CSA Newsletter – Week 3 – June 29, 2016
Welcome to week 3! As you can see, the boxes get a little more interesting each week. Hopefully you are able to utilize everything in your box. Remember to eat up the leafy greens and fresh herbs sooner. Potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, etc hold for quite a long time. Soups, stir fries, casseroles, and quiche are all great ways to use up the last remnants of your share just before the next delivery.
MOST RECIPES ARE MERELY A GUIDE: Sometimes you will find a great recipe but don’t always have enough of something to make the full recipe. Sharpen those math skills and figure out how to make a smaller batch. Play around with substituting one ingredient for another. I rarely follow recipes to the letter (except for baking-there you are messing with chemistry and physics). I swap stuff out all the time. It usually works out. At least I haven’t had to compost anything!
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
Carrots
Beets or fennel
Cabbage or kohlrabi
Chard or snap peas
Dill, cilantro, or parsley
Shell peas
Snow peas
Potatoes-Red Thumb
Scallions
Sweet onion
Garlic
Zucchini-half of you (the rest will get it next week)
Red leaf lettuce
Lovelock lettuce-large shares only
From left to right: snap, snow, shell
Swiss Chard
ELABORATION OF BOX CONTENT:
Peas: A lot of folks are confused about the difference between snap peas and shell peas. Snaps can be eaten pod and all, as the pod is sweet, juicy, and not at all fibrous. Shell peas must be “shelled” to reveal the sweet peas inside. The pods are quite tough. One bite of each and you will know who is who. Some people cook snap peas, but most prefer them raw in green salads and pasta salads. Shell peas can be eaten raw (my favorite way) or lightly steamed. New potatoes and shell peas are a classic spring combo. Drizzle a little butter over that and heave a sigh of contentment.
Chard:(see photo) Chard is a cousin to beets, one being bred for bulbous roots, and the other for lush foliage. You can eat the ribs as well, just cook them about 5 minutes longer than the leaves. The flavor is robust and earthy-not at all bitter or spicy. Try these Chard Recipes.
Zucchini:There is finally enough to pass out to half of you. The rest of you will get it next week. We are still seeing the effects of the hail 2 weeks ago. Please excuse the mild surface damage.
Red Thumb Potatoes: We couldn’t get our favorite French Fingerling seed potato and this was the next best thing. They are waxy and delicate and are perfect for oven roasting, steaming, or added to a pot roast. Or try this French Potato Salad with mustard vinaigrette.
Herbs: I made an amazing cilantro pesto the other night by blending almonds, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice, and salt. Parmesan would have made it even better. We used it with our stir fry and rice and then I put the rest on a sandwich the next day instead of mayo. I might have to always have some on hand. It was so good! Dill and parsley are both a perfect addition to steamed new potatoes. Sprinkle chopped, uncooked herbs over the cooked potatoes.
TODAY’S RANDOM FARM FACT: Today the crew finished weeding the onions-all 22 beds (each bed is 300 feet long). If we had planted all the onions in a single line, it would stretch nearly 4 miles. That’s a lot of onions!
Enjoy your veggies!
Jen, Jim, and the Rising River Farm Crew