summer csa share – week 19

csa-share-week-19

Welcome to the 19th week of the Pitchfork & Crow Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share:

  • Cilantro
  • Tomatillos – our favorite for making salsa verde!
  • Head Lettuce – one crisphead and one romaine
  • Beets
  • Broccoli
  • Green Beans – A mix of green beans and striped Dragon’s Tongue beans this week.
  • Bok Choy
  • Poblano Peppers
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Garlic
  • Sweet Corn
  • Summer Squash
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes – Pint of cherries or slicers
  • Gravenstein Apples

Fall CSA Farm Event Coming Up!  Hopefully you already have your calendars marked for the fall CSA member farm day on Saturday October 1st.  We’ll have cider pressing and farm tours and whatever other shenanigans we can think up.  Check the weekly member email for further details.

fall-fields

On Thursday evening a group of farming interns from the South Willamette Valley chapter of the Rogue Farm Corps is coming to the farm to learn about winter farming, crop rotation, and cover cropping.  In a three hour session we’ll be covering the basics of winter on the farm and the planning and work that goes into getting there. We’re headed into our fifth winter CSA season, so in theory we should know what we’re doing and we should be able to pass that info along.  In reality there is so much alchemy and finger crossing that goes into farming, winter farming in particular, that I’m finding it difficult to synthesize the topic. The ideals we strive to meet do not always come true on the ground.  For instance our crop rotation often comes down to simply moving big blocks of related plants around the farm based on where they’ll fit and where they’ve been the past few years, rather than the detailed eight year rotation suggested and outlined by the experts.  Hopefully we find a balance on Thursday between teaching the ideals and sharing the realities.

The rest of the week is filled up with the usual harvesting and seeding and weeding.  We’re starting to edge into project mode and last week Jeff and our employee Daniel covered one of our field houses with new plastic.  One down, two to go.  Of course we’ll be preparing for the big CSA potluck on Saturday.  We’re cleaning up the cider press and tidying the field edges.  Unfortunately we planted our pumpkins very late, so we’ll be mostly lacking in the pumpkin patch department this year, but we hope to have a good time anyhow.  The weather looks dodgy, but that’s autumn in Oregon I suppose.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you next week (or Saturday!)!

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Charred Romaine with Tomatillo Dressing

  1. Tomatillo Dressing:
    • 1/4 medium white onion, quartered
    • 1 small tomatillo, husk removed
    • 1 jalapeño, sliced, seeds removed
    • 1 garlic clove
    • 1/4 avocado, chopped
    • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    • Kosher salt
    • Freshly ground black pepper
  2. Salad and Assembly:
    • 1 small poblano chile
    • 2 heads of romaine lettuce, outer leaves removed, halved lengthwise
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • Kosher salt
    • 1 avocado, chopped
    • 1/4 medium white onion, finely chopped
    • 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    • 2 ounces Cotija cheese, finely grated
    • 1 tablespoons chopped cilantro stems

Tomatillo Dressing:

Bring onion, tomatillo, jalapeño, garlic, and 2 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until onion is very tender, 6–8 minutes; let cool. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.

Purée onion mixture with avocado and cilantro leaves in a blender. With motor running, gradually add oil and 2 tablespoons cooking liquid and blend until combined.

Add lime juice; season with salt and pepper.

Salad and Assembly:

Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Grill poblano, turning occasionally, until charred and blistered, 6–8 minutes. Let cool. Peel and finely chop.

Drizzle cut sides of romaine with oil; season with salt. Grill, cut side down, until charred, about 3 minutes. Turn and grill just until warmed through, about 30 seconds.

Spoon dressing onto plates and top with romaine, charred side up, avocado, onion, and poblano. Drizzle with lime juice; season lightly with salt. Scatter Cotija cheese and chopped cilantro stems over.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit by Chef Aaron Silverman, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/charred-romaine-with-tomatillo-dressing-51248020

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Soba Noodle Soup with Roast Pork and Bok Choy

  • 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • a 3/4-pound piece well trimmed boneless pork loin
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • six 1/8-inch slices peeled fresh gingerroot
  • 3 star anise
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1/2 pound dried soba noodles
  • 1/2 pound bok choy (about 1/2 small head)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a small bowl stir together hoisin, sugar, five-spice powder, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. In a small glass baking dish brush pork with hoisin mixture and roast in middle of oven 40 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in center registers 160° F. Let pork stand on a cutting board 15 minutes. Cut pork crosswise into thin slices and halve slices diagonally.

In a large saucepan skim any fat from surface of broth and bring broth to a boil with gingerroot, star anise, garlic, and remaining tablespoon soy sauce. Remove pan from heat and steep broth, covered, 30 minutes. Pour broth through a sieve into another large saucepan.

While broth is steeping, in a 5-quart kettle bring 3 1/2 quarts salted water to a boil and add noodles. When water returns to boil add 1 cup cold water and bring to boil again. Repeat procedure and simmer noodles 5 minutes, or until just tender. In a colander drain noodles and rinse under cold water. Drain noodles well and divide among 4 large soup bowls.

Bring broth to a boil. Cut bok choy crosswise into 1/8-inch slices and add to broth. Simmer mixture 2 minutes, or until bok choy is risp-tender. Divide pork, bok choy, and broth among bowls.

From Epicurious via Gourmet, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/soba-noodle-soup-with-roast-pork-and-bok-choy-14014

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Long Bean, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad

  • 2 dried Thai chiles, soaked for 2 minutes in warm water, drained
  • 3 small garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1/4 lime, cut into 3 wedges
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar or granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dried tiny shrimp
  • 9 long beans (2 1/2 ounces) or green beans, trimmed, cut into 2 1/2″ lengths
  • 2 kirby cucumbers or 1 English hothouse cucumber, coarsely chopped into 1″ pieces
  • 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 tablespoons crushed roasted, unsalted peanuts

Place first 4 ingredients in a clay mortar and pound with a wooden pestle until mashed into a fine paste, about 5 minutes. Add shrimp; mash until pulverized and well combined, about 2 minutes. (Alternatively, process in a mini-processor until finely chopped.)

Add long beans to mortar; lightly crush with pestle to bruise. Add cucumber pieces, fish sauce, and lime juice. Mix well. Add tomatoes, lightly crush, and mix in. (Alternatively, place beans and tomatoes in a resealable plastic bag. Roll a rolling pin over bag to bruise vegetables; transfer to a bowl with the cucumber, fish sauce, lime juice, and chile dressing.) Let marinate for 10 minutes. Stir in peanuts.

From Epicurious via Bon Appétit by Andy Ricker, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/long-bean-cucumber-and-tomato-salad-380632

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