Good Eats Weekly Newsletter - September 5, 2018

It's a Meat Week! This week in your share: Everyday Large (Orange bags) Mesclun, Gold Potatoes, Pac Choi, Sweet Peppers, Broccoli, Kale, OUT OF THE BAG 1 Bag of Tomatoes 6 ears Sweet Corn Everyday Standard (Yellow bags) Mesclun, Gold Potatoes, Kohlrabi, Kale, Sweet Peppers, OUT OF THE BAG 1 Bag of Tomatoes 4 ears Sweet Corn 1 Watermelon Fancy/ Localvore (Purple bags) Mesclun, Beans, Collard Greens, Gold Potatoes, Shishito Peppers, Hot Mixed Peppers, Celery, Napa Cabbage, OUT OF THE BAG 1 Bag of Tomatoes 6 ears Sweet Corn Lean & Green (Green bags) Mesclun, Mixed Color Beans, Collard Greens, Sweet Peppers, OUT OF THE BAG 1 Bag of Tomatoes 4 ears Sweet Corn Bread Share Red Hen Baking Co Sprouternickel Pete's Pantry Red Hen Baking Co Sprouternickel, Sweet Rowen Farmstead Farmers' Cheese, Pete's Greens Baba Ganoush Cheese Share Sweet Rowen Farmstead Mountain Ash Around the Farm Sign up for your Fall/ Winter CSA Share today!! It's that time! After this week, there are only 4 more deliveries!! How the time flies! The Fall share is great because it's the best of all worlds - you get all the best end of summer stuff plus the root crops that sustain us year round. Our farm is proud to operate four-seasons. We do that by storing and cellaring crops, plus keeping some of our greenhouses growing. If you've ever toured our farm, you've likely seen our coolers. We have about six different spaces that stay at different temperatures, each for housing a different crop. We control the temperature, humidity, and light. It's a cool system (ha) that has evolved over the past several years and is always changing depending on what we grow and how much we harvest. We harvest from the field into these big wooden bins (see picture below -- these are all carrots, only the first two harvests) that get stacked floor to ceiling high! It's always fun to see what we can store and how long we can store it, and share it! In the next few days, I'll be sitting down to map out what will go into each of the shares, in what quantities, and in what frequency. When you sign up for your CSA share early, that helps us plan! A couple of changes to note for the Fall/ Winter CSA: We've scaled back our share types and we are not offering the Everyday Large Share. It was our least popular share type so we're going to try not offering this period. If it's something you're interested in, do respond to the end-of-season survey that will come out in October! We will not be delivering to Dedalus Wine Shop this Fall/ Winter. We are delivering to Petra Cliffs, which is located on Briggs St, just off Pine St and still very much in the South End! We need 10 - 12 members in Johnson to re-open that site! Sign up here for your Fall/ Winter Share and eat locally all winter long! ~Taylar Going out of town? Need to skip a delivery? We can donate your share to the food shelf, send it the next week, or credit your account for a future share. Please notify us by Monday, 8 am, at the latest for any changes to that week's delivery. Every week we'll send you snapshots of veggies in your share. You can always find more recipes and storage info on our blog and website. Sweet Corn: Our sweet corn game is strong this summer! Unfortunately we still have some corn borer worms.Every cornfield battles a corn borer worm at some point; this week, your corn is proof of our organic growing practices! We don't spray the corn to get rid of the worms like conventional farms so you may find some at the very top of your ears. Just cut off the top or brush off the worm and continue to enjoy! There is little harm done to the delicious part of the ear. Mesclun:  A beautiful, fresh blend of lettuces, chard, kale, cress, and mizuna this week! We wash the greens but recommend you give them a good rinse before eating. Store in a cold part of your fridge and use quickly. Mixed Beans: Mixed fresh wax beans - purple, green, and a few yellows! tore in your fridge wrapped in plastic for up to 5 days. Try them braised, roasted, or grilled. Beans pair well with garlic, balsamic, and parmesan. Hot Pepper Mix: We have a fun blend of hot peppers today! You'll receive either jalapenos (green), serrano (dark green or red, 4 on the spiciness scale), or cayanne (long and red, rated 3 on the spiciness scale). Shishito Peppers: We grew these for the first time last year and loved them! They've taken off in popularity since then and I've seen them on menus around the area. These peppers are for cooking or salads, with a thin wall and either mild (green) or slightly sweet (red). They're popular in Japan where they're good for tempura; also good in stir fries or sauteed. Slice thinly and serve on a salad or blister over the stove, salt, and enjoy. (pictured above) Napa Cabbage:  A Napa cabbage can be so many different salads, it's hard to choose. Try an Asian themed salad - tamari, ginger, garlic, scallions and cilantro if they're on hand. Try prepping the ingredients (sliced napa, shredded carrots, scallions, maybe cukes, maybe almonds or toasted sesame seeds), make the dressing, and then keep throwing together the salads in the days that follow as needed. You may see some dark spots on your cabbage. It's okay! Kohlrabi: Kind of tastes like broccoli and it packs the nutritional punch of the other members of the cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cabbage), and when you cut it up into strips and cook it, it is completely unintimidating (it looks like apple slices or plain potato strips). So this makes it a veggie that is easy for even picky kids to try and often like. I also love it because it's versatile. It adds crunch and body to a salad, it's great tossed on grill in a drizzle of olive oil in roasting basket or tin foil, it's great as a side dressed up in a myriad of ethnic flavor profiles, and it's terrific in many dishes calling for a veggie melange. And to top it off, it stores a long time, so you can eat everything else in the fridge first and then 3 weeks later discover you still have perfect kohlrabi. To use it, cut off that tough colorful exterior. Then cut up the white part into whatever shape you like. Eat it raw or cook it up. Recipes below. Watermelon for Yellow Bag shares this week!!! Sweet and so yummy! Please take one and use within a couple days. Featured Recipes Blistered Shishito Peppers 8 ounces shisito peppers ½ lemon, sliced Extra virgin olive oil Kosher or flavored salts Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat until the pan is hot. Add the peppers to the hot skillet and cook the peppers, turning occasionally then add a few slices of lemon. Cook until the peppers become fragrant and begin to blister, and the nudge the lemons so they don't stick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil plus a squeeze more lemon then sprinkle with flavored salts. Serve immediately. Broccoli Fritters 6-7 broccoli stems, shredded (about 1.5-2 cups) 2 eggs, whisked 1 3/4 cup almond meal 1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon minced garlic lots of salt and pepper Send your broccoli stems through a shredder or food processor with the shredding attachment which made it go by super fast. Add your shredded broccoli to a large bowl along with all other ingredients and mix well. Heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat with a bit of fat in it. Use a large spoon and your hands to ball up a fritter and add to a skillet. It doesn't need to be flat, you'll flatten it out after you flip it. Cook the fritter for about 3-4 minutes, then use a spatula to flip, then flatten out with the spatula. Cook for another 4 minutes or so. Once the fritters are crisp on both sides, eat them. Kohlrabi Slaw 2 lbs. kohlrabi, trimmed, sliced thinly 1 lb. cabbage, sliced thinly 1 onion, julienne cut 2 carrots, sliced and then cut into strips (or use of a mandolin) 4 radishes, sliced thinly 1/2 cup olive oil Juice of 2 lemons 3 sprigs mint, rough chop Salt and Pepper, to taste Toss all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Any other vegetables, apples or pears, can be added to this. Makes a wonderful side dish for any ribs or lamb. Pac Choi Saute 1 bunch pac choi 1 bulb kohlrabi, sliced and cut into medium julienne 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks 1 bunch Ruby Streaks Mustard, rough chop 2 tbsp. ginger 2 tbsp. tamari 1 tsp. honey 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1/4 cup water 2 tbsp. sesame oil 2 tbsp. oil, any neutral oil works Wash the pac choi shake excess water off. Separate the stalks and leaves. Cut the stalk diagonally and cut the leaves across. Heat wok or large saute pan and add oil. When oil is ready, add ginger and toss for 30 seconds, until the ginger is aromatic. Add the pac choi, adding the stalks first, carrots and kohlrabi. Add the mustard and the pac choi leaves. Stir in the tamari, honey, and salt and on high heat for 1 minute. Add the water, cover the pan and simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir the sesame oil in. Chicken or shrimp can be added to this to make it a complete meal. In a separate pan, sauté the protein and cook all the way through. Add it to the pan when you add the water to the vegetable mix. Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Carrot Slaw Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit July 1998 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 3 tablespoons sunflower oil 2.5 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 1.5 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce 1.5 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar 1 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger 1 tablespoons minced garlic 1 Napa Cabbage chopped 2 kohlrabi peeled and cut into matchstick size strips 1 large red or yellow bell peppers, cut into matchstick-size strips 2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into matchstick-size strips 4 scallions, cut into matchstick-size strips 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro Whisk first 7 ingredients in small bowl to blend. (Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before continuing.) If you have a food processor you can use it to grate the carrots, kohlrabi and cabbage and peppers. Otherwise hand chop and mix together in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Pantry Lore  Randy George, owner and head baker over at Red Hen in Middlesex, and I have been planning this special Sprouternickel for the CSA for several weeks and I'm excited it's here! Sprouternickel is a dense bread, packed full of really good and healthy grains, like rye flour and berries from Thornhill Farm in Greensboro, sprouted spelt berries, and sprouted sunflower seeds. Sweet Rowen Farmstead, in nearby West Glover, makes lovely cow's milk cheeses, such as this versatile farmers' cheese! You're receiving one of two kinds, either Garlicky Tomato or VT Herb. Both work great when spread on the Sprouternickel! Pete's Greens Baba ganoush is a thick Mediterranean spread made from our own farm-grown organic eggplant, garlic, tahini, oil, lemon, and spices. It is great as a dip or on sandwiches. You can liven it up after thawing by draining any excess water and adding a sprinkle of fresh green herbs as a garnish. Cheese Share members receive a piece of Mountain Ash, from Sweet Rowen. This is a bloomy rind cheese (like a brie) with a layer of edible ash. It's a unique flavor and a beautiful complement to a cheese board. Meat Share This week, you're getting the first of our 2018 chickens! We raised these chicks into fully-grown chickens, right here in Craftsbury adjacent to our farm. They enjoyed the summer free ranging in our organic fields and a few weeks ago, became the bulk of your meat share this month! These are a good sized chicken and will last for a few meals at least - many more if you save the bones for stock! Think about the yummy soups you'll make with your winter root veggies! You're also receiving a package of ground pork from VT99, which is our project with the Cellars at Jasper Hill. These pigs were also raised at our farm! They enjoyed a really happy life feasting on whey and organic veggies, rolling around in healthy soil and foraging through organic grass, with paddocks changed regularly! Enjoy ground pork in so many different ways - patties, meat balls, filling in different dishes - really, the possibilities are quite endless. Rounding out the share is a strip steak from Greenfield Highland Beef. This is a "mom and pop" family business, run by Ray and Janet Stewart, who are perhaps the most delightful people you will ever meet! I hope you have the pleasure of meeting them one day! They raise Highland Cattle in Plainfield and Greensboro, where they have two farm properties. This steak is going to be lean and far tastier (and more nutritious) than any other kind of conventional steak. Grilled Chicken: the Bittman Method Mark's method for grilling chicken that's moist on the inside and crisp on the outside is to grill at two temps. On a grill, you would have a hot side and a cooler side. On a gas gill, turn one side on low (or even off) and the other on medium high. The chicken starts out skin side up on the cooler side of the grill.... Put the chicken on the grill skin-side up on the cool side and, after some of the fat has been rendered, turn it; if flames flare up, move the chicken to an even cooler part of the fire (this is where gas is handy; it's so easily adjusted). Or turn it so the skin side is up again -- remember to keep the fat away from the flame. Here's one of Mark's three recipes. The others are Grilled Chicken Japanese Style and Grilled Chicken with Mediterranean Flavours. Mark Bittman's Grilled Chicken With Chipotle Sauce Chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish Lime wedges, for garnish. Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill; fire should be moderately hot, part of grill should be cooler than the rest and rack should be 4 to 6 inches from heat source. Put lard or oil in a medium saucepan or skillet and turn heat to medium. When hot, add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Add chilies, tomatoes and 1/2 cup water. Adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily but not violently. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until chilies are soft and tomatoes break up. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. When chipotle sauce is ready, cool for a few minutes, then remove stems from chipotles, put mixture in a blender and purée. (The sauce may be made up to a couple of days in advance.) Meanwhile, rub chicken with cut side of garlic cloves, brush on oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place chicken skin side up on coolest area of grill. When fat has rendered a bit, turn chicken over. After 20 minutes or so, move chicken to hottest part of grill. When chicken is just about done, brush it with chipotle sauce on both sides, and cook just another minute or 2. Serve, garnished with cilantro and lime wedges. Citrus Herb Marinade This is the standard steak marinade in our house. The steaks that meat share members will receive tomorrow will be wonderful with this marinade. Citrus really works well to tenderize a piece of meat and this marinade never disappoints. It is quick to prepare and substitutions work out just fine. You can prepare it ahead of time and it can sit in the fridge for up to a week. Combine and then place with steaks in a ziplock bag or other sealed container. 1/4 cup sunflower oil or olive oil 1.5 TB lemon juice 1.5 TB orange juice 1/3 c parsley (or not, we often don't have it on hand and skip) 1.5 tsp dried thyme 1 crumbled bay leaf 1 clove minced garlic 1 tsp salt 1/4 - 1/2 tsp black pepper