Wednesday, August 28, 2024

August 29, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Leeks

 

What's In The Box

Leeks: Leeks are the more sophisticated, subtle cousin in the allium family. They are best cooked at lower temperatures and using methods such as braising, sautéing, or poaching. They are not high in natural sugars, so they do not caramelize like an onion. When cooked with one of the above methods, leeks will become fragrant and smooth.

Italian Garlic: When roasting potatoes or other root vegetables, toss in a few whole cloves of garlic. As the vegetables cook the garlic will infuse flavor into the other vegetables.

Red Onions: Finely minced red onions add color and flavor to fresh tomato salsas and salads. Red onions are also a great onion to use for caramelizing!

Green and/or Italian Zucchini: Incorporate zucchini into lasagna. One option is to use larger zucchini to make “lasagna” noodles by cutting lengthwise into thin sheets. Alternatively, add shredded zucchini to the cheese portion of traditional lasagna.

Orange Carrots: Carrots are considered to be an “aromatic” vegetable and often provide the background flavor and sweetness in recipes. Carrots function in this manner when added to tomato sauce, while also adding some sweetness to balance the acidity.

Sweet Peppers: This week your box will include one or more of the following peppers: Green Bells, Orange Ukraine, Orange Italian Frying Peppers, and/or Red Italian Frying Peppers. Orange Ukraine peppers are similar to bell peppers, but with a more pointed tip. They have a thick wall, making them great for stuffing. Orange & Red Italian Frying peppers are long, slender peppers. They are a great pepper to eat raw or roasted.

Sunorange Tomatoes: Sunorange tomatoes differ from other varieties in flavor, sweetness, and texture. They tend to be more sweet and flavorful while also maintaining some acidity that helps to heighten the flavor.  Enjoy them raw, roasted or added to sauces.

Variety of Large Tomatoes: Tomatoes are a more delicate, perishable crop, so give them some attention once you get them home. Remove them from the bag we packed them in and spread them out on a plate or platter and store them at room temperature. Check on them daily and prioritize eating any that are ripe and ready to go as well as any that may start forming a spot or an area that may deteriorate more quickly. If you can’t eat all the ripe tomatoes when they are ready, toss them in a bag and freeze them. 

Green and/or Silver Cucumbers or Sugar Cube or French Orange Melons:   This week your box will contain either cucumbers or one of our smaller varieties of cantaloupe. Use either to make a refreshing salad or turn them into agua fresca!

Green Beans: We thought last week might be our final picking of green beans, but we were able to go back for one more time and pick some nice beans again this week! Sadly, this is our final crop and most likely our final delivery of green beans for the season.

Sweet Corn: This week there are only a few ears of corn in your box, but they are a variety (Montauk) that produces sizeable ears! While we can’t explain the “why,” the kernels on the tip of the ears did not fill out fully. However, if you peel away the entire husk you’ll see that most of kernels on the remainder of the year did fill out. So the moral of this story is to not make any quick assessments just by feeling or looking at the end of the corn. Open the package fully so you don’t miss out on some delicious corn!

Red Seedless Watermelon or Sweet Sarah Melons:  Watermelons are ripe when picked, so we suggest you store it in the refrigerator and eat it within a few days of receiving it. Sweet Sarah is a variety of cantaloupe that we find to be sweet and delicious. While all the melons are ripe when picked, some may benefit from a few days on the counter to fully ripen. If you notice your cantaloupe has a bit of a greenish background on the skin, especially around the stem end, give it a few more days to ripen before indulging.

Baby Arugula: Baby greens are back! After a mid-summer hiatus, our first crop of baby arugula is ready and it is spicy! Eaten on its own, arugula can be sharp and pungent. When it shines brightest is when it is paired with other ingredients that are sweet, fatty, or acidic. This is why it’s a great base for salads topped with fruit, cheese, nuts and/or any combination thereof!

Gold Potatoes: This is a new variety for us this year, called Satina. It has gold skin with gold, waxy flesh. It’s an excellent choice for roasting, adding to soups, stews and chowders, or for use in potato salad. Store the potatoes in the paper bag we delivered them in to protect them from exposure to the sun which will cause them to turn green.




Vegetable Feature: Leeks

Leeks after the dirt was hilled up.
We continue our journey through the season with yet another selection from the allium family. This week leeks are the selection we’ll be enjoying from the allium family! We plant them from seed in the greenhouse in late February. We then transplant them in the field early in the season, just after we transplant all of our storage onions. They need more time to grow than onions, which we harvested about 6 weeks ago. We typically wait until later in the fall to harvest them. In fact, leeks can take some frost, but once the temperatures start to get into the twenty’s we risk damaging them. This year however, we decided shake it up a bit and move up the harvest so we can enjoy them with some of the late summer vegetables!

It’s important to understand how leeks are grown as it directly affects how you prep them for use in your own kitchen.  Leeks have a long white shank that turns to more of a bluish green color as you reach the top of the leek.  Throughout the growing process, dirt is hilled up on the leeks to cover the shank and block sunlight which keeps it white.  As a result of this process, dirt may get between the many thin layers of the shank, which is the portion of the leek most often used.

Preparation & Usage
While you need to take care to carefully clean the entire leek, the upper portion may have a bit more dirt between the layers and may need a little more attention. I find it easiest to wash the exterior of the leek and then slice them. Place the chopped leeks in a sink of clean, cold water and swish them around to remove any dirt. Remove the leeks from the water and place in a colander to drain. If there isn’t much dirt between the layers, you may also just place the sliced leeks in a colander and rinse them.

If you’ve never cooked with leeks, it’s important to note that leeks are not “just another onion.”  While the flavor profiles are similar for all alliums, each one has its own distinct characteristics and qualities that set them apart.  Leeks are much different than the chives and ramps we delivered early in the season or the Sierra Blanca white Spanish onions we delivered in early summer.   Leeks are more mild and subtle in flavor.  They are best cooked using more gentle methods such as braising, lightly sautéing or cooking them into soups, sauces and broths.  When cooked using these more gentle methods, the texture of leeks becomes silky and tender.  Leeks have fewer sugars than onions, so they do not caramelize in the same way as an onion.  When you are sautéing leeks, do so at a low to medium temperature just until they are soft.  Do not try to brown them.

Leeks pair well with many late summer and fall vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, celeriac, and other root vegetables such as parsnips and carrots.  They are often incorporated into cream soups, gratins and egg dishes such as quiche.  A traditional use for leeks is to make Leek & Potato Soup, of which there are many variations.  Many recipes utilizing leeks also include complementary ingredients such as white wine, lemon, cream, cheese, apples, walnuts, chicken, bacon, fish and fresh herbs to name just a few ingredients.

Storage Tips
Leeks will keep for several weeks if stored in the refrigerator, loosely wrapped in plastic. We hope you enjoy this delicate allium and appreciate the subtle way it adds flavor to your meals this week!

Potato, Corn, and Leek Chowder

Yield: 6 servings
Photo from www.myrecipes.com
2 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped leeks ½ cup finely chopped celery (see note) ½ cup finely chopped sweet pepper 2 cups whole milk 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups fresh corn kernels 2 pounds gold potatoes, cubed 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste ¼- ½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
  1. Heat butter and oil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Add leek, celery, and sweet pepper; sauté for 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
  2. Combine milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk to make a smooth slurry. Slowly add milk mixture to pan, stirring constantly. Whisk in the broth, then add corn, potatoes, salt and freshly ground black pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking by adding additional salt and /or black pepper as needed.
  3. Just before serving, stir in fresh parsley.
Notes from Chef Andrea:
  • The purpose of celery in this recipe is to function as an aromatic and provide a nice background flavor. I seldom have celery in my refrigerator, so in place of celery I usually just use carrots or celery root.
  • If you want to enhance the corn-y flavor of this chowder, keep the corn cobs after you have cut the kernels off and add them to the pot along with the broth. While the chowder is simmering, the corn flavor from the cobs will infuse into the liquid and enhance the overall flavor. Just before serving, extract the corn cobs and discard them.
Recipe sourced from www.myrecipes.com

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