May 10, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Nettles

Cooking With This Week’s Box: 

This Week’s Summary of Recipes & the Vegetables They Utilize:

Nettles: Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream, Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles 
Ramps:  Spring Confetti Salad,  Ramp Chimichurri  Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream
Overwintered Parsnips:  Parsnip Soup with Toasted Almonds, Parsnips with Brown Butter, Pecans & Maple
Overwintered Sunchokes:  Sunchoke Chive Soup, Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles 
Overwintered Spinach:  Korean Spinach Salad  
Black Spanish Radishes:  Spring Confetti Salad, Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles, Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice or Black Radish Pickles
Chives:  Sunchoke Chive Soup, Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles, Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice 
Asparagus:  Roasted Asparagus with Bread Crumbs & Herbs

We have a few new items in this week’s box including one of our spring favorites, Nettles!  Don’t be intimidated by nettles, it’s just another vegetable that requires a bit of careful handling.  The benefits you’ll reap from them far outweigh the little bit of time you’ll invest in preparing them.  I’m excited to share two delicious nettle recipes with you this week.  The Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream and Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles  recipes are adaptations of recipes shared by members in our Facebook Group.  Both recipes have several components, but neither recipe is complicated and once you have the different parts prepared the final product comes together pretty quickly.  The pizza recipe is a bit on the rich side, so it would pair well with a simple, light spinach salad on the side.  The Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles is a great dish to prepare in advance and stick in the refrigerator.  It reheats well, so gives you a good, quick option for dinner on a busy night.

We’re fortunate to have a late spring which means we get to enjoy ramps again this week!  I am going to make a batch of Ramp Chimichurri this week.  This is great to have in the refrigerator as it has many uses.  I like to eat this with grilled flank steak and then use the leftovers in scrambled eggs or as a sandwich spread.  With the remaining bunch of ramps, I am going to make Chef Bri’s Spring Confetti Salad. This is a very light, simple salad that gets its flavor from ramps.  It also includes black Spanish radishes and you could add a little carrot as well.  This is a nice light salad to serve as a side dish or add some beans to it and turn it into a main dish.

I often overlook black Spanish radishes, but with limited vegetables to choose from this spring I’ve been challenged to find more ways to use them.  In last week’s newsletter we featured a recipe for Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice. This is a pretty easy recipe to prepare and makes great leftovers.  If you’re making the Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles recipe this week, prepare some extra rice and you can use it to make this recipe.  I also came across this recipe for Black Radish Pickles  I think these would be a great condiment to eat alongside sandwiches or added to spring salads over the next few weeks. 

This week I have my eye on a new recipe for Parsnip Soup with Toasted Almonds.  This is a simple, creamy soup that will make for a simple dinner and will reheat well for lunch the next day.  I also want to make one of my favorite parsnip recipes, Parsnips with Brown Butter, Pecans & Maple.  I like to serve this as a side with sautéed pork chops.

This week I’m going to use a small amount of sunchokes in the featured curry dish with nettles, but the remainder will be used to make Sunchoke Chive Soup, a recipe I developed when I was cooking for the crew my first year at the farm!  If you are one of those individuals who does better with smaller portions of sunchokes, you’ll want to enjoy this soup in small quantities.  I’m going to serve it with a Korean Spinach Salad that has hard-boiled eggs, bacon (optional) and a tangy, slightly sweet dressing.  This is a salad my mother used to make when I was a kid. 

Lastly, we are super-excited to be able to include asparagus in this week’s box!  I really enjoy this simple recipe for Roasted Asparagus with Bread Crumbs & Herbs.  We’ll enjoy this with over-easy eggs and a few pieces of bacon for Sunday morning brunch.

That brings us to the end of another CSA box.  I always enjoy seeing pictures and learning about the different recipes you’re preparing in your own homes.  Please feel free to shoot me an email with your latest creations or share them in our Facebook Group!

Featured Vegetable: Nettles (yes, the stinging kind...please read this feature for more information) 

We look forward to nettles every spring as they are one of our “Wisconsin Super Foods!” They are one of the most nutrient-dense spring greens we have available early in the season.  Please be forewarned that these nettles are the “stinging nettles” many might consider a weed.  They have little fibers on the stems that contain formic acid which will give you a “stinging” sensation if you brush up against them before they’ve been washed or try to harvest them with bare hands.  Washing the nettles will remove most of the stinging fibers and there is no sting remaining after they are cooked.  We have vigorously washed the nettles in your box and put them in a bag to make handling easier for you.  Even though we’ve washed them, I would still recommend you handle them carefully and avoid touching them with your bare hands prior to cooking them.  With a flavor similar to spinach, they contain a whole host of nutrients including protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, boron, carotenoids and iron.  They are also reported to relieve eczema and seasonal allergies. 

Nettle leaves are perishable, so it is best to cook them shortly after you receive them.  Even if you don’t want to eat them right away, it is better to store them in their cooked form for a few days until you are ready to use them.  The cooking water actually makes a beautiful tea, so don’t discard it.  You can drink the tea either hot or cold and mixed with honey and lemon.  It’s delicious and makes the cooking process dual purpose.  Nettles actually originated in Europe and Asia, so are a familiar vegetable in many of the cuisines from these regions.  They are often used to make soups, but you can also use the nettles in a pesto, to top off a pizza, or incorporated into a risotto or pasta dishes.  Nettle puree may be used in pasta or gnocchi dough to make a stunning appearance, or the nettles can be used in a ravioli filling.  Nettles pair well with cheese, cream, mushrooms and other spring greens.

Please refer to the handling instructions and tips that follow before you open your bag and use the nettles.  These guidelines will help you find success with your nettles!  If you do get a little sting while handling nettles, it generally subsides within an hour.  If the sting does persist you may find it soothing to apply a little aloe vera or make a paste with baking soda and water and put it on the affected area.

Please note, while most people eat nettles cooked, you can eat them raw as well.  If you choose to eat them raw, we would advise you to do so in a form that requires them to be chopped finely either with a knife or in a food processor, such as nettle pesto.  Some individuals may be sensitive to eating raw nettles, so if you have any hesitancy we’d recommend just blanching or thoroughly cooking the nettles before you eat them. Below we have outlined two methods for handling and blanching nettles.  Choose whichever method you prefer and don’t let a little extra handling deter you from eating this wonderful spring vegetable!

Method #1:  Blanch nettles whole with the leaves still attached to the main stem

Step 1:  Wash the nettles
Use the bag the bunch of nettles is in as a barrier between your hand and the nettles.  Hold the bunch of nettles with your hand on the outside of the bag.  Pull the bag back and over your hand to expose the nettles.  Carefully remove the twist tie and put the bunch of nettles in a sink of cold water.  You can use your bag-covered hand to swish the nettles around in the water.  Alternatively, you can use kitchen tongs or gloves to wash the nettles as well.  While we have washed the nettles at the farm, it is good to do so again after removing the twist tie.

Step 2:  Blanch the nettles
Blanching is a cooking process where a food, usually a vegetable, is cooked briefly in boiling water, then removed and immediately placed into iced water or placed under cold running water to stop the cooking process.  In the case of nettles, blanching is important to remove the sting from the nettles so they are easier to work with.

Bring a pot of water to a vigorous boil.  Using a pair of tongs, remove the nettles from the sink of water and transfer them to the boiling water.  Submerge the nettles completely in the water and boil for about 2-3 minutes.  The nettles will wilt and turn bright emerald green.  Remove the nettles from the water and put them into a colander.  Run cold water over them or plunge them into a bowl with iced water. 

Step 3:  Prepare the leaves for use
Now that the nettles are cooked, you can handle them with your bare hands.  Remove them from the cold water and squeeze out all the excess water.  Using a paring knife or kitchen shears, cut the leaves and any small stems off the main stem.  Discard the main stem and the leaves are now ready to use!

Method #2:  Remove the leaves from the main stem before blanching

Step 1:  Wash the nettles
Use the bag the bunch of nettles is in as a barrier between your hand and the bunch of nettles.  Hold the bunch of nettles with your hand on the outside of the bag.  Pull the bag back and over your hand to expose the nettles.  Carefully remove the twist tie and put the bunch of nettles in a sink of cold water.  You can use your bag-covered hand to swish the nettles around in the water.  Alternatively, you can use kitchen tongs or gloves to wash the nettles as well.  While we have washed the nettles at the farm, it is good to do so again after removing the twist tie.

Step 2:  Cut the nettle leaves from the main stem
Use the bag as a glove so you can pick the stems up individually.  Using kitchen shears, cut the leaves and small stems away from the main stem.  Collect the leaves in a bowl and discard the main stem. 

Step 3:  Blanch the nettles
Blanching is a cooking process where a food, usually a vegetable, is cooked briefly in boiling water, then removed and immediately placed into iced water or placed under cold running water to stop the cooking process.  In the case of nettles, blanching is important to remove the sting from the nettles so they are easier to work with.

Bring a pot of water to a vigorous boil.  Using a pair of tongs, dump the nettle leaves into the boiling water and use the tongs to make sure they are fully submerged.  Boil for about 2-3 minutes.  The nettles will wilt and turn bright emerald green.  Remove the nettles from the water using tongs or a slotted spoon and put them into a colander.  Run cold water over them or plunge them into a bowl with iced water. 

Step 4:  Prepare the leaves for use
Now that the nettles are cooked, you can handle them with your bare hands.  Remove them from the cold water and squeeze out all the excess water.  The leaves are now ready to use!

Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream 

Yield:  One 12-14 inch pizza


½ bu ramps*
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp dry white wine
½ cup heavy cream
Pizza dough for one 12-14 inch pizza
1 bunch nettles
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
4 oz fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 oz mozzarella, shredded or thinly sliced
Parmesan cheese, for serving


*If ramps are not available, substitute 2-4 stalks of green garlic or 2-4 spring scallions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  
2. Clean ramps and separate the greens from the white bulbs.  Thinly slice the leaves and set aside.  Finely mince the bulbs.  
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Add the minced ramp bulbs and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add the white wine and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the heavy cream and ⅛ tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Simmer over low heat until the mixture is reduced to about half the volume and has thickened.  The sauce should coat the back of a spoon.  Remove the cream mixture from the heat and stir in the ramp greens.  You should have about ½ cup of cream sauce.  Set aside.
4. Prepare the nettles by first washing them in a sink of cold water.  Then, using a kitchen shears, trim the leaves from the stems and collect them in a bowl.  Discard the stems.
5. In a medium saute pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and sautè just until softened.  Add an additional ½ to 1 full tablespoon of oil to the pan and then add the nettle leaves.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan for 2-3 minutes or just until the nettle leaves are wilted.  Remove from the heat.
6. Prepare the pizza dough.  Roll or press the dough into a 12-14 inch circle and place on a pizza stone or baking sheet dusted with cornmeal or semolina to keep it from sticking.  Prebake the pizza crust for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven.  Spread the ramp cream evenly on the crust, being sure to take it all the way to the edges.  Next, spread the mozzarella cheese on top of the cream.  Evenly spread the nettle and mushroom mixture on top of the cheese.  
7. Put the pizza back in the oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown, the cheese is melted and the cream is bubbling.  
8. Remove the pizza from the oven and grate Parmesan cheese over the top.  Cut and serve.

Note from Chef Andrea:  This is my adaptation of a recipe entitled “Pizza with Garlic Cream and Nettles” which may be found at foodandwine.com.  My version has more cream sauce and toppings than the original recipe and is rich, but balanced.  If you prefer a drier, lighter pizza, refer to the original recipe.

Coconut Chicken & Chickpea Curry with Nettles 

Yield:  4 servings

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs

2 ½ tsp mild curry powder

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk

1 (2 ½ inch) piece ginger, peeled

4 garlic cloves or 2-3 pieces green garlic, ramps or scallions, lower white portion only

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp coconut or vegetable oil, divided

½ cup sunchokes, small dice*

½ cup black Spanish radish, small dice*

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 bunch nettles

¼ cup raw cashews, chopped

1 ½ tsp yellow and/or black mustard seeds

1 cup finely minced chives

Cooked rice, for serving

*You may substitute other root vegetables (such as carrots or parsnips) if sunchokes and black Spanish radishes are not available. 

1. Slice chicken into 1-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl.  Add curry powder, 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper.  Mix the spices with the chicken and set aside.
2. Place coconut milk, ginger and garlic (or green garlic, ramps or scallions if using) in a blender and process until the mixture is very smooth.  Set aside.
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sunchokes and radishes and cook, stirring periodically, until the vegetables are tender and starting to brown.  Add the chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes or just until the chicken starts to brown just a bit.  Add the chickpeas and the coconut milk mixture to the pan and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.  
4. While the curry is simmering, prepare the nettles.  First wash the nettles in a sink of cold water.  Then, using a kitchen shears, trim the leaves off the stem and collect them in a bowl.  Discard the stems.  Once the sauce is thickened, add the nettles to the pan and cover just until the leaves have wilted.  Remove the lid from the pan and stir to combine.  Taste the sauce and season to your liking with salt and pepper as needed.
5. Lastly, heat 2 tsp oil in a small sautè pan over medium heat.  Add the chopped cashews and mustard seeds. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.  Immediately transfer mixture to a small bowl.
6. Serve the curry mixture over rice and garnish each portion with some of the cashew & mustard seed mixture as well as 3-4 tablespoons of minced chives.

Note from Chef Andrea:  This spring curry recipe was adapted from a recipe entitled “Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry” which may be found at epicurious.com.  While there are several components to this recipe, it actually comes together pretty quickly.  This is a good recipe to make in advance and then refrigerate the components individually.  When you are ready to eat, simply reheat the rice and curry mixture and add the garnishes before serving.  The fresh chives and the cashew/mustard seed garnish are a nice touch on the final dish.

May 3, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents

Cooking with this Week’s Box

Black Spanish Radishes:  Black Radish Salad or Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice (See Below)

Overwintered Spinach:  Creamed Spinach and Ramps & Spring Spinach Chop Salad with Creamy Buttermilk Ramp Dressing

Overwintered Sunchokes:  Chili Roasted Sunchokes (See Below) or Chile and Lime Sunchoke Salsa

Overwintered Parsnips:  Parsnip Muffins or Parsnip Spice Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting 

Chives:  Spring Parsnip Mash or Curried Egg Salad 

Ramps:  Chef Bonnie’s Ramp Deviled Eggs or Creamed Spinach and Ramps or Spring Spinach Chop Salad with Creamy Buttermilk Ramp Dressing   

I don’t know about you, but I know I’m ready to start cooking with fresh food again!  I hope you had an enjoyable winter and are ready to jump back into some seasonal CSA cooking.  If you aren’t familiar with the items in this week’s box, please take a little time to read this week’s main article.  I also want to mention that we have an awesome Facebook Group that all CSA members are welcome to join.  This is a great place to share recipes with other members as well as learn from and encourage each other.  We also have all of our previous years’ newsletters archived on our website and have a searchable recipe database as well.  Please use these resources to learn more about your food and find tasty recipes.

Lets get cooking.  Black Spanish radishes may be a bit intimidating at first, but they are really quite manageable.  If you like the crisp radish flavor, I’d recommend trying the Black Radish Salad  featured back in one of our early 2007 newsletters.  This is one of my original recipes and calls for mint and basil.  If you don’t have these herbs available right now, you could also use some chives or any other fresh herbs of your choosing.  If you are not much of a radish eater, try cooking them.  You’ll likely be surprised by their sweet, mellow flavor.  Try the recipe featured in this week’s newsletter for Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice.  (See Below)

This week is Richard’s birthday week, so perhaps we should include some of his favorite recipes.  For starters, he is a good Midwestern man who loves ranch dressing.  One of his favorite ramp recipes is for Spring Spinach Chop Salad with Creamy Buttermilk Ramp Dressing.   It’s reminiscent of ranch dressing, but much better!  He’s also a fan of Creamed Spinach and Ramps and if there are any ramps left over, a batch of Chef Bonnie’s Ramp Deviled Eggs are always a hit with Richard!  We’ll finish off the week with a German Chocolate Cake as we celebrate another year of Richard’s life!

We always enjoy overwintered parsnips and usually eat them several times as simple oven-roasted parsnips that are sweet as candy.  This is also a good time of year to turn them into a baked good such as Parsnip Muffins or Parsnip Spice Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting.

Just in case you didn’t have a chance to read the newsletter, I’m going to mention here that some people do have some abdominal discomfort when they eat sunchokes while others are unaffected.  If you are eating them for the first time, try a small serving to start with.  You may find a small quantity is well-tolerated.  Roasted sunchokes are my favorite way to eat this vegetable because they get crispy on the exterior and are moist and fluffy inside.  This week’s newsletter features my recipe for Chili Roasted Sunchokes (See Below).  You can eat them on their own or make a combination of roasted sunchokes and black radishes.  I also like to make sunchoke croutons to eat on top of a spinach salad.  It’s a great way to eat a small portion where you can enjoy their flavor and crunch.  I also like to make this Chile and Lime Sunchoke Salsa that is great on top of a piece of salmon or chicken tacos.  Yes, I think chili and lime are great flavor complements for sunchokes! 

Last but not least, we need to find a use for the pretty little bunch of chives.  Andrea Beming has a great recipe for a Spring Parsnip Mash that includes fresh chives or check out Heidi Swanson’s recipe for Curried Egg Salad.  Her version includes bits of apples & fresh chives to complement the curry seasonings. 

Enjoy cooking out of the first box of the season and I look forward to meeting you back here next week with more delicious spring recipe ideas!—Chef Andrea

Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter, Chives & Rice

Yield:  4 servings as a side or 2 servings as a main


1-1¼ pound black radishes
2-3 tsp olive oil
Salt & black pepper, to taste
1 ½ Tbsp unsalted butter
¼ tsp red chile flakes
3 cups cooked rice
2 Tbsp minced chives
1 ½ tsp honey
1 tsp white wine vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Cut the black radishes into medium dice.  Put the black radishes in a bowl and drizzle with 2-3 tsp olive oil.  You will need just enough oil to thoroughly coat all the pieces.  Season the radishes with salt and pepper and toss to evenly distribute the oil and seasonings.  Place the radishes in a skillet or pan with an ovenproof handle.
2. Roast the black radish in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pieces are starting to brown and are tender.  You may have to turn the radishes once or twice during the cooking time.  Remove the pan from the oven and put on the stovetop.  Turn the burner on to medium heat.  Add the butter and red chile flakes to the pan.  Once the butter is melted, cook until it starts to turn golden brown and nutty smelling, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to combine.  Continue to cook the rice, stirring it frequently, until the rice is heated through.  
3. Remove the pan from heat and add the chives, vinegar and honey.  Stir to combine, then adjust seasoning to your tastes by adding more salt, pepper, honey and/or vinegar as needed.  Serve hot as a side dish or as a main item.  If you have leftovers, consider reheating and serving with a fried egg on top!

Recipe developed by Chef Andrea Yoder

Chili-Roasted Sunchokes (with a Crouton Variation)

By Chef Andrea Yoder
This is one of my original HVF recipes that I developed back in 2007!  It’s still a favorite, so I thought I’d share it again along with a few variations you might want to consider.

Serves 3-4

1# sunchokes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Cut sunchokes into 1” pieces and put in a medium bowl.
2. Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper and pour over the sunchokes.  Toss sunchokes in oil mixture until well coated.
3. Transfer the sunchokes to a baking dish or sheet tray and roast until tender, about 30-35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and toss with the lime juice just before serving.

Variations:

• Croutons:  If you cut the sunchoke pieces into a small dice size and roast them until they are crispy, you can use them as a “crouton” to garnish a spinach salad or a warm bowl of soup.
• Roasted sunchokes & black Spanish radishes.  Consider using using ½ pound sunchokes and ½ pound black radishes.  This is a good option for individuals who prefer to eat smaller quantities of sunchokes at a time.
• If you aren’t a fan of the chili and lime combination, make up your own spice blend or use something that is already blended such as Madras curry powder.

August 10, 2017: This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Cucumbers

Cooking with this Week's Box!

Welcome back for another week of cooking and eating out of the CSA Box.  This week I’m in the mood for simple food.  Simple in the sense of basic cooking methods, classic preparations, simple seasonings, and basically just stepping back and letting the vegetables stand on their own.  None of this week’s suggestions are complicated or intricate.  Some recipes may require time to marinate meat or bake something, so you’ll have to plan ahead a bit, but nothing is hard or time consuming. 

Lets start with this week’s featured vegetable, cucumbers!  This week I vote for the Vietnamese Cucumber Salad featured below.  This recipe consists of a bowl full of sliced cucumbers and onions tossed with fresh herbs, chopped peanuts, garlic and minced jalapeno dressed with a simple 5-ingredient dressing.  It would be excellent served with Vietnamese Pork Chops.  The pork chops are marinated for about 20 minutes before cooking, so marinate the chops first before you make the cucumber salad. 

The next recipe I’d like to suggest is Sauteed Sirloin Tips with Bell Peppers & Onions served with Potato Gratin. For this meal, you will need to plan ahead and marinate the sirloin tips overnight.  I would suggest putting this entire meal together the night before or better yet, if you are a weekend prepper, prep this meal on Saturday or Sunday.  Marinate the steak and make the potato gratin…even bake it off, cool it to room temp and refrigerate it.  When you get home from work the next evening, all you have to do is reheat the gratin and cook the sirloin tips along with the green bell and Italian frying peppers. 

Roasted chicken is such a simple dish.  Don’t let a whole bird intimidate you.  All you have to do is season it and put it in the oven to bake.  If you need a recipe to guide you, look in any basic cookbook or choose your favorite one on-line.  I like to put a layer of vegetables in the bottom of my roasting pan when I roast a chicken.  The vegetables cook in the juices running off of the chicken, making them so delicious.  Plus, an added benefit is that the vegetables prevent any splattering of juice and fat in your oven!  So this week I’m going to roast carrots and zucchini under the chicken.  The zucchini won’t need as long to cook, so I’ll add the zucchini to the pan about half way through the cooking time for the chicken.  By the time the chicken is cooked, the vegetables should be tender and golden.  Remove the chicken from the pan to rest for about 10 minutes.  Add a big handful of chopped fresh herbs from your garden to the vegetables and your dinner of Roasted Chicken with Roasted Carrots and Zucchini is ready!  One of the great things about a whole roasted chicken is how many meals you can get out of it!  Use the chicken carcass to make a delicious broth to use as the base for a simple Chicken and Noodle Soup.  Before you go to work in the morning, put the carcass in your crockpot along with some onions, garlic and some dried sage and parsley.  Let it simmer on the lowest setting all day.  When you get home in the evening you’ll be met by the aroma of homemade chicken broth!  Strain the vegetables and bones out of the broth and then reheat the broth in a pan on the stove.  Add some chopped onion, garlic and any leftover roasted vegetables and chicken you have remaining from the night before.  Bring the broth to a simmer and then add some noodles of your choosing.  Simmer the broth just until the noodles are cooked, then add a big handful of chopped fresh herbs to the pan and dinner is ready! 

One of my favorite ways to prepare cauliflower is to simply roast it.  My next meal suggestion could be prepared any night of the week, but it might be a nice fit for “Friday night Fish Fry.”   Turn your cauliflower into Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower and serve it with  Panko Crusted Fish Sticks with Herb Dip.  The fish sticks are actually baked, which I think is easier and leaves you with less mess to clean up.  Plus, you have the oven heated up to roast the cauliflower, so you might as well bake the fish in there too!  My strategy for preparing this meal is to make the sauce and put it in the fridge while the oven is preheating.  Then prep the cauliflower and get it in the oven to start roasting.   While it’s roasting, prepare the fish sticks.  The cauliflower will take 30-45 minutes to roast and then you put the cheese on and bake it another 10 minutes.  The fish will only take 12-15 minutes to bake, so put the fish in the oven when it’s time to add the cheese to the cauliflower and that should bring everything into the home stretch at about the same time! 

The tomatoes and green beans this week are going to form the base for this simple Penne with Tomatoes, Basil, Green Beans & Feta. Eat it as is or add some Italian sausage or some leftover roasted chicken to the dish if you’d like.

And lastly, I am on a kick with including broccoli in my Sunday brunch egg dishes!  This week I’m going to make this Broccoli and Mushroom Egg Bake  and serve it with Honey Skillet Cornbread. The catch is the cornbread will include the fresh corn in this week’s box.  Just cut it off the cob with a paring knife and include it in the cornbread.  There’s one catch to this plan, the cooking times for these two dishes are different.  One is at 350°F and the other is at 400°F….compromise at 375°F and I think you’ll be just fine.  If there are two of you in the kitchen, each of you tackle one of the dishes and you can sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and the morning paper for half an hour while your breakfast/brunch bakes.  Bread takes 20 minutes and the eggs take 30-35 minutes.  Best to let the bread rest a bit, so even if they go in the oven at the same time, it will all work together in harmony.  Serve this meal with fresh slices of SWEET SARAH CANTALOUPE!!!

Well, that brings us to the bottom of yet another CSA box.  We’ve all been anticipating tomato season, and I suspect next week’s box will include a sizeable bag of tomatoes.  So, get those tomato  recipes ready!—Chef Andrea  

Vegetable Feature:  Cucumbers

 

“Why Cucumbers? (Doesn’t everyone know about cucumbers?)”  This is the opening line to the chapter about cucumbers in Elizabeth Schneider’s book, Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini.  Cucumbers are a fairly mild-flavored vegetable with a high water content, but they are more than just crispy.  In this country we may be most familiar with the American green slicer variety, but this is just one of many different types of cucumbers grown around the world.  They do have characteristics that vary from variety to variety including appearance as well as flavor.  For example, there are long Asian cucumbers that are long and sometimes kind of curled.  There are also Armenian cucumbers that are described as  “serpentine fruit” because of their long, narrow, curled shape.  A few years ago we grew an Indian cucumber called Poona Kheera.  It was a small, stout cucumber that was bright golden in color when young and then the skin became russeted when fully matured.  We grow several different varieties of green slicer cucumbers, and in recent years we’ve taken a liking to a variety called Silver Slicer.  This variety was bred by Cornell University and is distinctly identified by its pale yellow skin and crisp, white flesh.  We like it because it yields well, holds up well after picking without getting soft, has tender skin that doesn’t get bitter and it has an excellent fruity flavor.  It is a little smaller than a traditional green slicer, which is also an advantage because it has a smaller seed cavity.

Transplanting cucumbers

Cucumbers may be grown in a variety of growing systems.  Some are grown in hoop houses or hydroponic systems with trellises to tame the vines and keep the fruit and plants upright.  We choose to grow our cucumbers in the old fashioned way…in the dirt outside in the fields.  We do have a unique strategy though.  We start all of our cucumbers in the greenhouse as a transplant.  They grow very quickly once the seed germinates, so we only have about three weeks from when the seeds are planted to get the field ready!  We plant our cucumbers on raised beds covered with a reflective silver plastic that has drip irrigation lines running underneath it.  We do this for several reasons.  First, the reflective plastic helps deter pests such as cucumber beetles which can wreak havoc on the plants by chewing the leaves and scarring the fruit.  The plastic mulch also provides some heat gain which helps encourage growth in this heat-loving crop.  We plant an early crop that we put in the field as soon as possible in the spring and then do a second planting to get us through the latter part of summer.  We typically cover the first planting with a row cover draped over wire hoops.  This protects the plants from any chilly nights and also helps trap more heat to help the plants get established and take off.  Once the plants are producing fruit, you can almost predict the volume of a harvest by the temperature.  Ok, not quite, but they are very responsive to changes in temperature and if you have a really warm week you can really see some phenomenal growth and be surprised with harvests that literally double and sometimes triple seemingly overnight!

Cucumbers are a simple food that may be eaten raw or cooked.  I have to admit I don’t have a lot of experience eating cucumbers cooked, other than a canned pickle.  While cucumbers are most often eaten raw in salads, sliced onto sandwiches, eaten with dip or simply salted, they can also be cooked.  I’ve seen recipes, such as the one featured in this week’s newsletter, for stir-fried cucumbers, but they can also be used in soup, braised, lightly sautéed or wilted.

If you find yourself with more cucumbers than you can eat in a given week, you can always turn back to the good old pickling method.  Refrigerator pickles are a quick and easy way to preserve cucumbers that won’t require canning or any special equipment.  While I, admittedly, most often consume cucumbers in the form of a simple creamy cucumber salad or simply sliced and salted, don’t limit yourself!  Branch out and try a cucumber stir-fry or make a cucumber soup—chilled or hot.  You can even make some delicious, refreshing cucumber drinks!   

Spicy Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Shredded Chicken

Yield:  4 servings

12 oz skinless, boneless chicken breast, pounded ⅛ inch thick and very thinly sliced crosswise

5 garlic cloves, smashed, divided

1 Tbsp finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger, divided

1 tsp baking soda

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

¼ cup distilled white vinegar

1 tsp sugar

3 Tbsp canola oil, divided

12 dried red chiles, such as chiles de arbol—10 left whole, 2 stemmed and crumbled

1 pound cucumbers, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

1 serrano chile (substitute jalapeño), thinly sliced

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Lemon wedges and steamed rice, for serving

1. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with half of the garlic and ginger and the baking soda;  season with salt and pepper.  In a small bowl, stir the vinegar with the sugar and ¼ cup of water.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp of the oil until shimmering.  Add the chicken and stir-fry over moderately high heat until the chicken is almost cooked through, 2 minutes; transfer the chicken to a plate.  Add the remaining 1 Tbsp of the oil to the skillet along with the whole and crumbled dried chiles, cucumbers, vinegar mixture and the remaining garlic and ginger;  season with salt and pepper.  Stir-fry over moderate heat until the cucumbers are softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, 3 minutes.  
3. Add the chicken and serrano/jalapeño and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through, 1 minute.  Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper.  Serve with lemon wedges and rice.

This recipe was featured in Food & Wine, October 2013.

Vietnamese Cucumber Salad

2 pounds cucumbers

1 large jalapeño, seeds and veins removed if desired, thinly sliced

3 scallions, finely sliced (substitute 1 medium onion, thinly sliced)

1 garlic clove, finely grated or pounded with a pinch of salt

½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

16 large mint leaves, coarsely chopped

½ cup toasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

¼ cup neutral-tasting oil (eg. sunflower oil)

4 to 5 Tbsp lime juice

4 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

Pinch of salt

1. Using either a Japanese mandolin or a sharp knife, thinly slice the cucumbers into coins, discarding the ends.  
2. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, jalapeño, onions, garlic, cilantro, mint, and peanuts.  
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, 4 Tbsp lime juice, the vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, and a small pinch of salt.  
4. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette and toss to combine.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and more lime juice as needed.  Serve immediately.

This recipe is from Samin Nosrat’s book, Salt Fat Acid Heat.  It was featured in an article on the alexandracooks.com blog.