Posted on August 5, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2015 CSA week 10 August 5th
In The Box
1 bag butter lettuce lettuce
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch scallion
1 bunch fennel
1 bunch Italian parsley
2 pints blueberries
eggplant or tomatoes
cucumber OR zucchini OR melon
Hello,
Sometimes I feel like the worker bee drone. Maintaining and supplying the hive a single fixated goal day in and day out. No thought of anything but the task at hand…rinse and repeat. Focused on the seasonal ledger of successes and failures and striving to keep it in the black. Trying to assess the season midway is a dangerous game, too many intangibles played and to be played out yet to give an accurate score. So we try to be like that little bee, trying not to be overwhelmed by the singularly massive task of getting all that pollen while knowing that we’ll get to the middle of the flower sooner or later. (I am a little jealous of this little guy, looks like he’s taking a nap!?!)
The baby fennel in your box today is an zefa fino Italian type known for its subtle anise flavor. Baby fennel is prized among our chef customers due to the more subtle flavor and tenderness than large bulbed fennel.
Fennel is a popular as a vegetable in Italy, it can be thinly sliced and eaten plain or as part of a vegetable platter. It is often served with just salt and olive oil as a simple appetizer or salad course. It can be chopped up into salad as celery, and indeed used almost anywhere celery is used. I once saw it added to chili -it was delicious. It was a popular herb in the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans. A recipe from Columella, a Spaniard who served in the Roman army in Syria in AD 60: “Mix fennel with toasted sesame, anise, and cumin then mix that with pureed dried fig and wrap in fig leaves and then store in jars to preserve.” (From Spencers The Vegetable Book)
Fennel is high is vitamins A and E, calcium and potassium. Fennel and ginger make a good digestive tea. (Steep the fresh leaves with a bit of sliced ginger for 5 minutes in boiling water.)
SOME IDEAS from The Victory Garden Cookbook
-
Sprinkle chopped fennel leaves on hot baked oysters or clams.
Add cooked fennel to omelets, quiches, stuffings or sauces.
Add stalks to stocks for their flavor.
Add sliced sauteed fennel to fish chowders.
Cook fennel in your favorite tomato sauce
Place stalks and leaves on barbeque coals as they do in France. The fennel scent permeates the grilled food.
Slice steamed or blanched fennel, cover with a vinaigrette and serve chilled.
Chop raw fennel and add to tuna fish sandwiches.
Slice fennel thin and layer with raw potatoes, cream and cheese to make a potato au gratin.
Some of you got Italian Eggplant, some Japanese eggplant and some the few tomatoes that didn’t boil on the vine in the last heatwave (argh!) The Italian eggplant is Imperial Black Beauty an open pollinated heirloom often referred to as ‘the mother of all Italian eggplants’ delicious grilled, sauteed or roasted and pureed with goat cheese!
Enjoy,
Dave
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Posted on July 29, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2015 CSA week 9 July 29th
In The Box
1 bag baby head lettuce
1 bunch carrots
2 lbs red tomato
1 walla walla onion
1 bunch basil
2 pints blueberries
1 pint cherry tomatoes
cucumber OR zucchini
Hello,
Sometimes I wonder why we even make a plan. The uncontrollable variables inherent to our work always seem to get in the way and the days streak off on their own trajectory. The Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka proposes in his book ‘One Straw Revolution’ something akin to a system whereby you simply cast your seeds to the wind and what grows is what is meant to be. (I don’t think he has a mortgage.) Then there are days, like today when everything seems to fall into place and the plan comes together. The tractors start when needed, the irrigation pump works first time and the crew seems to know where to be even before I do. There is an eeriness to it. The sense that something is about to go wrong, I just don’t know what. And then it doesn’t, it all works and all you can do is smile an almost giddy smile. Everything that needed to happen, happened. Hey, there’s always tomorrow. Things are finally starting to feel like they are returning to normal, the routine of the season finding its footing and taking hold. The crew, new hires and returning die hards alike, starting to move through the days with a confidence that comes from repetition. My mumbled instructions in morning meetings becoming more concise, a list of names and tasks with less and less detail needed. Casting job assignments into the air and seeing it all manifest. Perhaps Fukuoka’s onto something after all.
Patience is something that, as a farmer and father, I have no choice but to attempt to master. With the summer crops seeming to be idling in the field I find myself mumbling semi incoherent encouragements to the corn, the melons, the eggplant as I move around the farm (yes, I mumble a lot at this time of year) “Come on little guy, you can do it” like a child with its first steps, you have a vested interest in the success of the attempt. Each year these crops become a part of us, their individual failures and successes impossible to separate from our assessment of self. So we encourage, we adjust, we feed and water and weed in the hopes that our little ones will thrive and make it to your table.
Enjoy,
Dave
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Posted on July 22, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
Losing this battle
Hoping to win the war
2015 CSA week 8 July 22nd
In The Box
1 bag baby head lettuce
1 bunch carrots
1 1/2 lbs red tomato
1 walla walla onion
1 bunch basil
2 pints blueberries
cucumber OR zucchini
The average challenges for any grower are enough add crazy hot weather and the most freakishly large hatching of flea beetles I of any of my peers or mentors have ever seen and, well……it’s time to break out the big guns! We’ve dug deeper into the arsenal of products allowed by the USDA organic program this year in an attempt to save at least something from all of the brassica family plantings we have made this year. Thus far to no avail. The flea beetle is a mighty adversary and one we’ve never had to combat quite in this fashion. Their natural cycle usually doesn’t make them much more than a temporary nuisance at worst. This year we are bordering on plague population densities. No natural enemies and the ability to hop away rapidly enough to avoid even the most technologically advanced sprayers. (Not that our sprayer is anything close to that. (If it was I’m not convinced it would make a difference.) It is heartbreaking to see hours of work devoured in such a short window of time.It only took 2 days for the damage pictured above and there were 1,200 plants in that planting. The aesthetically challenged basil in your box this week is due to another pest but we can talk about the spotted cucumber beetle another time. While the USDA organic program allows a whole slew of products for use, non of them have the ability to target a particular pest. The product doesn’t know the difference between a cucumber beetle and a ladybug, a flea beetle or a praying mantis. Our reluctance to use this stuff over the years has never had quite the effect we’re seeing this season. We only hope that this last resort applied at the lowest activity point in the day for beneficials will prove itself successful.
On a happier note many of the summer crops should start making an appearance in your boxes over the next few weeks. Heirloom tomatoes, melons,corn, peppers and eggplants are all coming along nicely. The next flush of basil is relatively pest free and the cherry tomatoes in the field are catching up with those in the high tunnel.
The usual agricultural balancing act between doom and disaster and rainbows and unicorns is in full effect.
Enjoy,
Dave
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Posted on July 8, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2015 CSA week 6 July 8th
In The Box
1 bag baby head lettuce
1 bunch ‘Dino’ Kale
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
1 bunch chives
2 pints blueberries
1 bunch baby carrots
zucchini OR fava beans OR….
a lucky few will get a tease of red slicer tomatoes. Don’t worry, we should have enough for all next week 🙂
Everyone knows there are days when you should have just stayed in bed….yesterday, the universe was telling me to go to bed. As I tried to squeeze a last few minutes of productivity out of the day i suddenly found myself in a keystone cops movie (well aside for the black and white part and the silent part, but otherwise just like it.) A cultivating tractor that was out of gas then once fueled died from some glitch in the electrical system. Granted the tractor was built in 1946 but still…… With the light waning I thought I’d set up a water setting in some recently planted brasicas to get a jump on the irrigation schedule for today, but no no no our overworked irrigation infrastructure decided to fry one of the control modules in a fourth of July worthy display of sparks and flashes. Fear inducing in such dry conditions especially considering the view of the wheat field on fire on the hillside across the valley. Thankfully no fire here and the neighbors and fire dept. were able to extinguish the field with only a 1/4 acre or so lost. Okay one last try to get something done I’ll save the guys a task and pull the shade cloth onto the second propagation house ahead of this weeks big fall crop seeding…..wait for it, wait for it….As my exhausted self heaved on the rope, really putting my back into it as they say, the rope snaps and I land square on my rear end in a cloud of dust. At that point I got the message (no one said I was a fast learner.)
Renewed this morning I moved into the day leary of electrical hobgoblins and old ropes but ready to tackle any goofy plot twist or heroine tied to a railroad tracks by some mustached villain. (just hoping the wheels don’t fall off of the paddy wagon)
Enjoy,
Dave
LOGISTICS
A quick reminder that those of you making 2 payments, the second payment was due July 1st.
RECIPES
CHIVE VINAIGRETTE
5 tbsp.
1 tbsp.
1 tsp.3 tbsp.
2 tbsp. |
olive oil
white wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper
chopped chives
chopped tarragon (optional) |
Mix up and dress a salad.
10- Minute Cuisine, Green & Moine
Greens Tacos
This recipe is one of my favorite breakfast recipes, but of course it would work at any time of day. Please note the amounts given are approximate, I don’t measure anything when I make these. You could use more or less of any one of these ingredients. Serves 2-3
3/4 pounds greens, cleaned well and sliced into approximate 1 inch pieces
2 teaspoons cooking oil
2 chopped garlic cloves, or another alium family, whatever you have on hand (onion, green onion, green garlic, leek…..)
Pinch red pepper flakes or cayenne
2 Tablespoons cream cheese
4-6 small corn tortillas or 2-3 larger flour ones
Heat the oil and add the garlic, having the greens ready to go, and cook garlic for about 30 seconds. Then add greens and cook until bright green and wilted, add red pepper (and salt and black pepper if you like). Take off heat and stir in cream cheese. Heat tortillas, divide filling among them. Eat and enjoy.
Quick Greens (less than 10 minutes from start to finish)
Wash any type of greens that can be cooked (kale, radish greens, mustards, chard, spinach, etc.).
Saute with olive oil and garlic until wilted. Transfer to serving platter and add cracked black pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Easy yet delicious!
Risotto with Greens
No greens will be wasted! If you are not sure how to use your greens, make this for dinner! Double the recipe!
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 T. olive oil
1 c. risotto, uncooked
1/2-3/4 lb. fresh greens, trimmed and torn (Radish greens, kale, chard, mustards, turnip greens, beet greens, etc.)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14-1/2 oz.) cans chicken or vegetable broth
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Saute onion in olive oil in a small stock pan. Add risotto and saute until golden. Add greens and garlic; saute until greens are wilted. Stir in broth slowly (one can at a time). Cook, covered, on low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Add black pepper, stirring well. Add cheese, if desired, and blend well before serving.
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Posted on July 1, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2015 CSA week 5 July 1st
In The Box
1 bag baby head lettuce
1 1/2 lbs fava beans
1 bunch ‘Rainbow’ Swiss chard
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
1 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley
a lucky few will get a tease of red slicer tomatoes. Don’t worry, we should have enough for all next week 🙂
Okay, not our most stellar box ever this week due to a combination of events. This morning started in a mad panic as our neighbor called to tell us that they weren’t able to get the blueberries picked that we were going to be in this weeks box. Too late for us to get a replacement item in play so……you get it. The current heat wave is handing us a mixed bag with several plantings of head lettuce bolting prematurely and some of even the most heat tolerant crops going into a holding pattern as far as growth goes. Not to worry I think overall it will mean good things to come for the boxes in the coming weeks.
The first of the cherry tomatoes in your boxes this week and with the high tunnel planting looking good it looks like there will be many more next week and the next week and the…..
The majority of our larger field plantings are all in, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons and we switch to maintenance mode for these crops. Pruning, trellising, weeding and watering will be the order of the days for the foreseeable future. With the farm on summer auto pilot we switch our focus to fall and winter crops, every year it seems insane to be thinking about these crops when it’s 100 degrees out, but many of the October and November staples will need to be seeded in the next few weeks to ensure time to grow.
For those of you thinking of your poor farmers working out in this heat it’s okay, remember temperatures are measured in the shade so for us out in the field….oh wait yeah, it’s hot.
Stay cool and have a splendid fourth of July!!
Enjoy,
Dave, Lori, Chloe, Ryder and “the crew”
LOGISTICAL NOTES
The Fremont Grand Central location has extended its hours through the summer staying open until 6:00 PM
Remember to return the empty wax boxes to your pick up site
All of our pick up sites allow us to use their space as a courtesy please respect their generosity by keeping the area neat.
RECIPES
Link to salad greens washing video
http://food52.com/blog/6202-how-to-wash-greens-without-a-salad-spinner
Marinated Cherry Tomatoes 4 servings
2 baskets Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Finely chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon Finely chopped rosemary
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup Extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
Mix tomatoes, onions, parsley, rosemary, garlic, olive oil and vinegar in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the bowl and let tomatoes marinate at room temperature at least 1 hour, but preferably 3 to 4 hours or overnight. Stir occasionally. Enjoy with crostini or as a side dish.
Cherry Tomato & Avocado Salad
1 basket cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Tablespoons chopped scallion or other mild onion
1 cup (approx.) chopped avocado
2 tablespoons chopped herb (such as parsley, cilanto, dill….)
optional vinaigrette to coat (whirl 2 T lemon juice or vinegar, 1 small clove garlic, 1 t mustard, pinch salt and pepper, with 1/2 cup olive oil in blender.) Gently mix all ingredients. Serve. (The avocado is optional but delicious)
Roman-Style Raw Fava Beans, Scamorza(or Smoked Mozzarella), and Fresh Onion Antipasto di Fave e Cipolla Fresca
from Verdura by Vivana La Place
A springtime antipasto of raw fava beans and new onions. Eating tender fava beans is a special treat. Eat them unpeeled if you enjoy the refreshing bitter edge of the peel, or peel them first for a sweeter flavor. Serve this dish with crusty breadsticks, a sturdy country loaf, or black pepper taralli, a type of pretzel found in Italian specialty markets, and company with a pitcher of cool dry wine.
2 pounds fava beans, unshelled weight
a few small lettuce leaves
3 scallions or 1 small fresh onion, thinly sliced
1 pound scamorza cheese, sliced (substitute smoked mozzarella)
Basket of bread sticks, black pepper taralli, or bread
Shell the favas and mound in the center of a platter. Surround with the lettuce leaves and scatter the onions over the top. Arrange slices of the cheese around the edge of the platter. Serve with the bread.
Fava Bean and Pancetta Salad
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
7 oz. sliced pancetta, coarsely shredded
4 cups shelled fava beans
1 medium-sized white fleshed onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 cup of parsley leaves
3 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Black pepper
Heat the oil in deep frying pan and add the pancetta. Cook over high heat until it begins to crisp, then add the beans and saute until the skins start to burst, stirring gently every few seconds. Add the onion and garlic and cook for another minute, stirring well. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Just before serving, mix the vinegar through the salad and grind some black pepper over it.
Chard With Parmesan
from Alice Waters of Chez Panisse
1 bunch of chard
3 tablespoons butter
1 handful freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1. Pull the leaves from the ribs of one or more bunches of chard. Discard the ribs (or save them for another dish) and wash the leaves.
2. Cook leaves until tender in abundant salted boiling water, 4 minutes or so. Drain the leaves, cool, squeeze out most of their excess water, and chop coarse.
3. For every bunch of chard, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a heavy pan over heat. Add the chopped chard and salt to taste. Heat through, and for each bunch of chard stir in a generous handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and serve.
Baked Swiss Chard Stems with Olive Oil and Parmesan
(Makes 2-3 side dish servings, can be doubled. Adapted from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop.)
1 bunch chard stems
1/4 tsp. salt
olive oil for spraying pan and chard
1/4 cup (or more if you have lots of stems) coarsely grated parmesan cheese (any type of hard aged cheese would be good here.)
coarse ground black pepper to taste
Trim any discolored ends from chard stems, then cut stems on an angle into pieces about 3 inches long. If some stems are very thick, you may wish to cut them lengthwise so all pieces are approximately the same thickness.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt and chard stems and boil about 3-5 minutes. Let chard drain well.
Spray a non-stick baking dish with olive oil. Place chard in the pan and mist lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with cheese. (If doubling the recipe, make two layers, misting each layer with oil and sprinkling with cheese.) Bake about 20 minutes, or until chard is softened and cheese is slightly browned on the edges. Season with fresh ground black pepper if desired and serve hot.
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Posted on June 24, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2014 CSA week 4 June 24th
In The Box
1 bag lettuce mix
2 lbs fava beans
1 bunch Italian kale
1 or 2 zucchini
1 French breakfast radishes
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
1 bunch baby carrots
1 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley
A real family day on the farm today with everyone chipping in to get the harvest done ahead of the heat. With a couple of crew members out sick the usual frantic harvest pace was elevated to a new level. The heat of this early summer while welcome in a lot of respects has presented its own set of challenges to be overcome. One being the shortened morning window for harvesting and the frequency with which we have to run from the field to the sinks or walk in cooler.
The heat has also made greenhouse propagation tricky and the cool weather crops planned for June’s boxes struggle, hence the lack of broccoli and cauliflower so far. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants along with the zucchini, cucumber and melons are doing really well and should be making an appearance in your boxes sooner than in recent years.
Working with children in the field while romantic in idea, definitely challenges the dynamic of getting 200 boxes worth of crops picked, washed, weighed and packed even on one of the longest days of the season. When you literally work from sun up to sundown (then beyond) the solstice is a double edged sword and makes for a long day when combined with kids that are seemingly simultaneously engaged and bored, weird.
A cut lettuce mix in your box today, the result of a small trial for one of our seed suppliers of the new generation of head type cutting lettuces. I’ve included a link to a video showing a good way to wash and dry these greens.
Wish us luck through the looming heatwave this weekend as our focus will be on non stop irrigation to make sure everything has adequate moisture. With temps predicted to go over 100 degrees (yeah that’s in the shade) I imagine the list of things we had planned to get done this weekend will be missing some check marks come Monday.
Enjoy,
Dave, Lori, Chloe, Ryder and “the crew”
LOGISTICAL NOTES
The Fremont Grand Central location has extended its hours through the summer staying open until 6:00 PM
Remember to return the empty wax boxes to your pick up site
All of our pick up sites allow us to use their space as a courtesy please respect their generosity by keeping the area neat.
We are hoping we have enough bread cards for every box this week if not we hope that Grand Central will be understanding until we get more cards in.
RECIPES
Link to salad greens washing video
http://food52.com/blog/6202-how-to-wash-greens-without-a-salad-spinner
MOROCCAN CARROT SALAD
Peel baby carrots, leaving 1/4 inch of stem attached. Cut them in half lengthwise and boil until tender in salted water with a crushed clove of garlic. Drain and cool to room temperature. Toss them with a little ground cumin, paprika, and salt, and a pinch each of cinnamon and cayenne. Toss together with lemon juice, olive oil and chopped parsley and set aside to marinate for at least an hour before serving.
Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters
CHILLED FAVA BEAN SOUP
2 pounds fava beans
1 bunch scallions
2 cloves garlic
1 quart chicken stock
salt and pepper
Shell the beans, parboil for about 1 minute, cool, then pop the beans from their skins.
Chop the onion. Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Saute the onion in the olive oil until quite soft, 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for 2 minutes more, and season well with salt. Add the fava beans, cook for 2 more minutes, and then add just enough stock to cover the beans. Chill the remaining stock. Cook the fava beans until tender. Puree in a blender until smooth, adding the extra cooled stock until you reach a consistency you like. Cool the soup quickly in an ice bath. Season to taste. Serve in chilled bowls.
Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters
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Posted on June 17, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2014 CSA week 3 June 17th
In The Box
2 heads butter lettuce
1 lb sugar snap peas or English shelling peas
1 bunch Rainbow chard
1 or 2 zucchini
1 1/2 lbs fava beans
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
1 bunch baby carrots or French breakfast radishes
Before I start rambling about fava beans and other such farmy stuff…… Our dear friends at Tails and Trotters butcher shop Aaron and Kelly are going for the Chase Bank Mission Street Grant this year. Its a great program from Chase that could put some expansion capital in the hands of hard working small business folks. Aaron and Kelly were our original farming partners back in the day and we wouldn’t be where we are without them. They need a few more votes to qualify for the first round of the grant process please go to the link and cast your vote. Thanks, Dave
https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/b/38077
and now for something more beany…..
The first fava bean harvest of the season is always a happy day for me, especially this year after a frenzied spring planting was in order when we lost our entire overwintering crop. Long a seasonal staple in the Mediterranean diet and around the world, fresh fava beans have only recently begun to gain popularity in the U.S. I think our high speed, fast food culture frowns too easily on a vegetable that requires two stages to prep and produces more compost than edible product. I’m a patient man, as a farmer and father it sort of comes with the territory. I’ve waited a year to toss these tasty little green treats in some good olive oil, the time to shuck and peel them seems insignificant. I hope that after you eat them you’ll feel the same way I do, content with the knowledge that the humble fava bean is only one of the truly great tastes of the season, the best is yet to come.
Fava Beans:
Grilled:
Simply toss the beans in their pods in an olive oil in a large bowl.
Toss them in a single layer on a hot grill and flip when they start to char.
Remove sprinkle a little salt and eat after removing the bean from the pod
(like edamame)
I prefer to remove the inner bean from the ’skin’ with a nick of my thumbnail and a little squeeze to coax out the tasty soft inner core.
The salt and charred bits of pod on your fingers adds to the flavor
Careful with the kids (or mildly intoxicated adults) as the beans within the pod can be very hot.
To prepare the fava beans for cooking the old fashioned way, remove them from their pods. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, and fill a large bowl with ice water. Blanch the beans in the boiling water for one to two minutes, until they slip fairly readily from their skins. Transfer the beans with a skimmer or slotted spoon to the ice water. When they’re cool, drain the water and remove the beans from their skins. See this youtube video for a chef demo. (Alright the robots can be helpful, I know) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33UyOHxtT8&feature=related Once prepped they can be sautéed lightly in a little olive oil and enjoyed as a side or tossed into pasta.
Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for flouring the rolling surface
1 cup water
2 teaspoons oil
A bunch of green onions, green and white parts, chopped medium-fine
A few tablespoons of oil to brush on pancakes (a mix of canola or corn oil and sesame oil is good) some salt A few tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
Directions:
Mix together the first three ingredients by hand or in a food processor. Flour a surface and knead the dough. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes before continuing.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a well-floured surface into a big, flat square or rectangle 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Brush the pancake with a bit of oil, and sprinkle with spring onion pieces and a little salt. Starting at one short end, roll up the dough tightly, jelly-roll style, so you have a “snake.”
Cut the “snake” crosswise into 8 – 10 pieces. Then flatten each piece again gently with your palm and rolling pin to make a little rectangle. Don’t flatten it too firmly, because you want a little air to remain trapped between the layers of the pancakes so they’ll puff up a bit between the layers and be lighter.
Press one or both sides in sesame seeds (optional).
Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a large skillet. Shallow fry the pancakes until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
Serve plain or with dipping sauce. An easy sauce can be made by mixing soy sauce with a little minced garlic, scallion, and rice vinegar.
SCALLION GOAT CHEESE MUFFINS
1 cup whole milk
4 ounces soft mild goat cheese
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 bunch scallions
Preheat oven to 400¡F. and butter twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups.
In a small bowl stir together 2 tablespoons milk and goat cheese until combined. Into a bowl sift
together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Melt butter and in another small bowl whisk together
with remaining milk and egg. Finely chop enough scallions to measure 1 cup. Stir butter mixture and
scallions into flour mixture until just combined. Divide half of batter evenly among muffin cups and
top each with about 2 teaspoons goat cheese filling. Divide remaining batter over filling. Bake muffins
in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins. Gourmet
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Posted on June 10, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
coming soon to a CSA box near you
2014 CSA week 2 June 10th
In The Box
1 baby bok choi
2 heads butter lettuce
1 lb sugar snap peas
1 bunch Italian kale
zucchini
1 bunch broccoli OR 1 lb shelling peas (depending on pick up site)
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
At this time of the season, we are quite literally working from sun up to sun down, the farmer’s life an epitome of cliche.
The to do lists shift from what will get done today to what won’t, what can we put off until later when the inevitable dusk puts an end to the work day. I’ve heard the brief window of dusk referred to as the farmer’s holiday, that window of light when it’s just to dark to work but you can still see well enough to stumble back to the house. We are lucky enough to have a dedicated core crew that will stay and work by our sides these long tireless days, that even though it isn’t their farm they work as if it is. The farm dictates the pace and the crops set the priorities, whether it be weeding, harvesting, planting or watering, each crop has its own set of timely demands that, if ignored only make for more work down the road.
The biggest challenge this week has been irrigation, our watering schedule requires daily maintenance to keep everything at optimum moisture levels and last weeks rain (while oh so welcome) threw the proverbial spanner into the works. Suddenly everything was watered on the same day which meant everything was going to need its next watering ON THE SAME DAY!!
Minor changes in the contents of the box this week with either shelling peas or broccoli replacing last weeks frisee and the addition of zucchini to the mix.
You can tell the shelling peas from the snap peas as the snap peas are shorter than the shelling variety. If in doubt a quick bite of the pod will settle it as the shelling pea pod is tough and pretty much inedible.
Logistics
Please try to remember to return your box each week (if you take it home) we will reuse the wax boxes as they are sturdy enough for several uses (and not cheap:-)
If you have additional email addresses you would like to receive the box notes please let us know at csa@creativegrowers.com
You can follow us on Instagram…@creativegrowersfarm
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions,
Enjoy,
Dave, Lori and ‘the crew’
Creative Growers Organic Farm
RECIPES
Bok Choi
SHITAKE BOK CHOY SOUP WITH NOODLES
note: The original recipe calls for Chinese wheat noodles, but we also like this soup made with somen (Japanese thin wheat noodles) or soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)
1/2 lb.
1/2 lb.
6
8 g.
6 oz. |
bok choy
fresh shiitake mushrooms
scallions
katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes; about 2/3 cup) (I’ve used chicken or vegetable broth instead)
thin Asian wheat or buckwheat noodles |
Cut bok choy crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Discard stems from mushrooms and cut caps into thin slices. Cut scallions diagonally into thin slices.
In a 5- to 6-quart kettle bring 6 cups water to a boil with katsuobushi and boil 1 minute. Pour stock through a fine sieve into a large bowl and discard katsuobushi. Return stock to kettle and add bok choy, mushrooms, and noodles. Simmer soup, uncovered, until noodles are tender, 2 to 5 minutes, depending on type of noodle. Season soup with salt and pepper and stir in scallions.
Gourmet, February 1999
Raw Tuscan Kale Salad With Pecorino Time: 20 minutes
1 bunch Tuscan kale (also known as black or lacinato kale)
1 thin slice country bread (part whole-wheat or rye is nice), or 1/4 cup homemade bread crumbs (coarse)
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely grated pecorino cheese, more for garnish
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for garnish
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
1. Trim bottom 2 inches off kale stems and discard. Slice kale, including ribs, into 3/4-inch-wide ribbons. You should have 4 to 5 cups. Place kale in a large bowl.
2. If using bread, toast it until golden on both sides. Tear it into small pieces and grind in a food processor until mixture forms coarse crumbs.
3. Using a mortar and pestle, or with the back of a knife, pound garlic into a paste. Transfer garlic to a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper flakes and black pepper, and whisk to combine. Pour dressing over kale and toss very well to thoroughly combine (dressing will be thick and need lots of tossing to coat leaves).
4. Let salad sit for 5 minutes, then serve topped with bread crumbs, additional cheese and a drizzle of oil.
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Posted on June 3, 2015 by CreativeGrowers
2014 CSA week 1 June 3rd
In The Box
1 baby bok choi
2 heads butter lettuce
1 lb sugar snap peas
1 bunch Italian kale
2 heads frisee
1 bunch spring onions (scallions)
Thank you again for being a part of the 2015 CSA season at Creative Growers. By joining with us this season you’ve demonstrated your dedication to local farms, locally grown food and seasonal eating. We plan on rewarding that dedication with the best the season has to offer.
Is seems fitting (in a twisted way) that after such a gorgeous spring, weatherwise, that the first CSA harvest of the season would be torrential side ways rain. We got more rain in the farm yesterday than in the entire month of May!!
Spirits were still high though as we slogged through the field in mud weighted boots. The rain just slows everything down on the farm from harvest and pack to simple vehicle and people movements around the property.
We hope you will enjoy this seasonal eating adventure with us this year and I promise future box notes will be less last minute and contain more useful information about the contents.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions,
Enjoy,
Dave, Lori and ‘the crew’
Creative Growers Organic Farm
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Posted on November 20, 2013 by CreativeGrowers
CSA week 25 November 20th, 2013
The Last Box of the Season
In The Box:
1 bunch Mixed Greens (Kale, Kale, Collards)
1 bunch Salsify
1 1/2 lb Parsnips
2 lbs Yukon Gem Potatoes
2 Corno di Toro Sweet Peppers
A ‘lil’ bit of Broccoli (Late last planting)
1 or 2 Winter Squash (Butternut, Acorn, Sweet Dumpling)
1 bunch Japanese Salad Turnips (aka Tokyo Turnips)
2 lbs Carrots
The lesson for the day….Hit send before racing out of the office for the day!!
Given the season we have had, the final CSA box of the year brings with it mixed emotions. There was a definite giddiness in the packing shed, an emotion that can only be shared by a group that has worked so hard week in week out on a common goal. For the crew, the last box of the year means one thing. The end of the growing season is almost here and a long awaited and much deserved break is at hand. For me it is the starting pistol not the finish line tape. With the CSA and vegetable production finished at the Noti farm I can focus on the final pieces of the move and the new adventure ahead. It is this excitement that must now be my fuel as I strive to have the new farm ready to roll in the spring. Some of the crew have decided to make the move north with us and this will certainly help with the set up. As an employer this is truly inspiring, having workers willing to pick up everything and move their families to be a part of our new endeavor means we must be doing something right (heaven knows we don’t pay them enough to warrant that kind of loyalty.)
I would like to thank all of you on behalf of my family and my crew for all of your support and encouragement this season. Just being willing to support a farm like ours with your CSA membership is one thing, but many of you went above and beyond that roll in helping us to get the new farm. We are eternally grateful to get to live this life, to grow good food for people that understand and appreciate the importance of the small family farm in our culture and community. I often say that I am the luckiest man I know (the harder I work, the luckier I get!?!) and it has never been truer as I transition from the old farm to the great potential that the new farm offers. Now that we are closer I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming years as we strive to connect our farm more with the community that it feeds.
Thank you,
Dave, Lori and the crew.
A quick logistical note:
Those of you that take the tote home every week please return it to your pick up location we will be by after Thanksgiving to round them all up. Thank you.
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