In Your Share (Oct 27th edition)

Leek_Color-475This week is the last Summer Share of the season. We hope you’ve enjoyed all the beautiful veggies! We really appreciate you joining us and supporting the farm this summer!! This week’s share is a small preview of the winter bounty to come as it includes Delicata squash, King Richard Leeks, and Tuscan kale – all of which will play a staring role in the upcoming winter share. You have a few more days to sign up for Winter Shares if you haven’t already, but don’t wait too long – it starts next week!! Click on your preferred pickup site, SE Portland or Lake Oswego, for more info.

I met with Katherine Deumling who writes all the fabulous recipes at Cook With What You Have and she is going to continue to provide this service to all our Winter CSA members too. If you are not joining us for the Winter Shares, you can always get access to her amazing treasure trove of recipes & inspiration as an individual subscriber. Check her website for details. Winter share members – check your email next week for the NEW password to access the site.  In the meantime, be sure to check out this week’s entry for your last Summer CSA share – it includes a great recipe for Thai roasted cauliflower, homemade Harissa to use up all those peppers, and lots more.

This week your share may include…

  • Broccoli: The ubiquitous green heads in the supermarket are no comparison to these flavorful beauties.
  • Cauliflower: Giant tasty heads – and lots of great recipes on the Cook With What You Have website.
  • Cimi di Rapa: These days we call any brassia family buds raab, but these greens are the real thing. A traditional italian speciality, they are technically a turnip, but harvested for only the greens and baby buds. All they need is a quick sauté in olive oil then serve them over pasta or as a simple side with a splash of balsamic vinegar.
  • Anaheim Peppers: These definitely make an amazing chile relleno! And they also freeze well – see below. Or add them to your homemade Harissa.
  • Fennel: Lots of great ideas at Cook With What You Have including my old favorite Soffrito and a new recipe this week for caramelized fennel.
  • Garlic: Beautiful Chesnok in the pretty purple wrappers.
  • Tuscan Kale: One of my favorite greens – try it sautéed with a little homemade harissa or use it to make raw kale salad.
  • Leeks: One of my favorite fall veggies! In a hurry – just sauté them until soft and add to scrambled eggs with a little parsley & cheese for a simple supper.
  • Italian Sweet & Red Bell Peppers: Several of our favorite sweet pepper varieties from Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds in the Italian style – Gatherer’s Gold and Stocky Red Roaster. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the peppers this season, all you need to do is remove the stem & seeds, chop them up and sauté them with a bit of olive oil and salt – this turns a large amount into a much more manageable size – then freeze them in single serving containers. That way you can always add the taste of summer peppers to winter meals!
  • Parsley: Beautiful dark green flat leaf italian yumminess!
  • Delicata Squash: One of my absolute favorite varieties of winter squash. You can split in half lengthwise and roast ten face down on a cookie sheet, or make Squash Rings.

Coming soon… Winter Shares start the first week of November!!