Welcome to the 23rd week of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA!
Here’s what’s in the share this week:
- Carrots
- Eggplant
- Potatoes
- Sweet Peppers – Jimmy Nardello’s all around
- Salad Mix
- Broccoli
- Garlic
- Cape Gooseberries
- Black Futzu Winter Squash – bake like any winter squash
- Mini Pumpkins – cute for decorations, or use for serving squash soup!
- Chanterelles Mushrooms – wild harvested in the Coast Range by a friend
One of the projects listed on last week’s to-do list was to survey the fields and decide just what vegetables will be included in each of the final shares. As we wrap up the season we seek to continue to offer diversity both within each share and from week to week, but our choices become somewhat more limited. Mostly it’s the weather that becomes the limiting factor. Shorter days and lower temps generally slow the progress of most crops in the field. We’ve been lucky the past couple of weeks to be enjoying a prolonged nice spell weather-wise. We are nearing the end though, and the selection available each week continues to dwindle. This week we bring you the last of the eggplant and the fully ripe colorful sweet peppers are getting more difficult to find. We’re already relying on the staples of potatoes and squash each week, which will continue over the next few weeks. Luckily, these both store well.
Last year we were able to offer an option for bulk purchasing at the end of the season. The intention was to clear out our storage and provide as many vegetables for your holiday meals and winter storage as possible. Unfortunately this year our storage crops aren’t as plentiful due to a rough spring and our new location. That’s why we’d like to make sure you’re aware of the Fill Your Pantry Market happening in Shedd, south of Albany, on November 12th. The Market is an opportunity for folks to pre-order a large selection of storage crops from local farms including “grains, flour, beans, frozen meats, honey, cured produce (garlic, onions, potatoes, root crops) and more” according to the informational website and is being organized by the Ten Rivers Food Web, a group dedicated to linking local food producers with consumers in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties and the farms involved in the project are from those three counties. You can get the details on the Market and see a list of what items will be available for pre-order here: http://tenriversfoodweb.org/home/?p=9673. We plan to make an order and may run into some of you there.
We’re gearing up for our last day at the Salem Saturday Market for the season this next Saturday. Soon enough we’ll be looking at the end of the CSA season too. It’s definitely time to be thinking about what we’re all going to each during the long months of winter just ahead. Luckily, there’s still time to plan.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler.
Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:
Cape Gooseberries may be something new for you this week. They’re a new crop for us and we’re smitten with them. Unfortunately we’ve only got enough for a handful for everyone, but we hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do. They’re about as tropical as we get around here.
CAPE GOOSEBERRY & RASPBERRY CLAFOUTI
1/2 Package Firm Silken Tofu, about 210g
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Soy Milk
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Brandy
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Pint Cape Gooseberries, about 1/2 cups halved
1/2 Cup Raspberries, fresh or frozen
2 Tablespoons Demerra Sugar
Combine the soy milk, lemon juice and brandy; Stir and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
In a food processor, blend the tofu until very smooth
Add the sugar and vanilla, continuing to blend.
Pour in the soy milk mixture into the tofu.
Sift the flour and baking powder and add just to combine.
Pour the batter into a cast iron skillet, soufflé or oval baking dish.
Evenly top with fruit.
Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until the edges are browned and the center is set.
Cool and dust with confectioners sugar.
From Vegan Visitor, http://veganvisitor.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/cape-gooseberry-raspberry-clafouti/
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Sautéed Chanterelles, Russian Style
Serves 4 as a side dish
This is a very old method of cooking chanterelles that was passed down to Mary by her Russian mother. Serve this dish with fresh fried oysters, and a simple coleslaw made of finely shredded cabbage and paper-thin sliced onions dressed lightly with salt, olive oil, and vinegar. Most other mushrooms can be used in this recipe except for Asian varieties.
Fry the bacon until crisp. Leave the bacon in the pan and remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Place the mushrooms in a large saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then drain immediately and thoroughly. Add the chanterelles and onion to the bacon and cook about 10 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the cream just before serving. |
From Mycological Society of San Francisco Cookbook via Mary Keehner, http://www.mssf.org/cookbook/chanterelle.html
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Woodland Empanadas
Ingredients
Dough
| 3 | cups all-purpose flour | |
| 2 | Tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary | |
| 1½ | tsp. baking powder | |
| 1 | tsp. salt | |
| 10 | Tbsp. (1¼ sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces | |
| ½ | cup lard or solid vegetable shortening (I use shortening), cut into small pieces | |
| 11- 13 | Tbsp. water |
Filling
| 1 | Tbsp. butter | |
| ~ | One medium onion, diced | |
| 2 | cups mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used chanterelles) | |
| ~ | Salt and pepper | |
| 1 | tsp. chopped fresh savory (optional) | |
| 2 | medium potatoes, diced, boiled, and cooled |
Steps
- Make the dough: Place the flour, rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl or food processor, and mix with a fork or pulse until combined. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture, using a pastry blender (or old-fashioned cutter, as I did) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (about pea-size).
- If using a food processor, transfer the mixture into a large bowl. Drizzle water over top and mix gently with a fork until the flour mixture is damp enough to form into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour. While the dough is resting, make the filling.
- Make the filling: Heat the butter in a medium-hot skillet. Add the onion and savory (if using) and cook until the onion is translucent, about 2 or 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and fry until the mushrooms are soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Try not to move the mushrooms too much in order to achieve caramelization. Add the potatoes to warm them. (Because the dough is high in fat, I have added few fats to the filling. To enrich the flavor, consider adding cream to the mushroom filling and simmering it until some liquid has evaporated.) Let the filling cool.
- Make the empanadas: Shape the empanadas by making rounds (the size doesn’t really matter unless you’re unwilling to check inside the oven while the pies are baking; I pinch off a knob about the size of a egg). Place the filling in the center of a round — use a few spoonfuls of filling, not so much that you can’t seal the pastry. The Joy of Cooking calls for an egg-and-milk wash, but I tend to skip this step.
- Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (check after 20 minutes).
pitchfork & crow 