Squash and cucumbers! 🙂 If you get a bunch of small greens with the little roots attached, it is arugula.
Picking loads of summer squashes, see the other side for varieties, and now lots of cucumbers. Look for the regular slicing cukes, as well as the smooth skinned Divas, small pickling cukes, and lemon cukes (round, yellow heirloom cucumbers named for their looks). All of the cucumbers are equally perfect for snacking, salads, or pickling. If you have any projects that involve a lot of cucumbers, please let us know so we can accommodate you. Pickles, for example, are really not difficult to make and keep forever; also they are a fat free food and very healthful to eat. I keep a pickle jar in the fridge and add all sorts of things to it: peppers, any kind of cukes, onions, squashes, beets… When you have them on hand, it is wonderful to add a dish to your table to serve as a condiment or on your salads. Start planning now if you will be putting food by and watch for my posting when to bulk order a particular crop. I made a lot of kale broth for my kids when they were babies/toddlers. Wash the greens thoroughly (I use the stock pot I am going to make the broth in by filling it with water and a little salt. Leave the bunch intact (not removing the elastic) and immerse the leaves into the water, splosh around, up and down motion to agitate any dirt/dust/creatures off the leaves. Remove the leaves from the pot (in my case I never really let go of them) and pitch the water. Rinse out any dirt that may have clung to the bottom of the pot, remove elastic and drop kale into the pot, cover with new water. Simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes. Discard the greens and strain the broth if necessary. Ready to use once cooled. You will find it is quite sweet and when in a bottle or sippy cup, it goes undetected when mixed with a favorite juice. I dilute it with more water if serving alone. Kale is high in calcium, potassium, vitamin K, C, A, iron… and the broth contains it all! If you think you are not a fan of kale as an adult, you can do this for yourself and use the broth instead of other liquids for making soup, smoothies, rice…. We use the whole leaf for smoothies – see recipe on the blog.
Meanwhile, all I want this week are kale chips. One of our members said she was making beet green chips for her kids and they refer to them as green potato chips. I like it!
If you find yourself swimming in greens and hope to enjoy them later, blanch your greens for 2 minutes, drain thoroughly and pack on freezer bags/containers. Or, make a big recipe and freeze the leftover for a quick meal/side dish later. I use mine for calzones in the winter 🙂
Check out Pizza-Style Greens (my kids love this) on the blog
Also Fresh Summer Squash and Cucumber Salad (do you have a mandolin?)
Check out beet burgers with caramelized fennel or Zucchini Bread with Oats on the CSA pinterest board.
Be sure to send me what you’ve been cooking…your fellow members can benefit from your good recipe experiences 🙂
Farm Dirt
OK, it can stop raining now. I am writing my letters on Sundays this year, as the week begins Mondays now. We’ve had some heavy rains that are wreaking havoc with the berries. We also seem to be in a cycle of nasty, windy rain on Sundays…so at least I am not missing anything fun outside while I sit at my desk J We have started picking beans and raspberries. Unlike so many other CSA programs, we pick your beans for you and you will be seeing them soon! Raspberries are one of those items you will not see in your box, as they are so dear, BUT, we encourage you to venture out to the farm, where you can pick yourself some berries and some beans too. We get calls all the time for you pick, but we are not open to the public – that’s just one of the fun perks of being a CSA member. Please let me know if you are coming and new to the farm, so I may leave you a map.
I finally started getting up to date on the blog, so you can find these letters here, as well as pictures and access to other recipes.
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman