Good Eats Newsletter - June 4, 2014

It's a meat week - the last of the share! Localvore Members & Regular Veggie Only Share Members take a LIGHT GREEN BAG This week your bag will contain: Mesclun; Potatoes; Celeriac; Chard; Lettuce; Napa Cabbage; Pac Choi; Radish And OUT of the bag: Frozen Parsley OR Dill Localvore / Pantry Offerings Include: Elmore Mountain Miller's Bread Les Aliments Massawippi Tamari Rhapsody Tempeh Half Veggie Only Members take a YELLOW BAG containing: Mesclun; Potatoes; Lettuce; Chard; Napa Cabbage OR Bok Choi; Radish And OUT of the bag: Frozen Rhubarb

There's only ONE more delivery after this week's share! Have you signed up for a summer share yet? The summer share is going to be awesome - filled with lots of fresh, organic veggies. For more information and to sign up click HERE.

Food Jobs Summit at Sterling College Saturday, June 14th 11 to 1pm Are you interested in working in sustainable agriculture or an artisan food field? If so you might want to attend this job summit next weekend at Sterling College. The Summit will include a keynote from Chuck Ross, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, as well as an optional tour of local food producers and sites of interest. The Summit is free for job seekers. Some of the employers that will be at the Food Jobs Summit include: Pete’s Greens, High Mowing Organic Seeds, Caledonia Spirits, the Cellars at Jasper Hill, and Vermont Soy. Job seekers are encouraged to RSVP for the event. More information can be found at Sterling College's website. A beautiful perfect field of red clover! While we grow this years crops we are working on other fields for future year crops. This land is being prepped for next year. The red clover fixes nitrogen into the soil so that it will be ready to support the crops it will grow. The clover itself we will mow in a couple weeks for winter pig feed (they will love this rich tender hay) and when this stand flowers it will feed the bees too! Storage and Use Tips This week's potatoes are a mix of Adirondack Red, Nicola, Viking, and some Red Thumbs. This mix would make a colorful potato salad or roasted veggies! Also called celery root, celeriac is a vegetable that cleans up well. Once you peel away its gnarled outer layer, you find a creamy interior with a clea taste that has wide appeal. Store unwashed celeriac in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, where it will keep for several weeks. Here's how to cut this veggie: I like to take a thin slice off the top so that I can lay it flat. Then I cut the whole thing into 1" wide strips and trim the edges off. It's tough to peel because it's so uneven so this method works well for me. Like apples, celeriac will darken if exposed to the air for too long. If you don’t plan to cook it immediately, submerge the celeriac in a bowl of water with lemon juice squeezed in. Chard is a nutritional power house, high in Vitamins A, K, and C. Chard works great as a spinach substitute but needs to be cooked down a bit longer. It also works well in soups and stews, or sauteed as a side. I have been loving the chard lately and have been making a wilted salad. Heat a TB of olive oil in the pan, add a sliced onion and wait for it to soften to just the right not too soft consistency. Then I turn the hot pan off and to it add a TB each of red wine vinegar. mustard, and honey, mix together and then mix with this hot mixture with the chard which I've chopped into ribbons in a bowl. I often saute the chard stems with the onions. The dressing/onion mixture wilts the chard just right..... It's a delicious side dish, over and over. Our lettuce is growing quite well these days so everyone is getting a head of lettuce. We grow at least 5 different varieties so you'll see one of the following in your bags: Panisse, Vulcan, Red Oak, Romaine, or Salanova. All of these make wonderful salads (I added mine to my mesclun last week and it was heavenly!) or additions to sandwiches. 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. A head of Napa Cabbage in the fridge lends itself to a wide variety of meal options, from salads and slaws, to sandwich greens, stir fries, soup additions, and more. Nearly all of the head can be used, just not the tough center core. If your Napa sits a while in the fridge and some leaves are limp, you can refresh it with a good soak in cold water. Napa cabbage should be stored unwashed in your crisper drawer, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag. These are beautiful, big heads of Napa! Pac Choi is another nutritious green. Just like kale or Swiss chard pac choi can be prepared a number of ways — simmered until soft and tender, roasted to brown the edges or raw and dressed with vinaigrette. We have a mix of radishes this week - you'll get either pink or French Breakfast. The French Breakfast are red radishes with an elongated shape, and pink is a rounder one. Fresh radishes are delightfully crisp and their flavor ranges from mildly peppery to a bit sweet. Toss them into a salad. Sliced thin they make a delightful salad on their own with a drizzle of olive oil, some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and salt. Or try glazed radishes made by placing a 2:2:1 ratio of butter, sugar, white vinegar in a pan and gently cooking until diced or quartered radishes are tender and the liquid evaporates. Season with salt and pepper. Do you know why they're called French Breakfast radishes? According to Emilie at the farm, it's the way the French eat them that gives them their name. They take some nice bread, butter it, and add thinly sliced radishes and salt to the top. Simple, easy and great! Large share members will get either frozen parsley or dill. Both of these frozen herbs are wonderful added to a soup or stew, eggs, or salads. Small share members are getting frozen rhubarb. As always our frozen vegetables just really need a quick warm up when using. Thaw out in the fridge or on the counter or if you are in a rush submerge in warm water bath until usable. Add to dishes near the end for a quick warm up and to add flavor. Veggie Storage and Use Tips are on our website too, so please bookmark the recipe and storage tip section. I am sure you will find it useful. Summer Share June 18th through October 11th Sign up on line NOW for 17 weeks of fresh,organic, Vermont grown goodness and the localvore staples you love. The summer share is filled with the best bounty that Vermont offers in the summer time. We'll start off in June with early greenhouse crops such as zucchini, herbs, radishes, Asian greens, and lots of other early season favorites. By July we'll be into the prime growing season. Tomatoes, peas, broccoli, eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, and lots more will be in season. August and September bring a huge variety of veggies: cabbages, beans, tomatoes, corn, summer squash, and lots of greens to name just a few. We are working on some changes to our delivery schedule which might change your pick-up day. See proposed schedule below and please keep this in mind when considering our summer share. There are a few new towns we would love to deliver to and need suggestions on businesses or residences to be site hosts. Please let us know if you have any ideas for sites in the proposed new sites below. Visit our Summer Share page for more info. Please visit our delivery page for a listing of Summer Share delivery sites. Have questions about the Summer share? Visit our FAQ page or send us an email. 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 Elmore Mountain Bread made their Miller's bread for you this week. They stone-ground all of the wheat from Champlain Valley Mills and Butterworks Farm. The fresh milled flour was sifted to remove some of the bran but retained all of the wheat germ. It is naturally leavened and baked hot in their wood-fired oven. In North Hatley, Suzanne and Gilbert, owners of Les Aliments Massawippi, make very fine miso and miso-damari (aka tamari). Tamari literally means liquid pressed from soybeans, and for centuries it meant the thick brown liquid that pooled in casks of fermenting soybean miso. This tamari was a rare delicacy reserved for special occasions. The tamari in the share today was made by this slow natural process. It is an unpredictable process in terms of flavor and yield. Eventually producers learned to brew tamari-like liquid soy sauce that had similar characteristics as the original by-product of miso. Most high end tamari is brewed from whole soybeans, sea salt, water, and koji (Aspergillus hacho) rather than pressed from naturally fermented miso. The newer method is a fast way to turn out a fairly consistent product that is similar to but not nearly the quality of the real thing. Commercial soy sauces (even some labeled as shoyu or tamari) are another step down and are usually made from soybeans that have been defatted with hexane, a petroleum derivative. Other common shortcuts are artificial fermentation methods including genetically engineered enzymes. Most soy sauce is actually caramel colored water with lots of salt, hydrochloric acid treated soy isolate, and sugar added. This tamari is pretty special and rare. It is a live food and has never been pasteurized, with a fuller richer flavor than soy sauce. One of our vegetarian share members, who received the tamari in a prior share, commented that she hoarded it, only using it a teaspoonful at a time. It really is that much better than soy sauce. You can use it to flavor stirfries, sauces, salad dressings, soups, grains and more. Please transfer to a small glass jar for best quality and store in your fridge. It will last a very long time. It is important to note that like miso, sauerkraut, kimchi and other fermented foods, tamari is alive with lactobacilli. These microscopic bacteria are good for your digestive system, but can be easily killed with too much heat. If at all possible, try to use your tamari at the end of the cooking process, stirring it in at the very end, once the pan has come off of the heat. Rhapsody Natural Foods' Tempeh is made right down the road from us in Cabot. Their farm and production facility is located on a beautiful hill over the small town of Cabot. They are a small family run operation that prides themselves on making geniunely traditional Japanese foods. Besides the tempeh, they make other traditional Japanese products - miso, amazake (a fermented rice drink), rice milk, koji (a starter culture for tempeh, amazake, sake and rice vinegar), rice bran, and vegan eggrolls. They also grow Hayayuki Rice, a cold weather, short season variety from Hokkaido, Japan. Picture at left is soybeans packaged and ready to cook; at right Sjon prepping the finished tempeh. There are 2 flavors for you to choose from - BBQ and Teriyaki. Please choose just one package. This tempeh comes to you ready to eat - if you're hungry when you pick up you can eat it on your way home! Otherwise throw it in a frying pan to heat up for a few minutes. It's wonderful cubed in salads, sliced in a sandwich, great in stir fries, or mashed in sauces or gravies. Meat Share Last summer our pigs roamed free on 20 acres and enjoyed the good life renovating land, eating pasture, insects and minerals below the soil surface and taking care of our leftovers from the wash house. We are really excited about this meat and feel its some of the highest quality pork around given the very high ratio of plants the piggies ate compared to grain. This week we are including a package of Hot Italian Sausage (made by our friend Pete Colman of Vermont Salumi) and a package of Bacon.... yum! From McKnight Farm we have sandwich steak and burger. Seth Gardner runs an organic dairy in East Montpelier. The sandwich steak is a thinly cut piece of sirloin and is the cut that Philly cheese steaks are made from. This meat takes only about 2 mins in a hot pan to cook. Add peppers, onions and tuck into a sandwich with your favorite cheddar. Or fry up with eggs for a traditional steak and eggs breakfast to keep you trucking through the morning. Also fantastic for asian dishes that call for thin pieces of quick cooking beef and for steak salads. We love this cut and have to stockpile it from each animal until we have enough for the share. We're also sending out salmon from Starbird Fish. Anthony spends a portion of his year commercial fishing in Alaska. In the fall he flies back his catch frozen, and stores it locally and sells to CSAs and others who are interested. This is wild caught Pacific salmon. Check out this article featuring Anthony in the Burlington Free Press, January 2013. Recipes Grilled Napa Cabbage with Chinese Mustard Glaze Feel free to reduce the amount of mustard if you don't like things too spicy. If you don't have scallions feel free to leave out. 3 tablespoons hot Chinese mustard 1 tablespoon agave nectar 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 teaspoon finely grated garlic 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves 2 small heads napa cabbage (about 2 pounds total) 1 large bunch scallions, roots trimmed (if scallions are thick, cut them in half lengthwise) Heat grill to high. Mix together mustard, agave nectar, 1 teaspoon oil, the garlic, and basil. Cut cabbage lengthwise into quarters, leaving core intact. Brush cabbage and scallions with remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Grill cabbage, flat side down, 3 minutes. Flip, and continue to grill until charred. Remove from grill. Add scallions to grill, and cook until partially charred, flipping halfway through cooking, about 2 minutes total. Brush cabbage and scallions on all sides with mustard glaze. Cut scallions lengthwise into thirds. Arrange cabbage on a platter, and top with scallions. Tahini Tamari Lemon Dressing This is yummy dressing. You can swap the olive oil for sunflower oil. You can skip the nutritional yeast though it does add depth to the flavor. The dressing is great on green salads and also great as a fresh veggie dip and with falafel. 2/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup tahini 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 1/4 cup tamari 1 tablespoon honey 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon mayonnaise salt and pepper to taste In a blender, combine olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, nutritional yeast, tamari, honey, oregano, mayonnaise and salt and pepper. Process until smooth and serve over salad. Simplest Steak Sandwich Lots of variations possibly with this simple sandwich. Saute griilled onions or peppers, and toss those on. Or skip the dijon and add to the basic sandwich tomato, pesto and fresh mozz or another melted cheese. 1 ciabatta loaf or baguette sea salt and freshly ground black pepper sandwich steak 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked (or thyme, or parsley) olive oil or sunflower oil juice of 1 lemon 1 -2 tablespoons Dijon mustard thinly sliced onions 1 handful of mesclun Place your ciabatta just to warm in the oven for a few minutes at 100C/225F/gas 1/4. Season your steak and then sprinkle it with herbs. If any of the slices are thick, place them in a plastic bag and then bash the bag with a kitchen mallet or cleaver or back side of a heavy pot to thin the meat to 1cm thick or less. Rub with a little olive oil, place on a very hot griddle or frying pan and sear each side for a minute. This will cook the meat pink, but you can cook it less or more to your liking. Remove to a plate, squeeze over the lemon juice and allow to rest. Cut your ciabatta in half lengthways and drizzle the cut sides with a little e.v. olive oil. Smear a massive dollop of Dijon mustard over the bread, put your steak and onions and mesclun on top, then drizzle over any juice from the meat. Squeeze together and eat! Basic Stir Fried Vegetables The basic recipe here is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. There is of course room for endless variation and I have taken the liberty to swap in veggies from this week's share. You can swap in and out different veggies, add nuts to the final minute of cooking, add dried chiles or chile paste for heat, add tofu or tempeh (even better if cooked and browned first), or up to 1 TB sweetener (honey, maple syrup, etc). 2 TB oil 1 TB minced garlic 1 TB fresh ginger 1/2 cup onions or scallions 1 celeriac 4-5 potatoes 1 bunch mizuna and/or pac chi and/or turnip greens 1 head Napa cabbage 1/4 cup stock or water 2 TB tamari 1 tsp sesame oil (preferably dark) Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil , and almost immediately the garlic, ginger, and scallions or onions. Cook stirring for about 15 seconds, then add celeriac, potatoes, and stock and raise the heat to high. After around 4 minutes when vegetables are starting to soften, add the greens. Continue to cook stirring constantly, adding liquid (water or stock) if mixture is totally dry, until the vegetables are tender, about 3-4 more minutes. Then add the sesame oil and soy sauce. Celeriac Salad with Parmesan, walnuts, and parsley An elegant no-cook starter or special light lunch packed with crunch and earthy flavours. juice 1 lemon ½ celeriac, peeled, and cut into sixths 2 celery sticks from the inner bunch, plus celery leaves small pack parsley, leaves picked handful walnut halves, toasted 50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), shaved into ribbons 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle For the dressing 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp sherry vinegar To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together with 1 tbsp water and some seasoning, and set aside. Tip the lemon juice into a bowl. Use a swivel blade peeler to shave thin ribbons of celeriac into the lemon juice and toss to coat. Thinly slice the celery sticks on an angle, but keep the leaves. Toss all the ingredients, except the Parmesan, with the celeriac and season with sea salt and a little pepper. Pile the salad onto 4 plates and top with the Parmesan shavings. Drizzle with the dressing and extra olive oil before serving. Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese Lemon and Parmesan cheese season this simple, tasty recipe for Swiss chard on your stovetop! This basic greens recipe would also work well with your bok choi or any other leafy green. 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 small red onion, diced 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese salt to taste (optional) Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed. Crunchy Bok Choy Salad This is one of the best salads I have ever had! The ramen noodles may sound a bit weird and unhealthy but they give it a nice crunch, and you don't use the sodium filled seasoning packet. I would bulk up this salad even more by adding some shredded cabbage. Dressing: 2 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons cider vinegar 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 2 teaspoons peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon curry powder 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper Salad: 1 (3-ounce) package ramen noodles 1/4 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts 3 cups thinly sliced bok choy 1 cup very thin red bell pepper strips 1/2 cup shredded carrot 1/4 cup diagonally cut green onions To prepare dressing, combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. To prepare the salad, crumble noodles; discard seasoning packet. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanuts; saute for 4 minutes or until browned. Remove from heat. Combine crumbled noodles, peanuts, bok choy, and the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately. Napa Cabbage and Caraway Slaw This is a nice refreshing salad- not too elaborate, but still easy and tasty. 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, chopped fine 3 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage In a bowl whisk together vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add scallion, caraway, and cabbage and toss well. Miso Glazed Salmon with Bok Choy Do you still have some miso left from a few weeks ago? Miso makes an amazing salmon marinade, and adding in some greens just kicks it up a notch. Almost all the way to 11! 1/2 cup white or yellow miso 1/3 cup mirin or dry sherry 1/4 cup sake or dry white wine 3 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar 2 Tbs. soy sauce 4 salmon fillets, about 1 1/2 lb. total, skin removed 2 or 3 heads baby bok choy, cut in half lengthwise In a shallow glass or ceramic dish just large enough to hold the salmon fillets in a single layer, stir together the miso, mirin, sake, brown sugar and soy sauce. Add the salmon to the marinade and turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes, turning the fillets occasionally. Or, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Preheat a broiler. Remove the fillets from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Place the fillets on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Add the bok choy to the reserved marinade and turn to coat. Remove the bok choy, reserving the marinade, and arrange the bok choy around the salmon. Broil until the fillets and bok choy are caramelized and lightly charred on the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully turn the fillets and bok choy over and brush with the reserved marinade. Broil until the salmon is slightly charred on the outside and just cooked through and the bok choy is crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes more. Divide the salmon and bok choy among 4 plates and serve immediately. Serves 4. Baby Lettuces with Radishes and Spring Herbs Tender young lettuces, sliced radishes and fresh herbs are tossed with a simple vinaigrette to create a salad that captures the essence of spring. Recipe from Williams Sonoma. 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz./60 ml) Champagne vinegar 1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard 3/4 cup (6 fl. oz./180 ml) olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 4 heads assorted baby greens, such as red leaf lettuce, Little Gem lettuce, Bibb lettuce and radicchio, leaves separated 3-5 radishes, very thinly sliced 1/2 cup (1/2 oz./15 g) fresh herb leaves, such as parsley, chervil, dill and basil 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh chives Buttered whole grain crackers for serving In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice and mustard. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss together the baby greens, radishes, herbs and enough vinaigrette to lightly coat. Sprinkle with the chives and serve immediately with buttered crackers. Serves 4 to 6. Easy Pickled Radishes A mandoline would be helpful in slicing these radishes very thin, but not necessary. These would make an excellent addition to a salad! 1 bunch radishes, very thinly sliced 2 tablespoons of sugar 2 teaspoons of sea salt Dressing: 1 tablespoon of tamari or shoyu 1 tablespoon of agave syrup or brown sugar ½ teaspoon of dark (toasted/roasted) sesame oil A good pinch of chilli powder Toss the radish slices with the sugar and salt and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Drain and gently squeeze the radishes, draining away the pickling mixture, then drizzle with the dressing. Stewed Rhubarb I like stewed rhubarb for its simplicity. It’s easy to make, and offers full strength when it comes to taste. I often double this recipe, as it freezes well and makes good eating in the winter when fresh local fruits are few and far between. For a twist, try adding a few drops of vanilla extract or a bit of orange zest once the stewing is done. 1 bag frozen rhubarb 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup brown sugar Combine rhubarb, water, and sugar in a medium-size heavy-bottomed pot. (Do not use an aluminum pot; the rhubarb is acidic and will react with the metal.) Stir to combine. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and continue cooking 10 minutes, or until all the rhubarb pieces break down. Serve warm or cold, mixed into plain yogurt or spooned over vanilla ice cream.