Welcome to the 15th week of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA!
Here’s what’s in the share:
- Purple, Green, & Yellow Beans! – a mix of purple, yellow, and green pole beans
- Red Thumb Fingerling Potatoes – this is a new variety for us. red both inside and out, these are great for potato salad or roasting.
- Red Torpedo Onions – an Italian heirloom variety, sweet and excellent raw or cooked
- Tomatillos – salsa verde anyone?
- Kohlrabi – check out the quick pickle recipe down below
- Broccoli
- Green Peppers – a mix of Italian frying peppers that are green today and hopefully red, orange, and yellow soon.
- Jalapenos
- Tomatoes – cherries and heirlooms for everyone
- Cooking Greens Mix
- Watermelon – Varieties = Sugar Baby, Blacktail Mountain, and a few Bozeman!
Many thanks to all the folks who made it out on Sunday to the CSA open house. We’re always a little nervous leading up to these events but then you all show up and are fantastic guests! We appreciate the early arrivers helping out with a little potato digging and apple picking. You’ll be seeing more of those in your shares soon!
New for our potluck fun, we put together a tasting of the heirloom and slicer tomato varieties that we grow. We had thirteen varieties of early slicers, and red, yellow, pink, and black heirlooms. It was surprising to hear everyone’s thoughts on the various varieties and I think we might try to add a note-taking opportunity next time so we can remember which ones were the favorites.
After the potluck feast, Jeff broke out some cover crop seed for the kids to play with sand box style, and later in the evening he brought out the bows for the adults to take a try at the archery target. In between there was good conversation and watermelon! We had such a good time we forgot to take photos!
Hopefully you’ve got the last on-farm event on your calendar for October 13th! We’ll have cider making, pumpkin picking, and more!
Other than tidying up the farm for the potluck, we kept ourselves busy this week with weeding and fruit harvests. Plums and pears are filling our fruit cooler to await future CSA shares. A few rainstorms have caught us off-guard this week and we’re hoping to put a big dent in further harvests before the fall rains come in force. Potatoes, onions, and remaining pears and plums are headed for storage soon. Luckily the rain and cooler weather mean less irrigation to manage.
Speaking of big harvests, we have a few crops we’d like to offer bulk orders on including paste tomatoes, tomatillos, beans, and plums. Shoot us an email if you’re interested in any of these and we can arrange quantity, pricing, and pick-up details.
Enjoy the vegetables!
Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler
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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:
Shredded Kohlrabi Quick Pickle
- 2 pounds kohlrabi
- 2 cups red wine vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons pickling salt
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1/4 red chili flakes
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Wash and dry two quart jars. Set aside.
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Clean and trim kohlrabi bulbs. Using a mandoline slicer or a food processor, slice kohlrabi into thin sticks.
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Divide the shreds evenly between the two jars.
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Combine vinegar, water, honey, pickling salt, ginger, garlic, black peppercorns and red chili flakes in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
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Once brine is boiling vigorously, remove it from the heat and carefully pour the brine over the kohlrabi.
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Place lids on the jars and let them sit until cool.
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Once jars are cool to the touch, refrigerate the pickles and eat with salads, sandwiches or meat dishes.
From Serious Eats by Marisa McClellan, http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/shredded-kohlrabi-quick-pickle-recipe.html
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Marinated Vegetable Salad
- 5 cups broccoli florets
- 2 cucumbers, peeled, sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 3 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
- 1 6-ounce can sliced black olives, drained
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
- 1 8-ounce bottle Italian dressing
- 1 12-ounce basket cherry tomatoes, halved
- Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients except cherry tomatoes and salt and pepper in large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and toss. Season with salt and pepper.
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Fish Taco Platter
Pickled Red Onion and Jalapeños
- 1 red onion (about 12 ounces), halved lengthwise, cut thinly crosswise
- 5 whole small jalapeños
- 2 cups seasoned rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
Baja cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon (packed) finely grated lime peel
- Pinch of salt
Tomatillo Salsa Verde
- 12 ounces tomatillos,* husked, stemmed, divided
- 4 green onions, white and green parts separated
- 1 jalapeño chile
- 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1 1/4 cups (packed) fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lime juice
Fish
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
- 3 teaspoons coarse kosher salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 2 pounds skinless halibut, sea bass, or striped bass fillets, cut into 1/2×1/2-inch strips
- 16 corn tortillas
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- Vegetable oil (for frying)
- Fresh salsa
- Guacamole
For pickled red onion and jalapeños:
Place onion and jalapeños in heatproof medium bowl. Mix vinegar, lime juice, and salt in small saucepan. Bring just to boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Pour over onion and jalapeños. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
For baja cream:
Whisk all ingredients in small bowl. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
For tomatillo salsa verde:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil roasting pan. Char half of tomatillos, white parts of green onions, and jalapeño directly over gas flame or in broiler. Transfer charred vegetables to prepared roasting pan. Add remaining tomatillos and garlic cloves to pan. Roast until all vegetables are soft, about 12 minutes. Cool.
Stem and seed jalapeño. Place all roasted vegetables, green onion tops, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon lime juice in blender. Puree until smooth, stopping to push vegetables down into blades several times. Transfer to medium bowl. Season with salt and more lime juice, if desired.
For fish:
Mix buttermilk, cilantro, pepper sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, and lime juice in large bowl. Add fish; toss. Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Wrap tortillas in foil; place in oven to warm. Whisk flour and remaining 2 teaspoons salt in medium bowl. Add enough oil to large skillet to reach depth of 1 inch. Heat oil until thermometer registers 350°F. Working in batches, remove fish from marinade and dredge in flour. Carefully add fish to skillet, cover partially, and fry until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes. Transfer to paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain, then transfer to oven to keep warm.
Set up buffet with all taco fixings, along with fresh salsa and guacamole.
*Green and tomato-like with a papery husk, tomatillos are available in the produce section of some supermarkets and Latin markets.
