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.

WELCOME TO SPRING 2018!

By Chef Andrea Yoder

Welcome to the 2018 CSA Season!  Whether this is your first year “eating out of the box” or you are a seasoned veteran with years of experience, we hope you enjoy this journey of seasonal eating adventures.  Learning to eat “out of the box” is a transition for your mind as well as your palate.  Many of our longtime members tell us it takes a good three years to make the solid transition to change the way you approach mealtime as you build your meals and menus around the seasonal produce in your CSA box.   Seasonal eating is not some new concept recently developed, it’s how our ancestor previously ate out of necessity!  This way of eating makes us more aware of the seasonal changes in our environment.  We look to the fields, or to our storage areas throughout the winter, to find the ingredients we’ll build our meals upon. In doing so, we can enjoy a wide variety of vegetables that are at their peak of freshness in their season and nourish our bodies in just the right way during that time of the year.    

Early spring can be a challenging time of the year to eat local, seasonal food.  Our ancestors didn’t have the luxury of going to the grocery store to purchase produce shipped in from other parts of the country during the winter.  They had to store food from their fall harvests to sustain them until the next growing season.  In the spring time, when their stores of winter root vegetables had dwindled, I’m sure they looked forward to the return of fresh, spring food.  While the start of every spring can be difficult, this year in particular has been very challenging!  This year spring came very late and we set a new record for the latest day to start working in the fields!  We started on April 25, a full week later than our previous record-setting date.  Thankfully we’ve been able to get a lot of crops planted and have really made some good progress, but it will be at least another 4 weeks or so before we can harvest anything from these plantings.  Chef Joshua McFadden, in his book entitled Six Seasons, calls this time of year the “hunger gap.”  “The ‘hunger gap’ is the period between the end of winter and beginning of spring vegetables.  You’re either sick of winter vegetables or you’ve consumed them all, and you can’t wait for the first radishes and lettuces of spring to appear.”  Thankfully, we have some other options and tactics we can employ to help us bridge this gap.  While we’re waiting for the spring planted crops to mature, we continue to rely on storage vegetables such as black Spanish radishes, as well as overwintered root crops including sunchokes and parsnips.  We also look to our wild areas where we can forage edible plants such as ramps.  Lastly, we rely on perennial vegetables and fall-planted crops to bridge this gap.  These are crops that are planted in the field and can survive a Midwestern winter.  They start growing in the spring long before any other spring planted vegetable will be ready.  These crops include chives, potato onions, Egyptian walking onions, green garlic, asparagus, sorrel and nettles.  So while it might seem like slim-pickings this time of year, we still have plenty to sustain and nourish us! 

We realize many members may not be familiar with the vegetable selections in this week’s box, but we want to reassure you that we are here to help you!  We usually feature one vegetable each week in our newsletter and on our blog.  Since this week’s box contains some unique selections, we couldn’t decide on just one vegetable to feature!  So, we’re going to walk you through this week’s box and share a little more information about each one.  We’ve featured nearly all of these vegetables in previous newsletters, so if you’re interested in reading more about a particular selection, please refer to the newsletter archive section on our website where you’ll be able to view these articles.  I’ve provided links for you throughout the remainder of the article.

Lets tackle these mysterious looking Black Spanish Radishes first.  These are the vegetable that have the black skin and resemble a turnip.  Yes, the skin is supposed to be black!  This is a storage radish with a tremendous ability to store for months.  We harvested these late last fall and have kept them in cold storage.  There are very few vegetables we grow that have a storage capability as long as Black Spanish Radishes.  They are just as good now as they were five or six months ago!  This is a pungent radish with a bit of a horseradish flavor.  The flesh is dense, crisp and white.  They may be eaten raw or cooked.  If you are a radish-lover, you’ll likely appreciate their strong bite.  If you aren’t as keen on the flavor of a strong radish, you’ll want to consider cooking them or peeling them to lessen the pungency.  Cooking mellows the radish flavor significantly and you’ll actually taste more of their sweetness.  You can roast, steam or saute black Spanish radishes, but they are also good added to soups, stews and other cooked preparations.  If you are eating them raw, slice them thinly and eat them with a bit of salt or layer them on a piece of good bread with some butter for a radish sandwich.  You can also shred or dice the radish and mix them into sour cream to make a nice condiment for beef, lentils, pork, etc. 

Sunchokes are another unique vegetable in this week’s spring lineup.  These are the knobby root vegetables that kind of resemble ginger or a potato.  We left some of last year’s crop in the field to “overwinter” and harvested them this spring.  It was a hard winter for overwintered vegetables and we are seeing some surface skin discoloration on this year’s crop.  It is only on the surface, so simply peel off the skin and you’ll find a dense, white, crisp flesh inside. They have a mild, nutty flavor and may be eaten raw or cooked.  When cooked, sunchokes can be prepared in any way you might prepare a potato.  They are excellent when roasted, but also make a nice smooth cream soup.  They are also good in stir-fry and resemble a water-chestnut for this use.  If you prefer to eat them raw, you can use them in salads, or turn them into a salsa-type condiment.  This next bit of information is important, so listen up.  Sunchokes contain a non-digestible fiber called inulin which is actually a pre-biotic nutrient and very beneficial for our health.  Prebiotics are an important food source for the beneficial bacteria in our large intestine.  While the health benefits are great, some people do experience abdominal discomfort and flatulence when they eat sunchokes.  In some individuals, the response is dose-dependent, so if you are eating sunchokes for the first time, do so in small quantities until you see what your body’s response will be.  I like to use sunchokes in small quantities in preparations where they can be a complement to the food I’m serving instead of the main attraction.  I wrote a more extensive article about sunchokes in our May 14, 2016 newsletter which you’ll find on our website.   I also included a recipe in that newsletter for a sunchoke salsa that is easy to make and can be used as a condiment to enhance fish, chicken and beef dishes.  You can also serve it with tacos or eat it with your scrambled eggs and toast in the morning.  

Overwintered parsnips ready to come out of the ground!

We also overwinter parsnips.  Parsnips are the long carrot-like vegetable in your box.  This past winter was also hard on these parsnips and they came out of the ground looking pretty rough.  Nonetheless, we’re happy to have them and the gray and brown discoloration you see on the skin is only on the surface.  Just use a vegetable peeler to take away the outer skin and you’ll find the flesh inside is creamy white.  Over the winter, parsnips convert more starches into sugar as a means of survival.  The benefit to us is they are super sweet and delicious!  My favorite way to use overwintered parsnips is to simply cut them into slices, toss them with some oil, salt and pepper and roast them until they are golden.  You can also use them in soups, add them to pot roast, use them to make fritters or put them in baked goods in any way you might typically use shredded carrots.  We featured overwintered parsnips in our newsletter on April 25, 2014. Refer to this newsletter for more information and a recipe for Parsnips with Brown Butter, Pecans & Maple.

Ramps are an exciting spring delicacy that has become more recognized and popular over time.  We do not cultivate ramps.  They grow on wooded hillsides in our valley and we wild-harvest them.  They are one of the first beacons of spring that we see and have a very short season of availability ranging from 3-5 weeks at most.  Ramps have a lily-like leaf with an onion-like bulb on the bottom.  They have a distinct onion/garlic flavor that is best described as “rampy.”  You can eat both the leaf and the bulb, you only need to trim away the root end.  When eaten raw, ramps have a very pungent, sharp flavor.  Once they are cooked the flavor mellows a bit.  There are many ways you can use ramps and I’ve found that most people who know ramps have their list of favorite ramp recipes that they make every year.  Ramps pair well with eggs, so one of the easiest ways to enjoy them is in scrambled eggs.  They are also excellent when used in pasta dishes or risotto and they pair well in any preparation that includes cream, mushrooms and other spring vegetables such as asparagus and spinach.  The leaves are very delicate, so wrap your bunch of ramps in a damp paper towel and store them in the refrigerator.  If you’d like to read more about ramps, including our methods for sustainable harvests, refer to the newsletter article we wrote last year on April 22, 2017.

Finally, we come to two more familiar vegetables—overwintered spinach and chives.  We look forward to overwintered spinach every year as it is the most flavorful, sweet spinach of the year.  The spinach was planted last fall and we are harvesting the new growth from those plants this spring.  The leaves on overwintered spinach are thick, yet tender.  After a long winter without greens, spinach salads are a refreshing treat!  If you aren’t a salad eater, consider using the spinach on sandwiches or wilt it into egg or pasta dishes.  Chives are the last vegetable we’ve included in this week’s box.  Aside from ramps they are the earliest onion-type vegetables we have in the spring.  They add a bright, flavorful element to any dish ranging from salads, to vinaigrettes, sauces and spreads.  Chive cream cheese is one of the easiest things to make with chives.  I also know we have a few CSA kids in our membership who are known to just munch on raw chives…sometimes consuming the entire bunch by themselves! 

I hope you find this information helpful as you cook through and explore the contents of this week’s box.  For more recipe ideas and culinary suggestions, visit the “Cooking With This Week’s Box” article on our blog.  I’ll include recipe suggestions and links for every item in the box.  Of course, you can also just give us a call or send us an email if you come across a culinary question that you can’t find an answer for!  Have fun and enjoy the season!

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.

April Farm Update

View after the April 18th snowfall and new 
crew members below that we hope 
won't be staying around too long!

Well friends, if we had to choose one word to describe April it would be “Challenging!”  Over the course of the past forty years of farming, we are typically able to start field work and planting late March or the first of April.  Sometimes the weather is still cool and things grow slowly, but at least we can start marking things off the planting list.  Historically, April 18 was the latest date we started field work which means we’ve set a new record this year for the latest spring!  Here we are on April 19 with nearly a foot of snow (although it looks like it could melt fast)!  Back in March it looked like we were going to have an early spring and we pushed hard to secure appointments with the consulate in Mexico so our crew members could get their visas and return to Mexico by the first of April.  We are thankful to have 29 of our crew members back at the farm.  They are ready and willing to work and have helped us get caught up on our greenhouse work as well as tackle some big cleaning and repair projects.  Unfortunately, they’ve had to take some days off as there are limits to what we can do on days when it’s snowing, raining or just too muddy and cold to do what needs to be done in the field.  They’ve been advised to rest and take advantage of the down time as we have some long days of work ahead of us as soon as this snow melts!  In those years when we were able to start our field work earlier, it didn’t necessarily mean crops were ready much earlier.  As mentioned, things grow more slowly in the cool of the spring than they do when they are planted later when the day and night temperatures are higher.  It is helpful though when we can get things in the ground, even if they grow slowly, as it spreads out our workload.  Now we’re facing some long days and the time crunch to get it all done!

Head lettuce transplants in greenhouse

While we enjoyed some gorgeous sunny days and warmer temperatures in March, April has definitely proven itself to be wet and cold.  Last week we had 2.75 inches of hard rain accompanied by hail.  That was followed by about 8 inches of wet, heavy snow over the weekend.  Much of the snow had melted away, but now our valley is once again blanketed in white.  We know, all too well, that sometimes Mother Nature trumps us despite our best efforts to overcome weather challenges such as these.  There isn’t much we can do aside from being prepared to hit the ground running and put forth our best effort as soon as the snow melts away and we can get into the fields.  We’re preparing machinery, getting seeds ready and making sure everyone is ready to go when the conditions are favorable.  With a few warm, sunny days, the picture could change and we just might get a window of opportunity.

Herb Packs 

Our greenhouses are nearly full and the plants look really good right now.  The onions and our first plantings of broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, kale and collards are residing in our cold frame greenhouse where they enjoy breezy days and chilly nights with temperatures dipping down into the 40’s.  Our goal is to keep them on the cool side to toughen them up and keep them growing at a moderate rate so they develop into strong, sturdy plants.  The peppers and celeriac plants were transplanted into larger cell trays last week and they look very good.  Earlier this week Leonardo, Lupe, Miguel, Pepe and Leon spent a sunny day in the greenhouse planting herb packs for you!  We are planning to deliver them in mid to late May so you can plant them in your own garden space or put them in pots on your patio and enjoy fresh herbs throughout the season.  Our pollinator packs are also looking really good!

Celeriac seedlings in the greenhouse

We were scheduled to plant zucchini this week, but we’re planning to delay that planting a week or so.  Zucchini grows very fast and when it’s ready it needs to go to the field.  We are hoping to transplant some head lettuce into our tunnel greenhouse next week, if the weather is a bit more favorable.  The goal is that we would have mini romaine head lettuce by late May, a few weeks ahead of lettuce that will be transplanted into the field.

Perky pepper transplants

French Breakfast Radishes

CSA deliveries start in just two more weeks.  What does all this snow mean for the start of our CSA deliveries?  Good question.  The early boxes may be limited in variety, but we’re hoping to fill them with delicious overwintered spinach, parsnips, sunchokes and ramps!  If you’ve been with us in previous CSA seasons you know that we often struggle to have overwintered spinach and ramps in our early CSA boxes.  Sometimes these crops come in early in April and are nearly done by the start of CSA.  We’ve even had years when we aren’t able to include ramps in May boxes.  Perhaps the silver lining in this year’s late spring will be that we get to enjoy the luxury of more ramps and overwintered spinach in our early boxes!  That’s not such a bad tradeoff!   Yes, the early boxes might be more limited, but we do have our perennial crops to rely on until we can start harvesting spring planted crops such as radishes, salad mix, bok choi, etc.  Some of those perennial crops include asparagus, sorrel, chives and nettles.  We will also have green onions that were planted last fall to round out the selections until the green garlic and spring scallions are ready.  This is the adventure of eating and cooking with the seasons.

Chives

This week we welcomed a new crew member to our team.  Gwen has joined us in the office to help Kelly and Andrea with a wide variety of tasks.  We’re very happy to have her on our team and look forward to teaching her the ins and outs of managing the many details of a vegetable farm!  On April 30 we anticipate our final eleven crew members will arrive for their first day of work.  We’ll be welcoming four new crew members to our team this year and are anxious to meet them. 

Our CSA numbers are still down and we still have plenty of shares available.  If you haven’t sent in your order yet, please do so soon!  We appreciate the referrals we’ve received and ask that you continue to share your CSA experience with your friends, neighbors and co-workers.  We’re looking forward to getting this growing season underway and thank you for your continued support of our farm!