Share Notes 5-2-19
CSA Share Notes:
Welcome to your first week of the Spring CSA season! Every week we’ll post info here about your share items as well as tips for using your crops in the kitchen, or links to our favorite recipes. We also have 30 or 40 recipes in our kitchen blog, so feel free to go rummage for fun ideas there.
Here’s your vegetable line-up.
- Carrots—These carrots were over-wintered, meaning we planted them back in the fall and they matured slowly in the greenhouse all winter long. Normally we’d never have carrots this early! They have done so well in our greenhouse, we’re planning on growing about 5x more next winter. The tops are edible, too, and are nutritious to add to a simmering pot of home made chicken stock. The next planting of carrots needs at least a month to mature, so enjoy these while you’ve got ’em!
- Pea Tendrils—This special crop is so unique, and we are excited to share it with you. Harvested from the fresh, young tips of the Austrian Winter Pea plant, they are amazingly nutrient dense and delicious in a fresh salad, but our favorite way to prepare them is sautéed in browned butter. So nutty and delicious. It usually just grows for about 2 weeks, so hopefully we’ll have it again next week.
- Beets— These over-wintered beets are so healthy and beautiful, probably the best we’ve grown. My favorite way to make beets is this delicious beet dip served with crusty baguette slices or crackers. To save time, I will roast the beets on a day when I’m already using the oven for something else, and store them in the fridge for up to a week till I’m ready to whip up the beet dip. top with crumbled goat cheese and green onions, or sliced garlic scapes, or the recipe recommended shaved fennel bulb, whatever you have on hand!
- Garlic Scapes—This is the flowering top of the garlic plant, which we pull off before the flower opens so the plant sends more energy into developing its’ root rather than producing a flower. It’s also a sign the garlic is nearing harvest time. That’ll be a fun and stinky week! Lucky for us, this “waste” part of the plant is super delicious and much more mild than garlic cloves. Cut off any woody parts, then we like to roast or grill them like asparagus, and they’re great topped with bacon or parmesan (like asparagus!)
- Winterbor Kale—Regular shares mostly received winterbor kale. These curly leaves are excellent as kale chips, but also cook up great in any dish you would want to use kale in.
- Red Russian Kale—Large shares all received this variety, and a few of the regular shares also. This variety is the most tender, and is therefore excellent in a fresh, raw salad. We’ve got several ideas in our kitchen blog for you.
- Head lettuces—Regular shares received a beautiful and super tender Speckled Trout lettuce and a gorgeous red lettuce. Large shares additionally received a crunchy green romaine.
- Swiss Chard—This crop young and so tender, it’ll be excellent in a fresh raw salad topped with roasted beets and carrots, or anything else you fancy.
- Radishes—Regular shares received French Breakfast radishes, and large shares received Easter Egg radishes. These are crunchy and mild and so tasty.
Veggie Storage tips:
Sever roots from their tops to keep them from getting rubbery. Everything you’ve received this week wants to be stored cold in the fridge sealed up in a bag. Everything will need a gentle washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent spoilage.
We recommend a one-time purchase of these Peak Fresh produce bags to keep produce fresh for longer, helping to maintain the dense nutrient content of our organic crops which begins to diminish as soon as we harvest. One box should last you all season. (We don’t make any money off that recommendation, it’s just a great product we use in our kitchen)
We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.
Your farmers,
Jess & Justin
