Good Eats Weekly Newsletter - November 16, 2016

Having trouble viewing this message, please click here Localvore Members  & Full Veggie Only Share Members take a LIGHT GREEN BAG This week your bag contains: Mesclun, Mizuna, Lettuce Head, Parsley, Red Beets, Mixed Potatoes, Yellow Onions, and Brussels Sprouts stalk Out of the bag: One Pie Pumpkin Half Veggie Members take a YELLOW BAG containing: Lettuce Head, Garlic, Mixed Carrots, Mixed Potatoes, and Brussels Sprouts stalk Out of the Bag: One Pie Pumpkin Localvore / Pantry Offerings Tangletown Farm Eggs Lemon Fair Pastry Flour from Gleason Grains Ploughgate Creamery Butter IMPORTANT! TAKE NOTE! Change in delivery next week! CSA Shares are delivered a day earlier next week!  Most sites will pick up on Tuesday, November 22 (Newport and St. Johnsbury will pick up on Wednesday).   We deliver early so you will all have your veggies in time to start cooking! If you are unable to pick up your share on Nov. 22, please let us know  as soon as possible. We can either skip your share and give you credit, send it the next week, or donate it to the food pantry. Around the Farm... It's fall and all the fresh crops are just about harvested from outside, but we haven't slowed down! Our packhouse continues to bustle with activity. Pete, Melissa, and the crew are going through crop notes to assess what growing practice worked well and what needs improvement while planning out next summer's planting. On the CSA side, we spend this time reviewing responses to the summer survey to make sure we are growing what our members love, cutting back on what is not-so-loved (less kale, we hear you!), and troubleshooting so we can provide you with the best veggies and localvore products. We're also evaluating how we send our shares and what we can do to make it easier to join Good Eats. We'll have some exciting changes to announce soon to for our members to buy Pete's Greens veggies in bulk. In the meantime, if there are any veggies that you'd like to buy for Thanksgiving cooking, please send me an email. We can fill bulk orders (minimum 5 pounds) of many items to send out with your shares next week. Take good care ~ Taylar     Storage and Use Tips    Full share members are receiving a mesclun mix. This week's mix includes claytonia, shoots, spinach, and a little bit of lettuce. It's a nice blend of some freshly harvested greens and some early rising greens from our greenhouse.   All shares are also receiving a head of lettuce. Full shares will find either a panisse lettuce head or red leaf head. Half shares will have either a head of Romaine or red leaf lettuce. Lettuce heads have been pre-washed but you may want to wash them again to ensure there is no dirt left around the stem. After washing, wrap lettuce in a paper towel and store inside a plastic bag in the crisper drawer.   Mizuna - Every once in a while we have to throw in some of the less common veggies. Mizuna is one of them. Also know as spider mustard, mizuna is a Japanese mustard green with tender leaves and a pleasant, peppery flavor. You could substitute it, chopped, in a salad calling for arugula. It adds a nice zest to a stir-fry or saute too. Store mizuna, unwashed, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.   Both shares are receiving a stalk of Brussels sprouts. These are my absolute favorite but they are a high value item so we're only able to include them every few weeks. Just pop off the sprouts from the stalk to begin using them. You can remove the outer layer or two of the sprouts - there may be some discoloration that is fine. The more layers you remove, the less sprout you have to eat! Try roasting these with other root veg for a tasty side dish.   Both shares are receiving mixed potatoes. These potatoes are red, purple, and gold varieties. The Peter Wilcox puple variety have a spotted skin that is perfectly edible but loses its color during washing. I recommend leaving the skin on to show off the beautiful colors! Store potatoes in a cool, dry place.   Half shares receive one head of garlic. The garlic may become wet in your bag so please let it dry before using it. Keep it in a warmer environment, like on a kitchen counter. Drastic temperature changes confuse the garlic!   And don't forget your OUT OF THE BAG a pie pumpkin. These pumpkins range in size from 2 pounds to 2.5 pounds. You can use this for any pumpkin pie baking or for any other seasonal pumpkin dish. Pie pumpkins are smaller and have more flesh than carving pumpkins. They're also a little sweeter. Don't forget to save the seeds for roasting and snacking! Like all pumpkins, store in a cool dry, place. Best temperature is 55F. All share members should take 1 pumpkin. We counted out enough for every member to take one. 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.  Localvore Lore This week have items for your Thanksgiving baking needs! Included in your share are Tangletown Farm eggs, pastry flour from Gleason Grains, and Ploughgate Creamery butter.   When Marisa Mauro started Ploughgate Creamery, she was initially located near us, in Glover. But since taking over the Bragg farm in Fayston (at right) in 2014, she now makes her butter in the Mad River Valley. This cultured and salted butter is made from cream sourced from the St. Albans Co-op. It's cultured for 48 hours in a place of exquisite beauty and rich agricultural history before being churned.  Gleason Grains is owned by Ben Gleason in Bridport. They've been growing exceptional winter and spring wheat for over 20 years, which is harvested and milled into whole wheat flours. This pastry flour is sifted to remove a small percentage of the bran. This texture makes it a wonderful flour for pastries, pie crusts, and cakes.    Tangletown Farm's eggs come from hens pastured on West Glover grass. These chickens are raised with sustainability and quality in mind! Tangletown is a repeat customer to the Vermont Farm Fund, which has helped them expand their egg laying capacity and management practices.     **We accept your used, clean egg cartons! Please return them to your CSA site when you're finished with them and they will be re-used! Thank you!**  Recipes ​​Ben Gleason's Whole Wheat Pancakes 2 cups milk 2 cups flour, whole wheat pastry 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup blueberries 2 teaspoons honey 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 egg 2 tablespoons butter Preheat griddle or frying pan on medium heat. Mix milk, eggs, and honey until frothy. Add butter and mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet. Fold blueberries in gently. Do not over mix, even though batter may be a bit lumpy and runny. Melt a teaspoon of butter and spread over pan. Ladle 1/4-1/2 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook the pancakes until bubbles appear on top, flip over, and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes until done. Add more butter to pan as needed. Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Winter Squash Hash This is a colorful dish for your Thanksgiving table.  It's both sweet and salty, hearty, and perfect for showing off the vegetables in your share this week.  Can be made up to three days in advance, just keep it in the fridge and reheat before you serve. 1 1/2 pounds winter squash or sweet potatoes 1 pound Brussels sprouts, preferably small ones 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 bunch scallions or small onions 2 garlic cloves, minced Salt and freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons tomato paste, dissolved in 1/4 cup water 1 cup cooked black rice Poached eggs for serving (optional) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil, and lightly oil the foil. Brush the cut sides of the squash or sweet potatoes with olive oil, and set on the baking sheet with the cut sides down. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until easily pierced with a paring knife. Remove from the heat, allow to cool until it can be handled, and peel and dice. While the squash is in the oven, trim away the bottoms of the Brussels sprouts and cut into quarters. Heat the oil over medium-high in a large, heavy skillet. Add the Brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring often or tossing in the pan, until just tender and the edges are seared light brown, about five minutes. Add salt to taste, and stir in the scallions/onions and garlic. Stir together for a few minutes until the pan is fragrant. Stir in the squash. Cook, stirring often, until the squash has caramelized lightly, about 10 minutes. It’s fine if the squash falls apart in the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in the dissolved tomato paste. Continue to cook, stirring, until the tomato paste has caramelized, about five minutes. The tomato paste mixture will no longer be visible, but there should be rusty-colored traces on the bottom of your skillet. Stir in the black rice. Heat through, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve, topped with a poached egg if desired. Note: To cook black rice, combine 1 part rice with 1 3/4 parts water and salt to taste in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer 30 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Remove the lid, place a dish towel over the pot, return the lid and let stand 10 minutes. A cup of dry rice will yield 3 cups of cooked rice. Pumpkin Pie This one comes straight out of the Joy of Cooking. You really can use anything from heavy cream to milk, and even low fat works fine. Some cream content elevates this pie from real good to dreamy though. Ingredients Prepared pre-baked pie crust 2 to 3 large eggs (2 for more pumpkin flavor, 3 for more soft custardy pie) 2 cups pumpkin puree 1 1/2 cups light cream or mix 3/4 cup heavy cream and 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar (or maple sugar!) 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cloves or allspice 1/2 tsp salt Directions Position rack in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 400°F. Make pie crust and bake at 400°F for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown (see notes below on pre-baking your crust). Remove the pre-baked crust, paint the inside of the crust with egg yolk (I use my fingers for this) and bake for another 2 minutes to set the egg wash. Turn oven down to 375. Whisk the eggs together in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together thoroughly until combined. If the crust has cooled, warm it in the oven until it is hot to the touch. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the crust and bake until the center of the filling seems set but quivery - like jello - when you nudge the pan. Should take roughly 45 minutes but this varies by oven, depth of the pie plate etc. Could be 55 minutes. Remove the pie and let cool completely on a wire rack. Leftover pie should be refrigerated! Pre-baking your crust The only thing a little tricky about making pumpkin pie is that you are supposed to pre-bake the crust first and paint it with egg yolk to help keep it from getting soggy. Follow the directions in the apple pie recipe above for making the crust, and roll it out and shape your crust in your pie plate. If you just stick the pie plate in the oven now to pre-bake, your crust will shrink and slip down the sides of the pie plate. You have to somehow hold it in place while it pre-bakes for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400F. Press a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side down, into/on top of the crust you have shaped in your pie plate. You need the aluminum foil to be depressed into your pie plate enough so that you can fit a slightly smaller pie plate nested in/on top of your prepared crust. The weight of the smaller pie plate will hold your crust in place while it's baking. (Alternatively, you can use uncooked rice or beans poured into the aluminum foil to hold the pie crust in place.) Bake for 20 minutes to set the crust. Then remove from oven, remove the pie plate weight(s) and aluminum foil. Prick the crust with a fork if it has puffed up. Then return to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes more until golden brown all over. Beet and Mizuna Salad This is a simple yummy salad.  It calls for steaming beets, but you could boil til tender, or (my favorite), cut into 1/2 to 1" pieces and broil them.  And way you make it, it will be delicious.  Adapted from epicurious.com 1/2 pound beets (about 3 medium-sized beets) 1 small bunch mizuna 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar) 1/4 cup olive oil Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled (optional) Peel beets and cut into 1/2-inch wedges. In a steamer set over boiling water steam beets until tender, about 10 minutes, and transfer to a bowl.   Discard course stems from mizuna, then wash greens well and dry.   Whisk together vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste, and whisk in oil until emulsified. Pour half of the vinaigrette over the beets and toss well.  With the remaining vinaigrette, drizzle enough over mizuna to lightly coat, and toss well. Arrange mizuna and beets on two plates.  Sprinkle walnuts on top and, if desired, add goat cheese and serve. Mizuna & Apple Salad with Warm Cheese 1 bunch Mizuna, washed and dried .75 mesclun mix 2 Red Delicious Apples ½ round of soft Cheese, cut into 6 even slices Apple Cider Vinaigrette (recipe follows) Cut the cheese and let sit at room temperature while doing the rest of the preparation. Core apples and slice into thin rounds. Stack the rounds and cut into matchsticks. In a bowl, toss the mesclun, mizuna and apples. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the vinaigrette on the greens lightly, just enough to barely coat them. Form greens and apples into a nice mound on the plate and lay three pieces of cheese against the greens. Drizzle some more vinaigrette around the plate making sure the cheese gets some too. Apple Cider Vinaigrette ½ cup cider vinegar .5 cups neutral oil, such as grape seed or olive 2 tsp. mustard Salt & pepper Place ingredients in bowl and whisk. You do not want to emulsify this dressing, as it will be too thick. When you go to use it, just whisk again until ingredients come together. Beets with Parsley Salad 2 medium beets without greens 1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1/4 teaspoon sugar, or to taste 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar Trim and peel raw beets, then cut into very thin slices (1/16 inch thick – a mandolin is nice here). Make small stacks of slices and cut each stack with a sharp knife into very thin strips (1/16 inch thick). Toss beets with parsley, salt, sugar, and pepper in a serving bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle vinegar on salad and toss again. Serve immediately.