CSA week #16

 Making kraut, shelling beans, and the season for squashes and sweet potatoes... winter here we come!

What do I do with all this food?

Instead of focusing on the newsletter this week, I want to make sure that everyone is getting full use out of the produce that comes with the fall season. Some of it takes more processing in order to utilize all parts of the product, but it is totally worth it.

What’s included this week?

1. Radishes- if you feel like you have been getting too many radishes for you to eat, have no fear… just remove the green tops and store separately. Leaving them on will draw moisture and nutrients from the radish bulb. The radishes can be stored in the refrigerator, in plastic for about 1-2 weeks. If you like the tang of radishes, you can include the greens in the greens recipe provided.
2. Lettuce mix
3. Turnips- remove the greens and store the same as you did with radishes. Then, use the bulbous part in the roasted veggie recipe and the greens in the other… yum! Turnips can also be cooked like mashed potatoes to give your potatoes a little more flavor.
4. Bok Choy- a Chinese cabbage, great in sautés or soups
5. Wild berries- great on top of pancakes, ice cream, cereal
6. Sage- good paired with meat or with root vegetables for a great savory flavor
7. Full share- Arugula

Recipes of the Week

Roasted Root Veggies

3-4 carrots, peeled

1 large sweet potato, peeled

3-4 turnips, quartered

2-3 potatoes

3 T good olive oil

½ salt and ¼ tsp pepper

Sage, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut all the veggies into similarly sized pieces so they cook evenly. Place all the cut veggies in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss well so all pieces are lightly coated. Add salt, pepper, and herbs to taste. Roast for 25-35 minutes until all the veggies are tender, turning once. Garnish with fresh herbs (or for the full share people, sprinkle the baby arugula on top for a nutty flavor).

This recipe is a great one to have in your arsenal. You can use different herbs based on what you have around, sage and thyme also go well with roasted veggies ( but so do rosemary and parsley, so don’t discriminate). You can also use parsnips, celery, beets, or slices of different squashes. Just experiment!

Turnip Greens

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 ½ pounds turnip greens, washed, stemmed, and chopped***

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup chopped pecans, toasted

Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until tender and fragrant. Add the washed and cleaned turnip greens. Mix together. Cook until they have wilted down, about 3 minutes. Add pepper to taste. In a small bowl, whisk the Dijon mustard with the chicken stock. Add to the wilted greens and cook until the liquid has all but evaporated. Add the toasted pecans and serve immediately.

My husband likes them sweet too, so add just a little bit of brown sugar sometimes, but try it this way first.

*** To stem the greens, fold them in half along the stem, then rip the stem away from the leaf starting at the bottom. You can eat the stem too, but they take longer to cook, so chop them up well and put them in first before the leaves.

Thank you for your support,

Gretel and Steve