THE BEET: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 4

THE BEET : VOLUME 13, ISSUE 4

In this week’s BEET:

1. This week's share
2. Letter from Ted
3. Milk Not Jails Announcement
4. Catskill Creamery Farm tour this weekend!
5. Recipes
6. Around Town

CSA Pickup Today 5-7:30pm

PS 56 at Gates and Downing (enter on Downing)

This Week's Share

• Hakurei Turnips
• Swiss Chard
• Kale (Red Russian or Dinosaur)      
• Herbs (last of our pots: thyme or Thai basil
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Cucumbers
• Squashes
• Scallions
• Garlic Scapes
• Strawberries (Fruit Share)
• Flower Share: Snapdragon, Dianthus, Calendula, Camanula & Godetia

Fruit shareholders will be getting Yonder Farm’s strawberries. Their cherry crop was destroyed by our unusually cold winter, but their blueberries appear to be in good condition. And now that we have a refrigerated delivery truck, we are going to try sending their raspberries (which are highly perishable).

 

My oldest son, Nathaniel, and I have been spending our Sunday mornings in kayaks on the Battenkill River, which flows from near Mt Bromley in Vermont to its confluence with the Hudson River not far from our farm. Blooming yellow irises and cascading wild roses line the bank this time of year, and brown wood ducks hover near their fledglings as they dart in and out of the cover along the creek’s edge. With so many projects calling out, it’s hard to leave the farm, but Nate and I were celebrating. The first sixty or seventy days of our farm season – from about April 20^th to the first days of summer – set the tone for the year as a whole. If they go well, the chances are favorable for a good season. In those first months we plant virtually the entire farm, leaving only late successions of salad crops to plant during the remainder of the season. It’s something of a race here in the Northeast, a race that begins with the planting of potatoes and onions shortly after the snow has melted, proceeds with the planting of salad crops and greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, and concludes once sweet potatoes and winter squashes have been planted. Now that we’d arrived at this point in the season, we decided it was time to take a moment away from the farm to celebrate having established our crops and to regroup for the weeding challenges ahead.

 

Have a great week, Ted

Milk-Not-Jails ala carte items for sale!

Order fresh goat's milk, cheese,kefir and more ala carte to your CSA!

Place an order for a special, one-time delivery of any of our dairy products to your CSA. In addition to your dairy share items, Milk Not Jails offers greek and flavored yogurts, kefir, cheese and more from the 7 family farms we serve.

Deadline to place your order is July 8th at 8pm. Place your order here, and we'll deliver your farm-fresh dairy to your CSA pick-up the week of July 14th. This year, we've added some Catskill creameries that make beautiful cheeses and ferments you cannot find anywhere else in NYC! And don't forget we have the best price on Ronnybrook yogurt drinks in the city! We'll be adding more items throughout the season, so please let us know what your hungry for and we'll work with our dairy farmer network to find it!

Contact us at milknotjails@gmail.com or (917) 719-6455 with any questions.

Thanks,

The Milk Not Jails Team

Catskill Creamery Farm Tour: The Milky Way

Some of the farms Milk Not Jails brings you products from are part of a group called Catskill Family Creameries. This year, they are organizing their second annual Milky Way Tour the week of July 4th. The tour is free (you just have to get to the Catskills).

During the tour, you can meet the farmers and animals from Cowbella Creamery (non-fat yogurt maker), Dirty Girl Farm (goat milk farm), and Betty Acres Farm, which has great cheeses we'll be featuring on our special monthly order form.

RECIPES

THE SIMPLE GREEN SMOOTHIE

Add a little pep to your step in the morning or in your afternoon with a green smoothie!  It takes less than 5 min. and is a great way to boost your immune system, and quench that snacking feeling.  All you need is a blender!  You can find many recipes here.  But the basic formula is:

1 cups leafy greens + 1 cups liquid base + 1 or 2 cups ripe fruit

(this makes 16 oz, and is one serving)

1. Blend leafy greens & liquid base together first
2. Add ripe fruit and blend again

• Leafy Greens - spinach, kale, arugula, swiss chard, romaine, dandelion
• Liquid Base - water, coconut milk, coconut water, or almond milk
• Ripe fruit - berries, banana, mango, avocado, peach, grapes, pineapple

GREEN LASAGNA ROLLS  (by Isa Chandra, from the post punk kitchen)

Makes 10 rolls Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes Active time: 45 minutes

It’s basil season! And spinach season! And, well, let’s just say it’s lasagna roll season, too.

These make a great appetizer if you’re doing a little summer entertaining, or a filling entree if you prefer. Tofu ricotta is elevated with the addition of some Pumpkin Seed Pesto. The mellow flavor of pumpkin seeds really lets the basil shine. The sautéed spinach is really really garlicky, as is the pesto, so this makes the perfect date night meal.

What I really love, besides how flavorful these are, is the texture. Baking the rolls makes the noodles soft but still toothsome, with little crunchy bits on the edges. Smothered in cashew cream and pesto and finished off with a scattering of additional pumpkin seeds, these lasagna rolls will fulfill even the most wild fantasies: creamy, crunchy, velvety, chewy, and hearty all at once. Yes, there are a few components here, but none are too difficult to pull off and also LASAGNA ROLLS.

12 oz lasagna noodles

• For the white sauce: 1 cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For the pesto: 2 cloves garlic 3 cups fresh basil, loosely packed 1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), plus extra for garnish 1/3 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt Several dashes fresh black pepper
• For the ricotta: 1 14 oz extra firm tofu, crumbled 1/4 cup pesto 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For the spinach: 2 tablespoons olive oil 6 cloves garlic, minced 10 oz baby spinach

Make the noodles: Bring a big pot of salted water to boil and cook the noodles al dente, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t stick together. If they seem to be, use metal tongs to gently peel them apart. Once cooked, drain them in a colander and run them under plenty of cold water to make sure they stop cooking and don’t stick together.

Make the white sauce: Drain cashews. In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until completely smooth. This could take 1 to 5 minutes depending on your blender. Scrape down the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula every minute or so to make sure you get everything. Set aside.

Make the pesto: Place garlic cloves in a blender and pulse a bit to chop. Add basil, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice salt and pepper and blend. It should still have some texure and not be completely smooth. Thin with a few tablespoons of water to get it into a spreadable consistency.

Make the ricotta: In a medium mixing bowl, mash tofu with your hands or an avocado masher, until it resembles ricotta cheese. Mix in pesto, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice and salt until well combined. Set aside.

Make the spinach: Preheat a large heavy bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium low heat. Add the olive oil and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add spinach and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

Assemble and bake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch casserole dish with olive oil.

Spread 3 tablespoons of ricotta mixture evenly over each lasagna noodle, leaving a little room around the side edges and 1/2 inch at each end.

Scatter about 3 tablespoons of spinach mixture over the ricotta. Starting at the bottom end, roll noodle up and place, seam side down, in the casserole dish. Continue with all remaining noodles. Pour the white sauce over the rolls in thick ribbons.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until edges are lightly browned and white sauce is thickened. If after 25 minutes the rolls are not browning but the edges are crispy, place under a broiler on low heat for a minute or two, keeping a very close eye so that they don’t burn.

Remove from oven and smother on remaining pesto. Garnish with additional pumpkin seeds and serve!

RECIPE NOTES:

~You don’t need all of the lasagna noodles called for, but go ahead and boil the whole package to account for some breakage. Saute the leftovers and broken ones for dinner the next night.

~The amount of ricotta made is just enough to fill the rolls, so go easy with the taste testing and don’t overfill the rolls, or you might not get ten out of the deal.

~I put the pesto in a little plastic bag with a hole cut out of the corner to pipe it nicely over the rolls. Then just spread it a bit with a spoon and it’s real pretty like.

~I make the white sauce before the pesto to cut down on cleaning a little bit. You can pour the white sauce out and then just rinse the blender without having to do a major cleaning, since who cares if a little bit of cashew cream ends up in your pesto.

GARLIC SCAPE SOUP  (from "Super Natural Cooking" by Heidi Swanson)

This is a delicate soup, and a good starter to a meal.  Alternatively, you can serve with a salad and a good baguette for a light summer dinner.  I have made this soup many times and it never fails to disappoint.

• 2 tablespoons clarified butter or extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 dozen garlic scapes, flower buds discarded and green shoots chopped
• 3 large russet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into ½ inch dice
• 5 cups vegetable stock or water
• 2 large handfuls spinach leaves, stemmed
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
• Chive blossoms, for garnish (optional)

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add the scapes and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and stock, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and beginning to break down.

Remove from the heat, add the spinach, and puree using a hand blender. (If you must use a conventional blender, be careful; the hot liquid can burst out the top and make a huge, potentially painful mess. Try leaving the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape. Cover the top with a kitchen towel and blend in batches at low speed.) Season with the lemon juice, salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Whisk in the cream for a silkier texture. If the soup tastes flat, add salt a few big pinches at a time until the flavors really pop. Serve garnished with the chive blossoms.

Serves 4 to 6.

AROUND TOWN

Just Food is egg-cited to announce the return of this fun-filled event dedicated to urban chicken keepers, home-brewers, and the people who love them. Hosted in partnership with Brewnity and Good Beer Month, Kegs & Kluckers will include home-brewed beers, delicious local fare, Egg Olympic Games, raffles, and a Deviled Egg Competition.  The evening will be emceed by Matt Timms, producer and host of The Takedown.

More info Here

Monday, July 14th Brooklyn Brewery | 79 N. 11th St; Brooklyn 7:30pm - 10:30pm