Lakes and Valley CSA news Week 6
Delivering to PR and DL on August 4th, Dilworth and Fargo on August 7th
To reach Anne 218-252-5858
In your veggie boxes this week:
Shallots
Sugar snap and snow peas
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Baby lettuce with flowers
Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Beets
Kohlrabi
Sweet baby Jane carrots
Raspberries
Cilantro
Possibly new radishes
Isabel Allende envisions the future world like this:
"I see a more feminine world, a world where feminine values will be validated, the
same as masculine values are. A more integrated world. I see that in the future,
things that we have lost in the past will be recovered. There's a search for those
things, a search for spirituality, for nature, for the goddess religions, for family
and human bonding. All that has been lost in this industrial era. People are in
desperate need of those things. I don't think the world will destroy itself in a
nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save
the planet, and we will use it."
Photos this week show the garden beehive. Hannah dressed up. Obviously, I did not. Also attached is a photo of the hail event as it occurred at Hannah’s house, a few hundred yards east of the garden, a photo inside the hoophouse, and a cucumber waiting to be picked.
We’ve had a change in the garden. Ken, our longtime friend and co-worker, left to pursue other dreams. Due to the suddenness of his departure, we were short hands last Thursday and did not have enough time to harvest peas for Dilworth and Fargo boxes. We wish him every happiness.
Happily, we have found a new pair of hands. Joining the garden crew is Chris Rousu—aka “Sister Chris” because she is our favorite daughter-in-law’s sister, and because this helps distinguish her from the many other Chris-es in our lives. She’ll come on harvest days during August to allow her present employer time to find a replacement. She has two young, angelically rambunctious sons who actually eat veggies. I’m looking forward to plying them with good, biodynamic veggies. (Garden workers receive produce as part of their pay. This helps us keep a lid on share prices, but limits the pool of potential workers.)
The raspberries ripening this weekend were green and hard when the hail fell two weeks ago. They are, thusly, undamaged. We have berries to put in your boxes this week!
Any member interested in harvesting late-in-its-season spinach for eating or freezing should come ASAP. The garden is now producing so many vegetables that are time-consuming to pick that we have to walk away from Spinach 1.
Heat units have been slow in coming this season, but the zucchini have finally accumulated enough. The plants are thigh-high and brilliant with bright orange blossoms, which our honeybees visit innumerable times each day. (I wonder what zucchini honey tastes like?) Fruit set has shifted into high gear. Get ready for the traditional deluge.
I made a simple supper last night with a patty pan squash, six green beans and an early, hail-punctured green pepper. (News flash: Peppers will be coming in soon.) I sliced the whole patty pan into thin strips, diced the pepper and snapped the beans, then steamed everything in a covered pan until just tender, added butter, salt and pepper. At the table, I added a generous dollop of pesto. It was heavenly. Dewane ate his sans pesto. His loss.
Basic Pesto recipe
3 cups fresh basil leaves
3 to 4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts.
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Mince the first three ingredients in a food processor or blender. Drizzle in olive oil as the machine runs until you have a smooth paste. Transfer into a bowl and add cheese. Season to taste.
Shallots are miniature brown (or red) skinned onions. The flesh is milder than onions. They can be used interchangeably with onions. We’ve been multiplying out shallots for four years, and finally have enough to pass out.
Here is a recipe using shallots:
Sugar snap peas with Shallots
1 Tablespoon butter
1 large shallot, finely minced
2 cups sugar snap peas
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons broth or water
Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Add peas, sprinkle with salt, and stir to coat with butter. Add broth, cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more, until peas are tender-crisp. Serve immediately.
Do you have a favorite zucchini or summer squash recipe? Send it in and I’ll share it with your fellow CSA members.
Here is my recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake
½ cup cocoa
½ cup oil
½ cup butter
1 and 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
½ cup milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 and ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups zucchini, grated
1. Cream cocoa, oil, butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and milk. Add dry ingredients and zucchini. Pour into oiled 9 X 13 pan.
2. Mix topping of ½ cup chocolate chips. ¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup chopped nuts. Sprinkle on top of batter.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until done.
Grilling Summer squash:
Slice zucchini into rounds. Wrap in aluminum foil after dotting with butter and seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook on grill until tender.
Grill directly by slicing zucchini or summer squash lengthwise into 1/8-inch thick strips (big enough so slices don’t fall through the grill). Baby squashes can be cut into cubes, threaded on skewers and grilled.
For a treat, first toss zucchini with ¼ cup olive oil and 2 cloves garlic, minced. Then spread on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Grill 4 inches above the coals, 5 to 8 minutes on each side, until well browned.
Summer squash and cheese enchiladas
2 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons unbleached flour
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese
½ teaspoon salt
pepper
1 Tablespoon oil
1 and ½ cups chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
6 cups chopped zucchini
hot peppers, if desired
¼ cup water
16 to 18 corn tortillas
2 cups chopped tomatoes
In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, spices to make a thick paste. Add milk, a little at a time, using a wire whisk. Slowly add the cheese, stirring constantly until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions and garlic and sauté 5 minutes. Add peppers and zucchini, and sauté 2 more minutes. Add ¼ cup water, cover and steam veggies until tender. Remove from heat and drain excess liquid. Gently mix in 2/3 of the cheese sauce to complete the filling.
Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish. To assemble, place two corn tortillas side by side at one end of the pan. They will probably overlap slightly in the middle. Spread a generous amount of filling down the center of the tortillas, then fold over and roll up. Place seam-side down in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled. Spoon reserved sauce on top and garnish with tomatoes. Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes. Serves 8.
Zucchini and Black Bean Dinner
3 to 6 bunching onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
1 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow summer squash, sliced
1 can organic black beans, drained
garlic granules
fresh cilantro, chopped
grated Cheddar cheese
Sauté onions in butter until fragrant. Add zucchini and yellow summer squash. Cover and steam until squash is tender. Add black beans. Sprinkle on garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese. Serves 2
Mexican Colache (Vegetable Medley) with fresh cilantro
2 Tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 small summer squashes, cut into quarter-inch slices
1 bell pepper, julienned
2 cups fresh corn kernels
2 tomatoes, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Heat oil in a deep skillet. Add garlic and onions. Sauté 3 minutes. Add squash and bell pepper and cook for another minute or two. Add corn and chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium–low. Cover and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes. If vegetables begin to stick, or mixture seems too dry, add a Tablespoon or two of water. Season with salt and pepper. Toss in cilantro. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Prepare kohlrabi by peeling bulb, then slice thinly. Sauté in butter or bacon fat until tender. Sauté leaves in a little olive oil with garlic after cutting off the center stem.
Kohlrabi with rotini pasta and summer vegetables
½-pound spiral pasta
2 Tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 kohlrabi bulbs, coarsely shredded
1 carrot, grated
1 bell pepper, chopped
leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme (1/8 teaspoon dried)
½-teaspoon salt
pepper
Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Put on to boil a large pot of water. Boil pasta while you prepare vegetables. Heat oil in heavy skillet and sauté onions and garlic 2 minutes. Add kohlrabi, carrot, bell pepper, thyme, salt and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring often, until veggies are barely tender-crisp. Drain pasta and place in a large, shallow bowl. Heap cooked veggies on top of pasta and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over all. Serves 6.
