This Week's Vegetable Share:
Brussels Sprouts
Green-Top Carrots
Tomato Purée
Red and Green Lettuce Heads
Bok Choy
Tokyo Bekana (Asian salad greens)
Poblano Peppers
Garlic Bulbs
White Japanese Turnips
This Week's Fruit Share:
Honey Crisp Apples
Asian Pears
White Concord Grapes
This is the last week of the season for our Summer Share CSA members. We want to thank you for being part of our extended farm family this season. We hope you enjoyed preparing and eating the vegetables as much as we enjoyed growing them for you. We wish you a happy and restful fall and winter! Those of you participating in the Fall Vegetable Share have a lot to look forward to--winter squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, celery, leeks, apples, pumpkins, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, turnips, onions, garlic, potatoes, scallions, herbs, rutabaga, cranberries and more! This is the best time of year to be in the kitchen and we're looking forward to sharing it with you. -Peg & Matt
Important Dates
October 14th & 15th - Fall Vegetable Share begins, Cheese Share begins
October 21st & 22nd - Final week of Fruit Share Extension
November 19th - Pickup for Artisan Meat Shares & Hillsboro chickens (at the farm, 4-6 p.m.)
November 25th & 26th - No vegetable pickup due to Thanksgiving holiday
December 9th & 10th - Final week of Fall Vegetable Share, final week of Cheese Share
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
As it says on the bag, our tomato puree makes a great soup by itself or with the addition of a little cream. You can also use it as a base for heartier soups, chili and pasta sauce. I like to use it as a basting liquid when roasting meats, as a replacement for water or broth when I'm making risotto, or in the crockpot when I'm slow-cooking fall vegetables. Let your imagination be your guide! The puree is shelf-stable, but should be refrigerated after opening.
As the name suggests, Brussels sprouts were first cultivated in Brussels. Like broccoli, its ancestor, this plant grew wild in the low countries of Europe. Brussels sprouts contain high amounts of vegetable protein. To clean and prepare for cooking, simply cut the sprouts from the stem, pare off the bottom part of the sprout and remove the outermost leaves. Boil or steam for 5-8 minutes. Try tossing your cooked sprouts in olive oil, lemon juice and a dash of salt and pepper. Other flavors that pair well with brussels sprouts include walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, blue cheese, parmesan, apples, and pears.
Unlike European pear varieties, the flesh of Asian pears doesn't become soft after harvest. The texture of an Asian pear remains crisp and juicy when ripe, much like that of an apple. In fact, Asian pears are sometimes called "apple pears", both for there crisp texture and for their round shape. Asian pears have been cultivated for centuries in China, Japan and Korea. They will store for a couple of months in the refrigerator.
Tokyo Bekana is an Asian salad green with a very mild cabbage taste. This is a new vegetable for us, and we've decided to harvest it when it is young and tender so that it can be used much like lettuce. Its beautiful light green, frilly leaves and wonderful taste have made it one of our favorite new salad greens.
As far as hot peppers go, poblano peppers are somewhere in the middle of the heat index scale. They are not as hot as a jalapeno or a serrano. Roasting poblano peppers before using them improves their flavor and allows you to remove their waxy skin. Once you've roasted them you can put them in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer for months. Poblanos can be used in many different Mexican-inspired dishes from rice dishes to casseroles to the well-known chiles rellenos. To roast them you can either put them under the broil, use a skewer to hold them over an open flame on your stove top, or stick them in a very hot toaster oven. You should roast them until the skin starts to bubble and the bubbles start to blacken. Once this starts to happen, flip them over and do the same to the other side. Allow them to cool before pulling the skin off with your fingers. Finally, make a slit in each one and remove the seeds.
This Week's Recipes:
Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... butternut squash, arugula, spinach, lettuce, chinese cabbage, broccoli, fennel, celery, apples and more!
