Red Wagon Farm

BIG (really big) Celery This week

Posted on September 19, 2023 by mo

This week CSA is getting celery. It’s all really big. Bigger than what you get at the grocery store. It’s so big I had to stand across the room to take the photo. I put my rolling pin in there for scale.

Fresh celery has a stronger, more pungent flavor than long stored celery and has more fiber (strings) than store bought. If you quickly sauté this celery to add it to vegetables or sauces, or marinade it in olive oil with lemon or vinegar for a salad, it will tame any bitterness but keep the strong celery flavor. This bean and vegetable soup would be great featuring celery. Or how about making a celery stock? Use this recipe and sub celery for the corn cobs. Risotto is so tasty made with celery stock.

Until you are ready to use this huge celery, how are we going to store this big thing?

I’ll show you. Cut and trim about 1/2 the outer stalks off until the stalk is the size of a store bought celery. The inner part of the plant is more tender and mild. Look at this post to see how to best store it for later. It will keep for at least a couple weeks if you store it properly.

Chop up the outer stalks and leaves to use in the next week or so. It will keep just fine until you are ready to make something like this, subbing celery for beans. Or how about this soup, subbing celery for Bok choy?

Here is a photo all broken down to a reasonable size to store.

And another photo show how you can actually get it all in your refrigerator, it did take a little shoving to get it in the drawer, haha.

Celery Butchery 101. If you want more ideas, ask us at pickup.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2023, Celery Celeriac, Recipes, Storage and Preparation | Comments Off

Shallots and the Perfect Vinaigrette

Posted on September 12, 2023 by mo

We have a magnificent crop of big and perfectly grown shallots this year.

I love how the mild flavor of shallots elevates just about any dish. There is no bitterness or hot bite like an onion or garlic. Shallots are lovely raw in salads or salad dressings because of the mild flavor they bring-rounding out the different flavors in a dish. Raw they have a pleasant crunch not fibrous like an onion. Cooked they melt into the background of a dish, only bringing a bulby allium background flavor with no texture.

Shallots are a great substitution for garlic if you don’t want the punch or bite garlic brings to dishes like guacamole or hummus.

I went to Culinary School (years and years ago). The first thing we learned to make and and incorporate into our dishes was a vinaigrette using shallots. We learned to taste for balance-the flavors of the oil, vinegar, salt and shallots in different proportions. When these 4 ingredients are in harmony it is magic and can make any simple vegetable or salad shine.

Start with;

2 large shallots minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar or a mix of any really good vinegar you like
1 cup really good olive oil

In a bowl or jar combine the shallots, salt and vinegar and stir until the salt has dissolved. Gradually whisk in the oil and taste, really taste. Is the vinegar to sharp? Add more oil. Is it too mild? Add more vinegar or a squeeze of lemon or lime? Want it a little sweet? Add honey or orange juice. Taste and adjust, taste and adjust.

Use this as a dressing for any fruit, vegetable cooked or raw, legume, proteins or cheeses you like. Serve it with a crusty bread for sopping up the juices left and you will be very happy.

My new favorite dish this year is using this vinaigrette on the roasted chilies we have been getting in our CSA share. I just clean and cut up the roasted Anaheim’s and top it with this vinaigrette and some queso fresco (chef’s kiss*). So simple.

Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Posted in 2023, Onions and Leeks, Recipes | Comments Off

Roasted Pepper Ideas

Posted on August 29, 2023 by mo

We have a bumper crop of beautiful peppers this year. That means this week we lucky CSA members are getting 2 pounds of roasted peppers! Most of the peppers will be mild Anaheim peppers, all I have had are very mild with great fruity flavor and very thick juicy walls.

I am going to post a few photos of how I used my roasted chiles this week to maybe inspire a few ideas. But also check out our past recipes here for green chili or green chili sauces, breakfast potatoes, casseroles and more. Remember too, you can stash some roasted peppers away in your freezer to use this winter.

After cleaning the charred skin and most of the seeds off the chiles I have been making sandwiches and salads with them. They are so mild and tasty we have been eating them like we would tomatoes or cucumbers…just eating them. Nothing fancy.

I got some ground beef from Gamma Grass and Livestock. They are selling their grass fed beef at the farmers markets around here and also at some of our CSA pickups (This week on Wednesday at our farm on 63rd St and on Thursday at our store in Lafayette! Pick some up for dinner). I love supporting local food and this is so tasty – like expensive bison. I cooked a burger and stacked two roasted peppers and as many vegetables as I could fit on top! That orange stuff is cheese, it got kind of translucent when I melted it, but darn, it was good. I did the same ‘stack’ a few nights later with a veggie burger (if beef isn’t your thing) and it was so delicious too.

I get home pretty late on nights I work and I’m hungry and I want something fast. Grilled cheese sandwiches are often what we have. I always add some vegetable from the farm to my grilled cheese, kale grilled cheese has always been one of my favorites. This might be my new favorite now, grilled roasted pepper with tomato and cheese.

Fall is sneaking up on us, enjoy the summer vegetables for a few more weeks.

See you at pickup.

Posted in 2023, Peppers Roasted, Recipes | Comments Off

5 minute Tomatillo Peach Salsa

Posted on August 22, 2023 by mo

Salsa is basically salad, right? This is a very very basic raw salsa that comes together in less then 5 minutes and can be endlessly adapted to whatever you have or are serving. Start with this basic recipe. The flavors are intense so adding other ingredients are fun because they don’t get lost. Try adding some black beans, corn or tomatoes to make it more of a salad or relish or you could blend in some avocado to make it creamy. Adding some crumbly cheese like feta might complement a dish you are serving it with like burritos or tacos?

I used only 6 ingredients;

6 tomatillos peeled and husked,
1 peach blended in the salsa I used one more for garnish I didn’t put in the picture
1/4 of an onion
1 clove of garlic
juice of one lime
a large handful of cilantro

I put it in a blender all at once and ran it until it was smooth and add salt and pepper and tasted it if I needed more lime or salt.

Voila Simple as is but have fun to make your special house salsa with your own add-ins.

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

Posted in 2023, Recipes, Tomatoes-Tomatillos | Comments Off

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