In Kim's Kitchen

A few minutes spent in our patch of French Petite Green Beans up on the ridge provides a great counterpoint to the damage done elsewhere by the extreme weather of the past month. Big, dark green plants have perfect little beans hanging off of every node, with nary a weed in sight. And the beans taste that good, too. We love to eat big handfuls of raw beans at every turn, and throw the beans into just about anything we are making (not pancakes!). Just make certain to remove the stems first.

Orange Bulgarian Carrot Chili Peppers pack quite a nice punch, but with some nice fruity flavor to back it up. Kim likes to put them whole into soups or stews to liven things up a bit (just remember to remove them before you serve it!)

Green Beans with Hot Pepper Butter

1/2 stick butter, softened
1 tablespoon minced shallot
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno pepper, or other spicy pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound green beans cut in half
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except green beans. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Lightly sauté the bean, or give them a quick turn on the grill. Combine with one Tablespoon of the butter. Season to taste and serve. Reserve the remaining butter to be used in the morning eggs.

The pepper patch continues to perform nicely, especially now that the sun has decided to shine again. This week’s selection includes a red Italian Bull’s Horn Roasting Pepper, which has a sweet and smoky flavor. Some years we get into roasting peppers, other years we just eat them out of hand. This is one of those eat them out of hand years, so don’t feel like just because we call these thick-walled beauties roasting peppers that you have to roast them. You can use them anywhere you use any sweet pepper. We’ve also included some regular Colored Sweet Peppers in the CSA boxes and at the market stand this week.

Production of our Round Red Tomatoes continues slowly, so we don’t have many available. The flavor, however, is still good, and will stay that way for a couple of weeks yet. By the end of September, we just don’t have enough daylight to make a great-tasting tomato any more.

We picked these Red Onions out of the field the day the floods started, and we were grateful for that lucky decision. It took three full weeks to cure them down, even in our high-tech (for a small Midwestern farm) onion curing facility. Use them anywhere you would use onions.

This second crop of fall Broccoli has matured very nicely, and very bug free. Go broccoli!

We are still cleaning up Carrots from the muddiest carrots we’ve ever picked, which we harvested about three weeks ago. We haven’t had the heart to look under the soil at the next planting, which isn’t ready to harvest yet. We lost about half of this planting to rot from the saturated soils, and about half of our winter carrot crop flooded out. Every time we eat a carrot, we focus on appreciating it as a relatively rare treat this year.

The small, peppery leaves of Cress mature in about one week, and does it all in the greenhouse, so it is one crop relatively unaffected by the nasty weather. In England, apparently, they serve cress with coddled eggs. I enjoy it on my morning scramble, or as a topping for stir fries or salads. Cress also tastes very nice as part of a roast beef or salami sandwich.

Chicken Salad with Cress and Carrots

2 large chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 large carrots, julienne
1/4 cup chopped green peppers, or red if you prefer
2 Tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup cress
salt and pepper

In a large bowl mix the chicken, carrots, and peppers. Set aside. In a small bowl add the remaining ingredients. Add this dressing to the chicken mixture and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over salad mix, lettuce, or as a side dish.

Our Beet crop on the ridge will also count as one of our successes this year. While many of these beets are quite large, they are very tasty and tender

Can’t Beet It Borscht

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bunch beets, julienne
12 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
2 cups potatoes, chopped
3 Tbsp honey (or sugar)
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried dill weed

Sauté onions in oil for 5-7 minutes until translucent; add beets and carrots, and sauté for an additional 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, remove from heat and set aside. In a large stock pot, bring chicken stock to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook until tender, then add beet mixture, honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add garlic and dill, then reduce heat to a simmer for at least 15 minutes. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt.