We have had a great week on the farm getting some squash and the potatoes harvested. We hope to get some of the winter radishes in before the end of the week as well. I have now planted 3 out of 4 hoop houses and things are looking great for the winter! Busy, Busy.
I forgot to mention this last week but we had a field day at our farm with a plant research team from the UW Madison. We are one of many farms who were asked to do a number of trials for them. We grew tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, red onions, cucumbers, and winter squash to see which things we thought would be good for our type of farming. It is this kind of work that makes all of the amazing varieties that we have available to us possible. This is especially important because they can focus on specific problems that we may have as organic farmers and we can give them feedback on what the desires of our customers are. For example, last year in our hoop house we lost most of our lettuce to downy mildew (a disease that likes cool and moist conditions) so this year, thanks to previous years research, we planted a lettuce that has downy mildew resistance properties. We have high hopes that this could give us a better chance at greens all winter long! Another example of how their research is benefiting us is that we can let them know directly what our market is asking for. At the moment the Redeye is really excited about crazy little potatoes of all colors and shapes. The potato researcher was excited to hear this and gave us a bunch of varieties to try and see what caught their eye. We have learned so much and have gained an incredible amount of respect for the work that is being done.
Announcements:
Fall Harvest Dinner Sept. 18th-4pm
In your box this week…
Head Lettuce OR Bok Choy
Carrots
Kohlrabi
Thyme
Onions
Celery
Spicy pepper-green
Winter Squash- Pie Pumpkin
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers-red, yellow, or orange
Garlic
Winter Radishes
Head Lettuce- crisp and mild. This lettuce makes for a nice salad, but it is hearty enough to add crunch to a great sandwich.
Bok Choy- my personal favorite of the Asian greens. Succulent, yet crunchy stems offer lots of interesting potential for a wide array of dishes. The standard is stir fry. Pluck the stems off and wash/dry. Stack a few at a time and chop across the grain. I then separate my chopped piles into stem and leaf. Toss the stems in toward the end of cooking to add a little moisture to the skillet while tenderizing them slightly. The chopped greens I add Just before removing from heat and covering this will just wilt them slightly without letting them get bitter.
Carrots – Great for blended soups! I love my immersion blender and I highly recommend one for fall soups. Cook the carrots long enough to sweeten and soften in either the soup pot or a skillet. Once blended the carrots add a nice rich color, texture and sweetness that’s hard to overestimate. For best results, roast them in the oven until caramelized, then add to soup and blend. Stores well in a bag in the fridge.
Kohlrabi – Sweet and crisp. Kohlrabi is great raw, just peel and cut into slices. Also great with veggie dip or just salt and lemon. Kohlrabi is also perfect for slaws, shred it with carrots and cabbage (maybe onion too) and add your favorite dressing.
Fresh Thyme- Thyme is great and easy to use. The hardest part is stripping the leaves from the stems. The tender end of the stems will blend right in too. Then just add it to your favorite dish. Thyme pairs well with fish, chicken, squash, eggs, potatoes, you name it! Easily dried and stored for winter.
Onions- Caramelized onions are so good and an easy way to make almost any dish “pop.” Caramelized onions are loaded with umami and sweetness that lends itself well to soups, pizzas, and meats. Simply chop rather finely across the grain and sautee over low/medium-low heat with either butter or olive oil. Stir as often as necessary to keep from sticking and deglaze the pan with a couple teaspoons of water or white wine.
Tomatoes – Saucing tomatoes for immediate use or canning/freezing? Try roasting them first! The flavor is excellent and really makes the sauce shine. Halve them and roast in the oven until lightly charred. Scrape all the gooey goodness off the pan and into the sauce. Sauce will be thicker, sweeter and more richly flavored.
Cooking Celery-This celery is a bit tough and flavorful for snack sticks, but it will hold up beautifully in soups, stews, casseroles, etc. Also great for freezing! Just chop finely across the grain, then spread on a cookie sheet to freeze, before transferring them to a freezer bag for storage. When you’re ready, just grab a handful and throw it in whatever!
Sweet Peppers – Any color, other than green, is a sweet pepper this week. Fresh peppers are such a treat, and these are about as fresh as they get. But they do keep well in the fridge, and roasted peppers are great too! Can’t use them this week? Try roasting them while you bake anything else then freeze them whole in a bag for winter use. Great in sauces and blended soups.
Hot Peppers- Green = Hot this week! Most of the heat hides in the veins and seeds, so use them according to your tastes. These peppers are all relatively mild, but might still be too much for some. If some of your family doesn’t appreciate the heat, just chop some finely from the tip (or blossom end) and serve in a bowl to be added to each serving of whatever’s for dinner. De-veining and roasting these peppers will yield the mildest form they can take. Try chopping roasted peppers into cream cheese for a full-flavor dip with even less heat, as the cream cheese will really dampen the fire.
Pie Pumpkin- Make puree, use as the base for a pasta sauce and freeze the rest for pie filling. Roast in halves and scoop out the pulp for pies, sauces or soups. Halve squash, scoop out the seeds, then place cut-side down on a roasting pan in 350 degree oven until skin can easily be pierced with a fork and pulp is sweet and tender. Then scoop the flesh (discard the skin) and blend with a little water, butter, or oil. These squash have not been cured off yet so use promptly! They will keep for a while in the pantry or on a shaded porch.
Garlic- Sweet when roasted, strong and savory when raw. Stores well on the counter and compliments almost any dish.
Winter Radishes- These radishes are pretty and mild. Great for slicing and dipping. If you don’t like the peppery crunch, just roast them in a veggie pile, or make radish fries! Also, perfect for making Kimchi!
Courtesy of Hava Blair, taken from Field Notes Farm’s website
Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around the French Table, “so good, it’s like and inside-out pumpkin pie.”
Ingredients
1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyère, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped (or 1/2 lb. salted and browned ground pork or 2 sausages)
*Substitute 2 onions, well caramelized, for veggie option
About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme (0r rosemary or sage)
About 1/3 cup heavy cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Preparation
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that’s just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin.
If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you’ll have to serve it from the pot—which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn’t so easy. However, since I love the way the unencumbered pumpkin looks in the center of the table, I’ve always taken my chances with the baked-on-a-sheet method, and so far, I’ve been lucky.
Using a very sturdy knife—and caution—cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween Jack-o-Lantern). Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper.
Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper—you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure—and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled—you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little—you don’t want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (It’s hard to go wrong here.)
Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours—check after 90 minutes—or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.
When the pumpkin is ready, carefully—it’s heavy, hot, and wobbly—bring it to the table.
Serving
You can either scoop the filling, then scoop the pumpkin flesh or go for the pull-&-mix option getting pumpkin in every spoonful.
Leftovers?
It’s best to eat this fresh. For storing, scoop out the filling and pumpkin flesh and refrigerate for the next day.