In Your Box
Lettuce Heads- Romaine and/or Red & Green Summer Crisp
Peas- Snap and/or snow peas – all to be eaten in the pod not shelled
Spring Turnips- Last week until fall
Carrots- from the hoophouse.
Cucumbers: Long smooth skinned, yellow slicers or green slicers.
Zucchini and Summer Squash – see the backside of the newsletter for our annual guide.
Garlic scapes – looking like a pigtailed curly cue. These can be used (the whole green part) like garlic. They are amazing pureed with olive oil and used as a base for stirfry.
Napa Cabbage or Kohlrabi
Broccoli – not perfect but our broccoli planting came around.
Next Week’s Best Guess: garlic scapes, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale or chard, peas, cucumbers, basil, lettuce, summer squash.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Gleaning for Peas is this coming week. See below for times
Please remember to give clear directions to any friends or family picking up boxes for you – box size/color, how to bag veggies and leave box and your pick up site. We have had several members left with the wrong sized box due to guest pick ups.
News from the Farm
Like so much of the season we are so thankful for the bounty coming out of the fields. Beans, cabbage, more broccoli, fennel are all 2 weeks off. The fruiting crops like tomatoes and peppers look wonderful (although we still have another month until they arrive) and we did a huge planting of fall broccoli and cauliflower along with carrots for fall and winter and the last crop of late summer beans.
Thank you to everyone who came out for the pancake breakfast. It was beautiful and we were happy to have a berry picking crew since they would not have made it until this week. We hope to offer gleaning for broccoli and beans in the next month. We are opening up snap peas to picking (gleaning) for CSA members this coming week –Friday 9am-7pm, Sunday 7-9am, Monday and Tuesday 8am-7pm. Please call, text or email so we can make sure there is enough. This is not an extra cost but we ask that you pick only what you will eat or be able to personally preserve. Have a happy 4th of July weekend. We can’t believe the CSA is ¼ over. The summer goes so fast.
Have a delicious week – Kat, Tony, Ted, Riley and Maple
Recipes from Heather Busigs Kitchens
Pasta with turnip green pesto and parmesan roasted turnips. serves 6. Total time 35 minutes (by Heather Busig)
Ingredients: 1 bunch of turnips, greens included, 1 TBSP olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, 1 lb any shape pasta, 2 garlic scapes, 1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds), 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, juice of one lemon, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quarter the turnips and slice into approx. 1/4 inch slices. Spread on roasting sheet, lined with foil or parchment paper and toss with oil, salt, pepper and parmesan. Roast for 15-25 minutes, until starting to brown. While the turnips are roasting, put a pot of water on to boil and cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. While the pasta cooks, make the pesto. Roughly chop the turnip greens (can substitute with kale or arugula, or add other greens in), garlic scapes, nuts, parmesan, lemon juice in a food processor or blender. Puree and slowly add the olive oil until you have a green paste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain the pasta and add the pesto. Add some of the reserved pasta water to help thin the pesto so that it evenly coats the pasta. Stir in the roasted turnips. Serve with extra parmesan cheese at the table.
Pickled carrot and hummus sandwich:
Pickled carrots: 1/2 lb carrots, cut into matchsticks, peel from half a lemon, ½ cup sliced sweet pepper, 1/4 cup sliced red onion, 1 TBSP red pepper flakes (or to taste), 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup white or apple vinegar, 2 TBSP sugar, 3/4 TBSP coarse salt, 1 tsp crushed coriander seeds, 1 tsp crushed cumin seeds. Instructions: At least 12 hours, up to 1 week before making the sandwiches, place the carrots, pepper, onion, lemon peel and pepper flakes in a quart-sized jar. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, salt, coriander and cumin in a small pot and heat over medium heatuntil the mixture boils and the sugar/salt dissolve. Pour over the veggies, cool, and place lid on jar. Store in the refrigerator. To assemble the sandwiches, spread 1 TBSP hummus on each of two slices of bread, add micro greens, a layer of pickled carrot mixture and (optional) feta cheese. Repeat as wished. I found that 1 quart of veggies made 8-10 sandwiches.
Summer Squash and Zucchini 101
Every year, and this year is likely no different, we have lots of summer squash. Summer squash are not only the butt of many jokes like “how do you know you are living in the midwest?” A: “The only reason you lock your car doors is to keep your neighbors from filling it with free zucchini”; but it is a versatile vegetable that can make into sweet muffins for breakfast, cake, does well on the grill, can be stuffed, roasted, eaten raw and much more. Below is our annual zucchini/summer squash guide with information on different types and uses.
The varieties
There is a large range of color (and to a smaller extent flavor) in summer squash.
Zucchini are one type of summer squash characterized by being long and fairly uniform in size throughout the plant. On our farm we grow both green zucchini and several varieties of stripped and yellow zucchini. We also grow a type of light green zucchini called Alexandria which are shorter and more squat and have a great flavor. All can be eaten in the same manner.
Yellow Summer Squash- Many people ask for summer squash for specific recipes usually referring to straight neck or crock neck squash with a paler yellow skin and a more bulbous bottom or seed cavity. Some people may these are nuttier. Honestly for most recipes you can use all summer squash interchangeably.
Patty Pans and Eight Ball Squash – These space ship or gourd looking squash and round zucchini look unusual! They do actually have nuttier flavor and a crisp texture. We never give you gourds in the box, so know that if you have a brightly colored squash (or a round one) they are meant for eating.
Recipes
Summer squash and zucchini ribbons – for pasta substitute or just fun! You can use a veggie peeler to slice squash into long ribbons of desired thickness after washing and removing the ends. You can lightly steam or sauté these and treat them like pasta (or use them like lasagna noodles) or cook with garlic (or garlic scapes) and olive oil and serve as a side. We also find these great raw in marinated salads (with Italian or sesame based dressings).
Zucchini mock apple pie- I know it sounds strange but one of the best pies I have ever had was not a real apple pie but a midsummer 4th of July mock apple pie! 1 recipe for a double 9 inch pie crust (we use the Joy of Cooking recipe but with whole wheat flour), 2 large or equivalent or zucchini halved with larger seeds removed (not need to deseed small ones), 2 Tbs lemon juice (or 1 Tbs cider vinegar), 1 cup pack brown sugar or equivalent maple syrup (if using maple syrup add 1 tsp corn starch), 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 pinch nutmeg, 1 tsp cream of tartar. Sauté zucchini in lemon juice and salt for 3-4 minutes until tender. Combine other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add zucchini, toss well, fill pie crust, top with other pie crust making sure to punch small hole in top. Bake at 400 for 40 minutes until golden brown.
Zucchini Pickles- 1 pound zucchini ,1 small yellow onion or green onions/garlic scapes, 2 tablespoons salt, a little more if using kosher, 2 cups cider vinegar, 1 cup sugar or honey, 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard, 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed yellow and/or brown mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon ground turmeric. Wash and trim the zucchini, then slice them lengthwise into 1/16-inch-thick slices on a mandoline. (You could slice them crosswise, too, but Zuni's are lengthwise.) Slice the onion very thinly as well. Combine the zucchini and onions in a large but shallow non-reactive bowl or casserole dish, add the salt, and toss to distribute. Add a few ice cubes and cold water to cover, then stir to dissolve the salt. After about 1 hour, taste and feel a piece of zucchini—it should be slightly softened. Drain and pat dry. Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, mustard seeds, and turmeric in a small saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes. Set aside until just warm to the touch. If the brine is too hot, it will cook the vegetables and make the pickles soft instead of crisp. Transfer the zucchini and onion pieces to three two-cup canning vessels (or the equivalent) and pour over the cooled brine. Seal tightly and refrigerate for at least a day before serving to allow the flavors to mellow and permeate the zucchini. They'll last for a week in the fridge.