Storage Tips and Recipes
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.
Greens: This week we have a mix of greens. You'll receive either a bag of baby red Russian kale, mesclun, or spinach. The kale is tender enough for eating raw or you can saute it up. I ate some for breakfast this morning sauteed with garlic and olive oil and topped with an over easy egg. Spinach is another great green for raw eating or cooking. Mesclun includes lettuce, cress, spinach, mizuna, and mustards and is best eaten raw as a salad. All the greens are pre-washed but we recommend giving them a good rinse before eating. Unopened, the bags will store for several days in the fridge. They need to stay cool as much as possible.
Butternut Squash: Such a versatile squash; great roasted, in soups, or pureed as a substitute for tomato sauce in pasta dishes. Sweet enough to use in pumpkin pie! Store at about 50 degrees for up to a month.
Sweet Salad Turnips: Tender, fresh dug Sweet Salad Turnips can be eaten raw or cooked. Raw they have a texture similar to a radish, but are not so sharp. Or slice, dice, or quarter them and saute with butter or oil. Cook until just tender and still a little crisp. Just a little salt or maybe a little bit of vinegar is all they need. Cooked with butter and given a slight drizzle of honey and even picky little eaters may gobble them up. Don't forget the greens! Turnip greens are tender and flavorful. Chop and saute with the turnips for a side dish, or cook up with other greens, or by themselves. They make a great addition to pasta sauces too.
Potatoes: Peter Wilcox potatoes are in your share this week! Wilcox potatoes are beautiful purple potatoes. They are nicely textured, firm but not waxy, and wonderful whether roasted, boiled, or sliced into wedges or fried. They have a full earthy flavor that hints of hazelnuts. For best visual and nutritional effects, leave the skin on while cooking.
Poblano Peppers: Poblano peppers are nice when stuffed or charred over the grill (or, in a pinch, over a burner of a gas oven). They get a nice blackening that you scrape off before using - try sauteing with other peppers for some enchiladas. Poblanos can be hot, or they can be mild. The spiciness varies from pepper to pepper. Red poblanos in particular tend to be spicier, but these are a nice deep green. They're good for stuffing or for mixing in with other peppers. Peppers don't like extreme cold, so store in a paper bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge.
Hot Peppers: You're receiving a couple of hot peppers. The Hungarian wax peppers are long and yellow, red, or orange. Habaneros are the little rectangular ones that look like paper lanterns - they're orange and very hot! Jalapenos are probably the most common and are going to be green and oblong. The red long skinny ones are either cayanne or serrano. All are hot, hot, hot!
Tomatillos: From the cookbook A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen: "A tomatillo is a Mexican fruit similar to a tomato that remains firm and green when ripe. Tomatillos grow inside lantern-shaped paper husks, which must be removed. Wash the tomatillos well to remove the sticky substance that keeps the husks in place. Because they are quite acidic, tomatillos are rarely used raw. Roast them to rid them of excess liquid and soften their texture. Roasted with some fresh chiles, they can be turned into a quick salsa in the blender. Tomatillos exude a lot of liquid and seeds as they roast. Scrape all the flavorful juices into the blender."
For a decadent breakfast, try frying thick slices of tomatillos alongside a couple of eggs and serve with bacon. The acid of the tomatillos makes a nice foil for the richness of the protein. Store tomatillos in their husks in a paper bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Recipes
Squash Hash with Kale and Baked Eggs
This recipe is good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can sub parsley for the cilantro to change things up.
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small onion, minced (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tablespoon)
1/2 medium butternut squash or 1 whole acorn squash (1 1/4 pounds), halved, seeded, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 1/2 cups)
10 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 1/2 cups)
2 cups packed coarsely chopped kale (from 1 small bunch)
4 large eggs
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, and cilantro, then season with salt and pepper.
Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large straight-sided ovenproof skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes.
Add squash and carrots, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to oven. Roast, stirring once, until golden and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
Stir kale into squash mixture, along with 1/4 cup cilantro mixture. Return to oven 7 minutes. Make 4 wells in vegetables and crack an egg into each. Season eggs with salt. Return to oven and bake until whites are set but yolks are still runny, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve, drizzled with more cilantro dressing.
Cilantro and Potato soup
This is a delicious, satisfying soup. Like most soup recipes, there is lots of room for improvisation here with some options given below.
2 TB olive oil or butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped (or 2 leeks)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 quart chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2/3 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
lime juice
Saute onion and garlic slowly until tender. Add the broth, potatoes. Cook til the potatoes are tender about half an hour. Add most of the cilantro leaving a few tablespoons for garnish. Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree. Serve hot or cold, and garnish with the remaining fresh cilantro. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice before serving.
Optional: add 1 diced, seeded jalapeno pepper along with the broth and potatoes. Add up to 1/4 cup of cream to soup just before serving. Add a couple chopped scallions to the soup after pureeing.
Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing
If you have any leftovers of this it will store great in the fridge for a few days.
For tahini dressing:
1 medium garlic clove, finely minced with a pinch of salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste
Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, combine the butternut squash, garlic, olive oil, and a few pinches of salt. Toss the squash pieces until evenly coated. Roast them on a baking sheet for 25 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and cool.
Sweet Salad Turnips with Oranges
Here's a tasty and easy way to enjoy your salad turnips.
1 bunch turnips, trimmed, halved and sliced
1 tsp salt
1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ tsp harissa or other chile garlic paste
Salt
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
Salt the turnip slices and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the excess liquid.
While the turnip is being salted, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients. Cut the rind off of the orange with a sharp knife. Cut into 1 inch chunks. Blend together the lemon juice, garlic, harissa, salt to taste, and olive oil. Toss turnips, orange and dressing. Garnish with cilantro.
German Potato Salad
This potato salad is a great way to showcase and enjoy your Peter Wilcox potatoes. Tastes great served hot or cold. You can modify the recipe to best suit your family’s taste buds.
For the dressing:
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbs. grainy mustard
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbs. Fresh dill, finely chopped
For the salad:
Kosher salt
2 lb. potatoes
3/4 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1 cup small-diced sweet onion
3/4 cup small-diced dill pickles
¼ cup chives, chopped (scallions or garlic scapes can be substituted)
Whisk dressing ingredients together. Put the potatoes and 2 Tbs. salt in a 6-quart pot and add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook the potatoes until barely tender when poked with a fork or skewer, 20 to 25 minutes. If the potatoes aren't all the same size, remove them as they are cooked.
Gently drain the potatoes in a colander and set aside until just cool enough to handle. Leaving the skin on, cut the potatoes into 3/4-inch chunks. With your fingers, pull apart any pieces that are stuck together.
Gently fold the bacon, onions, pickles and parsley into the potatoes. Whisk the vinaigrette back together and fold enough of it into the potatoes to generously coat them (you may not need all of the dressing). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve while still slightly warm, or at room temperature.
Stuffed Peppers
No need for a recipe, just use your imagination. You won't go wrong. Use your poblanos OR your Carmen peppers!
Preheat oven to 400F.
Saute some onions and garlic, and add in some cooked rice, some cooked beans (canned kidney beans come in handy here!), some spices. Once everything is cooked and blended add some cheese (parm perhaps, or gruyere, or feta or goat). Spoon the filling into peppers that are cut in half and place peppers into an oiled baking dish.
Bake for 30 mins or more until peppers are softened and beginning to brown on some edges and filling is hot.
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