Welcome to the 21st share of the Pitchfork & Crow 2023 Summer CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

• Escarole – A little hardier than lettuce, escarole will stand up to wilting or a little cooking. We like to use it as a base for warm pasta or salmon topped with your favorite sauce/dressing.
• Bok Choy
• Broccoli
• White & Purple Cauliflower
• Fennel – Think fennel is too licoricey? Try roasting it to tame that flavor. Roasted fennel, onion, and cheese galette is pretty tasty, just saying.
• Bunching Onions
• Storage Onion
• LaRatte Fingerling Potatoes
• Butternut Squash
• Mixed Cucumbers – Including green and yellow slicers. The cukes are on the way out, so enjoy them while we’ve got some.
• Mixed Sweet Peppers – Mixed Bell and elongated/pointy Italian Frying Peppers, different shapes but similar in taste and use. Some with more color than others (these varieties ripen to red and yellow) but all are sweet with no heat.
• Numex Suave Orange Low Heat Habanero Peppers – Bred by the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University to have all the habanero fruity flavor but only some of the heat!
• Farm Apples – Good for fresh eating and cooking. We don’t know the varieties of most of the apples here at the farm, but they’re sweet and tart and tasty. Jeff made apple fritters with them last night.

Fall has settled in and here on the farm that means watching the weather forecast for dry windows, keeping the rain gear handy, and appreciating the bounty of the growing season. After a generally pleasant weekend we had a wet harvest day yesterday. Thankfully the vegetables brightened our otherwise grey day. I mean, check out that purple cauliflower headed your way this week!

For us the annual markers of fall also include enjoying seeing the pumpkin patch dwindle as more and more of them go home with members. We’ve cleared the last of the pumpkin patch and you’ll have one last chance to grab a pumpkin for your porch at this week’s pick-up.

Another fall marker is the planting of garlic. Our seed garlic arrived this past week and I’ve been spending my evenings cracking the 85lbs to be ready for planting later this week when the sun returns. The beds are prepped and with a little drying out we should be able to get the garlic, overwintered onions, and fava beans in the ground so we can wrap up the field planting for the season.

This past week we worked around the rain to make a dent in the potato harvest. We’re about a third of the way through and so far it’s been a good showing. After our fumble back in May when we planted our potatoes during the first unexpected heatwave of the season and our subsequent re-planting of the gaps with leftover 2022 potatoes in JUne, we weren’t sure what to expect when we started harvesting. Thankfully the re-planting worked and we’ve already pulled over a ton of potatoes from the field.

The week ahead will be another push as we continue to harvest potatoes, get the garlic planted, finish flipping the tomato greenhouse, and maybe even get to the apples that are (so far) patiently waiting for us to harvest them. Harvest season indeed!

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

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler & Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Roasted Red Pepper and Cauliflower Dip

• 6 cups chopped cauliflower (in roughly large bite-sized florets), stalks included (about 1 small head of cauliflower, minus the green core part)
• 2 red bell peppers, with seeds and stems removed, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• ¹/₄ cup olive oil, plus more as needed and for drizzling to serve
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus a big pinch, plus more to taste
• ¹/₂ teaspoon white pepper, plus more to taste (you can substitute black or rainbow if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
• ¹/₃ cup tahini, well stirred
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 3 tablespoons water, room temp
• 1 handful finely chopped herbs, toasted seeds, and/or crushed nuts to serve (optional)

Heat oven to 450°F. Toss cauliflower, peppers, and garlic together with olive oil, salt, and pepper on a sheet-pan, and spread out into an even layer. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes, stirring once midway through, until the cauliflower is tender enough that you can squash a floret easily with the tines of a fork. Let cool for a few minutes.

In a food processor, combine roasted cauliflower, peppers, and garlic (scrape in any browned bits from the bottom of the pan!) with lemon juice, tahini, cayenne, and a big pinch of salt. Blend to combine until it’s fully homogeneous, scraping down sides with a spatula midway through, about 3 minutes. Add the water, and blend for another couple of minutes, until it’s smooth and light. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.

To serve, transfer to a bowl and make a dramatic swooshy pattern on top. Drizzle with your favorite toppings. (Store for up to a week, covered, in the refrigerator.)

From Food52.com by Ella Quittner, https://food52.com/recipes/78111-roasted-red-pepper-and-cauliflower-dip

Mustardy Escarole Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons

• 4 thick slices your favorite bread
• 4 thick slices Muenster cheese
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the grilled cheese
• 4 pinches kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 head (about 1 pound) escarole, chopped

Set a nonstick or cast-iron skillet on the stove over medium heat. While the pan heats up, make two sandwiches with the bread and cheese. Brush the outside of the sandwiches with a small amount of olive oil, then generously sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.

When the pan is hot, add the cheese sandwiches. Adjust the heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and cook for about 3 minutes, pressing down every so often, until the bottoms are golden-brown. Flip, cover again, and cook for another 3 minutes or so, until golden-brown all over and the cheese is melty.

While the grilled cheeses are cooking, make the dressing: Add the 2 tablespoons olive oil, Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons cold water, and a couple pinches each of salt and pepper to a mixing bowl. Stir with a fork until smooth.

When they’re done, transfer the grilled cheese sandwiches to a cutting board to cool while you make the salad: Add the escarole to the bowl with the dressing and toss. Taste and adjust as needed. Divide the salad between two bowls or plates.

Chop the grilled cheese into bite-sized pieces, then sprinkle these on top of the salad. Eat ASAP.

From Food52.com by Emma Laperruque, https://food52.com/recipes/82240-salad-with-mustard-dressing-grilled-cheese-croutons

Honey-Roasted Chicken with Garlic, Lavender, and Roasted Vegetables

• 4 pounds roasting chicken, spatchcocked
• 10 whole garlic cloves, crushed
• ¹/₃ cup runny honey, or any good-quality honey
• 1 ¹/₂ tablespoons lavender honey (if you have)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• ¹/₄ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• ¹/₂ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 medium potatoes, rinsed & skin-on, quartered (1 red, 1 yukon gold, 1 purple, if possible)
• 1 broccoli crown, florets cut small
• 1 cauliflower head, florets cut small (purple or yellow if available, for color)
• 1 large carrot, peeled & sliced
• 1 ¹/₂ tablespoons dried culinary lavender

If you’re unsure of how to best spatchcock / butterfly your chicken, feel free to follow along with this Food52 tutorial: https://food52.com/blog/10971-how-to-spatchcock-a-chicken-step-by-step

In a bowl, make your marinade. First, crush your dried lavender to release their oils. You can do as I do: Crush and roll the dried lavender back and forth in your hands, or you can use a mortar and pestle for this. (A wooden spoon, bottom of a cup, etc., also work fine.)

Once the lavender is crushed in your bowl, add in the honey (both regular and lavender, if you have it), olive oil, lemon juice, smoked paprika, thyme, crushed garlic cloves, chopped onion, Kosher salt and black pepper. Give it a good stir until all are combined, and add then add in the bay leaves.

TIME TO MARINATE: In a large Ziploc refrigerator storage bag or plastic tupperware, place in the spatchcocked chicken and pour in the marinade. Make sure the pieces are completely coated. (I like to best do this by sealing the Ziploc bag, and massaging the chicken with the marinade. Less mess!) The chicken will be best marinated overnight, or for at least 5 hours.

When the chicken is done marinating, remove the bay leaves and discard. Remove the chicken and set aside; reserve the marinade. Preheat your oven to 425° F.

In a roasting pan, place in your chopped and colorful vegetable medley (potatoes, carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower). Douse them with a bit of olive oil and the reserved chicken marinade (garlic, onions, and all), a dash of both salt and pepper, and toss until all are coated. Spread out on the bottom of the pan.

Lay the chicken flat, skin-side down (not up), on top of the vegetables. Season the chicken with a bit of Kosher salt & pepper, and put the entire roasting pan into the oven to cook for about 30-minutes.

After the 30 minutes are done, take the roasting pan out of the oven and carefully flip the chicken over with tongs, so it is now skin-side up. Season the surface of the chicken skin with salt and pepper, and put the roasting pan back into the oven to cook for another 25-30 minutes, or until the meat on the chicken thigh reads 165° on a meat thermometer (150° F on the breast meat). Or, if you don’t have a meat thermometer, pierce the thickest part of the meat with a fork and see if the juices run clear (and not bloody).

Once the chicken is done, take the roasting pan out of the oven and carefully remove the chicken to rest on a plate for about 10-15 minutes. Take this time to stir around the pan-dripped roasted vegetables and season them to your liking. Remove from the roasting pan, and to a serving plate.

Once the chicken is rested, carve up to your liking (half, quarter, however you want). Serve atop the roasted vegetables.

From Food52.com by Caroline Choe, https://food52.com/recipes/73015-honey-roasted-chicken-with-garlic-lavender-and-roasted-vegetables