Tag: arugula

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CSA Farm Share Local Food Recipes Uncategorized

What’s in the Share – Week of 11/14 + 15

Hi members,

Here’s what is expected to be in the share this coming week:

Produce
cabbage – grill it. Its amazing.
spaghetti squash – how to cook it
butternut squash – butternut squash casserole
potatoes – – Here’s a LOT of different recipes to try
yellow tomatoes – yellow tomato sauce
baby romaine – baby romaine salad with date vinaigrette
collards – It’s time to cook a mess o greens, Vegan Southern Collards
baby bok choy – Stir fry with garlic and bok choy
roma tomatoes – baked tomato and mozzarella stacks with arugula and balsamic vinegar
green onions
apples – Waldorf Salad
fresh pressed cider
apple butter
arugula – Breakfast grilled cheese with arugula
thyme – thyme onion cheese tart
broccoli rabe – olive oil braised broccoli rabe

Fruit
Apples – Vegan apple crisp
Raspberries (maybe but its been below freezing)

Meat
Puff’s Maple Pork BBQ
bacon
Polyface chicken – chicken stuffed potatoes

Cheese
Mt View Mozzarella

Bread
Billy Bread

Categories
CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

What’s in the Share – Week of 5/11

Happy Cooking for this wonderful CSA share this week in Richmond, VA and Washington, DC.

13063115_10153923646585935_5214467713006134061_oVeg is looking like:

  • Bibb
  • Romaine
  • Asparagus – grill bacon wrapped asparagus . We also made asparagus kale soup last week. Here’s a vegan version.
  • Strawberries –  I posted info on how to freeze them to use later in the season in smoothies. You can also make fruit leather, dehydrate for snacks, or jam. Here is the boss small batch strawberry balsamic jam recipe I posted in the group that I made for Mother’s Day gifts last year. I cooked it in the slow cooker. this makes only 4 half pints, so refridgerate, eat on the biscuits, or give away. No need to process. But if you want to process, I used a saucepan, and a veggie steamer and it worked great. I used this on baked brie at mom’s for Easter.
  • Ramps or rhubarb – not sure yet
    • if Ramps: Treat them like you would garlic or onions, only better, and you’ll be ok. Here’s a great video on how to find, clean and pickle them. They are forest foraged, so still have soil on them. Clean them well, dirt can hide in them, like leeks. Use the leaves to make pesto, or chimmichurri – this recipe puts it on grilled polenta. If you aren’t going to get to them for a bit, cut off your leaves – use those quickly, and keep the bottoms in a bag in your fridge. I have actually had them stay in the fridge for a month or so.  They are great in biscuits. Put on pizza.
    • If Rhubarb – Here’s sweet recipes. Here’s savory recipes. Here’s my blog on rhubarb that includes my grandma’s rhubarb pie recipe, and then down in the comments my mom posts how to make rhubarb ice cream, and rhubarb sauce.
  • Arugula – good on pizza with the ramps. add it to asparagus soup, Make strawberry arugula salad. .
  • Swiss chard –  Swiss chard is delicious, versatile, and don’t forget to pickle the stems. It is hearty enough to stand in for pasta, say in a lasagna. The stems take longer to cook than leaves, so I usually put stems in first, then leaves. Here are some ideas.
  • Cilantro – use it in your ramp chimmichurri.
  • Red radishes – young radishes have a sweetness to them. Try roasted radishes with brown butter, radish tops, and lemon. You can also sautee the tops like any green.  Slice and add to salad. Pickle. Here are some recipes. There is a radish corn salad in here, that would be good with your corn if you haven’t used it yet.
  • Garlic – this goes in your pesto, or chimmichurri
  • Bok choy – bok choy with garlic
  • Chamomile — so many neat things you can do: fresh tea is amazing, but you can use it in ice cream – here’s a vegan salted caramel chamomile version, make simple syrup, put it in cocktails, add it to salads, crostini, chop fine and add to yogurt like you would with dill. bake a cake here’s ideas. Here’s some health and beauty things you can do.
  • Sugar Snap Peas – quinoa salad with sugar snap peas, Here’s a few more ways.
Fruit – Strawberries. Possibly rhubarb, if he finds some.

Meats-

Rappahannock River Oysters
Rappahannock River Oysters

Oysters and Clams –  how to shuck an oyster with Chef Pete at Merroir. How to prepare them raw 0 use your ramps, garlic, or green onions! Grill them. Here’s a few other methods of cooking like roasting, and steaming. Here’s how to steam clams. Here’s the Ultlimate Pasta with Clams – perfect if you still have your pasta from the other week! Clams with bacon, cilantro, ginger and galic (sub ramps!!) Make oyster shooters. You can use sake, tequila, vodka etc. Look them up. You’ll be in heaven.

Alt Meat – not sure yet. If you had alt meat last week — check with Mark to see what your selection is.

Cheese – Goat Feta from Peachy Family Farm – Snap pea salad with radish and feta. .

pea, feta and mint toasts (sub chamomile!) 

Bread – Prairie Grain

 

Categories
CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market FarmStand Get Educated Get Involved Local Food Recipes

First Week of Fall DC CSA, Farmer’s Markets – Crimson Crisp Apples, Pie Pumpkins, Turkey orders

ArtistProfile1-FarmBus-0397We  are so excited for this fall season, and it is already looking delicious! You will usually receive the what’s in the share email on Monday, and it is a guideline for what we think will be in the share. Sometimes it will change last minute due to availability or weather. We know that can be disappointing sometimes to see something yum on the list, and then not get it, but its how Mother Nature goes. I will make every effort to post any changes on our FACEBOOK social media group instead of inundating you with emails, so its good to be a member.

I also want to introduce Sarah Kelly, who will be assisting me with admin and customer service. She is new, so we are getting her up to speed to take over. You will hopefully get to see her in DC. She is a photographer and videographer, who specializes in weddings. You can visit her website and view her work.

Mark will be assisted in DC by Johnathan, and Sandra at Eastern Market and Gina and Katie at Patriot’s Plaza. They will guide you on how to do the pick up. Make sure if its your first time to check in with them, and follow the list they have posted on  where and what to grab. Bring bags!

Remember if you have last minute changes please let me know ASAP and text Mark at 804-397-7337 if you are running late to pickup. If something is not right in your share, let us know right away so we can fix it.

Happy Cooking!

Suzi and Sarah

HERE’S WHAT’S IN THE SHARE

PRODUCE

CHEESE – Peachy Family Farm – goat cheese medley – Some of you may know Mr. Peachy as he and his family have vended at Eastern Market for years. They are an Amish family from Pennsylvania and specialize in goat products. His cheeses are delicious and we are happy to have become friends with them.

DAIRY UPDATE- Good News! Old Church Creamery milk is expected to come in the next 2 weeks, and yogurt is coming soon too!

MEAT

  • Polyface Chuck Roast- Get out your pressure cookers, crock pots, and roasting pans! These kitchen tools were made for ingredients like this! Try this yummy Mocha- Rubbed Pot Roast recipe.
  • Morning Glory Chicken Wings- Don’t throw your grill in storage before you try this amazing Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe! 

HOLIDAY MEAT ORDERS – its almost turkey time! We will be getting turkeys from Polyface Farms again this year. Other meats are available, like roasts, fresh hams (country hams are hard to get), lamb leg/shoulders etc. Let me know

SOCIAL MEDIA/FACEBOOK GROUP – Mark said that many of you are interested in helping us more with social media. If you want to help with that, please email me. I would love to have someone in DC who can help me post pictures on FB, Instagram, Pinterest and do fun videos at pickup. We also have our own private Facebook group where we can communicate, post pictures, recipes and more. Please join if you haven’t. We are debating on making this group public, so others can see it and sign up, but I’d like feedback on how you feel about that.

REFERRAL REWARDS PROGRAM – If you love us, refer us to your friends, neighbors, coworkers. Everyone you refer who joins, earns you a 1x $25 credit you can use towards free food!

FALL SHARE FLYER DISTRIBUTION – Mark has a job handing out flyers – please see him if you or someone you know is interested. We also appreciate any flyers you can hand out at work, gym, yoga, coffee shop etc. I have an electronic version as well that can be posted via email, social media etc. Please be mindful of flyer placement, ask permission as we don’t want to litter or upset anyone with them.

DONATION SHARE/DISCOUNT – if you want to donate a share to a needy family this season, we will take 10% off the total, and match it with another 10% for you. please email me if you wish to donate a share! You can do this for the season, or donate a share as you go along.

FARMER SPOTLIGHT/MORNING GLORY FARM – HOW TO COOK THE CHICKEN!  AND WHY PASTURED CHICKEN IS DIFFERENT
The Porter family – Sandy and Tracy and kids from Morning Glory raise pastured and soy-free chicken, pork, eggs. Tracy is an Iraq War veteran and has a Masters in food safety, and he works doing this for Cooperative Extension — he is my go-to for any kind of technical food safety question. Sandy and her daughter Annabelle have taken over the poultry operation. Here is a note on Freedom Rangers from Tracy, and how to get the best out of it:  “Morning Glory raises Freedom Rangers, a traditional breed from France. They are known for their excellent flavor, are prized by chefs, and the breeder we got our breeding stock from was recently featured on CNN along with the notable chefs and restaurants they work with. They take longer to mature, and are larger than the Cornish Cross, which is what you’ll see from commercial poultry (Purdue or Tyson) as well as Polyface (also raised in pasture). Pastured raised chickens will have a different flavor and texture, as they actually use their muscles instead of sitting because their legs can’t support their body weight, like commercial chicken (Cornish Cross is bred to have extra breast meat. sm). Commercial chicken is also injected with up to 14% saline to increase size and tenderize it.

Morning Glory chicken is processed on site at the farm per VDAC (Virginia Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs) guidelines at between 12-13 weeks,  then vacuum sealed with a commercial vacuum sealer with allows zero air inside to grow bacteria. Store chicken is packaged with a combination of gases to include oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen to extend shelf life. They are frozen the same day they are butchered. (Tracy says he is happy to speak with you if you want to more about processing or about the birds themselves.)

In addition to NOT being injected with saline, please know historic breed chicken have more exercise over a longer time before it is butchered, which greatly increases flavor but also increases cooking time for those muscles – your legs and thighs in particular will have a chewier texture, which you may associate with older birds – don’t mistake chewy for tough and stringy. Breast will also have more texture. Pastured chicken may not seem like it has much meat on it, but that is because it is not swelled up with saline.

Tips on cooking — they will take less time to cook than thicker, water- filled commercial chicken. Don’t trust your normal time/temp you have used with store chicken or you may over cook it. Do not microwave! ”

Keep in mind most modern recipes and cookbooks are geared towards commercially raised chicken, so you may wish to check and adjust your dish as you go along. We find broiling is a great method. Mark made the legs and thighs the other night, and they were super, but they definitely have texture much different than Purdue! We ask you to keep this information in mind as you prepare and eat your birds. Let me know if you have more questions or concerns about the chicken, or any of our products.

Categories
CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

Week 4 CSA Recipes — Blueberries! Mmmmm!

Moore Family Blueberries coming your way! Photo by Agriberry.
Moore Family Blueberries coming your way! Photo by Agriberry.

HI members, we received an unexpected email from Agriberry about blueberries, hence they are in the shares this week! We are very excited about this, and almost don’t miss strawberries.

Produce

  • blueberries – if you get past eating them just as they are, into to making something, try  these no-bake blueberry cheesecake bars from Mark Bittman
  • beets – here  is a gorgeous grilled beet salad with arugula, chevre and nuts. Grilling the beets brings out the sweetness in them.
  • endive – grill it and top it with arugula and cheese. yum.
  • red kale – here’s a  raw kale salad with pine nuts, shaved parm and lemon. You could sub any kind of nut, or leave them out too. I would use the goat cheese here also.
  • baby fennel – Fennel is one of my favorites. I was introduced to it many years ago by Cindy Savoia, who now owns Dish Osteria and Bar at a house party with friends.  I watched as she swiftly made a classic Italian apertif – she shaved fennel thin with a mandoline, a few  turns of EVOO, a squeeze of lemon juice, and  a dash of salt. Turn to mix.  It was that simple. You can use  any type of citrus, I especially love blood oranges or nectarines, and slice up a few pieces to add sweetness. I also love to grill it.
  • fresh garlic – My favorite is to shave it thin,  and add to any salad, vegetable or  other dish. You don’t have to cook it.
  • totsoi – We loved this last week. So delicious. Sautee with olive  oil, and dress with a squeeze of  lemon or vinegar. and season to taste.
  • dill – goes beautifully with beets – chop some fresh and sprinkle on top. You can also roast  your beets, and  dress  with  with a fresh dill vinaigrette, Bobby Flay does a nice one.
  • arugula – I love arugula and goat cheese on my pizza, especially if it’s grilled. (there  is a grill theme here.
  • swiss chard – Chard, Ricotta and Saffron Cakes with Micro Greens from Deborah Madison
  • collards – collard green salad from Eating Bird Food; I love this blog post about collards from a fellow northerner in the south.
  • maybe peas …. not sure if this is happening
  • mushroom – Lion’s Mane — These are little sponges for butter and sauce. Here’s a recipe where they taste like lobster.

 

Meat

  • Morning Glory whole broiler chicken
  • Polyface breakfast links – everybody’s favorite…

Butter- Unfortunately there is no butter this week, so we will be swapping out with Goats R Us Chevre. You can also swap for another dairy item, or take a credit. If you want the credit, let us know!  We hope to be back to normal with butter by next week. Thank you for your patience

Categories
CSA/Farm Market Recipes

Turned on Eggplant Pizza

If you are like many of our customers, you often look at a vegetable and think, “What can I do with this?” Oftentimes this way of thinking can limit your interest in trying new things as cooking with different foods can seem overwhelming. Below is a tasty AND simple recipe for eggplant, using seasonal ingredients.
Turned On Eggplant Pizza
Originally from the Hippie /Kitchen Cookbook (pg. 95) by Jean Johnson, Amended by Devin Hunter (F2F Market Coordinator)

Ingredients:

1 medium- sized eggplant per person, sliced in half long ways

Handful of arugula, spinach, or other leafy green of your liking

Goats ‘R Us feta or Old Church Creamery kefir cheese

5-10 leaves of fresh basil depending on preference, chopped

Olive Oil

Red Wine Vinegar (or may I suggest one of the delicious Bombolini vinegars)

Paprika

Salt & pepper to taste

Details:

Slice eggplant long ways and lightly brush with olive oil. Place eggplant halves on barbecue over low heat with the lid on.  Grill until desired tenderness. Work additional olive oil over the chopped basil and greens. The oil helps keep the basil from discoloring. Once the greens are coated, drizzle with vinegar. It will bead up nicely and offer tiny tart hints of flavor. Put all toppings on pizza and enjoy!

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