CSA Week 14

This is the final week for Gleneden Beach Market!  If the market is your pick up site, you will continue to pick up on Thursdays from 1 to 6 inside the Side Door Cafe.

In your share:

Beets
Carrots
Watermelon Radish
Broccoli or Napa Cabbage
Red Onion
Green Onion
Baby Bok Choy
Kale
Salad Mix
Basil

Full Shares Only:

Fennel
Cucumber or Zucchini

What a beautiful, colorful share today.  Some of you even have golden beets in place of our usual red beets, which are one of the prettiest vegetables we’ve harvested this year.  (More coming in future weeks, this was just the first pick).  Golden beets are similar in flavor and can be used interchangeably with red beets.  I find that they are a bit less fruity but have more of a sweet honey flavor, and they don’t bleed red into everything they are in.  This summer’s beets have taken their time coming on, but now we are picking out of 6 different rotations at once.  You can expect lots more beets in your fall shares, although the golden beets will be less common.

If you don’t use the beets right away, remember to detach the greens so the roots store better.  And remember, the greens are my favorite part, cooked with the roots, on their own, or with other greens!  If you haven’t fallen for beets yet or are just looking for something different, you might try pickling them or juicing them.

On the other side of the prettiness spectrum are the watermelon radishes.  These are usually quite beautiful, called “watermelon” because of their green and white skin and red flesh.  These, however, got lots of bug damage or something and most of them were deformed.  We did several rounds of culling to end up with some that are decent enough for the CSA, and most of the rest we gave to our neighbor’s pig.  However, even when we cut into some of the ugliest radishes, nearly all the damage was on the surface, and the insides were blemish free and tasty:

Watermelon Radishes are tasty radishes that can be eaten raw or cooked.  They’re pretty spicy, so if you’re not a big fan of radish spice (like me) you’d probably prefer them cooked.  The majority of the spice is in the skin, so I recommend peeling them, which probably goes without saying with these.  These will store well in a bag in the fridge.

Today’s bag is a great one for stir fries or a hearty miso soup.  You could use the radish, bok choy, napa cabbage, green onions, and carrots for a flavorful and colorful bowl.  Or try a noodle salad with raw or lightly cooked veggies and a peanut sauce.

Today’s red onion will be the last fresh onion of the year, and we’ll be moving into cured onions only by next week.  The fields are starting to look a bit bare, in fact, as we wrap up one harvest after the next.  Soon we’ll see crops dropping off, and we’ve probably seen the last of the green beans (except Friday folks, who missed out last week).  Cucumbers and zucchini are quickly dropping off, and the basil is starting to look stressed as the nights get colder.  I sowed the first cover crop last week, and by the end of the month the field should be ready for the winter rains.  Gleneden Market ends this week (CSA members will continue to pick up their shares at the Side Door Cafe), and the Neskowin Market ends October 1 (members will continue to pick up their shares at the farm).  The farm is transitioning out of summer.

Sautéed Radishes Recipe with Brown Butter and Lemon Sauce

When searching for watermelon radish recipes, I saw a few suggestions for sauteing them in brown butter.  This recipe from Organic Authority (by Kimberley Stakal) calls for red radishes, but I’ve adapted it here for watermelon radish.

1 medium watermelon radish, peeled and cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon lest
Cracked black pepper, to taste
Chopped fresh parsley, for serving

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium until butter foams then subsides, about 1 minute. Add radishes and a pinch of salt; cook until radishes are lightly browned on the outside and fork-tender on the inside, stirring, about 10 minutes. Remove radishes with a slotted spoon to serving plate.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to skillet, along with lemon juice and zest. Cook until butter browns lightly and sauce cooks down, stirring occasionally, about 1 to 2 minutes. Season to taste.

Spoon sauce over radishes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

1 T. olive oil or canola oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

1 T. minced garlic

1 medium carrot, thinly sliced

2 cups roughly chopped kale (or cabbage)

3 quarts dashi or other stock (dashi is available in Asian markets, but vegetable stock will work as well if this is not available)

3 T. white miso

1 16-ounce Chinese-style tofu, pressed and chopped into 1” cubes

1 cup fresh broccoli floret

4 scallions, finely chopped

Salt, to taste

1.In a stock pot or soup pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil or canola oil. Once hot, add the onions, garlic, and carrots, stirring frequently until the onions are soft and fragrant. Add the kale and satuee for 1 minute more, or just until the kale becomes bright green but is still quite crisp. Add the dashi or stock and bring to a light simmer. Turn down the heat to low.

2.Ladle one cup of the stock into a small bowl.  Add the miso, and stir to dissolve. Add the cup of miso mixture to the broth and return the soup to a gentle simmer, taking care not to let the soup come to a boil. Add the tofu cubes, broccoli florets and the scallions, and simmer for 2 minutes longer, or until the broccoli is bright green and tender-crisp. Transfer to bowls and serve immediately.