CSA Week #4
There's a real oddball coming in your share this week - kohlrabi! Kohlrabi is in the brassica family so think cabbage, broccoli, radish.... It's texture and taste is similar to the stem of broccoli or salad turnips. You can use the whole plant- greens and bulb. Greens can be used like or with kale and the bulb can be cooked with the greens or is also nice raw. Peel the tough outer layer of the bulb and trim off the greens and you're ready to go. Here are a few recipes ideas:
Kohlrabi and Snap Pea Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette
Trim the stems off the peas and blanch. (Cook for a minute or two in boiling water until bright green. Drain and rinse under cold water. If you don't cool them off fast they will start to turn that yucky color green that usually comes to mind when you think of canned peas.)
Trim and peel kohlrabi. Set aside greens to use later with kale. Cut into thin semi-circles. If you have a mandoline for matchsticks or cuisinart with a grater blade, that would be nice also.
Combine with Peas and toss with a little rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil and mirin. Throw in some sesame seeds and cilantro to top it all off!
Kale and Kohlrabi
Trim the stalks off the kale and and kohlrabi leaves, chop and wash in a salad spinner.
Saute in olive oil, garlic, scallions. When kale is tender season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and chopped kalamata olives.
Pureed Kohlrabi and Mushrooms
- from Farmgirl Fare. Check out this website for lots on gardening, lots of recipes and general farmy stuff.
Chenopods and Coconut
Cheno what? I'm talking about the family of plants that includes, spinach, Swiss chard, amaranth, quinoa, the pesky weed pig weed and more... The greens in this family have high amounts of oxalic acid in them - I won't get into that much right now, perhaps in a different post, but basically have you ever noticed that kind of squeaky, astringent feeling in your mouth after eating lots of spinach? Well the way to mediate that is cooking these greens with dairy - every wonder why cream, butter and cheese go so well with spinach? At our house we've been playing around lately with coconut oil and coconut milk. My new favorite greens recipe is to saute your spinach, chard, etc (yes, even kale, mustard etc.) and add in about 1/3 cup coconut milk when almost tender. Yum. Melt in your mouth greens. Seriously.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
CSA Week #3
Greetings!
I want to recommend a few great cookbooks that are really fantastic for CSA members.
The first is Farmer John's Cookbook from Angelic Organics. We had this for sale at the barn a few years ago when it came out but wanted to mention in again for folks who missed it or are new to the CSA. Angelic Organics is one of the largest CSA farms in the country with more than 1,200 members.
This book has a ton of information about the veggies in your share as well as lots of notes from Farmer John and CSA members.
Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce is put out by the Madison Area CSA Coalition and has just about all you need to know about handling your veggies - many submitted by CSA members. Tons of useful info.
Have a favorite cookbook? Please share in the comments!
Hands down my favorite recipe from the Farmer John's Cookbook:
Broiled Beet Slices with Maple-Teriyaki Sauce
6 medium beets scrubbed, trimmed
1/4 cup butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1Tbsp minces or pressed garlic - scapes, ok too
1 Tbsp finely chopped or grated ginger
1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
Preheat oven to 400. Place beets in a small roasting pan with a 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake beets until beets are easily pierced with a sharp knife - about 45 minutes.
Allow beets to cool slightly, then slip off skins with fingers under cold running water. Slice into 1/4 think rounds. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in maple syrup, ginger, garlic and soy sauce. When ingredients are thoroughly combined take off heat.
Place beets slices in a shallow baking pan and cover with sauce. Place under broiler for about 5-10 minutes.
One more thing for this week: Dandelion greens! We had this in the first week's share and I think a few folks were baffled. This red-ribbed variety of dandelion offers a crisp bitterness to dishes. Our favorite complement to dandelion greens is bacon!
Check out this recipe from Food and Wine: Dandelion Salad with Bacon and Mushrooms
I want to recommend a few great cookbooks that are really fantastic for CSA members.
The first is Farmer John's Cookbook from Angelic Organics. We had this for sale at the barn a few years ago when it came out but wanted to mention in again for folks who missed it or are new to the CSA. Angelic Organics is one of the largest CSA farms in the country with more than 1,200 members.
This book has a ton of information about the veggies in your share as well as lots of notes from Farmer John and CSA members.
Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce is put out by the Madison Area CSA Coalition and has just about all you need to know about handling your veggies - many submitted by CSA members. Tons of useful info.
Have a favorite cookbook? Please share in the comments!
Hands down my favorite recipe from the Farmer John's Cookbook:
Broiled Beet Slices with Maple-Teriyaki Sauce
6 medium beets scrubbed, trimmed
1/4 cup butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1Tbsp minces or pressed garlic - scapes, ok too
1 Tbsp finely chopped or grated ginger
1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
Preheat oven to 400. Place beets in a small roasting pan with a 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake beets until beets are easily pierced with a sharp knife - about 45 minutes.
Allow beets to cool slightly, then slip off skins with fingers under cold running water. Slice into 1/4 think rounds. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in maple syrup, ginger, garlic and soy sauce. When ingredients are thoroughly combined take off heat.
Place beets slices in a shallow baking pan and cover with sauce. Place under broiler for about 5-10 minutes.
One more thing for this week: Dandelion greens! We had this in the first week's share and I think a few folks were baffled. This red-ribbed variety of dandelion offers a crisp bitterness to dishes. Our favorite complement to dandelion greens is bacon!
Check out this recipe from Food and Wine: Dandelion Salad with Bacon and Mushrooms
Sunday, June 10, 2012
CSA Harvest Week #2
Hi there,
Things were a bit rushed last week with getting the CSA started and all and throughout the past week I realized a long list of things I wished I had shared right at the beginning of the CSA. - Mostly about how to handle the share once you get it home. So let's start with what's in the share this week:
kale, head lettuce, radishes, garlic scapes, komatsuna, dill, swiss chard and salad mix
1) identify - In any given week there will tend to be some oddball crops like garlic scapes or komatsuna.
Garlic scapes (green curliques) are the flowering portion of the garlic plant. We trim these so the energy of the plant will go into the root/bulb instead of the flower. Lucky us, they are tasty too, especially when all of last season's garlic is long gone and we have another month or so until the fresh young garlic is harvested. You can chop these up and use just as you would fresh garlic. The flavor is a bit more mild but great for pesto, stir-fries, etc. You can also cut these into about 2 inch lengths and cook them almost like a green bean!
Komatsuna - think bok choy and use as you would any other kind of Asian greens. A nice saute comes to mind as the best use of this type of leafy green. With a little fresh grated ginger, your garlic scapes, a little soy sauce and you're there. Delish.
2) plan- Let me take a tiny minute to talk about meal planning. Sounds boring? Actually this can be a great boon for a busy family and actually gives you a tremendous amount of freedom. That sounds a little counter intuitive, does it? Well try it out and then see what you think. For example, this week you've got 3 types of cooking greens in the share. Fantastic if you are happy eating steamed greens etc. as a side at every meal (than this is not even close to enough greens for the week) but if you aren't used to that is a good idea to have a few standbys in your weekly menu. Where can you plug them in during the week? Stir-fry, as a side, in quiche or with eggs, in pasta. You'll see it is easy to fit them in just about anywhere. Honestly at this early stage in the season it isn't that hard to come up with ways to use up the share. We'll be getting more creative as the bounty increases.
3) clean and storage - You'll want to clean the lettuces well in a salad spinner before you eat them. Yes, you really really need a salad spinner. It will be your nest friend in the kitchen - almost as important as a good knife. We do wash the greens at the farm but this is to get the field dirt and heat off the greens. We don't want to handle tender greens any more than necessary before they get to our members. If you have the chance to do all the washing and storage right when you get the share it'll make the rest of the week a breeze. Also you can wash and take the tops off any root veggies - radishes, beets, carrots, etc. Keeping the greens on will dehydrate your roots and make them limp. Herbs- the best way to keep herbs is to stick them in a glass of water in the fridge with a plastic bag over the top. Wash when ready to use (especially basil!).
If there are seasoned CSA members who have their own tricks to handling the harvest please add them below in the comments.
Enjoy!
Tracy
Things were a bit rushed last week with getting the CSA started and all and throughout the past week I realized a long list of things I wished I had shared right at the beginning of the CSA. - Mostly about how to handle the share once you get it home. So let's start with what's in the share this week:
kale, head lettuce, radishes, garlic scapes, komatsuna, dill, swiss chard and salad mix
1) identify - In any given week there will tend to be some oddball crops like garlic scapes or komatsuna.
Garlic scapes (green curliques) are the flowering portion of the garlic plant. We trim these so the energy of the plant will go into the root/bulb instead of the flower. Lucky us, they are tasty too, especially when all of last season's garlic is long gone and we have another month or so until the fresh young garlic is harvested. You can chop these up and use just as you would fresh garlic. The flavor is a bit more mild but great for pesto, stir-fries, etc. You can also cut these into about 2 inch lengths and cook them almost like a green bean!
Komatsuna - think bok choy and use as you would any other kind of Asian greens. A nice saute comes to mind as the best use of this type of leafy green. With a little fresh grated ginger, your garlic scapes, a little soy sauce and you're there. Delish.
2) plan- Let me take a tiny minute to talk about meal planning. Sounds boring? Actually this can be a great boon for a busy family and actually gives you a tremendous amount of freedom. That sounds a little counter intuitive, does it? Well try it out and then see what you think. For example, this week you've got 3 types of cooking greens in the share. Fantastic if you are happy eating steamed greens etc. as a side at every meal (than this is not even close to enough greens for the week) but if you aren't used to that is a good idea to have a few standbys in your weekly menu. Where can you plug them in during the week? Stir-fry, as a side, in quiche or with eggs, in pasta. You'll see it is easy to fit them in just about anywhere. Honestly at this early stage in the season it isn't that hard to come up with ways to use up the share. We'll be getting more creative as the bounty increases.
3) clean and storage - You'll want to clean the lettuces well in a salad spinner before you eat them. Yes, you really really need a salad spinner. It will be your nest friend in the kitchen - almost as important as a good knife. We do wash the greens at the farm but this is to get the field dirt and heat off the greens. We don't want to handle tender greens any more than necessary before they get to our members. If you have the chance to do all the washing and storage right when you get the share it'll make the rest of the week a breeze. Also you can wash and take the tops off any root veggies - radishes, beets, carrots, etc. Keeping the greens on will dehydrate your roots and make them limp. Herbs- the best way to keep herbs is to stick them in a glass of water in the fridge with a plastic bag over the top. Wash when ready to use (especially basil!).
If there are seasoned CSA members who have their own tricks to handling the harvest please add them below in the comments.
Enjoy!
Tracy
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Welcome!
Hi there and welcome to our new recipe blog from Chubby Bunny Farm, sometimes affectionately called, "the bunny".
Since this is a new addition to our cyberlife there may be a few changes in the next few weeks as we play around with it a little. Basically this is the place where we tell you what's on our dinner table and how we prepare the veg that are in the weekly CSA share. So with out further adieu, let's go!
Radish, Avocado and Orange Salad
I know this isn't exactly local for us here in the Northeast but lately we really can't get enough avocados. And honestly now that we are starting to see strawberries and rhubarb coming in (sadly we don't grow rhubarb) it is just about time to say goodbye to oranges. But this is so tasty I'm including it.
1 bunch radishes, quartered
2 avocados, diced
1 - 2 oranges, sectioned and chopped
a few garlic scapes, finely chopped
a bunch of cilantro, chopped
as many chopped scallions as you like
Throw this in a bowl and toss with lime juice and olive oil, salt and pepper. Eat this by itself, with greens, as a kind of salsa on baked fish.... Delicious!
Eggs and Greens
This is a favorite dish of ours - very delicious and great for any meal of the day.
1 bunch/bag of spinach/chard/kale etc. Cooked lightly for spinach, a little bit more for chard and still more for kale.
So you're cooking greens in what ever method you prefer - steam, saute with onions or garlic, scallions or garlic scapes... you get the picture. Then crack a few eggs on top and cover until cooked. Another option is to separately poach an egg or two and pop them on top. Grate on some cheese of your choice, hot sauce, salsa, fresh herbs or whatever you like. Personally, I'm a sucker for a fantastic chutney.
As you can see the recipes posted here are not quite exact, rather ideas that can be stepping off points for your own desires. If you need a specific skill in the kitchen or precise amounts you can use a number of great website listed under the links.
Enjoy!
Tracy
Since this is a new addition to our cyberlife there may be a few changes in the next few weeks as we play around with it a little. Basically this is the place where we tell you what's on our dinner table and how we prepare the veg that are in the weekly CSA share. So with out further adieu, let's go!
Radish, Avocado and Orange Salad
I know this isn't exactly local for us here in the Northeast but lately we really can't get enough avocados. And honestly now that we are starting to see strawberries and rhubarb coming in (sadly we don't grow rhubarb) it is just about time to say goodbye to oranges. But this is so tasty I'm including it.
1 bunch radishes, quartered
2 avocados, diced
1 - 2 oranges, sectioned and chopped
a few garlic scapes, finely chopped
a bunch of cilantro, chopped
as many chopped scallions as you like
Throw this in a bowl and toss with lime juice and olive oil, salt and pepper. Eat this by itself, with greens, as a kind of salsa on baked fish.... Delicious!
Eggs and Greens
This is a favorite dish of ours - very delicious and great for any meal of the day.
1 bunch/bag of spinach/chard/kale etc. Cooked lightly for spinach, a little bit more for chard and still more for kale.
So you're cooking greens in what ever method you prefer - steam, saute with onions or garlic, scallions or garlic scapes... you get the picture. Then crack a few eggs on top and cover until cooked. Another option is to separately poach an egg or two and pop them on top. Grate on some cheese of your choice, hot sauce, salsa, fresh herbs or whatever you like. Personally, I'm a sucker for a fantastic chutney.
As you can see the recipes posted here are not quite exact, rather ideas that can be stepping off points for your own desires. If you need a specific skill in the kitchen or precise amounts you can use a number of great website listed under the links.
Enjoy!
Tracy
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