P i c k l i s t
tomatoes - parsley - corn - green beans - carrots - kale - jalapeno - melon - garlic
Holy smokes it is basically August. This week in farming flew right by. At this point, I can not decipher one day from the next- thankfully I got CSA to remind me of Tuesdays and Wednesdays. High season is here people! I’ve been greeting each morning with the sweetest melon breakfast, and I bet you will get in on that this week. The weather remains totally unpredictable, alot to scratch our heads over- just last night St. Johnsbury got hit with another flood. NorthEast Kingdom farmers are not psyched. Such a mess. And the heat, oh the heat! On the plus side, this heat that every New Englander grumps over has provided the sweetest and earliest damn melon crop we’ve seen yet. And for that, I am grateful and jazzed.
Meanwhile, Our personal lives are a dirty mess and hopefully not a reflection of the farm. Our kitchen floor has a real centimeter’s worth of field brought in from our boots, topped with smushed blueberries caked right on in. Our kiddos probably don’t even know what shampoo is, it’s been so long… but we are well fed and eating the rainbow everyday, so there is that…
The garlic in your CSA this week was harvested on Friday. It was an all hands on deck moment and it felt pretty great to work with the field crew. I typically spend my days picking veg solo, so this was a real treat and flashback to my first 10 years at edgewater. A Lot of jokes while harvesting garlic, extracting the allium from the weeds. The crop is looking really nice, currently it sits drying on benches and extends the length of three greenhouses. I bet we will be eating from this harvest well into February, but right now, it is peak freshness. Enjoy!
FARMY FOODIE PRO-TIPS:
Green beans: hot tip hot tip! Wash before you eat- we tried to get the dirt off, but I’d give it a second rinse…
Ripe for the grill: corn - green beans - garlic! - tomato
Skillet Corn and Vegetable Pudding
recipe from Mitchell, our beloved up the road nearly resident chef
Although the main ingredient in this delicious, one-pot, savory skillet pudding is corn, it’s a delicious way to use up any variety of the summer’s bounty. I’ve added kale, fennel, green beans, zucchini, kohlrabi, spinach, and other vegetables I’ve had around. What’s more, the next morning I like to fry the leftovers in olive oiluntil nicely browned and top with poached eggs for a hearty breakfast. —Mitchell Davis
(Makes one 10-inch pudding, enough for 6 to 8 people. But the recipe can be easily cut in half and baked in an 8-inch skillet, for 4)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, white or red, diced (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 small red or green pepper, sweet or spicy, diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 to 2 cups seasonal vegetables, such as kale, zucchini, yellow squash, Swiss chard leaves and/or stems, kolrhabi, green tomatoes, additional peppers, green beans, carrots, jalapenos
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Handful of chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, thyme, parsley, marjoram, or sage
1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kernels from 3 large fresh ears corn (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk or buttermilk
1/2 cup heavy cream, yogurt, or additional milk
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup finely shredded cheese, hard, sharp cheese, such as cheddar, Gruyère, Comté, Gouda, or similar
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper, and other vegetables, and salt, and sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and they are beginning to brown,
about 10 minutes. Add the sugar, sage, salt, paprika, and cayenne, and cook another 3 or 4 minutes to bring out the flavor of the spices. Add the corn kernels. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until no water remains in the skillet, another 8 minutes or so, longer if using zucchini or mushrooms, which have a lot of water in them. Stir in the cornmeal and remove from heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream or more milk, and nutmeg,
then pour this into the corn mixture. Using a rubber spatula, stir well to combine. Sprinkle with the grated cheese, and bake until set, about 20 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil only until the melted cheese is lightly browned, a minute or two more. Serve warm.
Kale Salad with Lemon, Currants, Walnuts, and Parmesan (also from Mitchell, cheers!)
There are a million variations of kale salad out there, and this one is just a suggestion. It’s based on a salad made famous by Barbuto chef Jonathan Waxman. Use curly or laccinato kale, any type of nut, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano or any hard grating cheese, and you’ll have a delicious result. The salad is best served after it sits for 5 to 10 minutes, giving the salt and acid time to wilt the leaves. You’ll think you have too much, but once it wilts, you’ll be surprised how it shrinks.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
1/4 cup dried currants, raisins, cranberries, or other dried fruit
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
About 1/3 cup or more walnut halves, pecans, almonds, or other nuts
2 bunches of kale
About 1/3 cup or more extra-virgin olive oil
2 lemons
2 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, or other hard cheese, finely grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the currants or other dried fruit in a small bowl. Add the vinegar and just enough hot water to cover. Let soak while you prepare the rest of the salad. Place the nuts in a small tray or baking pan and toast in a 300°F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes, tossing occasionally, until you can smell a nice toasted nut aroma. Set a timer or you are likely to burn them. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cutting board to cool. Once cool, using a sharp knife, finely chop. Set aside.
To clean the kale, I like to separate the leaves from the stems by laying the leaves out on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cutting along both sides of the stem. You can also invert the leaf, grasp the leafy part with one hand while you pull the stem off with the other. Whichever way you prefer, soak the de-stemmed leaves in a copious amount of cold water. Lift them from the water into the basket of a salad spinner or colander, discard the water, and repeat with fresh water until no sand remains. Spin the leaves to dry or pat with a clean towel. On a clean cutting board, lay out a pile of kale leaves, bunch together into a tight bundle and thinly slice them with a sharp knife. Place this shredded kale in a large mixing bowl and repeat with the remaining kale.
To finish the salad, drain the soaked fruit, reserving the soaking liquid, and add to the kale Add the chopped nuts, the olive oil, the zest of two lemons and juice of one lemon, the grated parmesan and a generous amount of salt and black pepper. Using tongs, toss well so that the ingredients are all evenly distributed. Taste and adjust the seasoning, using more lemon juice or the reserved soaking liquid from the dried fruit to up the tartness. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the leaves to wilt somewhat before serving.
—Cookbook author and food writer Mitchell Davis recently moved from New York City to the Upper Valley, just down the road from Edgewater Farm. For more recipes, subscribe for free to his weekly newsletter Kitchen Sense at www.kitchensense.substack.com