Lakes and Valley CSA news week 8
Delivering to PR and DL August 18, Dilworth and Fargo on August 21, 2008
In your veggie boxes this week:
Raspberries
Zucchini and summer squashes
Basil
Radishes
Mesclun with edible flowers and late, baby peas
Green beans
Cucumbers
Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower—white, orange cheddar or (coming soon) purple Graffiti
Carrots
Tomatoes, cherry and slicing
Flat leaf parsley
Eggs in PR and DL shares
Coming soon—tomatillos
Coming soon—you-pick-em green beans for canning or freezing.
Several of you have asked about ordering beef this fall. We will have no steers ready this fall. Severe drought in 2007 forced us to cull our herd to only brood cows and yearling heifers. But our friend (and former intern) Angela Michieli at Camphill Village Minnesota in Sauk Centre has six steers that will be ready. She farms biodynamically, just as we do. Her steers are presently out on pasture, and will be given the six-week grain finish that marbleizes the meat just right. Last March’s meat customers had her beef, and loved it.
The beef ordering process will be the same—using the forms that will be sent as attachments to a separate email today, reserve either a half or a quarter of beef, custom cut and wrapped. The meat will be delivered in three batches of two steers each, mid-November and December.
We will dry and bag for you now the Calendula blossoms. Their oil content is increasing with the season, and Julie, our resident herbalist, feels an electric dehydrator will ensure successful drying and future storage. Dried, the bright orange flower petals will make a sunny addition to your winter soups and salads.
Speaking of capturing summer in a jar, I hope you are putting up some of your produce. I made a batch of pesto today. Half topped a veggie-rice lunch dish. The rest went into the freezer. I also froze a few bags of broccoli. Little by little, I restock my freezer.
Each week our tomato harvest is increasing. Cherry tomatoes always come first. Our Sungolds are outpacing the red Favoritas because we lost more Favoritas in the Big Freeze. We replanted, of course, and the replacement Favoritas are now flowering like crazy. The pale yellow cherry tomatoes in your veggie boxes are Snow Whites. Very sweet, full tomato flavor, they are open-pollinated and have thin, tender skins.
We re-sowed hybrid determinate tomatoes, rather than heirloom indeterminate, after the Big Freeze. Determinates are bred to not need staking, but have been increasingly susceptible to early wilt and other fungal diseases. We wanted their concentrated fruit set, so we put a five gallon bucket of two-year old compost underneath each transplant. The plants are waist high and bushy now. Tomatoes are forming, and we’re promised more summer weather next week.
The determinate tomatoes claimed a bed we had intended for seed saving. We had already set in the two paste tomato plants that survived the B.F. The mother paste tomato volunteered in the onion bed in 2007. Even with its late start, it ripened fruits. Impressed, I saved the seed and planted it this year. I have no idea what variety it is, but it is a survivor, and worthy of protection.
I am always eager to save seed. Dewane replants his oat and barley seed each year. The oat rust fungus has all but disappeared. One year NDSU tested his oats in the lab, hoping he’d bred a rust-resistant strain over time. It turned out that was not the case, but his fields still show no rust. He feels his biodynamic practices strengthen the plants so they can resist rust. Practice, not breeding. Hmmm.
Arugula self-sows nearly everywhere in the CSA garden now. The resulting plants form giant rosette heads, a feat I have never been able to achieve sowing the seed.
The shell pea we grow is Green Arrow. I have been selecting and saving the seed for thirteen years. We like the snow pea and sugar snap pea more for your veggie shares, so we don’t raise more running feet of Green Arrow for seed, than for eating. The plants have lost none of their original vigor, and have become the foundation stock for Turtle Tree Seeds, the U.S biodynamic seed company.
This year we’re hoping to harvest seed for the first time from our Calabrese open-pollinated broccoli. We harvested florets when the main, hybrid varieties were not yet ready. Now, we’re letting them flower. The bees are ecstatic, for they adore Brassica nectar. I’m not sure what Broccoli honey tastes like, but they are gathering it with the same intensity they show toward the summer squashes.
Seed saving requires time and space, time to do the hand-work and space to separate varieties so they don’t cross-pollinate. Most seed companies are global, raising two crops a year by hybrid farming in South America in our winter. New, genetic modification of seeds (GMO’s) goes one step farther—gene-based controls make them proprietary. Some grain seed now contains what has been labeled a “terminator” gene. The seed cannot be saved and replanted, which will be devastating to peasant farmers in India and Africa. Other seeds are “mated” to a brand of herbicide or fungicide. The promise of this type of seed work is lessen the use of chemicals, but it also concentrates the availability of seed in the hands of one or two companies worldwide.
I hope that we will be able to do more seed saving in the years to come. Seeds can be moved from northern latitudes southward. A longer growing season guarantees time enough to form ripe seed. One has to take much more time—or use extra-ordinary season extenders—to grow a southern crop in Minnesota or North Dakota. Peanuts, anyone?
I took pictures this week for the newsletter with Rachel’s old digital camera. A neophyte with bifocals, I handed the camera to Andrea and, through some sleight-of-hand, transferred them to the soup building computer. She showed me how to resize them, but to be safe, I will attach them in a separate email.
Tomato Bruschetta
2 or 3 large tomatoes, diced
4 large basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
salt and pepper
12 slices French bread, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, halved and crushed
¼ cup olive oil
Parmesan cheese or Feta cheese
Prepare a medium fire in a gas or charcoal grill, or preheat an oven broiler.
Combine tomatoes and basil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Toast bread over the fire or under the broiler until very lightly colored, but still soft. Rub one side of each slice with garlic.
Drizzle each slice with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Using a slotted spoon, top each slice with a spoonful of tomato. Top with cheese and serve.
Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups cherry tomato halves
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh herbs
salt and pepper
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add tomatoes and sauté until heated through, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat and add herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Tomato Pesto Tarts
2 pounds tomatoes, cored and sliced ¼ inch thick
1 teaspoon salt
2 10-inch homemade or storebought pastry rounds
1 large egg, beaten
½ cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup pesto
½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
Cover a large work surface with a double layer of paper towels. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on top of the towels. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Let stand 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place pastry rounds on the baking sheet. Brush pastry with beaten egg, leaving a 2-inch border around the edges.
Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese onto both pastries. Spread pesto over that.
Place paper towels over the tomatoes and press firmly to dry. Arrange dried tomato slices on top of the pesto in overlapping circles. Sprinkle mozzarella on top.
Fold up the pastry edges and crimp. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until golden. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut into wedges.
Easy Homecanned Salsa
24 cups quartered ripe tomatoes
8 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
2 cups white distilled vinegar
hot peppers to taste
2 onions, chopped finely
1 cup fresh green chile peppers, chopped finely
1 cup sweet bell pepper, chopped finely
salt
Combine tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and hot peppers in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tomatoes are very soft, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Process through a food mill, discarding skins and seeds.
Return to your pot and add onions and peppers. Simmer until salsa has reduced to a nice, thick sauce, about 1 hour. Season with salt.
Ladle hot salsa into clean, hot pint jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Let cool undisturbed overnight. Store in a cool, dry place for up to one year.
Tomatillo, the Mexican husk tomato, is small and round, yellowish green like an unripe tomato. It is a native of Peru, was a staple in pre-Columbian cooking and is a member of the Solinacea family. The tomatillo is more closely related to the Gooseberry than the tomato. It is covered in a parchmentlike skin that peels off easily. The fruit can be used raw or cooked, and has flavors of green apple and lemon, with herbal, tart undertones. Cooking tempers the intensity of the flavor. The pulp is high in a pectin-like substance that acts as a natural thickener. Sauces made with tomatillos tend to thicken slightly when refrigerated.
Tomatillos keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. To prepare for cooking, remove the paper husks and rinse off the sticky residue on the skins. Finely diced or pureed raw toamtillos add a fresh, tangy, citrus-like flavor and are often used in Mexican dishes.
Blanched for 5 minutes, the flavor of the tomatillo becomes surprisingly mellow. Roasting under a broiler or grilling brings out more flavor. A recipe with tomatillos will require tasting and adjusting with sugar if the flavor is too tart.
Dry roasting produces a nutty flavor. Place tomatillos in a heavy cast-iron skillet. Turn heat to low. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, turning occasionally, letting each side take on a rich, burnished gold color before turning.
My sister’s mother-in-law is from Mexico City. An expert cook, she shared her favorite tomatillo recipes with Caroline and me when I visited last May:
Tomatillo Salsa
4 tomatillos
1 jalapeno or serano pepper, seeded and deveined, then chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
10 shoots cilantro
oil
Whir cilantro and garlic in a food processor or blender. Add pepper.
Slice tomatillos. Heat a frying pan and add 1 Tablespoon oil. Add a single layer of tomatillo slices and fry on each side until flesh is golden brown and soft. Add to blender and repeat until all tomatillo slices are cooked. Add 1 to 2 Tablespoons water and blend until smooth. Serve with chips. Keeps several days in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.
Tomatillo green sauce
2 mild chile peppers
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 small tomatillos
oil
Slice tomatillos like tomatoes. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a frying pan. Arrange a single layer of tomatillo slices in pan and sauté until brown. Turn and cook until brown. Salt slices as they cook. Use a spatula to flatten end slices so they cook well. Put cooked slices into a blender.
Saute chile peppers and garlic in frying pan for 1 minute. Add to blender. Add ¼ to 1/3 cup water and a dash of salt. Blend until smooth. Strain if desired.
Mrs. Gasca recommends serving this sauce over warmed corn tortillas topped with strips of fresh basil and rounds of fresh mozzarella cheese.
Tomatillo and Avocado Dip
3/4 pound fresh tomatillos
4 large garlic cloves
3 ripe avocados
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro sprigs
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
4 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
Preparation
Remove husks and rinse tomatillos under warm water to remove stickiness. Heat a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or griddle over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and lightly brown tomatillos and garlic in spots all over (do not let burn). Transfer tomatillos and garlic to a plate and cool them to room temperature.
In a food processor, purée tomatillos and garlic until smooth. Halve and pit avocados and scoop into tomatillo mixture. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Stir in cilantro, lime juice, 3 tablespoons onion, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish dip with remaining tablespoon chopped onion and serve with tortilla chips.
FYI for those following my daughter’s escapades: Rachel (producer), cinematographer Adam and writer/director Steve finished shooting their first feature film in New York City at the end of June. Now titled ‘Happy Birthday Rita,’ the very-low-budget (aka. guerilla) film is a bittersweet May-September love story about an older man unable to move on after his failed relationship with Rita. Each year he bribes a pizza deliveryman to help him celebrate her birthday. One day he inadvertently deletes her last message from his answer machine. Desperate, he hires a young, jaded, East European call girl to re-record Rita’s message. Drawn together by loneliness, they strike up a friendship that frees them to change their lives.
After recuperating from three months of 20-hour workdays, Rachel accepted a temporary job as Assistant Director on a short film to pay her student loans. As of Friday, she (and Adam and Steve) are in seclusion editing Happy Birthday Rita. Her MCAD teacher, Ali Selim (Sweetland), thinks they should enter it in Sundance Film Festival. That deadline is looming. Stay tuned. I am.
