For a great, step-by-step-photo guideline about preparing beets and different ways to serve them, check out this great web-link: http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-favorite-way-to-roast-beets.html
Author: Tristan Klesick
Fresh This Week Tips, Week 10.17.10
Spitzenburg Apples
STORE: To store, keep apples as cold as possible in the refrigerator.
PREP: Gently rub the apple as you run warm water over it to clean. Peel and cut your apple into slices or cubes. To prevent apples from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: This dessert apple is great for cider, apple pies or eating out of hand. It is also rumored to have been a favorite of President Thomas Jefferson!
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Bartlett Pears
STORE: Keep pears in a cool, dark place until ripe. To test for ripeness, gently push on the stem. If it gives a little, your pear is ready to eat. Once ripe, pears may be stored in the refrigerator.
PREP: Wash pears in cold water and keep them whole, slice them or chop them.
USE: Bartlett pears are delicious eaten out of hand, but are also great choices for canning or baking.
Beets
STORE: Separate your greens from the beets and keep them in separate plastic bags in the refrigerator. Leave an inch of the greens to prevent flavor loss and bleeding. The beets should last for about a week, but use your greens as soon as possible.
PREP: Scrub your beets and rinse the greens before using.
USE: Beets can be roasted, baked, steamed or eaten raw. The Klesick family loves to boil the beets, quarter them and eat them while they’re still warm with a bit of butter straight out of the pot! Be sure to sauté, steam or braise the tasty greens with a little olive oil and salt.
Cauliflower
STORE: Store cauliflower for up to one week in your crisper covered by a plastic or paper bag.
PREP: Keep whole and chop off ¼ inch off the stem or cut the head into bite-sized florets.
USE: Steam, roast, bake or stir fry cauliflower. Be careful not to overcook! For a simple, delicious pizza, try this “pizza” with cauliflower crust recommended by a customer (great for those eating gluten free).
Fennel
STORE: Store fresh fennel in the refrigerator crisper. It should keep fresh for about four days, but try to use it as soon as possible for the best flavor.
PREP: Wash your fennel thoroughly to remove all dirt. Don’t be afraid to use all parts of the fennel in cooking: the base, stalks and leaves. The ideal way to slice your fennel is to cut it vertically through the bulb.
USE: Fennel is the unique, crunchy, licorice-tasting vegetable used commonly in Mediterranean cooking. When paired with juicy oranges, the fresh flavor and crisp texture of the fennel really shines. Try this festive Fennel and Orange Salad from kiss my spatula. You can also use fennel leaves as an herbaceous seasoning to entrees or soups.
Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear
I have been spending some of the most blissful moments of the farm season during the fall clean up. Ever since I got my new Belgian team, Sally and Sandy, I have been working them a lot. My previous team was a bear to work with and, consequently, they didn’t get worked because it wasn’t any fun. But my new team—aaaaaah!—has been for the most part a dream.
However, the other week I was away for a few days and put them out on pasture so that my kiddos didn’t have to worry about them. I came home, caught them, harnessed them, and set out for the field. Fortunately, my good friend Ken, from Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez, was visiting and we worked them together. Those two fillies were a handful that morning. When it comes to horses, I am a greenhorn, but Ken is a real teamster. I had bought the girls from Ken and he quietly reprimanded me and said, “No more green grass for them.” Our pastures are very rich and so after feeding off them for a week the Belgians were affected like a toddler on soda pop—they were all wound up. It took a couple of hours driving them around the farm to burn off that excess sugar!
I have always pastured my horses and so this experience got me thinking that maybe my previous team was just high strung because their feed was too rich??? I will never really know. However, I did notice today that when I harnessed up Katy, the remaining horse from my first team, for the most part she was amenable working with me. And she has been off pasture for a couple days and eating our local hay. (We have local hay available if you would like some.)
Yesterday and this morning, I harnessed up Sally and Sandy and we backed up and headed out to the field. It was like I was “Driving Miss Daisy.” We leisurely wandered out to the field got the disc and went to work. Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… all these sounds as the disc cut through the corn stocks. I have never heard a disc as it did its job. When we are on the tractors it is too noisy to hear yourself think let alone a disc cutting and tearing. But even before, when I was using my previous team, I had to concentrate so much on those horses as they raced through the field that I couldn’t enjoy the moment.
But today, Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… were the sounds of music. I love that sound and nothing could be finer than working with my team, the mountains in the background and the sun shining overhead! Working steady horses on a beautiful day, an old English poet from Suffolk once said, “is a poor excuse for work.” And this farmer said, “Amen.”
Know Your Produce: Kale
Kale:
How to Store: Keep kale unwashed (moisture speeds decay) in a plastic bag in the coldest section of the refrigerator, which is usually in the back.
Shelf Life: Because kale contains a lot of water, it doesn’t last long once it has been bought. Use it within 1 to 3 days of purchase for the tastiest results. Kale that has been sitting around can develop a strong bitter flavor.
Best Uses: Kale has a slight cabbage-y taste but none of the bitterness of some other greens, like broccoli rabe. Remove the leaves from the tough center stalk before sautéing or adding them to salads. Try adding 2 cups chopped leaves to a pot of soup. Simmer until tender, about 4 minutes. Kale is also a good substitute for spinach.
Try this delicious sounding recipe for kale and olive oil mashed potatoes! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001566.html
Know Your Produce: Italian Plums
Italian Plums, also called plum-prunes (yes, these are what they make dried prunes with) are a late-season stone fruit that appears for just a short time during the month of October. Just sweet enough for eating out-of-hand, these take on a whole new dimension when poached or baked in any way. We will be offering these as add-ons for next week, as there aren’t enough to make another round in the boxes, so look for the updated special price on the web Thursday afternoon.
For a great (and gluten free!) recipe for Plum Crumble, go to http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/09/best-crumble-you-will-ever-eat.html
Know Your Produce: Potatoes
Image from the Maine Food & Lifestyle blog
- Potatoes should be kept in a cool, dark place with good ventilation. the ideal storage temperature is 45 to 50 degrees F. At these temperature, the potatoes will keep for several weeks. Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator, as a temperature below 40 degrees F. will cause the potatoes to develop a sweet taste. This is due to the conversion of starch to sugar, which causes potatoes to darken when cooked.
- If you store potatoes at room temperature, use them within a week or so.
- Wait to wash potatoes, until you are ready to use them, as they will keep longer & this prevents loss of nutrients.
- It is not recommended that you freeze cooked potato dishes, as they tend to become watery after reheating. As the potato is 80% water, this water separates from the starch causing the reheated potato dish to be watery.
- Potatoes are easier to prepare and healthier for you when cooked with their skins on. Always rinse and scrub the potatoes thoroughly before using.
- When you are using cut up potatoes in your cooking, preserve the color by place them in cold water. Limit the water soaking time to two (2) hours to retain the water-soluble vitamins. Color discoloration (pinkish or brownish) happens from the carbohydrates in the potato reacting with oxygen in the air. Potatoes that do become discolored in this way are safe to eat and do not need to be thrown. Usually the color discoloration will disappear with cooking.
- Sometimes potatoes will get a spot that is a greenish hue. A potato in this condition is “light-struck” which causes a build-up of a chemical called Solanine. This is a natural reaction to the potato being exposed to too much light. (store out of light!) The green part, if eaten in large quantity, can cause illness. If there is slight greening, cut away the green portions of the potato skin before cooking and eating.
See http://whatscookingamerica.net/potato.htm
For more tips on boiling, baking and making mashed potatoes.
Fresh This Week Add-Ons, 10.17.10
Heirloom Apples Available for Juicing, Saucing and Homemade Pies!
Clockwise: Photos from janespice, my recipes, Cooks Farm Orchard and smitten kitchen.
Don’t you just love fall?! The bounty of local food is being harvested by the bushel. Bright-colored winter squash varieties are being picked and stored in big wooden bins, farmers are picking that last patch of green beans, sweet and crisp from the cool nights – hoping to get them all harvested before the frost comes, late season sweet corn – ripening in small batches as long as the sun will shine down on it, Italian plums, pluots, pears and…apples! Great kaleidoscopes of color, transferred from tree to box by nimble fingers. There are many varieties of apples that will never make it to the supermarket shelves because they aren’t well-known, or available in the quantities that common varieties like Fuji’s or Galas are. These apples are bursting with a flavor all their own, each variety is different than the other, including the color of skin, and color of flesh (inside)
We here at Klesick Family Farm have had the opportunity to purchase a few boxes of heirloom apple varieties and would like to pass this opportunity on to our customers. These apples are all from a few small, certified organic orchards in Okanogan, WA, who have been growing heirloom apples for over 30 years. The apples will come in a 16-lb box (about 48-55 apples, sizes vary). There will be at least 4 different varieties per box. These apple varieties are uncommon and are unknown by most. The varieties you may receive in a box are Nickajack, Cox Orange Pippen, Cortland’s, Liberty, Wagener, King David’s, Spartans and Spitzenberg. Because these are coming from small orchards, where there may only be one tree of a variety, we aren’t able to get enough of these apples to put in all the boxes we send out every week; but this opportunity to share these historical treasures is too good to pass up!
This is a great opportunity to experience anew, the old-fashioned flavors of days gone by, make up a batch of unique and oh-so good applesauce, incredible apple cider, cobblers, crisps and pies, with some of the same varieties of apples our ancestors enj0yed over a century ago!
You can place an order by visiting our website at http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/main/order-fruit
If you are looking for a specific variety, of apple, or a larger quantity, please contact us by email [email protected] or phone 360-652-4663.
Know Your Produce: Shiitake Mushrooms
Long a symbol of longevity in Asia because of their health-promoting properties, shiitake mushrooms have been used medicinally by the Chinese for more than 6,000 years.
Shiitake mushrooms are an excellent source of selenium and a very good source of iron. They are also a good source of protein, dietary fiber and vitamin C.
Tips for preparing Shiitake Mushrooms:
Mushrooms are very porous, so if they are exposed to too much water they will quickly absorb it and become soggy. Therefore, the best way to clean mushrooms without sacrificing their texture and taste is to clean them using minimal, if any, water. To do this, simply wipe them with a slightly damp paper towel or kitchen cloth. You could also use a mushroom brush, available at most kitchenware stores.
If the fresh mushrooms become dried out because of being stored for too long, soak them in water for thirty minutes.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas:
Shiitake mushrooms are traditionally added to miso soup.
Healthy sauté mushrooms with onions and garlic. Serve as a side dish or as a topping for chicken, beef, lamb or venison.
To give your vegetable stock an extra depth, add dried shiitake mushrooms.
The Stillaguamish River
The Stillaguamish River runs by my house and empties into Port Susan Bay. Our river is much more susceptible to flooding than our neighbor to the north, the Skagit River, and to the south, the Snohomish River. So in a rain event like Saturday, it is not uncommon to see spikes in the river of 10 feet or more. With all the rain we had in September our soil is pretty saturated and an early flood would definitely take longer to seep into the ground.
These early reminders that flood season is just around the corner “kick” us into a completely different gear. We still have crops out in the field that need to be harvested, cover crops to plant, and compost to spread. Last week and the week before we harvested all the potatoes in our lower lands that are most susceptible to flooding. We will be harvesting the remaining cows later this month and put that pasture to rest for the winter. Everything is timing and if I didn’t live where it floods, I would have a completely different farming operation. But since I live here, I farm with the natural constraints of the land and the river.
Lately, we have been using our own potatoes in the produce boxes and for special orders. It so rewarding to plant, hill, harvest and get them into your boxes. This time of year we pretty much just dig them up and deliver them, so they will be somewhat on the dirty side. I would leave them as they are and wash them when needed. The extra layer of soil keeps them fresher. I am working on a washing facility for potatoes and beets, but that is going to be a winter project.
Since we are talking potatoes, do any of you have a recipe for potato pancakes? I vaguely remember eating them as a child. I will have to call my mom and ask her how she made them. My favorite way to eat potatoes is anyway my wife cooks them. A few weeks ago she made zucchini cobbler and everyone thought it was made with apples. It was a tasty desert and a great way to use those zukes.
Thanks for letting our family serve yours, the greatest compliment we can receive is knowing that we are helping you eat healthy. It drives everything we do as company. It impacts how we farm, how we pack the boxes of good and answer the phones. I have the best team to work with and all of us get to work with the best customers.
Farming nutrient-rich foods for you,
