P I C K L I S T
DELICATA WINTER SQUASH - RED KALE - CILANTRO - DILL - SWEET POTATO - BEETS - LEEKS -
HEIRLOOM TOMATOES - CARROTS - CELERY - MIXED GREENS - WATERMELON RADISHES
BREAD SHARE: QUICK PUMPKIN BREAD
Tomorrow, when you wake up, the majority of our crew will be boarding flights to Jamaica and heading south for far greener terrain. Oh goodness, we could not do what we do without this team of farmers! Garnet, Jasper, Ramone, Strong, and Roy keep the farm moving with such seamless momentum. We are so grateful to each and every one of these guys for choosing to spend the New England growing season with our farm and family and share their knowledge and expertise with us. They each provide something unique to the crew- be it Roy’s jokes, Ramone’s song, Garnet’s knowledge, Jasper’s determination, Strong’s sweet spirit- and that is barely scratching the surface.
However, the weather has turned, all of our fingers are officially freezing in the fields, and the curried goat and oxtail soup are calling. Therefore, it’s time to wrap it up, fly South, take a break and hug family.
The skeleton crew will take over the packshed and the fields starting Thursday and it'll be good, but it won’t be the same…
PRO-TIPS:
Lilya’s Summer (but terrific warmed in winter) Beet Borscht
This beet borscht is perfect served chilled on summer days or served hot in the colder months. The ideal borscht, writes Aleksandar Hemon in The New Yorker of his Bosnian family traditions “contains everything … and it can be refrigerated and reheated in perpetuity, always better the next day. The crucial ingredient is a large, hungry family, surviving together.”. ...And while this recipe calls for roasting beets and adding them to the soup, it also tastes great without roasted beets. Just cut the beet amount to 1 pound if omitting the roasting step.
2 pounds whole beets, scrubbed but unpeeled
2 carrots, unpeeled and coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves, coarsely chopped
2 medium onions (leeks work great here as well!): 1 quartered, 1 diced
5 garlic cloves: 2 left whole, 3 minced
2 dried bay leaves
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
4 cups cold water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Sour cream, store-bought or homemade (see page 24), or crème fraîche, for garnish
Chopped fresh dill, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wrap 1 pound of the beets individually in aluminum foil and set on a baking sheet. Roast until they can be easily pierced with a fork, 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the beets (larger beets take longer). The skin should peel off easily under cold running water. Dice the beets into bite size pieces and refrigerate until serving.
While the beets are roasting, in a large soup pot, combine the remaining 1 pound beets, the carrots, celery, quartered onion, whole garlic cloves, bay leaves, salt, peppercorns, caraway seeds and 9 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the heat.
Fill a large bowl with water and ice. Remove the boiled beets from the pot and place them in the ice-water bath. When cool, peel and coarsely chop them. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, discarding the solids.
Rinse and dry the soup pot and set it over medium heat. Add the olive oil and diced onion and sauté until the onion is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes more, until the onion begins to turn golden. Add the beet broth and coarsely chopped boiled beets to the pot and simmer over low heat, covered, for about 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender. (Alternatively, transfer it in small batches to a standing blender and puree — just be careful!) Add the honey and vinegar and simmer over very low heat for 5 minutes.
If serving hot, place 2 tablespoons of diced roasted beets in the bottom of each bowl and then ladle the hot soup over them. Garnishing with sour cream and chopped fresh dill. If serving chilled, remove from the heat and let the soup cool completely and then refrigerate overnight. Be sure to stir the soup well and taste immediately before serving. Once cooled, many soups require a touch more salt. If necessary, add more salt, a teaspoon at a time. As with hot borscht, place 2 tablespoons of the roasted beets at the bottom of the bowl and ladle the soup on top. Serve garnished with sour cream and chopped fresh dill.
Excerpted from the book The Gefilte Manifesto by Jeffrey Yoskowitz & Liz Alpern. Copyright ©2016 by Gefilte Manifesto LLC. Reprinted with permission from Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Lauren Volo.
Vinegar and Honey-Roasted Beet with Labneh
Yield: 4 Servings
Roasted Beets
6 small beets (or 2-3 big ones)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
3 strips of orange zest
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
KALE Gremolata
¼ cup finely chopped kale
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (use last weeks! Or wait until next week when there will be more parsley bunches for all!)
1 small garlic clove, grated
Grated zest of 1 small or ½ large orange
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Serving
1 cup labneh, store-bought or homemade (if you don't have labneh on hand, use thick green yogurt)
Sumac (if you don't have sumac, it's ok, this will still be delish!)
Pita or any flat bread
Roast the beets: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, combine the beets, vinegar, honey, orange zest, coriander seeds, salt, and 1 tablespoon water. Toss to coat. Arrange the beets on a rimmed baking sheet and cover the tray tightly with foil. Roast until the beets can be easily pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes. I like to wait until almost all the liquid has evaporated and you get to roll the beets around in the sticky juice that forms on the bottom. Roast for another 5 minutes until the skin caramelizes and forms an almost candied shell. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, cut them into 1-inch-thick wedges.
Make the gremolata: In a medium bowl, combine the kale, parsley, garlic, and orange zest. Mix gently to combine. Dress the mixture with the olive oil, vinegar, and honey, season with the salt, and toss until evenly coated.
To serve: In a large bowl, combine the beets and gremolata and toss to coat. Spread the labneh on a platter and place the dressed beets on top, including any juices that have accumulated in the bowl. Add a sprinkle of sumac and serve with flatbread.