 3-inch cutter cut out rounds. Brush each round with some of the egg wash, put 2 level teaspoons of the filling on one half of each round, and fold the dough over the filling to form a half-moon, pressing the edges together firmly to seal them and crimping them with a fork. Gather the scraps of dough, reroll them, and make more pirozhki with the remaining filling and dough and some of the remaining egg wash in the same manner. The pirozhki may be made up to this point 5 days in advance and kept frozen in plastic freeze bags. The pirozhki need not be thawed before baking.

Arrange the pirozhki on lightly greased baking sheets and brush the tops with the remaining egg wash. Bake the pirozhki in preheated 350°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are golden, and serve them warm or at room temperature.

Honey Molasses Whole Wheat Bread
This 5 star recipe was submitted by Karen to the website Recipezaar. Rave reviews for flavor, and ease of the recipe, and dependability. Makes four "9x5 loaves" and these loaves freeze well.

2 envelopes yeast
4 cups water
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.
In a large bowl, combine butter, molasses, honey and salt and mix well.
Add yeast mixture and then gradually add flours.
Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth.
Place in buttered bowl and let rise until double.
Punch down and let rest for a few minutes.
Divide dough into 4 parts and shape into loaves.
Place in greased pans and let rise for about an hour.
Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Good Eats Newsletter - September 16, 2009

This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Mesclun Greens; 2 lbs Walla Walla Onions; 1 lb Summer Squash/Zucchini (may be a mix of types); 1 Bunch of Green Kale; 1 lb Green Peppers; 1 lb mix of Romanesca Cauliflower and Broccoli; 1 large or 2 small Honeydew Melon or Canteloupe; 1 Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley; Beefsteak Tomatoes plus...

1 pint of Husk Cherries -or- 1 Pint Strawberries

Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Vermont Cranberry Co Dried Cranberries
Pete's Sour Pickles
Red Hen Cyrus Pringle Bread!


Storage and Use Tips
Husk Cherries - Included in today's share is a pint box full of little papery husked things that look like tomatillos. In fact they are close cousins of tomatillos and are also related to tomatoes. But they are sweeter and have a diiferent flavor than either. Some liken their taste to vanilla, others to cinnamon bread (!). They are tasty little treat and will be wonderful on your salads this week. They would also be welcome in any dish that cries out for a touch of sweetness. If you don't eat them all straight out of the box.

Pete's Musings
Contrary to what you might have heard this farming life is just one big party. On Saturday we had the Vermont Land Trust annual meeting at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro. Attendees toured local ag operations, swamps, woodlands and other notable features of the Northeast Kingdom in the morning, and then enjoyed music and a great local lunch under a tent in the afternoon. Several of us were on a panel discussing our businesses and the future of farming in Vermont. The future of farming in this State is pretty clearly small, diversified operations serving our local market and the huge regional markets that are nearby. Land access is a major impediment to starting these operations and the Land Trust can play an important role in getting farmers onto land.

On Sunday High Mowing Seeds in partnership with Center for an Agricultural Economy and NECI held their annual field days at their trial gardens in Wolcott. Great weather, people, food, and beer. I'd recommend putting this free event on your calendar for next year.


This is Emeril week in the Hardwick area. He is coming to film several episodes for his Emeril Green show. His staff has already been to the farm a bunch of times and they are planning to film here Tuesday and Thursday. They are very nice bunch of folks. Emeril's planning to harvest some onions and make some root kraut while on our farm and they are interested in including as many of our beat up farm trucks in the scenes as possible.

Hope you can get outside and soak up some of the September rays this week. ~ Pete

Pete's New Potato Digger
This is a cool new implement that Pete was testing out last week. He worked with a small farm implement company to invent it. It digs the potatoes or in this case onions, it sifts the soil from them as the vegetables rumble across the flat conveyor belt, and then drops the veggies on top of the soil where they can dry and cure in the sun. When the crops are ready to be brought in from the fields, Pete will install the people platforms that bolt onto the sides and the platform will skim along less than a foot from the soil level. As Pete drives really slowly, people on the platform will be able to sort and bag the vegetables as they cross over the conveyor belt which means that people don't have to bend over to pick up all those onions and roots.

New Richmond Site Added for Fall
On the Rise Bakery in Richmond has been added to our delivery route for the Fall/Winter Share! We are excited to have an option again for folks there. Ben and Rachel, owners of On the Rise Bakery, are looking forward to hosting the site and baking the localvore breads that go into the Richmond shares. If you live in the area or know people who do, please spread the word about the new site. We are really hoping for a solid number to start the share there and will need good membership to keep the site next Spring and Summer.

Montpelier Mud replaces May Day Studio for Fall Share
It's official. Montpelier Mud, a pottery studio owned and run by Mike Sullivan, will replace May Day Studio as site host beginning Oct 14th. Montpelier Mud is located right on River St down the street from May Day. The hours will be a little later than May Day - 11 am to 9 pm. Mike has been a Good Eats share member off and on and is excited to have the share move to his place! If you sent in your form with the "Site TBD" circled, and if you were previously a May Day member, I have selected Montpelier Mud as your site. If you'd prefer National Life, just send me an email and I'll switch you.


New Burlington Site?
I am interested in exploring options for a new Burlington site. Presently we have great site hosts at Adams Court and Grove Street but I think the community could support a share closer to the downtown area. If any of you have ideas for potential site hosts, please share. I am particularly interested in finding a downtown business that would like to have us deliver weekly but would definitely consider a residence as well.

We look for sites that have space to develop the share; that have ample and easy parking for our truck to unload and for members to park and pick up; and that have minimal stairs for Tim to climb on delivery. Site hosts receive compensation in the form of reduced price or free share depending on how many members they have at their site. If a site host has over 1o members, their own share is half price. If over 20 members, their own share is free!

If you are interested in becoming a site host I'd be happy to explore that possibility with you.

Fall/Winter share is now 4 weeks away
The sign up forms are rolling in now. Do we have yours yet? Please visit the Fall/Winter Share page for details and to download a sign up form. Plus, folks who sign up early may receive a colorful Pete's Greens T.

Looking to split your share?
If you are looking for someone to split a share with someone this Fall, maybe we can help. On our Members Seeking page, we post requests from people looking to split shares or share pick up duties etc. It's not an interactive page, so please email me if you'd like to have a message posted there.


Sign Up Early and Receive a Pete's Greens T-Shirt
The 1st 100 people who sign up and pay in full will receive a free Pete's Greens T shirt!

Summer and Summer Meat Share
We will continue to sign new members up for remaining summer share and meat share deliveries.
Summer Share
Meat Share


Pete's Pastured Chicken
Fill your freezers soon! Chicken orders will be available through October. You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site. Visit the Pastured Chicken page for order info including available delivery dates and to download an order form. These are great tasting chickens raised on an abundance of greens and grass throughout their lives. This is healthy, nutritious, vitamin packed meat that you can feel great about eating. Only $3.75/lb.

Localvore Lore
We have a new batch of pickles for you straight from the Pete's Kitchen. Nick made these pickles several weels ago and we think they are delicious. They are sour pickles preserved with vinegar rather than brine cured. They are crunchy and sweet and sour and will pucker the most stalwart face. Enjoy.

Very exciting news this week from Randy George at the Red Hen Baking Co...
Only a few weeks ago, I was still saying that we were years away from baking a bread made exclusively from Vermont-grown wheat.

Well, I am happy to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Two weeks ago, Champlain Valley Mills (from Westport, N.Y., on the west side of Lake Champlain) milled 3000 lbs. of flour from wheat brought to them by Tom Kenyon of Aurora Farms in Charlotte, VT. This was the third year in a row that Tom had attempted to grow hard red winter wheat (the type needed for bread making) for us. The first two years yielded nothing but cattle feed, but the initial tests results from this year’s wheat looked good enough to try milling it and making bread with it. Being accustomed to baking with the finest organic wheat Kansas has to offer, I was hopeful that we could use a percentage of this Vermont wheat in some of our breads. Imagine my surprise when I combined this flour with water, yeast, and salt in the mixing bowl and found that it made a familiar-feeling dough! The resulting bread, although not perfect, was surprisingly good. A week later we are making bread that is beyond my wildest dreams of what we could do with an indigenous Vermont bread. The addition of some whole wheat from our long-time supplier and friend Ben Gleason of Bridport adds to the Vermont pedigree and gives this bread a depth of flavor.

Within the next couple of weeks we will be unveiling this true Vermont bread as a daily variety in the stores that we service. In honor of Dr. Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (1838-1911), a renowned botanist and wheat breeder from Charlotte(whose wheat varieties are being revived today), we are naming this bread with (literal) roots in Charlotte simply Cyrus Pringle: From Vermont.

~ Randy

We have included some dried cranberries today from Cranberry Bob at the Vermont Cranberry Company. These are maple sweetened cranberries and will be delicious on salads and in baked goods, on your granola or oatmeal.

Recipes

Cranberry (or Husk Cherries!), Goat Cheese and Mesclun Salad
Try substituting this week's husk cherries in place of the cranberries! Adapted from Gourmet November 1995. Serves 4.

For vinaigrette:
1 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
.5 tablespoon tamari
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups mesclun
.5 cup dried cranberries
3 ounces goat cheese, cut into pieces, at room temperature

Quick Moroccan Vegetable Couscous
Bon Appétit January 1996. Serves 2 but can be doubled.

1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups mixed cup-up vegetables (such as red onion, carrots, zucchini and cauliflower or broccoli)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup vegetable broth

1/3 cup sliced almonds

One 5- to 7-ounce box couscous and lentil mix or other couscous blend

Place almonds in heavy medium skillet. Stir over medium heat until almonds are pale golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer almonds to bowl. Add oil to same skillet.Increase heat to medium-high. Add vegetables, cumin and coriander; sauté until vegetables just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add wine and raisins. Boil until wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add broth. Partially cover skillet; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package directions.

Mound couscous on platter. Spoon vegetable topping and juices over. Sprinkle with almonds and serve.

Spaghetti with Braised Kale
This is a really simple recipe but one that's tried and true. It does call for 2 bunches of kale, but substitutions of broccoli or Romanesca cauliflower would work nicely too to augment the vegetable portion. This is a mighty healthy dish. Bon Appétit October 2009 by Molly Wizenberg. Serves 4.

1 pound kale (about 2 bunches), large center ribs and stems removed, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 pound spaghetti
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Finely grated Parmesan cheese


Rinse kale. Drain; transfer to bowl with some water still clinging.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Add sliced garlic and sprinkle with salt; cook until onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add kale and remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss until wilted, about 3 minutes. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue cooking until kale is very tender, stirring occasionally and adding water by teaspoonfuls if dry, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in medium pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add cooked spaghetti to kale mixture in pot. Add lemon juice and 2 tablespoons reserved cooking liquid; toss to combine, adding more liquid by tablespoonfuls if dry. Sprinkle spaghetti with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Parmesan Cauliflower and Parsley Salad
Fried with a parmesan coating makes this dish pretty tough to resist! The parsley is refreshing and nutritious. Gourmet May 2006.

For salad
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 oz white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

For cauliflower
1 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
10 oz cauliflower florets
1 oz Parmisan cheese, finely grated with a rasp
1/6 cup olive oil

Marinate mushrooms for salad:

Stir together zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in oil until combined, then stir in mushrooms and marinate while panfrying cauliflower.

Blanch the cauliflower for 5-6 minutes in boiling water and then drain and cool and pat dry.

Panfry cauliflower: Lightly beat eggs with salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add cauliflower and toss until coated well. Put cheese in a large bowl. Lift cauliflower out of egg mixture with a slotted spoon and transfer to cheese, tossing to coat. Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then panfry cauliflower in 3 batches, turning occasionally, until golden on all sides, about 3 minutes per batch. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

Finish salad:
Add parsley and cauliflower to mushroom mixture, tossing to combine.