All posts by Semra Fetahovic

What to Do With Your Share—Week 7

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Fresh Garlic
We feel we are off to a good start with this year’s garlic. The hardneck variety Musik is the plump, 4 to 6 clove garlic in your share this week. We leave the neck on in case you want to hang it up and let it cure some.

You can also use it now. To get at the cloves cut the neck off, and then use a paring knife to slit the outer papers. Once you peel it back you can get to the cloves.

This week we recommend a recipe from last year to go with this week’s veggies. The Grilled Pasta Primavera is a great way to christen the grill for the season. Or, you can use your broiler.

Another good recipe that will take care of this week’s beets, and any others you have in the fridge, is pickled beets (from our July 6, 2005 newsletter). If you like beets, this is a nice way to have them on hand to top a salad, or have on the side. An added bonus is that you can use the pickle juice when you are done just like you would vinegar, and stretch that wonderful flavor even farther.

What to Do With Your Share—Week 6

beet salad, kohlrabi salad

The roots are taking over from the fruits and leafy greens of the early shares. Turnips, kohlrabi, beets, carrots and onions are now in the majority. Their heartiness is good for you, and if you cook them right, the taste is too.

A week ago we trialed the beets. The trial was a success. We utilized an Asian dressing to test them out.

Beet Salad with Asian Dressing
Ingredients
1 bunch of beets
2 scallions or ¼ cup chopped fresh onion
1 to 2 medium carrots

Dressing
1/8 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of ½ lime
1 squirt Sriracha hot sauce
1 tsp honey
1/8 tsp salt

Method
Top the beets and boil until tender
Quickly cool beets and peel off skin when cool
Mix all dressing ingredients together
Cut into desired size, add chopped onion, grated carrots and dressing

We were recently persuaded to try kohlrabi in a new way, by using it like jicama. Jicama is the root of a plant cultivated more in Central and South America than here, that is similar to kohlrabi. Rebecca modified the Clementine Jicama Salad recipe from epicurious.com. I thought the grated kohlrabi in this salad was shredded coconut. It was delicious.

Kohlrabi and Orange Salad
Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic or garlic scape
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 oranges, peeled, separated, and cut crosswise into chunks
1 kohlrabi, peeled and shredded
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup crumbled fresh cheese
1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (try Al Habashi in the River Market)

Method
Whisk together garlic, salt, lime juice, oil, honey, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.
Add oranges, kohlrabi, onion, and gently toss.
Season with salt and sprinkle with cheese and pumpkin seeds.

What to Do With Your Share—Week 5

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When it comes to variety, this time of year is quite exceptional. When the shares include such delectables as strawberries, broccoli, sugar snap peas and summer squash, you know it is mid-June. We hope that enjoying this Spring’s bounty has been easy.
Here are a couple of suggestions for you:

From last year’s Week 5, try the Julienne Snap Peas, a wonderful pea salad that gets better over time.

Another must, if you still have any garlic scapes, is to use last week’s creamy garlic scape dressing as a dip for your strawberries. This combination is one of those that is realized when you spend two weeks in late Spring smelling scapes and berries every day. I feel that, when two fruits or vegetables are naturally ripe at the same time, they will always go together. It is the rule of the seasons. I hope you taste this combo and see what I mean. Last year’s Garlic Scape and Strawberry Dressing is another option.

The summer squash will be a regular in the shares for a while, so it is good to realize the many options you have to prepare this versatile vegetable. We don’t feel that it is bad to go the fried route every once in a while. And when you use an egg batter, you are getting both vegetables and protein in the dish.

Tempura Style Fried Summer Squash and Broccoli
Ingredients
Summer squash
Broccoli
Eggs
Flour
Oregano, marjoram and/or summer savory
Salt and Pepper
Frying oil (we used grape seed oil

Method
1. Trim ends from summer squash and cut into rounds or half rounds
2. Break broccoli into florets
3. Dust the vegetables in flour seasoned with herbs
4. Next dip the vegetables in egg
5. Fry coated vegetable in oil until golden brown
6. Drain on paper
7. Season with salt and pepper

Bulk List—Week 5

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Since we did not fill up our shares for Saturday pickup, we have about 10 extra shares worth of produce each week. Until we fill up for Saturdays, you can expect most share items on the list. Sorry, but there are no more u-pick strawberries. The patch is winding down.

Kolhrabi: $3.00/bunch of two
Hakurei turnips topped (from first planting): $3.00/lb
Hakurei Turnips with tops (from new planting): $3.00/bunch
Beets: $3.00/bunch
Sugar snap peas: $2.00/half pound
Swiss chard/kale: $3.00/bunch
Lettuce: $3.00/head
Herbs (oregano, tarragon, fennel): $2.50/bunch
Scallions: $2.50/bunch

What to Do With Your Share—Week 4

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Strawberries 2011
Strawberries are the dominant producer on the farm this week, as they reach their peak maturity for 2011 (though sugar snap peas are a real competitor). In the Bulk List post below we are seeking to entice you out to the farm to take advantage of this year’s harvest. We hope that we did not imply that there were not any good berries to be found, as the old Honeoye patch may well be getting a new life, now that we have spent over a week culling out as many damaged berries as possible.

Uses for strawberries abound. Here on the farm we eat as many raw, fresh, berries as possible while they are at hand. Other annual rituals include freezing whole berries for future use, jam making, juice making, and wine making.


Making juice with a tabletop strainer

Kohlrabi

A CSA defining vegetable, kohlrabi is unknown to many people. We grow it for you because it is a substantial spring vegetable. Be sure to peel it and then enjoy the crunchy, juicy and somewhat sweet flavor of a fresh as can be kohlrabi. Cut it into thin strips, or grate it and mix it with last week’s garlic scape dressing for a quick side salad.

Spring Pizza

The farm provided well this week as the ingredients for a delicious pizza arrived. We get a bread share from Bread of Life, and every two weeks we get a whole wheat pizza crust. We take it from there and provide the toppings. Next ingredient was cheese, made with some local goat milk. Simply heat the milk to 185 deg F, take it off the burner and add some vinegar and let it curdle. Strain off the whey and you have fresh goat cheese.

Carmelized leeks, garlic scape pesto and oregano are all share items this time of year. Sun dried tomatoes are from last year’s crop. We will be growing more drying tomatoes this year, so make sure your dehydrator is ready to go this summer.

At 12 inches, this pizza crust fits into our toaster oven (it’s nicer than a microwave). It is much more energy efficient than heating a larger oven space. In 10 minutes you have incredible pizza.

Pizza

1 Bread of LIfe whole wheat pizza crust

olive oil

oregano

garlic scape pesto

carmelized leeks

sun dried tomatoes

mozzarella cheese

goat cheese

Place toppings on pizza in order shown. Bake according to pizza crust instructions.

Bulk List—Week 4

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Hakurei turnips topped (from first planting): $3.00/lb
Hakurei Turnips with tops (from new planting): $3.00/bunch
Tat soi or yukina savoy (Asian Greens): $2.50/head
Kale: $3.00/bunch
Scallions: $2.50/bunch
Strawberries (U-pick only): $3.00/lb (a pound of strawberries is about a quart)

Bulk strawberry sales will be a bit different this year. We do not plan at this time to pick extra strawberries for bulk sales. Problems with the old patch of Honeoye strawberries (early-Spring cold, disease issues, small berries) has made it incredibly time consuming to pick. It took the farm crew 10 person-hours to pick 38 quarts on Saturday. And we only got through about 15% of the patch. At that rate it would take one person 3 straight days to pick enough just to fill the shares with a quart apiece.

Our new patch of Amore strawberries, however are doing well. While not as heavy a producer as our old patch, the berries have been high quality and relatively easy to pick. We will be picking that patch once per day from here on out and putting those berries in the shares.

So……..if you want extra strawberries this year you will have to pick them yourself. The plan is to open up the old patch to the membership for picking NOW. We encourage you to come on out, see the farm, pick and snack on some strawberries, and know that you had intimate knowledge of where your next jar of strawberry jam came from.

We urge you to take us up on this offer so that as many berries get picked as possible. You can bring your friends/non-members if you like. Just follow these simple rules:

1. No “drop bys”. We ask that you phone or email to let us know when you are coming out.
2. Children must be supervised by an adult at all times. No wandering or running children please.
3. You may go in the packing room/CSA distribution area. All other portions of the barn are off limits.
4. We will be weighing your berries so you can bring your own containers. Otherwise, we will provide pint and/or quart containers for your use.
5. No pets please.
6. If you wish to see the sheep do not touch the fence, as it is electrified.
7. Do not walk in front of the bee hives.
8. There is poison ivy in the fencerows. Leaves of three, let it be.

We look forward to providing you with fresh, local, sustainably grown strawberries. See you at the farm.

Tom and Rebecca

What to Do With Your Share—Week 3

hakurei turnip, lettuce, strawberries

The Spring lettuces just keep coming this week. You hear some folks say that you can’t grow respectable food using organic methods, but as the leafy greens in your shares have shown they are one crop that grows great, given the weather isn’t too extreme (like the last 7 days).

Being farmers living close to the fields, we get our choice of the extra and less than perfect lettuces. That means we can cut ourselves a couple Regina di Maggio butterheads for a lettuce heart salad this time of year. The center of these lettuces live up to their designation of butteriness (if that’s a word). They are so tender and delicious that they deserve to be a salad all to themselves. They are a five-star treat.

To compliment this salad we recommend the creamy garlic dressing below. You can use green garlic, garlic scapes or bulb garlic for the recipe. This time of year, of course, the fresh garlic choices are the best. Not much else is needed but lettuce hearts and a garnish.

This dressing is bold enough for romaine hearts too. We have lots of large romaines growing right now and you can expect to see a lot of them. Use the outer leaves to top a sandwich, burger or BLT and use the hearts for a nice Caesar salad.

Butterhead Lettuce Heart Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing
(dressing modified from The Silver Palate Cookbook)

Ingredients
1 egg yolk
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar or honey
1/4 cup chopped green garlic or garlic scapes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup best-quality olive oil

Method
1. Take outer leaves off lettuce head (save them for another salad or sandwiches) until you are left with the tender heart. You may want 2 lettuce heads per salad. Wash, dry in a salad spinner, and place in salad bowl or individual bowls.
2. Combine egg yolk, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process briefly.
3. With the motor running, slowly dribble in the olive oil.
4. Taste, correct seasoning if necessary, and transfer to storage/serving container.
5. Top salad with the dressing and garnish of choice (we used roasted pumpkin seeds).

Strawberries
We have to report that year’s strawberry season is getting off to a tough start. It appears we suffered significant frost damage from the early-May cold spell, and may have other, yet to be determined problems. Of the two patches, the patch planted last year is doing the best. We will be talking to Extension to see what their opinion is. We hope that we will grow out of this slump.

The berries you receive might not have the shine and firmness that you are used to, but based on many samples, we feel that they are flavorful and should be handed out. We encourage you to use them soon, as they are a delicate fruit.

Hakurei Turnips
Everyone likes to be original, so most of our recipes are born of what is at hand and our creative hunger. But the more we search the web for recipes, the more we see that the aptitude of folks to cook fresh vegetables in imaginative ways is growing in leaps and bounds. I realized this as I searched for Hakurei turnip recipes the other day.

We have had an excellent harvest of Hakurei’s this Spring, and hope to have them in your share for a couple weeks. We don’t want to load you with a particular veggie without some cooking suggestions, so I searched for Hakurei turnip recipes, and found a slew of options. The curried Hakurei’s on The Veggie Project blog caught my eye.

The blog is posted as “a group of Boston-area families committed to cooking with local vegetables. During the summer of 2008, we each plan to try new vegetarian recipes with produce from local farms. We will use this blog to share information about the recipes we have cooked, and hope to inspire others to cook more locally.”

Curried Hakurei Turnips
Ingredients
1 chopped onion (you can substitute green onions or green garlic)
2 tablespoons oil
5 or 6 harkurei, sliced thin
2 teaspoons curry powder (makes a hot dish)
1 teaspoon salt
one lemon, cut into wedges

Method
Sauté the onion in the oil for a few minutes until translucent. Add the turnips, the curry powder and salt and cook until everything is tender. Squeeze some lemon juice over the dish before serving and serve with extra lemon wedges.—We used lime. This is an excellent combination of turnips and onions.

Week 3 Bulk List

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If you like Spring vegetables, take advantage while they are still around.

Lettuce: $3.00/head
– you can specify butterhead, romaine or leaf lettuce
Tat soi: $2.50/head
Hakurei turnips: $3.00/bunch
Radishes: $2.00/bunch
Herbs (cilantro, dill, mint, oregano): $2.50/bunch
Green garlic (last week): $3.00/bunch