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Category: 2017

  • Beet Tzatziki

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    I had never heard of beet taztziki, I thought all taztziki was cucumber based. I was at a friends house this weekend and this beet taztziki was in the center of the pre-meal snack table. Look at that color! I love everything about this dish. It is beautiful, it can be a snack a salad, a side dish for any grilled meat or fish,  a filling for a wrap or pita, or a spread for a nice vegetable sandwich, AND it is so easy-fast-healthy.

    My friend who made the taztziki at the party is a member of Isabelle Farm CSA and they send out recipes and this was included.

    I adapted it just a little bit from the Isabelle Farm recipe.

    Here is what you need;

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    Beet Taztziki

    3 beets roasted or steamed. Use red or Chioggia for the pretty red/pink. You could use golden beets and have a lovely gold taztziki too. I wouldn’t mix them though.

    2 garlic cloves crushed

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    Juice from 1/2 a lemon and the zest of 1/2 the lemon

    2 cups thick low-fat Greek style yogurt

    Black pepper to taste

    A splash of olive oil

    2 or 3 tablespoon finely chopped dill

    Grate the roasted beets on the large holes of a grater.

    Smash the garlic with the the side of a chef knife and mix in the salt.

    Add the lemon juice and zest, beets, dill, olive oil, and yogurt and stir.

    Add back pepper to taste, and adjust salt and more dill of you like.

    I served mine last night more as a salad. I used the red Romaine lettuce we got in our CSA share and made little boats out of the leaves. We just picked up the leaves and ate them like lettuce wraps, or tacos.

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    Tzatziki will last in the refrigerator for a week.

    I am so grateful for Wyatt and all the Farm Crew, for their work and passion for growing and bringing us beautiful, delicious food.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • CSA Calzones and Pizza-again.

    I know I just posted a chard pizza a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s too soon to post another pizza blog? This will be the last one for a while. I promise. In my defense, pizza is a quick easy summer meal and it is a perfect vehicle for all the beautiful vegetables we get, like the zucchini and zucchini blossoms in this weeks share. I made some pizzas and calzones with them and took a few pictures to maybe inspire some meals for you.

    For the filling for the calzones I used the onions and parsley we got too, oh and some beet greens.

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    I sauteed all that in olive oil and salt and pepper until they were just tender. Then I mixed up the parsley with some ricotta and Parmesan cheese. I don’t measure anything. I just mix what I have up.

    I then rolled out some pizza dough in an oblong shape and piled the vegetables and cheese parsley mixture on half and pulled the other half over the filling and make some slits in the top of the dough to let the steam escape.

    My oven was about 450 degrees and it cooked in about 25 minutes.

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    And it was delicious.

    For the zucchini blossom pizza, I just threw some zucchini blossoms on a pizza with some cheese. In hindsight I wish I stuffed the blossoms with some of the ricotta mix and then put them on the pizza. Oh well. Next time.

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    There will be a next time too, I’m sure.

    Hope everyone is enjoying the summer vegetables. Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • CSA Week 9

    Here is our tentative list of what we **hope** to bring you this coming week of CSA.

    Regular Share
    Cabbage
    Grilling Onions
    Carrots
    CHOICE: Beets OR Kohlrabi
    Zucchini
    Salanova Head Lettuce
    CHOICE: Squash Blossoms OR Basil OR Parsley OR Fennel

    Large Share Additions
    New Potatoes
    Two Choices Squash Blossoms OR Basil OR Parsley OR Fennel

  • CSA Week 8

    Here is our tentative list of what we **hope** to bring you this coming week.

    Baby Fennel

    Regular Share
    Zucchini
    CHOICE: Basil OR Parsley
    CHOICE: Grilling Onions OR Fennel
    CHOICE: Beets OR Kohlrabi
    CHOICE: Kale OR Collard Greens OR Swiss Chard
    CHOICE: Salanova Heads OR Bok Choi OR Romaine Lettuce Headsd

    Large Share Additions
    Beets AND Kohlrabi
    Basil AND Parsley

  • Chopped Salad with Romaine and Bok Choy

    I have probably made this salad 5 or 6 times in the last few months. This has become my go-to salad for family dinners and potlucks. It is substantial enough for a main dish but is great as a side dish too. I love me some leftovers and this salad is great the next day.

    I follow the original recipe here  pretty much to the letter, except the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce and radicchio. I use what I have, but I always use one lettuce and one more substantial green. This time I had some Romaine lettuce and Bok Choy.  I’ve made it with kale and chard, or Romaine and arugula.

    The vinaigrette is really simple. This makes more than you will probably need for the salad, but it will keep so go ahead and make it all, you will find a use for it.

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    You chop up all the ingredients into bite size pieces so every forkful has little bit of all the chopped up goodness. It’s like a delicious submarine sandwich without the bun.

    Those pepperoncini peppers are super delicious, but you can sub any pickle or pickled peppers you have, just make sure you use some sort of pickle. Olives are good, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, eggs… I can’t think of much that wouldn’t be good in this salad.

    Now add about 1/2 the vinaigrette  and toss, toss, toss. You want to get every single bit coated with the dressing.

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    Look at that. See how every bite has a little bit of everything in it?

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    Oh, avocados are good too. Looking at that I wish I had an avocado.

    Have a great week. See some of you at the Red Wagon Farm pickup tonight.

    Mo

     

  • CSA Week 7

    Here is our tentative list of what we **hope** to bring you this coming week.

    Beets

    Regular Share
    Beets
    Kohlrabi
    Young Garlic
    Salanova Lettuce Mix
    CHOICE: Fennel OR Radishes OR Parsley OR Basil
    CHOICE: Bok Choi OR Kale Or Collard Greens OR Swiss Chard

    Large Share Additions
    TWO CHOICES: Bok Choi OR Kale Or Collard Greens OR Swiss Chard
    TWO CHOICES: Fennel OR Radishes OR Parsley OR Basil
    Zucchini

  • Storing Lettuce and Bagged Greens

    We get lots of greens here at Red Wagon CSA (yay!) so I thought I would show people how I store my lettuce and cut greens for maximum freshness and ease of use.

    We weigh, bag, and seal the lettuce or greens right before you pickup your CSA share. Everything is harvested, rinsed off in the wash station at the farm and packed loose in the big white coolers each and every day. We set up the tent and tables at the CSA pickup, then start bagging lettuce and greens. We weigh each bag so each is portioned exactly. Then we seal the bags with the red ties.

    You can store the greens in the sealed bag you get them in from us if you like, but remember; you still need to wash everything before you eat it. Greens will last at least 4 or 5 days stored as is.

    I like to have my greens ready to eat, so I wash and dry them right when I get home so they are ready to cook or eat for meals during the week. I find they last a little longer too, at least a week and maybe a little longer if I take this extra step.

    I carefully snip the little red tape that seals the bag. I reuse the bag for cut greens like baby kale and spinach. That is why I don’t just rip into the bags. I like to store my lettuce and arugula in a salad spinner. I only have one salad spinner. If I had more I would use it to store more of the greens.

    I wash the greens or lettuce and drain it and give them a good spin to really get them good and dry.

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    I just store the washed and dried lettuce in the salad spinner and it is clean and ready to eat and keeps for at least a week like this.

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    I wash and spin all the greens I get, then I dry out the bag if I I am reusing it. I use a paper towel to dry it, and then I fold up the paper towel and leave that in the bag. The paper towel keeps the moisture in the bag even, so you don’t get those weird slimy leaves that make the whole bag go bad.

    Now my lettuce and greens are clean and easy to grab and use.

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    It just takes a few minutes to do and I find I and more inclined to use the produce if it is ready to eat.

    I hope this is helpful.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • CSA Week 6

    Here is our tentative list of what we **hope** to bring you this coming week.

    Kohlrabi

    Regular Share
    Herb Choice
    Young Garlic
    Peas: NOTE: the variety will depend on availability
    Beets
    CHOICE: Salanova Heads OR Romaine Heads OR Spinach
    CHOICE: Kale OR Swiss Chard OR Collard Greens OR Bok Choi
    CHOICE: Kohlrabi OR Hakurei Turnips

    Large Share Additions
    Two Other Items

  • Green pancakes

    These are some hardy savory pancakes packed with lots of greens. I really like this dish because it is really simple and quick to put together. You can make the batter early in the day, or even the day before and have a quick satisfying brunch or dinner in  no time.

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    Here’s how you make them.

    Green Pancakes

    You’ll need;
    1 cup all­ purpose flour
    1 teaspoon  of salt and few cranks of fresh pepper
    4 eggs
    1 garlic clove chopped or equivalent of green garlic or garlic scapes
    2 tablespoons dry white wine (optional I used vermouth)
    1/2 cup milk (or unflavored, unsweetened nondairy milk)
    a bunch of Swiss chard leaves or spinach or kale, finely chopped really chopped!
    Olive oil for cooking

    To make;

    In a medium bowl, combine the flour salt and pepper. In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients, then combine wet with dry. Cover and refrigerate the batter for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
    When ready to cook, remove the bowl from the fridge and mix in the chopped greens.

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    In a heavy skillet, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the batter to the hot skillet for each pancake.

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    Cook until the edges are set, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 to 4 more
    minutes, take your time and go slow with the heat so the pancakes cook through.

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    This makes about 10 or 12 pancakes.

    You can serve them with yogurt or sour cream or some of that cashew aioli  we made last week, that is what I used.

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    These make great leftovers too and are good cold or reheated. I hope you try these.

    Mo

     

  • Chard Pizza

    IMG_0094Friday nights are often pizza nights here. I like to clean out the refrigerator vegetable and cheese drawer and throw whatever I find on the pizza. This Friday I had some chard, so I made a couple of chard pizzas and boy were they good. I took a couple pictures to share here, and maybe inspire you to do something a little different with your CSA  greens and maybe make a chard or kale or spinach pizza.

     

    I usually make my dough, but sometimes I’ll buy the dough from the store. I stretched out the dough, and I shredded about 1/2 a bunch of chard and mixed that with some cheese and a little drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Then I tossed it in a bowl.

    Then I put it on my dough.IMG_0091

    And baked it. I could have used more chard. I will use about twice as much next time.

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    The second pizza I left the chard leaves whole and rubbed a little olive oil on them and I used fresh mozzarella (and pepperoni on 1/2 the pizza).

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    I liked the second pizza best, with the whole chard leaves.

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    I think anything we get in our CSA share would be great on a pizza I could have put lots more vegetables on and I will next time.

    Have a great week.

    Mo