Pick List:
cabbage - blueberries - beets - basil - purple pepper - pickling cucumbers -
summer squash - zucchini - tomatoes - red onion - gold potatoes
I want to reach out to you all about something weighing heavy on my mind these past few weeks… waste. Recently we got a visit from our recycling guy (honestly, i never knew we had a recycling guy, but we do). He opened our dumpster took a look, and right away I knew we were doing something wrong. He then educated us on plastics and what is, and what is not, recyclable… This got me thinking about our little world here farming in the Connecticut River Valley and how we as a farm contribute to the global trash/landfill/garbage island crisis (and yes, I recognize that far more terrible things are happening around the planet right now that deserve the word crisis- but the trash pile up we are producing as a farm and even more-so as a civilization is still an issue).
While we currently use a ton of biodegradable plastics in our field crops for row cover and what not, we are still a farm that uses an abundance of harder-to-break-down plastic pots for our greenhouse retail business. For years these pots were considered recyclable, and we would take pride in that… but the rules have changed. This winter one of my goals is to really hone in on using more biodegradable plastics in that area of our farm. Please if anyone knows more about this subject, email me! jenny@edgewaterfarm.com
How you can help: PLEASE OH PLEASE return your CSA boxes, empty quarts, and pints, egg cartons, etc… We very obviously reuse these items during our CSA pack out. This absolutely helps us cut down on using alternative packaging (like plastics) and currently our used quart supply is running very LOW.
That said we DO use plastics- think of how we divy up our leafy greens, green beans, etc… no we will not take those bags back, but consider giving them a new life somehow- so they won’t go out into this world as single use trash.
On the bright side, we as a farm really care about our environment- and while we are clearly not perfect, we are certainly going to try like hell to navigate our way around and through and ideally above his trash pile. Ok, I’m going to hop off my soap-box now…
And on an extremely bright note, blueberries for all this week!!!
And even more exciting, we have an event this friday night! Join us for our Culinary Medicine Feast Friday, August 3, 2018, 5:00 PM-7:00 PM for details, see our websites “event” page: http://www.edgewaterfarm.com/events/
TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:
NOTES: I could see this barbecue sauce pairing nicely with plenty of different proteins. You could make this on a meal prep day and store it in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to one week. I use metal skewers, but if you don’t have those, you’ll need to soak some wooden skewers ahead of time for this recipe.
BARBECUE SAUCE:
1 cup blueberries 1 small onion, grated with a box grater
1 clove garlic, finely minced 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled + finely minced
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup 1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon gluten-free tamari soy sauce ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
sprinkle of chili flakes (optional) sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
SKEWERS:
1 block of extra firm tofu (350 grams/12 ounces) 1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium-large zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
avocado or other heat-tolerant oil spray sea salt and ground black pepper
Make the blueberry barbecue sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, grated onion, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, tomato paste, tamari, balsamic vinegar, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Set the pot over medium heat and stir. Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer until blueberries are broken down and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Set aside.
Preheat your grill to high.
Drain the tofu and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Thread the tofu cubes, bell pepper, zucchini, peach, and red onion onto your skewers. Don’t overload the skewers! Spray or drizzle the veg and tofu with oil on all sides and season with salt and pepper.
Grill the skewers until light char marks appear on all sides. Then, brush the skewers with about half of the blueberry barbecue sauce. Grill the sauced skewers for another minute or so. Remove the skewers and serve them hot with extra blueberry barbecue sauce on the side.
You can pretty much make linguini from most of the firmer vegetables such as zucchini, pumpkin, carrot, daikon radish and leek. I love zucchini best as it’s porous nature allows it to take on the wonderful flavours that you incorporate with it. Greens such as fresh parsley and basil are full of superfood goodness that is anti-inflammatory to the body. Garlic and black pepper are anti-inflammatory and can stimulate digestion.
ZUCCHINI LINGUINI
1kg zucchini 3 tablespoons basil pesto
BASIL PESTO
1 bunches basil, roughly chopped 1 clove raw garlic
40 g roasted pine nuts 2 – 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Generous amount of ground black pepper Generous pinch of sea salt
15 g Parmesan, grated (optional) 4 tablespoons cold pressed olive oil
ZUCCHINI LINGUINI
Slice the zucchini into linguini using a mandoline.
Place into a large mixing bowl.
Add the pesto and lightly mix in making sure all the zucchini linguini is covered by the pesto. The zucchini will soften slightly and taste amazing.
Serve cold as a salad or continue with the next steps…
Sauté in a pan if you want to devour this warm.
Heat a large pan over a medium heat.
Add half the zucchini (smaller batches work better) and toss through lightly with the spinach until warmed through.
Serve topped with fine grated Parmesan and a few roasted pine nuts then enjoy.
Alternatively top with your choice of inspiration
BASIL PESTO
Combine the parsley, basil and garlic into a food processor or a high performance blender like a Vitamix. The dry jug works very well for this.Process until the herbs have been roughly chopped.
Add the pine nuts, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Parmesan and olive oil.
Process again until your mixture forms a lovely green chunky paste.
Store in a glass jar for up to 1 week in the fridge.