You MAY have these things: corn, peppers, kale or chard, broccoli or kohlrabi, winter squash – most likely a spaghetti squash.
We are harvesting Molly Delicious, Cortlands, Redcorts, NH Macs, Gala, and Honey Crisp apples this week. McIntosh are sure to follow, as well as any Golden Delicious. There are later apples that you may or may not see, like Rome, Ida Red, Ben Davis, Empire, Macoun….
Winter squash! It’s all about the Spaghetti Squash this week. But, you may also see Butternut, Acorn, Kabocha, Buttercup, Delicata or Sweet Dumpling. Remember, if you end up with a big butternut (or any other winter squash) and it is just you, cook the whole thing, mash up or scrape out the leftover and freeze it. I freeze mine in 1 or 2 cup portions so I can use it in my favorite muffin or soup recipes. I have put my step by step guide of how I process a lot of winter squash on the blog.
Spaghetti Squash looks a lot like a Canary or Crenshaw melon. No worries – you can usually tell pretty quickly by smelling. Still not sure? Cut it in half; it will not be juicy, smell perfumey, and will have fat seeds 😉
Heads up for celeriac and celery too! The celery will look like a dark green, leafy version of what you see at the supermarket. The celeriac will look like a funky white root with celery leaves attached. You just want to focus on the root; the stems and leaves are too tough to eat raw, though you could enjoy them in soup or stuffing a chicken or roast.
RECIPES:
Spaghetti Squash with a Greek flair
1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 tablespoons oil 1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese 3 tablespoons sliced black olives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I put foil down first). Place spaghetti squash with cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes or until fork tender or you can squeeze it (the medium one I cooked took about 50 minutes). Remove squash from oven and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled (or if you are like me, you’ll hold onto it with an oven mitt and scrape out the “noodles” into your serving bowl with a fork). Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion until tender. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are warmed through. Toss with the vegetables, feta cheese, olives, and basil. Check seasoning.
In case you see celeriac, it’s a tasty root! It is seen in many German dishes like sauerbraten (not ginger snaps;)) Here’s a quick thought to enjoy with your taters:
Prep your potatoes; Prep celeriac by washing off dirt, cut or peel off extra bits or roots and bumps. Cut into same size chunks as your potato chuncks, boil all until tender. Drain and mash. Season with butter, S & P, and cream if you like.
Amazing celeriac mashed potatoes!!!
Spaghetti Squash with Pomodoro Sauce (Self Magazine)
1 spaghetti squash (about 1 ½ lbs) 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 small onion, finely chopped 2 tsp olive oil
1 can (28 oz) diced plum tomatoes 3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Fresh basil
Preheat oven to 375°F. Halve squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray; lay halves, flesh side down, on sheet. Bake 35 minutes or until you can easily pierce shell. While squash bakes, sauté garlic and onion in oil over medium heat 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except fresh basil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Lower heat if sauce begins to boil. Remove squash from oven. Scrape crosswise to pull strands from shell. Place in nonmetal serving bowl. Pour sauce over squash and garnish with basil. **I used fresh tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and topped with parmesan – it was good and the kids liked it too.
FARM DIRT:
Whatever has happened to the year?
I tried really hard not to wish it away while I was hoping for more water, peaches, nectarines, plums, less intense heat…(sigh) the crops matured the way they chose fit and here we are nearing the end of the main growing season.
Well at least we have some mighty tasty apples to enjoy and the sweetest, most delightful broccoli, cool looking winter squashes, colorful carrots.
Just to recap: you are STILL welcome at the farm. I am not sure how anyone has missed this invite I have posted so many times, BUT, if you have, here it is again. You are WELCOME at the New Braintree farm anytime (within reason) and I tend to leave farm maps out on the bench in front of my kitchen door. Please check out my notes on our contact page of our website because if you Google our farm, the directions will drop you at our neighbors, Reed’s Country Store, about ¼ mile south of us. Also, most everyone’s GPS instructs them to get off MassPike in Worcester or Auburn, which we do not recommend (unless there is a traffic incident).
OK, so there it is, come on down, or out, or over!
Gleaning alerts will go out sometime, hopefully not too soon. What does this mean? When it looks to be a killing frost/freeze, we will spend the day out harvesting everything we can that will hold. The “gleaners” come along behind and gather up everything we did not collect. This would be anything tender that would not survive the frost. So the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squashes need rescuing. The cole crops, lettuces, and others are ok, even after a frost. If you are receiving weekly emails from me, then you will hear about when gleaning is. We hope it is a-ways off! Still trying to make up for the bad growing season. Stay tuned because this is only open to CSA members.
Eat well, Geneviève Stillman