Extended CSA Week 1

Note that there is only one share size for extended season!  All bags are the same color, take any one.

In Your Share:

Carrots
Beets
Shallot
Fennel
Pepper
Bok Choy
Little Gem Pearls Lettuce
Cilantro or Parsley

Welcome to the extended season, which looks an awful lot like the regular season.  Today’s share is a bit smaller than full shares you’ve been getting but a bit bigger than half shares.  I love fall flavors and I think that many of our greens and roots come into their own in the cooler weather.  It takes a frost to really sweeten things up, but this year we’ve hardly gotten below 40.  Hopefully we’ll have a nice clear stretch at some point before too long, but nothing in the forecast yet.

We’re into our final bed of carrots which I’m hoping to make last through Thanksgiving.  We are getting them all harvested now, since the rain, rust fly, gophers, and raccoons are all zeroing in on them and I want to make sure we get most of them!  You will start to see more rust fly damage in these late season carrots, which looks like a darkened area at the tip or sometimes in the middle of the root.  We cull out the worst roots, but you may have to trim your carrots more than you did in the summer.  Rust fly damage is easy to cut out, or it’s not a big deal to just eat it (if I’m juicing I don’t usually bother to trim it).  We keep our carrots covered with a spun fabric row cover all season long to keep the flies off, but it gets harder to keep the cover on in the fall and these carrots have been in the ground a long time.

Beautiful beets today from our last bed, which we will also have to protect from the gophers.  They don’t usually bother our beets until fall, I suppose when other preferred foods are scarce.  These, though, are blemish free, large, and sweet with wonderful greens.  The lettuce is coming from the greenhouse, and as such is extra tender and more of an open head than our field lettuce.  It seems to be starting to bolt, but I’ve been eating them and they are sweet and tasty with no off flavors.

Today’s shallots are on the other end of the size spectrum from the last ones you got.  They are the overwintered, bulb grown shallots and this year’s were particularly small.  They’re a pain to peel, but they really pack a flavor punch.  If you don’t want to peel them, roast them whole with potatoes and fennel and peel them on your plate, or use them in stock.

If this is more veggies than you can use this week (especially folks who have been getting a half share), remember that the carrots and beets (greens removed) will store great in the fridge.  The shallots will keep on the counter for several weeks.  You could freeze the fennel: I’ve had success chopping it, roasting it, and freezing it to later use in soups, stuffings, and roasts.  You’ll probably use your peppers fresh, but they freeze well whole or cut into pieces and bagged.  The parsley or cilantro you could mince with oil and freeze (kind of like pesto), and the bok choy could probably be blanched and frozen (I haven’t actually tried that but it should work).  The lettuce, though, needs to be eaten fresh; try it in a green smoothie if you won’t eat enough salads and lettuce wraps.

Roasted Salmon Fennel and Bok Choy

By Amy Stafford , A Healthy Life for Me Blog.

2 medium fennel bulbs, cored and sliced into 1/2″ thick wedges

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

bella mushrooms

2-3 heads bok choy, trimmed and cut into 1″ slivers

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

juice from one organic lemon

4-6 oz. skinless salmon filets

1/2 cup packed fresh flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup salted shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon finely organic grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Use a rimmed baking sheet, you can line with foil for easy clean up.
3. Place salmon on cutting board and drizzle lemon juice over top of salmon and a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper.
4. In a bowl toss fennel, onion, mushrooms, olive oil and salt and pepper.
5. Spread the vegetables evenly and roast for 15 minutes. Toss bok choy in empty bowl and coat with any remaining oil that is in the bowl.
6. Remove pan and toss bok choy over top top of veggies, cook an additional 6-10 minutes.
7. Remove pan from oven and push vegetables into a pile to make a bed for the salmon.
8. Place the fillets on top of vegetables, spaced evenly.
9. Return pan to oven and roast for 10-15 minutes

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Serve salmon and vegetables plated and topped with gremolata.