It’s the time of year when strawberry growers throughout the valley start preparing their fields for next year’s strawberry crop and we are no exception. Conventional growers start to plant in early October—those who grow organically usually keep their plants in the cooler to give them more vigor and therefore don’t normally start planting until the later part of November. That may seem like a long way off, but a lot goes into getting the field ready.
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For the past five years Sarah Brewer has been our CSA administrator (a job she meant to take over only “temporarily” when her mother Chrissi moved out of the area). Sarah has done this job so well that I don’t ever have to worry about the running of this end of the farming venture.
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Use this slightly sweet concoction as a sauce when cooked a little loose, or reduce it further and use it to glaze something, like Romanesco or cauliflower, fish, or pasta. For this dish to be successful, the tomatoes must be ripe and flavorful. If they are not, find another recipe to use.
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You can also do this dish with cauliflower, or even with thick carrots roll cut into 1-inch chunks. As far as seasoning goes, you could run anywhere from herbs such as thyme, and marjoram or use lovage (tastes sort of like a cross between flat parsley and the leaves of the center of a celery head), to spices with a Mid-East or Indian bent. Think garlic and cinnamon, or cumin and coriander, or curry. This iteration runs towards the European with marjoram and lovage.
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Without a doubt it has been one of the coolest summers I can remember in some time. Nearly every morning has been damp and drizzly, and if the sun comes out at all it is only for a few hours in the afternoon. For some crops these conditions can be problematic—downy mildew has set in to some of our lettuce, cucumbers and basil crops.
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Although people think the idea is strange, people always like the savory waffles once they try them. Anytime I cook grains, I always make a little extra and freeze it for recipes like this one. This recipe utilizes another recipe that was a stand-in for another recipe. It is always fun to watch the progression of some dishes. This recipe works for brunch, or as an interesting dinner salad, or you could have it alongside some protein for a light dinner. It is important to the success of this dish that the waffles be hot and crisp.
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Chantenay carrots are actually meant to be grown large. The flavor improves with size, and they seem to have a nicer flavor as well. This recipe can be made with other carrots, but I love the flavor and shape of big Chantenays. Serve this as a side to beef or with roasted Portobello mushrooms as a bed.
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One of the advantages of being a CSA farm is the flexibility that we have in putting together the boxes each week. When a farm is geared towards wholesale markets, it needs to meet the expectations of providing a consistent product throughout the growing season. For instance if you want to be the carrot supplier for a wholesale outlet, you want to be able to harvest a consistent quantity and size of carrots every week throughout the season.
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This paste is similar to what goes onto black cod or sablefish to make the very popular “Cod Miso-yaki”, although this iteration was concocted for roasted turnips. You could also apply this to carrots or tofu as a marinade to prepare them for roasting, or apply it to pork for a while before grilling it.
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This is a very flavorful, “umami” packed dish, and is great as an accompaniment to robust dishes like grilled steak, or milder dishes such as a white fish or chicken as a contrast item. You could add orange juice to the miso for a sweeter range of flavor. You can also add radishes to the dish. Blanch for only a few seconds if they are spicy, then add in with the turnips. Roasting radishes produces juicy colorful chunks that are very mildly spicy. A quick sauté of the greens makes a perfect bed for the turnips. If you don’t have the greens, skip that part of the recipe.
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This is for a salad featuring crisp shaved radishes and turnips, but would be great on cold poached salmon, or hot grilled salmon. Try it with shrimp, or a Mediterranean themed poached chicken salad with arugula, frisée, etc. Although the recipe calls for Meyer lemons, you can use Eurekas. Just watch for the level of tartness.
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A variation on roasted beets, this iteration sees the beets cut into bâtonnet instead of wedges, and a combination of orange juice, orange flower water, and vinegar is used instead of straight vinegar. Be careful with the orange flower (a.k.a. orange blossom water) as it is quite strong, and leaves a bitter taste when too much is used.
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This is a great way to get more vegetables into your life, and this dish is great for breakfast or for dinner. Cooking the eggs so the yolk is still runny provides a silky sauce for the earthy kale, and runny yolks contain lecithin, which helps counter the effects of cholesterol in the body. If you wish, you could add bits of prosciutto or mushrooms to the kale, or scatter the ramekins with some cheese a few minutes before they come out of the oven.
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The creamy part of this dressing derives from yogurt. Use this dressing with beet and kale salads, cucumbers, with chicken, or shredded carrot and lettuce salads.
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This is pretty much just what it says, a typical pico de gallo salsa, but made with summer squash rather than cucumbers, and scallions stand in for white or yellow onions, and mild sweet Gypsy peppers replace the typical jalapeño. Basil and lemon replace the cilantro and lime, making this an “alternate dimension” salsa fresca. If you like it hot, add a spicy chili or two or scatter some pizza-house chili flakes in.
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