Good Eats Newsletter - August 26, 2009
This Week's Vegetable Share Contains
Mesclun Greens; 1 lb Red Onions; 1 lb Tomatoes; 1 Bunch Cilantro; 1 Bunch of Celery; 1 lb Cauliflower; 1 Bunch Kale; Sweet Corn (6 ears); 1 lb Fresh Soybeans (Edamame); 1 Head of Garlic;
Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Elmore Mountain Pizza Dough
Pete's Salt Brine Dill Pickles
Taylor Farm Maple Smoked Gouda
Pa Pa Doodles Farm Eggs
Pete's Musings
Thanks to all who attended our open farm day last Sunday. I didn't really get a chance to express my gratitude to our Good Eats members so I'd like to do that now. Thanks for supporting us. It means alot, especially in a 2009 that has been a fairly challenging growing season and in which we have seen some softness in some of our other markets. Good Eats continues to grow and we continue to make it a top priority at the farm to make you happy. We have a wonderful harvest of fall storage crops beginning soon, definitely our best ever, and we are going to have great green stuff out of the greenhouses. We hope you can join us in October for the start of the Fall/Winter share.
It is particularly fun for me to see all the kids on open farm day and it gives great motivation to realize that we are a key component of their diets. Hopefully many of them are being raised on better food than their parents and grandparents grew up on. Not often mentioned in the doom and gloom about health care in this country is the gains that could be made by feeding our next generation local, organic, nutritious food from day one. Your kids deserve it and they will thank you later in life. Best ~ Pete
It was a real treat for me to get a chance to meet people at the potluck Sunday. Thanks to all of you who made the trip out to the farm! It was a fun day for me and my family and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well. ~Amy
Fall/Winter Good Eats Sign Up
The Fall/Winter Good Eats sign up will begin this week. I'll be putting the new Fall share page up on the website on Wednesday and sending out an email blast later this week.
Pete's Pastured Chicken - New Lower Minimum Order
We have lowered the minimum order for chickens! You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site most weeks from now into October. I have updated the Pastured Chicken page on the website with the new order info including available delivery dates. Please go there and click on the order form to order your freshly frozen birds. 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 and it's only $3.75/lb.
Summer Share
The share has remained open this summer and new people are welcome to join. We are pro-rating remaining weeks.
Summer Share
Meat Share
Localvore Lore
The Taylor Farm Maple Smoked Gouda in the share is a multiple year first place winner at the American Cheese Society conferences. In the words of Henry 'The Cheeseman' Tewksbury, author of Vermont Cheeses, “Even smoked Gouda from Holland … does not compare with the excellence of this local product.” The Wright Family milk 50 cows and make fabulous gouda cheeses on their 180 acre farm in Londonderry, VT.
We are looking forward to having you all try the Salt Brine Dill Pickles in the share this week. Nick made the pickles the old fashioned way - tossing our fresh organic cucumbers into a barrel in layers with mustard seed, dill, garlic, peppercorns and then covering it all with a salt brine. We hope you enjoy these zesty dills and would love to hear any feedback. We are doing lots of pickling these days so feedback would be really helpful.
We have Deb's eggs again this week too. A Good Eats member wrote last week that every egg in her dozen were double yokers! She asked whether that meant the chicken would have had twins. In case anyone has wondered the same thing, a double yolk egg rarely yields twins and often the one chick in the egg won't make it. Very occasionally two chicks are hatched.
We have Elmore Mountain's pizza dough this week. We have a few reports from people that didn't have great luck with this pizza dough. But we really like it and think the flavor is great and that it's worth trying again! So I will give some tips here. For best results don't thaw it until you are really sure you are going to use it. It doesn't take that long to thaw so pull out of freezer when you know you are going to use it. The tricky thing about dough is that as it sits out, the yeast work away steadily until the dough loses strength. Left too long, the dough will be weaker and easier to tear.
When it has thawed (either in fridge or counter) you can begin to stretch it, you don't have to let it rise first. Pizza dough is meant to be sticky and this dough will be sticky. So get out some flour, dust a board or your counter and flop the pizza dough on it. Dust it both sides and then stretch it gently. You can do this up in the air like a pizza professional or you can stretch it while it lays on the counter. OR - you can always roll it! You won't get the fun lumpy aspect that you get when stretching but less chance of tearing this way. I am actually often guilty of letting pizza dough sit too long thawed in the fridge until it's a big pizza puff ball of dough, and then I roll it because I know I'll tear it otherwise.
After you have stretched/rolled the dough you can rest the dough for 15 minutes and add toppings or just go for it and add them right away. I bake mine in a 425-450ºF oven on a pizza stone for however long it takes to look just right!
Recipes
Edamame
My kids eat fresh soybeans for dinner frequently and it always makes me happy to see them take in so much green food at a sitting. Fresh soybeans steamed or simmered in their pods and served with a sprinkling of salt (aka Edamame in Japanese) are a great treat. You can also freeze these and pull them out in the winter.
1 lb fresh soybeans in their pods
sea salt
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add soybeans and continue boiling until beans are crisp tender (about 10 minutes). To prevent overcooking, start checking for doneness approximately 7 minutes after cooking begins (to check, remove a bean pod, dip in cold water to cool, and taste -it should be softened but not mushy.) When done, run cold water over, or put in ice water, to stop cooking (they can be warm just not hot and still cooking away in their skins). Drain well, and sprinkle with salt to taste (start with 1/2 tsp). To eat, hold pod by stem end, and slide the individual beans out with your teeth. Discard pod.
Tomato, Smoked Gouda, and Garlic Pizza
From Cooking Light.
pizza dough
2 tablespoon cornmeal
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked Gouda cheese
3 cups sliced plum tomato (about 4)
4 teaspoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Stretch or roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on a pizza pan or baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal (I like to start mine on a piece of parchment and then transfer to the hot baking stone in my oven). Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim (helps to keep everything on the pizza). Bake at 450°F for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese over pizza crust. Arrange the tomato slices over cheese. Combine oil and garlic; sprinkle over tomato. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Top with basil and cut into wedges and enjoy!
Garlic and Cheese Crumbled Cauliflower
From Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chessman. Serves 2-4.
1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup butter
2 garlic cloves
2 TB fresh parsley
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 c. Gruyere
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and boil until tender, about 6 mins. Drain well. Preheat the oven to 375 º F. Grease a 1.5 quart baking dish with butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the parsley and garlic and simmer until just fragrant, about 2 mins. Toss together bread crumbs, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Arrange the cauliflower in the baking dish. Top with the crumb mixture. Drizzle the butter and garlic mixture over the top. Bake for about 15 mins until cauliflower is hot and crumbs are golden. Serve hot.
Tuscan Kale with White Beans and Garlic
A mess o' greens, Italian style. The ham or smoked turkey make this especially hearty, but these can be left out for a vegetarian dish. Serve with a nice crusty bread to sop up the juices. Serves 4. From Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chessman.
1 cup dried cannellini or great Northern beans
6 cups water
1 onion, halved
1 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 TB dried
2 bay leaves
1.5 lbs kale, stems removed and leaves chopped (16 cups lightly packed)
8 ounces smoked turkey or ham, diced (optional)
Salt and black pepper
3 TB olive oil
4 cloves garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Soak the beans for at least 8 hours in plenty of water to cover. Drain the beans.
In a large saucepan of Dutch oven, combine the beans with the water, onion, thyme, and bay leaves. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, approximately 1.5 hrs.
Remove and discard the onion, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring the beans and their liquid to a boil. Add the kale and the salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, stirring down the kale every few minutes, until the kale is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the smoked turkey, if using.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small heavy skillet over very low heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Mash the garlic with a fork. Add the hot pepper flakes, if using.
Pour the hot oil mixture over the beans and greens and serve immediately.
Mesclun Greens; 1 lb Red Onions; 1 lb Tomatoes; 1 Bunch Cilantro; 1 Bunch of Celery; 1 lb Cauliflower; 1 Bunch Kale; Sweet Corn (6 ears); 1 lb Fresh Soybeans (Edamame); 1 Head of Garlic;
Localvore Share Members Also Receive
Elmore Mountain Pizza Dough
Pete's Salt Brine Dill Pickles
Taylor Farm Maple Smoked Gouda
Pa Pa Doodles Farm Eggs
Pete's Musings
Thanks to all who attended our open farm day last Sunday. I didn't really get a chance to express my gratitude to our Good Eats members so I'd like to do that now. Thanks for supporting us. It means alot, especially in a 2009 that has been a fairly challenging growing season and in which we have seen some softness in some of our other markets. Good Eats continues to grow and we continue to make it a top priority at the farm to make you happy. We have a wonderful harvest of fall storage crops beginning soon, definitely our best ever, and we are going to have great green stuff out of the greenhouses. We hope you can join us in October for the start of the Fall/Winter share.
It is particularly fun for me to see all the kids on open farm day and it gives great motivation to realize that we are a key component of their diets. Hopefully many of them are being raised on better food than their parents and grandparents grew up on. Not often mentioned in the doom and gloom about health care in this country is the gains that could be made by feeding our next generation local, organic, nutritious food from day one. Your kids deserve it and they will thank you later in life. Best ~ Pete
Pete dusted off not only the hay wagon but the manure spreader as well(!) to take people on farm tours
It was a real treat for me to get a chance to meet people at the potluck Sunday. Thanks to all of you who made the trip out to the farm! It was a fun day for me and my family and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well. ~Amy
Fall/Winter Good Eats Sign Up
The Fall/Winter Good Eats sign up will begin this week. I'll be putting the new Fall share page up on the website on Wednesday and sending out an email blast later this week.
Pete's Pastured Chicken - New Lower Minimum Order
We have lowered the minimum order for chickens! You can now order as few as 3 chickens and have them delivered to your Good Eats pick up site most weeks from now into October. I have updated the Pastured Chicken page on the website with the new order info including available delivery dates. Please go there and click on the order form to order your freshly frozen birds. 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 and it's only $3.75/lb.Summer Share
The share has remained open this summer and new people are welcome to join. We are pro-rating remaining weeks.
Summer Share
Meat Share
Localvore Lore
The Taylor Farm Maple Smoked Gouda in the share is a multiple year first place winner at the American Cheese Society conferences. In the words of Henry 'The Cheeseman' Tewksbury, author of Vermont Cheeses, “Even smoked Gouda from Holland … does not compare with the excellence of this local product.” The Wright Family milk 50 cows and make fabulous gouda cheeses on their 180 acre farm in Londonderry, VT.
We are looking forward to having you all try the Salt Brine Dill Pickles in the share this week. Nick made the pickles the old fashioned way - tossing our fresh organic cucumbers into a barrel in layers with mustard seed, dill, garlic, peppercorns and then covering it all with a salt brine. We hope you enjoy these zesty dills and would love to hear any feedback. We are doing lots of pickling these days so feedback would be really helpful.
We have Deb's eggs again this week too. A Good Eats member wrote last week that every egg in her dozen were double yokers! She asked whether that meant the chicken would have had twins. In case anyone has wondered the same thing, a double yolk egg rarely yields twins and often the one chick in the egg won't make it. Very occasionally two chicks are hatched.
We have Elmore Mountain's pizza dough this week. We have a few reports from people that didn't have great luck with this pizza dough. But we really like it and think the flavor is great and that it's worth trying again! So I will give some tips here. For best results don't thaw it until you are really sure you are going to use it. It doesn't take that long to thaw so pull out of freezer when you know you are going to use it. The tricky thing about dough is that as it sits out, the yeast work away steadily until the dough loses strength. Left too long, the dough will be weaker and easier to tear.
When it has thawed (either in fridge or counter) you can begin to stretch it, you don't have to let it rise first. Pizza dough is meant to be sticky and this dough will be sticky. So get out some flour, dust a board or your counter and flop the pizza dough on it. Dust it both sides and then stretch it gently. You can do this up in the air like a pizza professional or you can stretch it while it lays on the counter. OR - you can always roll it! You won't get the fun lumpy aspect that you get when stretching but less chance of tearing this way. I am actually often guilty of letting pizza dough sit too long thawed in the fridge until it's a big pizza puff ball of dough, and then I roll it because I know I'll tear it otherwise.
After you have stretched/rolled the dough you can rest the dough for 15 minutes and add toppings or just go for it and add them right away. I bake mine in a 425-450ºF oven on a pizza stone for however long it takes to look just right!
Recipes
Edamame
My kids eat fresh soybeans for dinner frequently and it always makes me happy to see them take in so much green food at a sitting. Fresh soybeans steamed or simmered in their pods and served with a sprinkling of salt (aka Edamame in Japanese) are a great treat. You can also freeze these and pull them out in the winter.
1 lb fresh soybeans in their pods
sea salt
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add soybeans and continue boiling until beans are crisp tender (about 10 minutes). To prevent overcooking, start checking for doneness approximately 7 minutes after cooking begins (to check, remove a bean pod, dip in cold water to cool, and taste -it should be softened but not mushy.) When done, run cold water over, or put in ice water, to stop cooking (they can be warm just not hot and still cooking away in their skins). Drain well, and sprinkle with salt to taste (start with 1/2 tsp). To eat, hold pod by stem end, and slide the individual beans out with your teeth. Discard pod.
Tomato, Smoked Gouda, and Garlic Pizza
From Cooking Light.
pizza dough
2 tablespoon cornmeal
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked Gouda cheese
3 cups sliced plum tomato (about 4)
4 teaspoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Stretch or roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on a pizza pan or baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal (I like to start mine on a piece of parchment and then transfer to the hot baking stone in my oven). Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim (helps to keep everything on the pizza). Bake at 450°F for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese over pizza crust. Arrange the tomato slices over cheese. Combine oil and garlic; sprinkle over tomato. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Top with basil and cut into wedges and enjoy!
Garlic and Cheese Crumbled Cauliflower
From Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chessman. Serves 2-4.
1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup butter
2 garlic cloves
2 TB fresh parsley
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 c. Gruyere
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and boil until tender, about 6 mins. Drain well. Preheat the oven to 375 º F. Grease a 1.5 quart baking dish with butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the parsley and garlic and simmer until just fragrant, about 2 mins. Toss together bread crumbs, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Arrange the cauliflower in the baking dish. Top with the crumb mixture. Drizzle the butter and garlic mixture over the top. Bake for about 15 mins until cauliflower is hot and crumbs are golden. Serve hot.
Tuscan Kale with White Beans and Garlic
A mess o' greens, Italian style. The ham or smoked turkey make this especially hearty, but these can be left out for a vegetarian dish. Serve with a nice crusty bread to sop up the juices. Serves 4. From Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chessman.
1 cup dried cannellini or great Northern beans
6 cups water
1 onion, halved
1 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 TB dried
2 bay leaves
1.5 lbs kale, stems removed and leaves chopped (16 cups lightly packed)
8 ounces smoked turkey or ham, diced (optional)
Salt and black pepper
3 TB olive oil
4 cloves garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Soak the beans for at least 8 hours in plenty of water to cover. Drain the beans.
In a large saucepan of Dutch oven, combine the beans with the water, onion, thyme, and bay leaves. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, approximately 1.5 hrs.
Remove and discard the onion, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring the beans and their liquid to a boil. Add the kale and the salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, stirring down the kale every few minutes, until the kale is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the smoked turkey, if using.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small heavy skillet over very low heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Mash the garlic with a fork. Add the hot pepper flakes, if using.
Pour the hot oil mixture over the beans and greens and serve immediately.
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