CSA Newsletter: Week 15 (August 27th, 2012)

Posted on August 27, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you potatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers, eggplant OR beets, chilies OR basil, and cherry tomatoes OR zebra tomatoes OR slicing tomatoes. Large share members will get chilies AND basil, green beans, and garlic. Fruit share members will be getting peaches and plums.

In this week’s newsletter:


Fun on the Farm

I really love working with everybody at Red Wagon. This is our busiest time of the year and everyone is working really hard, but we have a ton of fun too. I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite photos from the last few weeks.

Smiley Chayo and Silvestre harvesting beets.

Robert says, “It’s too early, but this basil sure is lovely…”

Farm Tour Coming Up!

We will be having our second farm tour of the season on Sunday, September 9th. (Not this coming Sunday, but the following Sunday.) This time the tour will be hosted at the Teller Farm on Valmont Road. The tour will go from 10am-2pm.

If you didn’t make it to our first farm tour back in June, this is a really fun opportunity to see how we grow a lot of our crops including melons, tomatoes, basil, beets and more. If you did attend the tour back in April, I recommend coming to this one too if you can. The Teller Farm is where we have historically grown the majority of our crops. We will have tractor rides and walking tours around the farm so you can watch your veggies growing!

Directions to Teller Farm:

From downtown Boulder, go east on Pearl Street. At 55th, Pearl Street will turn into Valmont Road. Continue east on Valmont for about 3.5 miles. (You will go straight at the lights at 61st St. and 75th St.)

About 0.9 miles east of 75th, turn right onto Melissa Lane. Continue going straight. The road will turn to dirt. Turn left at the green gate.

We will be setting up the reception/greeting tents just through the next green gate. Please park here, off the main road.

I hope to see you all there! Have a great week.

-Maddie


Moussaka

This week I thought I would share some of my favorite go-to recipes with you. First is moussaka, or my take on a moussaka-like dish using what I have on hand.

  • 2 globe/Italian eggplants, unpeeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
  • Olive oil
  • 3 cups total of any vegetables you have available to you (onion, carrots, celery, fennel, rutabaga, kohlrabi, mushrooms…any combo of these works here)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • About 2 cups of tomatoes, cut up (fresh or canned, whatever you have)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 cups milk
  • 4 egg yolks

Sprinkle both sides of eggplant rounds with salt and brush with oil. Either bake or grill the eggplant until it is tender.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 3 cups of vegetables and saute until the vegetables are very tender. Mix in garlic. Saute until juices evaporate, about 10 minutes. Mix in oregano and cinnamon. Add tomatoes and parsley. Cook until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange half of eggplant rounds in single layer in dish. Spoon half of tomato mixture evenly over eggplant. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Repeat layering with remaining eggplant, tomato mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese.

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk yolks in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot sauce. Pour sauce over vegetables in dish. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over sauce. (Can be made 1 day ahead. If you’re making this ahead, cover and refrigerate here.)

Bake moussaka at 350°F until heated through and sauce is golden brown on top, about 45 minutes (or about 55 minutes for refrigerated moussaka). Cool 15 minutes.


Cantaloupe and Prosciutto Pasta

This is one of my favorite summer meals. The melons are such a short season we try to have this at least two or three times in the summer. I often make this without prosciutto as I did this time in the photo. You can substitute bacon, turkey or vegetarian bacon if you like. The key is to have something salty to stand up to the melon. If you leave out prosciutto (or prosciutto substitute), use a little more Parmesan cheese.

  • 1/4 cup fruity olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups cantaloupe, diced
  • 1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto, very coarsely diced
  • grated zest of 1 med. lemon
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 T. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for serving
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into strips
  • RECOMMENDED PASTA: 8 oz. medium shells (conchiglie rigate).

Combine olive oil, cantaloupe, prosciutto, lemon zest, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper and  Parmesan cheese in pasta serving bowl.

Set aside to warm to room temperature, or just till flavors mingle.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water till al dente. Drain pasta well & immediately add to sauce in bowl. Sprinkle with basil & toss. Serve at once with extra Parmesan cheese. Pass the pepper mill.


Potato Leek Soup

This is a super forgiving recipe that always works and can use up anything lurking in the back of the fridge, or veggie drawer.

  • 3 medium leeks (white part), rinsed and chopped
  • 3 or 4 potatoes, chopped
  • Butter or olive oil to saute the vegetables
  • One quart of vegetable or chicken stock, or water
  • Milk or cream
  • Salt, pepper and any herbs you like

Saute leeks and potatoes in oil until the leeks get soft. Add broth or water and cook until the potatoes are done, about 20 minutes. When the potatoes are done you can add some milk or cream to thin the soup to the consistency you like. Blend the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in the blender. I like to leave my soup a little chunky. I added some roasted chilies and some cheese to my soup this time. With the leftovers I might add some more diced vegetables like carrot and I think I have a kohlrabi leftover from last week that might find its way into the soup.

Summer is flying by. I hope you are enjoying your CSA shares.

Until next week.

-Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

CSA Newsletter: Week 14 (August 20th, 2012)

Posted on August 20, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you leeks, potatoes OR green kale, zucchini OR cucumbers, fennel OR kohlrabi OR eggplant, shishito peppers OR bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. Large share members will get potatoes AND kale, zebra tomatoes, and carrots. Fruit share members will get peaches AND plums.

In this week’s newsletter:


Where Are the Tomatoes?

This week everyone is getting cherry tomatoes. Large share members are also getting zebra tomatoes. On the farm, our cherry tomatoes are thriving and we have multiple plantings that are producing all at once. The zebras, pictured below, are coming on a little ahead of most of our other heirlooms and slicing varieties but are not quite as abundant as the cherries.

Everyone should have gotten at least some cherry tomatoes so far this season, but a lot of folks seem to be wondering where the big reds are hiding.

I have harvested tomatoes a lot in the last several weeks and I can assure you, we are not holding out on you. Our red slicing tomato plants are heavy, some to the point of tipping over, with light green or slightly pink-ish fruit. And yet, every time I walk the rows searching for big red beauties, I seem to come up short. It feels like any day now, all of the tomatoes will decide to ripen and we will be pulling bucket loads from the fields. This, Wyatt says, is certainly a possibility.

Earlier today, I picked Wyatt’s brain a bit about the tomato situation. Wyatt and Amy have both reminded me that although we all think of tomatoes as the quintessential summer crop, the growing season in Colorado is just not that long. The earliest we can start tomatoes out in the field is March 15th. We can only start a limited number as early as March in our hoop houses and in walls-of-water in the ground. Any earlier and we risk a killing frost which will mean literally no tomatoes later in the season. Wyatt says in past years, they have had frosts as late as June 9th and 11th, which is bad news for tomatoes and other heat-loving crops.

Generally the height of tomato season on the Front Range is between August 15th and September 15th, sometimes extending into October. At this point in the year, it becomes a waiting game. The colder nights may trigger all of the tomatoes to ripen at once, Wyatt says, or they will come on gradually and be around for a couple of weeks or so. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your cherry tomatoes this week and know that we are doing our best to get you those big red beauties.

Make sure you check out Mo’s posts on some of the more unusual veggies you are getting this week. I hope you take her advice and try something new! I know I will be.

Have a great week,

-Maddie

Shishito Peppers

Posted by Mo

This week you have a choice of a new pepper variety we are growing, Shishito. One of the restaurants we sell to asked Wyatt to grow these peppers and boy am I glad he did. This is probably my favorite new crop this year. These are mild and so flavorful. The seeds of most peppers are bitter and you almost always discard them. But the seeds of the Shishito pepper are almost a caviar texture, creamy and succulent and very juicy. They are a thin-walled pepper, sort of like a Jimmy Nardelo if you are familiar with those. I prefer the Shishito pepper to the Jimmy.

You can grill the Shishito or just pan sear them. I have done both and both are equally delicious.

Just heat a pan with some olive oil in it and put your washed peppers in the hot pan.

Sear the peppers on all sides. The peppers will puff up and some even pop open, that’s ok.

Now you can just eat them as a side dish or snack. Eat the whole pepper, but not the stem!

Or you can cut them up and add them to a dish like you would any roasted pepper. I made some eggs and added these to the eggs.


Kohlrabi

Posted by Mo

We have some unusual vegetables this week. Next in line is kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is a member of the brassica family like cabbage, collards, and broccoli. You can eat the leaves like you would kale or collards. They are a little tough so they take a while to cook, kind of like collards. The bulb of the kohlrabi has a tough outer skin you need to peel off.

The bulb of the kohlrabi after it’s peeled is tender and tastes like the stem of broccoli or the heart of cabbage, except it is usually sweeter than both, and almost the texture of an apple. I like to cut it up and keep it raw in the fridge to snack on. Kohlrabi is great stir fried because it keeps really crunchy even when it’s cooked.


Leeks

Posted by Mo

Another choice this week are leeks. Leeks are alliums, related to onions and garlic. They are sweeter and more mild than either. You can store leeks for at least two weeks in the refrigerator. I usually cut off the green tops so they take up less room and just wrap the white bulb in plastic. Keep the root on until you use them.

To clean the leeks cut off the green top and cut the leek in half.

Leeks almost always have soil inside of the layers beneath the green tops because we hill up soil around the leek to make the leek develop larger bulbs.

Just run tap water over the cut leek and rinse out the dirt. This is what you have left that is usable.

Use your leeks like you would onions or scallions. Restaurants use leeks in tandem with other alliums to layer flavors. Maybe try that at home? People always ask if you can use the green tops for anything. You can use them in a stock, but really all the flavor is in the bulb and the tops don’t really have much flavor so I just put them in the compost.

Fennel

Posted by Mo


This is one of those love/hate vegetables. Fennel has a anise/licorice flavor and texture that is sort of like celery. You can eat every part of the plant, even the seed. You can eat the bulb and fronds raw and use it like you would use celery in a salad.

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Here is my bunch. Cleaned, broken down and ready to use.

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The bulb is tender, as are the fronds. I wouldn’t use the stems raw, I would saute them. If you cook your fennel bulb or fronds, don’t overcook them or they will get mushy and lost in a dish.
Fennel is very good friends with leeks. Both of those lightly sauteed make a great side dish.

I sauteed fennel and leeks for just a couple of minutes and added some pecans and a squeeze of lemon. Boy was this good. I like food that looks the same but tastes very different, like the leeks and fennel. It sort of makes for a game in your mouth when you eat them.

I hope you try something different this week. We have a great variety for you.

– Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged | 4 Comments

CSA Newsletter: Week 13 (August 13th, 2012)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you a melon, onions, beets OR cauliflower, zucchini OR cucumbers, japanese eggplant OR italian eggplant, and green beans. Large share members will also be getting edamame, cherry tomatoes, and a large share “grab bag” choice. Fruit share members will get peaches and plums.

In this week’s newsletter:


Harvest Photos

I’ve been really trying to remember to take more pictures on the farm lately. We’re usually so busy when we’re out in the fields that I think most of us forget to take pictures or even just look around and appreciate how beautiful it is.

Last week I took some photos of one of my least favorite crops to harvest and one of my most favorite crops to harvest. See if you can guess which is which.

This is a pickling cucumber vine. If all goes well, all of those little yellow flowers will become tiny cucumbers.

This particular row is a “little leaf” variety, meaning that the leaves and vines are all very tiny and tangled. Here’s what it looks like when you’re up close and personal. Can you see any cucumbers in there?

There are lots of rules when picking cucumbers. As you may know if you garden at home, the plants are super sensitive and need to be treated really carefully or they’ll get upset and stop producing.

The Four Commandments of Cucumber Picking:

  1. Thou Shalt Not Swim. Especially when picking the little-leaf varieties, it sometimes seems like the only way to find any cucumbers is to dive in head first and wave your arms around. This leads to unhappy plants and thus is not allowed.
  2. Thou Shalt Not Step on the Vines. As you may know, cucumber vines can be quite unruly and tend to grow where you would otherwise put your feet, your harvest bucket, etc. It is important not to step on the new growth or you will again upset the cucumbers.
  3. Thou Shalt Not Yank. Pick gently. Specifically, you should wrap your right index finger around the base of the cucumber where it meets the vine, and gently pluck it from it’s moorings.
  4. Thou Shalt Not Take Pity. Odd cucumbers need not apply. I have learned that this rule is in effect for reasons other than aesthetic. A lot of cucumbers grow into strange shapes…pointy ends, C-formations, weird bulbous protrusions. Unfortunately, these really don’t taste as good as the pretty ones and thus get left behind.

Ooh look! I found one.

How’d I do?

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Sometimes it seems like every day I work on the farm starts out with a couple of hours in the basil. I have to say, it is a pretty nice way to spend the morning.

Here are Kendall and Madi collecting some purple basil.

When we harvest basil on the farm, we do what we call “tipping.” This basically means that we take newest set of 4 to 6 leaves from each stem. Tipping serves a few purposes. It keeps the basil from flowering and going to seed so we can harvest it for a long time. It also means that we don’t pick it with any stem which makes it super easy to throw in a blender and make pesto or top a pizza. We try to only pick basil that looks like this.

Sometimes we will pick 15 or 16 pounds of basil in one day. Basil doesn’t weigh very much, so you can imagine how much basil that is.

Here’s Madi weighing out some purple basil for restaurants.


Reusable Bags: Lost and Found and For Sale

By now you have probably seen our new Red Wagon Chico Bags hanging up on the tent at CSA. You can pick one up at your next pick-up. They are $6 each for CSA members, $7 for everyone else, and we’ll take cash or a check.

These bags are awesome. They pack down really tiny when empty, they’re tough, and they’re perfect for picking up your CSA share and other groceries. Not to mention, you can carry it around and represent Red Wagon wherever you go! :)

I also have a couple of reusable bags that were left at CSA pick-ups a while ago. If either or both of these belong to you, send me an email or mention it at your next pick-up and I’ll get them back to you.


Have a great week and I’ll see everyone at pick-up!
-Maddie

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Grilling Eggplant

Posted by Mo

People have been asking when we will get greens again. Wyatt has them planted so, depending on weather, we should see some arugula and braising mix in 3 or 4 weeks. Lettuce mix will follow soon after. Until then I hope you are all enjoying the great height-of-the-season vegetables we are getting.

This week you  have a choice of Italian or Japanese eggplant. Last week I grilled the Japanese eggplant and I am grilling the Italian eggplant this week to show you how different they are. The Japanese variety is very tender and mild. The Italian are longer and larger, so the skin is thicker and a little bitter but the flesh is silky and sumptuous. The flesh almost dissolves in your mouth. It disappears into the background of whatever it is mixed with and brings a body unlike any other vegetable I can think of.

I was looking through our recipe archive and we don’t have many sauce or dip recipes so I thought I would add a couple using eggplant. I grilled some Italian eggplant and used the flesh for two different dishes: baba ganoush and an eggplant sauce.

Heat up your grill and put the eggplant right on the grill, make a few slits in your eggplants so they don’t explode.

When the eggplant are charred all over, and really black and crunchy take them off the grill and let them cool so you can touch them without burning yourself. You are going to scoop out the flesh and get rid of the charred skin. Both these recipes use only the flesh of the eggplant.

Both of these recipes are absolutely delicious and utterly non-photogenic.

Baba Ganoush

  • 3 medium-sized eggplants
  •  1/2 cup (130g) tahini (roasted sesame paste)
  •  1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
  •  3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
  •  3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
  •  1/8 teaspoon chili powder
  •  1 tablespoon olive oil

Grill the Italian Eggplant and scoop out the flesh and mix with the rest of the ingredients. I mash it all together in a bowl with the back of a fork.

And this is the eggplant sauce served along with  cauliflower and beans you are getting in your share.  I blanched the vegetable for about a minute and served the eggplant sauce on the side.


Eggplant Sauce

*Adapted from a recipe by Nigel Slater

  • The flesh of one grilled Italian eggplant
  • ½ cup Greek yogurt
  • A handful of mint leaves
  • Olive oil

Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl and use it as you would baba ganoush. This is fresh and bright.

Tortilla Salad

Posted by Mo

I often look through Heidi Swanson’s books for ideas. I saw this recipe Tortilla Salad and made my own version of it with the vegetables we got this week.

You can use any vegetables you have of course. I followed the recipe for the dressing except I added a little cumin, and used the beans and cauliflower again. This is very good. I’ll make this again.

  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  •  1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
  •  1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
  •  1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves
  •  2 teaspoons sweet paprika
  •  2 medium cloves of garlic, smashed into a paste
  •  1 well-crumbled bay leaf
  •  pinch of red pepper flakes
  •  1/4 teaspoon + fine grain sea salt
  •  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • A pinch of cumin

Gently warm the olive oil over medium-low heat in a skillet or pan, until it is just hot. When hot remove from heat.

While the oil is heating, lightly pound the rosemary, thyme, and oregano in a mortar and pestle.

Stir the paprika, garlic, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and salt into the oil. Then add the bruised herbs and lemon juice.

You can use this now, but know – the oil just gets better as it ages over a few days. Keep it in a refrigerator for up to a week/ten days-ish. It thickens up when cold, so if you need it in a liquid state, place it in the sun or in a warm place for a few minutes.

Full disclosure; I dropped my camera and broke the lens so I couldn’t take pictures. My daughter is in town for a wedding and she took all the pictures this week. Thanks Nyssa. Good job.


Have a great week.

-Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , | Comments Off on CSA Newsletter: Week 13 (August 13th, 2012)

CSA Newsletter: Week 12 (August 6th, 2012)

Posted on August 6, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you cantaloupe, green beans, chiles OR potatoes, zucchini OR cucumbers, tomatoes OR cherry tomatoes, and basil. Large share members will also get chiles AND potatoes, kohlrabi, and a large share “grab bag” choice. Fruit share members will be getting peaches!

In this week’s newsletter:


Farm Stand Now Open!

Posted by Maddie

As you may have already heard (or seen), Red Wagon’s farm stand opened last week! Look for the big red and white striped tent in the shopping center at the corner of 95th and Arapahoe in Lafayette.

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The stand is open from 10-7 on weekdays and 9-7 on weekends. We have some amazing goodies at the farm stand, including fresh roasted chilies, peaches and other fruit from the Western Slope, sweet corn, and lots and lots of organic Red Wagon veggies! I stopped by on Saturday and got some great stuff. I hope you check it out.

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Fresh Tomato Salsa

Posted by Maddie

I had a great time sharing my farm bounty with friends this weekend. Saturday night we made Chiles Rellenos for a vegetarian visitor (more on Chiles to come from Mo), along with some fresh tomato salsa and homemade tortilla chips. I made a trip to our farmstand for a few items (jalapenos, garlic etc.) that I didn’t have in my veggie collection. It was well worth it and I definitely recommend checking out our farmstand if you haven’t already.

*Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

  • 1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 cup red onion (or any onion), diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (removing the seeds and veins will get rid of a lot of the heat, keep them if you like it spicy)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 2-6 teaspoons lime juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • Pinch black pepper

Start by dicing your tomatoes. I had some beautiful heirlooms, including a Green Giant from the Friday harvest.

Put your diced tomatoes in a colander set over a medium-sized bowl, so the juices can drain while you chop everything else. You can either leave your salsa chunky or run it through your blender for a smooth version. If you are planning on blending your salsa (which I did), don’t worry about chopping things too perfectly.

Next, chop your garlic, jalapeno, cilantro and onion and layer on top of your tomatoes in the colander.

I used about half of a Red Wagon jalapeno with the seeds and veins. You can either remove the seeds and veins for a little less heat, or leave them in to turn it up a notch. Either way, be forewarned, our jalapenos definitely pack a punch.

Once you think enough juice has drained from your tomatoes (15 minutes was fine for me), you can empty the bowl and add your chunky vegetables. Next add your lime juice, salt, cumin, and pepper and blend until smooth or leave it chunky. This is what mine looked like when it was finished.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Just for fun, we made our own tortilla chips to go with the salsa. I realize this doesn’t involve any of your CSA veggies, but it’s really fun and tasty!

Heat some oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. The exact temperature isn’t that important, just make sure it isn’t going to burn your chips. While your oil is heating up, take some nice corn tortillas and cut them into quarters.

Fry them in oil, flipping a few times, until they are bubbly and a nice golden brown. Don’t overcrowd your skillet.

Remove the chips from the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with a little salt, and voila! Happy munching.



Tomatoes Being Planted

Posted by Mo

You are getting either cherry tomatoes or slicing tomatoes in your share this week. Cherry tomatoes mature a week or so sooner than the slicers so we mostly have cherries right now.

I took this picture on May 15th. Javier, Sylvester and I think that is Robert are planting the tomatoes that were harvested for you today.

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We start our tomatoes in a greenhouse and plant them out very young.

We use a nifty machine called a ‘waterwheel’ to transplant our greenhouse starts.

Two people sit on the back of the waterwheel and the tractor pulls them along the row to be planted. The tractor has already been down that row and put down red or black plastic mulch and drip tape.

This is the back of the waterwheel. Two people sit next to each other and the plants are in trays in easy reach. See the wheel between the two seats? That is the part of the machine that punches the holes in the plastic. As the tractor moves down the row pulling the water wheel, it punches holes in the plastic and waters at the same time.

This is the part of the machine that punches the hole in the plastic.

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There they go.

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Roasted Chilies

Posted by Mo

You are getting roasted chilies as a choice today. These will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. If you can’t use them right away they freeze beautifully. We will offer roasted chilies a few more times so make sure you save some in your freezer for winter. Also, if you are a real chili head our Farm Stand is open at 95th and Arapahoe. You can get more chilies there, or anything else you are getting in your CSA share if you need more of something.
Red Wagon is licensed to sell roasted chilies by Boulder County Health Department, so rest assured, the chilies you are getting are handled safely for you.

CSA members often ask how and where we roast our chilies. I thought it might be easier to show you than tell you so I went to the Farm Stand this morning and took a picture. They weren’t roasting when I was there but I think you can figure out how it happens buy seeing a picture of the roaster.

Pretty fancy huh? Amy, did you just laugh out loud seeing a picture of our chili roaster? There it is, in all its glory.
Ta-dah.

Preparing a roasted chili 101.

Here is a before roasting and after roasting picture of a chili.

You will want to remove the charred skin because it tastes like cellophane.

Then remove the veins and seeds. Use the back of your knife to scrape the seeds and veins out.

Now go make yourself a quesadilla with all the good vegetables we grew for you.

Have a great week,
– Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , , | Comments Off on CSA Newsletter: Week 12 (August 6th, 2012)

CSA Newsletter: Week 11 (July 30th, 2012)

Posted on July 30, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you watermelon, new potatoes, onions, broccoli OR eggplant, zucchini OR cucumbers OR tromboncino squash, and green beans. Large shares will get broccoli AND eggplant, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Fruit share members will get peaches AND plums.

In this week’s newsletter:


Farm Updates

Posted by Maddie

As I’m sure you all know by now, we are in the middle of one of the driest summers on record. The drought is putting a lot of stress on farmers all across the United States, with Colorado being one of the hardest hit states. Wyatt, the farm managers and the farm crew are working hard to ensure that we have plenty of food despite some pretty tough growing conditions.

Photo Credit: Robert Wilson

Fortunately, Wyatt was able to change some things around that have made a huge difference and we have so far been successful at producing a lot of delicious veggies.

Many of the crops that have been grown at the Teller Farm in years past are being grown at our 63rd Street Farm this year. If you attended our farm tour back in June, you probably saw a lot of these crops when they were young. Wyatt decided to grow some of the tomatoes, most of the green beans, and all of the eggplant and peppers at the 63rd Street Farm this year. This photo shows some of the rows of peppers and eggplant which are just starting to produce fruit.

Photo Credit: Robert Wilson

The green beans you will get this week were harvested at 63rd Street.

Photo Credit: Robert Wilson

Purple potatoes AND purple peppers?! Peppers are just for large shares this week but will be coming soon for everyone.

Photo Credit: Robert Wilson

Here is Hannah harvesting some beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the hoop houses. Tomatoes for CSA may be a couple of weeks out, but they will be worth the wait!

Photo credit: Robert Wilson

We have an amazing share for you all this week and there is more great stuff to come. I hope you enjoy it!

Have a great week,

Maddie


Magical Mystery (ahem..Zucchini) Muffins

Posted by Maddie

Week 6 in a row for zucchini? I know, I know. And there’s more where that came from, trust me. But keep in mind, zucchini is one of the most versatile veggies out there. Need more zucchini ideas? Slice it into coins with some of your CSA onions, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill. Slice it into spears or halves and do the same.

And then of course, there are the easy to make, easy to eat and easy to share Zucchini Muffins. I know Mo gave you a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread last week (which was awesome, I hope you tried it) but I thought I’d give you a different take this week for fun. You can use either the zucchini you get this week, if you choose it, or some that you have left over from previous weeks. (Or you can use the zucchini your neighbor put in your car or on your porch while you were sleeping. Or the ones that fell from the sky…you get the idea.)

Here is an awesome, easy recipe for zucchini bread or muffins from the Smitten Kitchen. I have made this twice already this summer and it has been fabulous both times. The key is to share! My coworkers, who are also eating a lot of zucchini right now, really enjoyed these. You can even call them Magical Mystery Muffins if you want.

Magical Mystery (ahem..Zucchini) Muffins
Yield: 2 loaves of bread or approximately 24 muffins

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup olive or vegetable oil
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • 1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners (or grease and flour 2 8×4″ loaf pans).

Grate your zucchini using a box grater, or a food processor if you have one. 2 cups is about half of a big zucchini or a whole medium zucchini. If you have a big one on hand, make a double batch with 24 muffins and 2 loaves of bread and freeze the bread for later. It really freezes well wrapped in plastic wrap a few times, and will be great to have a few months from now when you’re in zucchini withdrawals.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then add to egg mixture.

Pour batter into muffin cups and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

How could you not love these?


Choosing a Watermelon

Posted by Mo

Look at this week’s CSA share.
<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-538" title="Share Week 11" src="https://redwagonfarmboulder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/share-week-11.jpg&quot; alt="" width="640" height="426" /
Just beautiful.
I may weep.

Remember 11 weeks ago when we were explaining the possibility of a drought this year and the problems that go along with drought? We'll it's here. We are in one of the driest, if not the driest summer on record and look what Wyatt and the farm crew can produce.
How lucky are we to have Red Wagon be 'our' farmers? Let's have a big, big round of applause please for their knowledge, experience and commitment to growing fantastic food in some of the most challenging conditions in decades.

This week everyone gets a watermelon. Yea!
We grow several different varieties, all delicious. Big and small, they are all great. Pick one that will fit in your refrigerator. That's the biggest choice you need to make.

People always ask if the watermelons are ready, or if we can pick a ‘good one’. We are very, very careful to pick only ripe and ready melons so you can be assured that any melon you get will be wonderful. But, just for fun I’ll show you how to make sure a watermelon you get from someone else was harvested correctly.
First thing you do is roll the melon over to see it’s ‘tummy’. See the yellow? That is where it has been sitting on the ground in the field. If a melon is all green, pass on it and find one with a yellow ‘tummy’. When you find a yellow one put the melon in one hand and tap the top of the melon with your other hand like Erica is doing here.

Your bottom hand should be able to feel ‘water’ vibrating in the melon. Almost like a water balloon. If it feels dense with no movement, try another one.


Tromboncino Squash and Japanese Eggplant

Posted by Mo

We are bringing a choice of summer squash this week. Tromboncino squash are new this week. They are an Italian squash.

Tromboncino can be picked young as summer squash or left on the vine and picked as a winter squash. We pick them young. They are larger and more dense than the green and yellow zucchini we have been bringing you. I think they taste nutty and I find anything I can do with a winter squash I can do with a Tromboncino, except unlike most winter squash, you can use and eat the peel of the Tromboncino. So try out your favorite winter squash soup or casserole dish with a Tromboncino. I think you will love them. I really do.
They will keep well in the refrigerator a few days longer than zucchini, more like 10 days rather than 6 or 7 for zucchini.

The eggplant you are getting is a Japanese variety. It is more tender and sweet than the large, globe shaped Italian variety you will be getting later this year. Some recipes for eggplant call for salting and letting the salt draw out the bitterness of the eggplant or cooking the eggplant and discarding the peeling. With these small Japanese eggplant you don’t need to do either of those things. Just cook and enjoy them almost like you would a zucchini. There is a slight bitterness in the skin but there are almost no seeds and the inside of the eggplant is creamy and delicious.

Grilling Vegetables

Posted by Mo

I decided to grill my Tromboncino, eggplants, and grilling onions I got this week. While the grill was getting hot I cut the vegetables into roughly the same size pieces so they would grill about the same time. I rubbed them with olive oil and salt and wacked them on the grill.

When vegetables are this good I try to avoid any complicated cooking or additions. The one thing you want to do is grill them until they are truly done. “Crunchy” grilled vegetables are no bueno. We are about half way here.

Done now.

See how the cell walls are collapsed? If the vegetables are firm you aren’t getting the flavor of grilling. Some charring is ok, too. Some of that black is the skin of the eggplant, not burned vegetables.

This made lot of vegetables. I used ½ for one meal and cut up the other ½ to use later in the week to add to some grains for eggs for a quick dinner.

We have some great food this week. Let us know what you do with yours! Have fun.

Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on CSA Newsletter: Week 11 (July 30th, 2012)

CSA Newsletter: Week 10 (July 23rd, 2012)

Posted on July 23, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you beets OR carrots, new purple potatoes, broccoli raab OR turnips, zucchini, cucumbers, grilling onions, basil OR kale OR chard. Large share members will also get tomatoes, garlic, and double potatoes. Fruit share members will get peaches.

In this week’s newsletter:


Guest Submissions

I’ve received a few great newsletter submissions recently, both from CSA members and people who work on the farm. So, I’m sharing ideas from other folks this week in lieu of own weekly post. I really love hearing how everyone adds their own unique flavors to things as basic as beets and carrots. The following two recipes are particularly good for kids…that is, if they don’t gobble up all the carrots on the ride home from pick-up. The last one, from a CSA member named Amy, is a delicious variation on massaged kale salad. Enjoy!

-Maddie

Carrot Puree

Submitted by Connor (Red Wagon employee)

Hey Red Wagon CSA members,

My name is Connor and I have been tending to the irrigation needs at Teller Farm until a recent bout with heat exhaustion put me on the sidelines. But alas, now I can find some time to share with you ways in which I’ve enjoyed our delicious produce.

I enjoy cooking with things that remind me of home. Having grown up in New England, two of my favorites are sharp Vermont white cheddar and maple syrup. One of my favorite ways to prepare carrots, which I picked up from eating at fancy restaurants with my grandparents as a child, is a warm puree.

Ingredients:

  • Carrots, boiled until tender (enough to feed your party)
  • Pure maple syrup, to taste
  • Cinnamon, to taste

Optional

  • Nutmeg, to taste
  • Cayenne pepper, to taste

Simply boil the carrots until they are soft enough to easily stick a fork into, throw them in a food processor and add cinnamon and maple syrup to taste. Nutmeg as well as cayenne pepper also go really well in here. Tread lightly when adding the syrup and the spices so you don’t mask the flavor of the carrots too much. I find our carrots from the farm to be particularly sweet anyway. I prepared this back in June as a side paired with our ripe sugar snap peas for a new take on peas and carrots, but I find this carrot puree to be a very versatile side that goes well with any sort of white fish or chicken. I’ve also used it in burritos with rice and beans in the same fashion that one might use a sweet potato.

Connor


Beet and Carrot Coleslaw

Submitted by Susie (CSA member)

“This beet and carrot coleslaw has been popular with my six year old and pretty simple.”

  • beets (boiled and chilled), diced
  • carrots, diced
  • cabbage, diced
  • apple cider vinegar
  • olive oil
  • honey, optional

Blend diced vegetables with apple cider vinegar and a small amount of olive oil.  We like it on the drier side so for half a head of cabbage I did 4 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of olive oil. I also added a bit of honey to counter the vinegar for the kids.

Also I have found that blending cooked beets with applesauce is a great way to introduce the beets to 1 and 2 year old types.

Susie

Massaged Kale Salad

Submitted by Amy (CSA member)

This is a suggestion I received from Amy a few weeks ago. She said she doesn’t really measure anything. Just use any and all of the ingredients to taste and according to your personal preferences.

  • Kale
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Maple syrup
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Craisins
  • Toasted almonds/sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds

More protein/fiber additions:

  • Avocado
  • Smoked salmon

Massage kale with salt, olive oil and lemon juice. Add maple syrup and red wine vinegar to taste. Toss with craisins and nuts of your choice and top with avocado and/or smoked salmon.

Yum! Thanks Amy.

Construction on Cherryvale Road

If you pick up your share on a day other than Thursday, the following may or may not affect you. Please read on just in case. I also sent this out in an email last week so please forgive the repetition.

We have received a notice from the City that Cherryvale Road will be closed between Arapahoe and Bonai Shalom (our Thursday pick-up location) starting THIS Thursday, July 26th through Sunday, August 12th. This means that everyone picking up their share on Thursday evenings will have to come to Bonai Shalom from Baseline.

NOTE: If you miss your pick-up on any Tuesday OR Thursday between July 26th and August 12th, you will also have to use the alternate route from Baseline to get to Ru and Bob’s house to collect your share.

A helpful tidbit from Erin, Office Administrator at Bonai Shalom:

Old Tale Road will be closed to all motorists. That is the usual Boulderite sneaky way of getting around jams at Cherryvale, but the City/County/State is on to that scheme and they’ll just close it entirely at Arapahoe. Even residents will have to come from the south and snake to their homes on Old Tale the long way. Everyone HAS to come from Baseline. If you normally take Arapahoe, you’ll just have to drive down 75th or 55th to get to Baseline and then get to Cherryvale that way.

Again, I apologize for repeating myself but we want to do everything we can to avoid confusion and make sure that everyone still gets their veggies!

Thanks and have a great week!

-Maddie

Potato Harvest and Storage

Posted by Mo

Potatoes are one of my favorite vegetables to harvest. Really anything that grows underground I love to harvest. It’s like a treasure hunt, unearthing food.

We grow some of our potatoes under plastic mulch. Here are a couple of potato plants at the farm.

Not too exciting huh? When I pull back the plastic you can see the potatoes growing.

I didn’t brush back any dirt before taking that picture, that is how they grow. For some longer season potatoes we ‘hill up’ soil around the potato plants and the plants make lots of potatoes. But ‘early season’ or ‘new’ potatoes don’t get hilled up.

To harvest, I just grab a plant and pull gently and evenly and the whole plant comes out. Thusly.

This is what I harvested from that one plant.

To store your potatoes, you want to put them in a plastic bag and store them in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator. These will keep for a week or two but don’t store as long as late season potatoes. (Late season potatoes need to be stored in a cool place like a garage, but not too cold or the starches turn to sugar.)

I didn’t include a specific recipe for the potatoes this week. I just wanted to say that I really like to show off the color of these potatoes. I like to keep them as whole as possible and dress them very little to show off their gemlike color.

I made a potato salad with olive oil.

I hope you have fun with your purple potatoes this week.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Posted by Mo
adapted from Joy of Baking

  • 1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (not Dutch-processed)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
  • 1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (125 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips and a handful of nuts.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls then mix together. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips, and nuts.

Scrape batter into a greased 9×5 loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

I like to leave my zucchini really big when I bake bread with it. I like to see the vegetables, because then it is good for you, right?


____________________________________________________________________

Easy Broccoli Raab

Posted by Mo

I wanted to show you another way to cook greens. You can use this method for any greens. Collards, kale, broccoli raab, chard…any of the greens you get in your CSA share.

First roughly chop your washed greens.

Then throw those into a hot pan that has oil in it and maybe some garlic too.

This will really steam up and sputter. It cooks down pretty fast.

Pour about a cup of broth or water in the pan and let that simmer until the greens sort of melt.

At this point you can add some beans and serve it over rice for a really quick healthy meal. This is great with eggs and toast too or just a quick side dish. Use your imagination.
Have a great week.

Until next time,

-Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , | Comments Off on CSA Newsletter: Week 10 (July 23rd, 2012)

CSA Newsletter: Week 9 (July 16th, 2012)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you beets OR carrots, green kale OR scarlet turnips, cucumbers, zucchini, scallions, spicy salad mix OR mizuna, and basil OR squash blossoms. Large share members will also get beets AND carrots, broccoli, and arugula. Fruit share members will get apricots AND Rainier cherries.

In this week’s newsletter:


On the Farm

Posted by Maddie

I thought I’d start off this week by sharing a little bit of what’s been happening on the farm. As always, some crops are in full swing while others are just getting started. On Thursday night, we received restaurant orders for 400 squash blossoms. While we all know that the zucchini is booming right now, some of us were doubtful that there were 400 flowers out in the field.

After 20 or 30 minutes, we had reached our total with some blossoms still left on the plants. Squash blossoms were really fun to harvest. Each person collects a bouquet of 25 flowers before we bag them. Don’t they look gorgeous? They’re also super tasty, but more on that to come from Mo.

______________________________________________________________

On Friday afternoon, Eva and I harvested the first of the cherry tomatoes. Lover of tomatoes that I am, I was the first to volunteer to help pick. When we arrived in the rows, it took the two of us about 20 minutes to collect everything that was ready. Needless to say, we won’t have enough to include tomatoes in CSA shares this week, but they will come soon and be around for quite a while.


Calling All Foodies!

Posted by Maddie

When I first started working at Red Wagon back in April, I was surprised to learn how many people got a job on the farm simply because they were really into cooking and eating fresh, yummy food. Of course, this was among my reasons as well. One of my favorite parts of working on the farm and talking with all of our CSA members is sharing ideas about how to cook and eat the food we grow. And I think this blog is one of the best ways to have the conversation.

So, I would like to put out a request for knowledge. We love to share our recipes and cooking tips with you, but we also know that many of you have been eating locally and in season for years and we want to hear from you. One way that you can share your food knowledge is to send me a link to your own blog. If you have a food blog where you write about your weekly CSA share or even the veggies you grow in your garden, don’t be shy! Let us in on it. Only if you’re comfortable sharing, of course.

You may have noticed that I have finally gotten around to adding a Resources page to the blog. I realize it’s pretty skimpy at the moment, having only added a few of my own suggestions. But this is another way that you can impart some of your food knowledge. Please send along a short email with some of your favorite food blogs, cookbooks, or any other resources you love and I’ll add them to our list.

Email any of the above to me at csa@redwagonorganicfarm.com and I’ll be happy to spread the word. Thanks for sharing and have a great week!

-Maddie

A Day in the Life of a Zucchini
Posted by Mo

At the Farm, every year some things work and some things don’t. You don’t always know why, it’s just the way it is. Last year the zucchini sort of puttered along. We had some, but it just got by. This year the plants are gorgeous and pumping out beautiful fruit. These are the plants in Bell field this morning.

When a farmer looks at a crop we want to see even growth. We don’t want to see anything ‘different’. No holes in the plantings, no short or tall plants. The above image shows just what we want to see. Good job Wyatt, Eva, Clay…everyone at Teller.
Look closer and see all the growth at different stages on just one plant.

Can you see the male and the female blossoms in the above picture?
The male blossoms don’t have fruit attached. The females do. We only harvest the male blossoms for zucchini blossoms. You will only get males.

Here is a female blossom getting pollenated by some very happy bees.


Fried and Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

You can eat the blossoms raw in a salad or they are really nice in a quesadilla. Just put it in with the cheese and it will soften with the melted cheese. The blossoms have a sort of ‘condensed’ zucchini flavor, but very mild. The stem is very tasty, so make sure you include that in whatever you make. Some recipes say to discard the stem. Don’t do that.
I made some fried and stuffed blossoms. It really isn’t complicated and it is just delicious. First you will want to remove the stamen before you do anything with your blossoms. The stamens are a little bitter.
This is a male stamen. I just gently tear the blossom and remove the stamen.

You can stuff your blossoms with anything, grains, cheese of any kind, herbs, anything.
I had some goat cheese and basil. So I mixed that up. And stuffed my blossoms.


Get a couple bowls and put a beaten egg in one and some seasoned flour in the other.
Pull the flower around the cheese and dip the blossom in the egg then the flour. You don’t have to be that careful with these. They are really forgiving.  Eva stopped by when I was making these and she can’t eat gluten and I just fried some with cheese and without cheese for her and they were really good. Anyway…
Fry the dipped, stuffed blossom in a hot pan with oil. Make sure you press the stem down in the pan so it cooks.
Turn it over and fry the other side and there you go.

Three or four of those with a salad and some bread and wine makes a great summer dinner.
The blossoms will keep in the refrigerator for several days so don’t feel like you have to make these right away. I kept last week’s blossoms for 6 days in the fridge before I used them and they were fine.


Kale Salad

I love this salad. If you try it let us know how you like it. You could use any of the greens you get this week to make this salad. Mizuna, spicy salad mix, or kale.

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons of shoyu or soy sauce
  • 1 bunch of kale (or any green), chopped with ribs removed
  • ½ to ¾ cup unsweetened large-flaked coconut. If you use small flaked use less coconut
  • Some crushed red pepper (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F
Dump the washed and chopped kale and coconut with the oils and the soy sauce (and crushed red peppers if using) into a bowl.

Make sure you mix the sauce all over the kale and coconut evenly.

Spread the contents of the bowl on a baking sheet and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes until the coconut starts to toast. You might need two baking sheets. Stir the kale once or twice while it’s cooking.

You can eat this as a side dish or I like to add some grains for a meal. I had some leftover jade rice. This is a great make-ahead dish and the leftovers are really good for lunches.

Have a great week.
– Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged , , | Comments Off on CSA Newsletter: Week 9 (July 16th, 2012)

CSA Newsletter: Week 8 (July 9th, 2012)

Posted on July 9, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you broccoli OR cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, grilling onions, garlic, spicy salad mix OR kale, and basil OR squash blossoms. Large share members will receive all regular share items PLUS turnips, spinach, and double cucumbers. Fruit share members will get apricots AND cherries.

In This Week’s Newsletter:


Gratitude

Posted by: Maddie

Working the long and sometimes exhausting hours that we do on the farm, I feel like it is important to step back occasionally and appreciate people and things that make our lives easier. So, I thought I would share with you all a few things I am thankful for this week.

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to two of the many people who have worked selflessly to make your experience as CSA members (and in turn, my job as CSA manager) better. Some of you may know Ru and Bob Wing, who help out with our missed shares on Tuesdays and Thursdays, among other things. Many of you may not know Ru and Bob, but I hope you all get the chance to meet them before the end of the season. Ru and Bob are two of the most kind, caring, and generally wonderful people I have met in my time at Red Wagon. Every week they volunteer their own time, energy, and porch space to ensure that those who can’t make it to their pick-up still have fresh veggies available the next day. And as if that wasn’t enough, they also put in the time to bring any left over veggies to EFAA (the Emergency Family Assistance Association) which provides food and shelter to families in need in our area. Their long-standing presence at Red Wagon has been truly appreciated by me and by countless others. Thank you Ru and Bob!

The second thing that I’m especially thankful for this week, as many of you are I’m sure, is the RAIN, glorious rain! Although the rain can sometimes make it difficult to get everything done on the farm, the benefits it provides to our crops (not to mention our over-heated farm crew) are welcome to say the least. The rumors of continuous wet weather are good news not only for Red Wagon but for the rest of our fire ridden state. Last week we enjoyed the short-lived afternoon showers out on the farm and I hope everyone reveled at least a little bit in the drenching downpours we were blessed with over the weekend. I know I did.

Have a great week and I’ll see everyone at pick-up!

-Maddie


Using What You Get

Posted by: Mo

We are getting into the time of year when it is too hot for salad greens. CSA members start asking, “When will we get lettuce again?” Probably not for a while. Lettuce gets bitter in the heat of summer and trust me, you don’t want it when it’s bitter. Blah. The good news is, you got cabbage last week and again this week. Your cabbage will store for a long, long time in a plastic bag in your fridge; at least a month. Much longer than lettuce.  You can cut off as much cabbage as you need and put it back in the bag for later. When I don’t have lettuce I like to use what is available and in season. Now I would use cabbage and cucumber for anything I would use with lettuce, like tossed salads or on sandwiches. This is one of the best parts of belonging to a CSA, going with the flow and improvising with your food.

Speaking of cucumbers. You will probably get a choice of slicing cucumbers or pickling cucumbers this week. If you haven’t tried eating a pickling cucumber, try them! They are delicious. We do grow them for people to pickle with, but we mostly grow them for eating raw. I love them sliced on sandwiches. Most of us at the farm prefer eating pickling cukes to the salad cukes. Try them and see what you think.

In the spirit of using what you get (or have from last week) I want to share a couple of dishes that can use any combination of vegetables you have on hand.
This is some of what I had left over from last week’s CSA share.


Vegetable Cake  (liberally adapted from several different recipes online)

  • 2 to 3 cups chopped vegetables of any kind
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped herbs (I used rosemary and sage)
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 handful basil, chopped
  •  1 1/2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat, but you can use gluten free or all purpose, any kind really. There are so many eggs in this that it is a forgiving recipe in regards to flour.)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 to 2 cups grated cheese (I used parmesan but any kind of cheese you have would work.)
  • Salt and black pepper to taste, depending on the cheese you use. (Some cheese is pretty salty, so be careful here.)
  • Butter or Pam spray, for greasing pan
  • Sesame seeds, for dusting baking pan

I sautéed my vegetables but you could cook yours however you like. They just need to be cooked and cool before you mix them into the cake batter.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch pan. I sprinkled sesame seeds in my greased pan for crunch and interest. You don’t have to do that, but it’s nice if you do.
Mix the wet ingredients and the dry separately, then mix them together like you would a quick bread or muffin batter. Then fold in the cooled vegetables and the cheese. Put the batter into the prepared pan. I like to put a few onions on top of the batter. Again, you don’t have to do that or you could put a different vegetable on top.

This is what it looks like when it is done. Try this with whatever you have on hand.


Green Soup

This is a recipe/formula that has been going around the blogs on the internet. I had never made it before but I have seen several blogs raving about it. Here is the original Basic Greeb Soup
The recipe calls for chard and spinach but you can substitute any vegetables you have on hand. Broccoli, zucchini, anything you have.
I had some leftover, kind of droopy, chard and kale in my fridge and I was trying to make room for my CSA this week so I decide to try this soup with them.
Look familiar?

The trick to making this soup is to really take your time cooking down the onions. They need to collapse like this. It takes about 30 minutes to get them to this point.

While the onions are cooking, cook the rice in the 3 cups of water.

Dump the chopped vegetables into the cooked rice and water. The recipe says to add 4 cups of stock with the vegetables.  I just added more water and didn’t use stock. It worked fine and tasted great.

I forgot to take a picture of the soup finished, doh. It looked pretty much like this: Anna Thomas Green Soup
I took this to a friend’s house for dinner last night and served it barely warm. It is a nice silky textured soup. I hope you try this with what you have on hand. This is one of those great base recipes to have in your repertoire. I’ll make it again with different vegetables and take a picture.


Kale Chips

Stop me if you have heard this one before.

  • 1 bunch of kale leaves, any kind of kale works. I used curly kale. Rinse, dry, and tear into bite-sized pieces, center ribs and stems removed.
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 300°F. Toss kale with oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Give them lots of room or they will steam and not crisp up.

Bake until crisp, about 20 minutes for flat leaves and up to 30 minutes for wrinkled leaves. Just keep checking. I find that opening the oven a few times during cooking to release the steam really helps to dry the chips.

You can add a little sesame oil or truffle oil for added flavor with the olive oil, or sprinkle the chips with a little parmesan cheese or brewers yeast about 5 minutes before they are fully done.

Before and after.

These need to be fully dried and not soggy or chewy or they are really not tasty. They kind of shatter in your mouth when they are done right. Everyone loves  these, even kale haters. I hope you do too.

Until next week,

Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | Tagged | 3 Comments

CSA Newsletter: Week 7 (July 2nd, 2012)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you beets, zucchini, broccoli OR cauliflower, bok choy OR broccoli raab OR cabbage, kale OR collard greens OR chard, and grilling onions. Large share members will receive all regular share items PLUS arugula and two extra “choice” items. Fruit share members will get cherries AND apricots.

In This Week’s Newsletter:


On the Farm
Posted by: Maddie

As we start to make the climb towards the peak of summer, it’s amazing to see how quickly things change on the farm. Some of our heat-loving crops like zucchini and melons are just getting warmed up, so to speak, while others are finished or winding down for the season. Still others, like the bok choy and broccoli raab, are coming back for round two.

On Wednesday, while doing some weeding in our melon rows, a couple of my co-workers and I noticed a few baby watermelons starting to grow plump on the vines. I remembered with a strange nostalgia the day that I planted some 3,750 melon seeds at our greenhouse, while one of my co-workers planted an innumerable quantity of basil seeds. It’s hard to believe that all those tiny hopeful beginnings have flourished so quickly into the sprawling vines and thriving bushes they are now.

I have been told that at the peak of the season, the farm produces a fairly ludicrous amount of food. I am starting to see the potential for this, particularly in the zucchini rows, which are already littered with specimens too large for happy consumption. Every new crop sends a wave of excitement through the farm and it just keeps getting better. Whether you’ve been a CSA member for years or this is your first season, I hope you are enjoying all the changes as much as the rest of us. Happy 4th and have a great week everyone!

– Maddie


Storing Grilling Onions and Zucchini 

Posted by: Mo

This week I wanted to give you some ideas with minimal cooking but also dishes that you can take to potlucks or picnics since Wednesday is the 4th of July. First though, let’s talk about some of the vegetables in your share.

You are getting grilling onions this week. Grilling onions are fresh onions that are still developing but we picked them young, before the tops bend over. When the tops bend over on onions, that is when you know they are ready to harvest. Storage onions are fully developed when the tops fall over. We then ‘cure’ them by allowing the tops to dry and seal around the bulb of the onion so it stores well.

The grilling onions you get should be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and used within a week to ten days. You can cut off the tops when you store them. Use them as you would any onion but they are really tasty grilled because they are young and mild and very moist. If you use only half an onion use the top half and leave the root half for later. It stores better than the top.

More zucchini! If you grill your onions maybe grill your zucchini too for a nice side dish.
Your zucchini should be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge. Make sure your zucchini is dry before you put it in the bag. It will get slimy if it is moist. It should keep in a bag in the fridge for a week. You can shred and freeze your zucchini and use it for baking.  It will be too mushy for anything other than baking if you freeze it.


Cauliflower
Posted by: Mo

Sometimes cauliflower is a little bitter raw. It usually loses that bitter bite when it is cooked but if you want to eat it raw soak the cauliflower in ice cold water for ½ hour to 1 hour and change the water a couple times. I just do this when I make a raw salad with cauliflower as a habit. Here is a fun salad for kids. It’s one of those recipes that you can sub out anything, or add anything.

Clouds and Trees
*Adapted from “One United Harvest”

  • 1 head of broccoli
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 bunch scallions
  • 1 cup total of mix of nuts, dried fruit, olives, granola, really almost anything your kids like to snack on.

Dressing

  • Scant ½ cup mayonnaise
  • Generous ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 Tbs honey
  • 2 Tbs vinegar
  • Salt and pepper

Trim stems from broccoli and cauliflower, using only the tender florets for the salad. Mix in scallions and any of the add-ins you like. I used dried blueberries, pistachios, and black olives. Mix the dressing and mix the whole thing together. This can be made a day ahead.

My kids liked to have salads served in fancy dishes like this.

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“Baked” (microwaved then broiled) Whole Cauliflower
This is a great, easy, make-ahead dish for a potluck. It’s good at room temperature and travels well.

Core and wash your cauliflower, keeping it whole.

Put the whole cauliflower in a glass pie plate with 2 teaspoons of water, cover with wax paper, and microwave for 7 minutes. How long it will take to cook depends on how big your cauliflower is. Just check it around 5 or 6 minutes. Don’t overcook it or it will fall apart.

While that is cooking, mix:

  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
  • Salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you like

When the cauliflower is done drain off any water out of the pan and spread the crumb mixture on the cauliflower. Broil the cauliflower head until the crumb mixture is brown and crunchy.

This is a great dish for summer. The microwave doesn’t heat up the house and the broiler is only on for a few minutes so it doesn’t get too hot from that either.

Serve the cauliflower on a dish with some dressed greens and let people break off as many florets as they like. This is one of those dishes that people who say they don’t like cauliflower will eat.

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Beet and Watermelon Salad

Posted by: Mo

This is one of my favorite summer salads and it travels well. Our watermelon isn’t ready at the farm yet, but I still thought I would share this with you since we do have beets. I have used mangos instead of watermelon and it’s good that way too.

  • 1 bunch beets, cooked (either roasted or boiled) and cut into small bites
  • Equal amount of watermelon cut the same size

For the dressing, I use:

  • 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ cup neutral oil

>Mix the dressing and pour it over the beets and melon and let that sit for an hour or so.
I like to serve the beets and melon over some bitter, spicy greens and top it with either feta or a blue cheese and some roasted nuts.
Look how shiny the beets get from steeping in the dressing and how the watermelon picks up the red color of the beets.

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I had fun with the vegetables in the share this week. I hope you enjoy them too.
Happy 4th.

-Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | 2 Comments

CSA Newsletter: Week 6 (June 25th, 2012)

Posted on June 25, 2012 by CSA Admin

Hello CSA members!

This week we hope to bring you beets OR carrots, zucchini OR fava beans, cabbage, garlic, scallions, lettuce and basil. Large share members will receive all regular share items plus green curly kale, spinach, and another SURPRISE item! We’ll be taking a break from the fruit share this week.

In This Week’s Newsletter:


Farm Tour Fun and Photos
Posted by: Maddie and Mo

Thanks to all who braved the heat and haze to come tour our farm on 63rd Street yesterday! We had a great time showing everyone around and we hope you enjoyed yourselves, too.

Even our woolly friends had a blast despite the heat. The goats and llamas made a lot of new friends as they feasted on carrots from the hands of our visitors. I’m sure the alpacas – thin, trimmed and cool – were thankful for their recent shearing!

I had a great time taking some of our CSA members on a walking tour. We checked out the vast (and flowering!) potato field, the gorgeous green tomatoes in hoop house, the rows of healthy young eggplants and peppers, and the pumpkin seedlings just starting to emerge. There are so many more exciting veggies on their way!

To everyone who couldn’t make it out yesterday, we hope you can make it to our second farm tour later in the season on September 9th at the farm on Valmont Road.

Mo did some impressive photo-journalism while giving tours on the hay wagon. Check out some of the photos she took yesterday!

-Maddie

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It was great to show you folks around the 63rd Street Farm yesterday.
We had hayride tours.

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Some people opted to take a walking tour. Here Wyatt is showing people around.

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And one of our favorite CSA families enjoying the day.

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After the tour, some of the little ones got to ‘play farmer’ on the tractor.

We are looking forward to the next tour on the other end of summer!

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Zucchini Fritters *includes gluten-free option
Posted by: Mo
Yield: About six 3- or 4-inch fritters

  • 2 medium zucchini
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 2 scallions, split lengthwise and sliced thin
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour *or sub any gluten free flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • Olive or another oil of your choice, for frying

Trim ends off zucchini and grate them either on the large holes of a box grater or, if you have one, using the shredding blade of a food processor.

In a large bowl, toss zucchini with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Wring out the zucchini in one of the following ways: pressing it against the holes of a colander with a wooden spoon to extract the water OR squeezing out small handfuls at a time. You want to get all the water out that you can.

Return deflated mass of zucchini shreds to bowl. Taste it and see if you think it could benefit from more salt (most rinses down the drain). Stir in scallions, egg and some freshly ground black pepper. In a tiny dish, stir together flour and baking powder, then stir the mixture into the zucchini batter.

In a large heavy skillet  (cast iron is good) heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Drop small bunches of the zucchini mixture onto the skillet only a few at a time so they don’t become crowded and lightly nudge them flatter with the back of your spatula. Cook the fritters over moderately high heat until they start to turn brown. The trickiest part of making these is to get them done all the way through. I just keep flipping them and touching the middle until I can feel the middle of the fritter is set.  Until you get the hang of it you might just want to try one and make sure it is set all the way to the middle. Once you know what it feels like you won’t have to do that again.

You can add endless ingredients to these fritters, cheese, hot peppers, herbs, spices. Pretty much anything you like. I topped mine with Greek yogurt.

These fritters keep well chilled in the fridge for a week or so. You can warm them up in the microwave or just eat them cold.

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Chocolate Beet Cake *includes gluten free option
Posted by: Maddie
(Adapted slightly from David Lebovitz’ food blog at http://www.davidlebovitz.com/)

  • 8 ounces beets, unpeeled, rinsed and scrubbed free of dirt
  • 7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup hot espresso (or water)
  • 7 ounces butter, at room temperature, cubed
  • 1 cup flour
 *substitute rice/tapioca flour for gluten free option
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (the darkest you can find, natural or Dutch-process)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 
5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup superfine sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting (optional but scrumptious)

  • 16 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 16 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into 8 pieces
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • pinch of table salt

For the Frosting: 

With stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Baking the Cake: 
Butter an 8- or 8 1/2 inch (20 cm) springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. (Note: I didn’t have a springform pan so I used two 8-inch cake pans instead. Layer cake, anyone?)

Boil the beets in salted water until they’re very tender, about 45 minutes.

Drain and rinse the beets under cold water. When cool enough to handle, you can peel the cooked beets easily by rubbing them on all sides with a dry paper towel.

Cut the beets into chunks and grind them in a food processor until you have a coarse, yet cohesive, puree. (If you don’t have a food processor, use a cheese grater.)
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a large bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring as little as possible. Once it’s nearly all melted, turn off the heat (but leave the bowl over the warm water) and stir in the hot espresso. Then add the butter. Press the butter pieces into the chocolate and allow them to soften without stirring.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a separate bowl.

Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter is melted. Let sit for a few minutes to cool, then stir the egg yolks together and briskly stir them into the melted chocolate mixture. Fold in the beets.

In a stand mixer, or by hand, whip the egg whites until stiff. Gradually fold the sugar into the whipped egg whites with a spatula, then fold them into the melted chocolate mixture. Do not overmix.

Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, reduce the heat of the oven to 325ºF, and bake the cake for 30-40 minutes. The cake is finished when the sides are just set but the center is still is just a bit wobbly. Do not overbake.

Let cake cool completely, then remove it from the pan and frost if you dare!

I promise there are vegetables in there somewhere…. Enjoy!

-Maddie

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“Red Wagon Special” Noodle Salad 

I often make a salad for dinner when it’s hot like it is now. I use whatever vegetables I have on hand.

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I wash them, chop them up and put them in a colander.

I like noodle and pasta salad because it makes a lot, I can use any pasta and any vegetables. And I will have leftovers for lunches. I used some soba noodles today. You can substitute any noodle you like. I made a peanut sauce for this salad. While the noodles were cooking I made this sauce. I am giving the approximate amounts I used of the vegetables for this salad.

Recipe:

  • 1 -12-oz package soba noodles
  • 1/4 peanut butter
  • 1/4 c rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 c soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp minced ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 medium onion, minced
  • 1/2 head cabbage, shredded
  • 3 medium carrots, cut in match sticks
  • green onions, basil, and/or cilantro as garnish (optional)

While the noodles cook, combine peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, and onion with a 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium to low heat until all ingredients are well combined and sauce is thick and bubbly.

When noodles are ready to drain, place cabbage and carrots in the colander.  Pour hot water and noodles over vegetables to drain when the vegetables just start to cook rinse the whole thing with cold water to stop everything from cooking any more.

You can kind of see how the vegetables just barely cooked.

Toss vegetable-noodle mixture with sauce.  Either serve now or chill in the refrigerator to serve later.

I hope you try one of the recipes this week. Until next time.

-Mo

Posted in 2012, Newsletter | 3 Comments