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Author: mo

  • Rhubarb Custard Pie

    This is a very easy delicious pie to make that keeps well for a day or two in the refrigerator and is a tasty way to use the rhubarb you will be getting in your CSA share this week.

    You can use a store bought pie crust or make your own, or honestly leave the pie crust out and have a custard rhubarb dessert that you could scoop into bowls.

    Rhubarb Custard Pie Ingredients.

    Preheat oven to 350F

    • 1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell
    • 3 cups (about one pound) rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
    • 3 eggs
    • 1/2 cup sugar
    • 2 T flour
    • 1/2 teas salt
    • 2 T butter
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 1 cup milk, half and half or cream depending how rich you want it. I used 1/2 and 1/2 this time. I have never used all cream.

    Beat eggs, sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla in a bowl then add milk or cream or 1/2 and 1/2, whatever you are using.  Put Rhubarb on the pie shell and dot with butter, then pour custard over it.  Bake 1 hr 15min in a pre-heated 350F oven until the center of the pie is just set and doesn’t jiggle. It will continue to cook when you take it out a little so a little under done is ok.

    Here is my pie in the oven baked about 1/2 through. The edges are just starting to set.

    The rhubarb floats to the top but is snuggled in the custard. A lovely pie IMO.

    Rhubarb season is fleeting so have some fun with it while it’s here.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Garlic Chives vs Onion Chives

    Every week we try to provide an herb choice with your CSA share. I think that herbs are an easy way to elevate a so-so dish to a ‘wow’ dish, so I really love that herbs are included in our CSA shares.

    This week two of the herb choices are garlic chives and the more common onion chives.

    In the photo below garlic chives are on the left. They are larger and have flat leaves and taste mildly of garlic and onions. The onion chives are on the right and are tube shaped and hollow and have a mild onion flavor and are very tender.

    Garlic chives can be eaten raw but also hold up to cooking and are very similar in texture to leeks when they are cooked-kind of melting into a dish. Onion chives are almost always used fresh and raw and are bright and have a slight ‘snap’ when you bite them.

    Lots of Asian dishes use garlic chives, they are great tossed last minute in soups or any sauteed meat, egg or vegetable dish.

    I grilled some asparagus the other day and heated up some butter with garlic chives while the asparagus was cooking.

    This simple side dish was totally the star of our meal.

    If you haven’t tried garlic chives maybe grab some this week and give them a try and let us know how you like them.

    Have a great week and I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Welcome 2023 CSA Memebers!

    Welcome new and returning CSA members. If you are a returning member, a million thanks for your continued support. I was looking at the Member List and was so happy to see so many people I know. If you’re new, thank you for your trust. I look forward to getting to know you.

    I have been writing the Farm Blog- ideas and recipes, for a long, long time. Most of my posts are straightforward and easy to follow recipes. There are also storage tips and preparation. Check them all out here in the archive.

    My over arching goal is to teach and inspire you to be flexible with your weekly CSA share with recipes that appeal to you; be it recipe ideas from this site or any book or source that inspires you.

    I try to only include what you got in your CSA share that week because I know a lot of what you are getting is new to some of you and you might need a few ideas to use the unfamiliar vegetables.

    I know lots of you are really accomplished cooks and bakers. Please let me know what you are making with your CSA, inspire me!

    I’ll be at the 63rd Street Farm pickup on Wednesdays and Thomas Open Space on Thursday’s, come and say “Hi”.

    2023 CSA here we come. I can feel it already this is going to be a good year. See you at pickup.

    Mo

  • Swap Kohlrabi for Artichoke Hearts

    I saw an intriguing kohlrabi article in Food52. It said, ‘When kohlrabi is boiled whole and then peeled, the flesh of the vegetable somewhat resembles artichoke hearts, both in flavor and texture.”

    I had never heard of this analogy so of course I had to try it, and you know what? Boiled Kohlrabi does indeed have a similar taste and texture to that of artichoke hearts!

    I made the recipe referenced in the article, except I didn’t boil the kohlrabi whole. My kohlrabi were really big so I halved or quartered them which was super easy to do, then I boiled them. When you boil them you peel them after they are cooked (all the way through) instead of trying to peel them before cooking or cutting them. Because my kohlrabi were so big, the biggest trick with these is to cook them so they are soft all the way through, it took about 40 minutes.

    Here are some photos. Boil the kohlrabi until it is completely cooked through.

    It becomes sort of translucent when it is thoroughly cooked. Drain it and cut it into bite size pieces.

    I did make the marinaded kohlrabi in the recipe I posted at the beginning of this post. I only made half the amount of marinade it called for.

    I also made this spinach ‘artichoke’ dip a couple times over the Christmas holidays. It was a huge HUGE hit at both gatherings. I simply swapped the kohlrabi for artichoke hearts and kale for the spinach (that’s what I had). I made this dip last night, doubling the amount of artichoke hearts called for with lots of chopped boiled kohlrabi. Easy peasy and so good.

    I had some extra boiled kohlrabi so we just at it like we would artichoke hearts, dipped in lemon butter.

    This might be my new favorite vegetable to play with. I want to try it in a creamy pasta like ceci de pepe sauce.

    Well Friends, another year is in the bag. You are all so great and supportive of all we do, thank you so much.

    I hope to see next year. Until then, be well and happy.

    With gratitude.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Baked Winter Squash Oatmeal

    I like to make this on Christmas morning. It’s easy to throw together, only takes a few minutes to make and the house smells great while it’s baking. I set out different toppings like yogurt, butter and maple syrup, nuts, fruit, chocolate, nut milks and even eggs. Everyone can customize their own bowl. This oatmeal isn’t too sweet but taste ‘special’ and is nice and filling; like pumpkin pie married and oatmeal cookie.

    This recipes serves 4 or 5 people, but you can easily double it and bake it in a 9 X 13 pan if you are serving a crowd. Leftovers are great so if you don’t have a crowd, you will have an nice breakfast ready for a couple days.

    This baked oatmeal uses any type of roasted orange squash or pumpkin you have. I used kabocha this time I had extra from a soup I made earlier. Here is what  you need to make the oatmeal.

      • 2 cups Old Fashioned Oats or instant or steel cut
      • 1/4 cup brown sugar
      • 1 teaspoon salt
      • 1 teaspoon baking powder
      • 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or just cinnamon if you don’t have pumpkin spice
      • 1 1/2 cups milk regular or any oat or nut milk
      • 1/2 cup roasted squash, any orange squash will work, pumpkin, kabocha, butternut
      • 2 tablespoons maple syrup, agave or honey
      • 1 large egg
      • 3 tablespoons melted butter cooled to room temperature (or coconut oil)
      • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
      • 1/3 cup dried raisins, cranberries or nuts (optional) 

    Instructions

      • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 square baking dish and set aside.
      • In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients
      • In another medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients
      • Pour the milk mixture over the oats mixture and stir until combined and pour it all into the prepared baking dish.

    • Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden and oatmeal is set. Let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon into bowls and serve warm.
    • Top it with whatever makes you happy.

    In bowl in the back right of this photo I added a couple of squares of chocolate to the warm oatmeal and almond milk (swoon). It was so good. Eggs are always good with oatmeal too.

    Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Solstice, have a lovely Christmas. Stay warm.

    Peace and Love to you All.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Winter Radish Citrus Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

    This is a great salad to add to your winter holiday menu. It’s bright and tangy and crunchy and endlessly adaptable. I used some oranges and candied pecans here. Feta or blue cheese would be great. Celery or onions or apples and kohlrabi, or avocado would be good too. Grapefruit is really good too. The star here is the cinnamon vinaigrette dressing. It’s bright with just a hum of cinnamon spiciness that pulls all the strong flavors of the salad together.

    For this salad use what ever components you like. Here is what I had. There are three oranges there, you can’t see one behind the onion.

    Make the Cinnamon Vinaigrette

    • 1/2 cup citrus juice, any kind. I used orange and lemon
    • 2 Tbls olive oil
    • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 Tbls maple syrup
    • 1/4 tsp salt

    Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl mix it really well. Taste it to see if you want more maple syrup or salt or olive oil. I needed more olive oil and cinnamon. You want to really taste the cinnamon.

    • Peel the citrus and slice it into bite size pieces. Thinly slice the radishes and cut into bite size pieces add the fruit and radishes to the dressing and toss so it is all coated.

    • You will have a lot of extra liquid from the oranges.

    Arrange the radishes and oranges in a clean bowl and top your salad with any nuts, cheese, seeds, or anything else you like and pour the extra juice/dressing over the salad. This is a good salad to serve in individual salad bowls.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Classic Leek Vinaigrette

    I love this classic French preparation of leeks. I think leeks prepared this way are sort of reminiscent of asparagus. The mustardy vinaigrette is bright and tangy and a perfect accompaniment for heavier winter meals like stews and soups. I really like to make this for Christmas or Thanksgiving meals when I want one dish, other than cranberries, that isn’t rich and ‘beige’ or a lettuce salad.

    This couldn’t be easier to make. You clean your leeks, I cut mine in half.

    Boil the leeks for 8 or 9 minutes, they are done when you can pierce them easily with a knife. You want them cooked well, not crunchy. When they are done drain them well.

    While the leeks are boiling make a vinaigrette.

    • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
    • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
    • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • salt and pepper
    • optional toppings are hard boiled eggs, capers, crushed croutons, parsley or chives and more pepper.

    Whisk the mustard, vinegar and oil together and salt and pepper. Arrange the leeks on a platter and spoon the vinaigrette over the leeks.

    This is a really nice side dish as is. You can prepare it to this point and leave it out for a few hours. The leeks will soak up the dressing and that is a good thing. If you want to add hard boiled eggs or croutons or bread crumbs you want to do that right before you serve it.

    Hope you are enjoying your Winter CSA. I am.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Cabbage and Vegetable Pancakes

    This is an quick weeknight dinner using just a few standard ingredients. Cabbage is the base here and after that, the sky, or the remnants of your vegetable drawer, is the limit as to what other vegetables can be used; beets, any greens, zucchini, turnips, leeks, winter squash, really anything that will shred. You don’t want too big of chunks because they won’t cook enough.

    I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I’ll copy and past the full recipe at the end of this post but follow the photos and you’ll see how easy this are.

    I feel like these are blog worthy because they are loaded with vegetables and little else, just eggs and flour and salt and pepper and like all my favorite recipes this one is more than a sum of its parts. All the vegetables magically meld into a crispy crust with a creamy middle.

    You will need about 8 cups total of any shredded vegetables and any kind of flour you like. Whole wheat or garbanzo flour is so good here, and gluten free works great too. I had a little too many vegetables this time but it was still ok.

    You mix the shredded vegetables with flour and salt and pepper, mix that really well then add the eggs.

    Mixed up it will look a little like coleslaw. Here I can’t stress enough; it will seem really dry and like it will never ever hold together and form a pancake.  Look at this picture and trust me. It will work. If you panic and add more egg it will be ok, but it will be more egg than vegetables and that isn’t what we are after here. The vegetables are the star. Let them be the star.

    Now, heat a skillet to medium and add some oil. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to portion each pancake. It looks pretty dry and hopelessly unable to hold together right?

    Smoosh them down a little and let them cook for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on each side. If you are having trouble flipping them they aren’t cooked enough. Chill a minute, breathe, and let them cook a little longer and try again. After one or two you will get the heat and timing right.

    Look at that. All the vegetables sort of melt together into a party.

    This makes a lot. Plenty for 4 people, leftovers are great if you aren’t 4 people. I really like these as a side with soup or topped on something like a Caesar salad.

    Any dipping sauce or salad dressing is perfect with these. The original recipe suggests an Asian flavored sauce. I like them with a green goddess or Ranch dressing and sometimes I mix BBQ sauce and mayonnaise and hot sauce (sounds weird I know, but it’s delicious). Yogurt with a little lemon or lime is nice, chimichurri, or pesto is good too. This avocado sauce was nice too.

    I think everyone is getting cabbage this week so I hope some of you try this.

    Pancakes
    1/2 small head cabbage, very thinly sliced (1 pound or 5 to 6 cups shreds) which will be easiest on a mandoline if you have one
    4 medium carrots, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
    5 lacinato kale leaves, ribs removed, leaves cut into thin ribbons
    4 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    6 large eggs, lightly beaten
    Canola, safflower or peanut oil for frying

    Make the pancakes: Toss cabbage, carrot, kale, scallions and salt together in a large bowl. Toss mixture with flour so it coats all of the vegetables. Stir in the eggs. Heat a large heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Coat the bottom with oil and heat that too.

    To make a large pancake, add 1/4 of the vegetable mixture to the skillet, pressing it out into a 1/2- to 3/4-inch pancake. Gently press the pancake down flat. Cook until the edges beging to brown, about 3 minutes. 30 seconds to 1 minute later, flip the pancake with a large spatula. (If this is terrifying, you can first slide the pancake onto a plate, and, using potholders, reverse it back into the hot skillet.) Cook on the other side until the edges brown, and then again up to a minute more (you can peek to make sure the color is right underneath).

    To make small pancakes, you can use tongs but I seriously find using my fingers and grabbing little piles, letting a little batter drip back into the bowl, and depositing them in piles on the skillet easier, to form 3 to 4 pancakes. Press down gently with a spatula to they flatten slightly, but no need to spread them much. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the edges brown. Flip the pancakes and cook them again until brown underneath.

    Regardless of pancake size, you can keep them warm on a tray in the oven at 200 to 250 degrees until needed.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Simple Winter Squash Soup

    This soup feels like an indulgence. It’s creamy and filling, and complex tasting using just a few ingredients and it takes just a few minutes hands on time to make, and just one pot.

    My favorite thing about this soup is thinking of delicious toppings and food to dunk in the soup. Here I sauteed some apples and added bacon and some cheddar cheese.

    Basic is always good too, here I had some sage butter with croutons and it was so good.

    You can use any orange flesh winter squash. I used a butternut squash.

    Gather your ingredients.

    • 1 pumpkin, butternut squash or any orange flesh winter squash, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds seeded, peeled and cut into cubes
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 1 large onion, or a couple leeks chopped
    • 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tsp pepper
    • 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
    • 3 to 4 cups vegetable broth or water. I used Better than Bouillon
    • 1 to 2 tablespoons butter or oil
    • Sage, ginger or other herbs are optional but delicious
    • Any fun additional topping or dunking vessels you like! Black beans! Tortellini! Grilled peanut butter and jelly! Granola! Leftover roasted vegetables! Add some cream, coconut cream, or curry! Kale or collards! Blue cheese and walnuts!

    Warm the butter or oil and sauté the onions until they are soft, about 5 minutes.

    Add the peeled and cubed squash, herbs if you are using any, garlic and salt and pepper and cook that for about 8 to 10 minutes until it just starts to soften.

    Add the water or broth and simmer until the squash is really soft, about 30 more minutes. You should have just enough liquid so the squash is poking out like a crocodile’s head in a swamp. You can adjust as needed.

    I used an immersion blender to mix mine. You can move it to a blender and blend until smooth, leave it chunky or mash it with a potato masher until it semi-smooth. It does have a lovely shiny creamy texture if you blend it.

    Leftovers are of course great.

    Hope you are all the winter squash in your CSA share!

    Mo

  • Batch Roasting Vegetables

    There are endless ways to use roasted vegetables. I like to make a weekly big batch of roasted vegetables, especially in the winter, to be able to quickly create several healthy, vegetable dense meals all week and just cook once!

    Once your vegetables are cooked you can store them in the refrigerator for a week pull out what you need.

    You might feel like a nice hearty salad, easy to do once the vegetables are already cooked.

    Or add roasted vegetables to any polenta or pasta dish. Maybe make a roasted vegetable grilled cheese and sub the roasted vegetables for kale.

    Sometimes I am cleaning out the refrigerator and need to use up droopy vegetables and other times I am trying to make room because I’m picking my CSA share soon. This week I had some turnips, fennel, delicata squash and Romanesco to use up before my pickup. So this is what I used this week.

    To roast vegetables you will want to wash your vegetables and peel them if you like. Then cut them up about the same size so they cook evenly and drizzled some olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted them for about 25 minutes in a 425F oven. After 25 minutes stick a knife in them and see if they are done or if they need more time.

    I like to keep my vegetables segregated so if one variety gets done before another I can take it out and let the others finish cooking. Today everything was done at the same time.

    While the oven was hot I decided to roast some kale too. I don’t know if I had ever roasted kale before, but, why not? The tray was dirty and the oven was hot.

    My absolute favorite breakfast and lunch is savory oatmeal. I make enough oatmeal for the week and warm up enough for a meal and add whatever vegetable odds and ends I have. I like to top it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and cheese. The olive oil and pepper and cheese take oatmeal over the top.

    Having a stash of already roasted vegetables at the ready make meal prep a breeze and the different combinations and endless so you never have to get tired of basic dishes.

    I hope you are enjoying your winter CSA.

    Mo