6/30/2009
CSA Newsletter
June 30th, 2009
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and depending upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
- Galileo
The Harvest
¾# salad mix
½ # baby spinach
Pac Choi
Herb bunch (dill, cilantro, oregano or chives)
2 oz basil
½# stir fry mix (if you didn’t get it last week you’re getting it this week)
Garlic Scapes (the long curly green bean looking things)
Not everyone will get:
1 bunch turnips
1# tomatoes
Jalapeno Pepper
Beans
Edible Flowers
Garlic Scapes – If you haven’t had these before boy are you in for a treat! You can use them any way you would use garlic. They are milder than a garlic clove would be, so if you are using it as a substitute for garlic you may need to use more. One of my favorite ways to cook garlic scapes is to cut them up to about the size of a green bean and then sauté in butter – that’s it! They are fabulous. You can use the entire scape, you may want to cut off the last two inches or so (the little flat end), just cause the shape and texture isn’t quite as pleasant as the rest of it.
Garlic Scapes will keep for a very long time in a sealed plastic bag in your fridge.
Garlic Scapes are a reproductive part of the garlic plant. Basically it’s the garlic flower, before it’s had time to mature. If we were to let it do its thing, it would form a ball on top that would be filled with little garlic pearls (not a technical name, it’s just what they look like). If a garlic pearl were planted, in two years you would get a small bulb of garlic. We snap these scapes off for two reasons: 1 – they are fabulous to eat. 2 – once we take the scape off the plant, the garlic focuses on it’s secondary reproductive part which is the bulb. Garlic plants that have had the scapes removed have larger bulbs at harvest time.
Enjoy!
Nutritional Tip (and other random factoids) From Becca this week:
Beans: The ancestor of most beans originated in Peru and spread throughout South and Central America by migrating Indian tribes. Beans were brought to Europe by Spanish and Portuguese traders in the 16th century and spread to North America by early settlers.
Most bean varieties are high in antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and protein. These nutrients act as anti-inflammatory and immune boosting compounds. They also help with cardiovascular and brain health. Beans are a great snack on their own, as well as delightful adds to salads, sautés, and casseroles.
The News
Don’t forget to join us for Yoga starting this Thursday. Class starts at 7 am out on our events lawn (just south of the greenhouse, in between the flower shed and the field). Bring a mat if you have one, otherwise Becca will have some extra’s here. It’s $15 for drop in. Then stay for some muffins and tea all made with CMF delights. Hope to see you here.
There will be extra bags of salad, pac choi, herb bunches, and flower bouquets available for sale tomorrow.
Don’t forget to bring you bags back.
The Recipe
Candied Turnips (off the web somewhere)
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pound(s) turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 2 tablespoon(s) (1/4 stick) margarine or butter
• 1/3 cup(s) sugar
•
________________________________________
Directions
1. In 12-inch skillet, heat turnips with salt and enough water to cover to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 7 to 10 minutes, just until turnips are tender when pierced with knife. Drain. Wipe skillet dry.
2. In same skillet, melt margarine or butter over high heat. Add sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until amber in color, about 2 minutes. Add turnips and cook, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until well coated.
I candied my turnips last week, but couldn’t remember this recipe so I just cut the tips off, cut the greens off, made sure they were all around the same size (1” squares) and sautéed in butter and brown sugar at low heat for….10- 15 minutes (until they had softened). It worked quite well and was very tasty.
Pac Choi Egg Rolls with Sweet-and-Sour Dipping Sauce (From the Gardener’s Community Cookbook)
½ cup sweet-and-sour dipping sauce (recipe follows)
¾# pac choi, finely chopped, washed and patted or spun dry
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove (or 2 garlic scapes) minced
2 tbsp minced cilantro leaves
½ tbsp soy sauce
10 egg roll wrappers
veggie old for deep frying
Prepare the dipping sauce and set aside
Place the pac choi, spring onions, garlic, cilantro, and ginger in a bowl and toss to mix. Add the soy sauce and toss again. Set aside.
To form the egg rolls, place a wrapper on the counter. Spread about 2 tbsp of the greens mixture in the center. Rill up the wrapper, envelope style, and if necessary, seal the final fold with a little water to keep the envelope from springing open. Continue with the remaining wrappers until you have 10 egg rolls. Set aside.
Pour ¾ inch of oil into a wok or heavy skillet and heat until smoking. Place as many egg rolls in the wok as will fit without crowding and fry, turning once, until lightly browned and crispy, about 1 minute. Lift the rolls out of the oil and transfer to paper towels to drain. Continue with another batch until all the rolls are fried.
Serve right away, accompanied by the dipping sauce.
The rolls may be wrapped and set aside for up to several hours before deep-frying. Longer than that and they get soggy.
Sweet-and-Sour Dipping Sauce:
1 cup ketchup ½ tbsp ground ginger
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar pinch of ground nutmeg
Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes, until the consistency is slightly sticky and the spices no longer taste raw.
Remove and cool. Use right away or store, covered, in the fridge for up to 6 weeks!
That’s all for this week. See you tomorrow between 8-6, and if I miss you…have a fabulous 4th of July Holiday!
Daisy
June 30th, 2009
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and depending upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
- Galileo
The Harvest
¾# salad mix
½ # baby spinach
Pac Choi
Herb bunch (dill, cilantro, oregano or chives)
2 oz basil
½# stir fry mix (if you didn’t get it last week you’re getting it this week)
Garlic Scapes (the long curly green bean looking things)
Not everyone will get:
1 bunch turnips
1# tomatoes
Jalapeno Pepper
Beans
Edible Flowers
Garlic Scapes – If you haven’t had these before boy are you in for a treat! You can use them any way you would use garlic. They are milder than a garlic clove would be, so if you are using it as a substitute for garlic you may need to use more. One of my favorite ways to cook garlic scapes is to cut them up to about the size of a green bean and then sauté in butter – that’s it! They are fabulous. You can use the entire scape, you may want to cut off the last two inches or so (the little flat end), just cause the shape and texture isn’t quite as pleasant as the rest of it.
Garlic Scapes will keep for a very long time in a sealed plastic bag in your fridge.
Garlic Scapes are a reproductive part of the garlic plant. Basically it’s the garlic flower, before it’s had time to mature. If we were to let it do its thing, it would form a ball on top that would be filled with little garlic pearls (not a technical name, it’s just what they look like). If a garlic pearl were planted, in two years you would get a small bulb of garlic. We snap these scapes off for two reasons: 1 – they are fabulous to eat. 2 – once we take the scape off the plant, the garlic focuses on it’s secondary reproductive part which is the bulb. Garlic plants that have had the scapes removed have larger bulbs at harvest time.
Enjoy!
Nutritional Tip (and other random factoids) From Becca this week:
Beans: The ancestor of most beans originated in Peru and spread throughout South and Central America by migrating Indian tribes. Beans were brought to Europe by Spanish and Portuguese traders in the 16th century and spread to North America by early settlers.
Most bean varieties are high in antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and protein. These nutrients act as anti-inflammatory and immune boosting compounds. They also help with cardiovascular and brain health. Beans are a great snack on their own, as well as delightful adds to salads, sautés, and casseroles.
The News
Don’t forget to join us for Yoga starting this Thursday. Class starts at 7 am out on our events lawn (just south of the greenhouse, in between the flower shed and the field). Bring a mat if you have one, otherwise Becca will have some extra’s here. It’s $15 for drop in. Then stay for some muffins and tea all made with CMF delights. Hope to see you here.
There will be extra bags of salad, pac choi, herb bunches, and flower bouquets available for sale tomorrow.
Don’t forget to bring you bags back.
The Recipe
Candied Turnips (off the web somewhere)
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pound(s) turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 2 tablespoon(s) (1/4 stick) margarine or butter
• 1/3 cup(s) sugar
•
________________________________________
Directions
1. In 12-inch skillet, heat turnips with salt and enough water to cover to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 7 to 10 minutes, just until turnips are tender when pierced with knife. Drain. Wipe skillet dry.
2. In same skillet, melt margarine or butter over high heat. Add sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until amber in color, about 2 minutes. Add turnips and cook, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until well coated.
I candied my turnips last week, but couldn’t remember this recipe so I just cut the tips off, cut the greens off, made sure they were all around the same size (1” squares) and sautéed in butter and brown sugar at low heat for….10- 15 minutes (until they had softened). It worked quite well and was very tasty.
Pac Choi Egg Rolls with Sweet-and-Sour Dipping Sauce (From the Gardener’s Community Cookbook)
½ cup sweet-and-sour dipping sauce (recipe follows)
¾# pac choi, finely chopped, washed and patted or spun dry
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove (or 2 garlic scapes) minced
2 tbsp minced cilantro leaves
½ tbsp soy sauce
10 egg roll wrappers
veggie old for deep frying
Prepare the dipping sauce and set aside
Place the pac choi, spring onions, garlic, cilantro, and ginger in a bowl and toss to mix. Add the soy sauce and toss again. Set aside.
To form the egg rolls, place a wrapper on the counter. Spread about 2 tbsp of the greens mixture in the center. Rill up the wrapper, envelope style, and if necessary, seal the final fold with a little water to keep the envelope from springing open. Continue with the remaining wrappers until you have 10 egg rolls. Set aside.
Pour ¾ inch of oil into a wok or heavy skillet and heat until smoking. Place as many egg rolls in the wok as will fit without crowding and fry, turning once, until lightly browned and crispy, about 1 minute. Lift the rolls out of the oil and transfer to paper towels to drain. Continue with another batch until all the rolls are fried.
Serve right away, accompanied by the dipping sauce.
The rolls may be wrapped and set aside for up to several hours before deep-frying. Longer than that and they get soggy.
Sweet-and-Sour Dipping Sauce:
1 cup ketchup ½ tbsp ground ginger
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar pinch of ground nutmeg
Place all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes, until the consistency is slightly sticky and the spices no longer taste raw.
Remove and cool. Use right away or store, covered, in the fridge for up to 6 weeks!
That’s all for this week. See you tomorrow between 8-6, and if I miss you…have a fabulous 4th of July Holiday!
Daisy
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