December 16, 2021 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Horseradish!

 

Cooking With This Week's Box

Horseradish Whips:  

Prepared Horseradish (See Below)

Fresh Horseradish Roasted Potato Salad (See Below)

Norwegian-Style Cod (See Below)

Horseradish Deviled Eggs 

Horseradish Hash Browns 

Speedy Shrimp with Horseradish Butter 

Red and Yellow Onions:  

Roasted Beet, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Tart 

Photo from migrainereliefrecipes

Red Onion & Blood Orange Salad 

Italian and/or Porcelain Garlic:  

Raw Honey Garlic Lemon Shot  

Garlic-Honey Toddy for Cold & Flu Season 

Covington Sweet Potatoes:  

Sweet Potato Curry 

Sweet Potato Kim Chi Pancakes 

Potatoes (Russets, German Butterball, Gold Carola or Asterix):  

The Ultimate Creamy Potato Soup

Easy Roasted Chicken Thighs with Potatoes 

Tetsukabuto Squash: 

Kabocha Squash Bread with Toasted Walnut Cinnamon Swirl 

One-Pot Kabocha Squash & Chickpea Curry 

Photo from everydayhealthyrecipes

Kohlrabi or Heart of Gold Squash:  

Polish Kohlrabi Soup 

Orange Carrots:  

Carrot Scones with Walnuts 

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup 

Red Beets: 

Classic Beef Borscht 

Carrot & Beet Morning Glory Muffins with Honey & Hazelnuts 

Celeriac:  

26 of the Best Celeriac Recipes 

Meatballs with Celeriac and Apples 

Beauty Heart Radishes:

Beauty Heart Radish Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette 

Beauty Heart Radish Toasts with Cream Cheese, Lemon & Honey 

Photo from halfbakedharvest

Scarlet Turnips:  

Root Vegetable Casserole (Freezer Friendly) 

Cornish Pasties (Meat Hand Pies) 

Green Savoy Cabbage:  

Crispy Sesame Ginger Egg Rolls 

Palestinian Style Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls

Hello Everyone—

This is it, the 30th vegetable box of the 2021 CSA Season!  Can you believe it?!  We’ve gone all the way from ramps and asparagus to fresh sweet corn and tomatoes and now we’re wrapping up the season with a box full of storage vegetables to carry you into a new year!  Thank you for journeying through another CSA season.  I truly hope you’ve enjoyed the meals you’ve created and perhaps you’ve gathered some new recipes to add to your collection of favorites!

We’re going to wrap up this season with a bold feature vegetable—horseradish!  My top suggestion is the same every year we put this item in the box.  I think the easiest thing to do is make Prepared Horseradish (See Below) that you can keep in your refrigerator and use as needed.  But this week I challenged myself to find some other interesting recipes and included this Fresh Horseradish Roasted Potato Salad (See Below) and Norwegian-Style Cod (See Below).  

Root vegetables is the name of the game for the next few months, so here’s a few recipes I wanted to share with you.  First, if you don’t know what to do with celeriac, check out this article entitled 26 of the Best Celeriac Recipes.  Make a big pot of Classic Beef Borscht and put those red beets to use!  I think it’s time to switch from cold sandwiches for lunch to these Cornish Pasties (Meat Hand Pies).   They are easy to make and you can put nearly any root you have in them!

Photo from allthatjas.com

I also wanted to highlight a few recipes that were shared in the Facebook Group lately.  I can’t wait to try this recipe for Palestinian Style Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls.  I’m also looking forward to trying this Polish Kohlrabi Soup.  Thank you to everyone who participates in the group.  I love seeing what you’re cooking and it’s exciting to find new recipe resources!

Finally, as I sign off for the winter, I want to wish you a winter full of rejuvenation, rest and good health.  Keep eating your vegetables, every day.  They are our nourishment, but they are also our daily medicine.  If you feel like you need a little extra immune boost, maybe garlic is what your body needs.  I have this recipe for Raw Honey Garlic Lemon Shot and also this 

Garlic-Honey Toddy for Cold & Flu Season tucked away and plan to pull them out with the first sniffle!

Ok, that’s a wrap!  We look forward to growing for you again in 2022, so don’t delay.  Take care of that 2022 CSA Sign up in January or February and you’ll earn our Early Bird Coupon to use for a future HVF purchase!  Have a great winter and I’ll see you back her in 4 short months!

--Chef Andrea 

Vegetable Feature: Horseradish

by Andrea Yoder

Description: Horseradish is a bold, pungent vegetable that has the power to make you cry, take your breath away and open every nasal passage you have—that is if you work with and/or eat it in large quantities.  The powerful plant compounds in horseradish that make you do all those things are also the compounds that give horseradish its peppery flavor, have the ability to attack cancer cells and boost our immune systems. 

Harvesting Horseradish

Growing Information: Horseradish is a perennial that we plant in the fall from seed pieces that are taken from cuttings when the previous crop is harvested.  A nice seed piece is a straight piece usually about 8-10 inches long with the diameter of a fat pencil or a thin marker.  Seed pieces grow off the main horseradish root which is the most saleable portion of the plant on the wholesale market.  Any pieces that are smaller than is needed for wholesale or seed are called whips.  Whips are usually thrown away, but this is actually the part of the root I prefer to work with for several reasons.  First of all, I think the skin is thin and tender enough on these pieces that you don’t need to peel it.  The less you have to handle horseradish, the better!  I also think the whips are a more manageable size to deal with instead of a big root.  This week your box contains a 4 ounce bundle of horseradish whips.  

Richard in the Horseradish field

Preparation & Use: Horseradish is intended to be used in small quantities, as a condiment or an accompaniment to enhance foods.  It may be freshly grated or chopped and added to foods, however once you start cutting, grating or chopping horseradish you release the volatile oils that give horseradish its bite.  This is when you need to make sure you have adequate ventilation to decrease the chances of your eyes tearing up.  Also, make sure you wash your hands after handling horseradish so you don’t accidently get these peppery oils in your eyes.  While many recipes tell you to grate the horseradish on a box grater, this is difficult to do with the smaller whips.  My recommendation is to just cut the whips into 1-2 inch pieces and chop them finely in a food processor.  You could also use a blender, a hand chopper or a basic chef’s knife.  

When using fresh horseradish, it’s important to chop or grate it as close to when you’re going to eat it as the volatile oils will dissipate into the air and disappear.  Once it’s chopped, you either need to eat it right away or stabilize the oils so the flavor and spice remains.  Often times you’ll see a recipe that calls for “Prepared Horseradish.”  This refers to horseradish that is pre-chopped/grated and stabilized in a vinegar solution which sets the flavor and prevents it from dissipating.  This week I’ve included a recipe for prepared horseradish.  You can keep prepared horseradish in the refrigerator for several weeks in a sealed jar before it will start to lose its pungency.  This can be super handy to have as you can just take a teaspoon or two as needed for different recipes without having to chop it fresh every time.  

Horseradish Whips

Horseradish goes well with rich and fattier foods such as salmon, beef, sausage and ham.  It also goes well with more acidic foods such as tomatoes, apples, lemons and other citrus.  It’s a good accompaniment to bland foods that give it a base, but make horseradish look and taste good—foods such as sour cream, cream, butter, seafood, potatoes and root vegetables.    

Lastly, if you don’t like spicy things or don’t think you’ll like horseradish, just start small.  Stir a little bit of freshly chopped horseradish into mayonnaise and spread it on a sandwich or make horseradish cream and drizzle it lightly over roasted root vegetables.  

Storage: On the internet you’ll see references that say horseradish should be eaten within 1-2 weeks…..my friends, I think that’s wrong.  Your horseradish whips will store much, much longer than 1-2 weeks if you keep them in a bag in the refrigerator.  To give you a frame of reference, we harvest horseradish the latter part of October.  In many years, we’ve held horseradish in cold storage for months and sell it all throughout the winter!  Don’t be afraid of a little fuzzy white mold on the surface either.  It’s not uncommon to see this after extended time in the refrigerator.  If you see that happening, but the integrity of the root is still good, just wash it off. 

Prepared Horseradish

Yield:  1—half pint jar 

3 oz fresh horseradish whips

4 Tbsp distilled white vinegar

¼ tsp salt

Sugar, pinch

1. Cut the horseradish whips into chunks and place them in the food processor.  Pulse to grind.  It will be a bit dry, something like coconut.  Add the vinegar, salt and sugar.  
2. Have a clean and sterilized jar with a lid and canning ring available nearby.
3. Add the vinegar, salt and sugar.  Blend to combine well.
4. Pack the horseradish into the jar and refrigerate.  

Recipe adapted from The Kitchen Ecosystem by Eugenia Bone.

Norwegian-Style Cod with Horseradish

Yield:  2-4 servings

2 Tbsp butter

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 pound cod fillet

1 tsp salt

½ cup freshly grated horseradish

1. Heat the butter and oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until the butter begins to brown.  Throw down ½ tsp of salt into the hot pan and immediately place the fish over it.  Sprinkle the top of the fish with the remaining ½ tsp of salt.  Cover the skillet (if your skillet does not have a lid, use a lid from another pot or just a piece of aluminum foil) and cook over medium-high heat until the fish begins to look opaque, about 4 minutes.
2. Remove the lid, and with a spatula as long as the fillet, carefully flip the fish.  Sprinkle the horseradish over the fish and lower the heat to medium.  To be sure the fish doesn’t burn, it’s a good idea to check that there is enough fat remaining in the pan;  add a bit more butter if necessary.  Re-cover the pan and continue to cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until the fish is flaky but still moist.  Using the large spatula, carefully transfer the fish to a platter.  Serve immediately.

This recipe comes from Darra Goldstein’s book, Fire & Ice:  Classic Nordic Cooking.  

Fresh Horseradish Roasted Potato Salad

Yield:  4 servings 

1 pound potatoes, cut into ¾” cubes

1 pound sweet potatoes, cut into ¾” cubes

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp sour cream or crème fraiche, plus more if needed

1-2 Tbsp freshly grated horseradish

1 handful fresh dill, chopped or 2 Tbsp dried dill

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.  In a large bowl, combine both kinds of potatoes, 1 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, and olive oil.  Stir or toss to coat well.  Pour onto a sheet pan and spread out into a single layer.  Roast on the middle rack, turning every so often until nicely caramelized, about 30-40 minutes.  
2. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and let cool for about five minutes.  In the meantime, grate the horseradish into the sour cream and stir.  Pour over the potatoes and combine well.  Adjust for salt and pepper and dill.  Serve immediately at room temperature or eat it chilled.

Recipe borrowed from food52.com.