November 1, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Chicories

Cooking With This Week's Box

Orange Carrots: Carrot, Beet & Apple Salad

Red & Yellow Onions: Caramelized Onion Jam

Italian Garlic: Garlic Soup

Sweet Potatoes: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

Chioggia Beets: Carrot, Beet & Apple Salad 

Butterscotch Butternut Squash: Butternut Apple Cranberry Sandwich; Butternut Squash & Bacon Breakfast Casserole

Lacinato Kale: Butternut Squash & Bacon Breakfast Casserole

Brussels Sprouts: Brussels Sprouts with Maple & Cayenne

Escarole:  Escarole & Bean Soup (see below);  Pasta with Gorgonzola, Radicchio, Walnuts, and Orange (see below)

Parsnips: Chardonnay Braised Chicken Thighs with Parsnips; Parsnip Muffins

This week’s box is packed full of fall goodness and while we’re moving into November, we are thankful to still have some delicious greens to enjoy!  This week we’re featuring Escarole or Radicchio.  I like bitter greens and this is by far my favorite time of year to enjoy them.  We can use the escarole to make this very simple Escarole & Bean Soup (see below) or use escarole or radicchio in this recipe for Pasta with Gorgonzola, Radicchio, Walnuts, and Orange (see below).

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
photo from eats well with others

We all like an easy recipe or two to have on the back burner for a busy evening when you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner.  This recipe for Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos is pretty easy.  You could even roast the sweet potatoes in advance so you would just have to warm up the components and assemble the tacos.  Serve this with the Carrot, Beet & Apple Salad we featured in this week’s fruit newsletter and you have a quick, simple and very healthy option for dinner!

A few weeks ago I came across this recipe for a Butternut Apple Cranberry Sandwich.  This is a vegetarian sandwich based on slices of roasted butternut squash layered with fresh apples, dried cranberries a handful of arugula or other greens and a bit of quick pickled red cabbage.  Not only is this filling, but it’s packed with nutrients!

 

Tis the season for butternut squash, and I’ve had my eye on this Butternut Squash & Bacon Breakfast Casserole.   I love a good egg dish and would likely never have thought to put butternut squash in a dish like this!  The recipe calls for spinach, but the author suggests substituting kale instead.  Conveniently, we can use this week’s lacinato kale tops to complete this recipe!  Serve this along with Brussels Sprouts with Maple & Cayenne for a tasty brunch on the weekend.

With this week’s parsnips, I’m going to make two things.  First, this recipe for Chardonnay Braised Chicken Thighs with Parsnips which we featured in our newsletter previously.  This recipe will use about a pound of the parsnips, but you have 1 ½ pounds in this week’s box.  So, lets take the remainder, shred them and use them to make these Parsnip Muffins!  Even people who do not like parsnips usually enjoy this recipe!

photo from Wellness Mama

What are you going to do with all these onions?  Make Caramelized Onion Jam!  Make a big batch of this jam for the holidays.  Serve it on bread or crackers with goat cheese or another soft spreadable cheese of your choice.  You might also want some of this after Thanksgiving to use as a smear on bread for that after-Christmas TV Marathon.

Last, but not least, we have one head of garlic remaining in the box!  Keep yourself healthy this winter.  Use garlic in your diet every day and you’ll reap the health consequences for sure!  Check out this recipe for Garlic Soup!  We’re determined to stay healthy this winter!

Have a great week and we’ll be back in two weeks!

Thank you—Chef Andrea

Featured Vegetable: Chicories--Escarole & Radicchio

Escarole

As we push into the final months of the year, our Midwestern seasonal diet shifts more to hearty roots and storage vegetables and fresh greens become more sparse.  But don’t think we’re done with greens yet!  This week we’re happy to be able to include some late season, cold-hardy chicories including either escarole or radicchio.  Both of these greens are bitter, cold-hardy greens that are best suited for growing in the fall and are sturdy enough to be able to take some frosty, cold nights.  In fact, we don’t even think about harvesting them until they’ve had some chilly nights!  The flavor of these greens changes dramatically after they’ve had cold treatment.  They are bitter greens, but don’t let that deter you.  When you harvest them after a frost, you’ll find their flavor profile to be bitter, but it’s a much more mild, well-balanced and slightly sweet flavor.  We have had temperatures down into the lower twenties.  These greens do just fine uncovered when freezing temperatures are in the low 30’s and high 20’s, but they can sustain some damage when we get a hard freeze.  So, we do cover these plants to protect them from freezing too hard on those really cold nights.  We don’t want the cover to rub on the leaves, so we have to put wire hoops over the beds to keep the cover off the plants.  The deer in our valley like to eat their greens every day and when their food sources are limited, they do enjoy a nice nibble on some escarole.  While we like to support our local wildlife, we do not like to share these greens with them!  So, the crew put a tall deer fence around the perimeter of the field to protect them.

Escarole resembles a head of green leaf lettuce.  The center leaves are sometimes light green or slightly yellow and the outer leaves are more broad and a bit more thick when compared to leaf lettuce.  There are several different kinds of radicchio, but this year we grew the round type that is supposed to make a little round head, similar to a Boston lettuce.  The leaves are dark red and even the outer leaves of the plant may be eaten.  Radicchio has a pretty long growing season and some years it’s hard to get them to full size.  They are very light and small right now, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to have enough more warm, sunny days to make much of a difference in their size so we decided to harvest them while we can.

Both escarole and radicchio may be eaten raw or cooked.  If you don’t mind a little bit of the bitter taste, you will enjoy eating these greens as a salad.  Cooking mellows out the bitterness and accentuates the sweet qualities in these greens.  Both of these greens are used more in Italian cuisine.  There’s a classic preparation for escarole that some Italian cooks call Scarola Affogata, which means “smothered escarole.”  In this dish, garlic is sautéed in olive oil until golden, then chopped escarole, salt and red pepper flakes and seasoning are added to the pan.  The greens are cooked until they are soft and tender.  This is then served as side dish, or you can use the greens for another purpose, such as on top of a pizza!

Escarole and radicchio pair well with other fall vegetables and fruits such as apples, pears, persimmons, lemons, oranges, garlic, onions, beets, potatoes and butternut squash.  They are also often included in dishes with white beans and lentils.  Additionally, they pair well with hazelnuts and walnuts as well as butter, prosciutto, bacon, cheese (including blue cheese, Parmesan, and gruyere).  Escarole is often used in soup, such as in this week’s featured recipe.  Radicchio is often used in pasta dishes, on top of pizza, or raw in salads.

Store escarole and radicchio in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until ready to use.  You will need to wash the leaves as you would wash head lettuce.  We hope you enjoy these unique, late season greens and the vitality you get from eating them!

Escarole and Bean Soup

Yield: 6 servings

Author’s note:  “This is probably the fastest soup you'll ever throw together.  I sometimes add sausage to make it a little heartier.”

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 head escarole, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1-15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1-ounce chunk of Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Crusty Bread, for serving

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the escarole and saute until wilted, about 3 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, beans and chunk of Parmesan cheese.  Simmer until the beans are heated through, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Ladle the soup into 6 bowls.  Drizzle 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil over each portion.  Serve with crusty bread.

Recipe borrowed from Giada de Laurentiis’ book, Giada’s Family Dinners.

Pasta with Gorgonzola, Radicchio, Walnuts, and Orange

Yield:  4 servings

1 cup chopped walnuts

Salt, to taste

8 to 12 oz pasta, such as penne or gemelli

¼ cup olive oil

10-12 oz radicchio and/or escarole, cut into 1-inch-wide ribbons

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 oz crumbled gorgonzola or other mild blue cheese

½ cup chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley

Zest of 1 orange, plus the juice (optional)

Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving, optional

1. Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  Add the walnuts and toast them over medium-low heat for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently so they do not burn.  Remove and set aside.  Wipe out skillet.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt and return to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente according to the package directions.
3. While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce: Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the radicchio and/or escarole and season with salt and pepper. Cook the radicchio until it begins to wilt and brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the gorgonzola and cook for 2 minutes. Add ½ cup of the pasta water directly from the pot and simmer for 3 minutes more. The water should emulsify the cheese and create a velvety texture.
5. Scoop the cooked pasta directly into the skillet (alternatively, drain, reserving plenty of the pasta cooking liquid) and toss to combine the pasta with the sauce. Add the walnuts and parsley and toss again until glossy, adding ¼ cup of pasta water or more (up to 1 cup), as needed to loosen up the sauce. Add the zest and toss to combine. Taste. Adjust as needed with more salt and pepper.

This recipe was borrowed from Alexandracooks.com, with recipe featured on Food52.com.