Wednesday, December 13, 2023

December 14, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Tetsukabuto Squash

 


Cooking With This Week's Box

French Onion Cheese Bread
Photo from www.foodiecrush.com
Tetsukabuto Squash:  

Red & Yellow Onions:

Porcelain and/or Italian Garlic:  

Japanese & Orleans Sweet Potatoes:  
Egg Yolk Stuffed Latkes
Photo from www.foodnetwork.com

Russet or Peter Wilcox Potatoes:  

Rainbow Carrots:  

Celeriac:  

Green Savoy Cabbage:  
Vegetable Lo Mein with Cabbage and Mushrooms
Photo from www.hipfoodiemom.com
Crispy Oven Baked Egg Rolls

Kohlrabi or Black Futsu Pumpkins:  

Baby Beets:  

Beauty Heart Radishes:


Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese
Photo from www.platingsandpairings.com
Well Friends, we’ve made it to the end of the season. Thirty boxes of delicious, certified organic vegetables harvested, packed, and delivered. What a privilege and a pleasure this season has been! As we close out the season, I hope you enjoy this final selection of recipe inspiration as you cook your way into the winter and a season of rest. This week’s featured vegetable is a late season selection, Tetsukabuto Squash. Like so many selections throughout the year, we’ve chosen this vegetable specifically for this part of the season because it is known for its storage potential.  It’s also a very versatile squash and may be used in sweet and savory dishes.  So this week’s featured recipe is a Kabocha Squash Pie with Black Pepper & Ginger (See Below).  Enjoy this with holiday meals or just spice up a cold winter evening with this tasty creation!  If you’re not feeling the pie concept, check out this recipe for Kabocha Squash Curry with Chickpeas.

What are you going to do with all these root vegetables? Well, just because its winter doesn’t mean we’ve retired the “salad” concept.  Turn your carrots into a simple Shredded Carrot Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing or this 5-Minute Ginger Soy Carrot Salad.  Use the celeriac to make Celeriac and Apple Remoulade.  And those gorgeous beauty heart radishes? How about this Beauty Heart Radish Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette or a Beauty Heart Radish and Sesame Seed Salad.

Turn this week’s head of cabbage into a filling for these Crispy Oven Baked Egg Rolls or if you want something super simple, try this recipe for Vegetable Lo Mein with Cabbage and Mushrooms.  And for something fun to try on the weekend, check out this recipe (and video) for Egg Yolk Stuffed Latkes.  

Ok friends, it’s time for me to sign off for the winter.  Think of us as you eat through the rest of your HVF vegetables and know that we will be ready to meet up with you again next spring! Before we know it, it will be time to resume box packing with beautiful bunches of ramps, sweet, overwintered spinach and the first asparagus of the season.  We look forward to growing vegetables for your table again next year. And in the meantime….be well, eat well and have a restful winter. 

Chef Andrea  

Vegetable Feature: Tetsukabuto Squash

Tetsukabuto Squash, what a mouthful! We have saved this squash for this specific week—the final delivery of the season. As with so many of the vegetables we grow for you, there’s a strategy and a reason for why we choose them and where they fit into our seasonal vegetable lineup.  Tetsukabuto squash is a variety that originated in Japan. The name actually means “Iron Helmet.”   It does resemble a helmet, and the “iron” part comes from the fact that it has a durable skin that serves to protect it during storage. This variety is a hybrid developed in Japan. It’s a combination of Kabocha squash and Butternut.  It has a deep, orange flesh that is rich, sweet, flavorful, and decadent. One interesting fact about this squash is that its flavor actually improves with time in storage, another reason we saved it for the end of the season!

Tetsukabuto squash may be used in any recipe calling for kabocha squash but may also be adapted to recipes calling for Butternut squash, or the like.  Its rich flesh makes it a great candidate for using to make baked goods, such as this week’s pie recipe, along with quick breads, muffins, cookies, and other desserts. It also shines nicely when featured in curries, soup, and stew. Of course, you can also keep it super simple and just bake it, turn the flesh into puree and eat it with a pat of butter!

Store your Tetsukabuto squash at room temperature until you are ready to use it. You should be able to store it for several months but keep your eye on it and if you notice a bad spot starting to form, that’s your cue that it’s time to eat the squash!  


Kabocha Squash Pie with Black Pepper & Ginger

Yield: 8 servings

“A creative twist on a classic pumpkin pie recipe, this kabocha squash pie is flecked with chipotle chili powder, black pepper, and ginger.”

Photo from www.brooklynsupper.com
Kabocha Puree
1 large kabocha squash 
½ tsp olive oil
Pinch sea salt
Water, as needed

Dough
1 ¼ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, frozen
5 - 6 Tbsp ice water

Filling
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 Tbsp flour
1 ½ cups kabocha squash puree
3 eggs, room temperature
½  cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp fresh, finely grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper , plus more for serving
¼ tsp chipotle chili powder
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp sea salt
  1. To make the kabocha squash puree, preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the woody stem from the top and bottom of the kabocha. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff from the center. Rub squash all over with a small drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of sea salt.
  2. Pour 3 Tbsp water in a rimmed baking sheet. Set the squash cut side down, cover tightly with foil, and slide into the oven. Bake until soft, roughly 50 to 60 minutes.
  3. Set aside to cool, then scoop the soft squash out of the peel and into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher; for a smoother texture, puree with a food processor or stick blender.
  4. To make the dough, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and sea salt with a fork. Grate in the frozen stick of butter, rubbing butter into the flour with your fingertips until the flour has a crumbly texture. Drizzle in the ice water, mixing just until the dough mostly holds together. (If you’re new to homemade dough, you can always add more water –– just enough so the dough’s easy to work with.)
  5. Dump dough out onto a section of plastic wrap, gather it onto a disc, and wrap tightly. Set in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a shallow 9-inch pie pan and set aside.
  7. On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a 12-inch disc. Set in the pie pan, trim excess dough from the edge, and crimp the edges. Pierce all over with a fork.
  8. Carefully set a sheet of foil onto the dough, and add either dried beans, rice, or pie weights. Set on a rimmed baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, lift out the foil with weights, and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes.
  9. Set aside to cool while you prepare the filling (but keep the oven at 375°F).
  10. To make the filling, in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together the flour and ¼ cup of the cream. When mixture starts to bubble and thicken, slowly whisk in the remaining ¾ cup cream. Continue whisking until mixture begins to bubble and thicken once again, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
  11. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine kabocha puree and eggs until light and frothy. Whisk in the sugar, spices, and sea salt. Whisk the cream mixture into the squash mixture.
  12. Carefully pour filling into the pie shell. Sprinkle a pinch of ground black pepper over the top. Set on a rimmed baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake until all but a 4-inch circle in the center of the pie is set, 45 – 55 minutes. If the crust starts to darken too much, shield the edge with foil.
  13. Allow pie to cool completely, several hours or more, before serving. Serve slices with twist of pepper and a dollop of very lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Walters and featured at www.brooklynsupper.com.
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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

November 30, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Shallots

 


Cooking With This Week's Box

Shallots:
Creamy Garlic Pork Chops
Photo from www.saltandlavendar.com
Whipped Rutabaga with Crispy Shallots (See Below)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Shallots (See Below)

Porcelain Garlic: 

Red & Yellow Onions:

Sweet Potatoes:
Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies
Photo from www.minimalistbaker.com
Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies 

Orange Carrots:

Peter Wilcox Potatoes:

Jester or Starry Night or Heart of Gold Squash:
Crispy Panko Potato Latkes
Photo from www.toriavey.com

Autumn Frost Squash:

Red Daikon Radish:

Rutabaga:
Parmesan Mashed Rutabaga
Photo from www.stetted.com

Red Cabbage or Kohlrabi:

Parsnips:

Red Sunchokes:

Can you believe we’re in the final month of the year and the 2023 CSA delivery season?!  Our valley is blanketed in white, and this week was a reality check with single-digit temperatures!  We’ve pulled out our insulated pants, snow boots and lots of layers of clothing as we work in the chilly outdoors.  In the kitchen, I finally feel like I’m ready for soup to be a mainstay on the menu each week and it’s time to start doing more long, slow braises.  These final two CSA boxes of the delivery season will hold a lot of vegetables, some of which you’ll use over the next two weeks, but I’m guessing many households may have extra vegetables to carry over into the new year.  No worries—everything in these final boxes has storage potential. So, as you unpack your box this week, take a little extra time to make sure you store each vegetable appropriately and check in on them periodically. If you notice something starting to sprout or a bad spot starting to form, it’s time to use that item.  If you have some root vegetables that get a little dehydrated, don’t throw them out!  Use them in a soup, stew or a pot of meat or vegetable broth. They’re still usable and they’ll rehydrate in the liquid.

Ok, let’s dive into cooking!  This week’s featured vegetable is Shallots. Shallots often provide a nice, subtle, sophisticated background flavor; however, I chose two featured recipes this week that use shallots in a more forward manner.  Check out this recipe for Whipped Rutabaga with Crispy Shallots (See Below). This would be a great side dish to serve with roasted chicken or braised beef. This other recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Shallots (See Below) showcases the beauty of roasting shallots to bring out their natural sweetness.  

Spicy Sweet Onion Jam & Grilled Cheese
Photo from www.kalamazoogourmet.com
While we’re talking about onions, let’s take a look at a few tasty recipes to use the red & yellow storage onions in this week’s box!  Check out this recipe for Spicy Sweet Onion Jam & Cheddar Grilled Cheese, a very gourmet upgrade to a simple sandwich!  Looking for something tasty to take to holiday parties? This Baked Brie with Balsamic Onion Jam recipe will be a showstopper for sure, and it’s really quite easy to prepare with just a little patience and time to gently caramelize the onions for the jam.  Lastly, you know I love a good quiche, so this recipe for Sausage & Onion Sheet Pan Quiche caught my eye.  If you’ll be hosting overnight guests over the holiday season, this is a great recipe to prepare and serve for breakfast if you’re cooking for a crowd!

Let’s talk about roots for a moment.  This year we had a phenomenal crop of rutabagas! This humble vegetable is often either someone’s favorite or you look at it and aren’t sure what to do with it.  I always recommend to keep it simple with rutabagas, such as in the featured recipe for Whipped Rutabaga with Crispy Shallots (See Below) or Parmesan Mashed Rutabaga.   While you may not think to use rutabagas in a raw preparation, I always like to mention this recipe for Rutabaga & Apple Salad.   It’s simple, but tasty and makes for a very nice winter salad.

Sunchokes can sometimes be another difficult root vegetable (tuber to be specific) for some CSA members. I recommend pairing sunchokes with sweet potatoes in this Sunchoke & Sweet Potato Gratin.  My other all-time favorite, and very simple, way to use sunchokes is to roast them.  Here’s a simple recipe for The Best Roasted Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke) Recipe.  Of course you could also add carrots, potatoes or any other roots along with the sunchokes to make a medley.  

And what are you going to do with more carrots? Eat them for dessert in these tasty Carrot Cake Cookies. Serve them for breakfast in this Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal or put them on the menu for Taco Tuesday with this recipe for Grilled Beef Short Rib Tacos with Roasted Carrot Butter & Pickled Radishes.

Every season of the year comes with its own set of culinary adventures, and winter is no different. If you feel like you’re falling into a root rut, venture outside of your usual preparations and go-to recipes and see if you can find something different to make with your storage vegetables.  Chances are there is something out there to add a little pizazz back into your meals. Of course, if you’re stumped you can also check out our private Facebook page and see what suggestions your fellow CSA members may have!  Just a reminder, we will not be packing or delivering regular CSA Vegetable boxes next week. We will however be delivering End of Season special orders and Meat shares. I’ll meet you back here in two weeks as we pack the final box of the season!  Take care & happy cooking!—Chef Andrea 

Vegetable Feature: Shallots

by Andrea Yoder

Shallots are similar in appearance to an onion, but they are not “just another onion.”  The variety we grow has an elongated shape with rosy, pink skin and thin, purple layers on the inside.  Shallots are both strong and delicate at the same time. We like to describe it as elegant and sophisticated, meaning the flavor remains bold, but balanced and soft around the edges. It’s kind of hard to explain but pay attention when you start to use them, and I think you’ll understand what I’m talking about!  

Shallots are a key ingredient in many French sauces such as Hollandaise, Bearnaise, and Bordelaise as well as vinaigrettes. Shallots really shine in these applications, not so much as the main event, but rather for the flavorful foundation they lay for these preparations. The flavor of the shallots infuses into the sauce and while you can’t specifically taste the shallot, you would know if it were missing.  Shallots may be eaten both raw and cooked. When cooking, keep the heat gentle so as not to burn them. They do have a natural sweetness to them that can turn bitter if you burn them. That natural sweetness also makes them a great candidate for roasting and caramelizing! They are tasty incorporated into egg dishes, braised meats, sliced thinly and added to fresh vegetables, and incorporated into marinades and vinaigrettes. Crispy fried shallots also make a delicious garnish for soups, sautéed greens, and mashed roots. 

Shallots store well throughout the fall and winter if kept in a cool, dry, well-ventilated location. If you notice a sprout starting to shoot up, just remove it and use the remainder of the shallot.


Whipped Rutabaga with Crispy Shallots

Photo from www.nerdswithknives.com
Yield:  3-4 servings

For the Crispy Shallots:
¾ cup olive or vegetable oil
1 ½ Tbsp unsalted butter
2-3 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings


For The Rutabaga:
1 large or 2 small Rutabaga (about 2 pounds)
½ cup whole milk
1 ½ Tbsp unsalted butter
Salt & Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  1. Prepare the Crispy Shallots. Heat the oil and unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Add the shallots and cook very slowly until they turn almost completely translucent (it should just barely bubble at this stage).  This should take about 30 minutes. Then turn the heat up a little to medium low and cook, stirring often, until they turn a rich golden brown, 5-7 minutes. Do not walk away once you turn the heat up because they will brown very quickly at this stage. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and spread them out to cool on paper towels.  Once they have dried and crisped, they can be stored at room temperature, covered, for several days. 
  2. Prepare the Rutabagas. Peel the rutabagas to remove the skin and cut them into 1-inch chunks. Place them in a saucepan with water to cover and 2 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until tender (they should be easily pierced by a paring knife), about 35 minutes. Drain well. 
  3. In a separate saucepan, heat the milk until it just begins to simmer.
  4. Purée the rutabagas in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, or mash with a potato masher by hand. While pureeing/mashing, add the butter to the hot mixture and then pour the milk in a steady stream. The rutabagas should be silky and smooth. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
  5. This dish may be served immediately, or made up to two days ahead and reheated (keep crispy shallots separate until serving).  Top with the crispy shallots just before serving so they stay crunchy.
Recipe borrowed from www.nerdswithknives.com.


Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Shallots

Photo from www.blue-kitchen.com
Yield:  4-6 servings

1 to 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes
3 to 4 shallots, peeled, ends trimmed and halved lengthwise
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
¼ to ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Place in a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish.  Add shallots and garlic to baking dish and drizzle with 2 to 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Toss gently with a wooden spoon to avoid breaking up shallots. Season generously with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with cayenne pepper and add the rosemary. Toss gently again to spread seasonings more or less evenly. 
  2. Place baking dish on middle rack in oven and roast 40 to 55 minutes, stirring gently a couple of times during the roasting, until sweet potatoes are tender and slightly browned. 
  3. The sweet potatoes may absorb a bit of the olive oil and appear to be drying out—just drizzle with some more oil before tossing them. The shallots may brown even more than the sweet potatoes, and the chopped garlic will almost certainly blacken.  That’s okay—all will be delicious.  Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.
Recipe borrowed from www.blue-kitchen.com.
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Fall Farm Update…A Bountiful Year!

by Allison Kieley & Richard de Wilde

Onions drying in the greenhouse
The energy on the farm in the fall has a noticeably different feel than during other times of the year. While we remain busy harvesting vegetables, the shift in weather forces us to deviate from our typical go-go-go spirit and pause for moments of planning and problem-solving. This fall we continued to work around the lingering impacts of the season-long severe drought. Increased irrigation efforts paired with the silver lining of drought – little to no disease caused by wet foliage – allowed us to harvest bountiful yields of some of our favorite crops. We have seen about double the typical yield from our onions, and our sweet potatoes are some of the best we’ve seen in years!

Our successful yields presented us with a new challenge: storage! With so many healthy, sizeable crops to harvest, we quickly realized that storage was going to become an issue. Not only were we short on cooler space, but for the first time in well over 10 years we ran out of storage bins. We’re thankful for our friends at Spring Grove Pallets who were able to make and deliver 80 new wooden bins in a matter of days to help us get our crops into storage. If you were to drive past the farm today, you’d see the parking lots scattered with full-size semi-trailers. These refrigerated units have been our creative solution to a shortage of cooler space for various winter root crops. At present, we are running our three main coolers in the packing shed, three 53’ refrigerated semi-trailers, and we are using the refrigeration unit on our little market truck. It is a full house!

Fall cabbages in October,
ready to harvest!
The funny thing about the transition into fall is that despite knowing it will arrive every year, we somehow find ourselves feeling surprised at its arrival. Whether it is waking up to an early first frost or working around an unexpected downpour of 4” of rain in the middle of a drought, there is nothing we can do to control the weather. What we can, and do, control is how we react. It is awkward to have the crew call from our field on Upper Newton Road to report that it is freezing there, and they cannot harvest. What to do? Take a long coffee break until it warms up? We must remain diligent in our forecasting and plan our work accordingly.

Over time, and through trial and error, we have learned to take steps to be proactive rather than reactive. For example, instead of looking at an upcoming weather forecast with high temperatures in the low 20s as a sign to throw in the towel on our vulnerable green vegetables, we took it as an opportunity to pause, shift gears, and set ourselves up for success. We assessed the situation and decided to use an entire day of work to put covers over several acres of greens. This process can feel painstakingly slow, but because we took the time to protect these crops, we were able to extend our greens harvest for several weeks. As I am writing this, our crew is harvesting the very last of our cilantro crop…on November 14th. That is certainly a new record!

We're still harvesting kale in November!
We have learned a lot through trial and error and think that is the only way you can truly understand what works and what doesn’t. After 50 years of lessons learned, and taking advice from second and third-generation farmers who came before us, understanding the importance of time is a recurring theme in farming. This is especially true when it comes to planting fall crops. Fall crops, like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, like cool weather but if you wait too long to plant them, they might not make it. To avoid putting all our eggs in one basket, we typically have two different plantings for these crops, which are done about two weeks apart. The first one battles against the heat, and the second one battles against the cold. Choose your battle! We work hard to maintain accurate records and continue to adjust planting dates based on, you guessed it, the weather. This week’s CSA boxes contain the last of our fall cauliflower and broccoli Romanesco. The heads are small, but we couldn’t bear to leave them behind. 

Mulched Garlic Field
After seeing our 2022 garlic plants above ground last fall, we realized our mid-October planting date was too early. We aren’t supposed to see them until the spring! We pushed our planting date back 10 days this year and ended up being able to shape and fertilize the field. We were also able to bury irrigation drip lines in preparation for planting. We’re lucky we had the foresight to get this taken care of before planting because we unexpectedly got 2.5” of rain on October 13th and needed to wait for the ground to dry to plant the garlic. In hindsight, we must see the humor in needing to wait for the ground to dry after this year’s historic drought. There’s never a dull moment around here! 

While we are finishing a few late harvests, our work in the fields is starting to wind down. Our crew has completed the sunchoke and horseradish plantings for the 2024 crop year and we were able to plant about 50-60 acres of cover crops. We still need to cut our supply of firewood for next year but are fortunate to have a strong storage supply so that isn’t terribly pressing. Some of the harvest crew has already returned home to their friends and family in Mexico, and we have another group of 12 leaving at the end of this week. It is always bittersweet to say goodbye to our team, they really do feel like family. As we celebrate Thanksgiving next week, we realize we truly do have a lot to be grateful for this year.

Enjoy the upcoming holiday, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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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)

Brussels Sprouts:  

Purple Viking Potatoes: 

Red & Yellow Onions:  

Italian Garlic:  

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

Butternut Squash or Autumn Frost Squash:  

Celeriac:  

Orange Carrots:

Green Savoy Cabbage:  

Sweet Potato & Beet Chips
Photo from www.madeitateitlovedit.com
Red Beets:  

Cauliflower or Broccoli Romanesco:  

Green Curly 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
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.
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