Red Wagon Farm

Any Vegetable Coconut Milk Soup

Posted on October 10, 2023 by mo

I love a ‘clean out the refrigerator’ simple meal. I like this because it’s quick, adaptable and uses up any and all vegetables you want to throw at it. Any protein you like too can easily be added, chicken, salmon, tofu. You are basically making a tasty broth that will compliment any vegetables you like.

Start by gathering and chopping into bite size pieces any vegetables you want to use. I find about 4 cups of chopped vegetables and 1 cup of protein (if you are adding that) is about right for 4 servings .

You’ll also need;

1 14-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
4 cups of any seasonal vegetable chopped plus protein if you are using any
1/2 can water or broth(use the coconut can to measure)
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated (~1T grated), more if you like ginger a lot.
1 cup minced shallots, onions or leeks
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt, or to taste
Optional, but highly suggested ingredients; lime, sweetener like (raw) sugar or agave, curry paste or powder. I used about 1 tablespoon of curry paste and 2 tablespoons of agave and one (sad) lime, I wish I had more lime. Herbs like basil, cilantro or mint are great too.

I added the tomato, radish and jalapeno raw to the dish at the end, like a garnish/side salad, but you can add anything at anytime. I LOVE winter squash in this dish and serve that with rice. Depending on what vegetables you use like broccoli or eggplant, this would be great over mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. Collards are really good here too if you blend them into the broth it reminds me of saag.

These are the vegetables I had today.

Cook whatever allium you are using with some oil, ginger and the curry powder or paste if you are using it, until the alliums and ginger soften.

Add the coconut milk, water/broth and vegetables and any of the optional ingredients you are using and taste taste taste. Lime, salt and agave or sugar add so much here.

That’s it. Serve it with noodles, potatoes, rice, naan, anything you like.

Fall is in the air. Only two more weeks of Main Season CSA. Then the winter CSA starts.

See you at pickup.

Posted in 2023, Recipes, Soups | Comments Off

Aphids in Organic Produce

Posted on October 3, 2023 by mo

Aphids are natural part of organic farming. I’ll admit they are a nuisance and can be icky sometimes (they are a great food source for beneficial insects) but luckily they can’t hurt humans and are usually pretty straightforward to manage.

Try as we might to get rid of and control aphids, you still might find aphids on some of the vegetables you get like; lettuce, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Probably others I can’t think of right now, oh, Brussels sprouts. Holy moly do aphids like Brussels sprouts.

You might find them on the underside of leafy greens.

Here are some on the top of this cauliflower.

And the underside too. There are only a couple, they are hard to see, but they are there.

We have a machine that is a conveyor belt/sprayer we use to wash soil off vegetables and also use it to try to spray aphids off vegetables we harvest. Aphids are great at hiding so you might need to do some aphid control at home in addition to what we do.

I think the easiest way to get rid of them is to put your vegetable in a sink and spray them with the strongest spray you have and simply wash them away. Spray from the top and the bottom!

You can also soak your vegetables before or after spraying them to give them a good once over. While they are soaking give them a good swish around the water to help dislodge the aphids. We like to soak the vegetables at the farm in addition to using the conveyor sprayer, the aphids dislodge and float to the top of the water. Wyatt likes to add some salt to the water at home and says that helps dislodge them. I’ll have to try it.

This picture I am soaking the cauliflower after spraying, you can see a few aphids floating that I missed with the sprayer.

Sometimes soaking or spraying isn’t even necessary. I had a cabbage with a few aphids and I just peeled off a couple leaves and it was clean as can be under a few leaves I composted.

The only way to control aphids 100% is to use pesticides (I think about pesticide use when I am in the grocery store looking at broccoli or Brussels sprouts with no aphids or caterpillars and personally, I keep walking) obviously we aren’t willing to use chemicals and we’ll deal with aphids as they come, as best we can.

It does involve an extra step or two on our part and sometimes yours. We hope you understand and think it is worth the trouble/effort.

We do.

Posted in 2023, Farm | Comments Off

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

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