Welcome to the 10th, and final, share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2022/2023 Winter CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Spinach
• Red Ursa Kale – Tender from growing in the greenhouse all winter, there’s a little rapini included too.
• Collard Rapini
• Purple Sprouting Broccoli
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Celeriac – A root vegetable with a celery flavor kick. Note: Over the years we’ve heard from two members who have had allergic reactions to celeriac. The internet suggests that 6% of the general population have a celery/celeriac sensitivity. This is just to say that if you’re new to celeriac you might want to ease into it slowly, and skip it if you have a known celery allergen.
• Hakurei Salad Turnips – Salad turnips are delicious raw and roasted and don’t forget to eat the greens too.
• Potatoes
• Bunching Onions
• Mostly Yellow Onions
• Garlic – We ask a lot of our storage crops. We harvest them in early fall and then let them sit and wait and wait until they make an appearance in the share. We’re getting better at selecting long storing varieties but there’s just only so long garlic wants to store sometimes. That’s to say, eat your alliums before they sprout because spring is here.
• Polenta (aka grits) – We grow a flint corn called Cascade Ruby Gold that grinds partially into flour and partially into polenta when milled. This week we’re sharing polenta. You can use this polenta in recipes calling for uncooked polenta or corn grits. We like to cook it in our rice cooker at a 1 cup polenta to 3 cups water ratio. It’s even better if you stir in some butter and cheese once cooked. We’ve heard from members that the rice setting on an instant pot works too.
• Dried Apples – Wanting to extend the dried apple train we purchased some apples from Washington through a local produce market. They are certified organic Fujis and dried by us.

We’ve made it to the final share of the 10th P&C Winter CSA season! It’s been a long, cold winter season but somehow we kept the vegetable train rolling and shared some of the largest winter shares ever. Once again we’re excited to be bringing you an abundance of goodness for this final share of the season.

Many thanks for joining us this season. We hope you enjoyed the past five months of local, seasonal eating. The weeks since we started back in December have flown by and it’s hard to believe we’re already wrapping up another season.

We’ll see most of you the final week of May for the start of the Summer CSA season and we hope to see everyone again next winter. We’ll be sure to reach out to all of you in late summer when we’re ready to sign-up members for next year’s Winter CSA.

This time of year we’re constantly looking at the extended weather forecast hoping for a few dry days to get some field work done. Balancing the need to be patient and let things dry out before disturbing the soil and needing to get some plants in the ground so we’ll have something to put in shares come June is a struggle. Thankfully things dried out just enough to prep some beds a few weeks ago and we were able to jump on the dry window last weekend to begin the transplanting game. Kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage all made it into the field, and just two weeks later than planned.

Also, after harvesting the last winter bunching onions from a greenhouse we were ready to flip the space for tomatoes. Thankfully the end walls keep things warmer and less windy inside the greenhouse. We’ve had some big rains and winds since getting the tomatoes planted but the plants seem happy enough getting settled to life in the dirt.

With the last Winter CSA harvest finished we’re now looking ahead to the Summer CSA and the work that needs to happen before it begins. Although we will be taking a break from harvesting for the next five weeks we’ve got plenty of other things to keep us busy. There’s ground to prep, transplants to plant, seeds to sow, grass to mow, peas to trellis, carrots to weed, garlic to cultivate, and the list goes on.

Thanks again for joining us for this past winter of vegetables! We couldn’t do this without you and we’re routinely humbled by your willingness to sign on to this adventure in eating. Thanks for letting us grow your food!

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you many of you May 30th & 31st for the start of the Summer CSA!

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Berardino’s Crispy Pancotto

• 1 pound turnip greens, broccoli rabe (aka rapini), or wild greens
• ¹/₂ cup best-quality extra virgin olive oil (you know what I mean), and more to drizzle
• 4 tablespoons coarse sea salt
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 dried chili pepper, cut in half
• 4 cups cubed (1/2” cubes) stale bread (bread should be rustic, water based, not fat-enriched)
• Coarse and fine sea salt, to taste

Bring a large pot with at least 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil. While waiting for the water to boil clean the greens, eliminating tough stems that will never become tender. Add 4 tablespoons coarse sea salt to the boiling water, add greens, and cook for 5 minutes or until tender—a central leaf rib will be soft when pinched. Remove greens to a colander, cool under running cold water, squeeze out excess water, and coarsely chop. This can be done in advance. Save the cooking water.

Bring the cooking water to a boil. Heat 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet, add garlic and chili pepper and sauté until garlic barely begins to brown. Remove garlic and chili pepper from oil, add the bread cubes add cook until they barely begin to color. Add the chopped greens, mix well, add 1 cup cooking water, and sauté over highest heat until bread absorbs the liquid.

Add more reserved cooking water, 1/2 cup at a time, until cubes begin to break up but isn’t a puree. When all liquid has evaporated, the pancotto will begin to brown and you’ll hear the bread sizzling. Listen. This step makes all the difference. Stir every few minutes to unevenly brown the bread. Or flip if you can. Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

From Food52.com by Faith Willinger, https://food52.com/recipes/76678-berardino-s-crispy-pancotto

Cream of Apple and Celery Root Soup with Tarragon

• Olive oil
• 2 small yellow onions, sliced
• Salt
• 2 pounds celery root, trimmed and peeled, cut into a medium dice
• 2 apples
• 1 clove garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
• ¹/₄ teaspoon cayenne
• ¹/₄ teaspoon white pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs tarragon, plus 2 tablespoons reserved chopped tarragon leaves for garnish
• 1 ¹/₂ cups dry white wine
• 6 cups water

In a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat, add just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook until they begin to soften and turn translucent, stirring occasionally. Season with a small pinch of salt.

Add the celery root, season with a pinch of salt, and continue to cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the celery root is cooking, peel and core the apples, and cut them into thin slices.

Peeling, coring, and slicing the apples probably took you about 5 minutes, so add the apples now. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cayenne, white pepper, bay leaves and tarragon sprigs. Give everything a stir. Add the white wine, turn the heat up to high, and cook until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated, stirring occasionally. Add the water, bring the soup to a simmer, then lower the heat so that the soup maintains a slow simmer. Gently cook the soup until the celery root is very soft. To test how soft the celery root is, stab it with a fork from time to time.

When the celery root is ready, turn off the heat and remove the bay leaves and tarragon sprigs from the soup. Working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender, and blend on high speed until the soup is velvety smooth. If the soup is looking too thick, add a little water as necessary until you’ve achieved a better consistency. When all of the soup is blended, taste it. Adjust as necessary with salt, cayenne, and white pepper. To serve, garnish each bowl with some chopped tarragon and a drizzle of your best olive oil.

From Food52.com by Josh Cohen, https://food52.com/recipes/39544-celery-root-and-apple-soup-with-tarragon

Green Rice with Jammy Eggs

• ¹/₂ large bunch cilantro or parsley (or a mixture of both, about 3 to 4 ounces), leaves and all stems
• 4 scallions, white and all green parts, root discarded
• 1 jalapeño, halved, seeds removed if desired
• 1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
• 3 cups cooked white long-grain rice (from about 1½ cups dry)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 to 8 large eggs, at room temperature (1 to 2 per person)
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large bunch (about 1 pound) kale, chard, or another leafy green, leaves stripped from stems and roughly torn into large pieces (save those stems in the freezer for soup!)
• 1 large lime
• Roasted salted peanuts or cashews, roughly chopped (optional)

Roughly chop the cilantro (and/or parsley) and scallions, then place in the bowl of a food processor along with the jalapeño and garlic. Pulse a few times, until the mixture is very finely chopped but not a paste. (Alternatively, just very finely chop everything by hand.) Scrape all but 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a large bowl. Add the cooked rice and season with a big pinch of salt and lots of black pepper. Toss well to combine and set aside.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Carefully lower the eggs into the pot, reduce the heat to medium-high, and boil for 6 to 8 minutes (the less time, the runnier the yolk). Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers and you see a few wisps of smoke. Add half of the kale to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and quickly toss to coat. Let char, undisturbed, for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining kale and cook for another 3 minutes or so, until mostly wilted and charred in some places. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and transfer to a plate or bowl.

Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet over medium-high. Scrape the rice mixture into the pan and press it down firmly with a spatula. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the rice starts to crisp on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Toss and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes, until warmed through and slightly crisped. Return to the large bowl, then toss with the kale.

Using a Microplane or fine grater, zest the lime into the rice mixture. Halve the lime, and juice half over the rice. Toss with the reserved raw herb mixture. Peel and halve the eggs, then season the yolks with salt and pepper. Divide the rice mixture between plates or bowls, and top each with a few egg halves. Cut the rest of the lime into wedges for squeezing over and top with the nuts, if desired.

From Food52.com by Rebecca Firkser, https://food52.com/recipes/87192-green-rice-with-jammy-eggs-recipe