CSA, Week 21

There are two more weeks of the CSA summer season, this week and next week – your LAST PICKUP is next week October 6th through October 10th. Please return all your baskets or boxes to your pickup location.

We will be taking orders for our ORGANIC TURKEYS soon for the holidays. These are both rare heritage breed turkeys and dark-feathered broad-breasted breed turkeys all raised outdoors (unlike traditional butter-balls) on pasture in a certified organic system. The high price per turkey (pushing $100 this year) will reflect both the specialty breeds and the high cost of organic grain that turkeys require to thrive. There are very few organic heritage turkeys available anywhere in the USA so we get a lot of requests to ship. We prefer to find ours a local home, and we take pre-orders for Thanksgiving, with payment at pickup. A photo is on the poultry product page of our website.

In Your Share
As always, shares may vary depending on your harvest day and your share size. Each share may not have each item listed below.

Beans, Green – organic
These tender and green late snap beans are a sight for sore eyes around the farm, with so many dried vines about. A lot of irrigation and a large block of field corn to block the drying winds allowed this fall planting to produce some nice beans. Store refriger-ated until ready to prepare. Find an easy recipe below.

Brussels Sprouts – organic
The sprouts contain high nutrition with low calories: high in Vit. A, potassium, and phosphorus, and they say the smaller, the better as far as tenderness. Be sure to cook them all the way through (but not over-cook). After removing the stem, cut a tiny X in the base to hasten the cooking, or halve them. Store in your refrigerator.

Fresh Herb, Sage – transition to organic

Cucumber

Hard Neck Garlic – organic

Yellow Onion – organic
This week’s onion is not as sweet as earlier in the season – more of a mild type. Use in any recipe. Can be stored in your pantry or refrigerated.

Potatoes – organic
These russet potatoes are nice for baking, mashing, or other recipes where you do not need the potato to hold its shape. While the skin is edible, you may want to peel if desired.

Summer Squash or Zucchini

Winter Squash, Long Neck Butternut
The squash will store for you several weeks, you do not need to use right away. The butternut is one of the most popular of all winter squash due to its ease in peeling. There is meat all the way up into the neck, not just in the bulb end, so be prepared to cook it all when you cut into it. Any recipe for winter squash can use the butternut. Find more recipes below.

Red Tomato – organic

Larger Shares:

Red Chile Pepper
Poblano Pepper

Recipes to Enjoy

Butternut Squash Soufflé
We enjoyed this Southern Living, Sept 2007 recipe over the weekend at the farm. It was declared a winner!

1 large butternut squash (about 2 lb.)
3 large eggs
½ C light sour cream
¼ C sugar
¼ C butter, softened
¼ C all-purpose flour
1 T finely chopped fresh sage
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Remove stem from squash. Cut squash lengthwise into 4 pieces; remove and discard seeds. Cook squash in boiling water to cover in a large saucepan over medium-high heat 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well; let cool for 25 minutes or until completely cool. Remove and discard peel.

Process squash and eggs in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Add sour cream and remaining ingredients; process 20 to 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish.

Bake at 350° for 55 to 60 minutes or until set.


Make-Ahead Potatoes from Taste of Home 1998

10 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
6 T butter, divided
2 T dried minced onion
1 tsp salt
Paprika

Place potatoes in Dutch oven or large kettle. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender. Drain and place in bowl. Mash.

Add sour cream, cream cheese, 4 Tbsp butter, onion, and salt. Stir until smooth and cream cheese and butter melts. Spread in greased 13X9X2-inch baking dish.

Melt remaining butter. Drizzle over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate or bake immediately, covered, at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 minutes longer.

If made ahead and refrigerated, let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Makes 12 servings.

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Breadcrumbs and Lemon
a Susan Russo recipe, making 4 servings

3 cups Brussels sprouts, halved (can make with a smaller amount, just reduce breadcrumbs also)
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 T butter
1 T lemon juice
Pinch of lemon zest
¼ C breadcrumbs, toasted

Salt & pepper, to taste. Peel off any marked outer leaves of the sprouts and trim the bottoms; slice in half. Boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain and plunge into a bowl of ice water; this will stop the cooking and maintain the sprouts' vibrant color.

To toast the breadcrumbs, place in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, while giving the pan handle a few shakes to toast the breadcrumbs evenly. Once they begin to turn golden, remove them from the heat and place in a bowl, as the heat from the pan will continue to toast them.

Meanwhile in a skillet over medium heat, sauté the garlic in the butter. Once the butter begins to bubble up and the garlic starts to jump a little, add the sprouts. Cook about 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until brown spots start to appear on the sprouts. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Add the toasted breadcrumbs into the skillet and toss gently. Add more breadcrumbs on top before serving; sprinkle with lemon zest if desired.

Tomato Pie

1 frozen deep dish pie shell
3-4 ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion
1-2 ounces fresh sweet basil (try substituting other fresh herbs if desired)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise

Bake frozen pie shell half done.

Quarter tomatoes and roughly chop. Layer tomatoes in pie shell. Chop onion and add to pie shell as second layer. Chop sweet basil and add to pie as third layer. Mix cheese and mayo together in bowl, then spread over top of pie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.