Saturday Farm Stand pop-up and last CSA pick-up

It’s the last week for the 2019 CSA! Coinciding with the last CSA pick-up, we will also be hosting a farm stand pop-up this Saturday, November 23rd, 9am - 3pm (or until we sell out). We’ll definitely have salanova lettuce mix, carrots, salad turnips, onions, garlic, cabbage and popcorn for sale and we will see as the week goes on what else is in strong enough supply to make available for purchase. In addition to our vegetables for at the pop-up we will have organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm, Double B Honey (from hives on the property), eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, and a limited supply of raspberry jam and vinegar infusion from Silferleaf Farm in Concord.

We’re excited to be almost done with field work in freezing temperatures (and to have Saturdays off!), but we will miss all our wonderful members and customers over the winter! We harvested most of our remaining storage crops from the field early last week right before the really hard freezes, so aside from fresh greens harvesting for this week, we’re mostly focused on field (and high tunnel) clean-up. We made a serious dent in rolling up landscape fabric and taking down fences last week. This week we plan to finish up those tasks while also pulling up the remaining drip tape and plastic mulch. We’ve also been working on getting irrigation lines out of the field, which is quite challenging when the water inside them is frozen! We’ve been warming ourselves up as we stomp and jump on irrigation lines to try to break up the ice inside so that we can empty them and roll them up for winter storage. We may have invented the next fitness fad! While it’s been a great workout, I think next year we’ll prioritize finishing up irrigation clean-up a little earlier!

This week in the CSA:

• Popcorn - The popcorn comes on the cob and we’ve found it can benefit from just a couple of extra days drying on a countertop in your house before popping. It can be popped on the cob inside a paper bag in the microwave. A paper grocery bag will work, but if you have a smaller paper bag, that’s better. Fold over the top of the bag several times to keep the popcorn from spilling out in the microwave. You can also take the kernels off the cob (just push them off with your thumbs) and pop on the stove top or in an air popper.

• Sweet Potatoes

• Potatoes

• Leeks

• Salanova lettuce mix - As we mentioned last week, the water is now turned off at the barn so the salad mix will have more dirt in it then usual.

• Escarole

• Kale

• Cabbage

• Rutabaga

• Watermelon radish

• Mini Daikon radish

• Salad turnips

• Carrots

• Butternut squash

• Onions

• Shallots

• Garlic

CSA Hours:

Thursday 11am-6pm

Saturday 9am-3pm

Kale-Dusted Pecorino Popcorn

Deb Perelman October 2017 Smitten Kitchen Every Day

Ingredients

Kale Dust:

• A bundle of Lacinato kale (aka dinosaur or Tuscan) (usually 9 to 10 ounces)

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

• Sea salt

To finish:

• 4 to 5 tablespoons (60 to 75 ml) olive oil

• 1/3 cup (70 grams) popcorn kernels

• 2/3 cup (95 grams) finely grated Pecorino Romano

• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Make the kale dust:

Heat the oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale; no worries if you don’t get every last droplet of water off. Remove and discard the tough stems.

Lightly brush two large baking sheets with olive oil—the thinnest coat is just fine. Arrange the leaves in one layer on the prepared baking sheet(s), sprinkle lightly with salt, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the leaves are crisp. Let cool completely. In a food processor, with a mortar and pestle, or even with a muddler in a bowl, grind the kale chips down into a coarse powder.

Make the popcorn:

Place 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 or 3 kernels of popcorn in a 3-quart or larger pot. Turn the heat to medium-high, and cover with a lid. When you hear these first kernels pop, add the remaining kernels and replace the lid. Using pot holders, shimmy the pot around to keep the kernels moving as they pop. When several seconds pass between pops, remove from the heat.

To assemble:

Transfer to a bowl, and immediately toss with the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, kale dust, Pecorino, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss until evenly coated. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Mashed Potatoes and Rutabagas

by Diana Rattray on The Spruce Eats

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds rutabaga (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces)

• 2 to 2 1/2 pounds potatoes (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces, about 5 or 6 medium)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2/3 cup milk

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (or to taste)

• Optional: 2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Instructions:

1. Cook rutabaga and potatoes in salted water in separate saucepans.

2. When both are tender, remove from heat. Rutabaga will take about 30 minutes, and potatoes will take about 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Drain; purée or mash rutabaga well, then mash the potatoes. Combine mashed rutabaga and potatoes; add butter, milk, pepper, and nutmeg. Beat well. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Butternut Squash Pie

Adapted from a recipe by Kay Rentschler on cooking.nytimes.com

• 1 frozen pie crust, thawed

• 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ cup dark brown sugar

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Pinch cayenne pepper

• 1 ½ cups roasted squash purée, packed

• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream

• Whipped cream, for garnish (optional)

To make squash puree, cut a butternut squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Place the squash halves cut side down on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350°F until a fork can easily pierce them, about an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from oven, let cool, scoop out the pulp and puree.

Combine eggs, vanilla, sugars, salt and spices in food processor, and process until smooth. Add 1 ½ cups squash purée, and process until smooth. With machine running, pour in heavy cream, and process to combine. Scrape filling into pie crust, and bake until filling is set 2/3 in from perimeter and center still jiggles, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool to room temperature on rack. Garnish with whipped cream.