Salad Mix: Lettuce, claytonia, upland cress, spinach, and roots. A hearty blend
Russet Potatoes, also known as Idaho or baking potatoes, Russets are in the class of starchy potatoes, as opposed to waxy varieties like red and fingerling. They are high in vitamin C and B6, as well as natural sugars. Russets make great baking potatoes, and are ideal for mashing and making fries. Store potatoes in a cool dark place. Storing your potatoes in the refrigerator can make their starch turn to sugar and therefore should be avoided as doing so can give the russet potato an unpleasant, sweet taste.
Celery: Wrap unwashed celery tightly in a plastic bag and store in the coldest part of your refrigerator. To maintain really crisp celery, store as you would basil or parsley. That is, place it upright in a glass of water in your fridge and cover loosely with a plastic bag.
Sunchokes: Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes make their debut in the large share this week! You might know of this plant as a beautiful yellow flower on tall stalks that blooms in summer. The tubrous roots, which appear in your shares, are also edible. Eat with or without the skin, and prepare as you would potatoes: roast, saute, bake, boil, or steam. They can be stored for a few weeks in your fridge.
Featured Recipes
Basic Stir Fried Vegetables
Great stuff in the share this week for a stir fry! This recipe is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. There is of course room for endless variations here. You can swap in and out different veggies, add nuts to the final minute of cooking, add dried chiles or chile paste for heat, add tofu or tempeh (even better if cooked and browned first), or up to 1 TB sweetener (honey, maple syrup, etc).
2 TB oil
1 TB minced garlic
1 TB fresh ginger
1/2 cup onions or scallions
1 medium zucchini, cut into slices or chunks
2 cups Napa cabbage
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
1/2 lb green beans (preferable parboiled and then quickly cooled)
1/4 cup stock or water
2 TB tamari
1 tsp sesame oil (preferably dark)
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil , and almost immediately the garlic, ginger, and scallions or onions. Cook stirring for about 15 seconds, then add carrots, celery, snow peas and stock and raise the heat to high.
Cook, stirring constantly, adding liquid (water or stock) if mixture is totally dry, until the vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes. Then add the sesame oil and soy sauce.
Celery Soup
This is a classic French recipe, this one taken again from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
3 TB butter
1 small onion
1 lb celery, roughly chopped (reserve the fresh greens for garnish)
1 large potato
salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp sugar or honey to taste (optional)
1/2 cup cream or sour cream (optional)
1/4 cup celery greens, finely chopped
Put the butter in a large, deep saucepan or casserole over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the vegetables. Season w/ salt & pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until celery softens a bit. Add the stock and cook until the vegetables are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes more.
Puree the soup in batches in food processor or blender and return to the pot. You may prepare the soup in advance up to this point. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days and reheat before proceeding.) Adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Reheat the soup in the saucepan and stir in the cream if you are using it, garnish with celery leaves and serve.
Roasted Beet and Onion Salad
If you are one of those folks who have never developed a love for beets, try roasting them. Roasting sweetens them and deepens their earthy flavor. Roasted beets keep well in the fridge for 4-5 days and are great tossed onto daily green salads. This recipe brings together roasted onions and roasted torpedo onions and tops them with parsley, all in the share this week. The original recipe is adapted from one by Clifford Wright. You could roast the onions and beets together but please watch the onions closely, they will be bitter if they blacken too much. The beets will take longer to roast.
2 medium size torpedo onions, sliced across the grain in 1/4 " rings
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lb beets, roasted, peeled and sliced (roast all of your beets and save remainder for other salads)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or arugula
1 ounce toasted almonds, chopped (2 tablespoons chopped)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place beets in a glass baking dish and add 1/4 inch of water and cover tightly and place in oven. Large beets over 8 oz will take 50-60 means to roast. Roast til they are easily pierced with a fork. Toss the sliced onions with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and salt to taste, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Toward the second half of the roasting of the beets, place the onions in the oven and roast 15 minutes, turning the onions over halfway through. They should be nicely browned and just beginning to blacken around the edges, but not charred. Remove from the heat.
Remove beets carefully when roasted, and the skins will slip from them easily (you can run them under cool water briefly if too hot to handle when removing skins, they will still retain some warmth. Slice beets into discs.
Arrange the sliced beets on a platter. Arrange the onions over the beets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Whisk together the vinegars, salt and pepper to taste and the remaining olive oil. Drizzle over the onions and beets. Sprinkle on the parsley or arugula and the almonds, and serve.
Meatless Red Flannel Hash
This recipe is from Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love cookbook -- delicious with eggs your favorite way! Serves 4 as a side dish.
3/4 lb. whole beets, trimmed and scrubbed
2 large floury potatoes, scrubbed
2 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon, melted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
16 fresh sage leaves, cut into thin strips
2 teaspoons kosher salt
7-8 grinds fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Roast beets until a knife easily slips into the flesh. When just cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and coarsely chop. Place the potatoes in a 3-qt saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until just tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and refrigerate until cold. Remove the skins and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
Heat 2T butter and the oil in a 10-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 min. Add sage and cook until wilted. Add the potatoes and cook until brown, about 15 minutes. As the potatoes begin to brown, use a spatula to turn, rather than stirring, so the potatoes don't turn to mush. When the potatoes have browned, add the beets, salt and pepper, folding them in with the spatula. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes. Pour in the vinegar and 1/4 cup water or stock. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. Pour in another 1/4 cup water or stock and cook until the liquid has been absorbed once more.
Place an oven rack on the 2nd level from the top and set oven to broil. Center a 9-10 inch glass pie dish over the skillet. Holding the pie dish in place, flip the skillet over, turning the hash out into the pie dish. Press down into an even layer. (The hash can be made ahead at this point and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before continuing.) Brush the top of the hash with the melted butter. Broil for 10 minutes, or until the top is crusty and nicely browned.
Sunchoke and Potato Gratin
This recipe comes from a blog whose writer first tried sunchokes in their CSA basket. If you're new to them too, this sounds like a great family-friendly way to try them out!
1 garlic clove
10 sunchokes (about golf-ball sized), sliced thin
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
2 shallots, sliced thin
1/4 cup milk
1 cup grated fontina cheese
salt and pepper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9×9 ceramic dish with cooking spray. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut sides onto the dish. Discard garlic.
Layer the potatoes evenly in the dish covering the entire bottom. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer the sunchokes evenly covering the potatoes. Sprinkle the sliced shallots on top of the sunchokes – and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Pour milk all over the vegetables. Sprinkle with the fontina cheese.
Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Take the cover off and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Make sure the sunchokes are soft – if not cook a little longer.
Simple Roasted Sunchokes
.5 pound sunchokes, sliced into half-inch rounds
.5 pound potatoes or carrots, sliced into half inch rounds
2 Tablespoons oil
1 TB lemon juice
Sprinkle with dried Rosemary or thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the sunchokes with the oil & lemon juice. Sprinkle with the herbs. Bake in a shallow gratin dish with the herbs for thirty to forty-five minutes or until done. (Pierce them with the tip of a knife. They should be mostly tender but offer some resistance. Don’t let them get mushy.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
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