November 16, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Radicchio

 

Cooking With This Week's Box

Radicchio:  

Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
Photo from www.wellplated.com

Asiago Cremini Pasta Bake with Radicchio (See Below)

16 Stellar Ways To Use Radicchio

Brussels Sprouts:  

Fall Panzanella with Brussels Sprouts & Apples 

Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts 

Purple Viking Potatoes: 

Easy Garlic Mashed Potatoes 

Easy Shepard’s Pie 

Red & Yellow Onions:  

Breakfast Strata with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Caramelized Onions & Goat Cheese 

Italian Garlic:  

Garlic Cabbage Stir-Fry

Garlic Thyme Turkey Gravy 

The Best Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Photo from www.bakerbynature.com

Sweet Potatoes:  

Sweet Potato Bread with Dates & Cranberries

The Best Sweet Potato Cheesecake 

Butternut Squash or Autumn Frost Squash:  

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Shakshuka

Butternut Squash Curry 

Celeriac:  

Celeriac Bisque with Cranberry Relish 

Celeriac & Sausage Stuffing 

Orange Carrots:

Thanksgiving Root Vegetable Pie 

Fluffy Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots 

Green Savoy Cabbage:  

Cabbage Roll Casserole 

Simple Cabbage Slaw with Radicchio and Champagne Vinaigrette 

Sweet Potato & Beet Chips
Photo from www.madeitateitlovedit.com

Red Beets:  

Spiced Beet & Carrot Soup 

Sweet Potato & Beet Chips 

Cauliflower or Broccoli Romanesco:  

Roasted Carrot & Cauliflower Salad with Sunshine Dressing 

Cauliflower & Kale Frittata 

Green Curly Kale:  

Tuscan White Bean & Kale Soup 

Butternut Squash Quesadillas with Chicken & Kale 

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we look forward to celebrating the bounty of this year’s harvests….and it certainly has been a bountiful year! We are still harvesting vegetables, including “greens” from the fields! This week one of our “greens” is actually not green, but a beautiful burgundy red color.  You’ll know radicchio when you see it!  This week’s featured recipe is a rich main dish, but the bittersweet radicchio pairs well with salty, fatty cheese in this recipe Asiago Cremini Pasta Bake with Radicchio (See Below). You may also want to check out this recipe collection entitled: 16 Stellar Ways To Use Radicchio.

I have been saving the Purple Viking potatoes for this delivery in particular because they are my absolute favorite variety to use for mashed potatoes and I know there will be many households making mashed potatoes next week!  Personally, I like to put garlic in my potatoes so I included a recipe this week for Easy Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  This is also a great variety to use for Shepard’s Pie!

Celeriac & Sausage Stuffing
Photo from www.jessicaburns.com

As we finish out our final few deliveries, the boxes are going to be heavy on root vegetables including this week’s celeriac. We like to include celeriac in our Thanksgiving meal as it makes its way into either our bread dressing or stuffing. Thus, I included a recipe for Celeriac & Sausage Stuffing.  Brussels sprouts are another Thanksgiving dinner favorite.  Perhaps you want to introduce a new dish to the table this year with this Fall Panzanella with Brussels Sprouts & Apples.  

As for this week’s sweet potatoes, you may get some funny shaped ones in your box this week…. just saying!  The shape doesn’t matter if you’re going to cook them and turn them into puree to make Sweet Potato Bread with Dates & Cranberries or The Best Sweet Potato Cheesecake.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday week. We will not be doing CSA deliveries next week, but we’ll be back in the game the following week to finish our final few deliveries of the year!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Radicchio

by Andrea Yoder

Radicchio in the field

The brilliant burgundy red and white leafy vegetable in this week’s box is radicchio. Radicchio is a bitter green that does best when grown in cool months, which is why it is one of the last crops we harvest late in the fall. It is a popular winter vegetable in Italy where they grow many different varieties and shapes. Many varieties are named for the regions in Italy which they are thought to have originated or where they are grown. The variety we grow, Chioggia Radicchio, is one of the most common and is named for the city of Chioggia which is a coastal town located in northeastern Italy along the Adriatic Sea. This variety is similar to Boston lettuce in the way it grows round, compact heads, although a head of Chioggia radicchio is usually more densely packed than Boston lettuce.  

One of the reasons it is best to grow radicchio in cool weather is because the cold treatment helps to balance the bitterness with a touch of sweetness making the overall eating quality much more balanced and enjoyable. The challenge for us though is protecting it from critters and extreme cold temperatures. Deer are particularly fond of this crop, so we put up a tall fence to deter them. Radicchio can take some frost, but can be permanently damaged with temperatures in the low 20’s. Thus, we usually cover the radicchio with a double layer field cover held up off the crop by wire supports. The other challenging part of growing radicchio is that the rate of growth slows significantly with cool temperatures making it difficult to grow a sizeable head before our winter truly sets in. Thus, every year it’s a gamble as to whether or not we’ll be able to harvest this crop.  This year we gambled and won!

From a nutrition perspective, radicchio is rich in minerals and vitamins. The compounds which lend to its bitterness also help aid digestion and help support the liver in detoxifying the body. One article found at lacucinaitaliana.it describes radicchio as “a precious ally for our health because it is a true mine of antioxidants, able to counteract free radicals and cellular aging….”  

The key to preparing and eating bitter vegetables is balance. Bitter is balanced by sweetness, acidity, and fat, so while you may not find a big bite of a leaf to be to your liking, you may find you really like this vegetable when it is incorporated in dishes with other ingredients that help to balance and complement the bitterness.  I also prefer to thinly slice radicchio instead of eating it in big pieces. Lastly, cooking can help to mellow out the bitterness and techniques such as grilling and roasting help to bring out some of the sweetness in this vegetable as well. So, what I’m saying is, please give this beautiful, bittersweet vegetable a try! 
 

Given radicchio’s popularity in Italy, many of the classic pairings and ways radicchio is used go back to Italian cuisine. Radicchio can be eaten both raw and cooked.  In its raw form, radicchio is often paired with other greens as well as fruits such as apples, pears, figs, oranges, dates, pomegranate, grapefruit, and persimmons to make delicious fall salads. It is also often incorporated into pasta dishes, risotto, savory pies, omelets, baked au gratin, or used as a topping for focaccia or pizza. Many dishes will pair radicchio with other ingredients such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, chestnuts, avocados, and fatty cheese such as Parmesan, Gorgonzola (blue cheese) or Taleggio. It is also often paired with seafood as well as bacon or other pork products, eggs, olive oil, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and caramelized onions. 

We encourage you to use the radicchio within a week as it may be more perishable given it has seen multiple freezing nights. Store it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator to keep it from wilting. You can use the entire head, including the core. Carefully peel back the layers, wash well and pat dry before using.

Asiago Cremini Pasta Bake with Radicchio

Yield: 1 9x13-inch baking dish

Photo from www.allrecipes.com

1-16 oz package shell or macaroni pasta

1 medium or 2 small heads radicchio

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 small red onion, diced

½ tsp salt, plus more to taste

¼ tsp ground black pepper, to taste

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp minced fresh sage

¼ cup butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

3 cups grated Asiago cheese

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

½ cup panko breadcrumbs

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water, stirring occasionally until still firm to the bite, about 9 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.  
3. Prepare the radicchio by cutting the head in half and removing the core. Thinly slice the leaves and set aside.
4. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook and stir until mushrooms have browned and onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Add radicchio, garlic, and sage; cook until radicchio has wilted, and garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in pasta. Set it aside.
5. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour; cook until foaming.  Pour in milk, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in Asiago cheese, heavy cream, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper until sauce is melted and smooth.
6. Pour sauce over pasta mixture; stir until thoroughly combined.  Transfer to prepared baking dish. Combine the remining ½ cup Parmesan cheese with the panko breadcrumbs and spread evenly over the pasta mixture.  Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly, about 30 minutes. If you wish, broil for about 1 minute or until the topping is golden brown. 

Recipe borrowed from www.allrecipes.com.