- P I C K L I S T -
BOK CHOY - CELERY - CHIVES - SWEET POTATO - BRUSSELS SPROUTS - HEIRLOOM TOMATOES -
RED ONIONS - CARROTS - DAIKON - RADISHES - PARSLEY - GARLIC - FLOWERS - PEPPER
BREAD SHARE: AUBERGINE BREAD
Here we are on week 5 of our Fall CSA which in truth is week 22 of our overall CSA growing season. It’s been 22 weeks of growing, weeding, harvesting, organizing, google-sheeting, emailing, back to harvesting, etc… In all this movement towards producing a variety of veg each week that is both abundant in the fields and eat well together, I’m not sure if i’ve made mention of the CSA fairy, Mrs.T.
Mrs T, (Cherrie Torrey) is the very first Edgewater Farmer greet to each and everyday. She consistently wakes well before first light and moves through the fields and the packshed- crossing off lists well before anyone has a chance to notice. I like to think she’s made friends with the lingering nocturnals. The owls greet her as if she is one of their own (both so wise) and the skunks must have an understanding with her as well (because we all know not to mess with Mrs. T). Mrs.T is of the most dependable humans I’ve ever known. She is the reason why the herbs have been so plentiful and lovely (for the past 22 weeks!). Mrs. T’s proximity to the farm- basically next door neighbor- allows her to hit the fields in the heat of the summer before the scorch of the sun has made it overhead. And in the Fall when so many of us are moving through the pack-shed to fill orders- she gets there first, bags the sweet potatoes or greens- so as not to clog up the scale and bagging station- and by the time the crew shows up around 7 or 8, she is gone back to her home to start her own day, often leaving a plate of brownies or blueberry buckle behind for all to share in her wake. All this, only solidifying her actual fairy status in the Edgewater Farm books. Thank-you Mrs. T.
PRO-TIPS:
Brussels sprouts: the cooler temps with multiple nights below freezing have sweetened the brussels to absolute perfection. If you have no space to store your brussel wands, they are totally fine kept in a cool place until you are ready to devour. For example, I currently have a few hanging out in the shade of my front porch. And in the past they’ve wintered just fine (for a week or so) in the garage.
1½ lb. brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp. kosher salt, plus more
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup honey
⅓ cup sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
¾ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rimmed baking sheet on bottom rack of oven; preheat to 450°. Toss brussels sprouts and oil in a large bowl; season with salt and black pepper.
Step 2
Carefully remove baking sheet from oven. Using tongs, arrange brussels cut side down on baking sheet. Roast brussels on bottom rack until softened and deeply browned, 20–25 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile, bring honey to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until honey is a deep amber color but not burnt (it will be foamy, that’s okay), 3–4 minutes.
Step 4
Remove from heat and add vinegar and red pepper flakes, if using, and whisk until sauce is smooth (it will bubble up quite aggressively when you add the vinegar before settling). Return saucepan to medium heat, add butter and ½ tsp. salt, and cook, whisking constantly, until glaze is glossy, bubbling, and slightly thickened, 3–4 minutes.
Step 5
Transfer brussels sprouts to a large bowl. Add glaze and scallions and toss to combine. Transfer to a platter and top with lemon zest.
Your bag of sweets potatoes!
Yes this is a bag of unwashed sweet potatoes- this will help store them longer in case you are not committed to using them right away.
Baechu (cabbage) kimchi
Sea salt
1 pound of chinese cabbage (napa or bok choy)
1 (or more) daikon radish
A few red radishes
1 to 2 carrots (or more!)
1 to 2 onions and/or leeks and/ or a few scallions and/ or shallots
3 to 4 cloves of garlic (or more!)
3 to 4 hot red chilies (or more!), depending on how hot peppery you like your food, or any form of hot pepper (fresh or dried)
3 tablespoons grated ginger root
PROCESS:
Mix a brine of about 4 cups (1 liter) of water and 4 tablespoons of salt. Stir well to thoroughly dissolve salt. The brine should taste good and salty.
Coarsely chop the cabbage, slice the radish and carrots, and let the vegetables soak in the brine, covered by a plate or other weight to keep the vegetables submerged, until soft, a few hours or overnight. Add other vegetables to the brine such as seaweed/ other cabbage/ broccoli/ cauliflower/ brussel sprouts/ peppers/ etc
JENNY’S NOTE: I consider this the ideal recipe to clean out my fridge- its the fermented form of everything but your kitchen sink soup. All vegetables (other than potatoes) are welcome here.
Ok, back to the recipe: Prepare the spices! Grate the ginger, chop the garlic and onion; remove seeds from the chiles and chop or crush, or throw them in whole. Kimchi can absorb a lot of spice. Experiment with quantities and don’t worry too much about them. Mix spices into a paste. (If you wish you can add fish sauce to the spice paste. Just check the label to be sure it has no chemical preservatives, which function to inhibit microorganisms.
Drain brine off vegetables, Reserving the brine. Taste the saltiness. You want them to taste decidedly salty but not unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If you cannot taste salt, sprinkle with a couple of teaspoons salt, and mix.
Mix the vegetables with the ginger-chili-onion-garlic paste. Mix everything togetherand stuff it into a clean quart-size (liter) jar. Pack it tightly into the jar, pressing down until brine rises. If necessary, add a little of reserved vegetable-soaking brine to submerge the vegetables. Weight the vegetables down with a smaller jar, or plate. (JENNY’S NOTE: I make my kimchi in a crock, press the veg down until brine rise and the have a smaller plate on top to keep veg submerged under the brine and a big jar of water with lid on top to keep it all weighted down). However you submerge your kimchi, cover the jar with towel or clean rag to keep dust and flies out.
Ferment in your kitchen or other warm place. Taste the kimchi every day. After about a week of fermentation, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator. An alternative and more traditional method is to fermbent kimchi more slowly and with salt in a cool pot, such as a hole in the ground, or a cellar or other cool place.