Welcome to week 12 of the P&C CSA!

Here’s what’s in the box:

• Red Torpedo Onion
• Cooking Greens
• Lettuce – more butter lettuce!
• Beans – green, purple, yellow!  Do note that the purple beans will turn green when cooked
• Beets- pickled beets?  beet salad?  Check out the new recipes below!
  
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Round Zucchini
• Tomatoes – mostly cherries this week, with an early variety called Stupice as well.
• Yellow Peppers – these are still very mild, but note that the darker the yellow = the hotter the pepper

We’re nearly halfway through the inaugural season of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA.  Spring is behind us and summer fruits are filling the shares each week.  Tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, cucumbers, beans!  These are the things we wait all year to taste in their proper season.  The crops are so bountiful just now that deciding what makes an appearance in the share each week is quite a decision.  There is much discussion about what the right balance is, whether we’ve given you too much of something or too little.  Of course we aim towards the $20 mark each week, but we also don’t want to overwhelm you with too many vegetables.

Fall is clearly moving in though and we’re continually looking ahead to future crops, future harvest, future csa box contents.  The second half of this season will mean more of the same for a while.  The tomatoes are just coming on and we’re still waiting for ripe golden and red peppers, plump purple eggplants, and sizeable cantaloupes.  We’ll continue transitioning into the fall crops too.  More potatoes, more onions, more garlic, plus leeks and eventually sweet potatoes and winter squash like butternuts and delicata.  It seems that nearly each visit to the field serves as a reminder that good things are still to come.

So here we are, moving into the second half of the season.  We hope everyone has been happy so far and are excited for the next 13 weeks of vegetable goodness.  We’re definitely ready to bring them to you!

One Last Reminder:

Come see the field for yourself!

CSA Potluck: This Sunday August 22, 5 – 8pm

We hope you can make it out to Grand Island to visit your veggies and see the field!  We’ve sent out an ‘e-invite’ for RSVPs and directions.  Please let us know if we missed inviting you.

Give us a call at (503) 999-7920 if you have any questions.

Enjoy the veggies this week!

Your farmers,

Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler

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Recipe inspiration for this week’s vegetables:

Simple Pickled Beets

5 to 6 medium beets
1¼ cups white vinegar
¾ cup sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
½ tsp. ground allspice
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick

1. Peel the beets. Cut them in half, then slice them into ½-inch wedges.
2. Steam the beets in a steamer over boiling water, covered, until just tender; this could take anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. Check on the beets several times, sticking a fork into one of the wedges, to see if it’s tender. Once cooked, remove the beets from the heat and drain.
3. In the same pot, mix together the vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices. Bring to a boil, add the beets, and cook for a couple of minutes. Cool, then spoon the beets into a quart jar and cover with the cooking liquid.
4. Store in refrigerator up to two weeks.

From Culinate via Carrie Floyd, http://www.culinate.com/recipes/collections/Culinate+Kitchen/Salads/simple_pickled_beets

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Unbeatable Beet Salad

3 lb. beets, ideally different colors
~ Olive oil
~ Aged balsamic vinegar
~ Kosher salt
~ Fresh-ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Place washed and dried beets on square of heavy-duty aluminum foil (three or four together if small, individually if large) and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.
3. Roast for 45 min. to one hour till slightly tender. Unwrap and cool.
4. Peel beets, then slice thinly by hand or in mandoline and arrange in rows on platter.
5. Sprinkle with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and serve.

From Culinate via Kathleen Bauer, http://www.culinate.com/user/KAB/recipes/kabs_recipes/unbeatable_beet_salad

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Pasta with Braising Greens & Plum Tomatoes

2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ thinly sliced purple torpedo onion (about 1 cup)
1 small sweet red pepper, thinly sliced (about ¾ cup)
1 small sweet purple pepper, thinly sliced (about ¾ cup)
1 bag Mixed Braising Greens (Kinninnick Farms), washed, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 tsp. salt
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
½ box dried mostaccioli (½ lb)
2 cups plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
1 cup cooked white beans

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onions and peppers and saute 3 minutes until slightly soft, stirring often.
2. Add greens and saute until wilted, about 4 minutes.
3. Add salt, garlic and broth; stir well. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water with salt for 10 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and beans to vegetables and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
6. Drain pasta and add to vegetables. Combine well.

From Culinate via Jean Henrich, http://www.culinate.com/user/JeanE23/recipes/experimental/pasta_with_braising_greens__plum_tomatoes

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Zucchini Stuffed with Pad Bai Horapa (Stir-Fry with Basil)

2 round zucchini, about the size of an orange
1/4 C shallot, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 oz ground pork
1/2 tsp powdered ginger (or 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced)
pinch of crushed chile flakes
1 T tamari or soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/3 C basil, chopped, plus extra for garnish
1 C cooked rice (white, brown, or blend)
4 eggs
1/3 C oil

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut stem and flower ends evenly off the zucchini, trimming as little as possible. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then scoop out and discard most of the zucchini flesh and seeds using a melon baller or ice cream scoop, leaving an even 1/2 inch of flesh attached to the skin. If your zucchini are rolling around a lot, you can cut a thin slice on the bottom side of each to make them sit up. Microwave zucchini 3-4 minutes on high.

Heat a splash of oil in a skillet over medium heat; add the shallot and garlic, and cook for a few minutes, until tender and fragrant. Meanwhile, chop about half a cup of the zucchini innards into small dice; add this to the shallot mixture with a pinch of salt, and cook until tender. Dump in the ground pork and break it up with your spoon; add the ginger and stir-fry until the pork is cooked through. Stir in the soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar; remove from the heat and add the basil and cooked rice.

Place the softened zucchini shells in a small oiled casserole dish; season with salt and pepper. Divide the filling between the shells, packing it in firmly. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the zucchini is tender-crisp and the stuffing is hot and beginning to crisp slightly on top.

When the zucchini is nearly done, pour 1/3 C oil into a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, and add the eggs. Cook until the whites are starting to brown and crisp up around the edges, carefully using a spoon to baste the tops of the eggs with the hot oil until the whites are set. To serve, place 2 zucchini halves on each plate, top with an egg, drizzle with a few drops of soy sauce and sprinkle with some basil chiffonade. Serves 2-3.

From The Persnickety Palate, http://persnicketypalate.com/2010/07/29/thai-stuffed-zucchinis/