Winter Week 4: This is Fall

For those of you who are life long Yoopers. This is the kind of November and December weather that the rest of Michigan refers to as fall.

I'm used to wondering whether or not I'd have a white Christmas when I lived downstate, but it feels completely wrong up here.

Christmas lights look silly without snow around.

On the plus side, the unusual weather allowed Scott to get some fall projects done. 

Which meant that I could take this awesome
picture of him.

And it was the warmest ever weekend for Ontonagon's annual Hometown Christmas fireworks and parade.

Hometown Christmas  is always a wonderful time.

Turns out it's even more wonderful when no
one has to worry about cold noses or toes.

This weather also means the December fields look a lot different than we're used to and the most cold hardy vegetables we grow are actually still growing. So, even though it's December 8th, members will be getting some fresh greens in their shares this week.

Half Share Members can look forward to: Onions, Rutabaga, Cabbage, Buttercup Squash, Jester OR Carnival Squash, 3 pounds Daikon, Dried Tomatoes, and 

Baby Kale. 

Full Share Members will get all that good stuff as well as: Brussels Sprouts, Parsley, An additional Squash choice, and more baby kale. 

This week's recipe focuses on the daikon radishes. We have been growing them for some time now because they are a reliable crop for our area that store exceptionally well and are quite versatile. It's easy (for me at least) to look at them and automatically think stir fry or salad because of their Asian radishy-ness, but they're also great cooked in ways you might think more suited to a turnip or potato. As in this recipe.

Roasted Pork Shoulder with Daikon Radish and Balsamic Vinegar

•  One 2-3 pound Pork Shoulder Roast
• 1.5 lbs Daikon Radishes (about half of what is in the share this week) cut into 3/4 inch rounds
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• .5 ounce dried tomato (about a third of what is in the share this week) chopped finely
• 1 or 2 small onions (red is best) chopped finely
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the sliced daikon radishes in the bottom of a roasting pan that is large enough to accommodate the pork roast. Set the roast on top of the radishes.

Combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dried tomato, chopped onion, salt and pepper.

Pour the olive oil mixture over the top of the roast.

It will look like this going into the oven. Though maybe your oven
 door is cleaner than mine.

Roast, uncovered, at 425 for 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 and continue to roast, uncovered, until the meat is cooked through and tender, which took about 3 hours in total for me. The time it takes will depend on the size of your roast. Turn the meat every hour or so and spoon the liquid from the bottom of the pan over the roast as it cooks. The dried tomatoes will caramelize and soften as they cook and you will be able to spread them across the surface of the roast while it cooks. Do that, it's delicious.