PICK-LIST
Garlic scapes - Bok Choy - Lettuce - Cukes - Rhubarb - Strawberries -
Potatoes - Begonia Plant - Pizza Dough - Pesto
Holy Smokes everyone, Summer is basically HERE- food is growing, we are picking, let’s go!
Here are a couple of heads-ups as the season progresses:
WE RE-USE WOODEN PINTS & WAX BOXES- TREAT THEM WELL!!
PLEASE RETURN YOUR WOODEN PINTS AND WAX BOXES WEEKLY- They will be handled with gloves post CSA pile up and returned to a sectioned off area of the pack-shed/farmstand where we will let them sit for an entire week before we reuse them.
If you forget to pick up this fancy newsletter or prefer to view it on the computer/phone, I upload the content to our RIGHT HERE to the CSA BLOG weekly (though sometimes it’s posted a couple days late because, farming… and kids.
Those important notes aside, we are so pumped to begin picking vegetables and fruit again! Now let’s all go eat our fresh picked food and feel like kings and queens of the kitchen table from now until October!! (and beyond if we’re crafty, motivated, and have acquired all the proper storage jars, ziplocks, etc… more on preserving the harvest in weeks to come).
TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:
Make the following recipe! It’s mandatory. Bonus, this stuff freezes beautifully, so don’t feel committed to eat it all right away. This is one of our winter staples that we make a ton of and keep in our chest freezer to enjoy all winter long. The recipe says eat with spaghetti or bread, but don’t stop there- slab it on your eggs, PIZZA, use it for a salad dressing base, dollop it in your winter soups, etc… And if you do make a ton to freeze, make sure to leave room at the top of the container for the pesto to expand (maybe 3/4 and inch? We pack ours in mason jars, and have run into many broken pesto filled jar during our early days as it expands when frozen).
YIELD About 1 cup (from NYTIMES link above)
OLIVE OIL - LEMON JUICE - SALT - PARMESAN CHEESE - NUTS OR SUNFLOWER SEEDS - GARLIC SCAPES
(NO EXACT INGREDIENT AMOUNTS- READ BELOW, AND ADD IT ALL TO TASTE)
The star of this pesto is the garlic plant’s underappreciated second offering: the fleeting garlic scape. The ingredients are straightforward except for the substitution of sunflower seeds for pine nuts. The seeds are a fraction of the cost and do the job just as well. A food processor is a must for this recipe. For pesto, ingredient order matters. Start with the scapes and process for about 30 seconds. Add the seeds until they are broken down and mixed well with the scapes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula for wandering bits. Next, pour in the olive oil. If you have Parmesan cheese in chunks, add it now, but if it is grated, wait until the scapes and seeds smooth out. If you’re serving right away, add the basil and lemon juice. If not, hold back on the basil for now — otherwise the pesto will lose its vibrant color. Add generously to cooked spaghetti or spread on crusty bread.
BOK CHOY:
I am a BIG fan of this green. So easy to grow, so easy to pick and clean, SO EASY to add into all dishes. Eat fresh in salads or add to stir-fries and soups. Stir-fry in sesame oil with your garlic scapes, eat with rice or crusty bread or soba noodles… I am tempted to jump right into fermenting and kimchi, but I’ll wait until the napa cabbage is ready.
POTATOES:
Do not be fooled people! These are not new potatoes, but rather last season’s potatoes. They stored magnificently all Winter long. We roast them regularly with a quick parboil to start (maybe for 5 minutes) followed by a quick roast at 500 degrees until golden crispy brown. Warning: some of your potatoes might have eyes (it’s been a long winter, they know it’s Summer and they want to sprout!) just knock them off before you cook.
RHUBARB:
It’s dessert time people!
Yields 6 to 8 servings. (from smittenkitchen.com link above)
For the topping:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw)
Zest of one lemon
1/4 pound (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 quart strawberries plus a few extras, hulled, quartered
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch (some commenters found the flour option a little too, well, floury so this has been updated)
Pinch of salt
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest and add the melted butter. Mix until small and large clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and a pinch of salt in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. (I used an oval dish this time, because they fit better in the bottom of a shopping bag.)
3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a (foil-lined, if you really want to think ahead) baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes.
by my dear herbalist friend, Rachael Keener of ALKAME CO, sourced from Urban Moonshine blog
1 cup chopped rhubarb
½ cup honey
½ cup cane sugar
½ cup lightly packed fresh rose petals (¼ cup if using dried)
¾ cup strawberries
Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Let rest and after 5 minutes has passed, mix again crushing the rhubarb a bit as you mix. Continue this pattern, mixing and crushing every 20 minutes for an hour.
While the rhubarb mixture is sitting, stem the strawberries. Using a blender or mortar and pestle crush the strawberries until well liquified. You are trying to yield a little over ¼ cup of blended strawberries.
At the end of the hour, strain the rhubarb mixture. Add the blended strawberries to the resulting rhubarb liquid and stir well. If sugar granules remain, continue stirring or transfer to a jar and shake until they dissolve.
What makes this syrup so divine is that it is not cooked, so the freshness of the ingredients really come through. It also means that it has a shorter shelf life than most syrups. Be sure to store the syrup in the fridge and use within one week. This particular recipe doesn’t yield too much (about 1 cup) due to its short shelf life. Feel free to double if you expect to go through it quickly!
I add it to soda water for a delicious and uplifting spritzer–adding a shot of white rum if I’m feeling extra fancy!
Lastly, BEGONIA PLANT! Great shade loving house plant