Two Small Farms Newsletter #407

August 1st 2007
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Table of Contents:

1) In your box this week
2) Eat the Profits
3) August Events
4) Photos
5) Recipes
6) Which Farm?
7) Unsubscribe
8) Two Small Farms Contact Information
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1) In your box this week: Tomatillos, Basil, Cebolla de Ribo Verde (little white onions), Serrano Peppers (spicy!), Romaine lettuce, Leeks, Romanesco OR Cauliflower, Strawberries OR Artichokes, Poblano Peppers OR Bell Peppers, Mystery

This week’s vegetable list: I try to have it updated by Monday night, sometimes by Mon. am

How to store this week’s bounty: all in the fridge as soon as you arrive home, except for the tomatillos and basil. The tomatillos can be stored at room temperature. When prepared they should be husked. This is an excellent job for a child who appears bored or a guest/spouse who needs to earn their keep. The basil: it shouldn’t get too cold so it won’t work in many parts of most fridges. It *may* keep in your vegetable drawer, or better yet the door of the fridge (which is often a tad warmer than the rest of the fridge.). Or on your counter. Or just make pesto within the first day: you’ll be fine!

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2) Eating The Profit by Andy

The tomatillo is related to the tomato. Its fruits look like immature green tomatoes wrapped in a papery husk, and they’re used throughout Latin America to make salsa verde, or else fried, baked, used in soups, or sliced thin for salads or sandwiches. The cultivar of tomatillo in your box is called Toma Verde. Of the half-dozen or so garden varieties of tomatillo available, Toma Verde is perhaps the most widely cultivated here in the United States. The seed is easy to get, the plants are easy to grow, the harvest is generous, and the plump fruits have a pleasant sweet / tart flavor. Yet in spite of— or because of— Toma Verde’s impressive list of domestic virtues, Ramiro Campos told me it was an insipid excuse for a tomatillo.

Ramiro worked for me as the foreman on my farm. We had a long history together. When I was a foreman at Frogland Farm in Watsonville I hired Ramiro as a harvester. When I got a job with Riverside Farms in Aromas as harvest manager, he went with me. When Riverside Farm grew and I became a co-owner, Ramiro became our head foreman, responsible to oversee production across hundreds of acres. Before I got married I shared my house with Ramiro, his wife Amparo, his baby daughter, and his sister. For me, living with the Campos family was better than a trip to Mexico. I got a chance to learn Spanish in a family setting, and I got to eat home-cooked Mexican food like I’ve never tasted in restaurants. “Wait until you taste salsa verde made with the tomatillos de milpa that grow wild on our ranch in Jalisco,” Ramiro said. “You’ll never grow Toma Verde again!”

There’s a flat one-acre field with decent soil below my house. Ramiro proposed that we grow a garden on it with the foods he missed from Mexico, like tomatillos de milpa. If I donated the field to the project and the tractor to work the soil, he’d do the sowing and cultivating. Ramiro’s brother, Renato, could help with the harvesting, and if I loaned my pick-up to the cause, Renato’s wife, Chupina, would sell the crops in the town of Pajaro. We’d split the profits equally. “Pajaro is full Jaliscanos, right off the ranch,” he said. “They’ll line up for baskets of tomatillos de milpa like they’re buying bus tickets.”

I considered Ramiro’s idea carefully. All we had for water was a spring on the hillside that had been dug out by great-grandfather and lined with bricks. A little domestic pump brought the water up to the house, and we barely had enough flow from the spring to wash the dishes, bathe five people, and flush the toilet.

“It’s an interesting idea,” I said. “But we don’t have much water. If we raise a crop, but we can’t clean our clothes, and your baby’s dirty, then where’s the profit?”

“Someday you’ll visit us at our ranch in Jalisco, Andrés, and you’ll see how much we do without water. We’re thrifty. We can grow the tomatillos de milpa without irrigation.”

We walked to the fence and looked out across into the field that spread beneath us.

“See how the field is slightly dished?” Ramiro said, pointing. “This field catches the rain. A foot down the topsoil turns to adobe, and adobe holds the moisture for a long time. If we’re careful when we sow, then the crops will root into damp soil follow the moisture down as the water table recedes in the summer. We’ll keep the field clean, so we don’t lose any moisture to weeds. Without irrigation, a second crop of weeds won’t sprout, and we’ll get a harvest without much labor.”

I didn’t have much to lose.

Ramiro’s uncle came back from a Christmas visit to Jalisco, bringing tomatillo de milpa seeds from plants he found growing wild in the huerta. Ramiro plowed the field in the second week of February, and hilled up in blank rows to soak up more rain. He planted trays with tomatillo seed in my little greenhouse. As the weather permitted, he cultivated the field with the tractor, destroying the weeds that had sprouted and loosening the soil.

When the soil was warm in the spring, Ramiro called on his brother, Renato, to come and help him. Then the two of them transplanted out the young tomatillo de milpa plants.

The tomatillos de milpa grew like weeds throughout the spring, even though our last rain fell on the first of April. By June, the field was a galaxy of yellow stars, as the tomatillos showed off their five petaled blossoms. The green papery husks appeared next, and slowly, through June and into July, tiny, nascent tomatillos gradually swelled within them into little round fruits.”

“Compared to los tomatillos de milpa, the Toma Verde are insipid,” Ramiro promised.

“The proof is in the salsa,” I said.

Ramiro filled the crown of a cowboy with tomatillos de milpa. The fruits were small than Toma Verde, hardly larger than a marble, and firm. Each tomatillo was wrapped in a sticky, papery husk. Some of the fruits were purple, others green or yellow.

“It looks like a lot of work to prepare them,” I said.

“You’ll see,” Ramiro said, holding out the hat for me to inspect. “The small size of the tomatillos de milpa doesn’t come at the cost of flavor. All that’s missing is the taste of muddy irrigation water, so the salsa verde will be rich, just like it is on the ranch.”

We built a fire in the yard and laid a comal on the coals. When the comal was hot, we peeled away their papery wrappers and spread the tiny tomatillos de milpa across it. We toasted them until the skins split with the heat. Amparo laid cebollas de rabo verde, or “green-tailed onions” around the edge of the fire to roast. She threw a handful of serrano peppers on the comal. When everything was ready she got out her mano y molcajete, or mortar and pestle. She mashed the roasted onions and tomatillos together with salt and a little flame blistered serrano chile, and served up an autentico salsita verde del rancho, to complement the beans and potatoes in a brace of perfect taquitos.

“Riquíssimo!” I said. “The tastiest! And the profit?”

Ramiro and Renato harvested the tomatillos de milpa. They loaded up the pick-up, and drove with Chupina down to the corner of Porter Drive and San Juan Road in Pajaro. An excited crowd of amas de casa crowded around the pick-up truck and admired the baskets of tiny tomatillos— “Qué lindo! Just like the tomatillos from mi tierra!”

But the housewives didn’t want to pay any more for tomatillos de milpa than they’d pay for regular Toma Verde tomatillos down the street at the frutería. “Un peso! Un peso,” they cried, thrusting single dollar bills in Chupina’s face..

It’s one thing to sell tomatillos for a dollar a basket if you can fill the basket with five plump, sweet/tart Toma Verde fruits, but it’s entirely different if it takes fifty tiny, sweeter/tarter tomatillos de milpa. The cost per hour for labor to harvest remains the same, no matter the size of the fruit. For tomatillo de milpa to be as profitable as Toma Verde, they’d have to cost ten dollars a basket.

Ramiro paid Renato out of pocket to help pick the tomatillos de milpa, but the harvest costs weren’t covered costs by the sales. On top of that, he paid Chupina for the time she spent trying to sell the tomatillos de milpa on the street corner. He was cross, but I was happy. “We’ve both profited equally,” I said.

Ramiro shot me a questioning glance.

“Now I know how good food on the ranch can be. And now you understand why I’m always worried about the cost of labor all the time. I have to! Amas de casa are the center of our universe, and they’re thrifty.”

“Amparo isn’t thrifty enough,” he said.

That was true. One of the problems between Ramiro and Amparo was her credit account at Joyeria Don Roberto. I changed the subject. “On the ranch in Jalisco, where money is scarce, picking wild tomatillos de milpa in the huerta is a necessity born of poverty, but up here, where there’s more money, eating like a campesino is a luxury!”

I could afford to make light of the situation. Ramiro was eating crow, and I was enjoying home-cooked Mexican food.

Or maybe Ramiro gets the last laugh. When their daughter reached school age, Ramiro and Amparo returned to Jalisco so she could get a proper Mexican education. Ramiro bought a ranch with the money he earned in California, and now he raises goats and makes cheese. His offer to host me when I travel to Jalisco still stands, and one day I’d like to make the trip. But no matter how novel Jalisco will seem to me, some things will be familiar— like the tomatillos. Every spring in the field below my house Ramiro’s wild tomatillos de milpa sprout like weeds among my herb beds, whether we work the soil, or not. It’s my business if I choose to grow Toma Verde, but Ramiro might say it’s my own damn fault if I choose to eat them.

copyright 2007 Andy Griffin

2 Tomatillos Photo: of the larger, more common 'toma verde' and the smaller, purple, wild tomatillo de milpa

Wild Tomatillo Plant photo: they are still growing in Andy's yard between a few rosemary bushes!
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3) Events

Strawberry U-Picks Summer Saturdays

Come pick your own berries at High Ground Organics, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, for the rest of July and August. $1.20/lb. Check in at the Redman House Farmstand first to pick up your empty flat(s). From Hwy 1, take Riverside Drive (Hwy 129) exit. Go west off the exit (toward the ocean). Turn right at the stop sign at Lee Rd. Pass the Chevron stations and turn into the farmstand parking area.

August 25th: Tomato Upick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister in the morning: 9am to 2pm. We know we’ll have plenty of tomatoes by then. We will also have Padron Peppers at this Tomato Upick Day!

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4) Photos:

Tomatillos

Serrano Chiles: (I’ll have a photo of our current serranos on the Chile recipe page by Tuesday afternoon)

White and Purple Sweet Bell Peppers: (I’ll have a photo of our current white and purple bells on the sweet pepper recipe page by Tuesday afternoon)

Leeks

Romanesco (can be cooked like any cauliflower!)

Basil
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5) Recipes from Doranne, Angela U., Eve, and Julia

Tomatillo Salsa Recipe adapted from about.com
Julia's note: you can first cook the onion and tomatillos in a small amount of water, then proceed with the recipe, and include the water when blending.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Onion: (any color); chopped
1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro; chopped
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 lb husked Tomatillos; Cut Into Halves
1 fresh serrano chile, seeded

Directions:
Place all ingredients in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade or in blender container, cover, and process until well blended.
Makes about 1 1/4 cups sauce.

Vegetable & Chickpea Curry

1 tablespoon olive or other cooking oil
1 cup chopped onion or leek
1 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices carrot
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 Serrano chile, seeded and minced
3 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 cups cubed peeled potato
1 cup coarsely chopped sweet (bell or other) pepper
1 cup cauliflower or romanesco, cut or broken up into florets
teaspoon salt
teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 ounces) vegetable broth
3 cups fresh baby spinach or other cooking greens
1 cup light coconut milk
6 lemon wedges

Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and carrot, cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add curry powder, brown sugar, ginger, cloves and chile. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place onion mixture in 5-quart electric slow cooker. Stir in chickpeas, potato, sweet peppers, the cauliflower/romanesco, salt, pepper, ground red pepper, tomatoes and broth. Cover and cook on high 6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add spinach and coconut milk, stir until spinach wilts. Serve with lemon wedges. Makes 6 servings.

submitted by Doranne H:

Hi , the following recipe is from Orangette
I've also roasted the cauliflower in bigger pieces for about an hour. It's simple but if you haven't tried roasted cauliflower you are missing out. Be sure to let it brown.

Caramelized Cauliflower
Adapted from Jim Dixon

1 head of cauliflower, white or green
Olive oil
Fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the head of cauliflower on a cutting board, and slice it top-down into ¼-inch slices, some of which will crumble. Toss cauliflower in a large bowl with plenty of olive oil and a bit of salt, spread it in a single layer on a heavy sheet pan (or two, if one looks crowded), and roast until golden brown and caramelized, turning bits and slices once or twice, about 25 minutes. Devour.

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What Angela U. will do with this week's box:

For this week's box: The basil will go into pesto in the freezer. The tomatillos and onions (and maybe leeks) will go into some variation on chile verde. The serranos will be seeded and chopped and then frozen in ice cube trays with a little water and one pepper per cube for Indian food some time later. Romaine is my girls' favorite lettuce so it will make a couple salads if it is a large head - (Sorry, Lena, my girls like olive oil and balsamic best.)

Strawberries go in shortcake if I have time ahead, or a fool (sliced and slightly sweetened and then barely folded into whipped cream) or with chocolate fondue (Heat 2/3-3/4 cup of cream just til steaming and add 12oz chocolate - chips will do, gourmet if you have it on hand... Let the chocolate sit in the hot cream for a few minutes to soften, whisk smooth and add a splash of spirit or vanilla if you like. Dunk berries and anything else you fancy. Yummy!)

With the Cauliflower/Romanesco I would make a pasta with mustard sauce from Tassajara (recipe below). I will hope for poblano peppers to put either in a "Pastel de Maiz" from a freind's recipe or to stuff and broil - a take-off from a local restaurant.

Mustard butter pasta with broccoli from The Tassajara Recipe Book

Note - I don't tend to follow recipes too closely - I use them more for inspiration. The following is pretty much straight from the book.

5/8 cup butter, softened (or part olive oil)
4 Tblsp dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
2 Tblsp parsley, well minced
2 Tblsp chives, finely sliced or green onion, minced
Salt and Pepper
1 Tblsp oil
2 cups broccoli, cut into small flowerettes (or cauliflower or romanseco!)
3/4 pound pasta

Blend butter and mustard. Set aside.Slice garlic and pound it with a mortar with a healthy pinch of salt. When the garlic is pulpy add the parley and chives (or onions) and pound a bit more to release the flaovrs. Blend this mixture into the mustard mixture with a few twists of black pepper.

Bring a large amount of water to a boil with the tablespoon of oil and a spoonful of salt. Add the pasta to the boiling water. If you are using fresh pasta, add the broccoli at the same time. If using dried pasta, add the broccoli for the last couple minutes of cooking. As soon as the pasta and broccoli are done, drain and put them in a 12" skillet allowing a bit of the cooking water to dribble in. Add the mustard mixture and, over moderate heat, toss the mixture until everything is evenly coated. Keep the heat low enough that the butter doesn't bubble or fry as that would change the flavor. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste and serve.

Pastel de maiz - this is a recipe I was taught "by feel" from a friend from Guadalajara.

10 ears of corn, cut from the cob and processed briefly in a food processor. You want it chopped but not pureed. (You can use frozen corn but you'll need to add some milk or cream to get the right consistency.)
5 eggs, beaten
~1 1/2 cups flour
~1/2 cup melted butter
salt, to taste
cheese, grated (monterey jack, pepper jack, cheddar...)
peppers, seeded and sliced thinly (she always used poblanos)

Mix everything but cheese and peppers in a large bowl. Add a bit of millk if the mixture seems dry. You are going for a slightly-firmer-than-custard-like finished product something like quiche filling. Pour about half of the mixture into a well greased baking dish and then add a layer of cheese and peppers . Repeat layers. Bake at 350 until nearly set in the middle and beginning to brown on top. Cover with foil if it seems to be browning too fast. Time will depend on the depth of your dish. You can also make 2-3 smaller pasteles which would need less baking time. My friend always serves this with chicken mole.

Stuffed Poblanos - -similar to a dish served at Pajaro Street Grill in Salinas

Make a mixture of ~ 2 parts grated sharp cheddar cheese, ~1 part raisins, coarsely chopped and `1 part slivered almonds. Cut generous caps off the stem end of poblano peppers, remove core, seeds and ribs, leaving peppers whole. Fill peppers with the cheese mixture and reattach "lids" with toothpicks. Broil or grill, turning to char all sides. Makes a great light dinner with a salad and maybe some rice. (If you cook them under a broiler, line the pan with foil for easier clean-up.)

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Submitted by Eve Lynch, San Francisco:

the following recipe is from Gourmet Magazine. I made it using leftover brown basmati rice and a lemon instead of an orange. It is refreshing and delicious. It may just be my new favorite way to use fennel. You have to try it!! To make it using leftover rice, use 3 cups of cooked rice, and toast the fennel seeds anyway, and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Very quick and easy. -Eve

FENNEL RICE SALAD (in case you still have your fennel bulb in your kitchen!)
The tang of citrus and the refreshing flavor of fennel give this side dish a lightness that other rice preparations just can't match.

1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup basmati rice
1 large navel orange
1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb with fronds
2 large scallions, thinly sliced

Toast fennel seeds in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant and a shade darker, about 2 minutes. Add water and 3/4 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Add rice and return to a boil, then cook, covered, over low heat until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Spread rice in a shallow baking pan and cool quickly by chilling, uncovered, 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate zest from orange into a large serving bowl and squeeze in juice (about 1/3 cup). Whisk in vinegar, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Chop 2 tablespoons fronds from fennel, then discard stalks. Quarter bulb lengthwise and thinly slice crosswise.

Stir fennel bulb and fronds into vinaigrette along with cooled rice, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings

Gourmet August 2007

Soft Polenta with Leeks

3 tablespoons butter
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
2 1/4 cups (or more) water
2 cups canned chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup polenta*

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

*Sold at Italian markets, natural foods stores and some supermarkets. If unavailable, substitute 1 cup regular yellow cornmeal, and cook leek-cornmeal mixture for about 15 minutes rather than 35 minutes.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat. Cover and cook until leeks soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add 2 1/4 cups water, broth and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until mixture is thick and creamy, stirring often and thinning with more water if necessary, about 35 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Discard bay leaf. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter and Parmesan cheese. Season polenta to taste with salt and pepper. Divide polenta among plates.

Serves 4.

Bon Appétit February 1999

Leek Noodles
adapted from Ten Minute Cuisine by Green & Moine

In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 shredded leeks and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves. Add cooked noodles of any shape (about 1 pound when uncooked) and stir-fry until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

SAUTEED-BRAISED CAULIFLOWER
The Victory Garden Cookbook, Marian Morash

Slice or dice cauliflower, or cut into 1/4-1/2-inch flowerets. Melt a combination of butter and oil (or either one) and toss cauliflower in it until coated. Cover pan, reduce heat to low, and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with herbs and additional butter, if desired, and serve.

With Garlic & Oil: Add a garlic clove when tossing the cauliflower in oil.

With Tomatoes: To larger flowerets, add your favorite tomato sauce or peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes combined with fresh herbs such as basil. Cover and simmer as above until flowerets are barely tender.

In Vinegar: Saute in oil with garlic, add some red or white wine vinegar, then cover and cook until cauliflower is tender.

With Peppers: Toss the cauliflower in butter or oil with strips of red and green pepper. Cover, and cook until tender.

With Olives: Add black olives or large green olives stuffed with pimiento.

With Cream: Toss cauliflower in butter and coat with heavy cream. Cover pan and cook until cauliflower is tender. Uncover, and reduce cream so it just coats the cauliflower. Sprinkle with lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.

With Nuts: Saute cauliflower in butter, cover pan, and braise until barely tender. Uncover, add toasted almonds, walnuts, or pistachio nuts, saute over high heat for 1 minute.

With Capers or Anchovies: After sauteing in butter or oil, toss in capers or anchovies and cook for 1 minute before serving.

Tomatillo Chicken Soup
Adapted from Splendid Soups

1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
1 lb tomatillos coarsely chopped (husked first!)
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 jalapenos seeded and chopped
3 c chicken broth
2 T chopped cilantro

salt and pepper and then brown the chicken in a pan 8-10 minutes a side. Adjust the fat and lightly saute the onions and garlic. Add broth, tomatillos, jalapenos and chicken to pan. When chicken is done (~15 minutes) remove to cool. Skim any fat (I use a stick blender) and puree what is in the pan. The recipe calls for straining it, but I prefer it more 'peasant' and don't. Shred the chicken meat and return to the pan with the cilantro. Adjust salt/pepper (add cayenne if you need it) to taste and you have a great soup (I'll sometimes add a little lime juice to taste as well). Serve with sour cream and/or

shredded cheese.

Recipe Links:

Tomatillos
Cauliflower and Romanesco can both be prepared in any ‘cauliflower’ recipe
Basil
Peppers (not spicy)
Onions
artichokes
Strawberries
Salad Dressings

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6) Which Farm?

From High Ground: Lettuce, Leeks, Cauliflower, Romanesco, Berries, Arichokes, Flowers
From Mariquita: Peppers, Onions, Basil, Mystery, Serrano Peppers, Tomatillos

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7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter

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BLOG ADVANTAGES: I can change mistakes after I post them. I don’t have to subscribe/unsubscribe folks. Old newsletters easily accessed. Links! (I send this newsletter out as plain text so more folks with differently-abled computer systems can easily read it.) You can sign up for email updates to the Two Small Farms Blog on the main blog page:
http://twosmallfarms.blogspot.com/
__________________________________

8) Two Small Farms Contact Information

Two Small Farms
Mariquita Farm/High Ground Organics
Organically Grown Vegetables
831-786-0625
P.O. Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077
csa@twosmallfarms.com
http://www.twosmallfarms.com
http://www.mariquita.com
http://www.highgroundorganics.com

In This Week's Box August 1st

Hello, in this week's box:

Tomatillos (this is a tomatillo photo)
Basil
Cebolla de Ribo Verde (little white onions)
Serrano Peppers (spicy!)
Romaine lettuce
Leeks
Romanesco OR Cauliflower
Strawberries OR Artichokes
Poblano Peppers (mildly spicy: for Wed)
OR Bell Peppers (sweet!) for Thurs & Fri
Mystery

Here are some great tomatillo recipes and ideas.

Some recipes recently submitted that will also be in this week's newsletter:

submitted by Doranne H:

Hi , the following recipe is from Orangette

I've also roasted the cauliflower in bigger pieces for about an hour.

It's simple but if you haven't tried roasted cauliflower you are missing out. Be sure to let it brown.

Caramelized Cauliflower

Adapted from Jim Dixon

1 head of cauliflower, white or green

Olive oil

Fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the head of cauliflower on a cutting board, and slice it top-down into ¼-inch slices, some of which will crumble. Toss cauliflower in a large bowl with plenty of olive oil and a bit of salt, spread it in a single layer on a heavy sheet pan (or two, if one looks crowded), and roast until golden brown and caramelized, turning bits and slices once or twice, about 25 minutes. Devour.

-----

What Angela U. will do with this week's box:

For this week's box: The basil will go into pesto in the freezer. The tomatillos and onions (and maybe leeks) will go into some variation on chile verde. The serranos will be seeded and chopped and then frozen in ice cube trays with a little water and one pepper per cube for Indian food some time later. Romaine is my gilrs' favorite lettuce so it will make a couple salads if it is a large head - (Sorry, Lena, my girls like olive oil and balsamic best.)

Strawberries go in shortcake if I have time ahead, or a fool (sliced and slightly sweetened and then barely folded into whipped cream) or with chocolate fondue (Heat 2/3-3/4 cup of cream just til steaming and add 12oz chocolate - chips will do, gourmet if you have it on hand... Let the chocolate sit in the hot cream for a few minutes to soften, whisk smooth and add a splash of spirit or vanilla if you like. Dunk berries and anything else you fancy. Yummy!)

With the Cauliflower/Romanesco I would make a pasta with mustard sauce from Tassajara (recipe below). I will hope for poblano peppers to put either in a "Pastel de Maiz" from a freind's recipe or to stuff and broil - a take-off from a local restaurant.

Mustard butter pasta with broccoli from The Tassajara Recipe Book

Note - I don't tend to follow recipes too closely - I use them more for inspiration. The following is pretty much straight from the book.

5/8 cup butter, softened (or part olive oil)

4 Tblsp dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic

2 Tblsp parsley, well minced

2 Tblsp chives, finely sliced or green onion, minced

Salt and Pepper

1 Tblsp oil

2 cups broccoli, cut into small flowerettes (or cauliflower or romanseco!)

3/4 pound pasta

Blend butter and mustard. Set aside.

Slice garlic and pound it with a mortar with a healthy pinch of salt. When the garlic is pulpy add the parley and chives (or onions) and pound a bit more to release the flaovrs. Blend this mixture into the mustard mixture with a few twists of black pepper.

Bring a large amount of water to a boil with the tablespoon of oil and a spoonful of salt. Add the pasta to the boiling water. If you are using fresh pasta, add the broccoli at the same time. If using dried pasta, add the broccoli for the last couple minutes of cooking. As soon as the pasta and broccoli are done, drain and put them in a 12" skillet allowing a bit of the cooking water to dribble in. Add the mustard mixture and, over moderate heat, toss the mixture until everything is evenly coated. Keep the heat low enough that the butter doesn't bubble or fry as that would change the flavor. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste and serve.

Pastel de maiz - this is a recipe I was taught "by feel" from a friend from Guadalajara.

10 ears of corn, cut from the cob and processed briefly in a food processor. You want it chopped but not pureed. (You can use frozen corn but you'll need to add some milk or cream to get the right consistency.)

5 eggs, beaten

~1 1/2 cups flour

~1/2 cup melted butter

salt, to taste

cheese, grated (monterey jack, pepper jack, cheddar...)

peppers, seeded and sliced thinly (she always used poblanos)

Mix everything but cheese and peppers in a large bowl. Add a bit of millk if the mixture seems dry. You are going for a slightly-firmer-than-custard-like finished product something like quiche filling. Pour about half of the mixture into a well greased baking dish and then add a layer of cheese and peppers . Repeat layers. Bake at 350 until nearly set in the middle and beginning to brown on top. Cover with foil if it seems to be browning too fast. Time will depend on the depth of your dish. You can also make 2-3 smaller pasteles which would need less baking time. My friend always serves this with chicken mole.

Stuffed Poblanos - -similar to a dish served at Pajaro Street Grill in Salinas

Make a mixture of ~ 2 parts grated sharp cheddar cheese, ~1 part raisins, coarsely chopped and `1 part slivered almonds. Cut generous caps off the stem end of poblano peppers, remove core, seeds and ribs, leaving peppers whole. Fill peppers with the cheese mixture and reattach "lids" with toothpicks. Broil or grill, turning to char all sides. Makes a great light dinner with a salad and maybe some rice. (If you cook them under a broiler, line the pan with foil for easier clean-up.)

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Submitted by Eve Lynch, San Francisco

the following recipe is from Gourmet Magazine. I made it using leftover brown basmati rice and a lemon instead of an orange. It is refreshing and delicious. It may just be my new favorite way to use fennel. You have to try it!! To make it using leftover rice, use 3 cups of cooked rice, and toast the fennel seeds anyway, and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Very quick and easy. -Eve

FENNEL RICE SALAD (in case you still have your fennel bulb in your kitchen!)

The tang of citrus and the refreshing flavor of fennel give this side dish a lightness that other rice preparations just can't match.

1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup basmati rice
1 large navel orange
1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb with fronds
2 large scallions, thinly sliced

Toast fennel seeds in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant and a shade darker, about 2 minutes. Add water and 3/4 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Add rice and return to a boil, then cook, covered, over low heat until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Spread rice in a shallow baking pan and cool quickly by chilling, uncovered, 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate zest from orange into a large serving bowl and squeeze in juice (about 1/3 cup). Whisk in vinegar, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Chop 2 tablespoons fronds from fennel, then discard stalks. Quarter bulb lengthwise and thinly slice crosswise.

Stir fennel bulb and fronds into vinaigrette along with cooled rice, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings

Gourmet August 2007

Two Small Farms Newsletter #406

July 23rd 2007

Table of Contents:

1) In your box this week
2) Swing Low Sweet Chariot
3) Events: U-picks and dinner at the farm
4) Photos
5) Recipes
6) Which Farm?
7) Unsubscribe
8) Two Small Farms Contact Information
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1) In your box this week: Green Onions, Strawberries, Salad Mix, Rosemary, Potatoes, Fennel, Mystery item, and red onions

How to store this week's bounty: all in the fridge as soon as you arrive home! The potatoes are "fresh dug" - they have not been cured and so must be stored in the fridge. Also, the rosemary will last a few weeks if you store it in the fridge in a plastic bag.

This week's vegetable list: I try to have it updated by Monday night, sometimes by Mon. am

__________________________________

2) Swing Low Sweet Chariot

"What has eyes but does not see?" croons the singer. "Does not see, does not see..."

"A potato, stupid!" bellowed Magdalena from the back seat. When my daughter was six she took great pleasure in beating the chorus girls to their punch lines.

"A potato, a potato, a potato," cooed the backup singers belatedly as Lena laughed. It was the shmaltzy Silly Songs again, a grubby kiddie-music cassette making its millionth passage through the bowels of the tape deck in our mini-van.

"Play it again!" yelled Lena, and I did- not because I liked the song, but because I love my daughter. The song is all wrong. My sympathies are entirely with Mr. Potato Head. I compare and contrast him with the King of Spain.

The Spaniards broke into Peru like they had cracked a safe. They were so dazzled by the glitter of the gold they were stealing, they had no eyes for the potato. Pound for pound, the potato has proved to be one of the most productive and nutritious vegetable foods ever developed by humankind. Potatoes provide complex carbohydrates, starches, vitamins, minerals, and proteins and can be cultivated under a wide variety of environmental conditions. Potatoes can be stored fresh for long periods of time against the threat of famine. Dried, Inca-style, as chuño, potatoes last almost indefinitely.

Desirable potato varieties are easily cloned and propagated by slicing a potato into parts, each piece with its own two or three eyes, and planting them deep in well-drained soil. There is enough water and energy stored in the tuber to send green shoots to the soil's surface. If the potato plant's vigorous roots can tap into sub-soil moisture, the potato may not even need irrigation before setting a bountiful harvest. You can't eat gold. In the end the Spaniards squandered all the gold they tore from Peru by financing religious wars. It fell to Spain's dread enemy, protestant England, to harvest the real treasure of Peru by cultivating the potato.

Even the English didn't perceive the commercial potential of the potato at first. Some of the blame for this blindness must be laid on the cooks who, misunderstanding the strange new plant, steamed the potato foliage instead of the tubers. Diners got sick from solanine poisoning. More to blame were the theologians of the day. Protestants were reluctant to plant potatoes because, having not been mentioned in the Bible, they were "of Satan." A few Catholics tried cultivating potatoes- but as a hedge on their spiritual gamble, they planted their crops amid prayer on Good Friday and irrigated their fields with holy water.

Here, around the Monterey Bay in Central California, we have such unpredictable rainfall that all water ought to be considered holy. While my irrigation water has never been consecrated, I can tell you Good Friday is a later planting date for potatoes than I'd choose. Domesticated potatoes do best under the cool conditions of late winter that most closely mimic the high Andean altitudes of their wild ancestors.

I prefer to plant my potato crop in February. A farmer can plant a couple of weeks before the last frost for maximum yield. Soil is a good insulator. It will take the potato's new shoots a couple of weeks to reach the surface, and by then the threat of frost will have passed. Potatoes planted into warm weather never yield quite as well and are more prone to disease and insect pressure.

Once the potato was adopted in the British Isles, it became one of the most efficient engines driving the industrial revolution. Potatoes yield more nutrition with less persistent labor from fewer acres than other crops. With the introduction of potato cultivation peasants were kicked off of their farms by their overlords to make room for sheep. When they had been shorn of their land, the peasants were free to be wage slaves in the factories, working with the machines that spun wool into cloth. A diet of potatoes, augmented with the milk and cheese from the family goat, enabled this process of enclosure and industrialization to move forward.

But where Andean farmers had cultivated a rainbow of different potato varieties, Europeans cultivated only a few genotypes. When disease struck the European potato crop almost every plant died, from the Volga to Donegal Bay. Lack of genetic diversity meant there were no blight-resistant potato clones to survived for replanting. In Ireland over a million people died, and another million emigrated.

Today Ireland is doing well, but Peru is still recovering. Some visitors compare the squalid poverty of modern Peru to the ancient splendors of Macchu Picchu, the mysteries of the Atacama mummies and the Nazca Lines. It seems hard to connect the impoverished circumstances of the short, brown peasants that scrub in the earth for potatoes and chew on wads of coca leaf to mitigate the discomfort of altitude sickness, with the ancient imperial splendor of the Incas, who studied astronomy. A theory germinates on the kook fringe of archeology. "The Nazca Lines must have been cut across the desert floor to guide

UFOS in for landing. The surprising wisdom of Peru's past civilizations came from outer space!"

There is something refreshing about this notion. For once, real aliens get credit for their contributions to culture. Of course, the people who patiently worked for over 4000 years to transform the potato from a bitter tuberous herb into a vegetable that became a crop of international importance, are rendered invisible by the fantastic glow of more highly-evolved space beings. But are saucerites kooks? Maybe we all ought to hope that the UFOs return. After all, if we ruin this planet, we're going to need to fly to another one. Swing low, sweet chariot.

"What has eyes, but does not see, does not see, does not see?"

Silly songs aside, it's not the potato that's blind.

copyright 2007 Andy Griffin


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3) Events

Strawberry U-Picks Every Saturday through the end of August!
Come pick your own berries at High Ground Organics, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, for the rest of July and August. U-pick berries are $1.20/lb. Check in at the Redman House Farmstand first to pick up your empty flat(s). Directions: From Hwy 1, take the Watsonville Riverside Drive (Hwy 129) exit. Go west off the exit (toward the ocean). Turn right at the stop sign at Lee Rd. Pass the Chevron stations and turn into the farmstand parking area.


August 5th Open Space Alliance and High Ground Organics Dinner in Watsonville at the Farm:


August 25th: Tomato Upick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister in the morning: 8am - 12 noon. We know we'll have plenty of tomatoes by then. We will have many more upick days in Sept and likely October. We will also have a Padron Pepper upick day once Andy is sure the patch is prolific enough to make it worth your while! Stay tuned.
________________________________

4) Photos:

Fennel

Rosemary

Onions

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5) Recipes

Rosemary Serving Hints from The Edible Ornamental Garden by J. Bryan
and C. Castle

- Use rosemary to flavor cold drinks, soups, pickles, cooked meats,
omelets, egg casserole, fish and poultry, sauces, dressing and even
preserves and jams.

- Saute chopped rosemary in butter, sprinkle with flour and add stock.
Season with lemon juice and anchovy paste and serve on fish.

- Add chopped rosemary to fresh fruit compotes, to pastry for meat pies
or to cake batter when making a traditional weding cake.

- Cook orange sections in syrup ('simple syrup is water and sugar that
have been heated together. -julia), flavor with rosemary, season with
vanilla to

taste, chill and serve with whipped cream.

- Rub veal, pork, or lamb roast with rosemary.

- Combine rosemary with butter to dress lima beans.

- Use whole sprigs with flowers for garnishing, or put them in the oven
when baking bread.

- Add sprigs to the cooking water when boiling potatoes, or cooking
chard or beans.


Beetroot Salad with Anchovy Dressing
from: Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book

julia's note: 'beetroot' is what beets are called in England, I think.
I was intrigued by this recipe because of the unusual salad dressing.
I'm a big fan of vegetable salads, our dinner table often has a
traditional lettuce salad and also a beet or potato or turnip or fennel or
celery etc. salad. I love make ahead dinner items, and vegetable-rich ones
are an extra bonus.

1 pound boiled, peeled beetroot
1/2 pound boiled firm or waxy potatoes
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
chopped parsley

Dressing:
2 medium onions, chopped
4 Tablespoons oil
1 tin anchovies in oil
1 teaspoon wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon (or a bit more?) Dijon mustard
pepper

Slice beets and put into a shallow bowl. Peel and slice the potatoes
into half-circles and arrange them in a ring round the edge, slipping the
straight edge down between the beets and the edge of the bowl. Mash
the eggs to crumbs with a fork, mix them with a heaped tablespoon of
parsley and set aside.

For the dressing, cook the onions in a tablespoon of oil in a small
covered pan, so that they become soft without browning. Cool and pound
with the anchovies, their oil and the remining ingredients (use a blender
if possible). Adjust the seasonings (this usually means add S & P to
taste). Spread dressing evenly over the beets. Scatter the egg on top
with extra parsley if neccessary. Serve chilled.


Fennel Baked with Parmesan Cheese
from: Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book

Jane Grigson's note about this recipe: My favourite fennel dish, the
best one of all by far. The simple additions of butter and parmesan - no
other cheese will do - show off the fennel flavour perfectly. The point
to watch, when the dish is in the oven, is the browning of the cheese.
Do not let it go beyond a rich golden-brown.

Julia's note: this dish can be halved or made even smaller for just two
people with one or two large heads of fennel.

6 heads fennel, trimmed, quartered
butter
pepper
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Cook the fennel in salted water until it is tender. It is important to
get this right: the fennel should not still be crisp, on the other hand
it should not be floppy either. Drain it well and arrange in a
generously buttered gratin dish. Be generous, too, with the pepper mill.
Sprinkle on the cheese. Put into the oven at 400 degrees, until the cheese
is golden brown and the fennel is bubbling vigorously in buttery juices.


Recipe Links:

Beets

Fennel

Onions

Potatoes

Rosemary

Salad Dressings

Strawberries

____________________________________

6) Which Farm?

>From High Ground: Strawberries, salad mix, fennel, green onions,
Flowers. From Mariquita: potatoes, rosemary, beets, red onions, mystery

_______________________________________________________________________

7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter

BLOG ADVANTAGES: I can change mistakes after I post them. I don't have
to subscribe/unsubscribe folks. Old newsletters easily accessed.
Links! (I send this newsletter out as plain text so more folks with
differently-abled computer systems can easily read it.) You can sign up for
email updates to the Two Small Farms Blog on the main blog page:
http://twosmallfarms.blogspot.com/

_______________________________________________________________________

8) Two Small Farms Contact Information

Two Small Farms
Mariquita Farm/High Ground Organics
Organically Grown Vegetables
831-786-0625
P.O. Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077
csa@twosmallfarms.com

In The box for week of July 25th - July 27th

In this week's box is:

Scallions (also called green onions)
Potatoes
Rosemary
Strawberries
Fennel
Salad Mix
Summer Squash
Red Onions (WED)
Beets (THURS & FRI)

The above photo is my celery salad, recipe is below. -julia

and 2 recipes for last week's box:

Julia's Celery Salad

I took two stalks of Stephen's celery and sliced them thin on my mandolin. Then I did the same with a small onion, but I made the onion slices even thinner. (I have the simple-to-wash-and-store Japanese Mandolin from Beriner) I also thinly sliced one yellow carrot, for color and crunch. The dark green in *my* salad was verdolagas, or purslane. If you are a gardener you might have this in your garden: the leaves are rather succulent and it worked well in this dish. If you don't have verdolagas in your garden, you could use arugula, spinach (sliced a bit), parsley leaves, or another dark leafy green for the color contrast. I dressed this with olive oil and lemon and S & P. The variations to this lettuce-free salad are endless. I mixed it all with my hands and 'plated' it before serving. A lovely salad!

Quick Couscous with Chicken Recipe

Ingredients
1 (3 pounds) chicken, cut into serving pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, sliced
1 large carrot, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 ounces) peeled whole plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (about 1 pound fresh tomatoes)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground allspice
2 cups defatted chicken broth or vegetable stock, divided
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp dried red chile flakes, harissa, or other hot pepper sauce
2 small zucchini, diced
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 can (15 ounces) cooked garbanzos (chick peas), rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or 3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 Tbsp butter or margarine (optional)
1-1/2 cups quick-cooking or "instant" couscous
Harissa or liquid pepper sauce

Instructions
Rinse chicken, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large casserole or Dutch oven, brown chicken, and remove; add onion, carrot, and garlic and saute until softened. Add tomatoes, cumin, and allspice and cook for 5 minutes, stirring; stir in 1/2 cup chicken broth, wine, and red chile flakes and return chicken to casserole. Cover and simmer 15 minutes; add zucchini and simmer until chicken is tender (20 to 30 minutes more). Stir in tomato paste, add garbanzos and half the chopped cilantro or parsley, heat through.

While chicken is simmering, bring remaining chicken broth (and butter if you are using it) to a boil and add couscous; stir well, cover and remove from heat. Let couscous stand 5 minutes, fluff with fork, and spoon onto serving platter. Arrange chicken and vegetables around it, pour some sauce over the top, and garnish with remaining cilantro or parsley. Serve with harissa or other liquid pepper sauce.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Recipe from: The Ethnic Food Lover's Companion by Eve Zibart

Two Small Farms Newsletter #405

July 18th 2007

1) In your box this week
2) Let Them Eat Snake
3) Events including July and August Strawberry Upicks
4) Photos
5) Recipes
6) Which Farm?
7) Unsubscribe
8) Two Small Farms Contact Information

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1) In your box this week: Onions, Spinach, Celery, Strawberries OR artichokes, Red Leaf Lettuce, Cilantro, Peppers (not spicy), Beets OR Carrots, Collards OR Kale, Mystery herb (likely parsley)

This week’s vegetable list: I try to have it updated by Monday night, sometimes by Mon. am:

how to store this week’s bounty: all in the fridge as soon as you arrive home,

**This week is the first week of our 3rd of our 4 9 week blocks of 2007. Please do tell Zelda via phone or email asap if you intend to continue but we might not know that yet. Do not rely on just sending a check if you’re not sure we already received it! Thank you. Csa at twosmallfarms dot com. 831 786 0625

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2) Let Them Eat Snake from Andy

My mother feels that I'm too hard on my children, so when they visit her she likes to spoil them. "Would you like a piece of chocolate?" she asked Lena one evening.

Lena was watching Loony Toons. "Is it Sharffenberger?" she asked over her shoulder.

I got a phone call about that. But what could I say? I'm a farmer. Many of my friends are farmers, or they have restaurants, or they take cooking seriously, or they have beautiful gardens. For better or worse, My wife and I are surrounded by great food. By the time Lena was seven she was personally acquainted with three chocolate makers. On the "worse" side of the equation, our children have to eat a lot of weird food like salad. If I get a lot of flack from the kids because I've used a vinaigrette that brings out the flavors of the lettuces, rather than a ranch dressing that cloaks them, I retaliate by telling a story.

"I'm not hungry," Lena says, stirring her salad with her fork.

"When I was a kid," I start. "salad was a wedge of iceberg and a pink tomato," I'll answer.

My son, Graydon, has learned to lay low in such circumstances, but Lena loves combat. She bugs her eyes out and gasps, "Must...must get...must get air."

"When I was a kid, salad was a wedge of iceberg and a pink tomato," I'll continue.

But her cynical riposte demands an escalation of rhetoric on my part. I grew up on the Hastings Reserve, a biological field station in the Santa Lucia Mountains managed by the University Of California in Berkeley, so my "when I was a kid" stories can get scientific.

"When I was a kid, I knew a parasitologist who trapped ground squirrels in order to count and examine any flukes residing in their livers. In order to make his research reach a little farther, he'd stew the squirrels up and eat them, once he'd removed the relevant organs."

Lena is rendered temporarily speechless. Maybe she's looking at the salad anew maybe not. Maybe she's counting the days until she's eighteen. When Julia and I struggle to get supper on the table for our kids at the end of a long day, and they reject it, I ask myself how my parents cooked for my sister and I, year after year. One way, of course, was convenience my parents weren't burdened with the ideology Julia and I have adopted of making home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients from producers we know and trust. We had dinner when I was growing up, not cuisine. The meat loaf was sauced with ketchup, the hamburger got "help" from a packet purchased from Safeway, and the chicken wasn't an heirloom breed, it wasn't brined, or free range it was just baked. My parents didn't cook with passion, but they cooked every day whether they wanted to or not, and I understand now that they cooked with love.

"Sick!" Lena had found her voice. "That's just sick!"

"He shared his rodents with me," I continue, " and what I remember most, besides the bags of frozen squirrels in his ice box, with manila data tags dangling from their curled toes, recording the dates, times, and locations of capture, was spitting out bones. Bones, bones, and more bones.

"Completely, totally, absolutely gross!"

But the squirrels I ate at the parasitologist's table were tastier, and tenderer that the rattlesnakes I ate at the herpetologist's though."

"Ew, disgusting!"

"Maybe the rattlers should have been brined."

Observing with delight his sister's discomfort with the salad and the conversation, Graydon asks for seconds on both.

"Can I have more salad? And please, tell us another story, Pappa."

"Well, man cannot live off of meat alone. There was one post-graduate I grew up with, Dr. Michael MacRoberts, who studied the social habits of the California Acorn Woodpecker. The problem with eating acorns is that they're very tannic when fresh. The Esselen Indians solved this problem by cracking the acorns and putting them in a woven basket in a fast moving creek to leach for a few weeks. Then they'd dry them and make flour. But there was no water in the creek when Michael was hungry and the acorns were ripe. So he filled a plastic mesh bag with acorns and suspended it in the reservoir tank at the back of the toilet. Every time the toilet was flushed the tank was drained, and the water that had become infused with tannins was swept away. It wasn't a babbling brook, but it worked. After several weeks of soaking I helped him grind the acorns, and we made gruel."

"Maybe this salad should soak in the toilet," Lena says.

Dinner conversation is going down hill fast, and I can tell I've taken my stories to far. I shut up, but I can't stop remembering.

The field station where we lived was remote, the better for all the wild animals to go about their natural business uninhibited by the public, as scientists peered at them through spotting scopes, made notes about their various manners of sexual congress, or analyzed their feces, their feeding patterns, and their social structures. My father was a botanist, so he had only had to walk out the door of our home and he was at work in the middle of his living laboratory, with the wild hills and fields surrounding him. But my mom was a school teacher, and she had to get up at 5:30 AM and commute to Salinas, where she taught, thirty miles away. When she came home at 5:30 PM, mom had to cook for the family. My father deserves credit; as often as not, he cooked the meal.

Every once in a while my father's boss, Dr. Frank Pitelka, would visit the reserve to inspect the work going on, and while he was there he would stay at our home. Dr. Pitelka was an erudite gentleman and when he was "at table" he liked to talk about food. It was the early seventies. Dr. Pitelka would sit down for dinner, look at the salad my mom had prepared, and begin to wax misty-eyed about this "charming little place on upper Shattuck called Chez Panisse, where they serve the most delicious mesclun salads."

I know now that the word mesclun, the name of Dr. Pitelka's favorite salad, comes from the Vulgar Latin verb misculare, meaning to mix thoroughly. I didn't learn that at table. In between bites of shredded iceberg Dr. Pitelka only said that mesclun salad was a perfectly balanced mix of tastes, textures, and colors. In distant Berkeley, within the confines of what journalists would one day come to call the "Gourmet Ghetto" these perfect little salads were causing quite a stir. Mesclun salad remained an abstract notion for me until I was in college myself, at the University Of California in Davis. I got a summer job on a farm on Garden Highway, north of Sacramento, owned by a fellow named John Hudspeth who worked at Chez Panisse restaurant.

On John's farm I learned first hand about a world of lettuces I'd never heard of before like Merveille de Quatre Saissons, Rouge d'Hiver and Lollo Rossa. We even grew a lettuce named La Reins de Glace, from the French for "Ice Queen", which can fairly be described as an iceberg lettuce that speaks French. But exotic salad greens weren't the only crops John introduced me to. We grew an atlas of crops for Chez Panisse, from Sicilian purple artichokes, Black Spanish radish and French Breakfast radishes to Florentine Fennel, Lebanese squash and Hamburg parsley. I'm a horse that was led to water and drank. I'm still growing these crops thirty years later.

I was still working at John's farm on Garden Highway when I visited my parents one Labor Day weekend. Dr. Pitelka was "at table." Mom had prepared spaghetti and meat balls, with cantaloupe wedges for desert. Frank started in about "this perfect little French restaurant on upper Shattuck where the very ripest, most flawless Charentais melons are paired with prosciutto." I cut him off.

"Chez Panisse doesn't get the very best Charentais melons," I said.

"Have you ever eaten at Chez Panisse, young man?" he asked.

"No, I haven't," I replied, "but I work on a garden that supplies them, and when I see the very best Charentais melon, a melon that is beyond compare in the beauty of its form and the succulence and scent of its flesh, since I'm only a farm worker and I can't afford to eat at Chez, I cut that melon open, and I pop the slices in my mouth until the juice runs down my chin."

Years later, my mother thanked me for those comments.

copyright 2007 Andy Griffin

___________________________________________________________________________

3) Events

Strawberry U-Picks Summer Saturdays
Come pick your own berries at High Ground Organics, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, for the rest of July and August. $1.20/lb. Check in at the Redman House Farmstand first to pick up your empty flat(s). From Hwy 1, take Riverside Drive (Hwy 129) exit. Go west off the exit (toward the ocean). Turn right at the stop sign at Lee Rd. Pass the Chevron stations and turn into the farmstand parking area.

August 5th Open Space Alliance and High Ground Organics Dinner in Watsonville at the Farm:


August 25th: Tomato Upick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister in the morning: 8am - 12 noon. We know we’ll have plenty of tomatoes by then. We will have many more upick days in Sept and likely October. We will also have a Padron Pepper upick day once Andy is sure the patch is prolific enough to make it worth your while! Stay tuned.

___________________________________________________________________________

4) Photos:

Collards

Kale

Onions

Parsley

Spinach

Cilantro

___________________________________________________________________________

5) Recipes from Eve, Julie, Nina and Julia

from Eve in San Francisco
this recipe from Sunset's April issue is a winner. I have used both your strawberries and your romaine in it several times recently.

Herbed Romaine Salad with Strawberries

1/2 cup raw (unsalted) pistachios
10 to 12 oz. romaine lettuce hearts, cored and roughly chopped
1/3 cup fresh tarragon, torn into small pieces
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, torn into small pieces
12 ounces strawberries, hulled and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced shallot (about 1 medium)
2 teaspoons honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons mild olive oil
6 ounces good-quality mild feta cheese (see Notes), cut into triangles

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350̊. Spread pistachios on a large baking sheet and bake until very lightly toasted (they should still retain some green), 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, tarragon, mint, and half of the strawberries. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, shallot, honey, and salt. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly, until mixture is emulsified. Drizzle dressing over lettuce mixture and toss well.
3. Divide lettuce mixture among plates, then top with remaining strawberries, toasted pistachios, and feta triangles.

Note: Nutritional analysis is per first-course serving.

Makes 6 servings as a first course; 4 servings as a lunch course

Sunset, APRIL 2007

Julie M.’s ideas on the quinoa salad recipe I posted on the Two Small Farms blog:
Julia--
Your quinoa salad sounds great. One variation on the theme comes from a raw cookbook we own. It suggests making tabouleh using sprouted raw quinoa as follows:
Soak the quinoa in water for about 2 hours and drain completely. (The grains should be slightly wet, but there should be no standing water.) Leave at room temperature. Rinse once per day in fresh water. In a day or so, the quinoa will form tiny little tails. At this point, use or refrigerate.

Tabouleh traditionally has lots of chopped parsley in it. I often substitute carrot leaves (no stems) for parsley. Then add lots of chopped vegetables and dress with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and herbs.

This recipe was a big hit with my family. It's great when it's too hot to cook, although you have to plan a day ahead to sprout the quinoa. It's also a great way to use carrot tops!

Julie

Julia's Quinoa Salad: an All Purpose Recipe

(a quinoa plug: it's a whole grain that's fairly high in protein. My family is always a bit lacking in protein, so I often look for places I can add more. -julia)
I start by taking one package (or one pound) of quinoa from Trader Joes: I dump it in the rice cooker, and add water (1 part quinoa to two parts water.) Cook as you would rice. In my rice cooker, the quinoa acts a little differently and spouts wildly so I drape a tea towel over it so the counter doesn't get so messy. this may not be a problem in your kitchen with your rice cooker. you can of course also cook the quinoa as the package directs with other methods.

I let the cooked quinoa cool off and then put it in a big bowl. Now the sky is the limit for what to add to it to make it into a 'salad'. What I put in last night: olive oil and lemon juice, diced avocado, sliced kalamata (pitted of course) olives, chopped onions, chopped basil, grated parmesan cheese, diced cooked beets, grated raw carrots. And S & P.

I now have a healthy, high fiber, decent protein lunch/dinner/breakfast (I like savory breakfasts!) that's filled with vegetables. I also used up some odds and ends in the fridge: 1/3 jar olives, 3 carrots, half a bunch of basil (Ok, that was on the counter), 3 small onions, etc.

Other addtions? any leftover cooked meat, chopped, smoked salmon, other herbs, pesto, just look in YOUR fridge! oh: you can use brown rice, white rice, couscous, etc. instead of the quinoa.

submitted by Nina Squillante:

Spicy Red Beans & Rice with Greens
Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe for “Spicy Rice and Kale”

Mix:
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/8 – 1/4 t cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)

Bring to a boil in a medium saucepan:
2 c low-sodium chicken broth

Add:
1/2 of the spice mixture
1 c brown rice

Simmer for 45 minutes.

While rice is cooking, sauté in olive oil:
1/2 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced

Add:
1 bunch greens, roughly chopped (kale, chard, beet greens, etc.)
1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
1 t fresh oregano, chopped
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
Remaining spice mix

Cook over low heat until greens are tender and beans are heated through. Serve over rice.
Makes 4 servings.

Creamed Spinach
adapted from Too Many Tomatoes by Lois Landau et al
julia's note: you could mix in with the spinach the beet greens, kale, and or collards for the spinach in this dish.

1 1/2 cups cooked spinach and or other greens
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons horseradish, grated (I'd use the jarred stuff if that's what you have!)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg OR 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, depending on what your pantry, tastes and garden have
S & P to taste

Combine and heat. Easy!

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, trimmed, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Assorted cruditis
Pita bread, cut into triangles

Directions:
Place grated zucchini in colander and sprinkle with salt. Let drain 30 minutes. Rinse zucchini. Drain well. Using kitchen towel, squeeze as much water from zucchini as possible.

Whisk 1 cup yogurt, 3/4 cup sour cream, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar in medium bowl until well blended. Mix in zucchini, cilantro, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Cover dip and refrigerate 2 hours to blend flavors. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Transfer dip to serving bowl. Serve with cruditis and pita bread.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Bon Appitit
March 1996

Fresh Herb Mayonnaise

1 egg
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons lemon juice or cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup light salad oil (corn or sunflower...)
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro or basil leaves

Blend first 5 ingredients in blender or food processor. With motor running, slowly add the oils in a steady stream. Add

herb leaves and blend just until incorporated into the mayonnaise. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Celery ideas from MACSAC's "From Asaparagus to Zucchini" cookbook:

Celery is a great addition to salads, casseroles, soups, stews, and stir fries

Dice raw celery into tuna, chicken, egg, potato and pasta salads

Try a lightly sauteed side dish with celery and vegetables of varied colors

Kids love 'celery boats' filled with their favorite nut butteror soft cheese. they can make it themselves!

Try a quick salad: half inch celery pieces tossed with feta cheese, black olives, tuna chunks, and a lemon vinaigrette

with fresh cilantro, basil, or mint.

Jeremy’s Photo of basil ice cream on his blog

Recipe Links

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6) Which Farm?

From High Ground: Lettuce, Cilantro, Berries, Artichokes, Spinach, Celery, Flowers
From Mariquita: Peppers, Onions, Parsley (or mystery herb), collards, kale, beets, carrots

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7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter http://www.mariquita.com/news/newsletter.signup.html

BLOG ADVANTAGES: I can change mistakes after I post them. I don’t have to subscribe/unsubscribe folks. Old newsletters easily accessed. Links! (I send this newsletter out as plain text so more folks with differently-abled computer systems can easily read it.) You can sign up for email updates to the Two Small Farms Blog on the main blog page:
http://twosmallfarms.blogspot.com/

__________________________________________________________________________

8) Two Small Farms Contact Information

Two Small Farms
Mariquita Farm/High Ground Organics
Organically Grown Vegetables
831-786-0625
P.O. Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077
csa@twosmallfarms.com
http://www.twosmallfarms.com
http://www.mariquita.com
http://www.highgroundorganics.com

Vegetable list for July 18 and Quinoa Salad Recipe

These are cubanelle peppers, many of you received them in your box last week. They are NOT spicy. They are an Italian frying pepper, and they can be used in many (all?) places a 'green bell pepper' is called for. But: they aren't bitter like the green bell peppers that are common in grocery stores. You can chop them up in a salad (I made a quinoa salad yesterday, recipe below.) you can saute them alone or with summer squash to make a bit of a succotash...

The List for July 18th, as Steve and Andy recited to me on Friday night, they reserve the right to change this list: (if you have time: email me (julia at mariquita dot com) one recipe that the following list inspires you to prepare, and or 'what you'd do with the box'. be sure to tell me how you want to be credited: Your Full Name; Anonymous CSA member from X Town; First Name Only, etc. )

peppers (not spicy ones!)

onions

spinach

celery

strawberries

lettuce

cilantro

mystery herb

collards OR kale

beets OR carrots

-----

Julia's Quinoa Salad: an All Purpose Recipe

(a quinoa plug: it's a whole grain that's fairly high in protein. My family is always a bit lacking in protein, so I often look for places I can add more. -julia)

I start by taking one package (or one pound) of quinoa from Trader Joes: I dump it in the rice cooker, and add water (1 part quinoa to two parts water.) Cook as you would rice. In my rice cooker, the quinoa acts a little differently and spouts wildly so I drape a tea towel over it so the counter doesn't get so messy. this may not be a problem in your kitchen with your rice cooker. you can of course also cook the quinoa as the package directs with other methods.

I let the cooked quinoa cool off and then put it in a big bowl. Now the sky is the limit for what to add to it to make it into a 'salad'. What I put in last night: olive oil and lemon juice, diced avocado, sliced kalamata (pitted of course) olives, chopped onions, chopped basil, grated parmesan cheese, diced cooked beets, grated raw carrots. And S & P.

I now have a healthy, high fiber, decent protein lunch/dinner/breakfast (I like savory breakfasts!) that's filled with vegetables. I also used up some odds and ends in the fridge: 1/3 jar olives, 3 carrots, half a bunch of basil (Ok, that was on the counter), 3 small onions, etc.

Other addtions? any leftover cooked meat, chopped, smoked salmon, other herbs, pesto, just look in YOUR fridge! oh: you can use brown rice, white rice, couscous, etc. instead of the quinoa.

How One Member "Would Use the Box"

Hello, CSA Community:

I just received an email from Elaina: this is how she would use the box this week. I figured since this is a genuine blog, I can post whenever there is something of interest to everyone! Thank you. -julia (ps: Andy will be at BiRite Market on Friday from 3-7pm talking up and selling his padron and friarelli peppers, and basil and cipolline onions too. Stop by and say hi if you find yourself in the Mission in SF on Friday afternoon! it's on 18th between Guerrero and Dolores.)

How Elaina (csa member) would use this week's box:

This is how a young, busy, child-less, omnivorous couple tries to make the make the box last at least 5 days. I ride my bike up to our pick-up site after work on Thursdays. When I get home I go through a little repackaging ritual to make sure everything keeps nicely: I'd tuck the onions, broccoli or cabbage, potatoes, green beans and squash in the big plastic bag they came in. Wash the strawberries, let dry really well and put in a plastic bag. These will go on yogurt or cereal for breakfast. Basil in another plastic bag goes in my root veggie bin so it stays cool, but not cold. I take the greens off the carrots and compost them. Some of the carrots will go into salads, but most will become vehicles for hummus whenever we feel like munching between meals. My sister taught me to wash and cut the carrots and put them in water in the fridge so they're super crisp and easy to snack on. I make a big salad with the romaine, chopped onion and grated carrot, toss in some tomatoes or cucumbers from my tiny, urban, container garden. We'll bake some fish or something also. This is dinner for tonight and lunch tomorrow.

The next night Sam will use some of the basil in a cream sauce (lots of garlic, and a bit of onion in olive oil, some white pepper and half and half) for fettuccine and toss in some sauteed summer squash. Once again, left overs for lunch the next day.

On day three, it's my night to cook again and I'll use the rest of the basil, some onions and spices to make a curry sauce for the green beans and broccoli. We'll eat this with coconut rice and it should last through lunch the next day and maybe longer; spicy food keeps well.

So now it's Sunday which means it's Picnic Day. We'll steam the potatoes (don't boil...you loose some flavor that way) and toss them with some chopped herbs, chopped onion and butter. Make cole slaw from the cabbage and bake some chicken in BBQ sauce, pack it all up, strap it on the bike rack and ride out to park for an early dinner.

If anything is left at this point, it will become some crazy veggie sandwich: steam or saute everything that isn't good raw, toast bread, spread on pesto or some middle eastern spread, pile on lettuce, grated carrot or beet, sauteed zucchini, thin slices of potato, tomato, etc. Go nuts; it's amazing.

Newsletter #404 Two Small Farms

Two Small Farms Newsletter
July 11th 2007
______________________

Table of Contents:

1) In your box this week
2) Renewal Information
3) Events
4) Lawn Information
5) Photos
6) Recipes
7) Which Farm?
8) Unsubscribe
9) Two Small Farms Contact Information
_________________________________________

1) In your box this week: Summer Squash, Romaine Lettuce, New Potatoes, Strawberries,
Mystery from Stephen, Green Beans, Basil, Yellow Chantenay Carrots, Onions Bianco di
Maggio, Mystery from Andy**

This week’s vegetable list: I try to have it updated by Monday night, sometimes by Mon. am:

how to store this week’s bounty: all in the fridge as soon as you arrive home, except for the basil. It can be stored in a *warm* part of your fridge, but it will go all black if it gets too cold. You can also treat it like a bunch of flowers. You can top the carrots, their greens will sap just a bit of the nutrients the longer they are joined together. The potatoes are truly new, they’ve not been cured outside, so they should be used within a week and they should be stored in the fridge. You won’t be disappointed!

** For Mystery Identification please go to our What’s in This Week’s Box Page

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2) Renewal time is here again!!

The third nine week session starts next week! For renewing members on the 9 week schedule, your last paid share is this week - July 11/12/13. Please call or email the office with your intentions! Just veggies is $180. Veggies with flowers is $234. You can mail a check to Two Small Farms, PO Box 2065, Watsonville, CA 95077-2065. Contact Zelda at csa@twosmallfarms.com or 831-786-0625.

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3) Events

This Friday, July 13th: Andy will be at BiRite Store in San Francisco (next to Delfina on 18th near Dolores Park) from 3-6 pm doing a pepper/basil table. Stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!

August 25th: Tomato Upick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister in the morning: 8am - 12 noon. We know we’ll have plenty of tomatoes by then. We will have many more upick days in Sept and likely October. We will also have a Padron Pepper upick day once Andy is sure the patch is prolific enough to make it worth your while! Stay tuned.

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4) Lawn/Groundcover Information

Below is an email correspondence between a csa member and Laura K., the High Ground Organics Farm Native Plant Expert

Question for Laura K:

I had some questions in regard to ground covers. I know that water is going to become extremely expensive and lawns are very expensive to maintain and the costs will continue to grow or possibly even have water limitations. I wanted to start converting our lawn into a natural groundcover that is drought-resistant and is close to grass in the ability to walk over it comfortably.

I had seen deep rooting grass, but reading further on this, it is not safe toeat. I don’t want to have something where animals or insects are not able to feed due to it being toxic. I would like to have a groundcover as well that will also benefit the small friends too. Thank you for your help.

Laura’s Response:

I appreciate your concern and desire to plant a groundcover that is not water intensive and that is good for the myriad of life that surrounds us. I work with native grasses out here at High Ground Organics Farm. I realize that the native grasses I work with out here are quite tall in stature and might not be desirable as a lawn. There is one called Purple needle grass. It is a bunch grass that is highly drought tolerant. It sends up seed heads in the late spring that are a beautiful purple color and wave in the breeze. They could make a beautiful lawn to look at, but not the most inviting to sit on. If you want more information on them or if you want to see them growing on the farm, you are welcome to come out and visit.

BUT another idea that I think would work out wonderfully is if you planted a native plant called yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Are you familiar with it? It has feathery leaves that smell super good when you crush them or walk on them. It produces a umbel of flowers that look somewhat like the flowers of a carrot plant. It is a great plant for the wild critters. The plant can grow tall, but if you keep it mowed it will spread out as a ground cover. It doesn't need much water once it is established.

Native Revival Nursery in Aptos (684-1811) would have samples of this plant and could give you good ideas for establishing the lawn of yarrow.

- Laura Kummerer

Note from Andy and Steve via Julia: Neither Steve nor Andy have a lawn. For any gardening/lawn advice, please contact your local nursery center. I just thought this little exchange between the expert Laura and a CSA member would interest many of you. For more information about native plants and nurseries in your area, here's a link to the
California Native Plant Society

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4) Recipes from Julia and Cici

Green Bean Idea from Cici:
I'm going to try and recreate a wonderful chinese recipe for the green beans. of course there's garlic. I think there's soy sauce and hot sauce and olive oil. I'll experiment and I'm sure it will be great.

Chinese Green Beans
from ask.com
Instead of chili paste, feel free to add 4 - 6 small dried red chilis if desired. Serves 4.

* 1 pound green beans
* Sauce:
* 1 tablespoon bean sauce (available at Asian markets; Koon Chun is a good brand, or you can substitute hoisin sauce)
* 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
* 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
* Other:
* 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
* 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
* 2 scallions, chopped, white part only
* 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
* 3 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil for stir-frying, or as needed

Wash the green beans and drain thoroughly. Trim the ends and cut on the diagonal into pieces approximately 2 inches long.
Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside. Heat the wok on medium heat and add 2 tablespoons oil, drizzling the oil down the sides of the wok. When the oil is hot, add the beans. Stir-fry for 7 - 10 minutes, until their skins pucker and turn brown and the green beans are tender without being mushy (I find 10 minutes works very well). Remove the beans from the wok.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the wok on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic, ginger and scallions. Stir-fry briefly for a few seconds until aromatic. Add the chili paste. Add the sauce and the green beans. Toss the ingredients together and serve hot.

Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup
from The Way We Cook by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

julia's note: I found this recipe in a library cookbook called The Way We Cook by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven. They say it's just a guide, you can vary it in many ways such as leaving out the meat for vegetarians, using up other vegetables you may or may not have in your kitchen, etc. But as it's written it's as though they had this week's CSA box in their kitchen when writing the recipe.

2 Tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 thick slice (1/8 pound) flavorful ham, such as Black Forest or Westphalian, finely chopped
4 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (I often leave this out, or use a bit of celery salt, or use fennel if I have it-J.)
1 large or 2 or 3 smaller onions, chopped
S & P to taste
2 medium summer squash, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 quarts chicken or vegetable stock (I find with this many flavorful ingredients you can also successfully use water in a soup like this. -J.)
1 cup canned whole tomatoes, crushed in a bowl
1/2 pound green beans, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 medium potatoes, cut into half inch dice
1/4 cup tiny pasta shells (I don't usually add pasta to my vegetable soup, but many families doenjoy it... -J.)
1 rind parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Heat oil in a large wide soup pot or flameproof casserole and when it is hot add the ham, carrots, celery, onion, S & P. Cook the vegetables over medium heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, or until they soften.

Add the summer squash and garlic and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

Pour in the stock (or water if using that instead) and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add the green beans, potatoes, and pasta shells, and cook, stirring often, until the mixture returns to a boil. Lower the heat, add the parmesan rind, cover the pan, and simmer the soup for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Add the basil and more S and P, if you like. If the soup seems thick, add water 1/4 cup at a time, until it is the ocnsistency you like. Fish out the rind and dice it, then add the pieces back. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with cheese, and serve.


Montreal Slaw
from The Way We Cook by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

1 large green cabbage, quartered and cored
2 Tablespoons coarse (kosher or other) salt
4 carrots, grated
1 green pepper (you can use ribbons of cubanelles if you have them, I'd leave the green bell pepper out since I find them bitter, or use a red pepper, or another substitution? -J.)
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (you can use 1-2 bianco di maggio onions here)
3-6 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
3 Tablespoons olive oil or another mild salad oil

Shred cabbage and transfer to a large colander, sprinkling the layers with salt. Set the colander in a large bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.

Rinse the cabbage a bit and then With your hands, press the cabbage to remove the excess moisture and transfer to a large bowl. Add the carrots, green pepper, and scallions and toss thoroughly.

Sprinkle the vegetables with 3 Tablespoons of the sugar, vinegar, and oil. Toss again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, sugar, or vinegar if you like. Cover bowl and refrigerate slaw for at least 2 hours or for as long as overnight. Toss again just before serving.


Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Bay Leaves
from Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate by Patricia Wells

2 pounds firm potatoes
2 bay leaves, fresh if possible
2 lemons, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into 8 slices
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons best quality walnut oil or extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt (or kosher)
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Scrub the potatoes, but do not peel. Halve them lengthwise. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, bay leaves, lemons, lemon juice, oil, and salt. Toss to evenly coat the potatoes. Transfer to a roasting pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Roast until the potatoes are soft and golden, turning the potatoes reularly, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove and discard bay leaves. Season generously with oregano, rubbing the herb with your palms before crumbling into the potatoes to intensify the oregano flavor. Serves 8. 103 calories per serving *
4 g fat * 2 g protein


Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon thyme, and Pistachio Oil

*this recipe calls for a couple of odd ingredients, but I thought a few of you might actually have or buy pistachio oil, and the rest who want to try this recipe could substitute another nut oil. And maybe a few of you have lemon thyme in your garden, or can make a substition there too. Let me know how this recipe works! I'm certain you can use other types of summer squash besides zucchini too.

1 tablespoon frehsly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup best quality pistacio oil, almond oil, or extra virgin olive oil
4 small zucchini or other summer squash, rinsed, dried and trimmed
1 ripe avocado, peeled and very thinly sliced
1/4 cup salted roasted pistachio nuts
4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme, with flowers if possible
Zesty Lemon Salt (recipe for this is below)

1. In small jar, combine the lemon juice and salt and stir to blend. Add the oil, cover the jar, and shake to blend.

2. With a mandoline or a very sharp knife, slice the zucchini lengthwise as thinly as possible. Place the slices on a platter and pour the lemon mixture over the zucchini. Tilt the platter back and forth to evenly coat the slices. Cover and let marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour so the zucchini absorbs the sauce and does not dry out.

3. At serving time, carefully arrange the slices of marinated zucchini on individual salad plates, alternating with the avocado slices, slightly overlapping each slice. Sprinkle with the pistachio nuts. Season with thyme and lemon salt. Serve. serves 4. 237 calories per servin * 22 g fat * 4 protein


Zesty Lemon Salt

grated zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic
1/4 cup fleur de sel

In a small jar, combine the zest and salt. Cover and shake to blend. Keep covered when not using the salt to help the condiment retain its freshness. The lemon flavor will dissipate, so use within one month.


The Tomato Note...

Andy is growing many varieties of tomatoes this year. They will all be here in 2-5 weeks. We are impatiently waiting ourselves! The plants are doing nicely. Once they're here, we'll do upicks on several Saturdays in August and September, and an occasional weekday too. We have the following varieties in the field: San Marzano (sauce/roma type), Bolseno (Italian red heirloom), Purple Cherokee, Green Zebra, Pruden's Purple, Pink Brandywine, Gold Brandywine, German Striped, and Beefsteak Red.

Recipe Links:

Potatoes

Strawberries

Green Beans

Salad Dressings

Summer Squash

Carrots

Broccoli

Cabbage

Peppers

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7) Which Farm?

From High Ground: Romaine Lettuce, Strawberries, Potatoes, Broccoli, Cabbage, Flowers
From Mariquita: Carrots, Basil, Onions, Mystery, Summer Squash
From Live Earth Farm (our neighbor farm): Green Beans!

__________________________________

8) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter
http://www.mariquita.com/news/newsletter.signup.html

BLOG ADVANTAGES: I can change mistakes after I post them. I don’t have to
subscribe/unsubscribe folks. Old newsletters easily accessed. Links! (I send this newsletter out
as plain text so more folks with differently-abled computer systems can easily read it.) You can
sign up for email updates to the Two Small Farms Blog on the main blog page:
http://twosmallfarms.blogspot.com/

__________________________________________________________________________

9) Two Small Farms Contact Information

Two Small Farms
Mariquita Farm/High Ground Organics
Organically Grown Vegetables
831-786-0625
P.O. Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077
csa@twosmallfarms.com
http://www.twosmallfarms.com
http://www.mariquita.com
http://www.highgroundorganics.com