Red Wagon Farm

Grilled Kale

Posted on June 3, 2013 by mo

If you like kale chips you will like grilled kale. When you sauté’ or steam kale it becomes very tender. When you grill or bake (like kale chips) the kale it is more firm and chewy and has a toasty flavor. I think kale is very satisfying grilled.

First you need to soak a bunch of kale in water for 15 or 20 minutes. This fully hydrates the kale so it can stand up to the hot grill.

Next, take your bunch of kale out of the water, don’t shake the water off. A little water on the leaves will steam and help transfer heat from the grill.
rub some olive oil on your hands and rub the kale leaves so the oil is evenly distributed. Salt and pepper the kale.

Kale Onions

Now whack the oiled kale on the hot grill in one big heap. (I grilled some walking onions too.)

Kale Onions Start turning the kale over by grabbing big bunches and keep moving it. It will only take a few minutes to cook.

Kale Onions

See it starting to char and breakdown? It is about done. (the onions took a few minutes longer).

That’s it.

Grilled Kale and Onions

Ready for the table….or, you could use it for making a frittata or pizza topping, or?
I’m going to make a vegetable lasagna.
I hope you try this. Leave a comment if you do.

Posted in 2013, Kale, Recipes | 1 Comment

Storing greens

Posted on June 3, 2013 by mo

We work really hard to get our greens (kale, chard, broccoli raabe, collards) to you fresh and full of life. Here’s how you can keep them that way.

If you store your greens properly they will stay fresh in your refrigerator for a week. Modern frost free refrigerators have moving air that will dehydrate food uncovered, so you need to keep your greens sealed in a plastic bag, or some sort of sealed container.

When you pick up your CSA share it would be best to put your greens in a plastic bag or container immediately at the pick up. We have bags available if you forget to bring your own. If you don’t want to use plastic you can use a cloth cotton bag. You need to rewet the cloth bag every day or the greens will wilt as soon as the cloth bag dries. You don’t want to pack the greens too tightly in the any bag or squish them either. they need to be stored loosely so some air can move around the leaves.

This is a bunch of kale that was harvested Friday and kept in a plastic bag in my refrigerator for three days. It looks just like it did when it was harvested.

kale

This is a bunch of kale that was kept in my refrigerator unwrapped for 12 hours.

Red Russian Kale

I’m sorry kale. I did it for the good of the blog.

The second bunch of kale is still edible. It is just dehydrated. You could cook it and it would be fine. If I left this bunch of kale much longer uncovered it would start to get slimy. Slime happens when the cell structure breaks down and the kale starts to decompose. When that happens you don’t want to eat it.

So, sealed and wrapped greens store nicely for one week in the refrigerator and unwrapped greens store for less than one day.

Posted in 2013, Greens, Recipes, Storage and Preparation | 1 Comment

Sauteed Broccoli Raab

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Amy

This recipe is from Jonathan, who worked at Red Wagon last summer.

Cut broccoli raab into large chunks, including stems.
In a cold pan, start with a lot of olive oil and some sliced garlic.
Turn on medium-high heat until garlic starts to brown.
Add broccoli raab until it starts to spit and pop.
Add salt and chile flakes and stir around to wilt the greens.
Finish with lemon juice.
Serve as a side dish of wilted greens or add pasta and Parmesan.

Posted in 2013, Broccoli, Recipes | 2 Comments

Pleased to meet ya!

Posted on May 27, 2013 by CSAtraci

A big farm-fresh ‘howdy’ to all you wonderful CSA members, I am so pleased to meet you! My name is Traci and I am the 2013 Red Wagon CSA Manager. I did get to meet many of you in person at our first CSA pickups last week, and I look forward to meeting the “Biweekly B” members this week as well. I am new to Red Wagon, and feel privileged to be working with our awesome farmers, Wyatt and Amy, and Red Wagon crew, all of whom are really dedicated and make the workdays fun. I look forward to a wonderful season of learning, experiencing, and sharing in our local bounty with you. If there is anything I can do to enhance your CSA experience please don’t hesitate to contact me at csa@redwagonorganicfarm.com.

I grew up on my grandparents’ farm in rural Arkansas, but I can already see many fascinating differences between our 120-acre monocrop cotton farm and this organic produce farm. All farms require significant management expertise and a lot of hard work, but even after only 2 weeks of working at Red Wagon I have acquired a new level of respect and admiration for the small organic vegetable farm. The management acumen required to plan and oversee the planting, production, harvest, and distribution of over 100 varieties of produce (not to mention all the terrific add-on options available this year!) is nothing short of INCREDIBLE. Hats off to Wyatt and Amy, I am truly impressed with Red Wagon Organic Farm!

Every week throughout the season I will be sharing brief stories and experiences from Red Wagon through this blog. Join me for what I hope will be a fun and interesting adventure!

Who needs a supermarket when friendly faces and farm-fresh fare await you at Red Wagon CSA!

Check out this special treat I found at my family cookout this weekend! My sister-in-law – by sheer coincidence and luck – is a Red Wagon CSA member, and she found a delicious way to use our spinach, arugula, walking onions and green garlic from last week’s share: Spanakopita!

She happened to find this recipe online here – but don’t forget to check out the amazing yet simple gourmet recipes from our in-house farm share recipe master, Mo, HERE! Mo includes lots of great photos and helpful insights into our week’s produce on our weekly blog, plus the recipe section of our site is organized by ingredients – it’s so easy to use!

Wonderful filled-filo treats were a fantastic starter dish for our family cookout!

See you soon!

Traci

Posted in 2013, Newsletter | 1 Comment

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Posted on May 27, 2013 by mo

Humble rhubarb. It doesn’t look like much does it?

Rhubarb

That is a pound of rhubarb. A pound of rhubarb stalks will yield about 3 cups diced rhubarb to use in recipes. Most pie recipes call for 3 or 4 cups of rhubarb.

I have tweaked this rhubarb custard pie recipe for my taste. I don’t really like overly sweet custard. You can add more or less sugar depending on your taste.

This is a super simple pie to make. You can use a store bought pie crust or make your own.

1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell

3 cups (one pound) diced rhubarb

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

2 tlbs flour 1/2 teas salt 2 tlbs butter 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Beat eggs combine sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla. Blend well. Then add milk. 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.

I will look something like this.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Posted in 2013 | 2 Comments

Bok Choy “Chop Chop” Salad

Posted on May 27, 2013 by mo

Bok Choy is a great base for salads and a great way to use up leftover vegetables you have hanging around in your refrigerator. This isn’t really a recipe, it’s just ‘here’s how I did it, now you make it with what you have’ method.

I needed a big salad for a pot-luck BBQ so I took my “week 2 CSA share” of salad worthy ingredients and chopped them up. I used my bok choy, pea shoots, haukari turnips, and some walking onions leftover from week 1 CSA share.

Here they are all chop-chopped up.

Chopped Vegetables

I had some avocado, macadamia nuts, red onions, and cucumbers in my refrigerator so I added those with an Asian salad dressing, just whisk this all together and pour over your salad.

1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Salad with Dressing

This is one of those salads that travels well and is good the next day.

Have a great week, now go play with your food!

Posted in 2013, Bok Choy, Recipes, Salads-Spring-Summer | Comments Off

Fresh Fava Bean Dip or Spread

Posted on May 23, 2013 by CSA Admin

Submitted by Marilyn

2 lbs fresh unshelled fava beans, prepared as above and ¼ cup of the cooking liquid
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted then ground, optional
1 Tbs minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
crumbled, grated or thinly sliced cheese such as feta, Manchego or Parmesan
optional pita wedges, sliced raw carrots, or crackers for dipping, or toasted bread for spreading

In a blender or food processor, combine the beans, half of the reserved cooking liquid and the lemon juice. Add more liquid as needed while processing until the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the oil while continuing to process until smooth.Transfer to a serving bowl and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with pita bread, vegetables, or crackers for dipping. Or spread on toasted bread (rubbed with garlic if you like), and topped with some cheese.

Posted in 2012, Beans, Recipes | Comments Off

Gratitude

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Amy

Hello CSA members! This week we hope to bring you: Egyptian walking onions, Easter egg radishes, green garlic, spinach, sorrel, and arugula. The large share will also get rhubarb, chives, and double spinach.

I am always filled with gratitude as our CSA begins. Thank you so much for trusting us to grow your vegetables this season. It is a big responsibility and Wyatt and I do not take it lightly. We really appreciate all you do to support our farm and I don’t think it would be possible for Red Wagon to exist without your support.

This year is a perfect example of why our CSA means so much to us. April 2013 has brought the most snow I have seen in the 17 years I have lived in Boulder County. It’s been great for our snowpack and irrigation water. But it really threw off the start to our farming season. Your financial support helped us get through April because we didn’t have as much to sell as usual at the farmers’ market. I’m not sure what the first few weeks of our CSA pickup will look like. We are a bit light on food in our fields because the snow put us behind. I am hopeful that we will be able to bring you all full-sized shares. If not, the abundant snowpack in the mountains means that we should be able to make it up to you later in the season. It is so helpful to have that kind of flexibility. Thank you!

We have two wonderful resources on our web page and I hope you will use them. The first is our CSA blog, written by Mo. She is more passionate about food than anybody I have ever met in my life. This really comes across in the recipes she writes for our blog. The second resource is an archive of the recipes Mo wrote last year. You can find them in the Recipes section of our web page and they are organized by crop. Be sure to look at these recipes the next time you come across a new vegetable in your CSA share.

Have a great week!
Amy

Posted in 2013, Newsletter | 7 Comments

Walking Onions and Green Garlic

Posted on May 20, 2013 by mo

Walking onions and green garlic are two early spring crops here at Red Wagon. They look similar don’t they? The green garlic is on the right and the walking onions are on the left.

Green Garlic

The green garlic is garlic we plant very close together and only let it grow for a short while. If we left it longer in the field it would develop cloves and head. The green garlic has a really lovely mild flavor and isn’t hot at all, unlike a fully developed clove of garlic. You can use a lot of the green garlic in your cooking and great garlic flavor that isn’t overwhelming. Use it like you would a clove of garlic. Just use more!

Walking onions can be used like you would use any onion. You can eat them raw in a salad or use them in your cooking. They are called walking onions because when they develop seed heads, the heads become heavy and fall over to the ground. They sort of plant themselves by ‘walking’ across your garden when the heads fall over. Look at your bunches and see if you see any developing seed heads.

Walking Onions

Here is a bunch of walking onions and a bunch of green garlic trimmed and cleaned and ready to use.

Trimmed Garlic and Onions

I think I’ll grill the onions sometime this week. I’ll keep them whole just like in the picture and rub a little olive oil and salt and pepper and grill them to a nice char. I’ll try to remember to take a picture and post it.

I like to chop up the green garlic and use what I need during the week. If it is already cleaned and chopped up I find it super easy to just grab and use for when I am scrambling eggs or sautéing some spinach. If I leave it in the bag it tends to get lost in the veggie drawer and forgotten about.

Chopped Onions
Have a great week, leave a comment if you have any questions about any of your CSA share.
Mo

Posted in 2013, Garlic, Onions and Leeks, Recipes | 2 Comments

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