Spotlight on: Sweet Potatoes! Oh yum... It's great to have these beauties back! We're terrible sweet potato growers, we admit it, so these potatoes come from Juniper Hill Farm in upstate New York. They are certified organic. You can use them this week or save them for your Thanksgiving feast. Roast them, either whole or cut into wedges or pieces, in a 400F oven until they are soft and easily pierced with a fork. Store in a dark, dry, cool (55 degree) place, in a loose plastic bag or open to the air. Stored this way, they may keep up to 3 weeks. Do not refrigerate, as cold temperature alters the flavor of the potatoes.
All shares are receiving a bag of Salad Mix. Salad mix includes: salanova lettuce, claytonia, minutina, arugula, and upland cress. The salad mix is intended to be eaten raw while the braise.
Cute little baby butternut squashes and butterscotch squashes this week! The butterscotch variety is a single-serving butternut, with a sweeter and richer flavor than its large companion. Enjoy it as you would a butternut.
Fancy Shares are receiving
sorrel. Sorrel is a green leaf vegetable native to Europe. It is also called common sorrel or spinach dock. In appearance sorrel greatly resembles spinach and in taste sorrel can range from comparable to the kiwifruit (or lemons or a combo) to a more acidic tasting older leaf (due to the presence of oxalic acid which increases as the leaves gets older). Young sorrel may be harvested to use in salads, soups or stews. Young sorrel leaves are also excellent when lightly cooked, similar to the taste of cooked chard or spinach. Older sorrel is best for soups and stews where it adds tang and flavor to the dish. Check out this collection of sorrel recipes from the
New York Times.
Black Radish are of ancient origin, and one of the oldest cultivated radishes. Ancient Egyptian texts write about workers building the Great Pyramids eating them! They are not common outside of Central and Eastern Europe and are often eaten as part of meals for Passover and Rosh Hashana. Nutrtionally, black radishes are excellent for vitamin C and also provide potassium, iron, magnesium, and vitamins A, E, and B. Some say they help fight off infection and promote healthy digestive function.
Black radishes are firmer, drier, and stronger than other radishes - this is a very different radish from your red/pink globes! You can eat these raw or cooked but they are bitter when eaten raw. Try shredding them to add to a salad, slaw, or relish (peeled or unpeeled), or peel and slice thin, then salt and drain and mix with sour cream as a spread for chewy rye bread. Cooked black radishes taste like turnips but with less reliable cooking time. You can add them to soups, stews, braises, or stir-fries, or chop finely and add to ground raw meat. Wrap unwashed, topped radishes in newspaper or perforated plastic and refrigerate. Don't let them get moist or they will mold. Their taste mellows as they store and are fine for grating and shredding even after months of storage. I recommend scrubbing them before eating, especially if you keep the peel on.
The sweet peppers this week, our last of the season, are a mix of green and red bell peppers, sweet yellow and green Italians, and red Carmens. See you next summer, peppers!
A note about the romanesca... Some of your heads will have a little brown on the tips. This can be cut off and the rest of the head enjoyed. We didn't want to waste them given that so much of the heads are still delicious. Simply slice off and continue to enjoy!
Featured Recipes
Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes (the latter will make them quitespicy, so using according to your preferences)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pounds medium sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 425°F. Coarsely grind coriander, fennel, oregano, and red pepper flakes in an electric coffee/spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Stir together spices and salt.
Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1-inch wedges. Toss wedges with oil and spices in a large roasting pan and roast in middle of oven 20 minutes. Turn wedges over with a spatula and roast until tender and slightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes more.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
This is Martha Stewart's recipe, the all-around crowd-pleaser. There will not be any leftovers.
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar (or maple sugar)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Boil sweet potatoes until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, and return to saucepan. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring half-and-half, butter, and brown sugar to a simmer, stirring to combine; remove from heat. Add to drained sweet potatoes, and mash just until smooth; season with salt and pepper.
Sorrel Soup
This is a very simple light soup that highlights the fresh, slightly lemony flavor of the sorrel. It's from the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.
2 c. well-packed, washed and stemmed sorrel leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
3 T. butter
1 T. unbleached white flour
3 c. vegetable stock
2 egg yolks
1 c. milk or half and half
salt and freshly ground black pepper
dash of Tabasco or other hot sauce (optional)
Finely chop the sorrel leaves. In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion in the butter until translucent. Stir in the flour. Mix in the sorrel and cook for a minute or so, just until it wilts. Add the vegetable stock. Bring the soup to a low simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Beat the egg yolks and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly add 2 c. of the hot soup while stirring constantly. Stir this soup-egg mixture into the soup pot. Reheat the soup gently but don’t let it boil. Add salt, pepper to taste and a dash of Tabasco, if you like.
Caramelized Butternut Squash, from the Barefoot Contessa
2 medium butternut squash (4 to 5 pounds total - or reduce all your ingredients to accommodate your squash)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut off and discard the ends of each butternut squash. Peel the squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch cubes and place them on a baking sheet. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. With clean hands, toss all the ingredients together and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 45 to 55 minutes, until the squash is tender and the glaze begins to caramelize. While roasting, turn the squash a few times with a spatula, to be sure it browns evenly. Taste for seasonings and serve hot.
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