If the CSA experience does anything for us, it challenges us. We are challenged by the weekly or bi-weekly boxes of seasonal vegetables that are sometimes familiar and sometimes unfamiliar. The less familiar vegetables aren’t meant to intimidate, disappoint, or dis-courage you. They’re meant to inspire you, foster courage and bravery and challenge you to rise to a new level in your cooking skills that impresses your friends and family and builds confidence in you as a cook!
We’ve been eating from these boxes now for 16 consecutive weeks. Some of the early season excitement we had at the start of the season has fizzled out after 4 solid months of trying to keep up with our veggie consumption goals. Life is busy now in mid/late September and weekends are filled up with adventures, fairs, festivals, soccer practice and sports activities. But slowly we are entering the season of winter squashes, potatoes, roasted root vegetables and the very cozy feeling of delicious smells coming out of our ovens on cool Fall mornings and evenings.
As I was thinly slicing up my brussels sprout greens this last weekend I was appreciating what a rare and unusual treat these greens were to be cooking with. The tenderness and quaintness of their inner leaves coupled with the rarity in availability of such a cooking treasure made me feel like I was a real chef in the kitchen. I had a moment of feeling gratitude for this humble, yet extraordinary vegetable green and I also felt sophisticated and fine for feeling so confident in the kitchen with such an unusual plant. Even more empowered did I feel as my hungry children were nibbling the greens right out of the pan to nearly gone by the time I was ready to serve dinner.
The food in your CSA box is truly seasonal and local bounty. No off-season, bar-coded, stickered and imported from Centra America produce needed. When I see recipes that call for asparagus and winter squash in the same dish, I keep scrolling along with an offended air at the audacity of putting these two vegetables in the same recipe. Who would do such a thing? I’m a committed local cook who believes strongly in preserving the endangered vegetables. I wish to save the celeriac root, fennel, kohlrabi and eggplant from dinner plate extinction by knowing how to prepare them well and to feed them to people I love. Call me radical, but I wish to inspire such a desire within you as well.
There are just four more Summer Share deliveries left with our farm. Soon we will be limited to storage potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, squash and a narrow selection of root veggies as the earth tilts away from the sun. Like the squirrels stashing away their nuts, I hurriedly chop up every brightly colored pepper or tomato or deeply-greened crispy vegetable I can l lay my hands on because I know that my time with these summer treats is limited. I know that too soon I will be shamefully forced to shop at a grocery store amongst a restricted medley of too-familiar produce.
Rise to the challenge, impress yourself and make something you’ve never made before. Explore and find a ‘new favorite’ recipe that you can look forward to each year as the season approaches and they become your ‘old friend’ recipes. And always feel free to share with me your favorite recipes that are tried and true and I’m happy to share them with the Small Family Farm CSA Community.
Tomatoes– 3.75 lbs tomatoes mixed varieties. A reminder to remove your tomatoes from the bag and allow them to air out and sit at room temperature outside of the plastic bag at room temp. Tomatoes love 50 degree storage temps. We pick any tomato with a ‘blush’ which means any amount of color that it has started to turn, we pick em. They still qualify as ‘vine ripened’ tomatoes even when we do it this way. We highly recommend not putting tomatoes in the refrigerator as refrigerators tend to suck flavor out of tomatoes and inhibit ripening. For maximum flavor and enjoyment, allow them to sit on your counter to ripen and promptly use up once ripe! Tomatoes have peaked and are on the decline.
Chesnook Red Garlic– A bulb of hardneck variety garlic for your cooking pleasure. Does not need refrigeration. Tucked inside you bag of tomatoes.
Jalapeno Pepper- Jalapenos will turn red if allowed to sit on the plants. They turn a touch sweeter when fully ripe like this. Tucked inside your bag with the tomatoes.
Red Poatoes– Potatoes did very well this summer even in the drought conditions with drip irrigation.
Green Beans– A smaller giving of a .35lb bag. The green beans are waning now quite a bit.
Spaghetti Squash- These are the large yellow squash at the bottom of your box. Do not refrigerate and allow to sit on your counter until you get a chance to use it up. Spaghetti squash is the all the rage in the gluten free world these days. A perfect opportunity to hone those cooking skills with this unusual vegetable.
Celeriac Root– These are the very funky looking root vegetable with their greens still attached. The celeriac root leaves and stems are edible like celery and can be added to any soups or stews. For best storage, remove the greens and store celeriac root in a plastic bag in the fridge. This ancient root with store for a terrifically long time in a plastic bag in cold storage, but don’t wait! Rise to the challenge, peel your celeriac root and use the potoato-like root to make celeriac mashed potatoes, or dice it into small cubes and add it to any chicken soup or stew.
Sweet Peppers- 4 sweet peppers per box. We grow a very wide variety of peppers ranging from red, orange and yellow bells to the long, sweet carmen types that are pointed at their tip (these are still a sweet pepper and not a hot pepper). Peppers are a very special fall treat. Time for roasted peppers or stuffed peppers or however you like to eat them! They freeze very nicely as well if just cut up and put in zip lock bags.
Cherry Tomatoes– .8 lb bag per member. Allow to ripen at room temp if needed. Enjoy them while they last!
Onion– Gotta have onions every week!
Carrots– One pound per member. Deliciously sweet carrots this year! Yummy!
Green Curly Kale- To keep you stocked in cooking greens And you wouldn’t be a fully ‘seasoned’ chef without plenty of kale in your cooking!
Lettuce– Finally we have lettuce again! We sure do miss it when it’s gone after that long run of it in the Spring!
Flat Leaf Parsley– Parsley is a superfood! Loaded in vitamins A, C K and more and is loaded with antioxidants. Parsley has anti-cancer properties and is good for bone health! Make Chimmichurri, finely dice into potato salad, garnish salmon, mix in with salad greens, or add to any kind of soup. You can even dry the leaves and use them this winter! Store in a glass jar with a tight lid away from direct sunlight.
Next Week’s Best Guess: Celeriac root, potatoes, kabocha squash, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, kohlrabi, carrots, onion, garlic, green cabbage, chard, lettuce or kale?
Recipes
Celery Root Soup with other Root Veggies
Potato and Celery Root Rosti (could be made even more simple by making hashbrowns)
Spaghetti Squash Bourrito Bowl
Chimmichurri Sauce
Tomato and Mozzerella Caprice Salad
