Week 12
September 17, 2019
*depending on Drop-Off site
Green kabocha OR Red kuri winter squash
Eggplant
Blue potatoes
Parsley & Marjoram bundle
*Pea pod tendrils & Bittermelon for PVD
*Pea pod tendrils & Yard long beans for JP
*Pea pod tendrils & lunchbox peppers for Tiverton
*Poblano peppers & Red-ripening shishito peppers for Dorchester
(Sorry Dorchester, we ran out of pea pod tendrils!!!)
Freebie item: Unripe, green tomatoes!
Second to last Summer CSA!!!
Week 11 CSA box (last week)
If there’s still remnants of last week’s CSA box, here’s some tips to make use of everything! Let’s reduce our food waste together! Here’s a website I appreciate with tips on reducing food waste, how to store some foods, plus recipes to maximize your produce (even when it’s wilty or yellowing), www.foodwastefeast.com.
Still have your sage laying around and unsure what to do? Make sure it’s been cleaned and is dry. You can leave it bundled on the counter in a cool and dry place and let it dry out; it can take up to a week. Once it’s completely dry and brittle, then store the sage leaves in a tight container/ spice jar and it will be ready for use whenever you are ready!
Still have kale? Separate the leaves from the stalks. Trim stalks and cut up into small pieces. Cook into soups to soften up. I have even chopped it up and sautéed, and cooked it into rice porridge. Use the leaves for braising down with your tomatoes into a nice sauce for meats, other protein, or pasta. Cook kale leaves and stems into a nice curry or other soup, which is nice for the somewhat cooler temperatures. Or parboil the kale, let dry out in a single layer, then freeze for use later on.
Still have potatoes?? Boil them in salted water until a fork can pierce through it easily. Drain and roast them at 400ºF with olive oil, crushed sage, and salt until it’s golden and crispy. Feel free to flavor with other seasonings like a dash of cumin, red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, 5 spice powder or garam masala.
Still have tomatoes? Even though it’s not recommended to store tomatoes in the fridge because it’s said to give them a mealy texture….. if you can’t use them up in time and need to prevent it from expiring, throw them in the fridge! Chop them up and freeze into small portions to use in sauces or soups in the future. Or blend them and can it properly (sterilized jars and seal with water bath) so it can be shelf stable for the winter. If you don’t have the time to can your saucy tomatoes, freeze it so you can have a taste of summer tomatoes during the colder months.
Husk cherries??? Haven’t had a chance to pop them straight into your mouths? Give them all to Judy 😀 (my little one really enjoyed them, too, and liked peeling them with me)!
RECIPES
Kuri & Kobocha Squash
Red kuri squash (photo from rareseeds.com)
You’ve seen kabocha squash maybe twice in your CSA shares this summer, but here is what red kuri squash looks like (see photo above).
Try a Red Kuri Squash Curry by Naturally Ella
This is a vegan curry recipe using coconut milk, vegetable broth, and added swiss chard. But you can use whatever type of broth you have on hand, and can substitute kale for the chard. Just add the kale into the pot at the same time as the broth, as it needs a little longer cooking time.
Here is a Dulce de Zapallo or Caramelized Squash
in Spiced syrup by Laylita’s Recipes
This recipe reminds me of my childhood. My grandfather used to make a light dessert or snack for me and my sisters. He would cook down small slices of yam into a honey-colored, sugar syrup; it wasn’t quite caramel yet, but a thick and golden syrup. We all used to love to snack on it. So why not do something along those lines with these sweet squash gourds?? Play around with the different spices to flavor the syrup, and how light or dark you would like for the syrup to cook down. Sounds yummy and….dare I say…feels a bit like Fall?! Be sure to clean the skin off your squash, as you can eat the skin of the kabocha AND the kuri squash. While cooking down, the skin also will hold the squash together longer.
Look back a few posts for kabocha squash recipe ideas. But you really could use the kabocha and kuri interchangeably in recipes.
Blue Potatoes
Blue Potatoes (photo from almanac.com)
Same-ish potato, but BLUE!! These blue potatoes actually hold more vitamins and antioxidants than their white potato counterparts. So eat up! These have a moist texture and are great for mashing or frying, but eat them up however you like them. With smaller/medium-sized potatoes, you could go without peeling; it helps add texture, and when roasting, adds crunchiness. Slice up thinly into coins and cook into an omelette or frittata, flavor with your parsley and marjoram! If you like fries but don’t want to actually deep fry, slice them up thinly, lengthwise, toss in oil and salt, than roast them at 475ºF until really golden brown and crispy. While still hot, toss with minced parsley & marjoram with a little salt to taste. Try this baked salt & vinegar fries recipe by Rasa Malaysia.
Pea Pod Tendrils
(aka pea shoots, aka pea pod stems, etc.)
Pea Pod Tendrils (photo from CookingLight.com)
Pea pod tendrils are the young, tender tips, which include delicate leaves and stems, from pea plants (typically from snow pea plants). These are tender greens and usually will expire quickly, so use them in the NEXT COUPLE DAYS!! These can be eaten raw in a salad (really tasty and adds a nice crisp texture), as a topping for your sandwiches or burgers, added to wraps or spring rolls, or added raw into your cold noodles. Or they can be lightly cooked as a simple stir fry (see below).
Simply cooked Snow Pea Leaves Stir Fry by I Heart Umami blog
Tomatoes
With all the tomatoes of the season, and its decrease in supply starting to signal the coming of the Fall season… I figured another tomato sauce and pasta recipe wouldn’t hurt! Especially since this is a one-pan recipe (see above photo) that doesn’t require you to boil a HUGE pot of water just for the pasta. Find the recipe here.
CSA Customer Creations
Susana’s great use of her bulk chili peppers–homemade, dried chili flakes!
Shirley’s corn soup with pureed, roasted peppers
Kohei’s Farm Meals at Home
Left: wild purslane and garlic stir fry
Top right: sautéed squash tendrils & blossoms
Bottom right: buttered, steamed carrots
Left: Judy’s farm scramble (with MGF tomatoes & bell pepper)
Right: Judy’s salad (with MGF arugula & tomatoes) and
roasted corn & sunflower seeds
Judy’s power smoothie with fruit & veggies (using MGF beet & raw bittermelon)
Left: August & Vanessa’s processed & jarred assorted tomatoes
Right: August & Vanessa’s blistered rainbow shishito peppers
Flowers for Justice CSA appreciation
Thank you to everyone who has supported and bought a share of our first-ever, experimental Flowers for Justice CSA. Though we’re not much of florists, these gorgeous and colorful plants, flowers, and nature do speak for themselves. Farmer Kohei wanted to see more direct connections between his work, Movement Ground Farm, and community organizing (his first job and calling, prior to the farm life). And being the sole, full-time farmer and business owner meant little time for involving himself in much else. Though connecting the farm with movements, the community, and organizing were values that were part of founding MGF, Farmer Kohei still wanted to see more. Thus, grew the seeds for this Flowers for Justice CSA. And the response to it has been AMAZING!!!!
The proceeds from this flower share program go directly to support families who are being torn apart by state-sanctioned violence in the form of Immigrations Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically to support these families’ involvement in the immigrant rights campaigns of three local, grassroots organizing groups. These groups (Providence Youth Student Movement aka PrYSM; Alliance for the Mobilization of Our Resistance aka AMOR RI; and Asian American Resource Workshop aka AARW) are at the center of organizing in Providence and Boston, two cities in which MGF has a customer base, and support. Farmer Kohei wrote last week about the impact some of those funds already were making with two out of three of these local community groups. So thank you again for the support!
On the Farm
Flea beetles ravaging some or our greens like bok choy and arugula :(.
And here is one of the ways MGF is trying to naturally repel these insects.
Farmer Kohei was glad he was able to forage for mushrooms…STEPS away from his door!
Here is hen of the woods mushroom.
Our okra plant continuing to grow beautifully.
Fun fact: did you know the young, tender leaves of the okra plant also is edible?
So many parts of the plant to enjoy!
