Raw Beet Salad

Most beet recipes call for the beets to be cooked in some fashion.  And roasted beets are among the most delicious vegetable treats.  I like to keep a few roasted beets in the fridge so that I can make a beet salad anytime.  However, raw beets make a very tasty salad as well, in a fraction of the time.  Just peel and grate the beets, mix up a quick dressing, and toss.

This beautiful salad can be eaten immediately after it's made, or you can make it a day or two ahead and allow the beets to soak up some of the flavorful citrus dressing.  Either way, this great summer salad is perfect for a picnic or a barbeque.

2C grated beets*
1T minced green shallots or red onion
2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 T fresh-squeezed orange juice
2 T olive oil
2 t honey
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Mix the grated beets and shallot or onion in a medium bowl.

2.  In a separate small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients until well combined.

3.  Pour the dressing over the grated beets and shallots and toss to coat evenly.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

*The easiest way to grate beets is in a food processor fitted with the grating blade, but it's almost as easy to grate beets using a hand grater, and there's less clean-up with the hand grater.

You can substitute 1C grated carrots for 1C grated beets if you prefer.  And you can double or halve this recipe if you would like to make more or less.

Today's bounty included:

From Jaime Organics:  Yellow and green hot-house peppers, cilantro, and dill;

From JR Organics:  Red leaf lettuce, arugula, and chard;

From Sage Mountain Farm:  Shiraz beets, 8-ball squash, kale, and purple scallions;

From Sweet Tree Farms:  Yellow peaches and white nectarines; and

From Weiser Family Farms:  Charentais melon and spring french shallots.

Happy 4th of July!

Shelley

Spring Season Recipes for asparagus, celeriac, cauli and peas...

It's our second week with Sage Mountain Farm and I'm loving it. Phil, pictured here, makes the drive from Temecula. The traffic is awful but he's still smiling. Crops are coming in. Soil is warming...

Phil tells us the news - what the weather is doing and how things are going at the farm. The weather's been so crazy. Cold and frost have caused some damage. Farmers' markets make long, long days, in part because of Sage Mountain's rural location. It's all good tho. The work is rewarding. What Sage Mountain would love is a restaurant account or two Downtown/Eastside, delivering Fridays.

Elf? Local? Forage? Palate? Corina and Jane at Canele! Please check out Sage Mountain Farm!

Graham and I help Phil unload the veggies while he tells us a story about how NOT to erect a hoop house. He's funny.

It's a good week. Here's the scoop re the week's bounty:

From Sage Mountain Farm: Red Fire lettuce, golden beets, baby heirloom leeks, green scallions, tuscan kale, Chantennay carrots, broccoli leaves, Italian heirloom green garlic

From Underwood Family Farms: Romaine lettuce, celery root, asparagus, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, mizuna, purple carrots, blood oranges

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: grapefruits, Golden Nugget mandarins

From Silver Lake Farms: arugula and radish microgreens

This week's recipes comes from my dear, dear friend Sherry, who found them in a book. Sherry? What was the book?

She says: This vinaigrette is delicious with fennel, beets and carrots or on a citrus or avocado salad.

Blood Orange Vinaigrette

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

1/4 c fresh orange juice

2 tsp white wine or balsamic vinegar

Salt + Pepper

3 Tablespoons light olive or sunflower oil

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Combine orange juice + zest, vinegar and 1/8 tsp salt - let stand for 15 min. Whisk in the oils and season w/ a little pepper.

This is an exceptional recipe but you do need a few spices which are available at the Spice Station.

Curried Cauliflower & Peas

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/2 tsp toasted ground cumin

1/4 tsp asafetida

1/4 C peeled + diced ginger

4 tsp toasted ground coriander

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp turmeric

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 large cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces w/stems

Salt

1/2 lb sugar snap peas, strings removed

2 tsp ground amchoor (green mango) powder

1 tsp garam masala

In wide pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add cumin and asafetida and cook for 3o seconds, stirring constantly. Add the ginger, coriander, chile, and turmeric and cook for 30 seconds more. Add onion, lower the heat, and cook until soft, stirring occasionally about 4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Mix everything together, then pour in 1/2 c water, cover the pot, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the peas and cook for a few minutes more, until they're bright green. Add the amchoor powder and garam masala, stir together, taste for salt and serve over steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Tara

PS. Hello Shelley!!

Candied Tangerine Peel

pictured left - sapote fruit, and below that, celery root/celeriac at pickup today.

Citrus is abundantly in season right now as evidenced by the weekly inclusion of tangerines and oranges in our CSA box. The fruit and juice are delicious. But don't throw away those peels. You can make wonderful candy from them.

Candied orange peel is probably most common, but I like to candy tangerine and grapefruit peel, too. The technique is the same; and it's so simple. It's a fun thing to do on a rainy afternoon.

Most recipes call for the fruit to be cut into quarters, the flesh removed, and the peel (pith attached) cut into strips. This is a fine way to prepare your fruit. However, I like to peel the fruit by hand, pulling off odd-shaped pieces. I also like to remove some of the pith with a sharp knife. Whatever you decide to do, you can't go wrong.

Candied citrus peel is delicious all by itself. It can chopped and added to fruit salad, yogurt, breakfast cereal, or your favorite muffin recipe. It can be used decoratively on cakes and other baked goods. Dip the candied peel in tempered chocolate and let it harden for an elegant treat.

It takes a day or two for the peel to fully dry. Wait until the peel is dry to dip in chocolate.

Start with about 1-2 C of peel. Place in a medium saucepan. Add water to the pan to cover peels completely and have about an inch of water on top. Bring to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes. Drain. Rinse well and drain again.

Then bring 3 C of granulated suagr and 3 C of water to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the peel. Return to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the peel is very soft, about 45 minutes.

Remove pan from the heat. Drain the peel and toss in 1 C granulated sugar until peel is well-coated. Separate any pieces that stick together and place candied peel on a cooling rack set inside (or over) a cookie sheet. The rack allows for air circulation so the peel will dry on all sides. Let stand for 1-2 days until the peel drys.

This weeks harvest included:

From Underwood: celery root, 1 bunch purple kale, 1 bunch golden beets, 1# tangerines, 1 bunch tatsoi, 1 Napa cabbage, 1 bunch spinach, and 1 butter lettuce, 1 Pinkerton avocado

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: 1 Bacon avocado, and 1# sapote fruit.

From Weiser Family Farms: 1# Russian banana potatoes.

From Silver Lake Farms: radish, arugula and mustard microgreens.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Carrot Raisin Muffins

left, SLF mustard microgreens + Mark Stambler's freshly baked CSA loaves delivered to pickup by Erik Knutzen on his bicycle.

Carrots are so naturally sweet, it's hard to believe they're good for you, too. Even simply prepared steamed carrots, glazed or mashed, can taste practically like dessert. That's probably why you find carrots included in many sweet baked goods.

I particularly like carrot muffins because they are both tasty and versatile. You can serve them up hot out of the oven with breakfast or lunch; or you can spoon a little orange glaze or spread a little cream cheese frosting on top and turn them into a relatively healthy dessert.

Another thing I like about carrot muffins is that you can add raisins or dried cranberries to the batter and/or nuts such as chopped walnuts or pecans.

Many muffin recipes instruct you to use paper or foil baking cups. While they may lend an attractive professional look to your muffins, they're really just more trash for the landfill, so I recommend greasing your muffin pan well and foregoing the extra paper.

This recipe is adapted from Elizabeth Alston's cookbook, Muffins. She suggests slathering them with honey butter while still warm. Now that sounds delicious!

Carrot Raisin Muffins

For approximately 12 regular-sized muffins:

1-1/2 C flour or 1 C all purpose flour + 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t salt
2 eggs
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C milk
4 T (1/2 stick) melted butter
1 C grated carrots
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin(s).

2. Mix flour(s), baking powder, spices and salt together in a large bowl.

3. In another bowl, whisk eggs and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in milk and melted butter. Then stir in grated carrots, raisins, and nuts.

4. Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and fold until just combined. Do not over-mix.

5. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until springy when touched in the center. Turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz pkg cream cheese, cold
4T (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1-1/2 to 2 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 t vanilla flavoring

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until combined. Gradually add confectioner's sugar beating until smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Spread the frosting with a knife on cooled muffins or pipe out of a pastry bag fitted with a rosette tip.

Orange Glaze

2 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 C fresh-squeezed orange juice, strained
1/4 t finely grated orange rind

Combine all ingredients and whisk or stir until smooth. Spoon or drizzle over cooled muffins.

Honey Butter

Stir 2-3 T honey into 1 stci slightly softened butter. Re-chill, if desired.

This week's bounty included:

From Underwood Family Farms: 2# broccoli, 1 fennel bulb, 1 bunch Easter radishes, 1 bunch purple carrots, 1 bunch mizuna, 2 bunches spinach, 4# navel oranges, and 1 bunch arugula.

Mustard microgreens from Silver Lake Farms.

From Weiser Family Farms : 1 medium onion and 1 # parsnips.

And from Rancho Santa Cecilia: 2 avocados and 1 # of delicious satsuma mandarins.

Enjoy!

Shelley

What to Do with Red Kuri Squash

Six different farmers and a shareholder provided today's bounty. Here's what was available at the Silver Lake pick-up this evening:

From Underwood Family Farms, there were valencia oranges, spaghetti squash, romaine lettuce, fennel, kale, and boy choy or boy toy or bok choi (depending on where you're at in life)

Tierra Miguel Foundation provided red kuri squash, horehound mint (native to California), cilantro, dill, beets, chard and carrots.

From Weiser Farms there Russian banana potatoes, brown onions.

Winnetka Farms provided salad greens.

Rancho Santa Cecilia in Carpenteria provided limes, Satsuma tangerines, and Hass avocados.

Shareholder Brian Lee provided beautiful and fragrant guavas from his garden. Thank you Brian!

Silver Lake Farms provided delicious microgreens: arugula and pak choi.

Also this week, there were 2 special items: Sriracha sauce "made with jalapeno peppers exclusively grown by Underwood Ranch" and cured, smoked and carmelized pork belly from the fabulous Rashida Purifoy, chef/owner of Cast Iron Gourmet.

I'm fine with the swine, so I couldn't wait to get home to open my container of carmelized pork belly. In fact, I had to exercise extraordinary will-power not to eat the entire container before pulling into my driveway!

I met Rashida Purifoy, chef/owner of Cast Iron Gourmet, at the Eagle Rock Brewery recently where I tasted (and purchased) her fine pork products. In fact, I had some delicious Cast Iron Gourmet bacon for breakfast this morning. I cooked the thick slices crisp and served them with fresh eggs I got from my chickens. Earlier this week, I served her divine bacon chutney on crackers to a visiting friend. What a treat!


Red Kuri Squash

If you're wondering about red kuri squash, so was I. I've seen it in stores, but never cooked with it. So, the first thing I did when I got home was cut it in half, seeded it (compost those seeds) and roasted it in the oven (along with an acorn squash I had in my fridge) until it was soft, about an hour.

My roasted kuri squash had a rich and slightly nutty flavor. It was less sweet and more starchy than the acorn squash. It reminded me a lot in texture of potato, so I mashed it with butter and a little milk and seasoned it with salt, pepper and freshly-ground nutmeg. It turned out to be a wonderful alternative to ordinary mashed potatoes and would make a deliciously different addition to the Thanksgiving table.

Red kuri squash is a variety of winter squash, so called because unlike summer squash, you can store it for many months. Most winter squashes can be used interchangeably, so you can certainly substitute red kuri squash for the butternut squash in the recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup I posted on October 15; and you can probably use red kuri in shareholder Christina's Butternut Squash Lasagna recipe that was posted on January 11, 2010.

More Thanksgiving Sides: Sauteed Kale and Orange Fennel Salad

Sauteed kale and/or chard make a wonderful side dish for Thanksgiving. Here's a quick recipe using several of today's CSA products:

Chop 1/4 onion finely and saute in a heavy skillet with a lid on low heat in 1 T olive oil or bacon grease. Add 1/4 to 1/2 C chopped carmelized pork belly. Cook until onion is translucent and pork belly is as soft or crisp as desired. While onions are cooking, chop the kale and/or chard (leaf and stem) cross-wise into 1/2 to 3/4" slices. Add to skillet and cook slowly on low heat, covered, until desired doneness. I like my kale to be soft, but some folks like it with a little bite. It's up to you. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you're looking for a tasty salad, try this Orange Fennel Salad:

2 bunches arugula
extra virgin olive oil
white balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2-3 fresh oranges, peeled and sliced crosswise, save juice
chopped walnuts or pinenuts (optional)

1. Wash arugula, spin dry, remove stems and compost them. Put dry arugula in a large bowl.

2. Mix together 2-3 T olive oil, 1-2 t white balsamic and 1 T reserved orange juice. Drizzle over greens, reserving 1-2 t dresseing. Season with salt and pepper to taste and toss to coat.

3. Arrange greens on a platter. Arrange orange and fennel slices over dressed greens.

4. Drizzle remaining dressing over salad and sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Beachwood Canyon - what's in the box? + recipe

Pick-up #1 - Beachwood Canyon

The first round of veggie pick-ups at our second location - Beachwood Canyon - kicked off Tuesday in the pouring rain. It was chaotic and fun - so much positive energy. Farmer John arrived with the harvest, which Spencer, John and Laura helped distribute to shareholders. Thanks Team! Farmer John and Alex (pictured above), who owns the Beachwood Market, talked local veggies for a while. Will we see some synergy there? Visit the Beachwood Market and find out! And while you're in there, check out the Bonterra organic wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) from Mendocino County http://www.bonterra.com. Their website is gorgeous.

Here's what Farmer John had for us this week:

red oak leaf lettuce
wildfire lettuce
mizuna (lovely mild mustard for adding to salads)
cilantro
radishes
green garlic
celery
broccoli
carrots
baby bok choy (great for stir frying)
tatsoi (Chinese spinach - also great for stir frying)

And Shelley (also pictured above), our very own cooking consultant, has this quick and easy recipe for us this week. She says:

Broccoli is a great thing to eat because it's chock full of vitamins and minerals. Broccoli makes a simple side dish steamed or microwaved until just tender. It's even better tossed in olive oil and roasted in a hot oven. Here's a different way to use broccoli as the main ingredient in a tasty salad.

Crunchy Broccoli Salad

3 C broccoli florets* broken or cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 C toasted cashews or almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4 C raisins
1-2 T finely chopped red onion
2 small oranges, peeled and seeded
4 T mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

1. I like to blanch the broccoli florets but this step is optional. To blanch the broccoli, bring a pot of water to a boil. Have another pot with ice water set aside. Toss the florets into the boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Scoop out the florets with a long-handled sieve and toss them immediately into the ice water until cool. Drain.

2. Cut the peeled and seeded oranges into chunks, collecting any juice that oozes out. You'll get juicier orange pieces if you cut the orange as opposed to breaking it into segments. Cutting around the membrane that separates the segments will result in the juiciest pieces.

3. Mix the broccoli with the nuts, raisins, red onion, and orange pieces.

3. Stir a few tablespoons of the collected orange juice into the mayonnaise to make it pourable. Pour this mixture over the salad and toss until it's lightly coated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This salad is equally delicious with a vinaigrette dressing instead of mayonnaise, so feel free to substitute your favorite mixture of olive oil and a light vinegar such as rice vinegar, if you'd prefer. Don't forget to stir in a little of the orange juice into the vinaigrette if you go that route.

*A floret is the flower part of the broccoli with just a small amount of the stem. You can use the broccoli stems in this salad, but they'll be more tender if they're peeled and blanched.