Cooking With This Week's Box
Italian Garlic: Roasted Garlic Hummus
Covington Sweet
Potatoes: Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews
Orange Carrots: Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews; Raw Carrot Pasta with Ginger Lime Peanut Sauce
Spaghetti Squash: Spaghetti Squash Fritters
Festival Squash: Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage
Black Spanish Radish: Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice
Parsnips: Roast Parsnips with Chili Maple Butter
Scarlet Turnips: Chicken Pot Pie (see below); Cornish Pasty (Meat Hand-Pies) (see below)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Did you stick with the familiar traditional
foods or did you try some new recipes? We’re entering into our final month of
the year, the cold has set in and the snow is flying. Doesn’t it make you want to hunker down and
cook comfort food?!
Lets kick off this week’s cooking adventure with two
traditional recipes for winter comfort food that will make use of the sweet
scarlet turnips which are this week’s featured vegetable. The first recipe is my version of a Chicken Pot Pie (see below). While I usually make pot pie with chicken,
you could also turn this into a vegetarian dish by omitting the chicken and
using vegetable stock. Pot pies usually
have a pie crust topping, but I’ve never been a fan of that so I always make
mine with a crispy biscuit topping that includes a little cheddar cheese. This is hearty enough for a full meal, so we
generally just eat it for dinner with a little bit of cranberry jelly on the
side to complement the rich, creamy gravy.
The second featured recipe this week is for Cornish Pasties (pronounced past-E)
(see below). These are kind of like the
original hot pocket and are a traditional food of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
thanks to the Cornish miners who immigrated there in the 1800’s. Pasties are one of their national dishes and
they took them with them for lunch when they were working down in the mines. They generally consist of some kind of beef
and/or pork along with potatoes, rutabagas or turnips, carrots, onions and in
modern versions there may be some dried herb and garlic. They have a flaky, crispy, buttery pastry
that encloses a hearty filling. They are
sturdy enough that you can hold them in your hand and they reheat well. In one source, I read that they would
sometimes cut the initials into each one of the person who was intended to eat
it so they didn’t get them confused! In
the original recipes, the pasties are quite large which makes sense for a
hardworking man. In the recipe below, I
offer the suggestion to make them half of the original size, which I find to be
a more manageable size for those with a smaller appetite.
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| Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice |
Moving on, I’m going to tackle the mysterious black Spanish
radishes next. Earlier in the spring I
featured a recipe for Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice. My original recipe was written for spring
cooking and included chives. You can
omit them since they are out of season!
If you taste the black Spanish radish raw and think it’s too strong for
your tastes, give this recipe a try. The
black radish will mellow out when it is roasted.
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| Chili-Lime Sunchoke Salsa with Pan-Roasted Salmon |
You should be able to get possibly several meals out of the
head of cabbage in your box. In addition
to the pizza, use some of your cabbage to make this simple Kohlrabi & Cabbage Slaw or try this recipe for Cabbage Pad Thai with Tofu.
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| Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage Photo from epicurious.com |
This recipe for Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage was shared by a member in our
Facebook group. If you don’t have any
kale or collards hiding in your refrigerator, try substituting green savoy
cabbage for the kale. The original
recipe calls for acorn squash, but the festival squash in this week’s box is an
acceptable substitute. Some boxes this
week will also receive spaghetti squash.
I want to try this recipe for Spaghetti Squash Fritters. As with most fritters, we’ll probably eat
them with a little scoop of sour cream and they’ll probably go with either a
quick seared pork chop or maybe a burger!
I love roasted garlic and am anxious to try this recipe for Roasted Garlic Hummus.
This will make for a quick lunch spread on a piece of
toast or a bagel or simply served with slices of raw carrot and kohlrabi.
We’re going to give onions center
stage this week with this recipe for Jamie Oliver’s World’s Best Baked Onions or this creamier recipe for Creamed Onion Gratin.
Either recipe
could serve as a side dish along with roast beef or chicken or make it a main
dish with a salad on the side.
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| Quick Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad Photo from JeanettesHealthyLiving.com |
As with your cabbage, you’ll also likely get several meals
from the kohlrabi. In addition to the
Kohlrabi & Cabbage Slaw mentioned above, you could use kohlrabi to make
this Quick Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad or try cooking kohlrabi with this recipe for Cider-Braised Kohlrabi.
This week is the last week we’ll be including parsnips in
the share. I always tend to keep it
simple when preparing parsnips and roasting is my favorite method, such as in
this recipe for Roast Parsnips with Chili Maple Butter.
I’ve saved the orange vegetables for
last and am anxious to try this recipe for Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews. I also want
to try this recipe for Raw Carrot Pasta with Ginger Lime Peanut Sauce. If you have a spiralizer, you can use it to
make carrot noodles, or you can just simply make long ribbons of carrot with a
vegetable peeler.
That’s it for this week. Stay warm and I’ll see you back here in two
weeks for our final box of the 2018 CSA season!
Featured Vegetable: Storage Turnips
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| Scarlet Turnips |
Friends, it’s that time of year.
We’ll be ushering in the first day of December before the week is
finished. We are officially done
harvesting vegetables, but this week’s box is still brimming with abundance as
we pull from our stores of roots, cabbage, alliums, squash, etc. We plan for this time of year and make sure
we have plenty of vegetables stashed away when the snow starts to fly. This is a new season of local fare and this
week I want to turn our attention to the humble storage turnip. Some vegetables seem to scream “Look at me!”
while others, such as turnips, seem to hang out in the shadows. But turnips are an important part of our
winter diet and deserve a mention. They
are much different from the tender, mild baby white salad turnips we grow in
the spring and early fall. Storage
turnips are much more dense and have a stronger flavor. They also have the ability to store for
months (literally!) in cold storage. We
grow three different colors of storage turnips including the classic and familiar
purple top turnips, golden turnips, and the hot pink sweet scarlet turnips
included in this week’s box. Purple top turnips have the strongest turnip
flavor while golden and sweet scarlet turnips are more mild. Golden & sweet scarlet turnips are our two
preferred varieties, which is why we’ve chosen them for your last two boxes of
the season!
Yes, we realize turnips are sometimes a challenging vegetable for CSA
members to embrace. I’ve heard longtime
members say “I can conquer everything in the box, but those late season turnips
are a challenge for me!” Most likely
this stems from a bad experience early in life.
Perhaps overcooked turnips or canned turnips. Turnips are part of the Brassica family and, like many other vegetables in this family,
it’s important not to overcook them thereby releasing those strong sulfur
compounds that can be strong and unpleasant.
I hope you’ll approach turnips with an open mind this year as they have
a lot of great health and culinary qualities and can be used in a wide variety
of ways throughout the winter.
Turnips are seldom a featured vegetable in a meal, rather they play
their greatest role by hanging out in the shadows of your culinary
creations. If you’re still learning how
to use and appreciate turnips, use them in recipes where they are combined with
other ingredients as opposed to being cooked on their own. Turnips pair well with apples, cheese, cider,
cream, garlic, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, and lemon as well as other root
vegetables, bacon, ham and roast beef. They
make a delicious addition to winter soups, stews, root vegetable gratins, root
mash and pot pies. Turnips are also a
great vegetable to use in a winter stir-fry, or pickle them and use them as a
condiment for sandwiches or alongside rich meats, etc.
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| Apple & Turnip Quiche |
If you’re looking for a recipe and not sure where to start, I’d like to
suggest the recipe in this week’s newsletter for Chicken Pot Pie (see below--may also be adapted to be vegetarian). My other all-time favorite recipe utilizing
turnips is the Birchwood Café’s recipe for Apple & Turnip Quiche. I serve this frequently during the
winter. Richard also likes this simple
one-pan recipe for Pan Seared Pork Chops with Turnips, Apples & Cider Cream Sauce and if you really like the flavor of
turnips and want to give it more of the center-stage, try Roasted Turnip Ganoush.
Turnips should be stored in a plastic bag or container in the crisper
drawer of your refrigerator. I seldom
peel turnips, however if you find their flavor to be more pungent than your
liking, peeling may help decrease some of the characteristic turnip bite. Also, with extended time in storage you may
find some turnips may develop some browning due to oxidation or some surface
scarring, which is sometimes a reason to peel the turnip. The defect is often only on the surface and
the rest of the turnip is totally usable.
If your turnips start to dehydrate a little bit in storage, either
re-hydrate them in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator or cut them up and
put them in a stew or soup.
We hope you’ll choose to embrace turnips this year and try
some new and different ways to prepare them!
Cornish Pasties (Meat Hand Pies)
Yield: 6 large or 12 small pasties
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1 cup butter or shortening
Salt, to taste
1 cup cold ice water
12 ounces ground beef (uncooked)
½ cup carrot, small dice
½ cup turnip or rutabaga, small dice
½ cup parsnips, small dice
½ cup potato, small dice
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 large egg, beaten
- For the pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Cut in the butter or shortening using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add half the water and stir gently with a fork. Add the remaining water and bring together the dough into a large ball. Flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine beef, small diced vegetables, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Thoroughly mix to combine and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 6 even pieces (if making large pasties), or 12 pieces (if making small pasties). Flour a work surface and roll out each ball of dough into an 8-inch circle (for large pasties). Put about ¾ cup filling on one side of the circle of dough. Fold the dough over to cover the mixture and crimp the edges to seal the pasty. You may flute or gently roll the edges for a decorative touch. Carefully lift the pasty onto a baking sheet (lined with parchment for convenience if you wish). Repeat with remaining pasties.
- Brush the pasties with the egg wash using a pastry brush. Cut 3 small slits in the top of each pastry to prevent steam from building up and splitting the dough. Bake for 1 hour until the crust is golden brown and flaky and the filling is firm and thoroughly cooked. Serve warm, with ketchup or brown gravy if you like.
- If you have leftovers, wrap in foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months. You can reheat these in a 350°F oven.
This recipe was adapted from a recipe for Michigan Pasty found at cookingchanneltv.com and a recipe for Cornish Pasties found at kingarthurflour.com.
Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping
Yield: 4 servings
½ cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 pints chicken stock
½ tsp dried thyme
2 ½ cups root vegetables (turnip, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, rutabaga), medium dice
8 ounces cooked chicken, diced
Sea Salt, to taste
Ground Black Pepper, to taste
Biscuit Topping (See Recipe Below)
- In a small sauce pot, melt 2 Tbsp of butter. Sweat onion and garlic in butter until softened. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and melt. Stir in whole wheat pastry flour to make a roux. Gradually add chicken stock, stirring constantly to combine. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to keep from scorching the bottom of the pot.
- Add thyme, diced vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir in chicken and pour into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough evenly on top of filling. Bake in a 400°F oven for 35-40 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Biscuit Topping
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 Tbsp unsalted cold butter
½ cup buttermilk
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- Add cheese and toss to coat. Add buttermilk and stir to combine. Mixture should be stiff.
Recipe by Chef Andrea Yoder, Harmony Valley Farm
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