Good Eats Newsletter - May 15, 2013

Localvore Members  & Regular Veggie Only Share Members take a LIGHT GREEN/TAN BAG This week your bag will contain: Mesclun;  Beet Greens; Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens; Cilantro; Purple Potatoes; Carrots; Parsnips; Red Cipollini Onions and OUT of the Bag Frozen Chard OR Spinach (in cooler) Localvore Offerings Include: Pete's Greens Pizza Dough Pete's Greens Tomato Sauce Pa Pa Doodles Eggs Amir Hebib Mushrooms Small Veggie Only Members take a YELLOW BAG containing: Mesclun; Pac Choi; Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens; Potatoes; Carrots and OUT of the Bag Frozen Chard OR Spinach (in cooler)

The spring share is quickly wrapping up - only 4 more weeks! Join now and be rewarded with a healthy, local and delicious season of Good Eats! Signing up early helps us plan our route.  Checks not deposited til June. We want to establish a few new Burlington sites.  Got ideas?

Around the Farm Clockwise:  (1) Veggie photo taken yesterday.  (2) Todd is my hero this week.  Todd prefers farm work to computers but he actually has an extensive background in computer security.  It came in handy this past week when we discovered our computers had been infected with some virus and spam sending software.  He had to clean out a bunch of junk and then install better network security.  I am thankful we have his expertise to call on now and again.  (3) Photo of piggies taken last week - they'd just had their water freshened and took the opportunity to have a little dip.  (4) And a perfect bed of beet seedlings - photo taken by Pete yesterday. Storage and Use Tips Mesclun- the first outdoor greens of the year!  Finally we are harvesting out in the fields by tractor.  Think big salads this week with this mesclun and garnish with the rest of the share ingredients! Beet Greens - The tender young beet greens in your share today are best eaten cooked. They are related to Swiss chard and may be used exactly the same way. I love them sauteed with a bit of oil and vinegar (balsamic or apple cider) and salt & pepper. You can also toss them into most recipes that call for other greens (mustard greens, spinach). They are milder in flavor than mustard greens, but a bit stronger than spinach. They are delicious. Ruby Streaks Mustard Greens have a delicate texture and sweet yet mildly pungent mustard flavor. Both greens are tender enough to liven up salads, and stout enough to stand on their own in steamed or stir-fried dishes. Cilantro - A member of the carrot family and related to parsley, cilantro is the leaves and stems of the coriander plant (the seeds of the same plant are the spice known as coriander). Cilantro has a very pungent odor and is widely used in Mexican, Caribbean and Asian cooking. The leaves and stems can be chopped and added to salads, soups and sauces, and can garnish many meals. I toss cilantro into any Mexican dish I am making, and love it in summer when I have tomatoes to make salsa. If you can't use all your cilantro just yet and wish to save it for a future dish, you can freeze it. Wash and gently dry your cilantro with paper towels. Then either put sprigs loosely in a plastic bag and freeze them. Or lightly chop cilantro, measure by the tablespoon into ice trays, fill remaining space in ice tray with water, and then after cubes are frozen, store in a plastic bag. You can take one out and thaw anytime you need to use it. The large share members are getting more Parsnips.  Parsnips lend a really interesting flavor to anything- soups, stews, or stir fries.  They have a nutty-sweet taste and and a tender hearty texture that is entirely distinct.  Refrigerate unwashed parsnips in a loosely wrapped or perforated plastic bag for up to two weeks.  Pac Choi for the small share members has a mild flavor. The leaves taste similar to Swiss chard and the stems (called ribs) are deliciously crispy and can be substituted for celery in recipes. Pac Choi is mild enough to be chopped up for a salad, particularly if you give it a quick wilt in a hot pan. It's also great in stir-fries. Store pac choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. Large share members will get Red Cipollini Onions.   These onions are about the size of a golf ball with a slightly flattened appearance. They're thin-skinned and have a pale, translucent purple flesh. Caramelizing and roasting these onions bring out their natural sweetness. Cipollini onions will keep, cool and dry, for up to a month. This week's frozen veggies are either Swiss Chard or Spinach.  They are both packed with the vitamins and minerals that are so hard to get in quantity in other foods. You can use chard as a substitute for many recipes that call for spinach or other greens. Both of these leafy veggies work well in soups, stews, or the rice casserole recipe below.  Amy's method of thawing for a bit, then sawing off what you need for a recipe, would work well with both the chard or spinach.  Veggie Storage and Use Tips are our website too, so please bookmark the recipe and storage tip section. I am sure you will find it useful. Localvore Lore It's a pizza week!  What better to go on your pies than fresh mushrooms? We make the Pizza Dough at the farm and then freeze it for delivery.  Our pizza dough is made with Aurora Farm's organic unbleached VT white flour, Gleason Grain Snake Mountain Sifted whole wheat flour, local Sunflower Oil, 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. 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 425F. Cook 12-14 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese bubbles. We also made Pizza Sauce to go along with the share.  Deb made the pizza sauce last week in our kitchen using our organic tomatoes (that we froze in summer), onions, sunflower oil, garlic, oregano, basil, fennel seed, salt, & black pepper.  It's pretty yummy and it's coming to you frozen for easy delivery.  Defrost and put on your pizza or freeze it for later use).  You can of course use this on pasta too. It does not get much better than locally grown Oyster and Shiitake Mushrooms! The mushrooms you receive this week are grown by Amir Hebib in Colchester, VT. Amir grows his mushrooms in a mushroom house behind his home. He has 20 years experience growing mushrooms, having been a farm mushroom manager for a large Bosnian agricultural producer before immigrating to VT in 1996. He started growing mushrooms here in 2005. He grows shiitakes and oysters (little clusters of trumpet shaped mushrooms) and sells them to restaurants and markets in our area as well as at the Burlington Farmers Market. You can eat the whole mushroom stems and all. Many people discard the stems of shiitakes because they can be tough and take longer to cook. But the shiitakes you are receiving are so fresh that they are tender enough to add to most dishes though you may want to allow longer cooking time for the stems. Shiitakes have a deep flavor, and are very hearty, enough so that they can be used in place of ground beef in some recipes. The gals at Pa Pa Doodles have been busy supplying you with this week's eggs! 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 I can stop your share delivery and you will retain a credit on your account toward the purchase of your next share. Recipes Roasted Carrots and Cipollini Onions Cipollinis deserve to be roasted and are great on their own with no fancy treatment. Add the carrots though and some wine and stock and you really have something special. 1 pound cippolini onions, ends trimmed and peeled, halve larger onions 2 pounds baby carrots 2 tablespoons canola oil 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1/4 cup white wine 1/4 cup chicken stock Salt and coarsely ground black pepper 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a sheet tray, toss onions and carrots with oil, butter, wine, and stock. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until golden and caramelized, about 25 to 30 minutes. Toss in a shallow serving bowl and garnish with parsley. Potatoes with Oyster Mushrooms This recipe was adapted from a four star recipe in the June 2006 issue of Bon Appetit. If you have shiitake mushrooms, they'll be just fine in this recipe too. 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 pounds small potatoes, unpeeled, halved lengthwise 3 TB garlic scapes, chopped well 1/4 onion, minced 1 garlic clove, pressed 1/2 pound large fresh oyster mushrooms, torn into 1-inch-wide strips 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley Position 1 rack in top third of oven and preheat to 450°F. Brush a large rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place potatoes on 1 prepared sheet; drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil over and toss to coat. Spread potatoes in single layer; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place potatoes on top rack of oven and roast 10 minutes. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons garlic scapes, minced onion and garlic over the potatoes. Drizzle remaining 2 TB oil over the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add to potato roasting pan. Continue to roast potatoes and mushrooms on top rack of oven until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or a bit longer as needed. Add parsley to potato-mushroom mixture and toss; season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Sesame Ginger Beet Greens Here's a fun recipe for your beet greens.  1/2 tbsp sesame seeds 4 cups loosely packed beet greens 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp grated gingerroot 1 pinch salt 1/2 tsp sesame oil In small skillet over medium heat, toast sesame seeds until golden, about 3 minutes; set aside. Trim stems from small young beet greens or remove centre rib from larger mature beet greens. In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beet greens, garlic, ginger and salt.  Cover and steam until greens are wilted, about 3 minutes. Drizzle with sesame oil; sprinkle with reserved sesame seeds. Pizza With Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Greens and Walnuts Arugula on a pizza gives it a nice spicy kick.  A few weeks ago I added mizuna to a pizza (on top of the sauce underneath the cheese) and I was amazed at how good it was.  The mustard greens would also work well.  By Martha Rose Shulman (NYT) pizza dough 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1/2 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and sliced Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 4 ounces goat cheese 4 walnuts, shelled and chopped About 1 heaped cup greens 1/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon walnut oil Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone inside, if available. Roll out the dough to fit a 12- to 14-inch pizza pan. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy skillet, and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are tender and moist, four to five minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat. Crumble the goat cheese into a bowl, add the walnuts and lightly toss together. Brush the dough with 2 teaspoons of the remaining olive oil, and top with the mushrooms. Sprinkle on the thyme, and place in the oven. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the goat cheese and walnuts over the crust, and return to the oven for five to 10 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned and the cheese has softened. Remove from the heat. Toss the arugula with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil, the balsamic vinegar and the walnut oil. Scatter it over the pizza, and serve. Baked Parsnip Fries with Rosemary This is a great way to use your parsnips.  If you don't have fresh rosemary you could substitute 1/2 tsp dried rosemary for the tablespoon of fresh rosemary in the recipe. 2 1/2 pounds parsnips or carrots, peeled, cut into about 3 x 1/2" strips 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus 5 sprigs rosemary 1 large garlic clove, minced 3 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper 1/2 teaspoon (or more) ground cumin Preheat oven to 450°F. Mix parsnips, chopped rosemary, garlic, and oil on a large rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread out in a single layer. Scatter rosemary sprigs over. Roast for 10 minutes; turn parsnips and roast until parsnips are tender and browned in spots, 10–15 minutes longer. Crumble leaves from rosemary sprigs over; discard stems and toss to coat. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cumin over. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more cumin, if desired. Cumin-Roasted Carrots with Chevre This recipe comes from the new cookbook "The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook" by Tracey Medeiros.  It's a wonderful cookbook highlighting many VT Farms and Localvore producers and has '150 home-grown recipes from the Green Mountain State.' 12 carrots, scrubbed, thick ends halved lengthwise, and cut into 2-inch pieces 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp ground cumin Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp VT apple cider 1 1/2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (about 1/3 cup) 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly oil a baking sheet and set aside.  Place the carrots in a large bowl, add the olive oil, cumin, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper until evenly coated.  Place the carrots in a single layre on the prepared baking sheet.  Roast, tossing occasionally, until tender and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the carrots with the cider and salt to taste, and toss to coat.  Transfer the carrots to a platter and sprinkle the goat cheese and cilantro over the top. Spinach-Rice Casserole Straight from the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, 1977. I love this recipe. It's basic but oh so good. When greens are abundant as they are now, I make it a lot. It packs in the greens and brown rice. You can modify the recipe by skipping the cheese & eggs and making it vegan. It's hearty and healthy and the brown rice gives it a great chewy texture. Serves 4 - 6. 4 cups cooked brown rice (2 cups dry makes approx 6 cups cooked rice) 2 lbs. raw, chopped spinach (amount doesn't have to be exact) - could also use your thawed frozen chard or spinach or other raw greens (or a combo of spinach bok choy, mustard greens, turnip greens, swiss chard, kale) 2 cloves minced garlic 3 tablespoons butter (or 2 tablespoons olive oil) 4 beaten eggs (or egg substitute) 1 cup milk (skim or whole OK) 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar (less than this works great too) 1/4 cup chopped parsley 2 tablespoons tamari (optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste) a few dashes each - nutmeg, cayenne (I like a little more than a dash of cayenne) 1/4 cup sunflower seeds paprika Saute' onions and garlic with the salt in butter (or oil). When onions are soft, add spinach or greens. Cook 2 minutes. Combine the onion/greens mixture with the brown rice, eggs, milk, cheese, parsley, tamari, nutmeg, cayenne, sunflower seeds, paprika. Spread into buttered casserole and sprinkle on top. Bake, covered, 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes. I like it best when it is a little browned on top.