|
Dear Common Thread CSA Members,
We had another week of torrential rains and floods but it looks like the weather pattern is finally breaking up and we are also having some parts of our drainage ditches re-dug to help with any rains from here on out, so things are looking up!
Delivered share members, please remember to return your boxes each week so that we can reuse them!
Swiss chard is a great substitute for spinach, which is great because spinach doesn't like the warm weather so we won't be seeing too much more for several months, but swiss chard does just fine in the summer. Swiss chard is just one of several vegetables that are great in frittata. A friend's daughter wouldn't eat chard until they made it in a frittata with potatoes and now she regularly requests chard to make that dish.
The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Cookbook has a nice guideline for making Frittata:
The basic idea is usually a starch (rice, potatoes or bread) topped with vegetables (sauteed or roasted), some cheese, and usually some herbs, all held together with egg custard... They can be cooked in the oven or in a skillet on the stove-top. For a 7 x 11 inch or 9 x 9 inch baking pan or a 10 inch skillet, you need about 3 cups of cooked rice or (already) roasted potatoes, or 2 cups of croutons or toasted bread cubes for a 1 inch layer. Top with 1-2 cups of roasted or sauteed onions and 1 to 2 cups of other vegetables, sauteed, steamed, or roasted. One cup of cheese is usually about right. For the custard, combine 6 eggs, 1.5 cups of milk, 3 oz of cream cheese, and .5 tsp salt. In a skillet, combine all the ingredients and cook on medium low without stirring, until the edges are firm and pulling away from the sides of the pan, until it is mostly cooked with the top still slightly undercooked, then place the skillet under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until the top is firm and beginning to brown. When cooking in the oven, the vegetables can be roasted at 400 degrees and when the ingredients are layered into the pan and covered with the custard, the frittata is baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is golden brown. Can be served hot or a room temperature.
Chinese Cabbage can be used like cabbage in coleslaw and stir-fries. It is well known as one of the ingredients in kimchi.
We've been eating a lot of cucumber salads this week. Asher likes to make two different ones. One is cubed, with yogurt, salt, seasonings (usually mint) and the other is sliced thin with vinegar, salt, a little sugar and dill.
A few more pick your own crops are ready for picking this week! Pick your own crops are available to all CSA members for picking any time (although it's very muddy during or shortly after a rain and it's good not too pick when things are wet to avoid spreading plant diseases). There are clippers, containers, and picking instructions inside the distribution room in the barn, in the corner on the right and signs out in the field marking the crops. New this week:
- Sugar snap peas (which you pick fat and eat the whole pod as opposed to the snow peas which you pick flat and eat the whole pod)
- Cut flowers (our bigger main planting has suffered a lot from the rains but we have a small early patch that has a lot of nice flowers right now)
We also have an herb and edible flower section next to the greenhouse and behind the short tractor canopy, near the parking lot. In there you can find:
- Edible flowers - Nasturtiums (spicy!), Borage (mild and delicate), and Calendula (resinous and bright)
- Thyme - Great all around cooking herb
- Oregano - Great in pasta sauce and to season almost anything savory
- Sage - Classic stuffing herb
- Lovage - Celery-like herb that is great in soups and stir fries
- Chives - Onion flavored, great garnish
We hope you enjoy the veggies this week!
Yours in the field, Wendy and Asher
|
