Farm share for week 9

Hi all! I hope you are working your way through the shares from last week--when we were packing them we realized that they were big shares!
The rain was so refreshing and revitalizing! Usually rain makes us hunker down but, after many weeks of dry weather, the rain was a galvanizing force. Inspired by the life-giving rain, we are going forward with some experiments with new crops for the fall. We're going to plant a quarter-acre of decorative sunflowers, as well as dill, chicory, pea vines, rosemary and a few other things that will be ready in the fall.
The share this week will be a little less bulky but with some exciting, fun stuff:

Strawberries: They are back! After many weeks without any berries our plants are ripening fruit again and still setting lots of flowers, so we will have fruit in the weeks to come. The berries are bigger this time around.
Beets: We grow three types of beets: red, golden, and chioggia. They can all be used in the same manner. We grow the red because they are classic and incredibly potent and flavorful. The golden and chioggia are grown for their special aesthetic beauty. We will be picking all three varieties this week.
Candy Onions: These sweet onions are sizing up incredibly well for us.Use them like you would walla walla onions. Excellent raw or sauteed.
Cilantro: A staple of Indian and Mexican cuisine, cilantro also makes a great addition to sandwiches and salads. Cilantro has a very strong flavor that allures some and repulses others. My regrets if you find yourself in the second camp. I am in the first camp, but it took years of smaller doses of it for me to develop the affinity that I have for cilantro.
Summer squash: Sometimes I eat squash and I think "I could live without this." Other times, I am enraptured by it. Summer squash has a relatively short season here in the Puget Sound so it is important to seize this moment when the plants are young and producing exquisite fruits to prepare your favorite dishes and experiment with new ones. I made squash sauteed with torpedo onions on Monday and it was the best thing I ate all week. Try to eat them within a couple of days of getting the share if you can.
Squash blossoms: In addition to harvesting the squash we harvest the blossoms from the plants. The blossoms are the male flowers which won't turn in to squash. One delicious way to prepare these is to stuff them with ricotta and fry them. Here's a recipe for that, with a tomato sauce for dipping:

Ingredients

For tomato sauce:

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pound plum tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

For squash blossoms:

• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta (preferably fresh)
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup finely chopped mint
• 2/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided
• 12 to 16 large zucchini squash blossoms
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chilled seltzer or club soda
• About 3 cups vegetable oil for frying

• Equipment: a deep-fat thermometer

Preparation

Make tomato sauce:
Cook garlic and red pepper flakes in oil in a 2-quarts heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, water, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 25 to 30 minutes.
Prepare squash blossoms:
Stir together ricotta, yolk, mint, 1/3 cup parmesan, and 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
Carefully open each blossom and fill with about 2 rounded teaspoon ricotta filling, gently twisting end of blossom to enclose filling. (You may have filling left over.)
Whisk together flour, remaining 1/3 cup parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and seltzer in a small bowl.
Heat 1/2 inch oil to 375°F in a 10-inch heavy skillet. Meanwhile, dip half of blossoms in batter to thinly coat. Fry coated blossoms, turning once, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes total. Transfer with tongs to paper towels to drain. Coat and fry remaining blossoms. (Return oil to 375°F between batches.) Season with salt. Serve with tomato sauce.

Cooks' note: Tomato sauce and ricotta filling can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Reheat sauce before serving.

farm share week 8 is in full effect!

Farm share for week number eight is a big and summery one!
I was very happy to see how nice it looked as we packed the bags up this afternoon.  Jack is out of town visiting his family down in Oregon, and I was happy that we were able to get the veggies packed up and into the truck to go up to coupeville in time for our share members and wholesale accounts, and everything else up into the farm stand with time to spare.  Without further ado, here is what's in share 8:

Cucumbers-  first of the year, and they are good!  Yes, the yellow thing in your share IS a cucumber, and yes it is supposed to look like that.  Each share has one picolino cuke, my favorite green slicer, and one blond cuke.  They are all good to eat without peeling...thin skin, not many seeds, and great raw.  i always just cut off the very ends as they are sometimes a little bitter.  We grow lots of cucumbers so look forward to more in the coming weeks!

Broccoli-  with August around the corner, you probably won't see broccoli in the share too many times before fall.  Enjoy it while you can...pretty heads today!

Peas- ditto on the peas...we are into our final planting of sugar snaps,  so only a few more weeks before they're gone.  I can't believe how they are selling at the farmers market...we can't seem to bring enough!  Last week I sewed some shelling (English) peas that will hopefully be ready in October...my first experiment in a fall pea crop.

Lettuce-  nice heads of green romaine..the variety is "coastal star"- perfect for a Caesar salad.  Glad to see all our lettuce performing well in the heat of Summer!

Carrots-  a new planting of carrots, not quite as gigantic!

Parsley-  mondo bunch of parsley will hopefully inspire you to get creative and try using it in different ways.  I use some parsley almost every time I cook, bit especially in eggs, with potatoes, and on pasta sauces, soups and salads.

Torpedo "red bottle" onions-  these onions are mild and sweet, perfect for grilling or putting on a sandwich or salad raw.  Great caramelized too!  An Italian heirloom.

Fennel bulbs- anyone who is a fan of anise and licorice flavors will love fennel raw.  Try it sliced thin on a salad (farm share member kim recommends it with papaya and avocado ...I can't remember the specifics though, so Kim email me the recipe to share!) Or dipped in a hummus.
If the flavor is too strong for you raw, it is very mild when cooked.  There are millions of great Italian recipes online, but here is a simple pasta sauce that I like:
http://www.ciaoitalia.com/seasons/16/1604/roasted-fennel-and-cherry-tomato-sauce

Farm Share Week 7!  by Blake

Things are humming along on the farm.  Crops seem to be surviving and thriving in this heat wave we're having, but it is keeping us running to get all the irrigation done!  I love hot weather, unlike many Whidbey Island residents, but that said, when we do get hot weather it often makes me grateful for our cool climate.  I enjoy the wonderful months of warm weather, and I definitely am unhappy when it is 55 degrees in July...but I'm also glad that it's not hot and dry six months out of the year.  It would just be tiring.  That said, here is our first downright summery farm share:

Green beans-  These are I think the best batch of green beans I've ever grown!  So tender and delicious.  They are great for a raw bean salad, but I've heard raw green beans upset some peoples' stomachs, so if you are going to cook them only cook them briefly!    I will be enjoying them raw myself, both while I am picking them and for dinner tonight.
Here is a recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Goddess-Green-Beans-231809
(I would cook them for half the time they say, and if you're feeling lazy you could just use Annie's Green goddess dressing from the store...it's pretty great)

Basil-  Delicious basil!  The plants are loving this weather; they are just beginning to leaf out, so the amount of basil is a bit light, but perfect for garnishing a pizza or pasta or putting in a sandwich.  We'll try to give out more and bigger shares of basil in August.

Summer squash-  Nice mix of summer squash today.  More than last week, as promised.  The plants are really starting to crank out the squash...we've harvested over one hundred pounds since Saturday morning!  A mix of green, yellow, and green tiger (striped) zucchini, eight ball and cue ball squash (the round ones), crookneck and lebanese (the light green ones).

Carrots-  No introduction needed, after a week's break the carrots are back in the share this week.

Lettuce-  In the share this week is Bergam's Green, a green head lettuce that is one of my favorite varieties.  It has such pretty frilly leaves with a beautiful lime green color, and it holds up super well both in the field and in the fridge.  Big enough for several salads too.

Onions-  These are the same walla walla sweets we were giving out before, but they've begun to dry down and so now are topless!  Use for any recipe that calls for yellow or white onion, but they add a bit of sweetness.

Kale-  We hadn't done kale since early June and figured we'd better squeeze it in this week before all the summer produce comes on and there won't be room for it.  This is lacinato, tuscan, or dinosaur kale...three names for the same kale.  This variety seems particularly good for making kale chips or massaged kale salad, both very fashionable ways to prepare kale!  Here are some links for how to do it if you're unfamiliar:
kale chips:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/
massaged kale salad:  http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/massaged_kale_salad.html

Have fun cooking and eating your food this week!  Happy summer....

Week 6

Hi everyone,
It really feels like summer now. The grass is dying and the squash , tomatoes and cucumbers are flowering. Just in time, we've got our irrigation line in the ground and our new ice machine up and running. We're getting into the next season of produce, with a teaser this week of zucchini. Here's what's in the share:

Snap Peas - We're swimming in snap peas right now and they are delish!
Beets - Red beets this week, larger than before but still young enough to have a thin skin. Use the leaves like you would chard or any other cooking green.
Mini Head Lettuce - This is the same mini romaine we gave you a few weeks back. It is mild in flavor and very easy to use.
Arugula - We have some tender bunched arugula this week, great for salads, pesto, or on pizza.
Garlic - This garlic was grown by a friend of ours. The variety is inchillium red. You can use it as you would any other garlic, but for you hardcore garlic fans this stuff is a special treat when roasted whole.
French Breakfast Radishes -These are one of the most popular items at our stand at the farmer's market week in and week out. They are at the perfect stage this week, not too spicy. Lots of folks at the market use them to make radish sandwiches.
Cauliflower - We weren't planning on putting cauliflower in the share this week but when we showed up on Monday we had so much ready that we decided to include it. Blake recommendation: cover the whole head in butter, salt and pepper, and blue cheese, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it at 300 degrees for an hour. Or try cauliflower in a curry. There are so many things to do with cauliflower.
Zucchini - A teaser this week--just one zucchini. We're growing a handful of varieties of summer squash this year which all taste pretty similar. We've got the regular green zucchini, a yellow zucchini, a green striped zucchini called green tiger, a few round squash and a yellow crook neck.

Farm share week 5...with flowers!

A new week and a new farm share...with a special treat thanks to the hard work of Bobbi Mennella.  Each share will include a beautiful small flower bouquet to decorate your kitchen table.  Putting together a beautiful bouquet is no easy task, especially for people like Jack and me who have no aptitude for it.  We are lucky to have Bobbi, who is so good at it.
Also:
New potatoes-  grocery stores have taken to selling something they call new potatoes, but these are he real deal.  True new spuds cannot be mechanically harvested or stored for too long as they haven't developed thick skins.  But they cook in half the time, and have a delicate flavor and great texture.  These ones are a mix of varieties hand dug by our friends at Willowood farm, who grow literally tons of amazing tubers.  Enjoy them in any potato recipe...I love them as breakfast potatoes!
Carrots- more of our amazing carrots...they just keep getting bigger and better.  We made carrot soup this week and it was delicious.  Or, Try putting them in a pan in the oven covered with stock and bake for 40 minutes at 375 to make glazed roasted carrots.
Lettuce- back on the list for more summer lettuce salads.  The lettuce is sweet and crisp right now.
Broccoli- our second planting of broccoli is ready now, so we are harvesting lots of broccoli.  It had to be picked at the perfect time when the heads have sized up but have not started to sprout yet.  This cool moist weather is perfect for broccoli harvest as it ripens more slowly and evenly.
Sugar snap peas- the peas are at their absolute peak in productivity and in quality- so sweet!  The peas have been a dream come true this spring, and while they do take a while to pick, it goes fast when the plants are loaded with peas as they are right now.

Farm share week 4

Fava beans - There are many ways to eat a fava bean. Some prefer the less mature pods which can be eaten whole like green beans. The fava beans that you are getting this week will be fully mature and should be shelled. The beans in the middle also need to be peeled, which is easier after first boiling them. Then you are left with the little gem in the middle, which should be cooked. They make a great addition to a salad or by themselves with butter and salt as a side dish. They also can be used for hummus in the place of chickpeas.
Carrots - Sweet and crisp, our carrots make a fantastic snack when eaten raw or a tasty side dish when roasted.
Salad Mix - This week's salad mix is a blend of seasonal fresh cut greens including arugula, baby lettuce, spinach, tatsoi and mustards.
Cauliflower - This is our first week having cauliflower and we are very proud of our beautiful heads! I am roasting some right now as I write this. I will be putting it on a pizza for dinner.
Swiss Chard - I just braised some of our greens in a mixture of chicken stock, soy sauce and sriracha. Delish! The chard is so tender.
Hakurei Turnips - These mild sweet Japenese salad turnips are in the share again this week. If you've had enough turnip salads try roasting them. We put them on the grill this weekend and brushed them with hoisin sauce.

Farm share week 3

Spinach - This week our spinach is bunching size (don't worry--we will have more salad spinach!). The bigger leaves make this spinach fantastic cooked or juiced. Despite its size, this spinach is tender enough to make a great salad when washed and chopped.
Beets(!) - Gorgeous beets! At this point, our beets are smaller than normal grocery store beets, which allows them to be used in a slightly different way. Because they are so young they haven't developed a touch skin and can be eaten without peeling. Their size also allows for less cooking time. We either roast them for 30 minutes in aluminum foil or boil for 15 minutes and then roast for 10-15 minutes. If you boil them they will be a bit more tender,  if you just roast them they will have a bit more crunch.
Lettuce - We're sending out a mixture of romaine, green leaf, red leaf and crisp heads.
Broccoli - Again! We have so much broccoli and we are happy to send out some larger heads this week.
Snap Peas - Snap peas are one of our primary crops here at the farm. Snap peas are eaten pod and all, no shelling necessary. They make a fantastic snack when they are raw. They are a great addition to a salad or stir-fry.
Kohlrabi - The alien vegetable. Kohlrabi are a brassica, the plant family that also includes as kale, broccoli, and cabbage. They have a flavor similar to broccoli stems or cabbage. They should be peeled and can be eaten raw or cooked. They make excellent fries and are superb eaten raw with a dip. You can use the leaves as well, the same way you would kale or collards. 
Walla Walla Onions - Our onions have jumped in size but they still have the mild, fresh flavor and texture of Spring onions.