Pasta Estate
You’ve heard of pasta primavera (spring), now is your chance to try pasta estate (summer). In Missouri, the vegetables of summer may be a bit later than in the Mediterranean, so this fresh pasta dish has to wait. It is simple enough to make rather quickly on a busy night, faster in fact than driving to a restaurant and waiting to be served.

You can use many of the things in your share or in your fridge. It gets a thumbs up from Rebecca.

Ingredients
1 medium green or red pepper
1 medium onion
1 cup mushrooms (we were lucky enough to have a wild puffball mushroom)
2 medium Asian eggplant
1 large tomato
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp fresh summer savory leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
grated Parmesan cheese and basil for garnish

Method
Chop the onion and pepper and saute in olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes over medium high heat.
Chop the eggplant and mushroom and add to the pan. Add summer savory and salt, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
Core and chop the tomato. Crush and chop the garlic. Add to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until eggplant is tender.

Serve over pasta topped with grated cheese and basil.

TOMATOES
Now is your chance to get some great paste tomatoes for making some high quality sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, or just for dinner. The paste tomatoes are at their peak, and may only be around for another couple weeks. There are also tomato seconds for sale. See the bulk list below for details.

We pick the tomatoes as they first blush on the vine, so we have them in various degrees of ripeness. Let us know what stage you want them at and we will try to accomodate you.

Bulk Order List (week of August 3)
Paste tomatoes (firsts) – $3.00/lb; $2.50/lb over 10 lbs
Tomato seconds (heirloom and hybrids) – $2.50/lb; $2.00/lb over 10 lbs
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Carrots – $3.00 bunch
Carrot seconds $2.00/lb
Onions $3.00/quart
Oregano, basil, mint, dill flowers $2.oo/bunch
Dried herbs $2.00/tin (thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

Roasted Salsa and Bulk Tomatoes…But First, Some Free Stuff
Many of you may be aware that as an organic practice we use EM (efficient microorganisms) on the farm. We add these beneficial bacteria to our greenhouse water, as well as our irrigation system, to help promote healthy biological growth. It is also an excellent foliar feed for plants, crowding out harmful diseases on leaves and plant surfaces. In doing this, we are not just organic farmers but biological farmers.

Our source for these probiotics is Sustainable Community Develpment (SCD), located on 9th St. in KCMO. Recently the plant rep, Micheal Snyder, called us to see if we wanted to take some extra product off his hands. These items were nearing their listed expiration date, and he needed room in the warehouse for newer batches. The extra product filled the floor of our VW van, and we have more than we need.

Much of it is in sample containers, and we are passing it along to the membership for free. There are 4 main products to choose from:
EM Plus-this is the same product we use,
Odor Away-an industrial odor control concentrate (good for the home too),
Probiotica-an herbal probiotic supplement, and
Bio Klean– an industrial cleaning concentrate also good for the home.

There are links to info on each product above to hopefully answer any questions you may have. Hope that you find these items useful. Let us know what you think.

Tomatillo Saga
This week seems to be a peak week for tomatillos and jalapenos. So much so that we actually have enough for all 74 full shares to get a salsa packs (partials all get one next week). The tomatillos are doing well right now, due in part to our seed saving initiative.

We have found that having a vigurous and productive tomatillo plant is all in the seeds. In the past we have bought them and been disappointed with small fruit, weak plants, or ones where the fruit never seems to fill out the husk.

Last year we took time to save seeds from the plants that produced the best, in hopes of starting a dependable Fair Share Farm strain. It has paid off so far this year, with the saved seed plant producing better than the purchased seed plants. There are complications though, as each saved seed plant still seems to have its own unique characteristics. Some are sprawling and produce small fruit (but lots of them), others produce just they way we are hoping, and still others are infected with the mosaic virus. We are selectively saving seeds from many plants this year, with the hope of ending up with a productive, disease-resistant strain that will produce many a salsa pack in the future.

Roasted Salsa
A second way to enjoy your salsa pack (see Week 10 for the first).

Ingredients
1 salsa pack (tomatillo, garlic, onion, jalapeno)
1 medium tomato
1 tbsp vegetable or other oil
1 to 2 tbsp fresh chives or cilantro, chopped

Method
Remove husk from tomatillo. Core and cut in half. Clean and cut onion in half. Core tomato and cut in half. Cut jalapeno in half and remove seeds. Clean one clove of garlic.

Place above ingredients on small baking sheet. Pour 1 tbsp oil over all and mix to coat.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice (toaster ovens are perfect for this). Let cool slightly and then chop on pulse mode in a food processor.

Transfer to bowl, top with chives or cilantro. Serve with corn chips or as an accompaniment to tacos, burritos or other dishes.

Bulk Order List (week of July 27)
Paste tomatoes (firsts) – $3.00/lb; $2.50/lb over 10 lbs
Tomato seconds (heirloom and hybrids) – $2.50/lb; $2.00/lb over 10 lbs
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Carrots – $3.00/bunch
Onions $3.00/quart
Oregano, basil, mint, dill flowers $2.oo/bunch
Dried herbs $2.00/tin (thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

As your farmers, Rebecca and I don’t get a share, but are lucky enough to be able to chose every night what we want to eat from the bounty of the week. Sometimes we are struck by the beauty of what is available and are drawn to particular vegetables. For us the combination of chard, eggplant and Walla Walla onions cries out for a dish that includes them all.

For this week’s dish we borrowed a bit from a recipe from our first year, Stuffed Chard Leaves, and modified it to suit what we had at hand. As is the case with both eggplant and greens, the trick is to cook things long enough so that they are tender, and so that the flavors can blend.

Chard Leaves Stuffed with Eggplant and Onions
2 medium or 1 large eggplant
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup grated parmesan or other cheese
salt and pepper to taste
8 chard leaves
3 tbsp olive oil

To Make the Stuffing: Cut the stems off the chard at the bottom of the leaves. Then chop the stems, eggplant, onions and garlic into a small dice and saute in 1 to 2 tbsp olive oil for 10 minutes over medium heat, or until eggplant is tender. Let cool slightly and mix with the cheese.

To Make the Wraps: Dip the chard leaves in boiling water for 1 minute to soften them. When slightly cool, place 1 to 2 tbsp of stuffing and fold them into a wrap/pouch.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Place the wraps on an oiled baking sheet. Rub the tops of the wraps with olive oil to help prevent them from browning and drying out. Bake for 30 minutes. You can also pour tomato sauce over them, or cover them to help them stay moist.

Bulk Order List (week of July 20)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Carrots – $3.00/bunch
Walla Walla onions $3.00/bunch
Oregano, basil, mint, dill flowers $2.oo/bunch
Dried herbs $2.00/tin (thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

Salsa Packs
This week marks the return of the salsa pack as a share item (choice though it is). The tomatillos and jalpenos are just coming on, and look good at this point, so we hope it will be a regular item for some time to come. For you old-timers, it’s a familiar scene. For new members, you will find that it is your chance to make a fresh salsa that is second to none.

We provide the key ingredients—tomatillos, jalapenos, garlic and onion, and you supply the tomato and desired garnishings. The recommended recipe is presented below. It is deliciously spicy with just one seeded jalapeno, just to let you know.

The salsa packs are a choice for the partials…one of those times when they get first dibs. Fulls will get their chance next week. Here are some other recommended recipes for use with this week’s share:

Onion and Chard Macaroni and Cheese
Phat Thai Style Eggplant, Apples and Onions
Colcannon

Fresh Salsa
1 salsa pack
1 medium tomato
2 tbsp chives or cilantro
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 tsp salt

Clean the salsa pack items (remove the husk from the tomatillos and core them, cut the root end and top from the onion, peel the garlic, cut in half and seed the jalapenos)

Put in a food processor with the tomato and process in pulse mode until chopped to desired consistency (we leave the tomato out and chop it by hand for a chunkier texture)

Add the oil, vinegar, lime juice and salt

Mix and top with chives or cilantro

Bulk Order List (week of July 13)
Kale – $3.00/bunchSwiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Carrots – $3.00/
Walla Walla onions $3.00/bunch
Oregano, basil, mint, dill flowers $2.oo/bunch
Beets $3.00/qt We have medium size and small (golf ball) size beets. You also have a choice of standard purple beets or Chioggas (bright red and white inside)
Dried herbs $2.00/tin(thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

Eat Your Eggplant
There are several vegetables that we often take extra time trying to “sell” to the CSA, from greens to kohlrabi. Eggplant also falls into that category.

Perhaps the most beautiful vegetable we grow, eggplant is a favorite all over the world. It is said that there are more recipes for eggplant than any other vegetable. Many people are unfamiliar with it and how to cook it though (besides eggplant parmesan). The one bit of advice that we often give is to cook it to the tenderness of mushrooms, as undercooked eggplant can be a real turnoff. We have some of the best looking plants we have had in some time this year, and expect to have nice supply this summer.

In addition to proper cooking, it is important to know that you should ignore any recipes that call for peeling your eggplant. We pick the eggplant at a size smaller than what you may normally see in the grocers or market. This keeps it tender, with less seeds in the pulp. Many recipes also call for salting eggplant to remove bitterness. This is also not necessary with those in your share. The Italian eggplants and the Asian varieties (the long, skinny ones) require only that you cut or peel off the green stem cap. The recipe below is for one of the tastiest eggplant dishes you will ever make. A friend of ours, Kate Garland, made it for a dinner several years ago and shared the recipe with us (not sure what cookbook it was).

Marinated Eggplant
2 medium eggplant, cut into rounds or bite size pieces
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 cloves
1 small tomato, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
3 tbsp raisins
2 tsp sugar
1 bay leaf
Large pinch dried pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat broiler to high. Rub the eggplant with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Broil for 10 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

To make the marinade, put the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, cloves, tomato, pine nuts, raising, sugar and bay leaf in a small bowl or measuring cup. Add the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

Place the hot eggplant in an earthenware or glass bowl and pour the marinade over. Allow to cool, remove the cloves and bay leaf. Serve cool or at room temperature.

Bulk Order List (week of July 6)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Carrots – $3.00/bunch
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Walla Walla onions $3.00/bunch
Oregano, basil, mint, dill flowers $2.oo/bunch
Beets $3.00/qt We have medium size and small (golf ball) size beets. You also have a choice of standard purple beets or Chioggas (bright red and white inside)
Summer squashcucumbers-lg $1.25 ea
Summer sq/cucumbers-med $0.75 ea
Summer sq-small $3.25/qt
Dried herbs $2.00/tin
(thyme, marjoram, dried hot peppers, lovage, lavendar flowers, coriander, oregano, rosemary)

New Potatoes
There are only certain times of the year you can get fresh, local new potatoes, and this is it. Freshly dug from still growing plants, these potatoes have very delicate skins that are easily rubbed off (but don’t!) When I lived near the potato fields of upstate New York the local farmers would sell them with a small bag of salt in order to make salt potatoes (you would add the salt to the water you boiled them in). We have dug a combination of red and white ones (sorry no blue) for your Independence Day celebrations. If you want to save them for a few days, refrigerate them (something you don’t do with regular storage potatoes).

Walla Walla Onions
When we are planting the onion seeds in the greenhouse, I dream of the week when we will be harvesting the Walla Walla’s. A beautiful and sweet onion, it’s an early summer treat. Like the new potatoes, these onions are fresh and should be kept in the fridge, unlike regular onions.

Herbs–Summer Savory
An herb that many people know little about, summer savory lives up to it’s name, going well with many summer vegetables such as squash, beans, tomatoes and potatoes. It has a flavor similar to thyme. Try this simple recipe—steam new potatoes until tender, top with salt, butter and summer savory. Delicious.

Recipe—Stuffed Zucchini
The zucchini harvest is just now reaching its stride. You may get some of the round ones in your share (Tondo di Piacenza). They are especially good for stuffing, though you can stuff any squash. For the long ones, cut them in half to stuff them.

Ingredients
2 medium squash
1 medium onion
3 garlic scapes or 2 cloves garlic
1 cup grated bread crumbs
1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 tbsp summer savory
1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil

Method
Cut the top off the squash and scoop out the inner pulp (you can discard the first scoop that will mainly be seeds). Rub the squash shell with olive oil, place on a cookie sheet, pour 1 cup water in the cookie sheet (helps the squash cook) and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic scapes, saute over medium heat for 2 minutes. Chop up the squash pulp and add it to the pan. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until squash is tender. Stir in all but a couple tablespoons of the bread crumbs.

Remove the shells from the oven. Fill them with alternating layers of the cooked squash and cheese. Top with cheese and bread crumbs. Put back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the squash shell is tender and the top is browned.

Bulk Order List (week of June 29)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Walla Walla onions $3.00/bunch
Oregano, mint – $1.75/bunch
Basil – $2.oo/bunch

This week the fare of the share is familiar items—carrots, chard, summer squash, broccoli, cukes, and a true harbinger of Summer—basil. The busy week and energy zapping heat has precluded us from creating a new dish this week, so we refer you to some past treats from the blog and newsletter.

Broccoli and Pasta…with Baby Meatballs
Classic Pesto
Crudites
Cucumber and Summer Squash Marinated Salad
Ranch Dressing Kohlrabi Salad
Summer Squash with Lemon, Butter and Cream Sauce

Enjoy !

Bulk Order List (week of June 22)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Oregano, mint – $1.75/bunch
Basil – $2.oo/bunch

We are happy that the last several weeks we have had the maximum number of items in your share. We hope to keep the shares robust this year as we head into the summer, and plan for the fall.

Kohlrabi
Making its first appearance of the year, kohlrabi is no longer the unknown vegetable it used to be. For you first timers, try the kohlrabi pan au gratin, or eat it fresh. To clean it simply pull off the leaves and peel off the tough outer skin. The cleaned bulb can be cut into half-rounds and eaten with your favorite dressing or dip.

Thai Basil
A lead in to next week, when you will get Italian basil, the Thai basil is known for its purplish tint and licorice flavor. It is one of the must have ingredients for spring rolls. Check out The CSA Chef’s blog for the spring roll how-to. It also is an excellent garnish for cooked Asian greens.

Recipe-Mashed Hakurei Turnips with Garlic Scapes
This is a recipe is one of many that seem to appear to us in the field, after a day of picking turnips and pulling garlic scapes. Our intern Kara tried it last week, and tonight we tried our hand at it. Here’s our version.

Ingredients
1 large bunch hakurei turnips
3 to 4 garlic scapes
pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup water

Cut the tops off the turnips, save the greens. Cut the turnips into a medium dice (see photo), chop the garlic scapes, and coarsley chop 1/3 to 1/2 cups of the turnips greens

Saute the scapes and greens in the olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the turnips, mix. Add the water. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tender.

Add butter and mash with a potato masher. Serve hot.

Bulk Order List (week of June 15)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Sugar snap peas – $2.00/half pound
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Hakurei turnips – $3.00/bunch
Lettuce – $2.50/head
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Oregano, mint – $1.75/bunch

Bulk List
This week we are starting the 2009 bulk list — a price list for extra produce items that you can buy. For many items we have planted enough produce for a CSA of 125 members (we have 105 this year). This extra will hopefully be available throughout the year.

For now, scroll to the bottom of the blog for this week’s offerings. If you wish to purchase any items, please email me your order. Orders are filled on a first come, first serve basis and are subject to availability. Your order will be delivered to your distribution with a payment ticket. You can leave your money with the distribution coordinator.

Swiss Chard
As Rebecca said, our favorite green. There are many recipes for it out there, a favorite of the CSA being Stuffed Chard.

Herbs-Oregano and Italian Parsley
Unfamiliar to many as a fresh herb, oregano is a great addition to many cooked vegetarian dishes. It adds a savoriness to a dish. It is especially good with greens like chard. Italian parsley is good as a flavoring for soups and stock when cooked. It’s sweetness and fresh flavor are best appreciated when added as a garnish, or cooked at the very end of a dish.

Snap Peas
We have to say that this year is a good year for peas. Despite sitting in the cold, wet ground ground for several weeks before germinating, they did not rot and produced as good a stand as we’ve had in awhile. They are great fresh, just string them and eat them.

An alternative is the recipe below, created by our intern Lori Watley. It is very simple, fresh and crunchy. Highly recommended.

Julienne Snap Peas
1/2 lb snap peas
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (sunflower and pumpkin are good too)

Put the sesame seeds in a small pot or skillet over high heat. After they warm up, shake the seeds around to prevent them from burning and toast them to a golden brown. When you can start smelling them you are close

String the peas (see photo) and then cut lenghtwise into thin strips. Mix with seeds and remaining ingredients.

It is good right away, or after a couple hours of marinating. We also added some julienned hakurei turnips.

Bulk Order List (week of June 8)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Sugar snap peas – $2.00/half pound
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Hakurei turnips – $3.00/bunch
Lettuce – $2.50/head
Green onions – $2.50/bunch

Garlic Scapes
One of the delicacies of the season, garlic scapes are a treat and a necessity. We need to pull these flower buds from the hardneck garlic so that their energy goes into making a head of garlic underground, instead of a flower top. In the process we get a tender garlic green with a beautiful white base, that shades to light green, and is topped by a long, pointy bud.

Its uses are many. Our annual treat is to make a pesto with it. It is also great chopped and added fresh to salads, as a garnish for soups, or as an addition to homemade salad dressing.

Fresh Strawberries with Homemade Yogurt
As homesteaders, we are always looking for ways to become more self-reliant, especially when it comes to our food. One way to do this is to become more and more proficient with food biology ie, fermentation. From bread making to wine making to kombucha, you can tap microorganisms to do your bidding.

One thing we’de been talking about doing for awhile is making yogurt. Lori heard us and bought us some yogurt starter the other day, and we are hooked. Now we can turn our local Shatto milk into a tangy and tart fresh yogurt. The yogurt is the perfect accompaniment to fresh strawberries (with a little mint for garnish). Our next project is labneh (yogurt cheese).

To make the yogurt take 1 quart of milk (you can use an old yogurt container to measure it into), and heat it in a saucepan to 180º F. Let it cool to about 110º F. Pour a small amount back into the yogurt container, add the starter culture, stir, and then add the remaining milk.

Stir again, cover, and place in your oven with the light on for 4 to 6 hours, or until yogurt is set and you can see liquid (whey) separating around the edges. Refrigerate to stop the fermentation and to cool.

Place 1 cup yogurt in a bowl, add 1 cup strawberries and top with chopped mint. You can also add granola, almond slices or other garnish.