2007 CSA Week 9

News from Windy Willow Farm: 2007 Week 9

This week’s share includes:
½ pt red raspberries – Raspberries are always extremely perishable. However, these were picked in today’s downpour, and are guaranteed to last even shorter. I suggest that you eat, freeze or cook with these berries prior to day’s end. Last week, several containers didn’t even make it off the farm, they were consumed during pickup! Berries contain lots of important nutrients and antioxidants, so enjoy them.
1 Qt yellow beans
1 head red cabbage – This is the first year in many that we’ve attempted to grow red cabbage. In years past, they have not performed well at all, usually with very small heads, if they headed at all! We gave them a rest and decided to try them again. We have been well rewarded, as these red babies are beautiful. Be warned, though, there are some cabbage worms in them, so be on the lookout.
4 Heads Broccoli – This really is the end of the broccoli, and I have no more planted. As these heads are mature, they will also contain worms. This is your guarantee that we haven’t sprayed this crop, even certified-organic pesticides. If these bother you, just soak the broccoli in a cold water/salt bath for a half hour or so. Then, follow with a rinse to remove traces of the salt. This should take care of most of the worms you may have.
4 zucchini
5 yellow squash – This squash is coming into its own this week, providing a huge harvest of yellow squash. It’s a new variety of yellow squash for us, so let us know what you think.
2 Asian eggplant – For years I’ve been trying to grow the standard, round, black Italian eggplant. I think I harvested 2 last year. This year I decided to try all new varieties: a long, skinny Asian eggplant; and a round light-purple Italian eggplant. Both are performing beautifully, and the purple one should be ripe enough to share with you next week. We are addicted to peeling (soaking is not necessary: I haven’t found even a trace of bitterness), slicing, breading with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and frying in olive oil. Then I freeze the cooked slices and I can whip up a quick dinner of eggplant parmesan in a jiffy. (I separate the slices with waxed paper so they don’t stick in the freezer.)
1 Qt red potatoes – These babies are guaranteed to melt in your mouth! They are so creamy and sweet, you can’t go wrong with using them in any recipe you find. Store them out of direct sun in a cool place, but not for too long: they have not been cured for storage. And don’t bother with peeling these tender skins!
1 head Romaine lettuce – pretty much the end of our lettuce, don’t forget to peel off the outside leaves in case they’ve gone bitter.
4 cucumbers – We have 3 varieties of cukes growing in the garden: two are these nice slicers, the third is a round lemon cuke. They are supposed to be non-bitter and burpless, but I’ll let you be the judge of that!
1 bunch beets
1 bunch mint
1 bunch baby carrots
Best guess for next week’s share: Green beans, Italian eggplant, Swiss Chard. Don’t hold me to it!

My new favorite garden tool is our weed wacker/string trimmer! I have been going crazy with this thing, devouring weeds that stand in my path! It is such a satisfying feeling to see the weeds fly up in the air in tiny pieces, and know that I’ve helped my garden yet again. They say that if you let a weed plant go to seed, you’ll be dealing with its sons and daughters for 7 years to come. I take this seriously, and try to either pull out weeds, or chop them to smithereens prior to them setting seed. I did have some “oops!” moments and a couple, “uh oh! That wasn’t a weed!” episodes, but for the most part, the garden remains in good shape. And, I haven’t broken the weed wacker yet, which is always good news.

Garlic, who doesn’t like garlic? Not too many people that I know. We are moments away from beginning the garlic harvest. Each week for the past several weeks, I’ve been checking our plants, pulling up a bulb and cutting it up. I’m looking for the individual cloves to be securely wrapped in paper – when the garlic is immature, the paper is a thick membrane. I’m hoping it will be ready in a week or two. We’ll be offering it to you fresh (with green parts attached) as well as cured for winter storage further in the season. Last year my garlic lasted until April or May! If you’re interested in a lot of it, let me know. I have 80 pounds of the stuff planted and will have plenty for bulk sales.

I just started a book that came to me highly recommended: “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” by Barbara Kingsolver. It chronicles her family’s year of eating almost all of their food locally. To be honest, I’ve been procrastinating on reading it; I felt like I already knew what she was going to say. But, I’m pleasantly surprised, and really enjoyed her discussion on how asparagus grows. The quote that stayed with me so far (I’m only past the first chapter!) is, “If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.” Wow! So, thanks for doing your part in reducing your oil and carbon footprint!

Those tomatoes are such teasers. We’ve been enjoying a few Sun gold tomatoes every few days, (or whatever we can sneak without the kids finding them first!) I thought that any day we’d have a big ripening of these sweet treats. But they are taking their time in turning orange. As soon as they are ready, we’ll send them your way. We have two varieties of the sweet, orange tomatoes: the classic Sun Gold and a new and improved variety, Sun Sugar. It looks like Sun Sugar is a bit smaller, but definitely sweeter. We also have grape, slicing and heirloom tomatoes all heavy on the vine.

Thanks for being a “convert” not just a customer!
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason

© Gwen Hyde 2007



Teriyaki Beets
This is an old favorite recipe of mine, and always a great standby method of cooking delicious beets when you’ve run out of other ideas. It’s even a kid pleaser!

12 small unpeeled beets 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
4 Tbs butter 1 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs honey

Boil or steam beets until almost tender. Rinse in cold water and cut into halves. Combine butter, honey, ginger and soy sauce in small saucepan and heat until butter and honey are melted. Brush some sauce over beets and place on heated broiler pan. Broil 5-10 minutes until tender, basting frequently. Transfer to serving dish and pour remaining sauce over. Makes 4-6 servings.

Stuffed Summer Squash
6 small summer squash
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 large squash blossoms (optional), slivered
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons minced marjoram or basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Slice squash in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds and discard. Slice a little off the bottoms so squash rest flat, cut side up.
2. In a skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft. Add squash blossoms, if using; sauté 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly. Stir in ricotta, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, egg, marjoram, salt, and pepper until blended. Spoon into squash shells.
3. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan and bread crumbs over tops. Bake 25 minutes, until sides are tender; broil 3 minutes, until tops are golden. Serve hot.
Serves 12 as an appetizer, 6 as a side dish.

Quick Zucchini and Eggplant Casserole
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized zucchini, diced
1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil a 11/2-quart baking dish or 8-inch square pan.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and eggplant and sauté until the eggplant is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato paste, wine, and sour cream. Heat thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with the tomato sauce and cheese. Bake for 45 minutes.
4. Serve hot.
Serves 4