 Midsummer Farm CSA Weekly Newsletter: Share Pick Up #7 Hi all - Well, here we are in the midst of the heat of midsummer. Sorry it has been so long since my last email - I've been totally swamped! July is nuts! We've been wildly watering until way past dark - I guess that is expected for July though!
But, July is wonderful - it is the start of the main harvesting season of the heavy weight vegetables. I feel like I've been waiting all year for cucumbers (and I guess I actually have been waiting all year being I refuse to buy them in stores!). I like to start out cucumber season with simple recipes, really being able to appreciate the cucumber flavors. I wait until later for pickling and such. So I start with simple salads, mixing cucumber slices or diced chucks with fruit like grapes or apples and adding fresh mint or cilantro with salt and pepper and vinegar or lemon juice - it can just be sublime. Also we've been really busy fighting the mosquitos in the evenings getting our second plantings in this past couple weeks. We do a second planting of many brassicas, cucumbers, and squashes hoping that the weather and stars all align to give us more harvest into the Fall... For the CSA baskets this week, we're harvesting Frisee, some Lettuce (it is getting a bit hot for lettuce now so I 'm not sure how much lettuce we'll have coming up through August), Arugula, Broccoli, Ice Plant, Beets, Summer Squashes, Cucumbers, Chard, and Punctarella. I'm putting a bunch of recipes for Summer Squashes in your basket. I'll also be offering our "Too Many Zucchini Cooking Workshop" again soon in case you find it is necessary!
RECIPE: BEET SALAD Here's the beet salad recipe from my Grandmother:
1-2 pounds of beets - boiled until tender (stick with a fork to tell), cooled, then peeled and sliced 1-2 onions - sliced very thin 1/4 - 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar 1 tbsp sugar A couple tbsp of water Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Lizuid should just about cover the beets and onions. Add more water if necessary. Let chill for at least 12 hours before eating.
PUNCTARELLA!
Well, I'm putting two punctarellas in each basket this week. I was snooping about in Eataly this past winter and I saw "Punctarella" for sale in the produce section and was totally shocked that I didn't know what it was. I pride myself in thinking I know (and grow!) most of the greens out there - I'd excuse myself for not knowing an Asian or Indian green, but European?? Italian?? I was kind-of appalled at myself, but also really excited! Anyway - I went home and googled it and then started searching out seed sources.
This led to me realizing that the word "punctarella" only means "little pointy thing" in Italian and could refer to a whole bunch of different types of chicories. And being I adore chicories, I had to get a hold of some various seeds and start growing them. I found silene and agretti as well during my search, which has brought me to believe that most cultures have a huge variety of strongly flavored greens that are normal parts of their diets and we are just really limited here in America.
Some puntarella chicories have "hearts" and some don't. Punctarella is a chicory where you eat the stems especially, and sometimes it is suggested that you should dispose of the dark leafy part completely. I'm not one to discard dark leafy greens though... I would find that hard to do.
This week, I harvested two puntarellas and tied them together in your basket. They look very much like dandelion greens. They don't have the thick hearts yet, so we'll have to wait to later in the season to see if those develop and how they taste. I have a feeling they'll be ready when the fennel is ready....
Here's a fabulous dressing for the Punctarellas right now:
RECIPE: Insalata di Puntarelle Dressing 3 (or more) garlic cloves, chopped
3 anchovy filets
Sea salt & black pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
Whisk together all ingredients above. Chop up the whole thing - stems and all - into bite size pieces.
ICE PLANT
I was searching for some new French vegetable seeds last year, and I started ordering seeds from a small organic seed farm in the North of France. When I got my order after waiting for weeks while it moved through customs, I found a pack of seeds that the farmer included with a note saying that we simply had to try them. The name translated to "Ice Plant" which I didn't really understand. But I planted them, and when I harvested them I was totally thrilled! The plant is succulent and tasty and forms little bead-like (actually ice-crystal like) texture on its stems. (And then the name made sense!) It is a refreshing and succulent addition to salads. I'm loving it! I suspect, that like Purslane, it may contain high levels of Omega 3 EFAs, but I can't find any studies along those lines.
The broccoli has done pretty well this season, the sprouting broccolis though have been a little too willing to sprout and flower though. It seems they keep springing forth into yellow flowers right before I can pick them! But at least we are getting some heads of regular broccoli this week!
I've picked a couple peppers here and there now, so maybe next week we'll have peppers. Not sure yet though - it seems things happen both superfast and slow at the same time!
Anyway - see you at pickup and very best until mthen!
~Barbara and Mark
Midsummer Farm |
