CSA Week 18

*** 2 more weeks!  Final CSA is November 7 and 9.  Thanksgiving shares still available, price goes up at the end of the week.***

In your share week 18:

Gill’s Golden Pippin Acorn Squash
Yellow Finn Potatoes
Carrots
Shallot
Saute Mix

Full Shares Only:

Broccoli or Salad Mix
Cilantro or Beets

That was some rain this weekend.  Fortunately, our cover crop did its job and we had minimal erosion in spite of 9″ in 48 hours.  Our river was raging!  Monday’s harvest was a bit on the muddy side, but the sun this week should give all the crops a nice boost and some more fall growth.

We’re switching up your greens a bit today.  Instead of kale or salad, we’re including a bag of saute mix.  These are overgrown salad greens, including baby kale, mustard, mizuna, and komatsuna.  You can eat it as a robust salad (those mustards are pretty hot!) or cook it up like kale.  I think our saute mix has great flavor and adds some nice color to your meals.  I usually chop it coarsely before cooking, but you can also just use the leaves whole.  The mustards lose their heat when cooked, but still have a nice pungent flavor.

We have another kind of squash today, an old Oregon bred variety called Gill’s Golden Pippin.  We find it is more like a delicata in flavor than a typical acorn, and its small size makes it easy to portion.  The skins are tender and tasty, so I wouldn’t bother peeling them.  Typically I slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.  I either roast the halves face down in a pan with a bit of water (375 until a fork goes through easily, about 30 minutes), or slice them into half moons, toss with oil, and roast them on a sheet pan until they are soft and caramelized. Store them at room temperature or use them as a decoration until you’re ready to eat them.

Otherwise we have more of our staple carrots and potatoes.  We have lots of good-looking fall carrots out there, so I hope to have bulk bags available for the last few weeks of farm stand.  We’re making progress on the mountain of potatoes in our garage, hopefully we won’t go into winter with too many.  We will also have them available in bulk at the last couple of farm stands.  I hope you enjoyed last week’s shallot, and here’s another for you.

Baked Acorn Squash with Bacon and Rosemary

This is a simple but flavorful way to cook squash. Originally made with Carnival Squash, but I’ve adapted it to work for our acorns.  From the blog Angie’s Recipes.

2 Acorn squash

Salt and black pepper to taste

¼ lb Smoked bacon, diced

2 Tbsp Olive oil

1/2 tsp Dried rosemary

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Sugar

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cut carnival squash into halves, scoop out seeds and fibers, and cut each half into two chunks. Place them cut-side up on a shallow baking tray. Sprinkle some salt and black pepper.

Dice the bacon and combine with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, nutmeg and sugar in a bowl. Divide the mixture among the carnival chunks. Bake in the middle of the hot oven for 25-30 minutes.

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Ginger

Another gem from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food. She recommends giving the salad time to marinate and absorb the flavors of the spices before serving. Serves 4.

Julienne (matchstick):

            1 bunch carrots

Cook in salted boiling water until almost tender but still al dente. Drain and season with salt. In a small bowl, mix together:

½ tsp each ground cumin and coriander

            1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

            a pinch of cayenne

Pour over the warm carrots and toss gently. Marinate for a few hours or in the refrigerator overnight. Just before serving whisk together:

Juice of ½ lime

            2 Tbsp olive oil

            2 Tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley (or mint)

Pour over the carrots and toss gently.