CSA Week 15
My plan for the coming week is the fixin’s for salsa verde: tomatillos, serrano hot peppers, onion, garlic and cilantro! Also: corn, cucumbers (time to order in bulk for processing!), some form of summer squash, tomatoes and possible an heirloom tomato.
Because tomatillos come naturally wrapped, we cannot always tell if there is a crack. I can guarantee there will be cracks after the never ending rain. No worries, have that be your first task this week and remove the husk, clean up and make some salsa 🙂 Though tomatillos are in the nightshade family, they are not the same species as tomatoes. Some of you may have see their baby sister in pint boxes on our market tables – Still Life Farm’s husk cherries 🙂 Also a nice source of vitamins C, A, K, niacin, potassium, manganese, and magnesium.
Recipes
Salsa Verde
Thankfully, this one is snap to make, providing you have a blender or food processor. I have made green salsa completely raw, and it is perfectly fresh tasting and yummy. However, a little somethin somethin is added to the flavor profile if you roast all the veggies briefly before blending OR, my go to method, dump the blended salsa into an oiled frying pan and cook for a few minutes. Not planning on eating it right away? This freezes beautifully!
Below is a basic guideline of what I do…I like lime juice and salt 🙂 Glenn is not a fan of cilantro, so I go very sparingly and usually use the cilantro paste I keep on hand in the fridge.
- Tomatillos, peeled and rinsed
- small onion, peeled
- 3 cloves (or equivalent) garlic
- 1-3 serrano or jalapeno, deseeded it you are worried about heat.
- 2 tsp lime juice – to your taste preference
- salt to taste
- cilantro to taste
Toss everything in the blender or food processor and let her rip until everything looks nicely blended and no big chunks. Heat a generous splash of oil in frypan, when heated, carefully pour in salsa, watching out for spattering since this will be watery. Fry for a few minutes, cool and enjoy…it thickens up a little more when cool.
This weather is perfect for my favorite summer pasta dish. Tear up the tomatoes and basil, marinate in olive oil, s & p, minced garlic, and brie or fresh mozzarella. Toss in hot, cooked pasta and YUM!
Farm Dirt
The Franklinia tree is blooming, that’s pretty cool, though, it is looking a little rough around the edges…too much rain I assume 🙁 Even my ornamental Butterbur has melted (think the with in Wizard of Oz). Botanists John and son William Bartram discovered the tree along the banks of a river in Georgia in 1765. They named the tree after good friend Benjamin Franklin. Interestingly, William returned to collect seed several years later…good thing! The tree was extinct 50 years later and all the trees we enjoy today are decedents from those seed William collected.
Just read there are no pick-your-own apples in Massachusetts this year. Blessedly, we do have a crop, not near what it was last year, but there are apples. Here’s the heads up that some of our apples are not as beautiful as usual – but they taste great! You may find some heavy scabbing/scarring on the exterior. That happened from the extreme chill in May, but then some of the apples that were not killed altogether grew out of it. Eating-wise, the texture of the skin is a little thick where there is scab…if you don’t care for it, just peel that affected part.
Example of bad damage, but still a lot of fruit here – this is like a half pound fruit, you wouldn’t want us to throw that away would you?
We are delighted to finally be picking a decent amount of tomatoes! You should see them regularly for a while now, and I am hoping to slip some basil into your bag soon for those tomatoes. Glenn scouted the next crop of tomatoes and they are setting nicely and if we can keep the disease at bay, should keep us in tomatoes through the Fall.
In fun farm news, we are constructing a shed addition to the barn, complete with insulation so we may expand our potato, onion and cabbage storage. Last winter we spent an extraordinary amount of time and money trying to keep storage crops from freezing. This new addition should make for a more passive storage area and require fewer freak outs when the temps are in the teens.
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
