Kohlrabi and Green apple slaw

So this is an option for the weird looking round things in your box you will see a couple times this season. Basically, you can treat this healthy vegetable like cabbage, raw or cooked.

Julianne or shred the kohlrabi and green apple (s) until you have about the same amount of each. The dressing is 1/2 c. heavy cream, a blob or two of the mustard you like best, 1 tsp. of lemon juice, 1tsp. of sugar, 2 tbsp. chopped parsley, and salt to taste. Optionally, you could use horseradish in place of the mustard and/or dill in place of the parsley.
Yum!

Another short article about the strange veggie: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2010/10/five-ways-to-eat-kohlrabi/

Recipe: Zucchini ribbons with mint

This is a really easy and refreshing salad that pairs well with a heavier meat like pork or beef. Using a veggie peeler. slice 4-6 smaller zucchini lengthwise in ribbons. Yellow and green ones together look really vibrant together. Put the ribbons into a bowl with 1/2 tsp of course salt to draw out some of the moisture-leave for 10 minutes. Pour off the accumulated liquid and blot the ribbons dry on towels. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 c. fresh mint leaves-they can be spearmint, or any of the many mint flavors available today- and 1/4 c. thinly sliced onion. Toss gently, and serve promptly.
Enjoy...

July 6, 2012 News from the farm

The heat has made things pretty challenging the last week or so, along with continued dry weather at our location. Some of the vegetables are doing well with the heat and some have completely stopped producing or skipped out and gone to seed in response to the soaring temps. Winter and summer squashes, tomatoes, peppers, okra, melons and eggplants are all doing pretty well and in the beginning of their production, so that's the upside. You've seen the zucchini and cukes in your boxes and while there are no ripe tomatoes yet, there are lots of tiny green ones and zillions of blooms. The peppers and eggplants are growing well and flowering, too. We are adding more irrigation equipment this week because while some areas have had too much rain, our farm is in an area that has been dry for 2 weeks and it's starting to show. Between the heat and no rain, most of the lettuce, spinach and snap peas are over until cooler weather returns for awhile, but other greens aren't bothered like kale and chard.
Blue skies...

Recipe: Basic Veggie Pie

Or Vegetable Gougere,as the Frenchies say:

This recipe is a really basic baked vegetable dish you could use in so many variations. It could be made to use spring veggies like asparagus, and garlic scapes, or later in summer with zucchini, sweet corn, and tomatoes, or even fall with squash, kale or root vegetables. Cooked ham or bacon is also a nice addition.

For the dough: 1 1/4 cups water, 1/2 cup butter, 1 1/4 cups flour, 4 eggs, 1 cup or so of shredded Gruyere or cheddar cheese, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

For the filling: 1 can of tomatoes or a couple pounds of fresh. Other veggies as you desire.

To start: Preheat oven to 400-grease a baking dish. Add water and butter to a pan and when the butter is melted, add the flour and remove from the heat. Mix for about 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth. Allow it to cool slightly before adding the eggs, one at a time, and mix until it's smooth and glossy. Add cheese, mustard, salt and pepper and spread it into a baking dish, leaving a hollow in the center for the filling.

In the meantime: Blend or mash the tomatoes into a sauce and add water if necessary until you have 1 1/4 cups. Choose your other veggies and saute them with a little oil until about 1/2 cooked. Always start cooking the denser veggies first and add others according to how fast they will cook. Add the tomatoes and some dried or fresh thyme or basil. Cook only for a few minutes and then carefully spoon the mixture into the hollow of the dough in the baking dish. Cook about 30-40 minutes or until the pastry part is risen and browned nicely. Enjoy!

June 14 2012, Week 2

In the box this week:
-Carrots
-Bac Choy
-Swiss Chard
-Lettuce
-Garlic Scapes
-Garden Peas

Two additions of note this week are the carrots and the peas. I have taken the liberty of removing the tops from the carrots. You will often see them in markets with the tops on and that is perfectly ok. But it's important to remove them when you get home because the plant will actually suck moisture and nutrients from the root, the part we like, to keep the greenery, the part the plant likes, alive. The same is true for radish and parsnip.

The peas are perfect and very sweet, but don't forget that these are garden peas, not pea pods or snap peas,  so the pod is fibrous and the pea within is the part we are meant to eat. The are delicious in salad, pasta, or just on their own. My son loves to shell them with me and just eat them, and I'm guessing that's true for most kids.
*Enjoy*

June 7 - 1st distribution

Greetings to all. It was so awesome to get back to CSA distribution - seeing and speaking with the families partnering with me this year was great. As shown on the card included with your produce there was a nice variety of early summer produce and I look forward to being able to increase the volume as the season progresses. 

In your box this week:

-Salad Mix

-Spinach

-radish

-dill

-perennial onion 

-garlic scapes (flower stalks)

-cherries

For some of you, this might be your first introduction to the lovely garlic scape. It is the odorous bulbs flower stalk and mush be removed in order for the bulb to attain a generous size later in the year. But to many Europeans and North Americans, more recently, these are a delicious addition to anything that benefits from a light touch of garlic. I love it on pizza, in pasta or salad, or with eggs.

The cherries are obviously my pride and joy, as clearly indicated by my happy crowing on Facebook for the last couple weeks as I eagerly awaited their peak ripeness. A fine mesh net kept away the worst of the birds and squirrels and I was able to bribe the neighbor kids by promising them each a few - mostly anyway.

Blue skies...

Here they are! I am so excited to be able to offer these to my CSA families and we will likely have some left over for our very first West Side Farmer's Market. Our first CSA boxes will be ready Thursday afternoon and things are shaping up to be a great season. More updates to come this week and some great recipes on deck.