CSA Newsletter ~ Week 4

Linda weeding the chard bed

The heat has finally arrived which means that haying has started at the farm! 

Always a comforting feeling when you stack hay knowing that you have feed for the animals for the coming winter.  

A huge THANK YOU to Kevin who came out on Monday at 6.30am and helped unload three wagons of hay with us and another THANK YOU has to go out to our members who have been out to weed over the last few weeks it is greatly appreciated.

This weeks basket

Spring Turnips
Radicchio - Our radicchio is long and green we grow this one as it is not as bitter! Here are a few recipes from Martha Stewart!
Roasted Radicchio with White Beans, Figs and Walnuts
Being figs are out it might be a good match the sweetness of them with the bitter and the nice creaminess of the beans should work real nice.
Loosely adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves 4
1/2 pound white beans (such as cannellini or flageolet), soaked overnight in water
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for finishing
2 heads radicchio, sliced into 2″-thick wedges
1/3 cup caramelized onions (here’ how)
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup dried figs, sliced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
Drizzle balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Drain soaked beans and place in a large pot. Cover with fresh water, add bay leaf and garlic cloves. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to simmer. Cook on low, covered, for about 30 minutes until beans are tender. Remove bay leaf and garlic (you may smash the garlic with the back of a knife and stir into the beans). Season the pot with Kosher salt to taste. Keep warm. Beans can be cooked a few days ahead of time and stored in their cooking liquid.
Heat oven to 450. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil over radichio gently toss to combine. Season with a big pinch of salt and pepper and spread out on baking sheet. Roast for about 20 minutes until tender and charred in some places. Set aside.
Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid. In a large skillet, combine beans, roasted radicchio, mustard and caramelized onions. Heat, stirring occasionally and adding spoonfuls of bean cooking liquid to bring everything together. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter or bowl and garnish with walnuts, dried figs, lemon zest and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Enjoy warm.
Scapes - These are the last scapes of the 2015 season. You will find at the end of the veg list a recipe for your scapes and parsley that one of our CSA members sent in.
Swiss chard - We cooked this last night and it was amazing! A 10 minute sauteed rainbow chard.  All I did was use my scapes instead of garlic cloves.
Beetroots - Beetroot and Zucchini salad
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Spinach
Radish
Fennel - Is great eaten raw or cooked.  If you fancy trying it raw here is a great salad recipe which will also use some of your parsley. Fennel black olive orange salad
Parsley See recipe below.
Peas
Zucchini - They are at the baby stage at the moment. 

It is always a bonus when one of our CSA Members is a Chef! A huge thank you to Chef Chris for this recipe:
Aglio Olio
First wash, dry scapes and parsley………put in a food processor and add ¼ cup of olive oil.
Transfer the paste onto plastic wrap.

Roll into a sausage type package.

Freeze and cut a chunk off to add to pasta before serving or in meatloaf, or in potato salad, or in burgers, or add to your steak marinade…. Etc. Tastes delicious! And you know what’s in it!