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It's a heat wave! Sun, Sun, and More Sun!!!

To address a couple frequently asked questions: Tomatoes are just around the corner. They are beginning to trickle in. We don't have room for much sweet corn, so shop for that at Cook's Valley Farm in West Wrentham, or Jane & Paul's in Norfolk, or Tosy's over on 1A.
The flowers are growing like mad! Blooms bursting open every second. Meg and I can hardly keep up with cutting them! Luckily, our new cooler that my dad, Chris and my brother, Will, built is keeping them fresh! Now all we need is twice as many people as usual to buy bouquets of flowers. Everyone loves to see a vase of beautiful flowers in the house, not to mention, a significant other bringing home a fresh bouquet for no particular reason! We do not use any floral preservatives, but you are welcome to experiment with adding a drop of vinegar or bleach to the water. I've also heard of using a pinch of sugar or a crushed aspirin. I usually just go with changing the water somewhat frequently, rinsing the stems before I put them back in fresh water. Once in a while I remove a droopy flower, but for the most part my bouquets last about 6 days. Not bad for eight bucks!
We are open today, Wednesday, from 3 - 7 pm. so stop by if you have a chance!

At last! The first harvest of 2011!!!! Our beekeper, Roger, and his daughter, Lauren, collected honey last Saturday and have spent the weekend centrifuging it out of the comb and putting it in jars to sell this weekend! Finally, our local sweetener is on the market! Lauren makes wonderful bee-based soaps, hand salve, and lip balm that will also be available at their tent.

Fennel. The bulb is back :) I recommend using fennel in any sort of sautee. it's flavor gets milder and sweeter when cooked. It is terrific for a tomato based fish stew or for a broth for steaming mussels. Shaved thin it can make a lovely fresh salad. or how about this recipe for fontina and fennel pizza?

Carrots, yay, carrots!

3 Heads of Lettuce. My auntie Ann's Maple-Ginger Vinaigrette would be perfect for a salad of freshly washed and spun lettuce, grated carrots, and toasted sunflower seeds.

Green Kohlrabi. Sorry Neil Ferraro! and you're welcome Mr. Peters! Everyone has a different feeling about Kohlrabi. Last weekend I marinated big cubes of kohlrabi in lemon juice, garlic, basil, and olive oil and then put them on a skewer to grill, along with skewers of broccoli, spring onions, and long strips of zucchini. (I threw the display share in the car on our way down to my StepGrandma's cape house.) Muy Bueno! The kohlrabi was still a little crunchy but very tasty! I also recommend roasting it on a sheet pan, perhaps along with carrots to accompany some roast chicken or something.

Pickling Cucumbers The shorter, fatter ones with the light green striations. This variety is meant to mature at that whole dill pickle size, but really it is still a cucumber, just fine for fresh eating. Sometimes pickling cukes have more bitter skin, so you may want to peel them before throwing chunks in a salad. My favorite way to make them disappear is to slice them thin and sprinkle with a little sait and sugar then drizzle on some seasoned rice wine vinegar and serve right away or cover and leave in the fridge. it's kind of like a fresh pickle. you can keep adding thin slices to the liquid for a couple days. Yesterday i put in thin half moons of spring onions, too. Yum!

Slicing Cucumber. The darker skinned one, slightly more elongated. perfect for a salad, creamed cucumbers, making into sticks for dipping, whatever you want.

Summer Squash & Zucchini. Here's a Recipe for Spring Onions and Zucchini. or my mom's classic Zucchini Bread, if you feel like baking. Grilled Zucchini is excellent and leftover grilled vegetables are super for making a cool side dish of chopped grilled veg dressed with a tasty balsamic vinaigrette. Our friend Denise has been talking up a raw summer squash salad - julienned yellow squash with lemon juice, olive oil, and parmesan. Here's what I found online that sounded similar. Let your inspiration guide you!

Dill. I found a rather wholesome sounding recipe for homemade Ranch Dressing - The perfect dip for Kohlrabi sticks! cucumber and dill are always good friends, as well. Here's a creamed cucumbers recipe.

Tuscan Kale. Your old friend! sautee it up with plenty of garlic and olive oil. taste for salt! Put it in a pasta, a pizza, a frittata, or in a container in the freezer to enjoy later.

Spring Onions. superb grilled. excellent sauteed along with the fennel, or roasted for that matter. slice thin to go with a diced cucumber salad. yippee!!

Hi folks! Mrs. Kantlehner here. Just getting to the email for this week's share. Can I use my wedding as an excuse? Anyway, hope you all handled the box without your training wheels!! We had a beautiful wedding and we are so happy with how everything went. Thank you all for the kind words of support!!!
We love growing vegetables and look forward to the real blossoming of the summer veggies in the upcoming weeks :)

Red Cabbage. Slaw for the BBQ. Pickled Red Cabbage is a nice condiment to prepare and have ready to serve with slow roasted pork or whatnot. I’ve had delicious braised red cabbage. Or even sautéed red cabbage in a grain salad. check out the gingered cabbage and carrots recipe on the website.

Purple Kohlrabi. My aunt once asked me, “what’s the hand grenade vegetable at the bottom of the box?” Great question. It’s a kohlrabi. It is in the brassica family, along with cabbage, broccoli, turnips, etc. You can have it raw or cooked. Either way, it should be peeled. I usually approach a kohlrabi with a large chef knife and hack a slice off the bottom so it will sit flat, then sit it down and proceed to carve off the peel in curved top to bottom slices. Inside, you find a kind of dense white flesh that is crunchy and refreshing and tasty. Something like a broccoli stem, jicama, radish/potato, or something. You can shred it onto a salad, chop it into matchsticks for a slaw, roast it for a side “starch, “ even marinate and grill.  Kohlrabi takes on flavors well. I like to include it in the diced veggies under a roasted chicken. Kohlrabi sticks are delicious with dip. You can whip up a quick dip by throwing together some sour cream, garlic powder, chopped dill or basil or parsley or fennel fronds or some sort of combo, and a squeeze of lemon. Taste for salt and pepper and you beautiful purple-skinned hand grenade should disappear!

Fresh Onions. So sweet when cooked. These would be perfect in a sautée with diced zucchini and basil.  Also just the type of onions to halve and stick on a skewer on the grill.

1 Lb Broccoli. Maybe broccoli slaw? Use it soon. This broccoli has had it with the heat.

1 pint Sugarsnap Peas. Edible pods. Snap off the stem end and unzip the string. Get some butter melting in a pan with a splash of olive oil to be a little healthier. Throw in the peas. Keep tossing until desired greenness and crunchiness. You can add flair by tossing in a little chopped mint. These are perfect in a sautéed vegetable medley. You can definitely snack on them raw or even slice into a salad. Enjoy!

Golden Beets. The golden colored beet is just a different variety of your usual red beet. The flavor is very similar. I would love to collect any descriptions of the difference in flavor. Nuances. One thing is for sure – you’ll never be caught red handed peeling these beets. And they will never disturb a fussy chef’s plating scheme.

1 Bunch Basil. You could certainly make a pesto with this bunch. Pull the leaves off the tougher stems and throw them in a food  processor with a decent amount of good olive oil. Whiz that up. Add a pinch of salt, half a lemon’s juice, some toasted nuts (cooled down), some pepper, perhaps a little arugula or parsley for something different, and a half handful of grated parmesan. Play with it. Just keep tasting. Either use it right away or pack into small containers in the fridge. I make pesto pasta, pesto grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken breasts rubbed with pesto and roasted, pesto pizza. And when I’m desperately hungry – crackers dipped in pesto. You could class that up into a nice bruschetta with pesto and some nice melted cheese. Ah, my latest basil creation was a basil vinaigrette. (Rule of thumb for vinaigrettes: throw in some form of diced onion/garlic, a tsp of Dijon, something sweet like a tsp of jam or honey, then 1 part vinegar (any kind or combo), and 3 parts oil (yummy olive oil, organic canola oil, or a combo). For my basil vinaigrette I used some diced red scallions, a tsp of Dijon, a tsp of currant jam, 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar, and blended in the blender (a vigorous whisking would be fine. ) Then I added 1 cup of half and half olive oil and canola, drizzling it into the blender as it continued to blend the vinegar. I tasted for salt and pepper, threw in a handful of basil leaves and let it go once more. Taste again. Sugar is also an option for adjusting the flavor or a dressing. Voila!)

3 Heads of Lettuce. Oh, Lettuce. Can you ever grow tired of lettuce? Aside from homemade, our top favorite dressings of late have been from Brianna’s: Ranch, French. Marie’s Blue cheese, and Annie’s Goddess is a classic.  We can’t claim we are purists!

Bag of Arugula. The perfect base for a roasted golden beet and goat cheese salad, served with a homemade basil vinaigrette. The simplest arugula salad is just the coarsely chopped arugula, salt and peppered, drizzled with lemon juice and then olive oil, finished with shaved parmigiano-reggiano. Chopped arugula is also nice in a sandwich or mayo in a sandwich. You can even wilt it into a hot pasta or on top of a hot pizza with prosciutto. feel free to use it as an herb, as well.

One Large Zucchini. You can make a zucchini go far by slicing it thin :) You can marinate chunks of zucchini and grill them on a skewer. One of our friends makes zucchini roll-ups for her vegetarian family. Just slice the zuke in thin slices lengthwise and make little rolls, using a ricotta and herb filling, like what you would make for a ravioli or lasagna, Place in a baking pan with olive oil and bake, covered until just tender then remove the foil to brown them. Perhaps with some parmesan on top. I found a recipe online for grilled zucchini roll ups. Sounds good. You could certainly use the arugula instead of spinach.

This Saturday Floyd will be at the Roadside Stand with Pork!
 

Fennel! Although it has a licorice flavor that not everyone is a fan of, give it a chance. With the right preparation it can be transporting (to a place of deliciousness.) First of all, for best storage, cut off the fronds and save a reasonable amount to use as an herb. put the bulb in a plastic bag and it should last for a week or two just fine. Fennel can be featured in a salad. One of my favorites is a fennel, red onion, and grapefruit salad. Trim the bottom and then shave on a mandolin or use your knife skills to cut very thin slices. Do the same with a red onion or shallot. Section a tasty grapefruit into the bowl (come to think of it maybe this salad is better in the winter with Texas Ruby Reds). Squeeze in the excess juice (no seeds).  Finish with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Season w/ Salt and pepper - taste to adjust. There is a new recipe for fennel and sugarsnap salad on the website. Fennel in tomato broth is super with seafood. White fish or mussels or clams. If you have shrimp throw the peels into water with fennel, onion, carrot, celery and make a wonderful stock to use/freeze for a wonderful seafood risotto or soup/bisque.

Parsley. This is so good for you, you should just chop it fine and keep it in a little dish in the fridge. Sprinkle it in your sandwich, in some eggs, on your pasta, salad, baked potato, etc. You can also make tabouleh. Parsley and lemon are wonderful accompaniments to fish. Parsley is the natural balance to garlic, in terms of spicyness and garlic breath.

Gnome Cabbage. Fine, the variety name is actually Caraflex. But we prefer gnome. Aren't they so cute! Volunteer to bring the cole slaw to the BBQ this weekend! Or put it in a plastic bag and shove it in the way back of the fridge for two weeks from now when all of the cabbage has been tilled in here.

Fresh Onions, Pearl Drop. Yum! Hurray! Onions! You can slice these and use 'em how you want to use onions in any dish. Sauteed with garlic and olive oil and mushrooms to go with a steak, sauteed with kale to make a frittata. whatever. These can also be featured on the grill on skewers or a grill basket or sliced in halves in the oven with a whole chicken or just a sheet of roasted veg.

Carrots. Hurray! Shred some on a salad. Eat 'em like bugs bunny. shred for a veggie wrap. dice for a bolognese sauce. make sticks and a sour cream/fennel frond/parsley dip.

2 Heads Lettuce. Insalata. Ensalada. {Bridezilla has gone batty!} 

Broccoli. Mondo heads. they have not been enjoying the intense sunshine, however. Apologies if you have a couple of orangey-yellow florets. Also, watch out for imported cabbage moth caterpillars. Definitely cut apart the crown to check for these broccoli-stem-green little guys. You may also soak in salt water for five to ten minutes to remove them. Broccoli, sauteed with garlic and olive oil and tossed with penne and parmesan is a real easy supper, served with salad and bread. This week's share does encourage a stir fry with rice as well. onions, carrots, brocc, sliced cabage, and some sugarsnap peas. you can make a little sauce on the side - try a tsp of mustard and a couple diced cloves of garlic, whisked with soy sauce, a little balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Adjust with honey, a squeeze of lemon or lime, hot sauce, and perhaps finish with sesame oil. I usually either serve this at the table or add just at the end so the veggies don't get too sogged by the liquid.

Pint of Sugarsnap Peas. These are the edibe pod kind of peas. If your kids didn't devour them already, take the stem end and break it backwards, taking with it the string down the side. Kind of like a zipper. I don't bother taking off the other end, but i do find them all carefully cut off on Grammie's plate at the end of dinner - so maybe you should take a vote. I like to prepare them like that, rinse, then sautee in butter, just until bright green. Then remove from heat - army green is not a good color for veggies! Of course, they are a good snack raw, too.

1/2 Lb Mustard Mix. Spicy mix. either serve with a creamy dressing (Annie's Goddess?) and a knife and fork for a salad, or wilt for a cooked green. One farmstand shopper said she made a pasta with just olive oil, tossed it right away with chopped mustard greens to wilt them, then finished with goat cheese and toasted walnuts. Sounds like a good idea!

Red Russian Kale. If you're tired of eating kale, you can chop it, sautee with garlic and olive oil, allow to cool and put in a labeled, dated container in the freezer for you to enjoy this winter in a soup or pasta or just as a side. You may not believe it now, but there will come a time when you are craving greens, especially kale!

Thank you all so much!
See you next Tuesday, when I'll be Mrs. K!!!
Enjoy your holiday!!!!



 

Green Cabbage. got any cilantro left? try making this peanut-cilantro cole slaw. Or just do the classic. It's surprising how sweet fresh cabbage tastes. These are the type of cabbage most often used to make cabbage rolls, too. Blanch whole leaves and roll a stuffing into them (rice, mushrooms, and ground beef are common, but be creative!), then bake in a casserole dish with tomato sauce or some combo of wine and broth. Cabbage can certainly be stir fried.

Silverado Swiss Chard. The challenge of the first month of the CSA is upon you. More greens!!! Try this Spanish preparation with chick peas and golden raisins. You could use your red part of your scallions instead of the red onions and just strip the chard greens off the stems (which are tougher than spinach stems, of course), and add the chopped stems to the pan before the greens to get them tender.

2 Heads Lettuce. salad!
 
Spinach. Good job, spinach plants, for holding out until the Summer Solstice! These leaves are actually quite tender. Fine for a salad, but also great for eggs, on a pizza, or wilted into a hot pasta or Parmesan Risotto.

Arugula. Wash, spin, pinch of salt, grind of fresh pepper, drizzle of fresh squeezed lemon, drizzle of tasty olive oil, and parmesan peeled with a vegetable peeler. I love a quesadilla with cheese, arugula, and pepperoni or some other thinly sliced Italian sausage.

Red Scallions. A red version! The bottoms would be great to chop into a salad, a pasta salad, grain salad, bean salad, etc. The tops are just like green scallion tops. great on a salad, in an egg scramble, enhancing mac & cheese or grilled cheese, etc.

the first Zucchini. Just one little guy. They are just beginning to produce! A little tasty tidbit to dice and sautee.

Radishes. salad toppers. bread and butter enhancers.

Frisee. The big frilly lettuce looking head. This is a chicory/endive so it is slightly more bitter than lettuce, but can be used the same way. I just chop it up, wash and spin and use as a salad base. Frisee pairs especially nice with something sweet or rich or both. Think cheese, nuts, roasted beets, poached pears. It also holds up really nicely to a warm dressing that can tame its bitterness just a tad. You could even try using it like escarole - in a soup with white beans. if you are a fan of bacon, try this salad I found on epicurious.com

Napa Cabbage. Napa is the oblong whitish cabbage in your box this week. It is a sweet, crunchy cabbage that is just a delightful addition to the table. It is wonderful for a lightly dressed slaw. Thinly sliced with a little cilantro and scallions it would be perfect for fish tacos. I've had it as part of a salad mix or in a veggie wrap. It can be cooked, but won't require very long. If I were making a stir fry I'd probably throw it in towards the end.

1 Bunch of Beets. Yum. One of our CSA members just scrubs the outside, doesn't peel, chops them up and roasts them on a baking sheet like you would roasted potatoes - with some oil and a little salt. Here's an idea for serving them raw.
 
Scallions. Green onions. I use the whole scallion. sometimes I'll use the white part to cook in a little butter before adding some eggs whipped with a little half and half and shredded cheddar. I add the greens just add the eggs set up and nothing tastes better on multi-grain toast. We chop scallions on salads, put them in a veggie sandwich. You can grill marinated scallions briefly to bring out their sweetness. They are lovely in a potato salad or pasta salad. Anywhere you want some crunch and flavor.

Spinach. a bag of baby spinach. This is tender enough to use in a salad. There are some really fancy recipes for a spinach salad with a warm bacon vinaigrette if you want to have more of a meal salad. I adore cooked spinach as well. It does cook down quite a bit, but it adds such flavor to a pasta with pesto, a pizza with feta and red onion, a quiche, etc. Here is a recipe for Green Goddess Spread.

3 Heads of Lettuce. Now you're on the salad routine! How about a new dressing recipe?

Hakurei Turnips. (Often referred to as "white radishes") Really they are very mild and tender and often eaten raw, as opposed to the sharper tasting, harder Purple-Top Turnip. One self-proclaimed non-turnip lover said she really enjoyed a quick slaw she put together with shredded radish and hakurei turnips, a little onions, a touch of mayo, with salt and pepper. I would even venture to say some scallion greens, cilantro, and lemon juice wouldn't hurt that dish. If you've only eaten them raw, try one sliced and briefly sauteed in olive oil or butter with a pinch of salt. yum!

Red Russian Kale. As CSA Farmers we are not supposed to be driving our members to hate kale. three weeks in a row!! let's hope everyone either loves it or is finding novel ways to prepare it. Lots of moms have been reporting children loving kale chips!

Cilantro. Same as last week. Very good with white fish, rice, white onions, cheese and beans, thai style curry.
Enjoy! 

Thank you all so much!! See you next week :) 

Hi again! Sorry to be bombarding your mailboxes. I seem to have a new announcement each week! Last Friday's "Fish Friday" with Jordan Brothers Seafood went swimmingly! Thanks for coming. Bobby will now know to completely fill the truck every Friday! Thank you so much for your patronage, everyone!!!

Hi Tuesday Members!!

This week in your share you found:

3 Heads of Lettuce. I suppose I should do a little narrative of the best way to keep lettuce. At the very least, put the heads in a plastic bag in the refrigerator (or a special produce-saving green bag or a reusable cloth bag - something to keep the leaves from drying out in the fridge).  I like to wash a big batch of lettuce at once so I can just wash and dry the salad spinner one time.  I cut off the base of each head, then quickly rinse the visible dirt at the base under running water. I fill either the basin of the sink or the bottom of the salad spinner with cold water and plunge all the leaves. Allow the dirt to settle for a moment and then lift leaves out of the water, without stirring up the sand, and place in the basket of the salad spinner. Don't overfill. Do batches if necessary. Spin. If you'll be storing the leaves, leave them whole. Otherwise you can tear the leaves into a salad bowl for a presto salad. Tuck the leaves in a plastic bag, leave fluffy (don't pack down or vaccuum seal your bag), and you'll have a salad base ready to roll all week. Those leaves are also fabulous on a sandwich or burger.  Some leaves may even make good wrappers for little roll ups - like grilled chicken with peanut sauce, cilantro, and julienned radishes.

Small bunch of radishes. They're growing larger! love that Crunchy Royale!!

A little bit of Broccoli. Since there isn't that much this week, I'd feature the broccoli in a pasta or rice dish, rather than use it as a side. But by all means, that is the simplest way to prepare it. A quick steam or sautee with olive oil and garlic is good. Marinated Broccoli even works on the grill. The Enchanted Broccoli Forest Moosewood cookbook has a nice recipe for Tofu and Broccoli. Broccoli always jazzes up Mac & Cheese or could be an element in a fritatta or quiche.

1 Bunch of Red Russian Kale. A frillier kale than last week. Meredith, of the farm crew here, says she prefers making the marinated kale salads with this type because the leaves are "softer" and take to the dressing well. 

A bunch of Baby Beets. The very first beets! We grated them raw onto a salad along with carrots for lunch the other day. You will have purple fingers, beware.  The tried and true tasty way to eat a beet is to roast it.  My method is to trim off the greens and put the unpeeled beets into a foil packet with a pinch of kosher salt and a quick drizzle of olive oil. Seal up, place on a baking sheet, and roast at 375 (or whatever temp the oven is at for something else) until fork tender. Since these are smaller, for the most part, they should roast quicker than usual - maybe 30 minutes? Once done, I leave them in the foil packet until they've cooled a bit and then use a fork and knife to peel them. The resulting little rubies are delicious as a salad topping, especially when paired with goat or bleu cheese. You can also make a roasted beet salad. I like to put together diced roasted beets, finely chopped shallots or red onion, a balsamic vinaigrette, and parsley. Avocado actually works quite nicely with this combo as well. By the way, the greens are edible, just keep the good looking ones and use like swiss chard (below). Also, the beets will keep better if they are stored separately from their tops. Cut the roots off and store them in a separate bag - they'll last a while. 

Swiss Chard. These are the greens with multicolored stems. I find swiss chard to be very good just coarsely chopped, steamed quite briefly, and served with a pat of butter and splash of apple cider vinegar.  Lots of recipes for spinach work with swiss chard. How about a chard pie.

Cilantro. Great with mexican dishes. A great condiment for fish tacos, in particular, is fine diced white onion, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. I found a nice recipe using cilantro for seasoned rice. Cilantro is also really nice with a curry or even in tuna salad.

1/2 Lb. Garlic Scapes. You can chop these up and use them whenever you want to add flavor. I recommend heating butter and cream for mashed potatoes along with a handful of chopped scapes to make garlic mashed taters.  There are probably enough scapes in the share to make a yummy pesto. Just throw the coarsely chopped scapes in a food processor with plenty of olive oil, salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, some toasted nuts (like pine nuts or walnuts), and plenty of grated parmigiano.  Parsley is said to be the herb to counteract garlic breath, so maybe some chopped parsley would be a good addition to this pesto. And basil, of course, would be delicious.  Here is an official recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto. This could be brushed onto chicken breasts or white fish for the grill, spread onto crackers or little baguette toasts with a dollop of ricotta. i bet you could make a delicious panini with the pesto spread, mozzarella, a chiffonade of swiss chard, and maybe a special treat like roasted red peppers, or a good Italian salami. Let your creativity flow with these cute little green curly cues. Oh, they are the flower buds of the garlic plant, by the way! 


Just a quick note about these emails.
My life is a little crazy these days trying to manage the farm, the crew, meals, laundry, wedding planning, construction products, irrigation emergencies, blah blah blah. So I apologize for not having this email prepared for you as soon as you get home on Tuesday night. Many of you have been with us for a while and have grown accustomed to the veggies we grow and know just what to do with everything. I encourage you to look under the recipe menu on the White Barn Farm website and search by ingredient. Extra apologies for those of you who don't know WHAT things are until I send this and therefore can't search by its name.  Anyway, there are excellent resources on the world wide interweb - even Wikipedia has good basic info about vegetables. Epicurious.com and the Food Network have good websites, too. I welcome you to send in tasty recipes that you discover throughout the season. I do save them and enter them into the website eventually!!!
Thank you all for understanding! I wish you all excellent eating for the week!!