This Week's CSA Harvest (10/29/13)


Reminder: This week we are distributing vegetables, eggs, and dairy. 

The Vegetable Share

• Radishes
• German Butterball Potatoes
• Celeriac
• Head Lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Tomato Puree
• Shallots

A sneak peak into this week's vegetable box--On the top you see gorgeous head lettuce, spinach, radishes, and shallots.

The Dairy Share:

• Fresh Goat Milk Chevre from LaClare Farms
• "Peace of Pasture" Cheese from Pastureland Co-op
• Strawberry Yogurt from Sugar River Dairy
• Harvest Butter from Nordic Creamery



One of LaClare Farms' beautiful milk goats

 

Announcements and Reminders

• The next dairy, meat and trout deliveries will be the week of November 12-14. Weekly distribution of the vegetables will continue through the week of November 19th. 
• CSA Shares for 2014 are now available. Register by November 15th and receive early bird pricing on 3-Season Vegetable Shares and Fruit Shares. Registering online is easy and you can pay for your shares in up to 5 installments throughout the season.

Farm Journal

After a couple of weeks of steadily falling temperatures, this week has brought slightly warmer weather. This is not a bad thing since, here at the Brodhead farm, we still have a fair amount of potatoes and sweet potatoes yet to harvest. Kids across the state were out of school last Thursday and Friday, so our kids (and their cousins) found themselves roped into the potato harvest Friday afternoon. They were surprisingly efficient helpers and even admitted to having some fun along the way. It's a great thing to be able to work together as a family, especially when we get to sit down to a meal and enjoy the fruits of our labor! I hope you enjoy your German Butterball potatoes this week and all the other vegetables that our families and our employees have worked so hard to produce.

Have a good week! --Peg

 

 

 

 



 

In the Farm Kitchen: Tips and Recipes for Making the Most of your Share

Tomato Puree

 

Each fall a small food-processing company in East Troy, Wisconsin turns our less-than-perfect tomatoes into tomato puree. As it says on the jar, our tomato puree makes a great soup by itself or with the addition of a little cream. You can also use it as a base for heartier soups, chili and pasta sauce. I like to use it as a basting liquid when roasting meats, as a replacement for water or broth when I'm making risotto, or in the crockpot when I'm slow-cooking fall vegetables. The puree is shelf-stable, but should be refrigerated after opening.

 

 

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large shallots, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 15- to 16-ounce cans black beans, drained, 1/2 cup liquid reserved

1 bunch spinach, chopped

1  jar Sandhill Family Farms tomato puree

chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream and grated cheese for garnish

 

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic; sauté until shallots soften, about 10 minutes. Mix in chili powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne; stir 2 minutes. Mix in beans, 1/2 cup reserved bean liquid, spinach and tomato puree. Bring chili to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until flavors blend and chili thickens, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle chili into bowls. Pass chopped cilantro, sour cream, and grated cheese separately. 

 

Kohlrabi

 

Kohlrabi, like broccoli and cabbage, is a member of the Brassica family. The word kohlrabi is a German word that translates as cabbage-turnip, and that's pretty much how it tastes--sweet like cabbage and peppery like a turnip. It has a wonderful crisp and juicy texture that is comparable to jicama. Because of its crisp texture and mild flavor, we like to peel it and eat it raw, sliced on its own or combined with other fresh vegetables in salads.



Here's Jen with some of our purple kohlrabi. She's been working hard to prepare this week's vegetable boxes despite a fractured ankle. (The chickens laid a trap for her, but if you want to know the whole story you'll have to ask her!)

Kohlrabi-Radish Slaw with Citrus Dressing

2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 bunch radishes, cut into matchsticks 

1 small shallot, sliced thinly

orange zest from one orange 

lime zest from one lime 

1 cup arugula, sliced thinly

for the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup fresh orange juice ( juice form one orange) 

1/8 cup lime juice plus 1 T ( juice from one large lime) 

1/4 cup honey 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar 

Place kohlrabi and radish matchsticks in a large bowl with shallot, lime zest and orange zest. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Toss with matchsticks. Just prior to serving, mix in the arugula so it stays crisp.

 
 

Celeriac

Celeriac has a wonderful mild celery flavor with a hit of nuttiness. The flavor of celeriac is preferred over regular stalk celery in many dishes because of its smooth flavor. It has no sharpness or bitterness like stalk celery sometimes has. It is prized in Europe, especially in France, where it features prominently in the classic Celeriac Remoulade, a dish composed of shredded celeriac, mayonniase and Dijon mustard. Use a sharp kitchen knife to trim the outside layer from the celeriac bulb before chopping it.

Mashed Potatoes and Celeriac

1 pound German butterball potatoes, sliced 1 1/2 inches thick      

1 pound celeriac, peeled and sliced 1 1/2 inches thick      

Coarse salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Freshly ground pepper

 

Place potatoes and celeriac in a medium saucepan, and fill with enough cold water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat; add salt generously. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain in a colander.

 

Mash potatoes and celeriac. Add sour cream and butter, and stir until combined. Stir in nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)...butternut squash, spinach, Napa cabbage, parsley, carrots, kale, fennel, broccoli and more!