CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Thursday, August 09, 2007

This week’s share included

1 quart of slicing tomatoes
1 quart of Yukon Gold potatoes
1 quart of green snap beans
2 large zucchini
4 Walla Walla onions

I asked for blue potatoes, but they substituted the Yukon Golds. Not pictured is the jar of honey I picked up from the buying club and the half of the share that went to my friend. 

When I first signed up for the CSA I wasn’t sure just how much produce I’d get each week. I was afraid that if I got a full share I wouldn’t use it all. Unfortunately, almost immediately after receiving our first box back in June I realized that splitting a full share with another person just wasn’t enough for my family. Now I know for next year that a full share is a necessity. I think that this week since I’m going to have to go to the farmer’s market to get more produce anyway, I’m going to roast and freeze the tomatoes for sauce and grate and freeze the zucchini for latkes and bread in the winter.

CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

This week’s share from the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA program saw the return of radishes!  The share is chock full of tomatoes and peppers this week.  I’m thinking it might be the week to drag out my pressure canner and make a few jars of roasted pepper and tomato sauce!

• 3 green peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics
• 3 Cubanella peppers grown by Green Valley Organics
• 5 hot peppers grown by Farmdale Organics (a mix of banana and ancho peppers)
• 3 red slicer tomatoes grown by Green Valley Organics or Countryside Organics
• 2 heirloom tomatoes grown by Riverview Organics
• 1 watermelon grown by Riverview Organics
• 3 Walla Walla onions grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm
• 1 pint grape tomatoes grown by Farmdale Organics
• 2 bunches cherry bell radishes grown by Elm Tree Organics
• 2 green cucumbers grown by Farmdale Organics

The Greengrocer

(from Bay Area Radio Museum)

Some of you may remember Joe Carcione, the Greengrocer. When I was little, watching his spot in the local news was a treat, precocious foodie that I was back then. He talked about produce that was in season, and what to look for, emphasizing using all your senses in determining fresh fruits and vegetables. He often introduced things that weren’t commonly known—my parents were particularly tickled when there was an episode on daikon, back when it was only available in Asian food markets. A couple years ago, I picked up The Greengrocer Cookbook (ISBN 0-89087-176-0, Millbrae, CA: Celestial Arts, 1975) at a used book store. I immediately loved the format—the book lists fruits and vegetables in the season when they are at their peak, and gives recipes for them. For example, for the month of August, there are recipes for bell peppers, beets, carrots, celery, nectarines, and peaches. I haven’t yet tried any of the recipes, but most of them seem simple and highlight the natural flavor of the produce. Moreover, in his Foreword, Carcione writes,

In addition to using the general guide this book will provide, take a few moments to look over what is available in the produce department when you are doing your shopping. You will quickly learn from the abundance and from the prices what is in-season and available locally in fresh fruits and vegetables. Then take advantage of that knowledge by serving your family those foods at their finest, when they are ripe and full of nutrition and at their least expensive, in-season price.

I think those are good words to live by, in any decade. As the Greengrocer would say, there’s your “tip for the day.”

Pennsylvania Noble

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

When I contemplated starting to eat locally made food, my first thought was ‘What about the cheese?’  Oh sure, I know where to buy locally made mozzarella…and I can make my own ricotta cheese and fromage blanc…but what about cheddar?  What would I do to satisfy my craving for good cheddar?

As luck would have it, I was running around Reading Terminal Market one day when a man from Green Valley Dairy was pimping some of his Pennsylvania Noble.  From that day forward I knew I would never have to worry about my cheese cravings.  While it’s not super sharp, the “cheddar style” cheese has a slight nuttiness and a good strong taste going for it.  Plus, it’s organic and made from the raw milk of grass fed, pastured cows.  And cave aged for seven months.  It’s absolutely fantastic with slices of apple or pear and a glass of Shiraz.

In addition to being available at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal, you can also find PA Noble at DiBruno Bros., Chestnut Hill Cheese Shop, and online at Green Valley Dairy.

On a related note, I see that Green Valley will soon have a Brie de Meaux-style cheese available.  I can hardly contain my excitement! One can only hope it emits the eye-watering stench of dirty feet of real Brie de Meaux.  Be still my heart!

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

A veritable rainbow of produce:

Red: slicing tomatoes
Orange: Sungold cherry tomatoes
Yellow: pattypan squash
Green: green beans
Blue: blue potatoes (although some red ones snuck in)
Violet: beets

Also in the mix: first Macintosh apples of the season (from the buying club), and Lancaster County-grown peaches that I bought from Sue’s Produce (on 18th Street, near Sansom) because they looked luscious.

The cherry tomatoes are all gone—we couldn’t help eating those sweet things all up.

Summer vegetable tart

August means an overabundance of riches to me.  The produce is coming fast and furious out of the garden and the CSA shares just seem to keep getting bigger.  It’s a challenge to come up with recipes that incorporate a lot of different vegetables, something you want to cook and eat even if it’s a million degrees with two thousand percent humidity. 

Over the weekend I made a vegetable tart that fits the bill.  It’s good hot or cold and would taste great with just about any combination of vegetables and herbs.  Best yet, you could definitely make this using almost nothing but locally grown/locally produced ingredients.  I admit that I cheated a bit by using frozen pizza crust dough for the tart crust.  I baked it for about 15 minutes and then let it cool before assembling the rest of the tart.

5 ounces soft goat cheese
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced
1hot green pepper, seeded, diced
1 large handful of swiss chard, stems removed, and leaves torn into strips
1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small yellow squash, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Whisk cheese, cream, sour cream, salt, and cayenne in medium bowl to blend. Add eggs and whisk to blend. Pour into prepared crust. Bake until filling is set, about 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add peppers and chard and sauté until beginning to soften/wilt, about 4 minutes. Add zucchini, yellow squash, and corn; sauté until all vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Mound vegetables on top of tart and sprinkle with basil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Buy Fresh Buy Local Happy Hour at James

Monday, August 06, 2007

The folks at Buy Fresh Buy Local asked Jim and Kristina Burke of James to host a happy hour to kick off the summer.  Jim and Kristina had a better idea:  “We said, why not the whole summer?” Kristina said.

And that’s what they did. 

Every Tuesday this summer, James has hosted a Buy Fresh Buy Local happy hour from 5pm to 7pm.  The specials include:

• Half off of all local draft beers, including Philly’s Sly Fox Royal Weiss and New Jersey’s Flying Fish;
• Half off of all cocktails made with fresh fruit sourced from Green Meadow Farm, including and the B&B made with Philly’s Blue Coat Gin and local blueberries and the insanely popular Strongberry Lemonade made with local strawberries and lemons; and
• Free bites made with farm fresh, local ingredients!

Last week, the free apps, which change every week, included focaccia made with sweet cherry tomatoes from Green Meadow Farm.  But one of the more impressive selections was the diverse platter of bruschetta and vegetable spoons.  The diced beets, also sourced from Green Meadow, had an intense fresh-from-the-ground earthiness.  The Country Time Farm pork pate bruschetta was smooth and satisfying.  The Vineland, New Jersey spinach topped with ricotta cheese, however, stole the show—deep, rich, meaty greens without any bitterness.

There are only a couple of these summer happy hours left at James, so make sure you stop by.  But don’t worry if you miss out; James’ commitment to fresh local ingredients lasts all year-round.  Chef Jim Burke admits it can be challenging to source locally during the winter months, but he doesn’t mind.  “It makes you more creative,” he says.

James
824 S. 8th Street
(215) 629-4980

 

Garlic breath

The garlic I harvested out of my garden a few weeks ago has been drying on my back porch.  Last night I took it off the hook and trimmed away the stalks and roots, and wiped away the excess dirt.  Success! I now have more garlic than I know what to do with!

These pretty purple-streaked cloves are the Purple Glazer garlic - it’s a mid-season, hardneck variety.  Originally from the Republic of Georgia, the garlic is supposed to be great for baking.  The cloves are not supposed to be hot, but you could have fooled me - I accidentally cut a garlic bulb in half with my shovel while I was digging up the bed, so I popped a clove in my mouth.  Uh, yeah, the garlic is super spicy fresh out of the ground.

This was my first attempt at growing garlic, and I must admit that it was a little thrill to discover the cloves did actually grow into bulbs.  Our soil is pretty clay-ish, so you just never know what’ll happen.  The bulbs didn’t get huge - my guess is the clay soil kept them from getting too big.  I do plan to grow garlic again, so the plan is to build a raised bed so I can get the soil just right.

Do you grow garlic in the Philadelphia area?  What are your favorite varieties?  While I love the look of Purple Glazer, I think I might try something else next year - perhaps Music, Ontario Purple Trillium, Chinese Pink, or Chet’s Italian.

So now I’ve got all this garlic - what to do with it all?  I dried the garlic, so I can at least rely on it to last for a little while.  But in thinking of longer term storage, what then?  There are several different preserving methods that work for garlic -

• Freezing - freezing garlic will produce a slightly mushy clove, but retains the flavor really well.  Place peeled whole or chopped cloves in a freezer bag and, well, freeze it.
• Drying - You can dry cloves that have been cut in half in a dehydrator or your oven (140 degrees for two hours and then 130 degrees until the garlic is totally dry and crisp).
• Oil and vinegar - cloves of garlic (both whole and chopped) can be preserved in both oil and vinegar.  In refrigerated vinegar, the cloves will keep for about four months.  For oil, it’s best to freeze it - otherwise, you run the risk of botulism.  The oil will keep for a few months.
• Salt - dry a few cloves and then give a whirl in a blender until the cloves are a fine powder.  Add four parts sea salt for each one part garlic powder and process for just a second or two to combine the two ingredients. Do not process the garlic salt too long because it will cake. Store the garlic salt in an airtight glass jar.
• Pickling - Loosely fill a glass jar with peeled garlic cloves. Add enough red or white wine vinegar to cover the garlic and then add about one tablespoon of sea salt per cup of vinegar. Dried (not fresh) herbs such as red pepper flakes, bay leaves, and oregano may be added to taste. Cover the jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake to distribute the salt and herbs. Refrigerator garlic pickles will keep almost indefinitely in the refrigerator, as long as the garlic remains submerged in the vinegar.

I wondered, though, whether garlic could be preserved in other ways.  What about roasted garlic?  The answer is yes: it can be frozen!  Just roast the heads, squeeze out the garlic and mash - spread thinly onto sheets of wax paper and freeze it.  I also found a great recipe for garlic and basil pesto that can be frozen for a few months.

However I end up preserving my garlic, one thing is for certain: I’m going to have garlic breath for months!

 

White Dog Hosts Local Corn Dinner

Sunday, August 05, 2007

On Tuesday, August 7 at 6 pm, White Dog Café will celebrate the tastes of Summer with a Local Corn Dinner, featuring innovative dishes created with corn grown organically by Pennsylvania farmers. 

“Right now in our little corner of the world, corn is at its peak of perfection,” says White Dog founder Judy Wicks.  “With this dinner we are celebrating both the glorious bounty of the area’s fertile countryside and the hardworking farmers who cultivate it.”

To create the dinner, Executive Chef Andrew Brown sought out the region’s best organic corn, a bi-color silver and white sweet variety, indigenous to South-Eastern Pennsylvania, which he sources from Green Meadow Farms, Branch Creek Farms and Lancaster County Farm Fresh Co-Op.  For the multi-course dinner, Chef Brown will create a variety of delicious dishes that showcases the corn’s incredibly sweet natural flavor.  Some of the dishes will include:  Corn and Herb Gnocchi, with blue crab and corn broth; Corn Encrusted Fish, line caught from the Atlantic Ocean; Corn Pudding, with chocolate-hazelnut topping;  and several surprise dishes.  The dinner will cost $45 per person.  Reservations are required. 

Following the dinner, guests will be joined by Deborah M. Burd, Executive Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, who will discuss some of the challenges facing small, family-owned farms and explain what guests can do to help change the US Farm Bill to protect the area’s rich farming traditions.

White Dog Cafe
3420 Sansom St.
(215) 386-9224

Hot and Sweet Chevre

Friday, August 03, 2007

If I were stranded on a desert island and could only take along one kind of food, it would be cheese.  I love cheese above all else, which makes me the black sheep of the family because my people have a serious sweet tooth issue.  It’s possible, though, that Shellbark Hollow Farm’s Hot and Sweet Chevre could make them see the light - this locally made cheese is absolute perfection.

Ignore what you think goat cheese tastes like.  Some of it can be a little chalky in texture, and many people don’t like goat cheese because it’s got a bit of a tang to it.  Maybe it’s the locally produced raw and organic goat milk or maybe it’s purebred Nubian goats cared for lovingly by the family who runs Shellbark Hollow Farm - this goat cheese is light but tart, and unbelievably good.  When you add in the hot peppers, it’s irresistible!

The Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market sells Shellbark Farm products, and I’m also told that the White Dog Cafe often has the cheese on their menu.  Do what you have to in order to get your hands on some.

CSA Weekly Report: Lancaster Farm Fresh

Thursday, August 02, 2007

What’s fresh off the farm this week from Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop?  Come and see…

3 green peppers grown by Meadow Valley Organics 1 sugar baby watermelon grown by Green Acres Organics 1 pint grape tomatoes grown by Farmdale Organics 4 heirloom tomatoes grown by Green Valley Organics 2 Cubanella peppers grown by Green Valley Organics 5 lbs potatoes grown by Scarecrow Hill Farm 3 yellow squash grown by Green Valley Organics 2 green cucumbers grown by Elm Tree Organics 2 candy onions grown by Meadow Valley Organics

Amy, our friendly neighborhood coop representative, suggests making watermelon margaritas with the watermelon in this week’s share - a woman after my own heart!  Pass the tequila!

It’s been so hot here in Philly the last few days I thought I might use the onions, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes for gazpacho - nothing beats sitting out on the back porch with a cold bowl of gazpacho and some good bread from Le Bus!  Of course, the tomatoes look so delicious that they may not last long enough in my house to make it into the soup!

Give me the kraut and no one gets hurt

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

I love sauerkraut.  Love it!  Growing up, we always had sauerkraut, pork, and mashed potatoes on New Year’s Day (for luck), a tradition I still continue as an adult.  And in college I admit that my breakfast of champions was a daily hot dog with mustard and kraut from Dave’s Dogs in front of Temple University’s library.

My family never served homemade sauerkraut, though, and I’m relatively certain that Dave’s Dogs didn’t exactly use the finest sauerkraut.  I’ve sort of wondered about the logistics of making sauerkraut at home, but it never really went beyond the wondering stage…until about a month ago.  I ended up with two rather large heads of cabbage through the CSA share.  Not knowing what I wanted to do with two heads of cabbage, it seemed like a good idea to try my hand at sauerkraut-making.

The first obstacle was finding a vessel in which to let the cabbage ferment.  Stoneware crocks are popular - the Harsch Fermentation Crock, for instance.  But I wanted something less expensive for my first time out.  I settled on a five gallon food grade plastic bucket with an airlock in the lid, one meant for homebrewing (which ensures that I try homebrewing at some point, as well!).

After that, it was super easy.  Using a mandoline, I sliced up the cabbage as thin as I could and tossed it in the bucket.  I sprinkled four Tablespoons of pickling salt over the cabbage, and used my hands to mix the salt in and squeeze the cabbage until liquid was released.  I poured some water over the cabbage until it was all just covered with water, put on the lid, and let it ferment in my kitchen for just over three weeks.

Most recipes I ran across for sauerkraut called for kosher salt instead of pickling salt, but sometimes you have to improvise.  The pickling salt worked just great, although I think it makes the sauerkraut slightly sweeter than kosher would have.  Regular old table salt, by the way, will not work.  Don’t even try it.  The ratio of salt to cabbage, by the way, is five pounds of shredded cabbage to four Tablespoons of salt.

If you use a crock that isn’t air tight, there’s this whole rigamarole involving cheesecloth and pressing and skimming scum off the top.  I’m not one for scum, so I took the easy route.  Also, the temperature of your kitchen (or wherever you might choose to ferment the sauerkraut) has a direct bearing on the length of time it may take to ferment properly.  The ideal temp is around 75 degrees, which takes approximately three weeks.  The lower the temperature, the longer it will take to ferment. 

All of that to get to the final product: last night I uncorked my fermenting vessel and checked it out - perfect, tangy sauerkraut!  I didn’t relish the idea of dragging out my pressure canner last night, so I packed it into freezer bags and threw it in my chest freezer.  Frozen sauerkraut will last just about a year.  Of course, my annual New Year’s Day krautfest is only about six months away.  Hooray!

 

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

This week’s haul, from left to right:

peaches (from the buying club)
slicing tomatoes
red potatoes
onions
green bell peppers
flat-leaf parsley
leeks (hiding in the back)

The peaches are for out-of-hand eatin’. The tomatoes and some of the onions will be part of a koshary for tomorrow. I’m thinking of making vichyssoise with the potatoes and leeks. The peppers smell so fresh, I might just eat them as is, a la Iron Chef!

CSA Weekly Report: Blooming Glen Farm

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

(Click to visit notes about the names and quantities
of this week’s Blooming Glen share.)

I was out picking-my-own string beans this afternoon and considering the sign that said we were free to glean several rows of beans.  Knowing that I’d be out of town for a couple weeks and had to preserve most of my share anyway, my instinct was to spend an extra half-hour picking over the rows for a few extra quarts.  Of course, after ten minutes under the hot sun and humid air, reality took over instinct.  Besides, I still had to finish packing for that vacation. 

Another member, on the other side of the aisle must’ve read my mind. 

“I always think of the farmers when I’m out here.  It really makes you think about what goes into the food you eat, doesn’t it?”

 

Her words have been ringing in my ears since.  Of course, I’m thinking about the farmers. Really, I was thinking about the farmers because I didn’t want to get caught popping all those heavenly acidic cherry tomatoes into my mouth instead of into my pint basket, but I knew what she was getting at.

Little defining moments like these happen nearly every week when I go to pick up the share - honest and real moments that just don’t happen at the Superfresh. 

Sunday at Headhouse Square

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Despite the rain that was coming down this morning, I headed out around quarter to 1 pm to walk down to the Farmers’ Market at Headhouse Square.  I’ve been trying to get down there every Sunday since they opened, and for one reason or another, I haven’t been able to make it happen.  But this morning I got up, with a mostly unplanned day stretching out in front of me. It was still drizzling when I headed out, but the skies started to clear right around 1 pm.  I got to the market around 1:15 pm and wandered around for a while, taking pictures, and checking out the vast arrays of lush, gorgeous, drool-inducing produce. 

 

I eventually put my camera away and got down the business of buying some produce.  I gave myself a limit of $20 and only went over by a single dollar.  Here’s what my $21 got me…

1+ pounds blond cucumbers
2 green peppers
1 generous package of lemon verbena
1 pint sweet orange cherry tomatoes
1 quart white peaches
2 yellow heirloom tomatoes
1 butternut squash (although it seems to early for these guys, she told me they were fresh)
1 bunch kale
1 bunch Swiss chard
2 yellow peaches
4 small yellow plums
3 small pears

Everything is blindingly fresh, mostly organic and all locally grown.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to eat.