CSA Week #19

Week 19

Oct.15&16

1 bunch carrots

1 bunch purple top turnips

1 bunch kale

1 lb. onions

2 lbs. sweet potatoes

hot pepper

1 bunch parsley

1 bunch dried sage

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees, grab your slippers and your softest sweater, find some relaxing tunes and tasty tea and start chopping!  This week’s share is all about keeping the home fires burning and going with the warming, soothing effects of roasting and toasting your veggies to sink into that deep nostalgia that is fall time in Maine.  Every thing can just go right into a pan and right into your oven, no questions asked.  Warm up your house and feed your soul with the last blast of this season’s bumper veggie haul.  As the leaves reach their peak and as the days shorten and the temps lower, the flavors sink in and get sweeter and sweeter all the time.  It is true!  Close your eyes and slowly chew a carrot with no distractions, and you will know exactly what I am referring to.

And while you have your eyes closed and are chewing on that tasty carrot, take a moment to look back on these 19 weeks of fresh vegetables and herbs from ol’ Black Kettle Farm.  Remember the early days of bok choi and that veritable satchel of garlic scapes you received one week in July?  How about the repeated mother loads of sungold cherry tomatoes, the bursts of green beans, the piles of sweet peppers and the ever present heads of lettuce and salad fixings?  We’ve rolled through the season, going from cucumbers to eggplant to broccoli to sweet potatoes.  We’ve been able to sink deep into our roots with radishes, turnips, beets and carrots, carrots, carrots!!!  We’ve eaten glorious, healthy and delicious greens every single week and we’ve had onions on top of garlic on top of a crazy, unprecedented 10 week run of tomatoes.  

Remember all the veggie concoctions you’ve made, from the amazing recipes that you’ve researched and tried,down to the random, but oh so delicious whacky goo-lash, throw every thing in a pan with olive oil and salt and pepper and scramble to perfection. Remember all the unreal colors of the produce that you would get on any given week and the unique flavors that come out in the freshness of it all.  Remember all the sweet interactions you’ve had at a pick-up, like bumping into an old friend and realizing that you are both a part of the same farm, and the hilarious conversations, recipe exchanges and sound bite moments shared among folks that have never met before.  For local members, those times on crazy hot summer days when the barn felt so cool, calm and welcoming, the air at the farm so nice.  And for Portland members, perching up over the Bay, feeling the breeze and watching the sail boats pass us on by.

Dearest of friends, this has really been a fantastic season.  Team Black Kettle, with it’s insanely hard working crew, it’s biggest and most enthusiastic CSA membership yet, and it’s ever giving soil, has been able to overcome obstacles of bugs, weeds, too much rain and the general weirdness of trying to grow veggies to achieve bounty, beauty and super positive connections.  Thank you all so much for making this such a glorious season, it has been nothing but a pleasure to grow food for you!  Much love and so many blessings of health, vitality and ever-present abundance!  Stay in touch and see you in 2014!  Big hug!

Turnip Parsley Cakes - www.greenlitebites.com

1 bunch of turnips, grated
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh parsley

Whisk the egg whites, whole wheat flour and 2 liberal pinches of salt to make the batter. Chop up a handful of parsley, and add it and the grated turnips to the batter. Mix well to coat everything.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Form a cake and add it straight to the skillet. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side until  it is brown and stays together.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Sage Butter

Gourmet  | November 2003

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons chopped sage

Cover sweet potatoes with water in a 2-quart heavy saucepan and add salt. Cook, covered, over moderately high heat until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking liquid, then drain sweet potatoes in a colander. Transfer sweet potatoes and reserved cooking liquid to a bowl and mash with a potato masher.

Mash together butter, sage, and salt and pepper to taste, then stir half of sage butter into sweet potatoes. Serve potatoes topped with remaining sage butter.

Island Kale & Sweet Potato Soup -

Recipe shared by CSA Member Kim Schutsky

- oil

- chopped onion

- minced garlic

- sliced jalapeno pepper

- bunch of kale, de-ribbed and sliced thin 

- 1.5 pounds sweet potato, cut into hefty chunks (like 3/4" cubes)

- 1.5 quarts veggie broth

- 1 cup coconut milk

- a grain of your choice ... rice, quinoa, etc

First put on your grain of choice and cook it up the way you always do.

Coat the bottom of a large stock pot with oil.  Cook up the onions over a nice low heat.  Once tender, add the garlic and jalapeno.  Add the sweet potato chunks and veggie broth - turn up the heat until the pot is boiling, then lower and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes)  About half-way through that cooking time, add the kale so that it can wilt up nicely.  Right at the end add the coconut milk.

Serve this incredible soup with a big mound of grain in the middle of your soup bowl, and then the soup ladled around the grain.  Enjoy!