News from Windy Willow Farm: 2007 Week 3
windywillowfarm@verizon.net 627-0476
windywillowfarm@verizon.net 627-0476
This week’s share includes:
2/3 pound of Asparagus – we’re getting near the end of our lovely asparagus crop.
1 pound bag of lettuce mix - This is a great mix, with several types of lettuce in different colors, kale and spinach. I went a little crazy cutting it this morning, so if you’ll use an extra half pound of it, be sure to grab one. If not, I’ll be eating extra salads this week!
Bag of spinach – We had an awful thunderstorm last week, with over 60 mph winds. The garden sustained quite a bit of damage, including ripping most of the spinach leaves. They don’t look wonderful, but the taste and nutrition are perfect. Picked this morning, of course! Great fresh or cooked in your favorite recipe.
Bag of arugula – As you can see, these arugula leaves are “pre-eaten” by the flee beetles. Those little bugs start munching on their favorite brassicas as soon as the tiny leaves are out of the ground. We don’t spray for them, and tolerate some holiness in the leaves.
1 head Bok Choy – these, too are another flea beetle specialty crop, but are still great stir fried. These were new for us last year, and they were a hit with our CSA group. Bok choy is similar to chinese cabbage, with the stalks and the leaves used in cooking and fresh salads.
Best guess for next week’s share: Cilantro, radishes, strawberries, red and green buttercrunch lettuce. Don’t hold me to it!
New additions to the farm are our 2-day old baby chicks. We have 16 barred rock chickens (layers of brown eggs), 8 turkeys and 25 broiler chicks. They are packed up by a hatchery in Pennsylvania the day they hatch, and arrive at the post office within a day or so. We usually get a call from the post office asking us to come quickly, because the “cheeping” is driving them crazy! We brood them in the barn, with a warm brooder lamp, for 3-4 weeks, and then put them out on pasture, with shelter. They are tiny and cute, and, like most newborns, sleep a lot. They are great to watch: they run around each other, grab a bite to eat, then wander under the hot light, and pass out. They sleep so soundly that I usually think that some of them are dead! Then they twitch or open an eye and I feel better.
Another yearly chore we have recently completed is the splitting, loading and stacking of firewood in the basement. We split the wood with our splitter, load it into the bucket of the tractor and dump, and stack it neatly in the basement. We use a dumbwaiter and winch from the basement to bring up the wood to the living room. We heat our home exclusively with wood, with oil/hot water baseboards as a backup. All of this heavy work gives me plenty of reflective time, and it got me thinking about our energy supply and demands. The sweat equity to cut the trees down (we use the trees from our 90 acre forest that are diseased or otherwise need thinning), split and stack the wood is substantial. It takes a lot of personal energy to get renewable energy in our home. If everyone had such a close connection to understanding the costs of their energy usage, I’m sure we would see a huge reduction in the burning of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases!
In your share this week are lots of greens. Be sure to wash them well and spin them when you get home. I’ve given them a preliminary dunk, and spun the lettuce, but it needs a bit more attention. After the recent e. coli scares from fresh spinach, I assure you that we handle our produce very carefully. We do a lot of handwashing and use a hand sanitizer prior to picking. We also bleach out our picking and storage containers before use. As for fertilizer, we only use well-composted material on the gardens. I also recommend you take a moment to scan your lettuce mix for weeds and grass- they won’t hurt you if you eat some, but it’s hard to cut the lettuce without getting some extras!
Since we have curtailed our farmers’ market activities this year, we often have extra produce towards the end of the week (since many crops need to be cut or picked 2-3 times per week). If you are interested in additional produce for canning and freezing, let me know.
Thanks for your generous support,
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason
© Gwen Hyde 2007
Braised Baby Bok choy
2 pounds baby or mature bok choy
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
Trim the base of the bok choy, then chop off the leaves. Cut the base in half lengthwise, then cut the halves crosswise on a diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Cut the leaves crosswise on a diagonal into 1 1/2-inch-wide strips.
Place a large wok or a pot large enough to hold all the bok choy over medium heat. When it is hot, add the olive oil and rotate the wok or pot a bit to coat it evenly. When the oil is hot, add the onion and stir-fry until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bok choy and season with the salt and pepper. Cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and serve hot.
Serves 4 to 6.
Arugula and Grilled Mushroom Salad
1 pound mixed button, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms
Trim the base of the bok choy, then chop off the leaves. Cut the base in half lengthwise, then cut the halves crosswise on a diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Cut the leaves crosswise on a diagonal into 1 1/2-inch-wide strips.
Place a large wok or a pot large enough to hold all the bok choy over medium heat. When it is hot, add the olive oil and rotate the wok or pot a bit to coat it evenly. When the oil is hot, add the onion and stir-fry until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bok choy and season with the salt and pepper. Cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and serve hot.
Serves 4 to 6.
Arugula and Grilled Mushroom Salad
1 pound mixed button, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms
1 recipe Lemon-Garlic Marinade, below
1 bunch arugula, stemmed and leaves torn
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Prepare a medium-hot fire in the grill with a lightly-oiled vegetable grill rack in place. Trim the mushrooms and discard any tough stems. Slice about ¼ inch thick. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade and pour the rest over the mushrooms. Toss to coat well.
Lift the mushrooms out of the marinade with a slotted spoon. Grill the mushrooms, tossing frequently, until tender and grill-marked, about 8 minutes.
In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the remaining marinade.
To serve, arrange the arugula on salad plates and scatter the mushrooms on top. Top with a few curls of shaved Parmesan.
Prepare a medium-hot fire in the grill with a lightly-oiled vegetable grill rack in place. Trim the mushrooms and discard any tough stems. Slice about ¼ inch thick. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade and pour the rest over the mushrooms. Toss to coat well.
Lift the mushrooms out of the marinade with a slotted spoon. Grill the mushrooms, tossing frequently, until tender and grill-marked, about 8 minutes.
In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the remaining marinade.
To serve, arrange the arugula on salad plates and scatter the mushrooms on top. Top with a few curls of shaved Parmesan.
Lemon-Garlic Marinade
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the garlic, lemon zest, parsley, and sugar. Process until the parsley is very finely chopped and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the lemon juice and mustard and process again. With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil and continue to process until the oil is emulsified. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
Use immediately or store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Makes about ½ cup.
Herbed Asparagus Orechiette
(to lower the fat content of this dish, try substituting the heavy cream with milk or half & half)
Zest of 1 lemon
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the garlic, lemon zest, parsley, and sugar. Process until the parsley is very finely chopped and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the lemon juice and mustard and process again. With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil and continue to process until the oil is emulsified. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
Use immediately or store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Makes about ½ cup.
Herbed Asparagus Orechiette
(to lower the fat content of this dish, try substituting the heavy cream with milk or half & half)
Zest of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of fresh marjoram
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon chile pepper flakes
1 bunch asparagus, ends removed, chopped in 1/2-inch pieces at the ends, 1 inch pieces at the tips
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 or 2 teaspoons salt
Pepper to taste
1 package orecchiette pasta
Freshly-grated Parmesan for topping
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Start salted water boiling for pasta. Meanwhile, sauté garlic in olive oil with fresh herbs and pepper flakes for 2-3 minutes on medium high heat. Turn down the heat to warm until you add the pasta to the water.
Start salted water boiling for pasta. Meanwhile, sauté garlic in olive oil with fresh herbs and pepper flakes for 2-3 minutes on medium high heat. Turn down the heat to warm until you add the pasta to the water.
About 4 minutes later (roughly 5 minutes before the pasta is done), turn up the heat to medium high, and add the asparagus to the herbs and olive oil. Cook the asparagus until crunchy but cooked (about 5 minutes). Add 1 teaspoon salt.
Remove pasta from pot, reserving 1/4 cup of liquid. Add liquid and lemon zest to asparagus. Stir. Turn down the heat, add pasta and stir. Add cream.
Serve topped with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese, a drizzling of olive oil, pepper and additional salt to taste.
Serves 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment