Pick List:
plum tomatoes - cherry tomatoes - heirloom tomatoes - carmen peppers - shishito peppers -
leeks - beets - buttercup squash - kale
KITCHEN CSA:
dilly relish & hot pepper sauce
Writing on a rainy Monday afternoon! Thank you all for your rain dances and other forms of rain praise and wishes. Currently the field crew is huddled in the office together, celebrating Jasper’s birthday, eating Chinese Food and ice-cream cake. Let it be known that one of the HUGE perks of signing on to a season with Edgewater Farm field crew, are the killer birthday parties. Despite all the good-grown food and bumping farmstand kitchen, we as a team resort to pizza or chinese food, and a very special price-chopper bought carvel ice-cream cake come birthdays. This food, “locally sourced” in West Lebanon, somehow really hits the spot when working long hours, 6-7 days a week, and surrounded by fields of tomatoes, peppers, melons, berries, etc… because sometimes, you just want take-out.
After the singing and candles and near food coma, the field-crew then piles on all the rain gear (in case you are ever in the market, go check out Grundens rain suits, field crew tested, heavy duty fishermen approved). They are off to pick plum and cherry tomatoes for the rest of the afternoon because, September.
While I am emotionally far from saying goodbye to sun-filled, hot day, swim season- we are all completely welcoming this cooler weather. For the CSAer, the cooled down temps mean more greens (hallelujah! How i’ve missed you so!). When figuring out the CSA shares week to week, I often consult the weather. If it’s in the 80’s or 90’s during pick or delivery, any greens will melt in a heartbeat (aside from cabbage and bok choy). So i was pumped to see 60’s-70’s for Tuesday and wednesday, enter KALE! However, you will all take issue with this kale. Though it is extremely fresh and delicious and beautiful, it’s got bugs. The aphids have taken over the kale crop and the lady bugs just can’t keep up (lady bugs eat aphids). So, your solution? Wash the kale or eat the bugs.
TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:
This all happens in half an hour in the pan. It’s also a great way to use up leftover, cooked root vegetables, which would make it even quicker. If you are vegan, skip the cheese and eggs and use 3 1/2 ounces/100 g of soaked cashews blended with 1/3 cup/100 ml of cold water in place of the yogurt. 2 leeks
1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil 14 ounces/400 g new potatoes
1 buttercup squash A few fresh chives
A few sprigs of parsley 4 tablespoons crème fraîche or yogurt
1/2 lemon Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
A crumble of Lancashire or cheddar cheese (optional) 4 eggs (optional)
Directions
Fill and boil a kettle of water and get your ingredients together. Put a large nonstick pan over medium heat.
Wash the leeks, then finely shred them and add them to the pan with a little of the coconut oil. Stir every couple of minutes.
While the leeks are cooking, cut the potatoes into 1-cm pieces and put them into a large saucepan. Pour over boiling water from the kettle and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Seed the squash and cut into pieces about the same size as the potatoes. Once the potatoes have had 5 minutes, add the squash to the pan of boiling water for a final 3 minutes of cooking. Once the potatoes and squash have had their time and have softened a little, drain them and leave in the colander to steam-dry a little.
Spoon 3 tablespoons of the leeks into a deep bowl. Turn the heat up under the leek pan, add a little more oil if necessary, then add the potatoes and squash and fry, turning every couple of minutes, but not too often—you want to allow each side enough time to build up a bit of a golden crust.
Chop the herbs and add them to the reserved 3 tablespoons of leeks. Add the crème fraîche or yogurt, the juice of half a lemon, and some salt and pepper, and blend well, using a handheld blender.
Keep turning the hash in the pan until it’s all nicely golden. Now there are a couple of ways you can take it. Keep it like this—it’s delicious as it is. Or crumble a little cheese over and allow it to melt in. Then crack the eggs into the pan, pop a lid on top, and allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
Serve the hash with the leek-and-herb dressing scattered over. Stir it through before you eat.
serves: 4 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Beets:
4-5 beets chopped into chunks 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp grape seed oil
salt and pepper
kale + salad:
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp grape seed oil 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 tsp smoked paprika salt and pepper
handful of pecorino shavings (parm or grana padano would be great too)
Place the beets in a 2 inch deep ceramic or glass dish. Pour the balsamic vinegar and grape seed oil in. SPrinkle the sugar, salt and pepper around the beets. Cover dish with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, stir the beets up a bit and continue to roast, uncovered, for 20 more minutes. They should be quite tender. Remove from the oven and allow dish to cool.
In a small saucepan, place the rinsed quinoa and 1 cup of water. Add a pinch of salt. Place pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is mostly cooked and the little tails start to pop out. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a large soup pot, heat the 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir around until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the quinoa, a splash of water and half of the kale. Stir around until kale begins to wilt a bit. Add the remaining kale, season with salt and pepper and keep stirring. The kale should all be slightly wilted, but still firm. Take off the heat and transfer kale and quinoa mixture to your serving bowl.
Arrange roasted beets on top of the greens and quinoa. Drizzle salad with the balsamic cooking liquid in the pan (there should be about 1/4 cup of it left). Scatter the pecorino shavings on top and serve.