Week 6: Farm Food and the Cutting Board
~Thank you for
bringing back your empty boxes so we can reuse them!~ The boxes are high
quality, waxed boxes to ensure that your produce stays fresh…and they are
pricy.
Farm Food and the
Cutting Board
I
have a secret to share. I have a veggie kit. The veggie kit is not my secret,
it is a necessary tool. The veggie kit is essential to my survival, because it
makes veggie prep flow with ease- straight in the salad bowl or sauté pan! I
have large 2 gallon tuber ware tub for soaking veggies, a large plastic colander,
a large chef knife, my 1 ½ foot by 1 foot cutting board, and my 1 gallon
composting tub. The secret is connected
to yoga and meditation. Yep. Veggies and meditation. Chopping veggies is a calming
meditation. I let go of the feelings of
tiredness, hunger, and anticipation and I just chop. I don’t focus frustration
on the onion. I let go and focus on straight lines. Straight chop lines radiate from my hand to
my knife and through the veggies. Distractions?
Sure. We don’t have kids, but we eat our
large main meal in the middle of our busy dawn to dusk work day, so our work
follows us to the preparation of the meal.
And sometimes we are interrupted by our chickens, sheep, pigs, or dogs
misbehaving through the window. 15
minutes of chopping onions, kale, chard, radishes, zucchini and I have a pile
of veggies just waiting be layered into the sauté pan or in to the salad bowl
or both. 20 minutes later and I have a
salad, rice, and sautéed veggies ready for the table. I haven’t always felt this way about chopping
veggies. It has been a gradual progression.
Fresh tasty vegetables bring such health and glow into our lives, why
should be begrudge the time spent chopping and sautéing them?
Do
you have veggie questions of need more cooking inspiration? Just ask us!
Peas have a very
short harvest window. (10 days) This is the last of the crunchy peas that the plants
will produce. Short and sweet!
Below…Kale pesto recipe, Swiss chard frittata recipe
Farm Fresh Harvest
Summer squash and Zucchini- The rain has not been kind to the
squash. Too much damp causes problems
with the fruit. We’ve selected the most
tender and delicate fruit for your box.
Cucumbers- This is the first of the cucumbers! Ahh…The bright,
crisp smell of summer! Cucumbers come in
all shapes and sizes. We grow little
mini cucumbers, large crisp American slicers, and delicate slender European
cucumbers.
Sugar snap peas-Peas are a great spring treat. Enjoy their sweet crunch plain as a snack, in
a stir fry, or in a salad.
Scallions- Scallions are a spring or green onion. Eat the
white stalk and the green leaves! They
add a sweet, mild onion flavor to any dish!
Great raw or substitute a
few scallions for a big onion in cooking.
-Lettuce- Buttercrunch
Baby leaf- This is the last of the buttercrunch…you will notice that it is
loose leaves this week instead of a head of lettuce. We hope to have the last bit of
baby lettuce in 1 or 2 weeks.
Curly Kale- Best
for kale chips! Also
great raw in a salad… chop finely, marinate with balsamic vinegar for 10
minutes, and add to a salad.
Swiss chard- Rainbow swiss chard. I enjoy it just barely wilted down. I usually
use about 2 tablespoons of butter to sauté a large onion and the stems and then
add an entire bunch of chard. (sautéed until bright green) Adds color and dark
healthy green to any dish. We use in
place of spinach in many dishes-in a tomato sauce, in omelets and quiches, or
just sautéed with onions and served as a side. Recipe below
Recipes
Turkish Beef, Kale,
and Rice Casserole
This
filling dish is inspired by the delicious kale rolls (like cabbage rolls) that
I enjoyed while staying with a Turkish family at their organic honey and egg
farm. That meal was vegetarian, since
meat was above their means. In most
restaurants in Turkey the meat would be ground lamb.
This dish is also a
spinoff of the traditional beef and rice casserole that easily feeds a hungry
family. This is also a quick casserole
because you just mix the greens with the rice and beef instead of carefully
wrapping the rice and beef into little rolls.
3 cups cooked rice (about 1 ½ cups of uncooked rice) The variety of rice is your choice- I used the end of 3 types of rice
and it turned out great!
1 lb. ground beef (you may also use ground lamb)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. ground beef (you may also use ground lamb)
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon coriander
½ tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)
1 bunch curly kale, washed, stems removed, and finely chopped
1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
Brown ground beef, onions, and spices in a
large skillet until meat is halfway done (still very pink inside.) Meanwhile, blanch the chopped kale in boiling
water for 3 minutes and drain. Add
blanched, drained kale to the beef mixture and cook until beef is done.
Combine cooked rice and beef and kale mixture
in an 11x7 inch baking dish.
In a large bowl mix diced tomatoes and tomato
paste, and stir until tomato paste is smooth, adding water if needed. Cover and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until
warmed through and bubbly.
Kale
Pesto
This recipe
is a winner. Almost everyone loves kale
chips ,right? Well, this recipe is the 2nd best sneaky food trick
you can do with kale right next to making kale chips. I add more garlic and salt to my version of
this kale pesto. I also double the recipe
and use 2 bunches of kale. If you are going to dirty your food processor, may
as well make some extra, right?
Recipe is as follows…from Farmer John’s
Cookbook, The Real Dirt on Vegetables
While your
Italian grandmother might cringe at this being called a pesto, reassure her
that this is just a contemporary spin on that classic dish and you will
continue to also make it with basil and pine nuts. But still, make this dish for her- she will
certainly be won over. This version of
pesto is particularly good over roasted potatoes, but it works great over
pasta, too. You can freeze it, but if
you do, don’t add the cheese; simply mix it in after the pesto has thawed, when
you are ready to serve. Shareholder (adapted from the Seed Savers Calendar,
1998).
Kale Pesto
Makes about
1 cup
¼ cup chopped
walnuts
1 tablespoon
plus
½ teaspoon salt, divided
½ pound kale coarsely
chopped (1 bunch)
2 cloves garlic
½ cup extra virgin
olive oil
½ cup freshly
grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ½ ounces)
Freshly
ground black pepper
1.
Toast the
chopped walnuts in a dry, heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over high heat,
stirring constantly, until they start to brown in spots and become
fragrant. (Be careful not to over toast
them, as the will burn very quickly once they are toasted.) Immediately
transfer the walnuts to a dish to cool.
2.
Bring two quarts of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt, then add the
kale. Cook kale until tender, about 10
minutes. Drain. (I only cooked the kale 5
minutes.)
3.
Put the garlic in a blender or food processor
and pulse until minced.
4.
Add the walnuts and kale; pulse until well
combined. With the blender or food
processor running, pour in the olive oil in a stead smooth pencil-thin stream.
5.
When the ingredients are thoroughly combined,
transfer to a bowl. Stir in the
Parmesan, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper. Serve hot or chilled.
Sugar snap
peas are a real garden treat. The entire
crunchy pod and juicy peas are edible. Just break off the tiny stem. Every year we thick about not growing sugar
snap peas, because their window of pea production is so short and it takes
forever to pick them! We end up growing
them because they are so delicious, and we want to make sure our CSA members get
some special veggies! Their season is very short; we’ll only have them for a
few weeks.
Garlic Stir-Fried Snap Peas
From Asparagus to
Zucchini, A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce. Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture
Coalition. Submitted by Oak Ridge Farm
3 cups sugar snap
peas
1 tablespoon oil (any
mild one)
2 large garlic
cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh
lemon juice
Salt and pepper to
taste
Cooked rice
(optional) (you can also try quinoa)
Heat oil in skillet.
Stir in garlic. Add peas; cook and stir 2-4 minutes on medium-high heat. Remove and sprinkle on lemon juice, and salt
and pepper. Serve over rice, if desired.
Makes 3-4 servings.
Note: I add scallions to my stir-fry when I add the peas. Stir-Fried Snap Peas goes well with
stir-fried kale. Blanch chopped kale for 5 minutes, drain well and pat excess
moisture with paper towel. In a separate
pan, over medium high heat, stir-fry 1 tablespoon oil, 1 minced garlic clove, 1
tablespoon of soy sauce, and blanched kale …stir-fry for 2-4 minutes. Combine
with Stir-Fried Snap Peas and serve.
Chard (or Kale or Spinach) frittata with goat cheese
Check out the link for this delicious recipe!
“ I made it tonight with your eggs, and chard,
onions and goat cheese from other market vendors. Yummy!” Caite McKinney, CSA member.
Tabbouli
From Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine,
Abourezk
Marie’s comments in italics…
Go ahead and switch the recipe up a
bit! I recommend adding sweet peppers
and cucumbers with feta cheese and basil. You
can also use curly kale instead of parsley! Yep!
Ingredients
½ cup bulgur
wheat (I’ve used cous cous before too)
½ cup water
4 cups
finely chopped ripe tomatoes
½ cup fresh
lemon juice
2 tbs olive
oil
2 large
bunches parsley, about 5 cups finely chopped (1 large bunch is plenty! Chop parsley very fine- almost to a fluff) You can also use curly kale instead of
parsley!
1 cup
chopped onions
1 tbl dried
mint flakes
1.
Rinse the
bulgur, drain and then add ½ cup of the water and let stand for 15
minutes. Place the bulgur in a large
mixing bowl, then add the tomatoes and lemon juice. Chop the parsley (very fine-almost to a fluff).
Place on top of the bulgur and tomato mixture. Add the onion, mint flakes, and the oil and
mix thoroughly.
2.
Tabbouli
can be prepared a couple hours ahead of time if you wish. Simply leave out the oil and lemon juice
dressing until you’re ready to serve.
Adding the dressing too soon makes the parsley wilt and creates too much
liquid in the bottom of the salad bowl.
3.
In the Arab world, tabbouli is scooped up and
eaten with lettuce leaves, rather than with silverware. Putting each serving of tabbouli inside a
lettuce or a cabbage leaf rather than displaying them in a flat dish is a very
tempting presentation. Or, for an
elegant looking and tasting hors d’oeuvre, cut cherry tomatoes in half, remove
the center, and fill them with tabbouli.
Creamy Baked
Swiss Chard and Pasta
I don’t like to call anything “noodle casserole,” so
I’m renaming this dish Creamy Baked Swiss Chard and Pasta. You may omit the parsley if you wish. You can
also cut back on the sour cream and cheese.
–Marie
VEGETABLE NOODLE
CASSEROLE
Printed from COOKS.COM
3 tbsp. olive oil
2/3 c. chopped walnuts
1 lg. onion, thinly sliced
2 lg. carrots, coarsely grated
1 lg. bunch Swiss Chard, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 c. minced parsley
1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
8 tsp. soy sauce
1 c. sour cream
Salt
3 c. pasta
2 c. grated Jack cheese
2/3 c. chopped walnuts
1 lg. onion, thinly sliced
2 lg. carrots, coarsely grated
1 lg. bunch Swiss Chard, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 c. minced parsley
1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
8 tsp. soy sauce
1 c. sour cream
Salt
3 c. pasta
2 c. grated Jack cheese
Heat oil in large frying
pan and saute nuts until lightly browned. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon,
and then stir in onions and carrots.
Sauté until onion is
translucent, and then remove from pan. Add chard, garlic, parsley and thyme and
sauté until chard is limp.
Combine soy sauce and
sour cream; add to chard mixture along with walnuts, onions and carrots.
Stir to mix well. Add
salt to taste. Spread pasta in a lightly greased 2 quart casserole and spoon
vegetable mixture over top.
Sprinkle with cheese and
bake in 400°F oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and casserole is
heated through.
Serves 6.
