Week 4: The Vegetables are Here

A lovely foggy morning in the field.

Last week one of our members asked "So, is it pretty much just greens again this week? No vegetables yet?" He is a lovely man, and we're sure the question was posed with the purest of intentions. But, I still feel the need to mention that kale, lettuce, and arugula *are* vegetables. Yummy and nutritious vegetables at that.

But I'm guessing most CSA members know that :)

I am curious to know though whether any of you might have an idea as to what this is about:

Our chard, which is generally a no fuss crop, is suffering from something
unpleasant this year.

We wanted to include chard in the shares this week, but it all looks like the plant pictured above. We've never seen anything like this. Have you? Our theories include virus and heat damage, though I don't really think the heat would do this. Research led me to a virus that only strikes beets and chard growing in arid regions of the country (our weather hasn't been that strange this season, right?) and aphids. The damage seems to fit the description of aphid damage, but I haven't seen a single aphid out there...hmm. Always something to learn in this line of work.

Happily, there are several items that look great for the share this week. Greens and vegetables. This week  members can expect to receive: Lettuce, Bunching Onions, Spicy Salad Mix (Arugula and Mustard), Parsley or Sorrel, Baby Pac Choi, Radishes, Snow Peas, Root Vegetable Combo (turnips, carrots, and beets or kohlrabi), Cauliflower, and A Hoophouse Treat. 

Though the weather has tempered for now, the cauliflower, which prefers cooler weather, began heading when it was still very hot out and the heads do show signs of stress. They are smaller than we would like and have a bit of a purplish tinge to them. I recommend using them cooked rather than raw (they would work very well in the curry recipe below if that strikes your fancy) because some of them have an extra strong cabbage flavor due to stress. Cooking will help to reduce that.

Things are starting to trickle out of the hoophouse in small quantities, so there is a wide selection of potential hoophouse treats. Members will be able to choose between tomatoes, eggplant, purple sweet peppers, jalapenos, tomatillos, and ground cherries.

A smattering of potential hoophouse treats.

The items in the photo that look like tiny tomatillos are the ground cherries, also called cape gooseberries. Other than a few plants in a tiny vegetable garden my parents let me grow many years ago, this is the first time Scott or I has grown ground cherries, so we are still learning the ropes with them. My guess is they are new to most of you too. Ground cherries are members of the tomato family that are used as fruits, rather than vegetables. They taste like a cross between tomatillos (which they are very closely related to) and pineapples (which, I hope you already realized, they are not even slightly related to). They can be made into pies, jams, and dried to use like raisins. However, the most anyone will get this week is one pint of them, so my guess is all the ground cherries going out will be munched upon plain, or possibly sprinkled on top of a salad.

I have to admit it is a little difficult to tell if they are ripe. The idea is that the ripe ones fall off the plant, so I pick up the fruits on the ground - most of those are golden and delicious. Many fruits fall off the plants at the slightest touch - most of those are golden and delicious too. Some of the fruits in both of those categories are still a bit green though. I find these green fruits are still pretty good, they just taste a lot like tomatillos and nothing at all like pineapple.

Root Vegetable Curry

The medley of root vegetables you are receiving this week may seem more fit for the fall. We planted them early in the hoophouse where they enjoyed the "cold" spring weather (there were a few stretches of proper weather) and then appreciated the heat - as long as we made sure they had plenty of water. Though they are traditional soup and stew ingredients, soups and stews are not really fitting this time of year. I think this mild curry is just the thing. Serve it over rice.

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, diced, or the bunching onions from your share 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 jalapeno (or more or less to taste) cut into thin rounds
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 to 1.5 pounds root vegetables (carrots, kohlrabi, turnips, and beets in whatever combination you choose), peeled as needed and diced into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk
• Water
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste

Melt the butter over medium/low heat in a medium saucepan.

Add the diced onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno (if using), and curry powder. Stir well to coat with butter. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and just beginning to turn translucent.

Add the root vegetables to the saucepan, stir well to coat with butter and seasonings.

Pour the coconut milk into the saucepan. Fill the coconut milk can about half full with water (which should be about 6 or 7 ounces of water). Stir the tablespoon of tomato paste into the water until it is evenly combined. Add the water and tomato paste to the saucepan and stir well.

Turn the heat up and bring the curry just to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender, approximately 20 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes Revisited

So, as you can probably tell, I am completely new to this blogging thing. I wrote my first post about a month and a half ago. I've been surprised to find that I have a few readers that are enjoying the blog as much as I am, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest and read along with me so far.


Highlights from the 2010 sweet potato harvest.

The above mentioned first post was all about harvesting sweet potatoes from our hoophouse. I wrote it on a whim while I was in bed for a few days with some back pain that has been bothering me on and off since my pregnancy, which is why it has such an engrossing opening. I think the posts have gotten a tiny bit better since then, hopefully they will continue to do so.

Things do tend to get better with time.

My daughter, playing with the giant two pound sweet potato.
It's been in storage two months now. This one's destined to become Thanksgiving pie.
We had our first snow this weekend, hence the snowman jammies.

The sweet potatoes certainly have. They were respectably tasty right after we harvested them in mid September. They had a lot of sweet potato flavor, especially in the skin, and wonderful fresh earthiness, but they were also a tad starchy. We weren't worried about the starchiness though. Starchiness is to be expected in an uncured sweet potato. We ate a lot of them and gave each of our members five pounds (it was a good harvest) with instructions to store them for a while so that their sweetness would develop. We also stored several pounds in our unheated porch. We just started pulling out some of the stored sweet potatoes and popping them in the oven about a week ago and, oh man, they are like little roasted honey pies.

I also included a recipe in that first post, for sweet potato curry. Um, it wasn't really a curry, but it had a simple to make masala and I didn't know what else to call it so I went with curry. Sweet potatoes with warm Indian inspired spices just sounds kind of froofy to my ear.

The recipe improved with time too, and repeated preparation. So I'm sharing it again, with improvements, just in time for Thanksgiving. In our house the sweet potato "curry" is served with brown rice as a main course. But if you take away the rice, add some turkey, cranberry relish, and cornbread stuffing I'm pretty sure you'll have a perfect Thanksgiving side. My, this is a versatile recipe.

Revamped Sweet Potato Curry

I've added some carrots, parsnips, and apples to the dish which has made it crunchier, earthier, and sweeter than the original version. I've also changed the peanut oil to coconut oil, which brings out the nutty flavors of the root vegetables. If you don't have coconut oil, don't let that stop you from making this. Peanut oil (the fat used in the original version) is delicious too.

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 small jalapeño, with or without seeds (to taste) minced
• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• masala, recipe below
• 3 medium sweet potatoes (to total 1.5 pounds), sliced 1/4 inch thick, large rounds halved
• 2 large carrots (to total 1/2 pound), sliced into rounds about 1/2 as thick as the sweet potatoes
• 2-3 parsnips (to total 1/2 pound), prepared as the carrots
• 1-2 apples (to total 1/2 pound), cored and chopped in 1/4 inch pieces

1. In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, jalapeño, and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has broken apart and is becoming translucent.
3. Stir in the masala. Continue to stir until it is very aromatic, about 30 seconds.
4. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips and stir to coat with spices.
5. Turn the heat down to low, cover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender, 20 - 30 minutes.
6. Stir in the diced apple, cover and cook until the apples are heated through but still firm, about 5 minutes.

To make the masala: 

• 2 teaspoons whole coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black mustard seed
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
• 1/4 teaspoon whole cardamom seed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all of the spices and the salt and grind them with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder. The final product does not need to be super fine, just broken up into small enough pieces that it will be pleasant to eat. I like a little texture to my spice, but big pieces can be bitter if you bite into them in the final dish.

Sweet Potato Time

There are still a few in the ground but, sadly, my back aches so right now I am going to write about them instead of harvest them.

My husband and I (well, mostly the husband) managed to grow about 100 pounds of sweet potatoes - way up north in the land of 6 month long winters - so right now the world is pretty much about sweet potatoes for me.  After sharing them with the CSA members we still have quite a bounty so I have been putting them in everything. These are two of my favorite highlights.

I cooked some up in olive oil with walnuts, balsamic vinegar, and fresh pepper as a quick snack for the baby.

She has a pretty sophisticated palate for a one year old.

And I also created a simple to make sweet potato curry.

The curry is best served over brown rice that has been cooked with a bit of salt and a large pinch of whole cumin seed.

Sweet Potato Curry
• 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon peanut oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped roughly into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 small jalapeno, sliced into very thin rounds
• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced into thin rounds, rounds quartered
• 2 teaspoons homemade masala (see below) or store bought masala
• 3 medium sweet potatoes (to total 1.5 pounds), sliced into rounds just less than 1/4 inch thick, halve any big rounds

1. In a large skillet, heat the peanut oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, jalapeno, and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has broken apart and is becoming translucent.
3. Stir in the masala. Continue to stir until it is very aromatic, 15-30 seconds.
4. Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat with spices.
5. Turn the heat down to low, cover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy, 20 - 30 minutes.

To make the masala: 

• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seed
• 1/4 teaspoon whole black mustard seed
• 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
• 1/8 teaspoon whole cardamom seed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Combine all of the spices and the salt and grind them with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder. The final product does not need to be super fine, just broken up into small enough pieces that it will be pleasant to eat. I like a little texture to my spice, but big pieces can be bitter if you bite into them in the final dish. In the end, you should have about two teaspoons of masala.

I was only allowed to take the leftovers to work the next day after I promised my husband that I would make it as often as possible.