CSA Week 6, 2021
You MAY have corn, cucumbers, onions, squashes, blueberries, peppers, greens or some sort, bok choy? peaches? peppers
Are you planning on making lots of pickles? Or just having a cucumber binge? Now is the time to get bulk cukes for whatever you are making. Let me know what market location or a CSA location where you see us to pick up as many half bushel boxes you like this week and we will give you the CSA discount!
Please keep in mind how much water we have had on top of the humidity. It is very hard to know what is going on inside a fruiting body…and, on top of it all, the rain and clouds are really throwing the harvest off. Take extra care with any of your produce to not retain extra moisture during storage. Some things won’t store at all in these conditions, but they are totally fine. Even the onions are wet – use them up right away don’t plan on letting them hang around on the counter…everything is so moist the fruit flies will take advantage 😉
We are just starting to pick peppers! Sometimes the Hungarian Wax peppers find their way into the CSA – they are pale green at this stage, turning shades of orange and red later in the season. We tend NOT to put hot peppers into the mix because, well, that should be obvious. BUT, we occasionally will pop a few either mild or very identifiable hots in, ie: Hungarian Wax which are mild, jalapeno which are very easy to id. Here’s your magic decoder ring for peppers.
We grow a variety of Asian greens and it sounds like many of you received some type of choy last week and there may be more going around this week and definitely again in the future…and just so you can identify what’s what:
Bok choy, bok choi, pak choy, pak choi, napa, Chinese cabbage…what’s what? Well, bok/pak choy/choi are the same but different from the napa/Chinese cabbage which are the same. And it’s not even that simple, because there are dozens of specialized varieties within each category. I’m no expert, believe me! Last season I had quite a long conversation through a translator with a lady looking for what I think was a type of choi that must have looked something like some seedlings we had. I was kinda banking on a green stemmed choi. Anyway, when the gentleman translating for her looked up the specific word she was calling the choi, it simply translated as “vegetable”. That brought on giggles from all involved. LOL. I love the Kitazawa Seed catalog for the very purpose of looking stuff up. They offer at least 20 varieties! Directly from them:
“This graceful vegetable with Chinese origins has spread throughout Asia and beyond, developing a wide range of varieties. The most typical Pak Choi features dark green leaves atop white spoon-shaped upright stems. Stems vary considerably in thickness and shape, and in some varieties they are green. One variety produces a rosette of dark green leaves close to the ground. There are specialty pak chois that have frilly leaves to light yellow-green color. The slight mustardy flavor of Pak Choi makes it a delightful addition to stir-fries, soups, noodle and meat dishes, and salads, if the young leaves are used. In China, the coarser leaves are often pickled. Some Chinese cooks also dip the leaves in boiling water and hang them out to dry in the sun for several days. Drying enables this highly perishable vegetable to be stored for winter months. Asian cooks use the entire plant at many stages of development.”
We grow mostly what is categorized as “white stemmed” pak choi including Tatsai and Joi Choi, but we also grow the “green stemmed” Mei Qing and Tatsoi, and the “red-stemmed” Red Tatsoi, Dahong, and Purple Choi. Later this season, depending on the weather, you may see Beka Santoh, a light green frilly, loose head Chinese cabbage, Chirimen Hakusai, a savoyed loose leaf Chinese cabbage, or Maruba Santoh, a bright green round leaf on white stems…
YIKES!
Recipes
Bok Choy
Don’t be dismayed when every recipe you search calls for “baby” choi, the full size one is wonderful too and gives you plenty of crispy stalk to enjoy best in a stir fry. Yes, you can just steam it and pile it on rice, or add to your ramen bowl, but my favorite is tossed around quickly in hot oil. The choy I saw last week was a green stem Shanghai variety.
Quickie choy/choi
Heat 1 Tb oil in fry pan, add 2 gloves minced garlic, good pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, a little grated ginger (or use ground at the end), cook a couple minutes, add sliced stalks and cook for few minutes, add chopped greens, a glug glug of soy sauce and a glug (a tsp?) of sesame oil and cook until the greens are wilted. If you are serving with rice, start the choy about 5 minutes before the rice will be done 😉
Baby bok choi is actually a different plant than the regular, it does not mean it was picked young 😉
Thanks to those who sent me some recipe ideas! Where are your? 🙂
From member Andrea:
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest from one lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup yellow squash, grated
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon milk
Grease and flour a 9×5″ bread pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, beat the eggs. Add the 1/2 cup of oil and 1 1/3 cups of sugar and mix until well blended.
Add 1/2 cup of buttermilk, 2 tablepsoons of lemon juice, and lemon zest to the mixture and blend well.
Add the 2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons of baking powder all at once. Blend on low speed just until everything is incorporated and most of the lumps are gone.
Add the one cup of grated yellow squash and fold in using a spoon.
Pour the batter into your prepared bread pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Allow the bread to cool for at least 30 minutes in the pans. Then slide a knife or spatula around the edges to loosen and turn out onto a cutting board. Allow to cool completely. (Alternately, you can leave the bread in the pans, uncovered, overnight).
Before serving, make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk together. Drizzle over the top of the bread. Glaze will harden up in time.
Member Janeen tells me: I have a similar zucchini soup recipe to the one you posted; it is from the Washington Post, 1979. The only difference is to add 3 oz. of cream cheese and a couple of shakes of hot sauce at the end and blend it well with the stick blender. Sometimes I add plain yogurt in place of the cream cheese
Sounds good Janeen! Everyone should play with their food 🙂
Squash noodles and cheese – not catchy sounding, but good to eat. Heck, any vehicle for butter or cheese is awesome in my book! I have been making my regular, old-school cheese sauce (you have your own recipe right? make a white sauce, add lots of cheese, season with some cayenne, garlic, pepper…) and 100% squash noodles for mac and cheese these days. No one is missing the pasta. Do not forget the salting and draining process! Below is a recipe concocted last year…kind of cheater sauce with the marscapone. After a fair amount of experimentation, I would add the seasoning to the sauce, skip the pasta, and simply squeeze extra moisture out of the squash, skipping the saute and just bake the squash noodles in the cheese sauce until bubbly. One less pan to clean 🙂
Geve’s Zucchini Mac & Cheese
- 8oz marscapone
- 1 cup milk
- 1 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
- 1/3 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
- 1 lb brown rice fettucine – or use more squash
- 2 really large zucchini (or any summer squash)
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- s&p to taste (I use my favorite seasoned slat blend)
- 2 T oil
- red pepper flakes
- 2+ cloves garlic, minced
Spiralize the zucchini, or make long noodles with mandoline. Lightly salt and let drain in colander. Cook pasta according to directions on package.
In saucepot, carefully melt marscapone and milk (right, keep stirring, don’t walk away ;)). When thickened, stir in seasonings and other cheeses. Naturally you should taste it now.
Heat oil in large frying pan, add red pepper flakes and garlic, when fragrant (30 seconds) add squash and saute about 5 minutes. Be careful tossing your tender zoodles so they don’t break them apart.
Layer half the pasta in a large casserole, top with squash, then remainder of pasta. Pour sauce over, carefully poking through with knife to make sure sauce is settling throughout. Top with panko. Bake at 400 until bubbly and crumbs are golden, about 25 minutes.
Veggie chili – super tasty and quick in my InstantPot! Recipe here.
Zsa Zsa’s Corn Oysters
Corn Pesto
Cucumbers
Swiss Chard Fritters
zucchini pizza – this is a little different than the one I posted on FB the other day
Summer Squash Salad with Scallions and Parsley (Real Simple)
Farm Mud
To say it has rained a lot here is an understatement. Many of you have been around long enough to have heard one of us say, “We can add water, but we cannot take it away”. In other words, in a drought we can add water and keep the crops going, in a wet year we can do nothing but watch the crops yellow out, drown or melt. It is discouraging, no sugar coating it. I will say Glenn and the guys hustled last week and got a whole field of broccoli in before we got hammered with another inch, then four inches, and then another inch or so since. We have lots of crops to be planted for late summer/Fall and cannot get even get on the land we have prepped.
Good news? We are picking peaches and blueberries and that’s always fun. I think everything else is going coming in fits and starts. Again, please be patient as we navigate the harvest season together.
A few of you have messaged me about visiting the farm…which is great. I will eventually make a new farm map, but thigs are so fluid here, literally, I will attempt to map the “hazards” but wear boots anyway. Just plan on wandering around and getting some vitamin D while you are at it. There are berries to pick and mushrooms sprouting up everywhere 😉
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
