Welcome to the 22nd week of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA!
Here’s what’s in the share:
- Garlic – heads of garlic, plus extra cloves for planting
- Fava Beans
- Russet Potatoes
- Broccoli – big broccoli week, everyone gets heads & a bag of side shoots, including some purple peacock that is just starting to come on
- Carrots
- Jimmy Nardello Peppers
- Mustard Greens Mix – we left the mixing to the experts at Wild Garden Seed and we’ve included a variety of pungent and mild mustards.
- Pie Pumpkin
- Cabbage – A new variety for us, this is a red pointy headed heirloom from Eastern Europe called Kalibos. Note that the color will fade some when cooked.
- Bonus Pumpkins – in case you didn’t make it out this weekend, or found a need for another pumpkin in your life, we’re bringing the jacks to you!
Many thanks to everyone who made it out for the final CSA farm event of the season Sunday. So many folks, so many kids! Pumpkins were picked from the patch, cider flowed from the presses, and the potluck lunch was tasty as all get out. We love to share the farm with CSA members and it was fun to see such a great crowd. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
We had our own fun with pumpkin picking on Saturday when we harvested this season’s pie pumpkins from the field. We’re happy with the harvest numbers and the overflowing tote you can see above.
This week seemed like as good a time as any to begin sharing these pie pumpkins with you. Use them as fall decor if you like, but we hope you also turn them into tasty treats. Pie pumpkins tend to be smaller than carving pumpkins and have thinner skins and sweeter, drier flesh, making them perfect for cooking into soups, breads, and well, pies! I included the recipe I used to make mini-pumpkin pies for the potluck down below. We’d love to hear your favorite pumpkin recipes if you’re willing to share.
Earlier in the week we took some time to get our garlic planted. This sunny weather has been just the window we needed to get it in the ground and we’re glad to have it done. We cracked 585 heads of garlic into cloves and planted 5 two-row beds, each bed 260 feet long. That seems like a lot of garlic for this small farm. Only time will tell if it will be enough for next season though.
Some of you have noticed less garlic than in past years. It’s true we’ve been favoring other items and saving the garlic for late fall and winter shares, once the tomatoes and other late summer staples are no longer available. Also, our sweet onion crop was better than last year, so although you’ve gotten less garlic you have been getting more sweet onions. We hope you’ve been enjoying the shares and are looking forward to more garlic and onions as we finish up the last six weeks of this season.
Enjoy the vegetables!
Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler
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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:
I used the following recipe for the mini pumpkin pies I contributed to this weekend’s CSA potluck. Note that I doubled the spices and substituted cooked winter squash for the canned pumpkin.
Spiced Pumpkin Pie
- 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin (or use your pie pumpkin or other winter squash to make your own!)
- 2 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 purchased frozen 9-inch pie crust
Place baking sheet in oven and preheat to 450°F. Whisk first 8 ingredients together in large bowl to blend. Whisk in pumpkin, molasses and eggs, then cream. Pour mixture into frozen crust.
Place pie on preheated baking sheet in oven. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake until sides puff and center is just set, about 40 minutes. Cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and re-frigerate.) Serve at room temperature.
Potlikker Noodles with Mustard Greens
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 10–12-ounce smoked ham hock or smoked turkey wing
- 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
- 8 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (preferably Texas Pete or Frank’s)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 5 cups low-salt chicken broth or water
- 2 bunches mustard greens or kale, tough stems trimmed, chopped, and reserved, leaves chopped
- 3/4 pound egg noodles
- Kosher salt
- 6 slices bacon (about 7 ounces), cut crosswise into 1/4″-wide pieces
- 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup finely grated Pecorino
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ham hock and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, and bay leaves; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in hot sauce and sugar. Add broth and reserved mustard green stems and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced to 2 cups, 1–2 hours. Set a sieve over a large bowl or measuring cup. Strain potlikker into bowl. Pick and reserve the meat from the ham hock to add to the noodles later, if desired. Discard skin, bone, and remaining solids in sieve. Set potlikker aside. DO AHEAD: Potlikker and ham can be made 2 days ahead. Chill separately until cold; cover and keep chilled.
Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a large pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Add shallots and reserved picked meat, if using; cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are soft, 4–5 minutes. Pour off any excess fat in pan. Increase heat to medium-high; add greens and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted. Add potlikker, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, and bring to a boil. Add noodles; toss to coat, and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer noodle mixture to serving bowls and sprinkle with Pecorino.
Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced
- 1 3/4 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 2-pound head red cabbage, cored, thinly sliced (about 12 cups)
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and caraway. Cover; cook 3 minutes. Add cabbage. Cover; cook until cabbage begins to soften, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar; cook until cabbage is crisp-tender, stirring often, about 4 minutes longer. Add dill. Season with salt and pepper.
One response to “csa share – week 22 {october 15}”
We tried the Spiced Pumpkin Pie recipe using the pie pumpkin and it was definitely a hit!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Here’s a great recipe for a larger pumpkin:
Beans in a Pumpkin
1 medium-sized pumpkin, with a lid cut out 4-5 inch wide and seeds removed
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
½ pound bacon, fried and crumbled
2 cans butter beans, drained
1 large can (~30 oz.) of kidney beans, undrained
1 large can (~30 oz.) of pork & beans, undrained
1 cup chopped onion
¼ cup ketchup
¾ cup – 1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon mustard
2 tsp. salt
Mix all ingredients after pumpkin together and heat. Fill hollowed pumpkin mostly, but not completely full without the lid. Place on cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees for about 2 hours. Bake the lid for the last ½ hour or so. Pumpkin is done when it starts to sag. Serve by scooping out even amounts of beans and pumpkin chunks.