Week 4:
What happened to the rain? It’s been pretty miserable for all the vegetables, but the weeds love this hot, dry weather! Most of the garden is irrigated and the irrigation has been running non-stop since Sunday. I got a lot planted this past weekend. I hope it can survive this heat wave. Again, if anyone can spare an hour or two, there is a lot of weeding to be done. A few members will be volunteering early Sunday morning, starting at 7:30. We would love to have you join us.
In your share this week you will find:
Cucumbers I grow several varieties, and they are at their peak right now. I love cucumber salad made with vinegar and a little sugar. Slice the cucumbers thin (peeled or not), add a little onion, and salt them. Place them in a colander for about an hour and let them drain. Rinse and press or squeeze out the water. Make a dressing with vinegar, (I like rice wine vinegar) and a little sugar to taste. Toss the cucumber slices with the dressing, add a little diced hot pepper if you like it spicy. The amount of vinegar depends on how much cucumber you are using. Start with a tablespoon and add more if needed.
Carrots Kinko or Napoli are in your share. The Kinko are the short, stubby ones. These grew very nicely in some raised boxes that I filled with compost and soil.
Potatoes These are new, red potatoes, just dug Tuesday evening. (Thank you, Rick) They are not washed and are very thin skinned. I don’t wash potatoes because they last longer. Fresh dug potatoes are my favorite vegetable, there’s nothing like them. Below is a recipe courtesy of Michael Ruhlman, who writes a food blog I read. www.ruhlman.com These are his comments included in the recipe. I used parsley instead of tarragon.
Spring Potatoes with Tarragon and Chives
I love this technique for new potatoes. It takes advantage of the fresh herbs that are now in full bloom and can be made up to an hour before serving (gently reheat, serve warm, not piping hot). I believe it’s important to cook potatoes gently, so poach rather than boil (unless you’ve got hungry kids giving you the evil eye, in which case, boil away).
1 pound beautiful potatoes (any variety of thin-skinned potato)
2 ounce butter or to taste
plenty of salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh, lightly chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon minced chives http://ruhlman.com/
olive oil to taste (optional)
Cover the potatoes with water and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium low; water can be at an infrequent bubble (just avoid rolling boil that knocks them around), 20-30 minutes.
When they’re tender (pierce with a knife, take one out and cut it and taste it if you’re unsure), strain them, allow them to cool till you can handle them and peel them (again, if you’re in a hurry, you don’t have to peel, they’re just better if you do). Cut them as desired.
Melt the butter in the same pan you cooked the potatoes in, add the salt and pepper, swirl, add the potatoes, stir gently to coat with butter, add the tarragon and chives, and stir to distribute the herbs. Taste. Add a tablespoon of very flavorful olive oil if desired, more salt if needed. Cover until ready to serve. Gently reheat if you want.
Onions These are young bulbing onions, also known as spring onions. Use them as you would dried, cured onions. You can even use the tops, like green onions.
Swiss Chard This is a green like spinach, with a little stronger taste. It is related to beets and has a similar taste. The leaves and the ribs can be eaten, but the ribs take longer to cook than the greens. Here is my favorite way to enjoy Swiss chard:
Creamed Swiss Chard With Prosciutto
This recipe is one of my sister’s favorites. You can use prosciutto, pancetta, or bacon. They all work great.
2 T. olive oil
¼ cup diced prosciutto
¼ cup minced yellow onion
1 T. minced garlic
8 cups chopped Swiss chard leaves (you can use the stems also, separate them from the leaves and cook the stems first, then add the leaves)
1/3 heavy cream
Salt and pepper as needed
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ t. grated nutmeg
Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the prosciutto and sauté until aromatic, about 1 minute. Increase the heat to high and add the onion and garlic. Saute, stirring constantly, until the garlic is aromatic, about 1 minute more.
Add the Swiss chard, sautéing just until the leaves wilt, about five minutes. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Cook the Swiss chard until it is tender, about 5 minutes.
Season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan and nutmeg. Serve immediately in a heated bowl or on heated plates.
Beets Chioggia and red beets are in your bunch. The Chioggia are also called Candy Stripe Beets. I thought I didn’t like beets until I tried baking them. Wrap the beets in a foil pouch and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour. Smaller beets will take less time, and larger ones may take more. When they are tender, remove from the oven and let cool until you can handle them. Peel, slice or cut up the way you like. Toss with olive oil, any vinegar you like, and salt and pepper. Wonderful salad! The roots will store longer than the greens, so remove the greens and store separately. The greens can be sauted just like the Swiss chard, or add them to the chard recipe.
Zucchini It keeps on growing!
Parsley and Chives Use these in the potato recipe!
WEEK 5:
I have been pickling many vegetables this year. Asparagus, cauliflower, and now cucumbers. Many vegetables can be preserved by pickling and my goal is to try as many as I can. The asparagus was a success. The cauliflower and pickling cucumbers need to age a bit before trying them. In your share this week you have a lot of cucumbers! Make some cucumber salad (recipe in last week’s newsletter). It is very refreshing on a hot day. Or make shareholder Pat Brannon’s refrigerator pickles. The recipe is in the newsletter. Not all of you got pickling cucumbers. They are the short, fat ones. I put enough in your share, if you got them, to make the refrigerator pickles or another one, if you like. If you didn’t get pickling cucumbers, then you got shelling peas. The peas are just starting to ripen, there will be more later if the heat doesn’t reduce their flowering.
Cucumbers Slicing and/or pickling cucumbers.
Zucchini/Summer Squash Here is a link to a blog I read, “Well Preserved” by Eugenia Bone, who writes for the Denver Post. http://blogs.denverpost.com/preserved/2010/07/13/what-to-do-with-all-that-zucchini/ She has some very good ideas for using all the zucchini. Eugenia has also written a book “Well Preserved” that I purchased and have tried her recipes for pickled asparagus and cauliflower. I particularly want to try the zucchini fritters she mentions in the blog. Many people may wonder why there is so much zucchini sometimes. The trouble with growing zucchini is you can have a bad year (like I did last year) and then there is very little. So, we farmers plant more, and then a good year comes along and we are overrun with the stuff!
Red Cabbage The heads of cabbage got huge with all the rain. I love braised red cabbage and have included a recipe in the newsletter.
Lettuce Two varieties this week, Green Ice and Red Fire
Red Onions These are young onions before they are fully developed. Use like regular cured or dried onions, but they must be stored in the refrigerator. Use the green part just like green onions.
Shelling Peas Just a few of you received a pound of shelling peas. These are great lightly steamed and tossed with butter and any herbs you have on hand.
Dill Add to potato salad or boiled potatoes, a salad, or your favorite pickle recipe!
Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickles
7 cups thinly sliced cucumber
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 cup thinly sliced green pepper
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons pickling salt and ½ tsp. celery seed over the sliced vegetables
Mix together 1 cup white vinegar and 2 cups sugar (I cut the sugar)
Pour over and mix through.
Put in a large container or bowl in the refrigerator and stir once daily for three days, then enjoy! Store in smaller containers or freeze. Make sure you leave a little headroom in the freezer container for expansion.
This recipe came from a German friend, Gertrude. I watched her make it and took notes. She does not have a written recipe for this. She’s made it so many times (she is in her eighty’s), that she knows it by heart. All measurements are approximate. She couldn’t give me exact quantities. She said it depends on the cabbage, the weather, and your mood I guess!
Braised Red Cabbage
Quarter and core a medium head of red cabbage. Slice it as thin as you can. Toss with 1 tsp. salt and let stand in a colander over a bowl for a minimum of one hour or up to 4 hours, until the cabbage wilts. Chop an onion and sauté it in 1 Tbsp. of oil until wilted. Add the cabbage, salt & pepper, and toss to combine. Simmer the cabbage on low heat, covered, about 30 minutes, or until tender. Add water, 1 Tbsp. at a time if needed. Add about 3 Tbsp. of cider vinegar, more or less to taste, and simmer another 30 minutes. Taste and add more vinegar if desired. Add about 1 Tbsp. of flour to bind all together, and more water if too dry. Continue simmering until tender if needed.
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