In Kim's Kitchen

This week’s CSA boxes are very light, and we don’t expect a huge selection at our market stand, either. Four straight weeks of wet and cloudy weather have resulted in a dramatic slowdown of all of our fruiting crops, such as the Round Red Tomatoes and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes. Other crops seem to have slowed down due to waterlogged soils. Plants need to have gas exchange at their roots to photosynthesize effectively; this is why overwatering houseplants can be such a problem, and why we use potting mixes with really good drainage, so that the water moves through and leaves room for the air.

Fortunately, back in the spring we made a giant planting of Edamame to make up for a couple of missed plantings due to the very wet weather at that time, so we are seeing excellent harvests of these delightful vegetable soybeans now. All of our children really enjoy slurping them straight out of the pods, and frankly, so do I!

Spiced Edamame

1lb Edamame
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Heat the salt, chili powder, and pepper flakes in a small dry skillet over medium heat, stirring until hot and aromatic, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Boil the edamame pods in salted water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain. Toss the edamame pods with the chili-salt and serve warm.

The tops on our Beets have started to look a little bit rattier, due, we think, to the high humidity, which encourages fungal disease. The cercospora spots on the leaves don’t damage the flavor, they just make things ugly, and the leaves won’t store as well.

Beet Relish

2 medium beet
1 tart apple
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 teaspoon honey

Chop beet, apple, and onion into 1/4-inch pieces. In a heavy saucepan heat oil over moderately high heat until hot and sauté beet, apple, and onion until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in wine, and honey and simmer relish, covered, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Chill relish, covered, at least 4 hours and up to 1 week.

Our leafy, green Kale, perched high on the ridge in a well-drained spot, looked very tempting for a sparse week. We often wait until first frost to harvest kale, when it will sweeten up nicely and the leaves get thick and toothsome. But at this time of year, kale has a wonderfully light texture, and the flavor is very nice and mellow. To strip the leaves from the stems, just grab the stem firmly with one hand, and run the thumb and forefinger of the other hand down the stem. It’s much faster than using a knife!

Long-stewed Kale

1 slice smoked bacon
1 onion
1 small carrot
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch green kale
salt and pepper
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (or lemongrass!)

Cut the bacon into small dice and render it over low heat for about 8 minutes. Peel and chop the onion, carrot, and garlic into small dice and add to the bacon with a splash of water. Cover and stew the vegetables until they are soft and the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Wash, stem, and coarsely chop the kale. Add the kale to the vegetables along with some salt and cook uncovered over moderately high heat; the greens will give off a lot of water. Keep cooking until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add half the cream and simmer until it has been almost completely absorbed, then add the other half and keep simmering until it, too, is nearly absorbed. Add the lemon zest, taste and correct the seasoning, and serve.

As mentioned elsewhere in this letter, our Carrot yield has been cut in half due to the saturated soils. The carrots that didn’t rot mostly look great, though! And the flavor has been – while not the best Rock Spring Farm carrots ever – pretty darn good.

We pulled the Red Onions out of the field during the rain that really started this whole flooding mess off, almost two weeks ago. The weather has been so humid, and we’ve had so much water running through the greenhouse where they are curing, that they are not fully and completely cured yet, but they are pretty darned close. Just don’t try to store them for weeks and weeks.

Our Sweet Pepper crop, while taking up a lot of space out in the field, has followed the general trend of non-abundance this late summer, and we’ve got a mixture of greens and reds this week.

Spearmint actually seems to thrive in these wet-soil conditions. On several recent occasions, we have made a very nice marinade for chicken using spearmint, rum, garlic, sugar, and salt. If you go for something that tastes kind of like a mojito, then add salt and garlic, this makes for a great-tasting bird on the grill.