Welcome to the 23rd share of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:
- Rutabaga – One of the oft overlooked roots, rutabagas offer a pleasantly pungent addition to roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, and soups.
- Carrots
- Elephant Garlic – Don’t let the large bulbs scare you! Elephant garlic is related to leeks and has a similarly mild allium flavor.
- Green Curly Kale
- Broccoli
- Yellow Onion
- Bora King Radishes – It’s fall radish season! Don’t overlook the greens on these, treat them like mustard greens.
- Peppers
- Cauliflower
- Mixed Tomatoes – mixed pints
- Celery
- Festival Acorn Squash
- Winter Sweet Winter Squash – a drier fleshed kabocha type that stores well, perhaps even improving in flavor over time.
- Mixed Dry Beans – You’ll want to soak these beans to let any debris and immature beans float to the surface for removal.
The past couple of weeks I’ve been spending a couple of days helping out at our friend’s seed farm. They grow a huge diversity of seeds that run the gamut from flowers to vegetables and sell them through their seed company, Adaptive Seeds. It’s been a nice diversion from the work of wrapping up our own season and I think I’ve even proved useful at times.
This is a busy time of year in the seed production world as many season-long crops are just now ready for seed processing. We’ve grown a handful of varieties for them on our farm over the past several years so I have some experience cleaning seed, but it’s been enjoyable to see how they tackle the work. Each crop takes a slightly different strategy, a slightly different combination of threshing, screening, and winnowing tactics. The large podded bean seeds drop readily into the bucket while their dry pods fly away in the fan breeze. The tiny, lightweight lettuce seeds require less of a breeze during winnowing in front of the fan. They also amazingly sort out by weight with the heaviest and most viable seeds dropping into the bucket and the immature seeds drifting further away. It’s been nice to learn tips from these folks who have cleaned so much seed, and also to do this work with the proper tools. They’re set up for it, whereas I always had to spend some time constructing a work station and remembering the best practices.
This week we’re including dry beans in the share. Jeff has taken on the winnowing job and you can imagine him standing in front a box fan, pouring beans into the wind, watching the chaff separate off as the beans plunk into the bucket below.
Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you next week!
Your farmers,
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett
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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:
Rutabagas with Caramelized Onions
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
- 1 3/4 pounds onions, halved, thinly sliced
- 2 1/4 pounds rutabagas, peeled, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons honey
Melt 5 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté until brown, 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook rutabagas in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well.
Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium-low heat. Add rutabagas; sauté until heated through, about 10 minutes. Drizzle honey over. Gently stir in onions. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 3 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm over medium-low heat.)
From Epicurous via , https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rutabagas-with-caramelized-onions-4677
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Winter Squash and Chicken Stew with Indian Spices
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 6 chicken thighs, skin removed
- 1 1/3 cups chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups 1-inch pieces peeled butternut or acorn squash
- 2 cups 1-inch pieces peeled russet potatoes
- 1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1 14 1/2- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes with liquid
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to Dutch oven; sauté until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate.
Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder, cumin, and cinnamon; stir 1 minute. Return chicken to pot. Add squash, potatoes, broth and tomatoes. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer until chicken and potatoes are cooked through and liquid is slightly reduced, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cilantro.
From Epicurous via , https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/winter-squash-and-chicken-stew-with-indian-spices-876
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Vinegar-Marinated Chicken with Buttered Greens and Radishes
- 2 pounds skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
- Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 radishes, quartered, halved if small
- 1 bunch mustard greens, leaves torn (or try kale and radish greens)
- 4 tablespoons tarragon leaves, divided
Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in a large baking dish. Pour 1/4 cup vinegar over chicken and let sit 15–20 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade and pat skin dry. Reserve baking dish (no need to wipe it out).
Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium. Working in batches, cook chicken, skin side down, until skin is golden brown and crisp, 8–10 minutes; turn and cook until other side is just browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to reserved baking dish; reserve skillet. Bake chicken until cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 165°F, 10–12 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat butter in same skillet over medium-high. Add radishes, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until radishes are browned and tender, about 5 minutes. Add mustard greens and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mustard greens are just wilted, about 2 minutes (they should still have some spring in their step). Add 2 tablespoons tarragon and remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar; toss to combine.
Serve greens and radishes with chicken topped with remaining 2 tablespoons tarragon.
From Epicurous via , https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/vinegar-marinated-chicken-with-buttered-greens-and-radishes-56389531
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