THE BEET: VOLUME 13; ISSUE 11
THE BEET : VOLUME 13, ISSUE 11
In this week’s BEET:
- This week's share
- Letter from Ted
- Farm Visit Transportation
- Un-paid Balance?
- Recipes
CSA Pickup Today 5-7:30pm
PS 56 at Gates and Downing (enter on Downing)
Oh NO! We're almost out of plastic bags! If you have any extra's that are piling up, please bring a few to share. Thanks.
This Week's Share
This week’s share:
- Genovese Basil
- Tomatoes
- Crisphead Lettuce
- Swiss Chard
- Sweet Peppers
- Eggplant or Cucumbers or Squashes, depending on your site
- Yellow Walla Walla Onions
- Sweet Corn or Beans, depending on your site
A word of clarification regarding our sweet corn delivery schedule: We are aware that many of you share shares, and that it’s most often done on an every other week basis. We’ll send sweet corn as often as possible, but when we don’t have enough we will send it in such a way that the even week shares contain corn at the same frequency as the odd week shares. In some cases that might mean corn for two weeks in a row, followed by two weeks without corn, followed by two more weeks of corn, and so on. The season will last throughout September.
Tuesday’s fruit share will be our own organically grown watermelons. Thursday’s share will likely be Pete’s plums.
Cool weather has prevailed through much of the summer, making for wonderful working conditions for the farm staff. But our cucumber and squash crops have finally slowed, our peppers have refused to develop color, and our basil is convinced the season is nearing its end (think about tucking some away, perhaps in the form of a frozen pesto). Our tomatoes should last throughout September, but late blight, which is on tomatoes and potatoes on farms all around us, threatens our harvest. The disease thrives in cool, wet conditions. So far, we’ve seen no sign of the disease here.
I remind you to save the date: The annual Open House at Windflower Farm will be held on the weekend of August 23-24. Please join us for a Saturday mid-day tour of Windflower Farm, a wine, beer and cheese hour with local music and brews, and a potluck super with CSA members from all over the City and the farm staff. Hang out with Nate’s chickens and ducks, visit the sheep pen, or check out our many tractors. You are welcome to camp on the farm (most people do) and to enjoy the campfire and the star-filled sky, or stay at one of the nearby motels or B&Bs. We will make breakfast for you on Sundaymorning, after which you might go for a swim in the Battenkill River, tour Victory View Winery, attend the Washington County Fair or the Cambridge Farmers’ Market, go to the horse races at the historic track in Saratoga, head up to the Battenkill Creamery for an ice cream sundae, or visit the new Argyl Brewery store. Bring a tent and sleeping bags, good footwear, and a dish to pass. Bring an instrument for around the campfire. Please RSVP with the number of people in your party to tedblomgren@gmail.com. I hope to see you here.
Have a great week, Ted
Transportation Needed for the Farm Trip!
If you're planning on going to the farm this weekend; we are still trying to coordinate all the transportation. Anyone who is driving up this weekend, if you have extra room in your car, and would be interested in carpooling, please contact Nydia. Thank you!
ms.nydia
Unpaid Balances
A few of you out there have un-paid balances. At this point, everyone should be paid in full. Please mail in, or pay-pal your final installments. If you have any questions about how to pay, or another issue regarding the late payment, please contact our treasurer, Sarah Chinn.
sarah.chinn
RECIPES
Classic Ratatouille (from Anne & Amaury)
This recipe was taught to me, by my close Parisian friend, Amaury. And he was taught by none other than, his sweet grandmother who lives in Brittany. Amaury told me that whenever he goes home to France, his grandmother always has this waiting in the fridge for him. Nothing is more satisfying to me in late summer that this sweet peasant stew, and it only gets better the next day!
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 medium sized eggplant (aubergine), chopped into 1" half rounds, (when prepping, you only need to peel off some of the skin, leaving a little bit adds a nice texture)
- 2 or 3 zucchini or summer squash, chopped into 1" half rounds
- 4 ripe large tomatoes (beefsteak or heirloom are best), large dice
- 1/2 cup high quality olive oil
- 3 TBS honey
- 1-2 TBS herbs de Provence
- Sea Salt
The key to this dish, is adding the vegetables one at a time, allowing them to brown a little bit, before cooking them all down together. In a large cast iron pot, add 3 TBS of the olive oil and the onions and cook for 15 min on medium. You want the onions to become translucent and begin to brown.
Next, add a pinch of the herbs de Provence- crumble between your fingers as you do, add a spoonful of the honey, a little more olive oil and the eggplant. Stir everything together, and allow the eggplant to start to brown. Again this may take around 15 min.
Add another pinch of the herbs, sea salt, a little more honey, olive oil, and the zucchini. Stir around and let the zucchini brown up.
After 10 min add the red pepper.
Once the peppers have begun to soften, add the rest of the oil, honey, spices, a little more salt, and the tomatoes. Stir everything around, and turn the heat a little bit lower. Let everything cook in the juices from the tomatoes for 30-45 min. If you like your stew a little more on the soupy side, you can add 1/4 cup water or vegetable broth with the tomatoes.
Serve with a crusty baguette and a glass of red wine!
ROASTED CORN CHOWDER
(from Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson)
Roasting (or grilling) intensifies the naturally sweet flavor of the corn in this wholesome chowder. A garnish of fresh tomato and basil completes my favorite summer produce trilogy.
- 4 ears corn
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 1 large yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup almond or coconut milk (the boxed kind, not the can)
- salt and peper to taste
- 1 large heirloom tomato
- 2 TBS minced fresh basil
Heat up a cast iron skillet. Pull the husks off the corn, and rub the cobs down with olive oil. Sear the cobs on the skillet until a few sections of the kernels are starting to blacken. (10-15 min). Remove from skillet and let cool on counter top until you are able to handle them. Remove the kernels with a sharp knife, cutting down the sides of the cobs. Be careful not to cut too close, you don't want to eat the fibrous part of the cob. Set the kernels aside.
Heat up olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, cover and cook until softened. About 5 min. Add the potato and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover an cook until the vegetables are tender, about 25 min. Uncover, add the corn, and cook for another 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, ladle 2 cups of the soup into a blender, and process until smooth. Stir the puree back into the chowder, add the non-dairy milk, season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the tomato and basil.
SERVES 4 - 6