June 9, 2015            Common Thread CSA
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Dear Common Thread CSA Members,

We are glad to finally get a good soaking rain, what a dry spring it's been!  We're still in high planting season even as harvesting and distribution has started and the weeds are growing like crazy.  June is the craziest month for vegetable farmers.  

We're sad that Ash who was doing a farm apprenticeship here this season had to leave last week after she aggrevated what turned out to be a former hand injury. Many thanks to Ash for being fun to work with and for all the hard work she put in on the farm this spring taking care of the greenhouse, transplanting, getting equipment spaces ready for the season and much more.  

We're glad that Matthew Strong, a Madison native, has joined our crew for the summer and is helping us keep things moving along on the farm (he's in the picture above, putting the plastic on our new hoophouse).  Thanks to Brittany for volunteering on the farm this week.  

You can find out what the vegetables for the week are by going to our "What's In" page on our website and checking out the PYO page on our website.   

We have a few vegetables this week which we planted only once for delivered shares to increase variety in the spring, so we hope you enjoy these one time crops, including bok choi, frisee and broccoli raab.  On farm shares will have access to frisee and broccoli raab within the next couple weeks.  

Bok choi is a versatile vegetable that is great raw or cooked.  It's crunchy stems are enjoyable raw in a salad and it is great stir-fried, especially with a ginger/tamari/garlic flavor scheme.  Here is a recipe along those lines from inmybox.wordpress.com.  If not using the turnips themselves in a salad, they would be a nice addition to this stir-fry.

 

Spicy Bok Choy and Turnip Greens with Garlic and Ginger

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 5 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
  • 1 head mature bok choy, sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
  • 1 bunch turnip greens
  • Salt
  • 3 tablespoons broth
  • 2 tablespoons vermouth (recipe called for Shaoxing rice wine, which would be great, but I'm out)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

Heat a large wok or skillet until very hot. Add the canola oil and heat until just smoking. Add the garlic, ginger and chili paste and stir-fry until lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Add the bok choy and turnip greens and a pinch of salt and stir-fry until crisp-tender, 5 minutes. Add the broth, cooking wine and soy sauce and cook, tossing, for 2 minutes longer. Finish with a drizzle of sesame oil.

 

Frisee is a type of chicory, a beautiful salad green which is popular in France.  You can mix it into a salad to add some texture to your salad.  I have found several recipes that indicate it is traditional to make a frisee salad with bacon.

 

Broccoli Raab is an important vegetable in Italian cooking and very nutritious.  It has some similarity to broccoli but is a cooking green with a more bitter flavor.  A simple way to prepare it is to saute it with garlic, olive oil and salt.  You can also add it to a pizza and it is delicious served over pasta.  This recipe from foodandwine.com is a really tasty twist on the more usual way to enjoy it with pasta:

 

Linguine with Broccoli Rabe-Walnut Pesto 

 

INGREDIENTS

  1. 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons walnuts
  2. 1/2 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed
  3. 1 garlic clove
  4. 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  5. Pinch of crushed red pepper
  6. 1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
  7. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  8. 3/4 pound linguine
  1.  Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast for 8 minutes, until fragrant and lightly golden; let cool. Chop 2 tablespoons of the walnuts.
  2.  In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the broccoli rabe until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and let cool under cold water. Squeeze out the excess water and coarsely chop the broccoli rabe.
  3.  In a food processor, mince the garlic. Add the 1/3 cup of walnuts; pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the broccoli rabe, olive oil and crushed red pepper and process until the broccoli rabe is very finely chopped. Add the 1/3 cup of pecorino and pulse until just combined. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape the pesto into a large bowl.
  4.  In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the linguine until al dente. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Add the linguine to the pesto sauce, then stir in the reserved cooking water and toss until the pasta is well coated with the pesto sauce. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts and serve at once, passing more pecorino at the table.
MAKE AHEAD
The broccoli rabe pesto can be refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.
 

Thank you for continuing to spread the word about the CSA.  We've almost reached our goal, we just need 20 more shares for the summer.  We also have plenty of fall shares available.   We are grateful to our members for donating toward the subsidized share program.  Thanks to your generosity, we were able to subsidize 10 shares for folks who would not have otherwise been able to participate in the CSA.  If you were thinking of donating to help a family in need participate in the CSA and haven't yet, it's not too late.  We have 3 people on our waiting list for a share at this point.  


Yours in the field,
Wendy and Asher