csa share – week 21

csa share week 21

Welcome to the 21st week of the 2014 Pitchfork & Crow Summer CSA!

Here’s what’s in the share:

  • Salad Mix
  • Red Onions
  • Poblano & Jalapeno Peppers
  • Carrots
  • Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Radishes
  • Cilantro
  • Tomatillos
  • Butternut Winter Squash

CSA Member Potluck! We’re looking forward to this weekend’s final CSA farm visit of the season!  Potluck lunch around 12:30pm with cidering, pumpkin picking, and a farm tour to follow.  The weather looks like some rain on Saturday, but we’ll set up under cover if needed.  Check this week’s CSA member email for the full details.

onions and garlic

Although the weather hasn’t felt like it, the calendar says it’s mid-October and time to get the very last of the planting done for the season.  This weekend we got our overwintering onions and garlic in the ground!  We also planted the last of the salad mix.  It sure is a relief to have made the final planting push and to have that off the To Do list.

We’ll be bringing some extra garlic cloves to the pick-ups if you’d like to stick some in the ground too.  It will overwinter, shoot up next spring, and you can eat it as green garlic in the late spring or harvest it as garlic heads once it begins to dry down next summer.

last transplanting

As we head into the last month and a half of the summer CSA, we hope you’re thinking about stocking up for winter.  Interested in buying locally grown bulk grains, milled flours, dry beans, fruit, or extra winter squash or root vegetables? Several events will be taking place around the valley for just that purpose!  Check out the “Fill-Your-Pantry” details on the Ten Rivers Food Web website for information on bulk buying opportunities in Corvallis, Eugene, and Shedd in the coming weeks.

Speaking of the end of the summer CSA, we have a few spots open in the Winter CSA program for folks who pick-up in Salem if you’re interested in staying on for the next six months of local vegetables.  Details can be found on the Winter CSA page.  We’d like to give preference to current CSA members, so please send us an email at farmers@pitchforkandcrow.com if you’d like to join the Winter CSA and we’ll get you signed up.  Also, for folks who currently pick-up at the farm, we’re working on an alternative and we’ll let you know the plans soon.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you next week!

Your farmers,
Jeff Bramlett and Carri Heisler

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Green Poblano Rice (Arroz Verde al Poblano)

  • 1 2/3 cups chicken broth or water
  • 2 fresh poblano chiles, stems and seeds removed, and roughly chopped
  • 12 sprigs cilantro, plus extra for garnish
  • Salt, about 1/2 teaspoon if using salted broth, 1 teaspoon if using unsalted or water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
  • 1 cup rice, preferably medium grain
  • 1 small white onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

The flavoring: In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the broth and chiles, bring to a boil, then partially cover and simmer gently over medium to medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the chiles are very soft. Pour the chile mixture into a food processor, add the cilantro (stems and all), and process to a smooth puree. Press through a medium-mesh strainer into a bowl and stir in the salt.

The rice: Wipe the pan clean, add the oil and heat over medium. Add the rice and onion, and cook, stirring regularly, until the rice is chalky looking and the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook a minute longer.

Add the warm (or reheated) chile liquid to the hot rice pan, stir once, scrape down any rice kernels clinging to the side of the pan, cover, and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover and check a grain of rice: It should be nearly cooked through. If the rice is just about ready, turn off the heat, re-cover and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes longer to complete the cooking. If the rice seems far from done, continue cooking for 5 minutes or so, retest, then turn off the heat and let stand a few minutes longer. Fluff with a fork, scoop into a warm serving dish, decorate with cilantro sprigs and it’s ready to serve.

Advance preparation: The rice can be made several days ahead; turn out the fluffed rice onto a baking sheet to cool, transfer to a storage container, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat the rice in a steamer basket set over boiling water.

Variations and improvisations: An obvious variation is to use 3 or 4 long green (Anaheim) chiles, or to mix poblanos and long greens with hotter chiles like jalapeño, manzano or habanero. Grilled corn cut from 1 cob or 1 large grilled zucchini (cubed) are tasty vegetable add-ins. About 1 cup coarsely shredded roast (or barbecued) pork or smoked salmon, mixed in toward the end of cooking, will make green rice a full meal.

From Epicurious via Epicurious by Rick Bayless, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Poblano-Rice-Arroz-Verde-al-Poblano-15367

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Grilled Skirt Steaks with Tomatillos Two Ways

For tomatillo salsa:

  • 4 pasillas de Oaxaca (dried smoked chiles), wiped clean
  • 1 pound fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed, then quartered
  • 1 cup packed cilantro sprigs
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon molasses (not blackstrap)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil

For steaks and tomatillo salad:

  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 3/4 pounds skirt steak, halved
  • 1/2 pound fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed
  • 1 cup cilantro leaves
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped shallot
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Make salsa:
Slit chiles lengthwise, then stem and seed. Heat a dry heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat until hot, then toast chiles, opened flat, turning and pressing with tongs, until more pliable and slightly changed in color, about 1 minute. Cover chiles with hot water in a bowl and soak until softened, about 20 minutes, then drain.

Purée chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, garlic, brown sugar, molasses, cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth, about 1 minute.

Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then cook salsa (it will spatter), stirring occasionally, until slightly thicker, 5 to 8 minutes.

Grill steaks:
Prepare a grill for direct-heat cooking over hot charcoal (high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure.

Whisk together 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 tsp pepper, then coat steaks.

Oil grill rack, then grill steaks, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, until grill marks appear, 4 to 6 minutes total for medium-rare. Let steaks rest on a cutting board, loosely covered with foil, 10 minutes.

Make salad while steaks rest:
Thinly slice tomatillos and toss with cilantro, shallot, lime juice, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cut steaks into serving pieces and top with salsa and salad.

From Epicurious via Gourmet by Ian Knauer, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Skirt-Steaks-with-Tomatillos-Two-Ways-350249

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Pickled Radishes

  • 10 red radishes, trimmed, unpeeled, quartered
  • 10 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 2 cups distilled white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Combine first 3 ingredients in a clean 1 quart glass jar. Add vinegar, salt, and sugar. Cover; shake until sugar and salt begin to dissolve. Refrigerate for at least 3 days, shaking once a day. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. (The flavor mellows the longer the mixture pickles.) Keep chilled.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit by Eric Werner, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pickled-Radishes-366455

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