What to expect with this week's CSA share.

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52 Lowell Street, Lexington, MA
Wed – Fri: 2 pm – 7 pm; Sat: 9 am – 5 pm; Sun: 10 am – 4 pm

Week of September 3, 2014 (Week #13)

In This Issue

What's In Your Share This Week

In the Farm Stand

Tomatoes
Peppers
Lettuce
Bok choy
Cucumbers
Summer Squash or Zucchini
Yellow storage onions
Greens choice: Swiss chard, kale or collards

Pick Your Own Crops This Week

Plum Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Dill
Cilantro
Husk Cherries
Tomatillos
possibly Green Beans

*Please note: if you have physical limitations that are preventing you from accessing and enjoying the PYO aspect of your share, please contact Erinn.

We do our best to predict what will be available but the CSA newsletter hits the press before the week's harvest begins. That means that sometimes you'll see vegetables at the stand that aren't on the list, and sometimes vegetables on the list are not actually ready for harvest.

Notes from the Field

This poem by Wendell Berry beautifully encapsulates the transition that we start to feel as farmers this time of year. The geese are migrating again and the light is changing quickly; we begin to accept the senescence of certain plantings as an inevitability rather than something to be fought as we work to nourish and sustain a whole new round of crops. Over the next couple of weeks, this transition will become more apparent on the stand, but for now, savor the tastes of summer we’re still enjoying!

September 2, 1969
In the evening there were flocks of nighthawks
passing southward over the valley. The tall
sunflowers stood, burning on their stalks
to cold seed, by the river. And high
up the birds rose into sight against the darkening
clouds. They tossed themselves among the fading
landscapes of the sky like rags, as in
abandonment to the summons their blood knew.
And in my mind, where had stood a garden
straining to the light, there grew
an acceptance of decline. Having worked,
I would sleep, my leaves all dissolved in flight.

-Wendell Berry

All About Greens

Selecting: Select greens that are vibrantly green and look crisp and healthy. Avoid greens that are yellowing or wilting. Remember that the greens from root vegetables, such as beets, radishes, and turnips, are edible. I add them to the mix when I'm cooking other greens.

For bok choy, look for dark green leaves and crisp, not wilting, stalks.

Storing: Greens can be wrapped loosely in a damp paper towel and stored in a bag or container. It is best to cook them soon after you bring them home, but they should keep for about a week this way. Do not wash the greens until you are ready to cook them.

Preparing Bok Choy: You want to eat the stalks as well as the leaves of bok choy. Baby bok choy can be eaten whole. For more mature bok choy, you'll want to separate the leaves from the base. Use a sharp knife to cut off the root close to the base, but preserve as much of the white stalks as possible. Stalks and leaves can be diced or chopped to add to stir-fries.

Freezing: I find that most leafy greens can be cooked and frozen for later. The stalks of bok choy and chard do not freeze well, just the leaves. My method is to sauté them first, though Jackie blanches them.

Here's what I do: I fill the sink with cold water. Then, I separate the leaves from the stems. Usually, I just run my fingers along the stalk from the stem up to the tip, as you might do with herbs, removing the leaves as I go. I tear the leaves into pieces, about 2-inches square, and place them in the sink to wash. I discard the stems. Once the greens are in the sink, I swish the water around to agitate the leaves. The dirt should fall to the bottom. Then, I lift the greens out of the water and transfer them to a large bowl (this is so I can move the greens from the sink to the stove without making a mess).

Now I heat some olive oil in a large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, I throw in a smashed and peeled garlic clove, let it sizzle for a few seconds, then add the greens by the handful to the pot. They shrink a surprising amount, so if the pot seems full, just wait a few seconds. When all the greens are in the pot, I cover it, reduce the heat slightly, and let the greens cook until they are tender. Chard, spinach, or beet greens cook in a few minutes; they are ready as soon as they are wilted. Tougher greens like kale, mustard or collards take longer. Just keep tasting them until they have the right texture for you. Once the greens are cooked, there might be extra liquid in the pan. Transfer the greens to a colander to let any excess liquid drain off. If you like, you can chop the greens finer, before or after freezing.

Here are instructions for blanching greens for freezing.

The frozen greens can be thawed and served as is for a side dish, though I usually add them to savory tarts, like quiches, or frittatas.

- Betsy Pollack

Featured Recipe: Bok Choy

Chapchae (or Japchae)

During the eight years I worked at Seattle Children's Hospital I rarely ventured off campus for lunch. The one place where I was a regular was Sunrice, where Liz prepared delicious Korean food from good ingredients. The lunch special I always ordered included tofu with spicy sunrice sauce, a huge portion of chapchae, delicious brown sticky rice, and a green salad. I haven't figured out how to make Liz's incredibly tasty, chewy tofu, but I finally found the sweet potato noodles to make chapchae and realized it's pretty easy.

An online search yields many different recipes, which all sound relatively similar. You'll need to try it to find out how you like the balance of salty and sweet and the ratio of vegetables to noodles. Nearly every recipe I've read includes the same combination of garlic, onion, carrot, mushroom, and spinach – for this, and other reasons, I'm sure the bok choy alone makes this inauthentic chapchae. Still, the sweet potato noodles seem to be a great alternative to rice for accompanying stir-fries using whatever produce I have on hand at the moment.

The chef in this video recipe chops and cooks as she goes, demonstrating how quickly this meal can come together. The recipe is adapted from this site (http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/japchae).

Ingredients

Sweet potato noodles
(optional) 2-3 oz beef, cut in thin strips
1 head of bok choy or 4 baby bok choy, washed and spun dry. Slice stems ¼" thick diagonally and leaves into large bite size pieces, and keep separate.
1 medium size carrot, cut to 2" matchsticks
1 medium size onion, sliced thinly
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for a few hours, with the water then squeezed out, and sliced thinly (optional)
½ lb white mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
7-8 green onions, cut in 2-3" pieces
Oil for frying (vegetable, peanut, grapeseed, or olive)
soy sauce
sesame oil
sugar
pepper
sesame seeds

Instructions

Boil noodles in boiling water in a big pot for about 3 minutes. When the noodles are soft, drain them (keeping the water if you plan to blanch spinach or bok choy) and put in a large bowl.
Cut the noodles several times by using scissors and add 1 tbs of soy sauce and 1 tbs of sesame oil. Mix it up, using your hands to massage the sauce into the noodles, and set aside.
OPTIONAL The recipe says to blanch the spinach in the boiling water for 1 minute, then rinse in cold water 3 times, squeeze gently, then cut it into 5 cm pieces. Add ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sesame oil and mix it and place it onto the large bowl. With bok choy I stir fry the stems early on and leaves at the end, which is why I suggest the blanching step is optional.
Heat a small amount of oil, brown the sliced white mushrooms, and remove them to the large bowl. I do this to make sure the mushrooms get fried and not steamed.
The remaining vegetables can be stir-fried over very high heat one at a time and added to the bowl, or some can remain in the pan together. If frying them together, I suggest starting with onions and carrots, then and bok choy stems, then green onions. The garlic and shiitake mushrooms (if using) can be added with the green onions if you do not plan to include meat. After the green onions add the bok choy leaves just to wilt. Remove all fried vegetables to the large bowl.
Place a few drops of olive oil on the pan and add the beef and shiitake mushrooms (if using). Stir until well cooked, then add garlic, ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sugar. Stir for another 30 seconds and then put it into the large bowl.
Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 3 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of sesame oil, and 1 ts of ground pepper to the large bowl. Mix all ingredients, then sprinkle 1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds on the top. It really does seem to help to use your hands to mix this, getting the sauce good and mixed into the noodles.
Serve hot with rice and Kimchi, or as a side dish, or room temperature. When cold the texture of the noodles is not as good.

Jackie Starr is a LexFarm founding member who has been a flexitarian home cook for 25 years. Her recipe selections and adaptations are informed by experiences living abroad, by having spent many years in the Bay Area and Seattle, and by a delight in local, seasonal bounty.

More Ideas for Bok Choy

STIR-FRIES
Deborah Madison has a very easy soft tofu and bok choy recipe — the sauce takes about 3 minutes to mix together. Non tofu-lovers can use shrimp or another type of vegetable –such as sliced carrot or red pepper or halved cherry tomatoes for color. Or, when the tofu is highly seasoned as in this recipe adapted from Peter Berley, the bok choy may be simply steamed.

Simply stir-fried bok choy can be served with soba noodles and some sort of sauce, such as peanut sauce. Here is another simple stir-fry recipe; here is a spicy one; here is one with peanuts; here is a Chinese bok choy stir fried with shrimp; another with scallops; and here's another with miso dressing.

NOODLE DISHES
Bok choy can be substituted for spinach in chapchae—Korean sweet potato noodles—which is very easy to prepare. There are lots of variations for this recipe on the web, like this, this, this, or this. The noodles can be eaten relatively cool, so this might be more summery than some other greens recipes. The noodles are available through Amazon or are likely sold at HMart. The vegetables would also taste good with rice or rice noodles.

Melissa Clark makes noodles with bok choy and pork. Annie Somerville has a different take on soba noodles with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, ginger, green chilis, and cilantro or basil.

CURRY
Deborah Madison's curry with bok choy, sweet potatoes and shallots sounds like a great summer-into-fall dish.

SOUP
Bok choy can also be used in soup similar to how one would use spinach (the bok choy leaves) or cabbage (the bok choy stems), as in this chicken soup.

Bok choy can also be added to wonton soup.

MISCELLANEOUS

Try a slaw made from thinly-sliced bok choy.
Also, try simply roasting the bok choy.
Add bok choy to fried rice.

RECIPE ROUND-UPS
thekitchn gives ten more recipes for bok choy; Martha Stewart and Huffington Post offer others.

- Compiled by Jackie Starr and Betsy Pollack

All About Tomatillos

Picking tomatillos: Tomatillo plants produce a papery shell, and the tomatillo fruit grows to fill this shell. Pick tomatillos when they are bright green and firm and when the husk is tan and papery and is just bursting. The fully ripened fruit turns yellow or purple, but apparently by that stage they have much less flavor.

Storing tomatillos: Tomatillos can be stored in their husks for 2 to 3 weeks in a paper bag in the refrigerator. Tomatillos can also be frozen. To freeze them, peel the husk, rinse and dry the fruit. Place them in one layer on a baking tray (optionally lined with parchment paper) until frozen. Then place the frozen tomatillos in freezer bags.

Using tomatillos: Most recipes for tomatillos are for sauces or stews, since they get mushy when cooked. They can also be chopped and used in salads.

Sources:
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomatillo/harvesting-tomatillo-fruits.htm
http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-tomatillos/

- Compiled by Jackie Starr

Ideas for Tomatillos

Tomatillos can be eaten raw, such as in tomatillo and watermelon salad.

When cooked, they turn quickly to mush, so recipes involving cooked tomatillos are generally for sauces, stews and soups.

The most typical use is for tomatillo salsas, such as raw tomatillo salsa, roasted tomatillo salsa or one made on the stovetop.

Variations involve using the sauce or salsa as part of another recipe, such as for chicken or green chile enchiladas made with cheese and Anaheim pepper. It's possible the latter could be made vegan with cashew cheese or almonds. You can also use the sauce to make chilaquiles. This recipe can be made vegetarian by using black beans for the chicken. Try baking shrimp or fish in a cooked tomatillo salsa.

Soups and stews incorporating tomatillos often use pozole (hominy), like this or this. A recipe for pork stew from Ruth Reichl sounds like a relatively simple way to develop complex flavors. There are vegetarian versions of chili verde or soups, such as this one with white beans. Martha Stewart's chilled buttermilk tomatillo soup sounds delicious. Buttermilk can be made from soy or almond milk by adding lemon juice or cider vinegar. Use some of Dennis Busa's sweet corn to make a pot of green corn soup. For an even more intense corn flavor, use corn stock.

Here are other tomatillo recipe round-ups from Epicurious, Huffington Post, Martha Stewart, the readers of thekitchn, and Mariquita Farm. All include many salsa recipes. The roundup from Mariquita Farm also suggests how to use tomatillos in a curry and provides instructions for how to prepare tomatillos raw, by blanching, by fire roasting, or by dry roasting.

- Compiled by Jackie Starr and Betsy Pollack

Menu Planning

Periodically, CSA shareholder Jackie Starr will share her weekly menu ideas based on the week's share.

I don't always cook as many meals as I list on these menus because we enjoy eating leftovers, and I can always think of something to throw together in 20 or 30 minutes. However, I also frequently set aside a couple hours on the weekend to do cooking prep to set us up for the week. During that time I might make sure to get some greens washed or even sauteed in advance, make a pot of beans, or simmer any sauces or soups I won't have time to cook during the busy work week.

With this week's menu, for example, if I were going to blanch and peel any tomatoes I would do this for all the tomatoes together for both the baked shrimp and the tomato sauce for a meal later in the week (admittedly, I often skip this step and don't mind the peels, depending on what I'm cooking and whether I'll be pureeing the sauce). When chopping onions and garlic for the shrimp I might chop enough for the bulgur pilaf and the tomato sauce for manicotti. Once the vegetables have been prepped, making tomato sauce involves very little active work. It makes sense to get some beets roasting in the oven so they can be marinated ahead of time for the corn salsa. I might also saute the corn in advance while at the stove minding the tomato sauce.

Day	Menu	Notes and other protein ideas
1	Shrimp with tomatoes and feta; bulgur pilaf, pita bread, a bagette, or any grain; green salad with cucumber.	This shrimp dish is easy and delicious and uses 2 pounds of large tomatoes. The bulgur pilaf could be simplified in any number of ways: omit anything not on hand; saute just onions and use a good broth with little else; steam some bulgur and mix with olive oil, lemon, and herbs; or just boil or steam any grain. I chose this recipe because it uses green peppers, and I would up the number to 2 if that's what's on hand.
2	Chapchae with bok choy, carrots, mushrooms	This quick one-pot meal should make plenty for leftovers.
3	Cornmeal-crusted chicken or fish with toasted corn and beet salsa; leftover bulgur pilaf	The salsa from the chicken recipe and remainder of menu could be served with beans or tofu cutlets instead of chicken or fish. Or with these vegan chickpea cutlets, which freeze very well but are not for gluten-avoiders. I sometimes roast and marinate beets instead of using pickled beets from a jar, either way it's delicious. Either cilantro or dill would be good in the salsa.
4	Leftover chapchae; bulgogi tempeh with sauteed onions
5	Tomato sauce with pasta and sauteed swiss chard or stuffed manicotti; green salad	I have a tofu manicotti recipe I like, similar to this one but with more spinach or chard. Here is one using ricotta and another that is vegan.
6	Chilled buttermilk tomatillo soup, savory summer squash bread with onion and parmesan	This squash bread was very moist and good but could have been tastier, probably perfect with a bit more salt and parmesan, maybe also fresh dill or dried herbs. Here, here, and here are vegan versions I haven't yet tried. The soup could also be made vegan by adding lemon juice or cider vinegar to non-dairy milk.
7	Leftover soup, leftover manicotti

Lexington Community Farm is a project of LexFarm in cooperation with Community Farms Outreach

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or to add another member of your household to the mailing list for this weekly CSA newsletter, send an email to csa@lexfarm.org.

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Erinn Roberts, Farm Manager

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Derek Moody, Treasurer

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Susan Amsel

Nancy Gold

Carolyn Goldstein

Linda Levin

Amanda Maltais

Betsy Pollack

Charlie Radoslovich

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