July 14, 2015            Common Thread CSA
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Dear Common Thread CSA Members,

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.   

CSA member Laurie Venditti has been posting vegetable recipes on pinterest and is willing to share them with us.  Here is her page which has great ideas for beets, kohlrabi, kale, spinach and more. Thanks to Brittany, Grace, and Seamus for volunteering on the farm last week!

We have beets, onions, cabbage and dill right now.  Time to make borscht!  This is my favorite borscht recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook:

Russian Cabbage Borscht
  • 1.5 cups thinly sliced potato
  • 1 cup thinly sliced beets
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1.5 cups chopped onion
  • 1 scant tsp caraway seeds
  • 1.5 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
  • 1 stalk celery or half a celeriac, if available
  • 1 medium sized carrot, sliced
  • 3 to 4 cups shredded cabbage
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp dill, plus extra for garnish
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
  • 1 cup tomato puree

Toppings: sour cream or yogurt, extra dill

1. Place potatoes, beets, and water in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover, and cook over medium heat until tender (20 to 30 minutes).

2.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a kettle or Dutch oven. Add onion, caraway seeds, and salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent (8 to 10 minutes).

3. Add celery, carrots, and cabbage, plus 2 cups of the cooking water from the potatoes and beets.  Cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender (another 8 to 10 minutes).

4.  Add the remaining ingredients (including all the potato and beet water), cover, and summer for at least 15 more minutes.  Taste to correct seasonings and serve hot, topped with sour cream or yogurt and a light dusting of dill.

 

Radicchio is a lovely chicory that can be added raw to salads, grilled or roasted.

 

We have an abundance of cucumbers at the moment.  In addition to cucumber salads and sandwiches, cucumbers can be added to refreshing summer drinks. Sophia made us a lovely mint and cucumber water a few weeks ago.  Martha Stewert's website has several cucumber drink recipes including a cucumber mint gimlet, a cucumber cape codder, cucumber lemon gin, watermelon cucumber cooler, a cucumber blueberry smoothie, and cucumber limeade.  Cucumbers can be made into quick pickles.  There are also a number of chilled cucumber soups.  Here is one from foodandwine.com:

 

Cold Cucumber Soup with Yogurt and Dill 

 

INGREDIENTS
  1. 2 large European cucumbers (2 1/4 pounds), halved and seeded-1/2 cup finely diced, the rest coarsely chopped
  2. 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
  3. 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  4. 1 small shallot, chopped
  5. 1 garlic clove
  6. 1/3 cup loosely packed dill
  7. 1/4 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
  8. 2 tablespoons loosely packed tarragon leaves
  9. 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  10. Salt
  11. Fresh ground white pepper
  12. 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
  1.  In a blender, combine the chopped cucumber with the yogurt, lemon juice, shallot, garlic, dill, parsley, tarragon and the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper, cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
  2. Season the soup again just before serving. Pour the soup into bowls. Garnish with the finely diced cucumber, red onion and a drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Yours in the field,
Wendy and Asher