CSA Week 4, 2019

CSA Week 4

This week I hope you all get fennel and you may also have summer squashes, lettuce, some kind of greens, beans? cucumbers? blueberries?

Fennel: this is bulb fennel, or finocchio, grown for it’s delicately flavored, tender, white stem-base. Sliced thinly, it is a crunchy addition to salad and is great roasted with meats or other vegetables. It is high in vitamin C, potassium, folate, and fiber. Did you know the Greeks called it marathon and it actually was growing in the field where the epic battle was fought? Yep, the Battle of Marathon. It was also awarded to Pheidippides after his long run. The bulb is good raw or cooked, the leaves are nice for seasoning, the stems not so useful.

Remember that summer squash takes many forms, so if it is a very tender skinned vegetable with a stem, it is likely a squash (and not a cucumber, which I have seen a few of already). varieties to look for: green or golden zucchini, yellow straight-neck (pale yellow), pale green cousa, and the green, yellow or both pattypan/scallopini.

With all the varieties of cucumbers we grow, it’s not that outrageous to wonder what’s what. After all, the squashes and cukes are all cucurbits and share many characteristics! Naturally we grow the regular slicing cucumber, but we also grow the Kirby or pickling cuke, as well as Persian, which are very smooth skinned and almost seedless, and Lemon, which are round, yellow, tennis-ball-lookin’ things. Those are the ones people sometimes think are squash, or baby melons…also cucurbits!!!

I’ve seen a few beans, and though you likely won’t see them this week, I wanted to give you the heads up that all the early beans fall into the “snap bean” category, so you can enjoy the entire bean, pod and all…kind of like the snap peas. We grow other beans like favas and cowpeas but I will warn you if we decide to add them to your allotment 😉

Back to fennel- Depending on who is doing the picking, your fennel will probably be the entire plant: “bulb” or swollen stem, green stems and fronds. If the stems with fronds are attached, cut them off near the top of the white bulb portion and save the stems for soup stock and use the leafy fronds for seasoning, in salads, etc. The green stem part is typically tough and not overly enjoyable to eat raw 🙂

Roasted Beets and Fennel Salad

• 1 bunch of beets (about 1 pound)
• 1 fennel bulb 1 teaspoon thyme
• 2 tablespoon olive oil mixed greens/lettuce/arugula

Yes, wash everything  Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash and trim the beets. Chop in halves or quarters if the beets are large. Place the beet pieces in roasting pan. Add about 3 tablespoons of water to the pan. Drizzle a tablespoon olive oil on the beets and sprinkle with coarse salt if you like. Cover the pan with foil and put into the oven. Separate the fennel bulb from the stems. Thinly slice the fennel into 1/8th inch slices. Place the slices into another roasting pan. Drizzle a tablespoon of oil on the fennel. Cover the pan with foil and place into the oven. Bake fennel for 20 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered. The slices should start browning at the edges. Bake the beets till they are easily pierced by a knife; about 30 – 45 minutes. Chop up the leaves of the fennel – about 1/2 cup. Mix the cooked fennel and beets together with the dried thyme. Place beet mixture on top of a bed of mixed greens or lettuce. Sprinkle the fennel leaves on top.

Serve with a vinaigrette dressing, like: ½ cup balsamic vinegar, ½ cup olive oil,1 TB Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. This is great with oranges and or goat cheese too!

Fresh Summer Squash, Cucumber and Fennel Salad

Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Basil and Feta (from Real Simple)

• 1 pound gnocchi, fresh or frozen
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 yellow squash (about 1½ pounds), cut into ¾-inch pieces (use any summer squash)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 ounces Feta, crumbled (about 1cup)
• ⅓ cup torn fresh basil leaves

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions; drain and return it to the pot.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the squash to the gnocchi and toss to combine. Serve sprinkled with the Feta and basil. Season with pepper

How about this simple salad with grilled fish, lamb or pork?

• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbs chopped fennel fronds
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced

Whisk together the yogurt, vinegar, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the fennel, fennel fronds, and cucumber and toss to coat. *you don’t have to, but unless you are eating this within minutes of making it, the cucumber will make the creamy dressing watery after a while. You can avoid this by lightly salting the sliced cukes beforehand and letting them drain.

Check out Zucchini Recipes (cake, fritters, pizza, soup…)
Zucchini Pizza

What a gorgeous week we just had!

I hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Independence Day! Glenn planted corn for most of the day and Faith, Zsa Zsa and I ventured down the Ware River on inner tubes, taking in all the wildflowers (especially the Turk’s-cap Lilies) blooming along the banks. It was also a grand time for bird sightings, spying countless Kingbirds, Yellow Warblers, Northern Yellow-throats, Greater Yellowlegs, Catbirds, Blackbirds and hearing lots of Cuckoo, Veery and other Thrushes, other Warblers I cannot ID from vocalization like Glenn can. By then it was evening and we grilled some squash and spareribs, enjoyed the fireflies and fell asleep!

The guys have been thinning peaches when they are not busy picking and packing for CSA and markets. If the fruits set is too heavy, meaning there are too many peaches on the trees, the fruits won’t size up much, and if they do, there is always the risk of the weight breaking the branches off the trees. There are chemical methods for thinning orchards, apples in particular, but we choose to manually thin by removing extra fruit by hand. It is labor intensive, but we have more control over the process and it’s part of our conscientiously grown philosophy.

You can smell the corn at night…always a good sign of things to come!

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman

Coming up: Blueberries, cucumbers, beans…