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Tag: Kale

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

    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.

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    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@redwagonfarmboulder.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

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

    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