In the share this week: 1 butternut squash 1 bunch french breakfast radishes 1 bunch salad turnips 1 lb mixed onions 1 bag tatsoi greens 1 bag salad mix 1 fennel bulb Thoughts from Farmer Anna: These have truly been the glory days of fall lately. The light falling across the farm is just magical. Cole took the photo above one morning last week. In the beds straight ahead you can see the rows of cover crops popping up. Further to the right you see a bed of greens under row cover and some more mature greens past that. Way to the right you can see our high tunnels. It really is a lovely workplace. I know that many of you weren't able to attend our open house in August, and while it can be tough to plan multiple events like this each year, I want CSA members to know that you would be welcome to visit the farm at any time. Just shoot me an email and we'll set up a time for you to come out! Cole and I just finished seeding winter greens in the hoophouses yesterday. If all goes well we should have lots of spinach and baby kale starting in late January or early February. While most of this production is slated for restaurants during the winter, we should have plenty to offer to you all as well. So watch your email this winter for greens opportunities! Today the plan is to get next year's garlic planted. We will plant cloves of some of the garlic we grew this year plus some that we ordered from an organic farm in Wisconsin. Late October or early November is the perfect time to plant garlic. The cloves have just enough time to start sending out roots, but not enough time to send up shoots. We'll cover the beds with three layers of row cover for insulation during the winter and start checking on them in February or March (whenever we start getting some warmer days). We discovered last year that row cover is vastly superior to straw as a garlic covering in our climate. It's much easier to install and you can keep some layers on each after the garlic sprouts since it lets light through and won't let the young garlic rot. We are hoping to grow more of this crop and increase our quality so that we can give it more often in shares. New share crops to highlight this week are the tatsoi and french breakfast radishes. Tatsoi is a mild asian green with a texture and shape very similar to spinach. In fact, it is a great substitute for spinach, which Maria points out below in her first recipe. It has some tasty crunchy stems that make it perfect for both raw and cooked applications. I hope you like it! We did give some french breakfast radishes in an early spring share, but their quality wasn't nearly so good as those you'll be getting this week. These are perfection and fall radishes are very sweet with not as much spice as those you get in the heat of May. They would be really great sliced into your salads this week, or if you want to prepare them in the traditional French way, slice them longways and top with a little butter. It sounds like a really weird combination, but I swear it's quite good! Recipes from Maria: Tatsoi and Hoison Salmon Stir Fry Ingredients 2 filets of salmon 1 bunch broccoli 1 bunch tatsoi (fresh) 1 medium-large pepper (red) 2 tsp hoisin sauce 1 pinch salt pepper (to taste) 2 tsp Sesame oil 1 red chili (Asian, optional) 1 clove garlic (crushed) 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp ginger (freshly grated) 1 tsp honey 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce 1 tbsp Sesame seeds 5-6 pieces shiitake mushrooms (optional) Instructions Mix the garlic with ginger, 1/2 soy sauce, 1/2 of the hoisin sauce, 1/2 teriyaki sauce and honey. Pour over the salmon pieces and leave aside for at least 20-30 min or even longer if possible. In a frying pan just cook marinated salmon on a low heat. Turn occasionally. Depending on the size of the fish, cook until nicely browned. Simultaneously but separately, in a deeper frying pan add the sesame oil. Cook initially the mushrooms and pepper for a 2-4 min. Then add the chopped greeneries (broccoli and tatsoi) stirring occasionally. Add the remainder of the soy, teriyaki and hoisin sauces. Toss around and cook for around 5 minutes. Add the sliced red chili. To finish off the cooking, add the salmon broken into bigger chunks and sprinkle some sesame seeds. **I sometimes mix some balsamic vinegar 1 or 2 tbsp and 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar 1/2 tsp honey with 1/4 freshly grated ginger and one or two cloves of freshly ground/smashed or chopped garlic and sprinkle all over it. It's simply delicious! Tatsoi can be used anywhere where spinach could go. Sweet Potato, Turnip, and Chickpea Hash Ingredients 1 bag dried chickpeas, soaked overnight then cooked until just tender, about 1 hour, and drained 1 onion, chopped 2 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into pieces 1 bunch turnips, peeled and cut into pieces 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped ½ tsp smoked paprika ½ tsp dried oregano ½ tsp sea salt 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil juice of half a lemon 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped Instructions 1. Pour olive oil into a skillet or large frying pan which has a lid, and place the pan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring, until the onion is soft and translucent. 2. Add the turnip, sweet potato, garlic and chilli, along with two tablespoons of water. Stir to combine, then reduce the heat to its lowest setting and place the lid over the pan. Cook for a further 20 to 25 minutes, lifting the lid and stirring every so often, until vegetables are tender and starting to brown slightly. 3. Remove the lid, add cooked chickpeas, salt, smoked paprika and oregano and cook, stirring for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and squeeze over the lemon juice. Scatter with the chopped parsley.
