In the Kitchen

When you get this box home, you’ll want to put the salad mix right in the fridge. Broccoli, beets, kale, and the fresh shallots should get a plastic bag, and then go in the crisper drawer. Set the tomatoes out on the counter; the round reds can go in the sun or not, depending on how soon you want to use them, but the Sungolds should find a place out of the sun (if they make it home in the first place). Basil doesn’t like to get very cold, so keep it in its insulating paper bag and put it in the door of your refrigerator; if you want to keep it for very long, you might put it in a plastic bag inside of the paper bag for an extra bit of insulation.

Yes, with kale, broccoli, salad, and beets, this box does feel a bit more like a fall box than it does a summer box. Then again, the weather feels a bit more like fall than it does summer. We are keeping an eye on the melons and peppers, and things seem to be progressing up there on the southwest sloping field on the ridge. Still, we need some warm nights to keep things moving along.

The Round Red Tomatoes have finally started producing in earnest in the greenhouse, although it will be a couple more weeks for our outdoor production; we should see a steadily-increasing yield on the greenhouse tomatoes over the next couple of weeks. We have included some ripe, “today and tomorrow” tomatoes, as well as one or two for later in the week. Chris and Sanna have been working together to formulate some new harvesting and grading guidelines for this year. In previous years, we have harvested tomatoes on Monday and Wednesday for delivery on Friday; and on Friday for Saturday farmers market. This year, we aren’t doing farmers market, so we’ve had to make some adjustments. I think we’re on the verge of a real, working system.

Tomatoes continue to ripen off the vine, so that will influence how you handle them at home. Tomatoes placed in a warm, sunny window will ripen more quickly than tomatoes placed in a cool, shady spot. Ripening tomatoes produce ethylene gas, which, in turn, promotes more ripening; so, putting your tomatoes in a paper bag will capture the ethylene gas and speed the ripening process dramatically. Ripening bananas produce lots and lots of ethylene, so if you put your tomatoes in paper bag with a banana, they will ripen even more quickly.

Our goal with tomatoes will be to provide some to use right away, and some to use later in the week. You can judge the ripeness of a tomato primarily by its color. A really ripe tomato will be deep red from the blossom end to the stem end; a “tomorrow tomato” might have just a little bit of orange left at the stem end; a “later in the week tomato” will have a more-orange color at the blossom end, and may be a little yellow at the stem end.

The Sungold Cherry Tomatoes finally got their act together this week and began producing more serious quantities of tomatoes, as well, so everybody gets some this week.

The Basil finally limped its way through the cool weather to a size where we could harvest enough for the CSA. We put the basil in a paper bag to insulate it, since it doesn’t like the cold. The cool weather has resulted in some exceptionally-fine tasting basil this year. The kids and I made pizza last night with olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh basil, thinly-sliced tomatoes, and some fresh mozzarella cheese. It was outstanding. Over the years, we’ve made a lot of pesto here, and I’ve learned that if you have a mortar and pestle, it is very much worth the extra work it takes to produce pesto this way rather than in a food processor; if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, it’s worth getting one for the extra-fine flavor and texture it provides. Besides, it’s much easier to clean than any food processor I’ve ever worked with.

Basic Pesto

Two important notes here. First, this recipe really justifies the use of some good olive oil, if you have it on hand. Second, if you are lacking a mortar and pestle, go ahead and use a food processor, following the same order of operations.

1 lightly-packed cup of basil leaves
1 garlic clove or 1 fresh shallot
salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic (or shallot) with the salt into a paste. Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Continue pounding as you gradually pour in the olive oil. Taste and adjust for additional salt as necessary. A teaspoon of lemon juice can be a nice addition.

The bunched onions in this week’s box are actually Fresh Shallots. I frequently use shallots in the place of onions, but they aren’t really a middle-point between garlic and onions as some people claim. They have a more delicate texture and a more subtle flavor than onions, and will dissolve away more than an onion will.

We moved into our second crop of Broccoli this week, just on the heels of the first. I like this variety a lot better for its nicely-domed shape and thicker stems, but it does run about a week later than the variety we harvested last week. Isn’t it beautiful?

Out on the rocky coast of Maine, where I farmed for two years, the locals liked to say, “Some years are tomato years, and some years are cabbage years.” This is a cabbage year, and, since kale is, genetically speaking, just a leafy cabbage, the Green Kale is really going gangbusters. A healthy, hearty addition to any vegetable selection, kale tastes great sautéed with a bit of soy sauce until it turns a nice, bright green. I learned a quick stemming trick from my friend Atina Diffley: grab the base of the stem in one hand, and grasp the base of the leaf between your other thumb and forefinger – then just pull, and the stem pops right out. It’s much faster than using a knife.

Crispy Kale

I have heard from several members that this is a staple in their households. It makes a great addition to school lunches as a tasty conversation piece.

1 bunch kale
salt

Preheat the oven to 375. Stem and chop a bunch of kale. Put the kale on an oiled cookie tray, spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 minutes, tossing once or twice during that time. If you wish, top with parmesan, then bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, tossing occasionally, until it is crisp. The kale will shrink and soften then it will begin to turn crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on the tray.

Most of this week’s Beets were harvested with our cool new root harvester. We will be working with the adjustment on the digging shoe to do a better job of trimming the tails. Some were harvested by hand and the crew got a little carried away with trimming the tails. The result is that we’ve got some beets with long tails, and some beets with their ends cut off.

Salad Mix with Beets and Feta

We have been enjoying a lot of salad lately with all of the hot weather. The fresh flavors of the salad combine with the sweetness of the beets and the saltiness of the feta to make a delicious dish:

2 tsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbs. olive or nut oil
1 lb baked red beets
3 cups salad mix
1/4 lb feta cheese, crumbled

Whisk together the vinegar and oil to make a vinaigrette. Add salt to taste. Slice the beets thinly and toss with a little bit of the vinaigrette. Combine the greens with the vinaigrette, and arrange over the beet slices. Crumble feta on top.