Thanks for joining us this Spring!
Many
thanks to all of you for being with us for the Spring share and giving
us the opportunity to feed you and your families. We really appreciate
your support and hope you have all been very happy with the share. And,
we hope you will be back with us again either this Summer or in
Fall/Winter. Please share the news about Good Eats with friends,
family, co-workers. Word of mouth is the most powerful means of
spreading news about Good Eats. We need your help to reach new members.
We need your feedback! Later
this week I'll be sending you all a simple end of share survey that I'd
love for you to fill out. We want to know how we did, what you liked,
what you didn't so that we can improve for you all. Please take a few
minutes and tell us what you think when the survey comes your way.
Thank you! ~ Amy
|
Summer Good Eats News
This
is it folks, the last delivery of the Spring share. There is still
time to sign up for Summer and receive the first share June 20. Click here to check out share types etc.
NEW SHARE TYPE The Small Veggie Only Share that we introduced this Spring is being offered again for Summer. At $22/week these smaller shares are great for small households and terrific for people starting out with a share.
NEW SITES!
St Johnsbury - Natural Provisions - Thursday delivery
Woodstock - FH Gillingham & Sons General Store - Thursday delivery, Veggie Only shares ONLY.
We are looking into sites in Middlebury, Jay Peak and Derby too.
If you have questions about summer or site suggestions, please email me! ~ Amy
|
Cooking for Craftsbury Kids 3
On
Monday we delivered the third in a series of lunches we have prepared
for the students in the Craftsbury school system. This time, we brought
the two schools a full salad bar with mesclun, carrots, radishes,
tomatoes, pickled beets, potato salad, croutons, salad dressing all
grown/made at the farm. We were amazed at how little was left at the
end! Clearly much enjoyed by all. Our little pilot project has gone
really well and over the summer we will work with the school to plan a
way for us to be involved in the most meaningful way we can next year.
This project has been a long time coming. We were in planning stages
for launch when the barn burned in early 2011, and it's taken a long
time to be in a place where we could turn our attention back to it. We
are psyched.
|
Have you signed up for Summer?
We must receive your sign-up and payment in by June 16th
to get you started with the first delivery June 20th.
FIVE Share Types for Summer:
NEW! Small Veggie Only - delivers a mix of weekly veggies, great for 1-2 people
Veggie Only - delivers a 30% larger weekly delivery of fresh, organic veggies from the farm.
Localvore Share - delivers the same fresh vegetables as in the Veggie Only plus 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
with another healthy, local and delicious season of Good Eats!
|
Around the Farm
Scenes from the farm today...
In the field, Annie (pictured above at right) and the harvest
crew of Molly (left) Noah (middle), Alejandra, Elena, and Socorro
harvested bunches from different locations on the farm. It was hot out
there, so bins are picked and then ferried away quickly back to the
washhouse where they are immediately chilled in a big water tank to zap
the heat from the crops. Meanwhile Isaac (above right) was modifying a
tractor into a cultiavtion machine. The cultivator he was welding on to
this tractor had come off another tractor which was not functioning.
We can't be without cultivation so a solution was a high priority. The
cultivator was custom designed so a way to mount it on this tractor had
to be custom designed too. I saw Pete only once today on his back under
this tractor exchanging repair ideas with Isaac. The rest of the day
he was on a tractor on another parcel.
 
Back in
the washhouse, the dynamic duo of Jackson and Adan were steadfastedly
washing all that the field crew brought through the door. These two
hold down the washhouse floor most of our four harvest days each week.
Jackson started at the farm in December. Adan lives in Michoacan in
Mexico and this his third growing season at the farm. This year his son
Hector (whose is a schoolteacher in Mexico) has joined him this year.
Zucchini
started to come last week and now it's really cranking. The field of
Red Russian kale looked absolutely perfect. In the greenhouses,
tomatoes and basil are growing and ripening fast. We started picking
tomatoes for the farmstand last week. We don't have enough for the
share yet, but it won't be long now. In the kitchen, Deb returned from
Craftsbury lunch and moved on to packing up her pizza dough for
localvore members this week. Annie harvested a bunch of basil for
kitchen use, so after pizza dough, Deb began making pesto for
distribution later in Good Eats.
|
Storage and Use Tips
Pearl Onions - The little onions in the share this week are like little treasures. It's so nice to have fresh onions. Use
them wherever you need onions, and don't forget about the tops. You
can chop the tops as far up each onion as you want to. The flavor will
be zestiest at bottom and mellows as you go up.
Watercress
- (Localvore members) Eaten cooked or raw, watercress has a slight
peppery flavor. Try it in a classic British sandwich: butter and cream
cheese spread on two slices of bread with watercress in between. Liven
this simple sandwich up with thinly sliced radishes or cucumbers. This
is another in the superfood group. 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.
Beets and Beet Greens
- (Localvore & Veggie Only members) Beets again this week and they
are sizing up nicely. Localvore members will get candy striped Italian
Chioggia beets. Veggie only members will receive white beets. Both are
delicious and particularly good for roasting (but good for all other
uses too). Right now while we are in full on gorgeous salad season I
have been using up all my beets raw. I have been grating them and
placng them in a tupperware early in the week and then sprinkling them
into salads all week. Beet greens I have been tossing into any dishes I
am cooking or more often than not, tossing them in my yogurt, banana,
carrot, beet greens/chard smoothies. Yum. Do separate beet greens from
the beets and store each separately, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag.
Kohlrabi -
(Veggie Only members) - 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. It 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, separate
from the greens.
Strawberries
- (Veggie Only members) - Veggie only members will get a first taste of
this year's strawberries. Wish we had enough for all members this
week, but the strawberries are just startting. Hopefully more to come
for those of you who will be with us in coming weeks.
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.
Kale This week's kale is Red Russian
|
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
It's
a pizza week this week! Deb made the dough today and it will come to
you frozen. DThe dough is made with Aurora Farm's organic unbleached VT
white flour, Gleason Grains Snake Mountain Sifted whole wheat flour,
local Sunflower Oil, Maine sea salt and yeast. Use within four to five
hours of thawing (ready to go the night you pick up share or store in
freezer for later use). Coat a smooth surface with flour and cornmeal
(just flour ok) so that the dough does not stick to the surface. Form
dough into ball and flatten with heels of palms. Stretch dough with
hands or use a rolling pin to form shape of baking pan (I use a cookie
sheet so I form it into a square). Once dough is slightly stretched on
surface you can stretch dough in the air with hands by making two fists
held together with dough on top. Move each hand up, down and out turning
the dough clockwise. Give it some practice and you will be throwing
doughs like the professionals. Each dough can be stretched to a 16"
round, for thicker crust make smaller. If you like light fluffy crust I
put my baking sheet on the top of my oven while preheating and let rise.
Otherwise set aside in neutral area till oven is ready at 425 - 450F.
Cook 12-14 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese bubbles.
Once
again this week we have Amir Hebib's shiitake and/or oyster mushrooms
It will be a smaller amount this time.
Amir called Monday to let me
know harvest was smaller due to the heat. But it will be plenty to
flavor a meal with the good earthy mushroomy goodness. You can eat the
whole mushroom stems and all. Shiitakes have a deep flavor, and are very
hearty, enough so that they can be used in place of ground beef in some
recipes while oyster mushrooms have a more delicate flavor with a hint
of anise and are often used to flavor soups and stir fry dishes.
You
will also receive a small log of Vermont Butter and Cheese chevre that
you can crumble onto your pizza or onto your salads this week.
And lastly you will also receive a dozen of Deb's eggs. Enjoy!
|
Recipes
Kale Chips
If
you haven't made them yet, do try. They are delicious, fun, super easy
to make,. They come out crispy with a very satisfying potato chip like
crunch. You can try different topping to blend in... chili powder,
parmesan cheese etc, to flavor them further, but the simple oil and salt
I have given below really is great.
1 large bunch kale, tough stems removed, leaves torn into pieces (about 16 cups; see Note)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Position racks in upper third and center of oven; preheat to 400°F.
If kale is wet, very thoroughly pat dry with a clean kitchen towel;
transfer to a large bowl. Drizzle the kale with oil and sprinkle with
salt. Using your hands, massage the oil and salt onto the kale leaves to
evenly coat. Fill 2 large rimmed baking sheets with a layer of kale,
making sure the leaves don't overlap. (If the kale won't all fit, make
the chips in batches.)
Bake until most leaves are crisp, switching the pans back to front and
top to bottom halfway through, 8 to 12 minutes total. (If baking a batch
on just one sheet, start checking after 8 minutes to prevent burning.)
Simplest Zucchini saute
Zucchini,
I simply love it, yet it is the butt of so many jokes simply because it
is so proliferous! I just had my first zucchini of the season tonight
and it didn't even make it to the dinner table. It was gone, snacked
upon before dinner was ready.
1 zucchini
butter
olive oil
Turned
on a burner to warm a saute pan, cast iron great. Slice zucchini into
rounds. Add olive oil and a 1/2 TB of butter to the pan, and coat. Add
the zucchini rounds in one layer.When they are beginning to brown on
side A, flip them and allow side B to brown a bit. Then remove from pan
and put on a plate. Salt if you wish but no need. They are nutty,
tender and delish!
Roasted Beet & Watercress Salad
3 large beets - any color, Chioggia is gorgeous
I bunch of watercress
2-ounces of goat cheese that can crumble or feta
1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt & pepper to taste
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F
Roughly oil the skins of the beets with vegetable oil and place the
beets on a baking sheet covered with foil for about an hour or until a
knife easily slips into the beet.
Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely.
When you are ready to assemble the salad:
Take the beets and slip off their skins – they should come off really easily. Slice the beets into 1/4″ slices.
Arrange a bed of watercress on a pretty plate and lay the beet slices overlapping each other on top.
Crumble the cheese and sprinkle the walnuts over the salad. Drizzle dressing on top.
Kohlrabi Salad
1 kohlrabi
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon wasabi mustard
Salt
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
Dandelion or mesclun leaves for garnish (Wegmans)
1/4 cup pine nuts
Add first 6 of the ingredients to a small bowl and use a whisk or fork to mix well.
Slice the kohlrabi very thinly. Add the vinaigrette and leave to
marinate as long as you can before serving (but it's still good fresh!).
In a small pan, toast the pine nuts, being careful not to burn
Garnish with mesclun or dandelion leaves sliced thin. Savor!
Mushroom Soba Noodle Soup
(makes 2 servings)
6 oz. dried soba noodles
about 3 oz. fresh sliced shiitake or oyster mushrooms
2 thin slices fresh ginger, cut to matchsticks
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1-inch piece kombu (dried seaweed)
1 egg (optional)
1 scallion, chopped
1-2 teaspoons miso paste or soy sauce
Place
the kombu in a pot of about 4 cups cold water. If adding an egg, place
it in the cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until
egg is hard-boiled. Remove egg from water and set aside.
In
another medium-sized pot, heat the sesame oil and ginger and add all
the fresh mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until mushrooms begin to release
juices, about 2-3 minutes. Add the hot kombu water. Bring to a boil. Add
the soba noodles once it’s at a roiling boil. Cook until noodles are
tender (according to directions on package, usually about 5 minutes).
Remove from heat.
Place
a ladle of the cooking water in a small bowl and stir in the miso paste
until completely dissolved. Add this to the noodle soup. (If just using
soy sauce, add right into the noodle soup to taste.) Divide noodles and
soup into two bowls. Peel the egg and slice in half. Top each bowl with
the scallions and an egg half and serve.
|
|
|
Comments