Have you joined our private Facebook Group? We are up to 23 members!! Inspire other members with your weekly creations. Ask a question. We would like this to be where we can all share general cooking and preservation tips, CSA-related ideas, recipes, and photos of our culinary creations made with our CSA veggies. It is set up so you can post anonymously if preferred. You can request to be added at the link below.
This week in your CSA Share:
- Delicata Squash**
- Potato**
- Leeks
- Plum Tomato
- Beans
- Grape tomato
- Tomato – hoop house & field
- Curly Kale
- Summer Squash
- Bell Pepper
- Jalapeno
- Mini Sweet Pepper
- Garlic
- Parsley
Each item in the list is a direct link to the Vegetable Directory which has more details about storage and recipes. You will also find a link to a Pinterest Board for that vegetable on each page. **Featured in this week’s custom recipes
- Delicata Squash -is featured in this week’s recipe! You can eat the skin on this amazing squash. Great roasted. These should store for a few months.
- Potato -you will need to scrub them but peeling is optional for your preference; great boiled, smashed, or roasted. We like to boil ours with cloves of garlic, slightly smash, and add a bit of butter and thinly sliced scallions. Mashed, roasted or in soups Potato Leek Soup To store: Keep unwashed potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a loosely closed paper bag in a cupboard. They will keep for two weeks at room temperature. Light turns them green, and proximity to onions causes them to sprout. Don’t put them in the refrigerator, as low temperatures convert the starch to sugars. To prep: Scrub well and cut off any sprouts or green skin. Peeling is a matter of preference. In soups, the skins may separate from the flesh and float in the broth, but when baked, pan- fried or roasted, the skins acquire a crisp, crunchy texture. To cook: Boil potatoes in water for 20-30 minutes until tender. If desired, mash them. Use potatoes in soups, hash browns, and salads. Roast sliced or whole small potatoes with fresh herbs, salt, and olive oil at 400 degrees until tender, about 20 minutes. To freeze: Cool cooked or mashed potatoes and freeze them in a Ziploc bag.
- Leeks – the allium family, relative of garlic and onion; tips for cutting, cleaning, and using – Roast, Grill, Sauté and recipe suggestions, mild onion flavor; use the white solid stalk with some of the light green; pairs great with tomato – Leek & Tomato Tart; Vegan Leek & Tomato Tart To store: Cut off the green tops (save those greens and put them in your veggie freezer bag to make veggie stock). Loosely wrap unwashed leek bottoms in a plastic bag and store them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator where they will keep for 2 weeks. To prep: Cut the leek about 1 inch above the white part, where the leaves begin changing from dark to light green. Save the unused greens; they’ll give great flavor to your next vegetable stock. Slit the leek lengthwise and soak it in water. Fan the leaves under running water to dislodge dirt, then pat dry. chop the white part of the allium finely. To use: Use leeks in salads, casseroles and soups or wherever you’d use onions. They can be braised, boiled, grilled, or steamed. To freeze: Cut the white parts of the leek into slices and flash freeze in Ziplock bags.
- Mini Sweet Peppers- yellow, or orange; great cut up into salads, stuffed, and eaten raw or anywhere you would use bell peppers.
- Tomato – will continue to ripen on your counter; ripe when tender to the touch; excellent eaten raw or cooked. If you must refrigerate allow to adjust to room temp before eating for the best flavor. Over-ripe tomatoes are great for tossing in with diced squash and simmered until tender – let the seasonings guide your direction: Italian, Indian, or even straight-up garlic and parsley. Pico de Gallo – fresh salsa – use your parsley too!
- Summer Squash – yellow or zucchini – can be eaten raw in salads, pickled, stewed, grilled, soup, sauté, noodled, shredded, or baked …..so many possibilities; bigger ones? – scoop out seeds and stuff (taco boats) cut into wedges and roast, great on the grill too; our Pinterest board has many options; simmer with garlic and tomato
- Jalapeno: the heat is in the seeds and white pith; remove carefully for less heat and don’t touch your eyes; use gloves; can be cleaned diced and frozen (no blanching); Excellent in corn bread! To store: Refrigerate peppers unwashed in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer for 1-2 weeks. You can also dehydrate peppers for long-term. To prep: Be careful when preparing hot peppers of any kind. For greatest safety wear rubber gloves while chopping and handling them. Do not touch your eyes, nose, mouth or other places. Wash hands thoroughly when finished. Slice off the top of the hot pepper, including the stem. Since the heat in chili peppers is concentrated in the seeds and membranes, you can cut out the heat-filled seeds and membranes for a milder heat. To freeze: Wash and dry peppers. Keep whole, or cut into bite-size pieces and place in Ziploc freezer bag.
- Garlic – should be stored at room temp; excellent roasted – recipe here We grow a stiff neck variety so just trim the tops a bit to drizzle oil and leave the stiff neck in. Lots of great ideas on how to use the end product.
- Kale – stems and leaves an be eaten; stems take a bit longer to cook; We love our Greens and Beans; To store: Place kale unwashed, wrapped in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Best used very fresh, but may last for a week. To prep: Wash leaves in basin of lukewarm water to remove grit. If your greens have thick stems, you must remove them. Fold each leaf in half and slice out the stem. Then stack the leaves up and slice them diagonally into 1-inch-wide strips. To use: Sauté in olive oil. Use in soups, spaghetti sauce, pesto, quiche, or kale chips. You can also eat the stems. To freeze: Blanch washed greens for 2-3 minutes. Rinse in cold ice water to stop the cooking process, drain, and pack into airtight containers. Stems can also be frozen.
- Beans- Quick skillet beans – wash, trim, sauté with minced garlic, olive oil, a bit of water and a pinch of red pepper flakes and salt. To store: Store unwashed beans in a Green bag in the veggie bin of your fridge for up to 1 week. Rejuvenate limp beans by soaking them in ice water for 30 minutes. To prep: Wash beans. Cut off the tips and remove strings. Cook whole or chop. To freeze: Remove tips. Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes, rinse in cold ice water for 2 minutes, drain, dry well, and pack into airtight containers.
- Parsley–To store: For short-term storage, stand upright in a container with an inch of water. Then cover the herbs loosely with a plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. To prep: Chop the leaves and stem before cooking. The stem can be used to flavor soups and stews too. To dry: Place a piece of paper towel on a glass plate. Layer the parsley evenly around the plate being sure not to overlap. Cover with another piece of paper towel. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Leaves will be dry. Crinkle them with your finger and place them in a dry container, such as a Mason jar with a lid. To freeze: Chop parsley finely and freeze in ice cube trays with water. Pop out frozen cubes and freeze in a freezer bag. You can also wash, pat dry, remove air from baggie, and freeze stem attached and pull off leaves to chop as needed.
- Peppers – To store: Refrigerate peppers unwashed in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer for 1-2 weeks. To prep: Cut in half and remove the seeds from the inside. Slice, chop or mince. To use: Try roasting peppers over a flame until the skin blackens. Place the pepper inside a plastic bag to cool. Then remove to slide off the skins. To freeze: Wash and dry peppers. Freeze whole or cut into bite-size pieces and place in Ziploc freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.
Weekly Recipes: KP Holistic Chef – Katie Peterson has created 2 custom recipes to compliment your CSA share. You will receive printed copies of the weekly recipes. The recipes are always listed on her website at www.kpholistichef.com @KPholisticchef
Potato Harvest Photos – We had a great time. Thanks everyone!!
Something Saturdays:
There are only 4 more opportunities this season!! There are still dates available to earn your T-shirt!!
Available Dates remaining: 9/3, 9/10, 10/1, 10/8
This past Saturday we cleaned garlic. Thank you Jay & Libby!!
EVENT SCHEDULE:
- Soup & Stew: Saturday 9/17 – cooking demo & tasting event
- End of Season Gratitude Gathering: Saturday 10/15 – PotLuck
Social Media :
FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM tag us in your photos: @egfcsa @KPholisticchef
We have a new Facebook Page. We will continue to post on both pages for a while as we transition to using just one. Please like and follow our new page
MEET THE FARM CREW:
We are a small family farm and grow 4-7 acres of over 40 varieties of vegetables. This bunch works hard to get your veggies to you every week.
