Good Eats Weekly Newsletter - September 27, 2017

Having trouble viewing this message, please click here Just ONE more week left of the Summer CSA Share!

Localvore & Regular Veggie Only Share Members take a LIGHT GREEN BAG This week your bag contains: Mesclun, Kale, Collard Greens, Salad Turnips, Easter Egg Radishes, Carmen Peppers, Garlic, Carrots, Out of the Bag: Tomatoes Half Veggie Only Members take a YELLOW BAG containing: Mesclun, Parsley, Chard, Garlic, Eggplant, Yellow Onions, Carrots, and Out of the Bag Tomatoes Localvore Offerings Include: Slowfire Bakery Bread Amir Habib Mushrooms Tangletown Eggs Keep your weekly veggies going - sign up for the Fall/ Winter Share!! All the fresh, local, seasonal, and organic goodness continues throughout the fall and winter! Join us for a diverse, exciting, and hearty share! Sign up today so you don't miss a week without your Pete's share! Sign up Now!

Around the Farm with Melissa Throughout the main planting season, April through September, we are continuously planting and harvesting. For example, chard for bunching is planted 11 times and spinach for baby greens is planted at least 24 times during that period.  Planting that frequently gives us continuous harvest of those crops from May to the end of October.  It allows us to harvest for a particular sized leaf and for quality.  It also gives us wiggle room if we have a weather event or excessive weeds.  With another batch always to come we know there will not be a long gap between plantings and we could hold over an older planting to fulfill the demand if needed.  For the most part our overwinter plantings are planted 1 or 2 times. These oh-so-precious plants that will bring bright green to our plates for 5 months, November-March, need to be very closely tended in order to avoid weeds, pests, and disease.  The unusual early fall heat makes this work a real challenge as the weeds grow quickly and the seeds of our desired crops (spinach, claytonia, and cress) struggle to germinate and get stressed by the heat. Our greenhouses have lettuce, parsley, chard, arugula, sorrel, pac choi and more.  They are standing by for when our fields turn frosty. I am not sure where fall is but we are ready for it when it decides to arrive.  All of our winter plantings are in the ground.  We will now be paying close attention to seeds germinating, keeping soils cool, and weeding, lots and lots of weeding.  We will continue to ride out this weather and are glad that our peppers are finally ripening in the field. I personally have been enjoying the late September swims in the pond! ~ Melissa Storage and Use Tips  Carmen Peppers (full shares): These sweet peppers (which may be yellow or red) are a delight! The Carmen is an Italian pepper named for its bull's horn shape ('corno di toro'). These are wonderful roasted. You can freeze them whole or in slices if needed. Collard Greens (full shares): Collards are a form of kale and cabbage, with a sturdier and thicker leaf than kale or cabbage. They are probably best known in America as being part of the American South cuisine, but similar varieties are also popular in the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There are a few ways of cooking them, most commonly boiled until tender with some pork product. You can cook them slow and long or simmered in broth for 15 - 30 minutes until the texture is medium firm, like sauteed cabbage. Thinly sliced leaves can be cooked briefly, for a greener flavor and chewier texture. You can also mix them with other leaves (try your kale!) for a more complex taste. You can also blanch the leaves and use them as a wrapper (like grape leaves) or use them as a stuffing. The stalks are tough; discard and only use the leaves. Keep collards very cold. Wrap in a ventilated plastic and use fairly soon - they don't last as long as a cabbage. Arrowhead Cabbage - The pointed cabbage in your bags this week is Arrowhead, an early summer cabbage, mellower in flavor than storage cabbages, and can be used in all kinds.  Arrowhead cabbage is most similar to green cabbage, but you can use in many other cabbage recipes too.  It's pretty versatile.  Make slaw, your favorite cabbage dish, or quarter it and drizzle olive oil on it, sprinkle with salt, and grill it.  Add a little teriyaki sauce if you like. Yum. Sweet Salad Turnips (full shares): Separate greens from turnip roots before storing them (both keep better that way), but don't toss the greens, they make terrific eating!  Salad turnips are a raw, tasty treat. Slice them and mix in with salad greens, or dip them in dressing and eat them on their own. Chop the greens and mix in with other salad greens for a peppery bite. Or, serve the greens chopped and steamed or sauteed. Both greens and roots can be kept loosely wrapped - seperately - in plastic bags in the fridge. Carrots: We're swimming in carrots, so we're sending both shares carrots this week as a bonus! Each week, we put together a share that matches the value you pay ($22 or $29 each week). The carrots are a bonus, meaning we didn't include them in the value of your bags. Tomatoes: After a long summer, our tomato crop is winding down... this will be our last week for tomatoes. In preparation for fall planting, our crew harvested all the tomatoes we had available, so you may find your tomatoes slightly underripe (meaning they'll be firm and not dark in color). If this is the case, you can speed up the ripening process by leaving them in the paper bag for a day or two, or leave them in a sunny place. We have a variety of tomatoes going out this week: heirlooms, reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, and even a few Roma/paste tomatoes! 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. 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 Shelf, 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 For your pantry this week... Bread from Slowfire Bakery Slowfire is a farm-based, wood-fired bakery located along Route 108 as you head towards Smugglers' Notch. They make breads and pastries that are naturally leavened, hand-crafted, and baked in a masonry oven. They source many of their flours, all of which are organic, from Meunerie Milanaise in Quebec and from local growers in Maine, and procure dairy and produce from even closer: their own gardens and forest, those of their neighbors, and nearby farms.  This week's bread is a variation on their country bread:  this time with a different sourdough starter and added whole spelt and whole wheat, which should create a mellower, more "sweet" & nutty flavor and aroma. Amir Habib from Colchester has over 20 years experience growing mushrooms, having been a mushroom farm manager for a large Bosnian agricultural producer before immigrating to Vermont over a decade ago. He started his own small mushroom business where he grows shiitakes and oyster mushrooms. You'll see his mushrooms in restaurants and markets in our area. Growing in a mushroom house behind his own house, Amir's mushrooms take a lot of daily care. The Shiitakes in your share this week are so tender and fresh that you can eat the whole mushroom, stem and all. They have a deep, hearty flavor, making them a great substitute for beef in some recipes. Amir's favorite simple way to prepare his mushrooms is to sautee some onions in butter, add sliced mushrooms, then once coated and starting to soften, add a few eggs for a flavorful scramble. I've been waiting all summer for these mushrooms! They don't grow well in the heat so the few cool days we had last week helped them grow. Tangletown Farm Fresh Eggs Fresh eggs from Lila's flock of hens in Glover! Happy and well fed hens make for tasty and nutritious eggs! Recipes Find more recipes by searching our website or our blog of newsletters. Collard Greens with Bacon A classic recipe 2 bunches collard greens, stemmed 3 teaspoons vegetable oil 1/2 red onion, sliced 3 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips 2 tablespoons cider vinegar 1 cup homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock Working in batches, stack greens; cut crosswise into 2-inch-thick strips. Gather strips; cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces. Transfer to a large bowl of cold water; swish to remove grit. Transfer greens to a colander using a slotted spoon; let drain. Repeat until greens are free of grit. Heat oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon; cook until onions are translucent, about 4 minutes. Add greens; cook, stirring, until greens begin to wilt and are reduced in volume. Raise heat to high; add vinegar. Cook, scraping up brown bits from bottom of skillet, until vinegar has evaporated, about 1 minute. Add stock; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, until greens are just tender, 12 to 14 minutes. If making ahead, refrigerate, covered; reheat over low heat. Stuffed Collard Greens 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes with their juices 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 small onion, finely chopped Pinch of red-pepper flakes Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper 1 cup spelt 1 pound collard greens 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans, or 1 can (15 ounces) white beans, drained and rinsed 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Regular 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves Pulse tomatoes with juices in a food processor until chopped. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 6 minutes. Add tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt. Let cool. Stir spelt into a saucepan of salted boiling water. Reduce to a steady simmer; cook, uncovered, until tender, about 40 minutes. Drain and let cool. Meanwhile, add collard greens in batches to a pot of salted boiling water and cook until bright green and tender, about 3 minutes. Remove with tongs and let cool. Trim off stems and thick ribs. Reserve 12 large leaves; chop any remaining leaves. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coarsely mash beans in a bowl. Add cooked spelt, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, cheese, sage, and any chopped collards. Stir to combine. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Working with one collard leaf at a time, arrange 1/4 cup filling in center. Fold stem end over filling. Fold in sides. Roll collard over to form a bundle, overlapping ends to seal. Transfer, seam-side down, to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spread sauce evenly over stuffed collards. Cover with parchment, then foil; bake until sauce is bubbling and collards are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Mushroom & Swiss Frittata w/ variations 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced 4 large eggs 1 leek, sliced thin 2 ounces Swiss cheese (about 2 ounces) sliced thin Variations: add 2 cups turnip greens or kale to the leek and mushroom saute add 1/2 to 1 carmen pepper to the saute add some zucchini quartered and sliced thin to the saute Preheat broiler. Melt butter in heavy 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms & leeks and sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Beat eggs to blend in bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over mushrooms and stir briefly. Let eggs begin to set around edges. Lift edges and tilt pan, letting uncooked portion flow under cooked eggs. Cook until eggs are almost set but still slightly moist, about 30 seconds. Arrange cheese slices atop frittata. Broil until cheese melts and bubbles. Slide frittata onto plate and serve. Stir Fried Turnips with Greens From Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. This is a simple and tasty way to use your turnips and their greens. 3/4 cup orange juice 2 TB tamari 3 medium scallions (sub in some leeks!) 4 med garlic cloves 1 TB minced ginger 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes 1 TB plus 1 tsp peanut oil 1.5 lbs salad turnips, cut into 3/4 wedges or chunks 5 cups packed, stemmed greens Combine orange juice and soy in measuring cup. Place scallions (or leeks), garlic ginger, red pepper flakes in small bowl. Heat 1 TB oil in large skillet over med high heat until shimmering. Add turnips and stir fry until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Push turnips to edges of pan, spread garlic mixture in center of pan. Drizzle remaining 1 tsp oil over mixture and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir to combine with turnips. Add orange juice mixture to pan, cover and cook, until turnips are creamy and tender and liquid has reduced to a few tablespoons (2-3 minutes). Add greens, cover and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. (If the contents of the pan are too soupy, simmer with the cover off to reduce the liquid to a sauce consistency.). Serve immediately. Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry) A traditional Indian dish (though perhaps not a totally traditional recipe), and a great, easy, delicious way to serve up eggplant.  Serve alongside rice or pearled barley. 1 large eggplant 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 medium onion, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or several cloves of garlic and a smaller than thumb sized piece of fresh ginger chopped) 1 tablespoon curry powder (or good garam masala if you have that) 1 tomato, diced 1/2 cup plain yogurt 1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 bunch cilantro, finely chopped (optional but good, could also use some parsley here) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place eggplant on a medium baking sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender. Remove from heat, cool, peel, and chop. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix in cumin seeds and onion. Cook and stir until onion is tender. Mix ginger garlic paste, curry powder, and tomato into the saucepan, and cook about 1 minute. Stir in yogurt. Mix in eggplant and jalapeno pepper, and season with salt. Cover, and cook 10 minutes over high heat. Remove cover, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking about 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro or parsley to serve. Carolina Slaw A tasty vinegar based slaw that keeps well and is delicious.  Modify the amounts of ingredients  to suit your taste, this recipe is very flexible. 1 large head of cabbage, finely shredded 1 medium bell pepper, finely chopped 1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped 2 carrots, grated 1/2 to 1 cup sugar 1 cup cider vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoon dry mustard 2 teaspoon celery seed   In a saucepan over medium heat, combine dressing ingredients; bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring, until sugar is dissolved; pour over vegetables and toss well. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.