November 7, 2019 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Tat Soi!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Tat Soi: Vegan One-Pot Ramen Noodles with Tat Soi (see below); Spaghetti with Roasted Butternut Squash and Tat Soi

Red & Yellow Onions: Caramelized Onion Biscuits; Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Onions

Italian Garlic: Vegan One-Pot Ramen Noodles with Tat Soi (see below); Spicy Sweet Potato Dip; Garlic Butter Biscuits; Roasted Garlic Parmesan Biscuits

Brussels Sprouts: Brussels Sprouts Gratin; Crispy Fried Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Sriracha

Orange Carrots: Chai Carrot Pie; Carrot Cake Balls

Covington Sweet Potatoes: Spicy Sweet Potato Dip; Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl

German Butterball Potatoes: Autumn Root Vegetable Gratin with Herbs and Cheese; Fried Cabbage & Potatoes

Butterscotch Butternut Squash: Autumn Root Vegetable Gratin with Herbs and Cheese; Spaghetti with Roasted Butternut Squash and Tat Soi; Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Onions

Green Savoy Cabbage: Shredded Cabbage Salad with Apples; Fried Cabbage & Potatoes

Parsnips: Parsnip Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies; Autumn Root Vegetable Gratin with Herbs and Cheese 

Certified organic, gluten free ramen noodles!

Hello Everyone!  I can’t believe we’re down to the final four boxes and we are still having trouble getting everything in the box!  Well, one reason is we have these beautiful tat soi to pack this week!  So lets start off this week’s cooking chat with a simple dish, made in one pot.  Our featured recipe this week is Vegan One-Pot Ramen Noodles with Tat Soi (see below).  This is one of those very adaptable recipes, which has already been adapted several times!  Ok, lets talk ramen for just a moment.  I have to confess, I’ve never eaten instant ramen noodles.  I know, how did I ever survive my college days!?  If you think ramen starts and stops with those little instant packets of ramen noodles, I’m happy to fill you in that ramen is more than those little packets.  Ramen noodles originated in Japan and “ramen” stands for a “pulled noodle.”  I was happy to find a package of ramen noodles in the grocery store that were not only certified organic, but I was also able to buy just the noodles—no mysterious flavoring packet included.  You could substitute udon noodles if you like and you could make this with any green of your choosing.   If you aren’t feeling ramen noodles this week, maybe you’d prefer spaghetti?  This recipe for Spaghetti with Roasted Butternut Squash and Tat Soi was our featured recipe last year!

Shredded Cabbage Salad with Apples
photo from foodfaithfitness.com

As we move into the winter months, cabbage becomes our stand-by green and can end up on our table in many different forms.  Richard always wants cole slaw, but I like to shake things up a bit with recipes like this Shredded Cabbage Salad with Apples.  The name of this salad seems pretty simple, but it’s a classy salad that combines the flavors of an Indian chutney with the creaminess of a traditional cabbage slaw.  It has a creamy curry dressing with raisins and apples blended in for a sweet contrast to the spicy dressing.   Another simple way to use this week’s green savoy cabbage is for this simple Irish recipe for Fried Cabbage & Potatoes.  A little bacon adds some richness and flavor, but the vegetables dominate.  The German Butterball potatoes this week are a great variety to use in this way.  You can serve it on its own or put a fried egg on top!  Eat it for dinner or in the morning for breakfast.  You know what would be good with this dish?  Biscuits!

I’m not sure what has gotten into me, but it’s been a long time since I last made biscuits.  I did some searching and found several tasty vegetable-inclusive biscuit recipes.  Check out this one for Garlic Butter Biscuits or this one for Roasted Garlic Parmesan Biscuits.  I also found a recipe for Caramelized Onion Biscuits which is a perfect fit for this week’s Scout yellow onions.  Serve these biscuits for breakfast, with a bowl of soup, or just on the side of a hearty fall/winter meal.

Carrot Cake Balls, photo by Rocky Luten for food52.com

I’m always looking for non-traditional ways to use vegetables, such as in desserts or for breakfast.  If you didn’t have a chance to make the Oatmeal Parsnip Chocolate Cherry Cookies we featured in the newsletter several weeks ago, add them to your list for this week or for this holiday season.  We don’t think twice about using carrots in cake, but I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of carrot pie.  Google can help you find anything though, so when I went searching I found this tasty recipe for Chai Carrot Pie.  If you aren’t afraid of breaking tradition, you might even decide to add this pie to your Thanksgiving Day line-up of desserts!  If you prefer to keep your carrots in the traditional carrot cake fashion, perhaps you’d at least be willing to try this twist on the traditional, Carrot Cake Balls.  These don’t require any baking and are something a little less indulgent but every bit as decadent.  Use them as a healthy snack or breakfast item to fuel you through the cold winter days.  Ok, one more somewhat non-traditional way to incorporate sweet potatoes into breakfast.  Make a Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl!  This is super easy.  Just take cooked, mashed sweet potatoes and blend them with nut butter and cinnamon.  Top it off with raisins and cinnamon and you have a warm, nourishing alternative to hot breakfast cereal.

Spicy Sweet Potato Dip
photo from peasandcrayons.com

Despite the fact that there is an endless array of possibilities for how you might use sweet potatoes and butternut squash, I often tend to just cook them and eat them with butter.  So I’m challenging myself to use them in some more interesting ways.  This recipe for Spicy Sweet Potato Dip is described as  “hummus vibe without chickpeas.”   Serve it with pita bread, crackers or fresh veggies for dipping such as slices of winter radish or carrots.  You could also use this as a spread to make a quick veggie wrap stuffed with tat soi, shredded carrot and maybe some leftover chicken.  I also am intrigued by this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Onions.  Cut the recipe in half to serve 4 as it calls for 4 pounds of butternut and there isn’t that much in the box!  You will roast the butternut and then toss it with herbs and spicy red onions.  Serve it slightly warm or at room temperature—it’s kind of like a salad and kind of like a side.

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away!  One thing I like about this time of year is that it’s a great time to collect vegetable recipes!  One of my favorite recipe collections to peruse is Food 52’s Automagic Thanksgiving Menu Maker.  Whether you’re looking for vegetable recipes for Thanksgiving dinner or just to enjoy throughout the winter, there are some good finds in there!  For example, this Autumn Root Vegetable Gratin with Herbs and Cheese is a tasty twist on a traditional potato gratin with the addition of parsnips and butternut squash!  I also found this recipe for a Brussels Sprouts Gratin.  I’ve never used Brussels sprouts like this, but it’s hard to go wrong with a gratin.  If you are looking for something a bit more on the light side, try these Crispy Fried Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Sriracha.  Maybe you’ll discover a fun, new recipe to introduce to your friends and family for the holiday, or perhaps you’ll just have fun trying something new on a regular old day in the kitchen.  Don’t forget, next week is a meat only delivery week.  So, I’ll plan to see you back here in two weeks!—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Tat Soi

by Andrea Yoder

I look forward to this vegetable every year and consider it to be one of our staple greens for these late season CSA boxes.  I had never seen tat soi before I came to Harmony Valley Farm.  I remember the first time Richard showed me this vegetable.  It was so beautiful I almost didn’t want to eat it….but that feeling quickly passed and I dove in!  It’s also packed with nutrients which make us healthy, but also give it a rich flavor.  I suppose I should back up and tell you what this gorgeous vegetable looks like!  You’ll recognize the tat soi in your box this week as the large, dark green flower-like vegetable with long slender light green stems and rounded spoon-like leaves.  It is a relative of bok choi and has a mild mustard flavor that has been sweetened by a few frosty nights.  Both the leaves and the stems are tender and may be eaten raw or cooked.

This is one of the last crops we plant during our main season, with the intention to harvest it as late as possible.  Depending on the weather, we are usually able to leave it in the field until mid-November.  While this plant usually grows upright, as the temperatures start to decrease it lays itself flat to hug the ground for warmth.  The result is a very open, flat rosette that has a deep, dark green color that intensifies with cold weather.  Tat soi is very resilient to cold temperatures and can recover after being frozen, which is why it’s a unique selection for this time of the year.  We do put hoops and a field cover over them to offer them some protection from the really cold nights.  If you see some outer leaves on your tat soi that have a white to grayish hue, you’re looking at a little frost damage.  You might also see some stems that have kind of a wrinkled, loose appearance.  This happens sometimes when the stem freezes and then thaws.  These stems and leaves are still good to eat and those frosty, cold nights are what make this green taste so mild and sweet!

If you’re looking for recipes that use tat soi, your search will likely turn up pretty slim.  Expand your search to include recipes that feature bok choi, spinach or even chard as tat soi can be used interchangeably in recipes with any of these greens.  Tat soi leaves and stems are tender enough to be chopped and eaten raw as a salad.  Use it to make a beautiful winter salad with shredded carrot, slices of beauty heart or purple daikon radish and a light vinaigrette.  Turn it into an entrée by adding a protein such as seared beef, fish or tofu.  Tat soi is also a quick-cooking tasty green to use in stir-fry and pasta dishes.  It’s also a nice addition to brothy soups such as miso soup or hot and sour soup or use it in a tasty bowl of ramen such as in this week’s featured recipe.

It’s best to store tat soi in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.  To prepare it for use, turn it over and use a paring knife to cut the stems away from the base.  Wash the stems and leaves vigorously in a sink of cold water.  If you’re using it to make a salad or stir-fry, make sure you pat the leaves dry or dry them in a salad spinner. If you’re using them in a soup or just wilting them, just shake a little water off of them.  Savor the last of this year’s greens!

Vegan One-Pot Ramen Noodles with Tat Soi

Yield:  3-4 servings

This recipe was borrowed from alexandracooks.com with just a few minor changes.  It is her adaptation from a recipe for “Better-Than-Take-Out Stir-Fried Udon” originally published in Bon Appetit magazine.  The original recipe included ground pork, which you could also add to this recipe if you wish.

Alexandra’s recipe calls for green savoy cabbage, but she offers this note:  “This recipe can be adapted to what you like or have on hand. I love draining noodles over things like cabbage and dark leafy greens to soften them just slightly. If you want to add carrots, sweet potato, or other harder vegetables, you could shred them in the food processor to ensure they cook quickly.”  So, I (Chef Andrea) took the liberty of adapting this recipe one more time to include this week’s tat soi!

7-8 cups tat soi or bok choi, leaves and stems thinly sliced

6-8 oz ramen noodles (could substitute rice or udon noodles)

10 ounces Cremini (or other) mushrooms

1 small knob ginger, about an inch long, peeled

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt, to taste

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes or more to taste

⅓ cup mirin

⅓ cup soy sauce

1 medium red onion, finely minced

1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

2-4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Hot sauce, such as Sriracha, for serving

1. Fill a large, wide sauté pan or Dutch oven with water and bring to a simmer. (Alexandra recommends using a wide sauté pan to make this a one-pot endeavor, but you could also simply use a small saucepan to boil the noodles and then a separate large sauté pan to sauté everything together. Cleanup will still be minimal.)
2. Place the thinly sliced tat soi in the colander you will use to drain the noodles.
3. Add the ramen noodles to the simmering water and cook for 30 seconds.  Using a fork, separate them a little bit and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.  You don’t want them to be fully cooked, more like 85% done. Drain the noodles over the tat soi, being careful the noodles don’t slip over the sides. Keep colander in sink. Reserve your pan.
4. Meanwhile: chop the mushrooms and mince the ginger and garlic.  
5. Heat the 1 Tbsp of olive oil in your reserved sauté pan over high heat. Add the mushrooms, season with a pinch of kosher salt, stir. Let cook undisturbed for 1 minute, then stir and continue to cook at medium-high heat until the mushrooms begin to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Add the ginger, garlic and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the pan, and stir to combine. Add the reserved noodles and tat soi. Add the mirin and soy sauce. Use tongs to stir and combine.  Simmer for just a few minutes.
7. Add the onions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil, and using tongs again, stir to combine.
8. Serve immediately, passing hot sauce of choice on the side.