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Lexington Community Farm
52 Lowell Street, Lexington, MA
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Week of June 17, 2015 (Week #2)
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What's In Your Share This Week
In the Farm Stand
- Radishes OR Kohlrabi -- Kohlrabi is surprisingly versatile. Peel these round globes, and eat the tender insides raw or cooked. The entire plant is edible, best cooked.
- Red Russian Kale -- These large purple and green leaves are tender enough to eat raw in a salad, or saute them up with oil or a touch of apple cider vinegar.
- Red Rain Asian Greens
- Zucchini/Summer Squash
- Loose Spinach
- Beets with greens
- Romaine Lettuce
- Scallions from LexFarm
Pick Your Own Crops This Week
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.
Additional storage and preparation tips plus many recipe ideas can be found on the LexFarm website.
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Notes from the Field
More rain today, and most of our crops are looking better and better for it. Bruce is looking better, too, what with a break from the irrigation chores! The harvest is cranking, and the crew is proving up to the task. With the field planting in a brief lull before we go full tilt on planting the fall crops, we're working to gain the upper hand on the weeds in the long-season, slow-growing crops. Young parsnips and carrots are in need of attention, with the grassy weeds threatening to overtake the tender seedlings. The weeders are vacillating between fortitude and despair.
We hope you enjoy the harvest!
- Jenny Wooster, Picadilly Farm
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Featured Vegetable: Radishes and Salad Turnips
All About Radishes and Salad Turnips
 Selecting
If the leaves are still attached, they should be bright green, crisp, and not wilted. Choose medium-sized, firm, crisp radishes or turnips. Oversized roots may be pithy or spongy. The root should be smooth, unblemished, firm for their size, and brightly colored (radishes) or creamy white colored (turnips).
Storing
Most importantly, remove the greens from the roots right away. Remove any rubber bands or ties. Store roots in a plastic bag in the back of the refrigerator. Some types of radishes can last for weeks this way; watermelon radishes harvested in fall can be stored and used through the winter. The texture may deteriorate but they are tasty and can also be cooked. The round, red radishes are best if used within the week.
Store the greens in a separate bag and use the greens quickly, radish and turnip greens deteriorate quickly. The greens will store better if already cooked (see below).
Storing fall radishes and turnips: If keeping large amounts of winter radishes or turnips for longer term storage, cull any that are bruised, cut or diseased. Twist off the tops, if attached, leaving about half an inch of stems. Store the roots in layers in boxes of moist sand, sawdust or peat, or in heaps or ridges covered with a layer of soil and straw. Place them in a cool (32-40⁰F), damp, dark place such as a basement or root cellar.
Preparing radish and turnip roots
Rinse the roots and gently clean off any dirt. For salad turnips a thin layer can be peeled. Cut off the stem and root ends, leaving 1/4"-1/2" stem if you'd like. The roots can served raw in salads or crudites, roasted, boiled, steamed, sauteed, braised, or simmered in stews and soups. Salad turnips in particular are delicious in a simple braise with their greens.
Preparing radish and turnip greens
Use the greens as you would any other green. They taste less bitter when young and small and can be used in salads. When larger, radish greens develop prickly hairs that make eating the raw greens unpleasant to some. Blending the greens into a pesto is a recommended use. Radish or turnip greens can be braised, roasted, or added to soups and stews. The greens can also be baked into tasty chips, though they are more delicate than kale chips.
Freezing
Cubed roots can be blanched for approximately 2 minutes, shocked in ice cold water to arrest cooking, and frozen. Or cooked roots can be mashed, cooled, and frozen. Cooked greens can be frozen as well.
Pickling
Radishes and turnips can be pickled or fermented.
Further Information
Read more about storage and preparation of radishes at the LA Times, Food 52, and Organic Authority.
- Jackie Starr
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Recipe: Roasted Radishes
I almost always eat radishes raw. However, my sister gave me this recipe to prepare radishes in an unusual way. Roasting brings out unexpected sweetness which counters the radishes' natural bite, resulting in a surprisingly different taste.
1 pound radishes, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt & pepper to taste
2 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
Place all the ingredients on a piece of foil along with 2 ice cubes. Wrap it up tight. Bake in a 475F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the radishes are tender.
Betsy Pollack is a LexFarm member with a passion for cooking. She tries to eat as mindfully as possible, thinking about where food comes from, geographically and otherwise, eating seasonally, and supporting local agriculture.
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Recipe: Braised Salad Turnips
If you read any of my recipes last year, you may know that for many years I was a fall-winter CSA shareholder at Willie Greens Farm in the Seattle area. The farm introduced my husband and me to many new-for-us vegetables. Without the list of items in our box, and the process of elimination, I would have had no idea that the bunch of adorable creamy-white 1-2" beauties, with their bright, fresh greens still attached, were baby turnips!
A simple braise is my favorite way to prepare salad turnips. I tend to wing it but have estimated some amounts below. I don't think you can really mess this one up.
A couple of bunches of small white salad turnips, scrubbed, with roots removed (about a pound)
1-2 Tb butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or any other fat.
½ tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp sweetener (sugar, honey, tamarind paste, maple syrup, etc) or to taste
Black pepper to taste
½ cup water (or stock, wine, or other braising liquid)
Greens from your salad turnips (optional)
Optional other flavors (garlic, scallion, shallots, lemon juice or zest, orange juice or zest, thyme or other herb, chile pepper, miso, ½ tsp sesame oil, sesame seeds, any type vinegar)
Cut the turnips into ½" pieces. Based on the actual size of the turnips, you might leave them whole, halve them, or cut thick slices. Heat the oil or butter over medium-high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the turnips, salt and pepper. After stirring to coat the turnips with oil, let them sit without stirring a few minutes to lightly brown them. Flip or stir to brown the other side. Very small turnips may be tender at this point and need no further cooking liquid. You may like them to retain a bit of crunch, and as they can be eaten raw, it's up to you.
Most of the time, I add some liquid, usually water, and a pinch of sugar or squeeze of honey. Bring to a simmer, and let the water cook off. As it does, the turnips will become glazed. If they are still not tender at this point, add a bit more water and continue steaming. Or, if they are tender before the water has evaporated, remove the turnips with a slotted spoon, and set aside while you reduce the cooking liquid to a syrupy glaze. Add the turnips back to coat and rewarm. I like them best when they are just tender.
Optional greens: The turnips greens can be incorporated by first sauteeing them on their own in oil with salt and pepper, then removing from pan and setting aside while you cook the turnips, and, finally, added back to the pan at the end. Or, greens can be cooked and incorporated only at the end with another pinch or two of salt and pepper. Remember that if the greens give off much liquid, the turnips and their greens will be cooking a bit longer in order to reduce to a glaze again, so add them before the turnips are fully tender.
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.
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More Ideas for Radishes and Salad Turnips
RADISHES
Try a Tunisian style radish salad.
This radish salad is inspired by Waldorf salad.
Add julienned carrots tossed with a sesame vinaigrette for this colorful salad.
Use the whole radish, root to tail, in this pasta dish.
Make a quick fermented radish kimchi.
Even more radish recipes can be found in The Kitchn's guide to summer radishes.
RADISH GREENS
Turn radish leaves into pesto. This post also shares storage tips and other ideas on using radishes and their greens.
You can read more about radish greens in the Washington Post or The Splendid Table.
SALAD TURNIPS
Toss in a salad with fresh sugar snap peas and preserved lemon.
Salad turnips can be sautéed in butter, sliced or in chunks, or glazed in miso. You might even want to include the greens.
Make a creamy soup from the turnips and their greens.
These might work in a Chinese "turnip cake".
Appalachian Feet has even more ideas for salad turnips.
TURNIP GREENS
Make a turnip green saag.
The LexFarm website has more ideas for radishes and salad turnips from last year.
Compiled by Jackie Starr & Betsy Pollack
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Keeping Your CSA Share Under Control
Hot off the (internet) presses at The Kitchn: an article that shares sensible strategies on keeping up with your CSA shares and another with storage tips for your fresh veggies.
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Logistics
Remember that you have an assigned pickup day. CSA distribution sessions are:
- Wednesdays 3-7 pm
- Thursdays 3-7 pm
- Fridays 3-7 pm
- Saturdays 9 am - 1 pm
Picadilly Farm delivers the exact number of shares for each day, so if you forget or are unable to pickup your share, we are unable to accommodate you on a different day.
You are always welcome to send someone else to pick up your share for you. This is a wonderful opportunity to introduce a neighbor, friend, or co-worker to the farm. If you don't pick up your share, the food will not go to waste. Our volunteer food access team will deliver unclaimed produce to area food pantries.
We have set up a Google group to help you find someone to swap with when you are planning ahead. So far, the group has arranged several swaps, but keep in mind that there is no guarantee that you will find a swap. If you did not receive your invitation to the Google Group or are having trouble joining, send email to csa@lexfarm.org for assistance.
If someone else is picking up your share, whether it's a shareholder swap or you're just sending someone in your stead, they should check in under your name. We don't update the weekly sign in sheets based on swaps or alternates.
If another member of your household wants to receive their own copy of the weekly newsletter, just let us know.
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Farm Stand Open to Public
The farm stand is well-stocked with other locally produced foods to complement your CSA share. Check out what's on the shelves and in the coolers.
The farm stand is open to the public, so tell all your friends to stop by!
Farm Stand Hours:
Wednesdays-Fridays: 3-7 pm
Saturdays: 9 am - 4 pm
Sundays: 11 am - 4 pm
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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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Staff
Tim Hines
Farm Manager
Jaclyn Fishman
Farm Stand Manager
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LexFarm Board of Directors
Allison Guerette, President
Carolyn Goldstein, Vice President
Ralph Clifford, Treasurer
Amanda Maltais, Clerk
Susan Amsel
Mark Gabrenya
Marcia Gens
Whitney Kakos
Linda Levin
Susan Schiffer
Mary Rose Scozzafava
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