Wednesday, August 29, 2007

two small farms newsletter #411

August 27th 2007

1) In your box this week
2) SEEING A GRASSLAND WITH NEW EYES
3) Tomato Time
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: Basil, Cilantro, Potatoes, Steve's mystery: berries or romanesco, Sweet red peppers, Tomatoes (wed San Marzano, & Friday Heirlooms), Cabbage OR Summer Squash, Andy's Mystery: eggplant, summer squash, or onions

How to store this week's bounty: all (except tomatoes and possibly basil) in the fridge as soon as you arrive home. The tomatoes can be stored at room temperature. Basil? Try it in the door of your fridge, or on your table in water like a bouquet of flowers, or just make pesto.

Notes: last week's spinach in the end had some damage to it so Steve decided to sub in his rapini and chard for the cooking greens. Sorry about any confusion.
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2) SEEING A GRASSLAND WITH NEW EYES

By: Laura Kummerer
Grassland Restorationist at High Ground Organics

As the grassland at High Ground Organics Farm hunkers down in to the brown and gold colors of summer dormancy, I begin to reflect on our first year of restoring this grassland through rotational grazing. From a distance the impact of the rotation of cows and goats across this land is striking. The tangle of six foot tall radish, thistle and invasive grasses that engulfed the grassland last year have now been transformed in to a field of neatly clipped weeds interspersed with an abundant spray of California Poppies and the fuzzy leaves of the native Hill Morning Glory. The weeds still dominate the landscape, however, and the bunch grasses and wildflowers are only very slowly showing signs of rebirth. But as I peer out at the grassland with hope, I am reminded how deep change on a landscape is one of subtle shifts. In order to observe this change on a yearly basis, we are required to train our eyes to look very closely to catch the shifts amidst the vastness.

I realize that grasslands themselves are entities that most of us only see from a distance. But if we step in to this backdrop of grass, we would see that grasslands, like anything else in life looked at closely, are composed of an infinite intricacy of interactions between roots and bacteria and soil and insects and an incredible myriad of plant and animal species. I would like to introduce you to a few of the grasses and wildflowers that I have watched change this year so you can “see” the intricacies of our grassland and take stock with me in the subtle shifts that are occurring in the restoring of a landscape.

One of my favorite grasses growing in the grassland is the unassuming California Oat Grass (Danthonia californica). The best way to get to know this beautiful bunch grass is with your bare feet. Your toes can feel the tenacious substance in these grassy mounds that have persevered for possibly a thousand years. These grasses are lush and beautiful in mid spring, but my favorite part of them are the cute little tufts of hair that they have on their leaf blades. It is in early summer during seed production that these plants reveal their true uniqueness. Not only do they create seed at the top of their flower heads like all other grasses, but they hide a neat line of seed away in a tight roll between their leaf and their stem. These hidden away seeds may be left unnoticed by the myriads of animals that love the sweet taste of the oat grass. It may very well be this hidden away seed that has allowed this plant to keep birthing itself against all odds in the small spaces of soil cleared away by the grazers this year.

Another plant that resides in the grassland and was in abundance this year in response to the grazing is a flower in the Evening Primrose family called Sun Cups (Camissonia ovata). It is a joy to walk out on the grassland when the sun cups are in full bloom. They create puddles of yellow all around that look as if the sun is glowing on the earth instead of up in the sky. This plant grows low to the ground and is one of the first flowers to peak out in the early spring. When it emerges during the winter rains it first sends out large leaves tinged with magenta to smash down the annual grasses near by, giving it the sunlight it needs to produce its cheery yellow flowers. These abundant leaves are not only integral to the plant but were gathered extensively by the Ohlone Indians of the coast for salad greens. In late summer the flowers and leaves of this plant dry up and fade away so it takes a practiced eye to find the seed the sun cups form deep down almost below the soil level. Although it is always hard for me to find the seed, I rest assured knowing that the native ants who play the primary role dispersing sun cup seed are more astute than I in locating this bounty.

The final and most special symbol of change for me this year out on the grassland was the first appearance of a bulb plant in the Lily family called Brodiaea elegans. In mid July it caught me by surprise poking its vibrant blue flower above ground in an area that had been recently grazed. The plant does not have a common name in our language but had a myriad of names given to it by indigenous groups throughout California. The Yokut Indians called one special gathering place of these bulbs “kawachu” meaning “place of the grassnuts”. It is reported that these gathering areas grew as thick as grasses, creating the appearance of blue lakes covering the grassland. The bulb of this plant was a staple protein source for California Indian Tribes. Maybe the reason we don’t have a common name for this regal plant in our language is that this bulb along with a whole line of other bulb species were the first to disappear or decline in response to the plowing and other intensive land management practices introduced by the Europeans in the 1700’s. The bulbs that still remain today are now sparsely scattered throughout grasslands and often are choked out by weeds.

The fact that these three plants were able to gain ground this year give me hope that the continued use of rotational grazing coupled with other management strategies will allow us to uncover more and more of the richness that lies buried beneath the weeds and years of neglect on this land. Hopefully, in the years to come our eyes will be able to witness stands of bunch grasses, lupines, clovers bulbs and tarweeds gain a stronger foothold, slowly adding to the complexity of the grassland ecosystem.

photo of a suncup with ant friend


Photo of Brodiaea Elegans

Photo of Danthonia Ca var americana


Please Come Out and See The Grassland For Yourself…
You can join us on monthly restoration parties or come lend a hand on Tuesdays and Fridays during the week!

TUESDAYS-We work from 9-1pm. in weeding, tending animals and collecting seed
FRIDAYS-We are planting up native grasses, sedges and rushes in the green house to prepare them for winter plantings

Saturday October 6th, 2007 (10-1)-Join us in sharing a potluck lunch and preparing the grassland for winter planting.

The directions out to High Ground Organics Farm can be found at www.twosmallfarms.com. Contact Laura Kummerer (831)761-8694 for more details about grassland restoration opportunities.
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3) Tomatoes! We can sell 20# of San Marzano 'paste' tomatoes as an 'extra'. 20# boxes are $29 delivered to your pick up site. Contact Zelda in the office to order. 831 786 0625 or reply to this email.

Also: another tomato upick at Mariquita Farm on Sept. 22nd. This last Saturday was a success. thanks to all who visited and enthused about the day.
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4) Photos:

cilantro

Romanesco: (a type of cauliflower)

Photo Gallery


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5) Recipes from Terri, Gudrun, and Julia

Thai Marinated Striped Bass - (note any white fish works fine here,
bass is amazing though)
3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (6oz) striped bass fillets

Combine first 4 ingredients in ziploc, add fish; marinate in
refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Remove fish from marinade,
reserve marinade. Heat a large nonstick pan coated with cooking spray
over medium-high heat. Add fish, cook 4 minutes on each side or until
fish flakes easily. Remove fish from pan. Add marinade to pan, bring
to a boil. Cook 30 seconds, serve with fish.

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Shrimp and Corn Cakes - Kao Pood Tod

4 ears corn kernels, cut from the cob(2 cups)
1 cup finely chopped shrimp
2 Tbsp finely minced shallot
2 Tbsp finely minced garlic
2 Tbsp finely minced cilantro root
2 Tbsp red curry paste, more to taste
1 Tbsp sugar, more if corn is not very sweet
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/3 cup tempura batter mix or all purpose flour, more as needed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp shrimp paste
1-2 whole eggs, beaten, adding one at a time and checking consistency
4 cups vegetable oil for frying

Combine all ingredients except the oil and mix well. The texture
should be like cookie dough, holding together as patties. Add more
batter mix or eggs as needed. Do not put too much liquid.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok to 375 degrees. With damp
hands, form a heaping Tbsp of batter into a flat, round patty and drop
in hot oil. Lightly aerate the batter by jabbing it with a fork.
Repeat the process until cakes loosely fill pan. Cook for 2 to 3
minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from pan and drain on
paper towels. Serve with cucumber sauce.

Cucumber Dipping Sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups thinly sliced english cucumber
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced thai chiles
1/4 cup rice vinegar or lime juice
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
cilantro for garnish
In a small pot over medium heat, combine 1/8 cup water, the fish sauce
and sugar. Cook and stir until the mixture is reduced into thin syrup.
Remove from the heat and let cool.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the syrup and combine well. Serve
as a sauce to the shrimp cakes.

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Chicken and Leeks (in case you still have leeks from last week!)

6 chicken thighs
2 TBS olive oil
salt & pepper
cumin
paprika
3 leeks, sliced diagonally into 1 inch slices, cleaned well
3 garlic cloves or 1/4 cup chopped shallots
3/4 cup white wine
1 TBS dried basil (could also use tarragon, I think)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, without salt

Sprinkle S&P, cumin and paprika on chicken thighs. Brown on both sides in the oil in a dutch oven. Remove to plate. Add leeks and garlic or shallots to pan, saute for 3 minutes, until limp. Add white wine, basil and tomatoes. Bring to boil. Add back in the chicken and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 15-20 minutes, until the rest of dinner is done. Especially good served with cooked pasta.

-Gudrun

Since both Steve and Andy are planning on using summer squash in the box this week (on different days, you should only have it from one farm or the other, or not at all...) here are some new (to me) summer squash recipes:

Mom's Summer Squash Recipe
from simply recipes dot com

Filed under Low Carb, Quick, Seasonal Favorites: Summer, Side Dish, Vegetable, Vegetarian, Wheat-free

summer-squash.jpg

Preparation time: 20 minutes.

My mother is the only person I have ever known who can make summer squash taste this good. Often this time of year gardens are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This quick and easy recipe is a great way to use up some of the bounty. Note that summer squash varies in tenderness, sometimes you need to cook them a little longer, sometmes a little less.

2 lbs squash and/or zucchini, sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced
2 smallish tomatoes or one large tomato, peeled and cut into wedges
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Olive oil
5 or 6 slices of cheese - jack or cheddar
Basil, either dry or chopped fresh
Salt and pepper

1 Put onion, garlic, squash, bell pepper into a large saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Put on high heat and brown the vegetables slightly to develop flavor. As you are browning, sprinkle either dried basil or chopped fresh basil on the vegetables. When vegetables are slightly browned, remove from heat, add the slices of cheese, and cover the pan.

2 In a separate stick-free fry pan, put the tomatoes and cook at medium hi heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want to let the juice from the tomatoes evaporate some. After 5 minutes, add the tomatoes to the rest of the vegetables and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

Sauteed Summer Squash

This super easy and quick recipe helps use up the excess summer garden produce.
by Normaone

time to make 20 min 10 min prep

2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 cup butter
1 large shallot, sliced thin
1 lb zucchini, sliced into 1/3 inch rounds
1 lb summer squash, sliced into 1/3 inch rounds


1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.
2. Add garlic, tarragon and onion and saute 2 minutes.
3. Add both squashes and saute 8 minutes until just crisp tender.
4. Season.

Summer Squash Salad Recipe

Evie suspected that when I tried her summer squash salad recipe that I would have to eat my words (no pun intended) regarding my mom being the only one who could prepare squash well. Well, I have eaten my words, and this fabulous salad as well. This is a lovely way to prepare summer squash or zucchini - thinly sliced, marinated briefly with mint in olive oil and lemon juice, tossed with toasted pine nuts, and served with shaved Parmesan. I have made one small adjustment to Evie's original recipe, by increasing the amount of olive oil and lemon juice recommended. I found I needed more to adequately coat all of the squash.

4 small zucchini or mixed yellow and green summer squash (1 lb total)
1/3 cup loosely packed mint leaves
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Pepper to taste
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (1 oz.)
Grana Padano, Parmesan or Asagio cheese for shavings
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

1 If you are starting with raw pine nuts, toast them first. Heat a small skillet on medium high heat. Add the pine nuts. Stir gently as the pine nuts start to brown. When slightly browned, remove from heat and let cool.

2 Slice the squash into paper-thin slices using a mandoline or other slicer. Set aside in a bowl.

3 Stack the mint leaves, roll them together lengthwise and slice crosswise to make very thin slivers. Add to squash in bowl.

4 Combine the oil and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk together. Whisk in the salt and pepper and pour the dressing over the contents of the bowl. Add the pine nuts and toss all together, gently, but thoroughly. Let mixture stand for at least 10 minutes to soften the squash and develop the flavors.

5 Transfer salad to serving dish or to four individual salad plates. Garnish with shavings of cheese made with a vegetable peeler and a few sprigs of fresh mint.

Serves 4.

Many thanks to Chef Evie Lieb for yet another wonderful recipe!

Marinated Zucchini and Summer Squash
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound zucchini (about 3 large), trimmed and sliced diagonally about 1/4-inch thick
1 pound yellow crookneck squash (about 3 large), trimmed and sliced diagonally about 1/4-inch thick

Whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in the oil. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the marinade into a small bowl. Cover and set aside. Add the zucchini and yellow squash to the remaining marinade in the large bowl and toss to coat. Transfer the mixture to a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Cover and marinate at room temperature at least 3 hours or cover and refrigerate up to 1 day.

Prepare the barbecue for medium-high

Becky Luigart-Stayner
Grandma Salazar's Albóndigas Soup

Traci Des Jardins has fond memories of her grandmother's recipe for this soup and has reinterpreted it for her menu at Mijita. Chilling the meatballs for 20 minutes helps them hold their shape when cooked. Albóndigas (ahl-bon-dee-gas) is Spanish for meatballs.

1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup short-grain rice
Cooking spray
2 cups chopped onion, divided
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 pound lean ground pork
1/2 pound ground sirloin
2 large egg whites
1 cup chopped carrot
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup chopped seeded peeled tomato (about 8 ounces)
4 cups (1 [32-ounce] carton) fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 cups chopped zucchini
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pour water over rice, and let stand 20 minutes. Drain.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 1/2 cup onion to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 1/4 cups. Combine rice, cooked onion, breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup cilantro, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, oregano, pork, sirloin, and egg whites, stirring well. Shape mixture into 29 (1-inch) meatballs. Chill for 20 minutes.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 10 meatballs, and cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove meatballs from pan; drain well on paper towels. Wipe drippings from pan with a paper towel. Repeat procedure with cooking spray and remaining meatballs. Return pan to heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups onion, carrot, and garlic to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add tomato to pan, stirring to combine. Stir in broth; bring mixture to a boil. Add meatballs and mint to pan. Reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes. Add zucchini, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to pan. Cook 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining 1/4 cup cilantro.


Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup soup and 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro)

CALORIES 181 (21% from fat); FAT 4.4g (sat 1.6g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 15.5g; CHOLESTEROL 36mg; CALCIUM 43mg; SODIUM 500mg; FIBER 2.9g; IRON 1.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 20.4g

Cooking Light, MAY 2005
heat. Grill the vegetables until they are crisp-tender and brown, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a platter. Drizzle with the reserved marinade and serve hot or at room temperature.

california vegetable and chickpea chili Other | October 1997

Only native Californians like two wine-making friends of mine in Salinas can regularly throw together a vegetable chili such as this utilizing their almost year-round abundance of fresh vegetables and herbs. For those of us with seasonal gardens, various substitutions often have to be made (canned tomatoes, dried herbs, and the like), but such is the availability almost everywhere today of certain fresh produce even in the coldest months that no imaginative cook should have much trouble concocting a very tasty vegetable and bean chili according to this basic recipe. One advantage, by the way, of using a 28-ounce can of tomatoes with their juices instead of the fresh is that most likely you won't have to add any water to keep the chili slightly soupy.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 medium-size onions, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 medium-size yellow squash or zucchini, scrubbed, ends trimmed, and chopped
Two 32-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried, crumbled
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
4 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped and juices retained
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
preparation
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil over moderate heat, then add the onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring, till softened, about 2 minutes. Add the squash and cook, stirring, 3 minutes longer to soften. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour, adding a little water if the stew begins to get too thick.

Epicurious.com

More Recipes:
http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/index.html
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6) Which Farm?

From High Ground: cilantro, potatoes, cabbage, summer squash, romanesco, berries, Flowers.
From Mariquita: Tomatoes, summer squash, basil, corn, eggplant, onions

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7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter

Two Small Farms Blog

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/

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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

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Coming in the box August 29th - 31st

cilantro photoIn the box this week:

Cilantro (this photo is of cilantro)
Basil
Potatoes
Cabbage OR Summer Squash
Tomatoes
Steve's Mystery
Andy's Mystery
Sweet Corn (!?)

If you're inspired to send me what you would do with this week's box, please do email me. Here's a couple of recipes I already received from Terri F. and one from Gudrun:

A couple of Thai dishes for you.

A great use for cilantro, so easy and truly an amazing dish:

Thai Marinated Striped Bass - (note any white fish works fine here,
bass is amazing though)
3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (6oz) striped bass fillets

Combine first 4 ingredients in ziploc, add fish; marinate in
refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Remove fish from marinade,
reserve marinade. Heat a large nonstick pan coated with cooking spray
over medium-high heat. Add fish, cook 4 minutes on each side or until
fish flakes easily. Remove fish from pan. Add marinade to pan, bring
to a boil. Cook 30 seconds, serve with fish.

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Shrimp and Corn Cakes - Kao Pood Tod

4 ears corn kernels, cut from the cob(2 cups)
1 cup finely chopped shrimp
2 Tbsp finely minced shallot
2 Tbsp finely minced garlic
2 Tbsp finely minced cilantro root
2 Tbsp red curry paste, more to taste
1 Tbsp sugar, more if corn is not very sweet
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/3 cup tempura batter mix or all purpose flour, more as needed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp shrimp paste
1-2 whole eggs, beaten, adding one at a time and checking consistency
4 cups vegetable oil for frying

Combine all ingredients except the oil and mix well. The texture
should be like cookie dough, holding together as patties. Add more
batter mix or eggs as needed. Do not put too much liquid.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok to 375 degrees. With damp
hands, form a heaping Tbsp of batter into a flat, round patty and drop
in hot oil. Lightly aerate the batter by jabbing it with a fork.
Repeat the process until cakes loosely fill pan. Cook for 2 to 3
minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from pan and drain on
paper towels. Serve with cucumber sauce.

Cucumber Dipping Sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups thinly sliced english cucumber
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced thai chiles
1/4 cup rice vinegar or lime juice
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
cilantro for garnish
In a small pot over medium heat, combine 1/8 cup water, the fish sauce
and sugar. Cook and stir until the mixture is reduced into thin syrup.
Remove from the heat and let cool.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the syrup and combine well. Serve
as a sauce to the shrimp cakes.

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Chicken and Leeks

6 chicken thighs
2 TBS olive oil
salt & pepper
cumin
paprika
3 leeks, sliced diagonally into 1 inch slices, cleaned well
3 garlic cloves or 1/4 cup chopped shallots
3/4 cup white wine
1 TBS dried basil (could also use tarragon, I think)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, without salt

Sprinkle S&P, cumin and paprika on chicken thighs. Brown on both sides in the oil in a dutch oven. Remove to plate. Add leeks and garlic or shallots to pan, saute for 3 minutes, until limp. Add white wine, basil and tomatoes. Bring to boil. Add back in the chicken and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 15-20 minutes, until the rest of dinner is done. Especially good served with cooked pasta.

-Gudrun

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Two Farms Newsletter #410

August 22nd 2007

1) In your box this week
2) Countdown
3) Tomato U-Pick/Santa Cruz Host Needed
4) Photos
5) Recipes
6) Which Farm?
7) Unsubscribe
8) Two Small Farms Contact Information

In your box this week: tomatoes, sweet peppers, cutting celery, rapini or chard, red beets, Steve's mystery, leeks

The tomato ID photo is above: from left to right: Cherokee Purple, German Striped, Green Zebra, Tangerine, San Marzano (a sauce type)

My suggestions for using these: the heirloom bags: a Caprese salad! recipe(s) below in the recipe section. San Marzanos: a simple tomato sauce, or roast them in the oven, this is a great side dish or chop them up as their own pasta sauce.

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 (except tomatoes) in the fridge as soon as you arrive home. The tomatoes can be stored at room temperature.
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2) Countdown from Andy

Thrust is what a rocket needs to overcome the force of gravity and propel itself into space— lots of thrust. To reach escape velocity rockets burn liquid oxygen and nitrogen . I’m not sure what kind of fuel the chefs we sell vegetables to in San Francisco could burn to get out of the City— maybe a mixture of time and caffeine. There’s a powerful force field in that town that keeps chefs orbiting their stoves. They have access to the caffeine— it’s the time to mix it with that they lack.

It takes ninety minutes to reach our farm from San Francisco, driving at legal speeds, and some chefs with a lot of thrust have made it. Tiny Maes, for one, when he was cooking at Rose Pistola, came down one afternoon. Quite by accident he picked the hottest day of the decade. The heat was radiating off the rows in waves so thick we could have surfed them if we’d had asbestos boards.

“Man,” Tiny said. “I can’t believe you work in this every day.”

“We don’t,” I said. “The afternoon is the hottest part of the day, so we start at six and get most of the harvesting done by noon.” That seemed incredible to Tiny, because he’s a night owl.

Joseph Manzare from Zuppa has come down a couple of times. It probably only took him fifty minutes, but Joseph has a lot of escape velocity. He loaded his car up with produce and was moaning that he didn’t have a pick-up truck. But then he has three restaurants. He wanted lunch, so we went down the road to Dunneville and got tri-tip sandwiches. There’s no “ville” in Dunneville, just the corner market. Their tri-tip sandwiches are good, and there’s plenty of cold drinks. I wished that I’d of known Joseph was coming, because then I would have stopped on the way to the farm from home and gotten some tamales at Marshall’s Store in Aromas. I don’t live at the farm. I rent the land I farm and I live thirty four miles away in Watsonville.

Bruce Hill from Picco came down with his friend James Ormsby, who was cooking at Plumpjack Café then. They had to get back in time for dinner prep, so they couldn’t stay all day. I taught them how to pick pimientos de Padrón, which are these tiny little Spanish peppers that taste so good when they’re toasted up in a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Just to make things fun I whipped out a camp stove, some olive oil, and some sea salt, and I had two of the best chefs in San Francisco frying Padrón peppers for me in the shade. They had a lot of fun too, rushing straight from the plant to the pan— their only regret was that we didn’t have glasses of cool dry golden sherry to sip.

This weekend all of you are invited down for a u-pick, and you ought to learn from the chefs. Come down in the morning while the temperatures are still mild and it’s comfortable to work, Bring a big enough car so that you can haul off all you need, and by all means bring a stove, a pan, some olive oil, and some sea salt, because besides tomatoes we’re going to have Padrón peppers. I believe that ours will be the first and only Padrón u-pick to have ever happened in the U.S. Plus, our bee-keeper, neighbor and friend Greg will be there with fresh honey and answers to your questions about bees, and there will be a miniature farmers market under the tree with some of the potatoes we’re growing in a field next door. Prepare for lift off. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-t0mato U-pick!

Tomato Upick: this Saturday August 25th, 2007 9am to 2pm. Tomatoes that you pick are 50 cents a pound. Bring clothes to protect you from the sun; bring drinking water; bring shoes that can stand a bit of dirt or even mud.

directions to Hollister

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3) Tomato U-pick

August 25th: Tomato Upick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister in the morning: 9am to 2pm. We will also have Padron Peppers at this Tomato Upick Day! Also available: Bee keeping demonstration and honey for sale with Greg the Bee Man, other produce for harvest and sale, farm tours with plenty of Q and A with Andy and Julia; mud puddles, a mini farmers market, Two Small Farms T-shirts, and more.

Directions to our Hollister Field:
101 South or North to Highway 25 East on 25 towards Hollister until the intersection with Shore Rd.
Left on Shore Rd. Head north on Shore Rd. to the intersection with San Felipe Rd.
Left on San Felipe Rd. and go a mile or so. The entrance to the farm will be on your left just AFTER a beautiful old two-story Victorian home which is located at 7210 San Felipe Rd.

**Please do not go in the yard of the Victorian. The farm entrance is just after the home. Please drive very very slowly on the dirt driveway to help keep down dust and also to protect your car from holes in the road. There will likely be a sign out by the starting time for the event on the farm gate.

**Our farm is not open to the public except during posted upick and other event hours. thanks for understanding: we're a busy working farm and not set up for 6 or 7 days a week of meeting and greeting the public.

Host Needed for Live Oak/Opal Cliffs area of Santa Cruz

Our wonderful hosts at the current location will be moving in September and we are looking for a new location. If you are interested, contact Zelda in the CSA office at csa@twosmallfarms.com or 831-786-0625 for more info.
___________________________

4) Photos

Cutting Celery (aka Smallage or Soup Celery)

Spinach

Peppers (all peppers this week will be sweet, no spicy ones.)

Photo Gallery
_____________________________

5) Recipes

Cutting Celery

Cutting celery is an actual celery, just without the enlarged stalk. It seems even more aromatic than regular celery and has fine celery flavor. Cutting celery looks like flat-leafed parsley, but is loaded with celery flavor. In Holland it is used to flavor soups and stews. It can also be chopped up and thrown into a green salad. It looks lots like Italian parsley, It can be used in many places that Italian parsley is used.

We’ve used cutting celery where we would the common, fat celery stalks of our childhood. We chop up the leaves to flavor stocks, soups and also fried rice. I like to throw fresh leaves into a green salad, along with parsley and arugula. I've been known to substitute it successfully for cilantro in Asian noodle dishes and for Italian Parsley in many different dishes.

Julia's Celery Soup

Take a bunch of smallage (soup celery) and wash it. Roughly chop and set aside. Chop 2 leeks and sautee briefly in butter or olive oil. Add one cubed raw potato if you like. Add the entire bunch of roughly chopped smallage (cutting celery). Add 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth. Cook for 15-20 minutes on medium heat. Puree with immersible blender or food processor. Thin with milk if you like. Season to taste with S & P.

Tomatoes

Here's a great tomato tart recipe from our friend Heidi at 101 Cookbooks

Julia's Daily Caprese Salad

Chop 1 or more ripe heirloom tomatoes. Add chopped fresh basil if available. Add some cubed fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season to taste with S and P, and eat.

Elise's Tomato Basil Salad from Simply Recipes

Gringa Sopa, julia's recipe

"Sopa" is what we know as ‘Spanish rice' here in the US. The traditional Mexican sopa you see here in Watsonville is barely pink, usually made with just a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, rice, oil, and "knorr swisa", or powdered chicken bouillon. I like to make my own version of sopa, with more tomatoes and no bouillon. Here's my recipe:

2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded, quartered and then pureed in the blender. (I've been known to leave the seeds and skins on....)
3 Tablespoons cooking oil
3 medium/large cipolline or other onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raw rice
2 3/4 cups boiling water

Cook the onion in the oil in a large dutch oven with a lid that fits well until it's soft but not too brown. Add garlic and rice, cook another couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and salt, stir well, then add the water and cover and cook, covered, over low heat for 20 or so minutes.

Roasted Beets with Curry Dressing
adapted from Delicious TV

Servings: 6

6 medium beets roasted
Olive oil
Salt

2 cloves garlic crushed
2 Tbl yogurt
2 Tbl Mayo (regular or vegan)
4 tsp curry powder
3 Tbl fresh lemon juice
10 tbl olive oil
4 Tbl chopped cutting celery or cilantro
Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Wash, trim and wrap beets individually in foil. Place in a shallow pan and roast until tender. A sharp kitchen paring knife should pierce through the foil easily. Set aside to cool. Mix dressing by combining all ingredients except oil. When all ingredients are smooth, whisk in the oil and set aside. Many people don’t prepare fresh beets because of the staining juices. Wearing laytex or vinyl gloves will protect your hands and preparing on a covered surface will protect your cutting board. I often roast beets without wrapping and use them skin included. However, this is an alternative method. Whatever method you use, it is well worth the effort!

Unwrap the beets, and rub away skin. Slice into wedges and set into your dish. Spoon curry over the beets and serve at room temperature.

Chickpea and Spinach soup
(Chickpea is another name for Garbanzo)
adapted from a recipe by Shakti

2 tbsp olive oil
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 chopped leek or onion
1tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander powder
3 big potatoes peeld and chopped
16oz can chick peas, drained
5 cups vegetable stock
1tbsp corn starch
2/3 cups heavy cream or half and half
2 tbsp sesame seed paste
1 bunch spinach, washed and roughly chopped
red chile powder
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and cook the garlic and onion until soft. Stir the cumin and coriander and cook. Add the stock and the potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer. Add the chick peas and simmer until both are soft. Blend the sesasme seed paste, cream and the corn starch. Add the chile powder and mix into the soup. Add the spinach and bring to a boil. Keep stirring. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the salt and pepper and serve.

Sausage-Leek Soup
serves 6

1/2 pound smoked sausage
1/4 olive oil or butter
3 cups cleaned, chopped leeks
3 tablespoons chopped herbal celery or parsley
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup milk or half and half
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
S & P to taste

Slice or cut the sausage into thin slices. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the sausage, heat and stir for 3-4 minutes add the chopped leeks, heat and stir for 5 minutes. Add the celery/parsley, stir add the chicken broth bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with a hand blender or in a food processor. Return to the pot and place over a low flame; stir in milk and gradually stir in the grated cheese. Season to taste with S & P and serve hot.

Multi Pepper Salad with Fontina
adapted from From the Cook's Garden by Ellen Ogden

1.5 pounds Sweet peppers, roasted and cut into 1/4 inch strips
12 black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and coarsely chopped
6 ounces Fontina cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 1.5 cups)
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon finely chopped cutting celery OR tarragon OR parsley
1/4 cup best extra virgin olive oil
S & P to taste

Combine the peppers, olives, and cheese. Mix the cream, lemon juice, mustard, and herb in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Season with the S & P. Pour over the peppers and mix. Serve immediately.

Creamy Beet Soup with Pistachio Mousse
adapted from From the Cook's Garden by Ellen Ogden

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch beets, peeled and cubed
1 small onion or leek, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups white wine
2 cups apple cider or juice
dash of ground allspice
1 stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 pint sour cream or yogurt
S & P to taste

Pistachio Mousse

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts, slightly toasted
8 sprigs fresh chervil or 4 sprigs fresh tarragon
4 fresh mint leaves
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the beets and onions and cook, stirring often, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the apple juice, spices, and return to the boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook until the beets are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Stir in the sourcream or yogurt.

Transfer to a bowl and cool. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile make the pistachio mousse. Process all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve the soup cold, seasoning with the salt and pepper and garnishing each bowl with a spoonful of the mousse.

Risotto with Spinach and Leeks
submitted by Dee Doyle, adapted from Cooking Light March 2001

6 servings

5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups coarsely chopped spinach
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
6 lemon wedges

Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks, saute 4 minutes or until tender. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; stir in spinach. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of the broth is absorbed before adding the next portion (about 25 minutes). Stir in cheese and pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

VEGETABLE AND LEEK SOUP

1 cup chopped white and pale green part of leek, washed well
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, snow peas, turnips, fava beans, green beans, etc. (pick one)
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup sour cream

In a saucepan cook the leek and the garlic in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the leek is softened, add the chosen vegetable, the broth, and 1/2 cup water, and simmer the mixture, covered, until the vegetable is tender. Puree two thirds of the mixture in a blender until it is very smooth, stir the puree into the mixture remaining in the pan, and whisk in the sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the soup over moderately low heat until it is heated through, but do not let it boil.

a quote from Tom Robbins:
"The beet is the most intense of vegetables The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious."

More Recipes

____________________________________

6) Which Farm?

From High Ground: Spinach, Leeks, Beets, Mystery, Flowers.
From Mariquita: Tomatoes, Peppers, Cutting Celery

__________________________________________

7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter

Two Small Farms Blog

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

Monday, August 20, 2007

In The box for week of August 22nd - 24th

cutting celery or smallageThis week!

Sweet Peppers

Tomatoes

Steve's Mystery: romanesco, berries, or?

Spinach

Red Beets with great greens

Leeks

Cutting Celery also called smallage: a note on cutting celery: it is related to celery and is often called wild celery. In our kitchen we mostly use it like parsley. It gives vegetable soup, minestrone, potato salad, tuna salad, etc a nice herbal celery flavor. The photo above is of German holding a bunch of herbal celery.

Here are a couple of recipes I found today for the newsletter. I'm enjoying this cookbook from the library: From the Cook's Garden: Recipes for Cooks Who Like to Garden, Gardeners Who Like to Cook, and Everyone Who Wishes They Had a Garden.

Multi Pepper Salad with Fontina
adapted from From the Cook's Garden by Ellen Ogden

1.5 pounds Sweet peppers, roasted and cut into 1/4 inch strips
12 black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and coarsely chopped
6 ounces Fontina cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 1.5 cups)
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon finely chopped cutting celery OR tarragon OR parsley
1/4 cup best extra virgin olive oil
S & P to taste

Combine the peppers, olives, and cheese. Mix the cream, lemon juice, mustard, and herb in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil. Season with the S & P. Pour over the peppers and mix. Serve immediately.
Creamy Beet Soup with Pistachio Mousse
adapted from From the Cook's Garden by Ellen Ogden

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch beets, peeled and cubed
1 small onion or leek, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups white wine
2 cups apple cider or juice
dash of ground allspice
1 stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 pint sour cream or yogurt
S & P to taste

Pistachio Mousse

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts, slightly toasted
8 sprigs fresh chervil or 4 sprigs fresh tarragon
4 fresh mint leaves
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the beets and onions and cook, stirring often, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the apple juice, spices, and return to the boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook until the beets are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Stir in the sourcream or yogurt.

Transfer to a bowl and cool. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile make the pistachio mousse. Process all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve the soup cold, seasoning with the salt and pepper and garnishing each bowl with a spoonful of the mousse.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Two Small Farms Newsletter #409

August 16th 2007

In your box this week:

tomatoes
basil
potatoes
salad -or- romaine lettuce
onions
radishes -or- fennel
a Mariquita Mystery (summer squash/cukes or?)
High Ground Mystery (strawberries or artichokes)

How to store this week’s bounty: all in the fridge as soon as you arrive home, except for the tomatoes and basil. The tomatoes can be stored at room temperature. 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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In The Shade Of The Ghost Pine
by Andy Griffin

Classic pesto is an emulsion of basil, pignoli, or pine nuts, olive oil, and Pecorino cheese. Opinions differ as to whether the olive oil can be augmented (or adulterated ) with butter for added creaminess, whether the sharpness of the sheep-milk cheese ought to be moderated (or cut ) with a mellower cow- milk cheese, like Parmesan, and whether there ought to be parsley and garlic in the blend. Nobody worth listening to disputes the necessity of the pine nuts for the best pesto.

Pesto is called "pesto," not "blendo," because it was traditionally made by hand in a mortar and pestle. Like most people these days, my wife, Julia, makes pesto in a food processor, and I eat it without complaint. I’ve been known to gripe about cleaning all the various paddles, blades and rubber rings that fall out of the food processor, but Julia doesn’t take me seriously. She knows my objections to electric blenders are irrational.

We don’t use my favorite kitchen utensils. Those would be the Indian grinding stones (photo above) I’ve unearthed over the years while working on different farms. I also have a modern, machine-ground stone mortar and pestle that was a gift from some Mexican farm workers I lived and worked with twenty five years ago on a ranch in Marin county, and I do use that occasionally.

These men weren’t legal to drive, and the farm was an hour from the city, so I bought them bulk tortillas, dry beans, and chiles when I delivered the farm’s produce to San Francisco. They cooked over an open fire, and we all gathered around the coals to share dinner. For lack of a comal, which is a flat griddle for cooking tortillas, they toasted their tortillas in an old hubcap laid on top of the coals.

When the guys finally made it to la pulga, or flea market, in Santa Rosa, they bought a proper comal, they bought me a mortar and pestle, or molcajete y mano. "Here’s a new one," they said, laughing. They found my fascination with the old, dirty grinding bowls and pestles we dug up in the field amusing.

The meals we shared weren’t much more than tortillas, beans, and barbecued chicken backs, with home-made salsa in the molcajete to spice things up. The food was always simple, but sharing dinner with them was never a grind.

Recently, I had an opportunity to take a trip to an area called The Indians, tucked away on the eastern side of the Santa Lucia Mountains in southern Monterey County. The region is characterized by massive sandstone formations that jut from the earth. I found numerous bedrock mortar holes left in the sandstone by the Salinan Indians.

This area is called The Indians because it was a last redoubt of the Salinan tribe. Following Mexico’s declaration of independence from Spain, the mission system collapsed. The Indian acolytes who’d been at Mission San Antonio, near Jolon, fled back into mountains around 1835, and took refuge in the sandstone rocks. The oak trees nearby gave the Salinans acorns for meal, and pine trees were a source of rich pine nuts. Pine nuts contain up to 31% protein— more than
any other nut— and unless they’ve been shelled, they keep well without going rancid.

The Italian Stone pine, Pinus pinea, is the standard commercial source for pignoli, and it’s been cultivated for its nuts for more than 6000 years. The pine the Salinan Indians depended on is Pinus sabiniana, also called Gray pine, Ghost pine, or Digger pine. These pines are sparsely cloaked in gray-green needles, and they cast scant shade. They can survive on only 10 inches of rain a year. Gray pines are usually multi-branched, and they lean at crazy, drunken angles out of the brushy stony slopes that support them.

The American settlers didn’t value Pinus sabiniana because its wood is coarse, twisted, and prone to splitting, and they didn’t value the Native Californians. Salinan Indians survived by foraging for wild foods. They dug in the earth for edible roots, and they dug into rotten logs for edible grubs. To the forty-niners, who dug into earth for gold and cut down the straight, tall Ponderosa pines for lumber to reinforce their mine shafts, the Indians were "diggers," and the "useless" pines that supported them were "Digger pines."

Since "Digger pine" is a pejorative— think nigger with a "d"— scientists discourage the use of this derogatory common name in favor of the colorless "Gray pine." I prefer the equally unscientific name Ghost pine, because it evokes a spirit of times past.

On my trip I took some photos of the bedrock mortars, and I gathered a handful of pine nuts to take home I’ll make my kids crack the tough shells to help build their character, and they’ll think I’m nuts. But to make a perfectly balanced pesto, there’s nothing like the resinous sweetness of pine nuts to serve as such a perfect foil for the unctuous richness of the olive oil and the spicy fragrance of the basil. Besides, pine nuts have always had a significance that went beyond flavor.

The pineal gland is buried at the geographical center of the cranium. It was named by the ancients from the Latin pinea, meaning pine nut, which it presumably resembles. The pineal gland is a tiny organ of mysterious function, identified by various authorities as the "third eye," or the "sixth chakra."

Pine nuts are shaped like human eyes, so their identification with a gland that promises "inner vision" makes "magical sense." I don’t know if it’s magic, but when I eat pine nuts, they help me taste the past.

Andy’s Photo essay

the photo essay includes the following images:

1. Last redoubt

2. The Indian Rocks

3. Ghost Pine

4. Sandstone counter top

5. Outdoor kitchen

____________________________________________

Events

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! Also available: Bee keeping demonstration and honey for sale with Greg the Bee Man, other produce for harvest and sale, farm tours with plenty of Q and A with Andy and Julia; mud puddles, and more. Join us!

Strawberry Upick this Saturday August 18th $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.

___________________________________

Photos:

Basil

fennel

Photo Gallery

______________________________________

Recipes from Pat and Julia

Fresh Basil Vinaigrette
adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2007

3/4 cups olive oil
2 cups chopped fresh basil
1 onion (small) or shallot or 3 green onions, peeled, roots removed
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Heat 1/4 cup oil with 1 cup basil in medium saucepan over medium heat until basil turns bright green and small bubbles appear, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat and let steep 5 minutes.

Whirl onion, garlic, vinegar, water, S & P, and mustard in blender or food processor until garlic and onion are finely chopped, about 15 seconds. With blender running, slowly add remaining oil and sttped basil oil and continue to process until dressing is smooth and emulsified, about 15 seconds. Pack remaining 1 cup basil into blender and process until dressing is smooth, about 15 seconds.

similar recipe to use up thyme from last week: just in case you still have some!:

Thyme-Mustard Vinaigrette
adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2007

3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
2 green onions or 1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoon whole-grain or other 'fancy' mustard

Heat 1/4 cup oil with 1 tablespoon thyme in med. saucepan over medium heat until thyme turns bright green and small bubbles appear, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat and steep 5 minutes.

Process onions, garlic, vinegar, S & P, mustard, and remaining thyme in blender until garlic and shallot are finely chopped, about 15 seconds. With blender running, slowly add reminaing oil and steeped thyme oil and continue to process until dressing is smooth and emulsified, about 15 seconds.

Caprese Salad

serves 4
12 ounces mozzarella cheese, fresh, in slices
12 each basil leaves, fresh
1 pound tomatoes, fresh,
1 cup olive oil, extra-virgin
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse & cut tomatoes into thin slices, this is a good time to sharpen up your knives a bit. If you have a 'steel' use that. it helps!

In four medium-size salad dishes, alternate the cheese slices, basil and tomato slices, overlapping slightly.

Divide the olives evenly and arrange them at the centre of each dish.

Spoon the oil over each serving, letting it to form a pool like a sauce.

Season with salt and pepper, cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving

Pat Lerman's Current Favorite Artichoke Preparation:
Here's my latest favorite artichoke recipe.

Peel the stem and slice off the top inch of the artichoke. Pull off and discard (yes, I know it sounds wasteful) all the meaty outer leaves leaving the soft inner leaves. Slice the artichoke in half lengthwise and, using a paring knife or grapefruit knife, remove the fuzzy inner "choke" and the inner leaves that are attached to the choke.

Cut each half in half again lengthwise and roll in fresh lemon or lime juice or sherry vinegar (for flavor and to keep the artichokes from oxidizing).

Sprinkle with a little sugar and salt and add a finely minced clove of garlic. Keep the artichokes in a bowl in this marinade until you are ready to cook them.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add the artichokes and sauté with a medium heat. When they start to brown, add a couple of tablespoons of water, cover the pan and turn off the heat. Let the pan stand until the stems have become fork-tender. Remove the cover and reduce the liquid over heat until it's syrupy.

Serve the artichokes warm or at room temperature. They are great on a platter of roasted small potatoes, braised onions and other vegetables.

-Pat

Bread-and-Butter Radishes
adapted from a recipe I saw at Chowhound.com

Makes: 1 3/4 cup

1 bunch red radishes (about 13 radishes)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon yellow or brown mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 dried bay leaf

Instructions

1. Rinse radishes and remove their leafy tops. Holding the stem end, thinly slice radishes with a mandolin or a sharp knife. When you get close to the stem, stop slicing and discard the end. Place radishes in a heatproof, nonreactive bowl, and set in the refrigerator while making the brine.
2. Combine red wine vinegar, sugar, water, salt, mustard seed, coriander seed, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and let pickling brine cool for about 5 minutes. Remove radishes from the refrigerator and pour brine over them. Let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes; cover and refrigerate. Use to top burgers, sandwiches, or anything else that needs a little tarting up.

Mango and Radish Salad
adapted from Belgian Recipes

Serves 4

1 large ripe mango (cubed)
12 chopped radishes
juice from 1 lemon
3 tbsp of olive oil
Tabasco to taste
3 tbsp of chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp of crushed pink peppercorns

Place the mango and radishes in a bowl. Mix the lemon juice and oil in a beaker and season with the salt and a few drops of Tabasco. Stir in the cilantro and peppercorns. Stir the dressing into the mango and radish mixture. Place in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Really tasty with grilled fish or chicken.

Unfried French Fries
adapted from In the Kitchen with Rosie by Rosie Daley

2 pounds potatoes
oil cooking spray
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon cajun spice or chile powder or curry powder....

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Slice each potato into 1/4 inch ovals lengthwise then each oval into matchsticks. Coat a baking sheet with 3 sprays of the oil spray. Combine egg whites and spice in a bowl. Add the potato sticks and mix to coat. Pour the coated potatoes onto the sprayed baking sheet (I use a jelly roll pan) and spread them out into a single layer, leaving a little space in between. Place baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the fries are crispy, turning them every 6 to 8 minutes with a spatula so that they brown evenly. Serve immediately.

Julia's Potato Salad
Serves 6–8

2 pounds new or fingerling potatoes, cut into rough 1 inch pieces and cooked til tender
1 tablespoon rice or cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 onion minced
1 small head fennel or celery stalk, cut into small dice (optional)
2-4 radishes, diced
1/4 cup sweet pickle (not relish), cut into small dice (optional)
small-medium handful washed and chopped arugula leaves
1 cup mayonnaise (homemade makes this dish sublime)
3 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
1 generous bunch minced fresh parsley

Layer warm potato pieces in medium bowl; sprinkle with vinegar, salt, and pepper as you go. Refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients. 2. Mix in

remaining ingredients; refrigerate until ready to serve.

ITALIAN FENNEL SALAD

Thinly slice 1 medium-size fennel bulb and 1 unpeeled orange. Arrange - alternating and overlapping or however you like - on two salad plates. Strew with half a dozen salt-cured or Kalamata olives, sprinkle each plate with 1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, a few drops of fresh lemon juice, a tsp. of finely chopped fennel leaves, salt and freshly ground white pepper. Serve at once or let the ingredients mingle an hour or so. Serves 2.

The Kitchen Garden Cookbook, Sylvia Thompson

PREPARING FENNEL

Baking: First, braise the fennel for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish and add just 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Cover tightly and bake at 350

degrees until just tender and beginning to brown. If desired, uncover toward the end to allow any excess liquid to evaporate, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs

and grated Parmesan cheese, and brown under the broiler before serving. Cooking time: about 1 hour.

Braising: Braise fennel in broth, tomato sauce, vermouth or sherry (diluted 1-to-1 with water); add lemon zest, garlic, or onion for extra flavor. Braised

fennel is delicious hot, warm, or chilled. Place fennel slices, or halved or quartered small fennel bulbs, in a sauce pan and add just enough boiling

liquied to barely cover the vegetable. Simmer uncovered, turning occasionally, until the fennel is tender, adding more liquid if necessary. Cooking time:

25 to 40 minutes.

Sauteing: Cut fennel into slivers and heat in a small amount of stock, tossing and stirring it frequently. For extra flavor, cook chopped onion and garlic

along with fennel. A sprinkling of lemon juice and zest makes a nice finishing touch. Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes.

Steaming: Fennel steamed until crisp-tender can be covered with your favorite sauce or marinated in a vinaigrette, chilled, and served as a salad. To steam

it, place whole or halved bulbs in a vegetable steamer and cook over boiling water until just tender. Cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes.

The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition, Shelden Margen, M.D.

More Recipes

____________________________________

6) Which Farm?

From High Ground: Lettuce/Salad, potatoes, radishes, fennel, Berries, Arichokes, Flowers
From Mariquita: Tomatoes, Basil, Onions, M-Quita mystery

__________________________________________

7) Unsubscribe/Subscribe From/To This Newsletter

Two Small Farms Blog

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

Saturday, August 11, 2007

In the box for week of August 15th

In the box this week: Basil, Red Onions, Mystery, Tomatoes, Salad, Berries OR Artichokes, Potatoes, Radishes

This is a likely list, Steve and Andy will check the fields again next week. I post here as early as I'm able in case any of you have recipes you want to share for the newsletter and/or a 'what I'd do with the box' blurb. thank you!

Julia

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Two Small Farms Newsletter #408

August 8th 2007

Table of Contents:

1) In your box this week
2) Party Animals
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: Potatoes, thyme, green onions, cabbage for Wed and celery for Thurs/Fri, 2 heads of lettuce (romaine and/or red leaf), either cubanelle or poblano peppers, and Two mystery items (one might be strawberries or broccoli; the other might be cucumbers, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, or Broccoli di cicco. Why are Steve and Andy 'invoking' the mystery option? The berry fields and tomato patch are being fickle, it happens in farming, same with the cucumbers! Thanks for your patience.)

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, including the potatoes which are "new" potatoes. A new potato is not a small potato but rather it's a fresh potato harvested from a green, growing potato plant. A somewhat scuffed, frayed appearance to the potato skin is a frequent consequence of harvesting such tender spuds and is unavoidable because the skin has not yet hardened. New potatoes wilt and must be treated like green vegetables and stored in a bag in the fridge.

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2) Party Animals by Andy Griffin

Growing vegetables is my business, but raising farm animals is my hobby. I've got sheep and goats, but my special pets are my two donkeys, Primavera, a six year old jennet, and her nine-month old foal, Sweetpea. In the evenings, when the scandals and stresses of running a small business can be put to rest for the day, I enjoy taking my donkeys for a walk around our home ranch. Sometimes my daughter, Lena, helps me brush them until their coats are glossy.

You can tell when donkeys are relaxed and happy because they hang their heads in contentment and close their eyes. When Prima is being groomed, her lower lip hangs down as if she's beginning to melt. Sweetpea likes to be brushed too, but as she's young and energetic, she's often impatient to go on her walk. When she and I do go walking, I have to pay attention, because she's only half-trained. At nine-months, Sweetpea already weighs 400 pounds, and she is strong in both body and spirit.

The other evening, Lena was helping me with Sweetpea, and she took a turn at leading her around the barnyard. I explained to Lena that managing a donkey is a question of will - donkeys are stronger than we are, and their big ears serve as radars to pick up even the slightest tremor in our self-confidence - then I handed Lena the lead rope.

A covey of quail flew up from the grass at the edge of the corral with a flurry of wings, and Sweetpea took advantage of the surprise to lunge in terror. Lena lost hold of the halter rope instantly, and Sweetpea proceeded to race around the pen, bucking and snorting, with the lead-rope dragging behind her like a purple snake. When Sweetpea calmed down, I picked up the rope.

I was a surprised at how easily Sweetpea had been able to break free - my daughter doesn't scare easily - but then I remembered a traumatic incident involving a donkey in Lena's early childhood.

When Lena was three, she had her first experience of a Mexican style birthday. It was a picnic at Palm Beach in Watsonville for her friend Saiya. Saiya isn't Mexicana - her mother, Senai, is Japanese and her father, Mark, is German - but they'd met in Paraguay when they both worked for the United Nations. Spanish and English are their common languages. Watsonville is overwhelmingly Hispanic, so it was natural that little Saiya would adapt to local birthday customs.

Mark went to Happy Burro Market out on the edge of town, and selected a bright piñata from the display that hung from the ceiling above the brooms and mops. He could have chosen a chartreuse and orange Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle piñata, or a blue and red Spiderman piñata. But Saiya was more interested in animals than action heroes, so he picked out a classic donkey piñata, and bought enough candy to fill its round belly.

Mark and his brother hung the donkey from the overhanging branch of a eucalyptus tree in the middle of the picnic grounds that lie behind the beach. The piñata swayed gently in the breeze. The gray crepe paper strips that made up the donkey's coat were nicely set off by the animal's cream colored nose and belly. Black crepe paper made for a pretty mane and tail. The piñata donkey was dressed with a colorful paper saddle of red, yellow, green, and blue, and it even wore a little straw sombrero. Saiya, who was turning four, loved the piñata, and so did her five young guests, Lena, Lydia, Maija, Anwen, and Iliana. There were no brothers present.

When the time came to hit the donkey with a stick, it was difficult, because it was so beautiful. But the violence had to be done. The piñata always comes before the presents, and most importantly, before the cake. These little girls had never beaten a piñata before. When her papa handed Saiya a stout, dry stick he'd picked up from underneath the eucalyptus tree, she looked confused. He showed her how to swing it. Because the girls were so young, the parents present decided to forgo the typical custom of blind-folding the children when they struck at the piñata.

Saiya was the birthday princess, but she was a gracious hostess, so she let Lena go first. Lena missed the piñata on her first swing, and only grazed it with the stick on her second. On her third attempt, she struck a solid blow across the ribs of the donkey, and she turned to me with big eyes for a sign of approval. Lena had hit the piñata hard enough for it to swing in an arc on the end of its rope, but not so hard as to crack it. The donkey made a half turn in the air and came back at Lena like a pendulum, kicking her in the back of the head, and knocking her face-flat in the sand.

The other little girls didn't have much luck either. It was the first party I'd ever been to where it looked like the piñata was going to win. The little gray donkey with the straw sombrero raged at the end of its tether like a rodeo bronco, and one girl after another bit the dust. Finally, Saiya begged her Uncle to do the deed. While the girls covered their eyes, he took up the stick and delivered a mighty whack to the paper donkey. The piñata's belly finally tore open, spraying a rooster tail of brightly wrapped candies across the white beach.

The girls swarmed the sand like baboons, and minutes later, when they trooped off to the picnic table for the ceremonial unwrapping of the birthday presents, there was nothing left for the seagulls but a couple of pieces of red and silver foil that smelled like chocolate kisses. I guess the moral of the story is that no matter how sweet and lovely a donkey may appear, you always want to be careful when you're around the business end of an ass.

copyright 2007 Andy Griffin

Drawing by Andy's Daughter Lena of Sweet pea the Teen-Aged Donkey Bucking with joy

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3) Events

Strawberry U-Picks Summer Saturdays

Come pick your own berries at High Ground Organics in Watsonville, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, for the rest 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:

Thyme

Peppers & Chiles

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5) Recipes from Zelda and Julia

We call this week's potatoes "Godzilla Fingerlings" since they're so big. They are a great, smooth, waxy potato that are perfect for potato salad or home fries, or just about any other potato use. My son mashed some last week and they were also tasty, but then again he used too much butter, so what can go wrong!? -julia

Some ideas for potato salad adapted from Ellen Ogden's From the Cook's Garden

- For best results, make potato salad with low-starch, waxy potatoes, especially red skinned types or fingerlings. High starch baking potatoes will be mealy and crumbly in a salad.

- Don't overcook potatoes for salad. Stick the potatoes with a sharp knife, and if tender, remove from the heat. Try to catch the potatoes just before the skins split, or they could end up mushy. Dress the potatoes while still warm to absorb the dressing.

-To retain the best flavor and nutrients, do not peel the potatoes.

-Potatoes can take a lot of seasoning, especially salt. Keep in mind that the potatoes will taste different once they have cooled. Keep tasting and season to taste.

NEW POTATO SALAD WITH SAUTEED ONION VINAIGRETTE
from Bon Appetit June 1997

2 1/4 pounds thin-skinned potatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine
3 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
8 radishes, trimmed, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or thyme!)
1 large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, thinly sliced ( I would omit this during this cooler season...)

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender when pierced with fork, about 15 minutes or longer. Drain. Cool potatoes until lukewarm. Cut potatoes in salad sized pieces. Place in large bowl. Sprinkle wine over potatoes. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, mustard and sugar to skillet and stir to blend. Pour over potatoes and toss to coat. Add radishes, green onions, parsley and remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil and toss to blend. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper.

New Potatoes with Green Garlic

Amounts are flexible: Steam or boil truly new potatoes until they are barely done, it takes less time than 'regular' potatoes because they are so fresh. Heat some oil or butter in a frying pan big enough to easily accommodate the potatoes. Add some (I use quite a bit) chopped green garlic and another herb such as rosemary or thyme if you like. Add potatoes and cook for a little while until the potatoes begin to brown, eat them up when they look like they are ready. You can add salt and pepper if you like.

Cabbage and Potato Pancakes (from Simplicity - from a Monastery Kitchen)

1/2 head small green cabbage
4 large potatoes, peeled and grated
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a small bunch of parsley (or thyme!), chopped
8 TBS vegetable or olive oil

Quarter the cabbage and steam it for about 6-7 minutes. Drain and chop the cabbage finely. Place chopped cabbage, grated potatoes, and chopped onion in a big bowl. Mash them thoroughly with a masher and mix them well with a spatula. In a separate deep bowl beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat some more. Add the cabbage-potato-onion mixture. Add some salt and pepper and the chopped parsley. Mix all the ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 250. To make the pancakes use a crepe pan or nonstick skillet. In the pan heat about 1 tablespoon of oil (each time) to low-med and pour in about one eighth of the potato mixture. Flatten the mixture evenly with a spatula and cook over medium heat until the pancake turns brown at the bottom. Turn the pancake over carefully and continue cooking the other side. When the pancake is done, slide it carefully onto an ovenproof platter. Repeat the process until all the pancakes are done. Keep the pancakes in the warm oven until ready to serve.

Thyme - a Few Quick Serving Ideas:
- Add thyme to your favorite pasta sauce recipe.
- Fresh thyme adds a wonderful fragrance to omelets and scrambled eggs.
- Hearty beans such as kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans taste exceptionally good when seasoned with thyme.
- When poaching fish, place some sprigs of thyme on top of the fish and in the poaching liquid.
- Season soups and stocks by adding fresh thyme.

Celery and Apple Salad Dijon, Gourmet September 1993

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried, crumbled
4 ribs of celery, cut into 1 1/2-inch matchsticks, plus celery leaves for garnish
1 crisp tart apple, cut into 1 1/2-inch matchsticks

In a bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, the mustard, the vinegar, the sugar, the tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste until the dressing is smooth and add the celery and the apple. Toss the salad and serve it garnished with the celery leaves. Serves 2.

Goat cheese with Thyme and Lemon, Bon Appétit, July 2007

1 (5.5-ounce) log soft mild goat cheese
1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 small garlic clove, pressed (optional) Sliced baguette (toasted, if desired)

Place cheese on plate; using plastic wrap as aid, shape into 5-inch round. Sprinkle with salt, peppercorns, and thyme, and press into cheese. Mix olive oil, lemon peel, and garlic, if desired, in small bowl. Pour over cheese. Serve with baguette.

Cabbage and Apple Slaw with toasted pecans, Gourmet, December 1998

1/2 Granny Smith apple
1/2 small head cabbage
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup pecans
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives (or use the green parts of your green onions)

Cut apple into 1/2-inch cubes and very thinly slice enough cabbage to measure 3 cups. In a bowl toss together apple, cabbage, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Chop pecans. In a small skillet toast pecans in butter over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Sprinkle sugar and salt to taste over pecans and cook, stirring frequently, until pecans are coated, about 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat and cool pecans slightly. Add pecans with butter in skillet and chives to cabbage mixture and toss to combine well. Season slaw with salt. Serves 2

Recipe Links:

Cabbage

Celery

Peppers (not spicy)

Spicy Chiles


Potatoes

Onions

Strawberries

Salad Dressings

Thyme

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6) Which Farm?

>From High Ground: Lettuce, green onions, cabbage, celery, one mystery,
>Flowers From Mariquita: Peppers, thyme, potatoes, mystery
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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/

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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

Saturday, August 4, 2007

In the Box Week of August 8th

Hello, Here's the list and Andy and Steve came up with on Friday. There's still some questions, they have to review the fields on Monday. Heat can change things quite a bit during the long months of summer. Stay tuned. Since they gave me the information, I thought I'd share with you: please do email me at Julia at mariquita dot com if you have any recipe ideas, preparation ideas, or 'what you'll do with the box' ideas. Thank you!

Scallions

Red Leaf and or Romaine Lettuce

Celery/Cabbage

High Ground Mystery (strawberries or broccoli or?)


Thyme

French Potatoes

Mystery from Mariquita (including tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash)

Cubanelle (sweet) /Poblano Chiles (mildly spicy)

notes on Andy's Mystery:

Andy's Mystery: our tomatoes are starting at last. They are about 2 weeks late: as are all the other tomatoes in our area. We are as hungry for them as you are! We are having the upick day on Sat. August 25th, and we will offer a padron pepper upick that day too.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Chile and Pepper ID Page

Hello, Two Small Farms Community:

Here's a page to ID your chiles (spicy)
and peppers (sweet) for this week.
The photo in this post is of serrano
chiles: they are spicy.

Spicy Chile Recipes

Photo at right is of serrano chiles:
they are spicy.

and some ideas:

Some things you can do with
spicy peppers

The peppers could be roasted and peeled first:

Chop them up and bake them in corn bread.

Stuff them with a filling of shredded chicken,
chiles, raisins, olives, walnuts and rice.

Top with sour cream or Mexican ‘crema.'

Slice them up and fold them in quesadillas
with a good anejo mexican cheese.

Stuff with rice that's been doctored any
number of ways: onions and garlic,
shredded hard cheese, etc.

Use them to make goulash.