September 26, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Broccoli

 

What's In The Box

Italian Garlic: If you want to take your next batch of mashed potatoes to the next level, boil the potatoes with a few cloves of garlic and then mash the cooked garlic in with the potatoes. Alternatively, you can roast a whole head of garlic and add the roasted garlic to the cooked potatoes when you mash them.

Yellow Onions: Our yellow onion varieties are selected both for long-term storage potential as well as flavor. We like a pungent onion that also has some natural sweetness to help create a more balanced flavor. Thus, these onions serve as a “multi-purpose” onion that is appropriate for pretty much any cooked or raw application.

Orange and/or Red Italian Frying Peppers: These sweet peppers are in their prime right now and are a tasty treat eaten both raw and cooked. Add them to egg dishes, stir-fry, soups, stews and chowders, salads, and slaws. You can also roast them and use them to make a tasty roasted pepper sauce for pasta or chicken.

Mini Sweet Peppers: There is a half-pound portion of these sweet mini bell peppers in this week’s box. These are the perfect grab-n-go snack as they need no prep! They are also great for roasting and stuffing with fillings of your choice.

Tomatoes: The tomatoes in our second planting are almost finished for the year, except for the Roma tomatoes that are still ripening! Now is the time to savor the final BLTs of the season, make a few more batches of fresh salsa and savor the last few weeks of fresh tomatoes. We’ll continue to pick Roma tomatoes as long as we can but know that the end is in sight.

Salad Mix: Fall is our preferred time of the year to grow these delicate salad greens. This mix is a flavorful blend of spicy Asian greens mixed with several different varieties of lettuce. The key to longer shelf life is to keep the bag refrigerated.

Baby Spinach: Our fall spinach will be limited this year. Enjoy this week’s spinach as the base to a fresh salad or wilt it into soup or pasta.

Purple, Yellow and/or White Cauliflower or Broccoli Romanesco: We are in the peak of fall cauliflower right now! Enjoy cauliflower raw or cooked, add it to mashed potatoes, use it to make cauliflower “rice,” or even incorporate it into baked goods!

Green Romaine Lettuce: These heads of crispy romaine made it just in time to make one more Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato sandwich! Of course, you might choose to use it to make a traditional Caesar salad as well. Wash leaves well and pat dry before using.

Broccoli: This week has been a HUGE broccoli harvest week! By the end of this week, we will likely have harvested over 2,500 pounds of broccoli! Check out this week’s featured recipes for a few ideas for putting this item to use.

Leeks: This is our final week of leeks. If you haven’t made the traditional Potato Leek soup yet, now is your chance!

Orange Carrots: We’re moving into soup and stew season, and this is the perfect vegetable to include in any soup base. You can also make it the star of the show and make carrot soup. Suggestions below!

Russet Potatoes: This year we tried a new variety of russet potatoes, which have proven to have strong yields and great flavor! Russet potatoes are a dry, starchy potato. They are a great option for making mashed potatoes, deep fried French fries, or a simple baked potato. Of course, they would also make a tasty potato leek soup!

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Make-Ahead Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Cider Braised Short Ribs with Caramelized Onions

Caramelized Onion & Broccoli Quiche

Creamy Roasted Pepper Pasta

Sweet Pepper Stir-Fry with Basil & Tofu

Taco Stuffed Mini Peppers

Hummus Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

Mixed Green Salad with Goat Cheese, Maple Glazed Pecans and Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

Spinach Salad with Apples, Walnuts & Feta

48 Spinach Salad Recipes You’ll Love To Eat

How To Make Cauliflower Rice

Foolproof Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Cauliflower Biscuits

Mashed Cauliflower & Potatoes

Best Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

Vegan Caesar Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

Broccoli Pizza

Baked Broccoli Mac & Cheese

15 Minute Creamy Leek and Mushroom Pasta

Carrot Ginger Soup with Crispy Shallots

Hungarian Carrot Stew

Vegetable Feature: Broccoli

Broccoli is in the Brassica family, along with cauliflower and cabbage. This green vegetable often looks like a tree when you find it in the grocery store, but in the field (and in our boxes) it sports collard greens like leaves that are also edible. We grow broccoli in the spring, summer and fall, starting some of our plants out in the greenhouse, but planting the later crops directly into the soil in our fields.                                                                                                                                                  Preparation & Usage: Broccoli should be washed prior to use. It can be eaten raw, boiled, steamed, roasted, or sautéed. Recent studies show that steamed broccoli is the best way to cook it in order to retain the most nutritional value. The edible leaves have a more mild broccoli flavor than the stems and florets.  You can use these leaves similar to how you would use kale or collards, as a cooking green, in smoothies, in salads, or roasted into chips!

Storage Tips: Broccoli should be stored, unwashed, loosely wrapped in plastic or a perforated bag, and in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Health & Nutrition: While oranges are the most common thing that come to mind when looking for Vitamin C, half a cup of broccoli contains 84% of the daily recommendation for this vitamin.  It is also loaded with fiber, antioxidants, Vitamin K, iron and potassium.                                                                                                                                Additional Fun Facts: The word broccoli comes from an Italian word that means “the flowering crest of cabbage.”

Broccoli Slaw

Broccoli is a versatile vegetable that can be used in a myriad of dishes, both cooked and raw. This week we are featuring two simple recipes that you can prepare and have on the table in very little time!  The first is for a simple, creamy broccoli slaw, complemented with sweet cranberries and dressed with a creamy, slightly tangy dressing. The second recipe for Soba Noodles with Sesame Chicken & Broccoli is an application requiring short cooking of broccoli. This recipe calls for Soba noodles, but you can use any other long, thin noodle you have available. This is a quick recipe that will allow you to have a healthy dinner on the table in short order!

Photo from www.smittenkitchen.com

Yield:  8 cups of slaw

¾ to 1 pound broccoli

½ cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted

⅓ cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

½ cup buttermilk, well shaken

½ cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

½ small red onion, finely chopped

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Trim the broccoli head and cut the florets into large chunks; then cut each chunk into thin slices.  Peel the outer skin from the broccoli stem. Cut the stems into thin slices lengthwise, then cut them in the other direction to yield thin matchsticks. 
2. In a large bowl, toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds and cranberries. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, mayo, vinegar, sugar, and table salt until smooth. Add the dressing to the broccoli mixture, along with the onion. Stir the salad until the broccoli is evenly coated with the dressing. Seve immediately or keep covered in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

Recipe borrowed from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman.

 

Soba Noodles with Sesame Chicken & Broccoli

Yield:  4 servings

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 1 pound

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Black Pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

12 oz dried soba noodles

1 pound broccoli, stems and florets chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 scallions, chopped 

3 Tbsp soy sauce, plus more to taste

2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it. Turn on the broiler and position the rack 4 inches below the heat.  Spread the chicken pieces on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and coat with the vegetable oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle on both sides with the sesame seeds. Broil, turning the thighs once or twice to prevent the seeds from burning, until the chicken is cooked through and golden in places and the pan is almost dry, 10-15 minutes total.
2. Add the noodles to the boiling water, cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then start tasting when the noodles are pliable but not quite ready. Add the broccoli and cook until it turns bright green, another minute or 2. Drain the noodles and the broccoli, rinse with cold running water to stop the cooking, then shake the colander and drain again.
3. Slice the chicken into narrow strips and put in a large serving bowl with any pan juices and the scallions, soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss to coat, add the noodle mixture, and toss again. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve warm or at room temperature.