Good Eats Newsletter - May 30th, 2012

The Localvore Vegetable Share is in the LIGHT GREEN BAG and contains:   Spinach; Escarole; Euro Cucumber; Rhubarb; Italian Kale; Rainbow Chard; Cilantro; Chives; Mixed Potatoes plus...   Sweet Salad Turnips -or- Leeks   Localvore Offerings Include: Snake Mountain Sifted Wheat Flour Pa Pa Doodles Eggs Frozen Maine Organic Wild Blueberries     The Spring Veggie Only Share is in the YELLOW BAG and contains:   Spinach; Romaine Lettuce; Radicchio; Napa Cabbage; Easter Egg Radishes; Rainbow Chard; Euro Cucumber; Basil    VEGGIE ONLY SHARE MEMBERS - The Yellow Bag is the only item you should pick up tomorrow. There's only 2 more Spring Share deliveries after this week   It's time to sign up for Summer!   Click here for more info or to sign up     Pete's Musings   Last week we finally got to do something that we've wanted to do for a long time. Pete's Greens made a localvore lunch for both Craftsbury schools. I first had the idea to make lunch for the school while on a trip to D.C. a couple springs ago. We met with deputy ag. secretary Kathleen Merrigan and toured the White House vegetable garden. I was inspired by the interest at the highest level of our government in improving the diets of kids. The anti-obesity work that Michelle Obama is doing is powerful and has potential to make real change. But progress is slow and there are very powerful interests that want to keep feeding crap commodity food to our school lunch program. We have long sold and donated food to schools throughout northern Vermont but it has always been bits and pieces, not a revolution of the entire lunch. Fortunately the Craftsbury schools are low in red tape and and excited about the idea. We were getting ready to do it when we had our fire and that set us back. But now we're back and last week Deb and Amy made pizza and salad for the schools. It was a great success. We're doing it again this Thursday (chicken, potatoes, pumpkin bread, veggies, ALL LOCAL) and then once more before school is out. So far we are donating the food and the time, the school is interested in working out some compensation if we continue to do it over time. We're using this spring as an experiment to see how it works and to see what we want to do with it come fall.  It's really exciting to get the best food to where it is needed most, our kids. ~ Pete   Cooking for Craftsbury Kids   Deb and I thoroughly enjoyed preparing and serving lunch at the Craftsbury schools last week.  Deb made our pizza dough with 2 organic Vermont flours - Tom Kenyons white and Ben Gleason's sifted wheat (in the share today!), and with sunflower oil from Stateline Farm in southern VT.  We made the tomato sauce at the farm with our own tomatoes and vegetables.  We topped the pizzas with a new as yet unnamed alpine cheese from the team at Cellars at Jasper Hill and then added toppings, including vegetables from our farm and various sausage flavors from Applecheek in Hyde Park.  We served the kids our mesclun greens with colorful radishes and salad turnips and an all local sweet honey miso dressing, and provided Champlain Orchards apples on the side.  All the kids enjoyed the food, and hearing about where it all came from.  The elementary school kids were particularly excited to have us there and to learn about the food they were eating.  It was great fun for all and we are very much looking forward to the meals ahead.   ~ Amy       Good Eats Summer Share     June 20th - October 10th, 2012 (17 weeks of Vermont's finest eating)   Two more weeks after this one, and the Spring Share will be over!  Have you signed up for Summer?     You are experiencing just the beginning of an action packed season of great food. Lots of greens just now, but in just a few more weeks we will begin to see a lot of summer favorites filling Good Eats share bags like fresh basil, spring salad turnips, tomatoes, new beets, fresh picked zucchini, peas etc.  And right behind them come carrots, sweet peppers, heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant, sweet corn and much more!  During the summer growing season we'll provide you with over seventy varieties of our organic vegetables.   The localvore share (or pantry share add on) rounds out your pantry with the selection of local pantry staples that our members have come to love and depend on.     Four Share Types for Summer: Veggie Only - delivers a weekly delivery of fresh, organic veggies from the farm. Localvore Share -  delivers the same fresh vegetables and wonderful local staples and artisan products to fill your pantry.  Pete's Pantry Share - just the localvore products, no veggies Meat Share - delivers a monthly selection of local, pastured meats   Join now  and be rewarded with another healthy, local and delicious season of Good Eats!                   Storage and Use Tips   Radicchio - (Veggie Only Members) A member of the Chicories family along with endive and escarole, radicchio resembles a small red lettuce. Like all the members of this family, the leaves have some bitterness.  You can chop radicchio and add it to your salad for some color and extra flavor. 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.   Escarole - (Localvore Members) With broad, pale green leaves escarole is less bitter than other members of the chicory family. You can tear some and add it to your salad. It also benefits from cooking. Try sauteing the escarole and adding it to your pasta. Or chop it up and add it to a soup. You can store escarole, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer for up to a week.   Napa Cabbage - (Veggie Only Members) 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. It is extremely popular in China partly because of its versatility.  It also keeps very well after chopping.  I will often prepare Napa salads in advance, slicing the Napa, shredding carrots and adding other stuff like radishes or salad turnips and then I'll put the whole thing in a bag in fridge.  Later when I want salad, I dress the mixture and eat.  The salad blend will keep fine like this for several dayts. Store uncut Napa heads in a sealed plastic bag in your refrigerator.   Sweet Salad Turnips (some Localvore Members) - Tender fresh dug Spring 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 and even picky little eaters 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   Leeks (some Localvore members) - Leeks belong to the allium family along with garlic, onions, shallots, and scallions. Leeks feature a fragrant flavor that is reminiscent of shallots but sweeter and more subtle than onions.  Leeks add a subtle touch to recipes without overpowering the other flavors that are present.  Leeks tend to collect dirt in between the tops of their long leaves. It is important to wash between leaf folds to remove dirt. To use, make thin slices across the leek from the base of the white elongated bulb on up.  These leeks are so tender that you can go ahead and include most of the greens too.  As leeks age, these outer green leaves become tougher, but right now they are perfect.  Store wrapped in plastic in the fridge.   A note about our Potatoes - It's the end of the storage season for crops that were harvested in the Fall of 2011.  At this time of year we are culling a higher percentage of each crop as we pull it from storage, wash it, and sort for you.  Our potatoes seem to have experienced some cold in our new cooler that we built last Fall, and in particular, the Nicola's (the yellow potatoes) suffered.  We work hard to sort the potatoes each week and hope we are doing a good job for you all.  I had an email from a member last week whose potatoes weren't good when she cut into them.  If you experience this, please do let me know.    Easter Egg Radishes Kale Cilantro Chives Basil Red Savoy Cabbage Nicola Potatoes Swiss Chard or Rainbow Chard European Cucumber Frozen Squash Puree   Please share your comments about the veggie info you DON'T find, but wish was there!     Changes to Your Delivery? If you will be away some upcoming week, and need to make changes to your share delivery, let us know at least 1 week before the change. You can have your share donated to the Food Pantry, or you can skip your share delivery and you will retain a credit on your account toward the purchase of your next share.     Localvore Lore   This week we have flour grown by Ben and Theresa Gleason in Bridport. Snake Mountain sifted flour is produced by taking finely milled whole wheat flour and sifting a portion of the bran out. In the end, only around 8% of the total weight of the wheat is sifted off (as opposed to about 30% for white flour) The end result is a lighter wheat flour that can be used in many places you can use an all purpose flour with a tastier and healthier result. The flour is still wonderful for breads. I have been using it in muffins and pancakes and baked goodies. For cookies and sweeter confections I have been using a mix of this flour and Tom Kenyons VT white. For the second time this share, we have Wild organic Maine blueberries from Merrill's Blueberry Farm in Ellsworth, Maine.  These are delicious, sweet small berries, perfect for all uses - pies, muffins, smoothies or just eating by the handful.  They will come to you frozen.  If they have thawed when you pick them up, put them back into the freezer.  They'll freeze solid again and you can still use them.  Todd Merrill and his family have been in the blueberry business for a long time.  They provide a great service to the Maine blueberry community by providing a place to clean, sort, freeze and store berries.  They are growers, but they themselves don't grow organically.  The organic berries come from local organic Maine growers including our friend Ben Perrin at Burke Hill Farm in Cherryfield, ME.   And we have another round of eggs from Deb's farm this week too.     Recipes     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. Mark also suggests using the grilled radicchio in the Mediterranean Slaw recipe below. Serves 4. 1 pound 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.     Risotto con radicchio Serves: 4‑6 2 1/2 cups arborio rice (or pearled barley) 1 head radicchio plus extra greens if desired 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter 6‑7 cups vegetable broth 1 cup dry white wine (or red is great with the radicchio) 1/2 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan Wash and slice the radicchio thinly.  And greens if using. In a large non stick pan cook the onions in 3 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil until they're translucent being careful not to brown them.  Add the radicchio and cook them for about 10 to 15 minutes or until they are reduced to less than half their original volume. Mixing often.  Add the rice and mix well for 2 or 3 minutes so that the moisture from the radicchio is absorbed into the rice.  Add the wine and continue mixing until it is absorbed. Add about 2 cups of hot broth and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir frequently.  Continue adding broth in the same quantity mixing frequently. Continue doing so until the rice is nearly cooked. This will take some guesswork since every rice cooks differently.When the rice is almost cooked, mix in 2 Tbsp. Butter and the Parmesan. Remove from the stove, cover the pan with the lid and let it stand for few minutes. Serve the risotto and accompany it with extra Parmesan for the topping.     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.     Sauteed Escarole with Parmesan and Toasted Pine Nuts From kalynskitchen.com this is a simple way to prepare your escarole. Ingredients: 1 large head escarole 1 T olive oil (use more or less, depending on your pan) pinch red pepper flakes (optional) 2 T pine nuts, toasted in dry pan 1 T Parmesan Cheese sea salt to taste Cut escarole in half, cutting top-to-bottom through the core. Then lay flat on cutting board and cut off the core end, cutting about an inch above the core to cut off some of the thickest part of the leaves. After core is removed, slice escarole into ribbons just over an inch thick. (You can also chop the ribbons slightly, which I always do because I hate long pieces of greens.) Wash escarole if needed, and dry well. (I used a salad spinner.) Heat a small frying pan, add pine nuts and toast in dry pan until nuts start to slightly brown, shaking the pan all the time the pine nuts are toasting. (You will smell them just before they turn color, which is a signal that it's time to turn off the heat or move the pan away.) This doesn't take more than 2-3 minutes at most. Heat a heavy non-stick pan over medium-high heat, then add olive oil (and red pepper flakes if using) and add escarole a handful at a time, turning over each time you add more. Saute escarole. turning about every minutes, until it's slightly wilted but not completely soft, about 3-4 minutes. Remove escarole to serving dish, season to taste with salt (preferably sea salt), sprinkle with parmesan and sprinkle pine nuts over. Serve immediately. This is best while still hot from the pan.     Kale and Chive Mashed Potatoes 6 large potatoes, quartered 3 cups fresh kale, chopped 1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped 1/2 cup sour cream (optional) 1/4 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded 1/2 cup onions, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 3 tbsp olive oil 1/4 sea salt 1/4 black pepper Bring a pot of water with potatoes in it, to a boil and boil for 30 minutes or until fork tender.  Remove from heat and strain, then pour in a large bowl.  Add kale, 1/4 cup sour cream, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper into the bowl.  Using the mixer, blend potato mixture on low/medium until creamy, but semi-chunky.  Add the remaining sour cream and cheese and mix for another 2 minutes.  Remove from mixer, then stir in chives and onions until well blended and creamy     Kale (or any Greens!) Quiche Quiche is a great way to pack in greens in a tasty, healthy package and one that makes great leftovers and lunches.   One prepared pie crust 2 T olive oil 2 -3 leeks thinly sliced (or 1 onion, finely diced) 1 lb coarsely chopped greens (Kale, swiss chard leaves, beet greens, cabbage, leeks, etc.) 2 cloves of garlic 2 T. chopped fresh basil (1 1/2 t. dried) 2 tsp mustard powder 2 tsp thyme 1 t. salt 1/8 t. ground black pepper pinch of red pepper (optional) 4-6 large eggs 1/2 C. plain, lowfat yogurt or milk 1 C grated Parmesan cheese (also good with a combination of goat cheese, gorgonzola, blue, or any other cheese you like really)   Preheat your oven to 375F. Prepare your pie crust and place in pie plate. You can prebake your crust (but I don't). Add olive oil to a large skillet and add the leeks or onion, cooking on low until they are soft --8-10 minutes. Coarsely chop 1 pound of kale or whatever greens you are using and 2 cloves of garlic. Add to skillet, cooking until tender, about 8-10 minutes.  Season with basil, mustard, thyme salt and ground black pepper. A pinch of ground red pepper is optional. In a bowl combine eggs, slightly beaten, yogurt or milk, and cheese. Add the kale mixture and then scrape the mixture into the prepared tart shell, spreading evenly. Bake at 375 until filling is golden and firm. About 45-60 minutes. Serves 4 easily     Blueberry Rhubarb Bars These bars are a special sweet treat.  And they are flexible.  You can use more rhubarb than blueberries, or other berries besides blue berries.  You can even use all rhubarb.  They do call for a fair amount of sugar, I cut back some (see below).  You can sub in maple sugar if you have it on hand.  You could sub in honey to sweeten the fruit part of the bars. 3 cups rhubarb cut in 1 inch pieces 3 cups blueberries 2 TB lemon juice 3/4 cup sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, or use 1/2 cup honey) 4 TB cornstarch (or tapioca works well too as a thickener) 1-½ cup all-purpose Flour 1-½ cup rolled oats (not Instant) 3/4 cup brown sugar (recipe calls for 1 cup) ¾ cups butter, softened ½ teaspoons baking soda ¼ teaspoons salt Preheat oven to 350ºF. Combine rhubarb, blueberries and lemon juice in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until rhubarb is softened. No added liquid is needed as the water from the rhubarb and blueberries will come out naturally. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cornstarch. Mix well to break up the lumps of cornstarch. Set aside. While rhubarb and blueberries are cooking, begin making the crust. Combine flour, oats, sugar, butter, baking soda and salt together in a bowl until well mixed and crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of crust to be used as a topping. Grease a 13×9 pan with cooking spray. Press remaining crust mixture into the pan in an even layer. Set aside. When rhubarb and blueberries are softened, use a potato masher to mash and smooth out the larger chunks. Once bigger pieces are broken up, mix in the sugar/cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir until thickened. Once mixture is thickened, pour over crust. Top with reserved crust mixture. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes.