This is the last meat share of the season. This week you will (or have) receive a whole chicken (4-5 pounds), 2 pounds of ground beef or veal, a pound of veal round cutlets, and about a pound of veal stew meat from the chuck (some of this will be in the form of steaks and a little larger to compensate for the bone; just chop the meat up and add it to your soup or stew). The veal is a new product for us so please let us know what you think of it. And we'd love to get any feedback in general on the meat shares (more/less frequent deliveries, different variety of cuts, anything at all really).
Preparation Tips/Recipes:
Ground Veal: Veal generally is going to have a more delicate flavor than beef and this holds true with the ground veal too. While you certainly can make burgers with it, ground veal also is great in meatloaf or in meatballs (for a great meatball recipe, try the one from Maggie's grandmother that I posted a couple months ago - just use ground veal instead of beef).
Veal Cutlets: Like the ground veal, the cutlets will have a delicate flavor that goes well with a sauce. To prepare the cutlets, cut them into smaller pieces, removing any pieces of fat. Then place them on a cutting board and pound them (I don't have a meat tenderizer so I just use my fist; you might feel weird doing this and others in the kitchen might be alarmed but this will help tenderize the meat). Then I usually prepare a sauce, sauteeing some shallots (or red onion) and a little garlic in butter then adding some white wine and cream and reducing it. In the meantime, I dredge the cutlets in a little flour then sautee them quickly in some butter (probably about a minute on each side - be careful not to overcook them) ) and pour the sauce over the cutlets. Serve with rice or pasta (something to help soak up the sauce!).
If you've got any great recipes of your own for veal, please pass them along!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
CSA Week 19: October 11-15 (The last week)
Just a reminder that this is the last week of the regular harvest season CSA share. The winter share will start up in early November. More details on the specific dates/times of pick-ups to come but you can expect a good mixture of winter storage vegetables (beets, carrots, regular and sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, squash) and cold weather greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc.). Thanks to everyone who made it out to the farm on Columbus Day for our CSA Harvest Celebration! It was one of those beautiful clear fall days and pizza and cider were delicious. Hopefully everyone who made it enjoyed themselves!
Fall finally has arrived for real here on the farm; we'd gotten a few light frosts but the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and beans survived but the cold of the past few nights finally wiped them out. While it's sad to see them go, it makes things a little simpler around here, not having to worry about harvesting them and covering them up at the end of the day. Otherwise, we continue to work on harvesting the storage crops (today we harvested all the Napa Cabbage), building the new greenhouse, and getting the greenhouses planted with cold weather greens.
This week's share:
Preparation Tips/Recipes:
Celeriac: Many of you will be receiving celeriac or celery root this week. It has a flavor similar to celery and should be peeled before using. It can be used as celery would in soups and stews. It also is great grated raw and served in a salad or slaw or chopped up and roasted with other root vegetables (and some peeled winter squash, maybe) along with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Daikon Radish: Another item you will be getting this week is daikon radish. It is an east Asian radish that is quite mild. It is great eaten raw in a salad, or cooked in a stir fry. It also used in making Kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish from Korea. Kimchi is becoming more and more popular in this country as people begin to explore raw and fermented foods more and more. Flack Family Farm makes a delicious Kimchi that is worth a try.
Winter Squash: As you can see from what is included in the share this week, it may be a good week to make some soup. The weather has cooled off and I know I am always in the mood for a good winter soup when the temps drop. You will be getting onions, celery or celeriac, garlic, and a bit of squash this week so squash soup is an easy soup to make and also a great soup to freeze.
Curried Squash Soup
1/2 stick butter
1 winter squash (butternut, buttercup, Red Kuri, or Pumpkins work best)
2 cooking onions
2 cloves garlic
1 apple
2 medium potatoes
3 cups chicken stock (more or less depending on consistency you want to achieve)
2 tablespoons curry powder
salt and pepper
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add onions, garlic, and curry powder. Cook until onions are clear. Peel and cut squash in to chunks and add to pot. Cut apple and potatoes in to chunks and add. Pour stock over everything and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. Let simmer until squash is soft and blend until smooth in a blender. Serve hot with some fresh bread and butter!
That's all for this week! Thanks from all of us here at the farm! We'll see the winter share members in a couple weeks and hope to see the rest of you next June!
Fall finally has arrived for real here on the farm; we'd gotten a few light frosts but the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and beans survived but the cold of the past few nights finally wiped them out. While it's sad to see them go, it makes things a little simpler around here, not having to worry about harvesting them and covering them up at the end of the day. Otherwise, we continue to work on harvesting the storage crops (today we harvested all the Napa Cabbage), building the new greenhouse, and getting the greenhouses planted with cold weather greens.
This week's share:
Preparation Tips/Recipes:
Celeriac: Many of you will be receiving celeriac or celery root this week. It has a flavor similar to celery and should be peeled before using. It can be used as celery would in soups and stews. It also is great grated raw and served in a salad or slaw or chopped up and roasted with other root vegetables (and some peeled winter squash, maybe) along with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Daikon Radish: Another item you will be getting this week is daikon radish. It is an east Asian radish that is quite mild. It is great eaten raw in a salad, or cooked in a stir fry. It also used in making Kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish from Korea. Kimchi is becoming more and more popular in this country as people begin to explore raw and fermented foods more and more. Flack Family Farm makes a delicious Kimchi that is worth a try.
Winter Squash: As you can see from what is included in the share this week, it may be a good week to make some soup. The weather has cooled off and I know I am always in the mood for a good winter soup when the temps drop. You will be getting onions, celery or celeriac, garlic, and a bit of squash this week so squash soup is an easy soup to make and also a great soup to freeze.
Curried Squash Soup
1/2 stick butter
1 winter squash (butternut, buttercup, Red Kuri, or Pumpkins work best)
2 cooking onions
2 cloves garlic
1 apple
2 medium potatoes
3 cups chicken stock (more or less depending on consistency you want to achieve)
2 tablespoons curry powder
salt and pepper
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add onions, garlic, and curry powder. Cook until onions are clear. Peel and cut squash in to chunks and add to pot. Cut apple and potatoes in to chunks and add. Pour stock over everything and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. Let simmer until squash is soft and blend until smooth in a blender. Serve hot with some fresh bread and butter!
That's all for this week! Thanks from all of us here at the farm! We'll see the winter share members in a couple weeks and hope to see the rest of you next June!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
CSA Week 18: October 4-8
Sweetheart waiting to be milked in the front yard.
My apologies again for another long hiatus from blog updates. We certainly are in the midst of the harvest season and it just hasn't felt right to take a break from harvesting winter squash with an impending frost. The rain today has finally given us a little bit of a break. So we're all gathered in the kitchen: I'm finally updating the blog, while Maggie washes eggs, and Suzanne shows Lauren (a WWOOFER) how to make fresh mozzarella from our raw milk. Speaking of frost, we got our first frost last Monday but it only really seemed to affect the basil; the peppers, eggplant, and tomatillos are still going. On the harvest front, all the garlic and onions have been dried for a while now. This past week we finished harvesting the last of the winter squash and sweet potatoes. The potatoes have been mowed down and are curing while the storage beets and carrots are waiting to be harvested. The greenhouse tomatoes are winding down and we're beginning to clear them out in order to plant hardy greens for the winter. We also have been busy constructing a new greenhouse. This year the USDA offered a grants to many farms to construct unheated greenhouses with the purpose of exploring more low-cost season extension options. We were fortunate to be the recipients of one of the grants and are in the process of constructing another greenhouse, which hopefully will be ready in time to have winter greens planted into it. So that's what's been going on here. Just a reminder about our CSA gathering and harvest celebration this coming Monday, the 11th. We're planning on the first pizzas coming out of the oven around 4 and also are hoping to have some pumpkin carving, farm tours, and cider making (if we can come up with some apples). Hope to see you all there!
The new greenhouse in progress.
Cleaning out the Tomato greenhouse; the cherries are the first to go.
Lastly, this next week (October 11-15) will be the last week of the regular harvest season CSA share. For those who signed up this spring, the winter share will start up in early November with more info to come on the exact pick-up dates/times.
On to This Week's Share:
Preparation Tips/Recipes:
Braising Greens: These should be a little smaller this week so try adding them to your salad if you like. They're also great stir-fried with the bok choy and leeks or just by themselves. I made some for dinner this week and they were delicious sauteed in olive oil with some chopped garlic, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce and a little grated ginger root.
Pumpkins/Winter Squash: If you don't have a pumpkin, you can just substitute any other squash in this recipe for pumpkin pie. It's quite easy and a great cold/rainy day activity.
Pumpkin Pie
1 single crust
1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin (or squash)
3/4 cup sugar (white or brown), honey or maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk/cream
1 tbs butter, melted
Preheat oven to 450. Put the cooked pumpkin in a mixing bowl. Stir in sweetener or choice, spices and salt. Beat eggs slightly and add milk/cream. Combine pumpkin and milk mixtures. Stir in melted butter. Pour into the pastry shell and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 and continue baking for 35 minutes.
Leeks/Potatoes: This wasn't a great year for either our leeks or potatoes but things have aligned for you to receive both this week. Leek and Potato soup is extremely simple and quite delicious. There are many recipes out there but this recipe from Julia Child is a classic.
Leek and Potato Soup
3 cups potatoes, sliced thinly
3 cups leeks, sliced thinly
1.5 quarts chicken stock
salt, to taste
1/2 cup cream, optional
Simmer vegetables and stock together for 40-50 minutes. Add salt to taste. Puree in blender if desired. Return to pot and stir in cream. Great served hot or cold. If you want, try adding 5 or 6 cloves of garlic with the potatoes and leeks.
That's all for this week. Hope to see you all at the farm on Monday for our CSA Harvest Celebration!
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