Category: Box of Good

Posted on by

Welcome to Spring!

 

Last week I taught a spring baking class. While the weather outside was gray, rainy and cold enough for me to see my breath, inside the kitchen the oven was singing the flavors of spring. The weather may not be ready to admit that it’s April but my kitchen is.

The evening started with a rhubarb bellini made from a simple rhubarb puree (vanilla bean, rhubarb and a splash of water cooked until tender then blended until completely smooth). There was also freshly baked fennel pollen shortbread served with herb goat cheese and a tangy red onion jam.

Next came a salad that spring invented. A soft butter lettuce paired with thinly shaved radish, creamy avocado chunks and a healthy handful of chives, parsley and tarragon. This salad shed its heavy winter dressing in exchange for a light champagne vinaigrette made ever so creamy with a touch of creme fraiche.

From there we inundated the class with pizza. The first was sauced with homemade creme fraiche and topped with bacon and caramelized onion with a whisper of fresh nutmeg grated right on top. Secondly, we served a roasted asparagus pizza with a perfectly cooked (lovely runny yolked) egg, mozzarella and, while still hot from the oven, we finished it with prosciutto and grated parmesan.

As a ploy to coax the sun to push its way through the dense wall of clouds, we fired up the grill and made a grilled crust pizza with fontina, mozzarella and fresh asparagus all over the top.

And for dessert, more rhubarb. This time it was roasted with orange zest, vanilla bean and served with homemade ice cream and vanilla bean shortbread.

The participants were full, happy and ready to embrace this new season with invigorated taste buds.

I’d like to welcome you to spring! Home of asparagus, citron green herbs bursting with flavor that has been suppressed for months, rhubarb dressed in more pink than my daughter, mildly spiced spring onions and a gentle warmth – just enough to make the cherry blossoms pop and the seedlings emerge.

by Ashley Rodriguez
Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

Posted on by

Fresh This Week Tips 03.30.2011

RHUBARB
STORE: Before storing, remove any leaves from the rhubarb stalks and discard. Rhubarb stalks can be stored in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days, unwashed and sealed in an air tight plastic bag or tightly wrapped in plastic. It is best to store fresh rhubarb in whole stalks because cut or diced pieces will dry out more quickly. Trim just before using. Rhubarb can be frozen for future use by cutting the stalks into 1-inch lengths and packaging in airtight bags or by stewing first and then freezing. Rhubarb does not need to be sweetened before it is frozen.

PREP: Trim off leaf ends and roots using a sharp knife and discard. Be sure to discard the leaves, which contain toxic levels of oxalic acid. If the more mature stalks are wider than 1 inch, slice lengthwise in half or thirds. Check stalks for blemished areas and trim off before using. When preparing field-grown rhubarb the stems may be too fibrous and will need to have the strings pulled off. At one end of the stalk, cut just under the skin.

Pull the piece down the stalk to remove the strings. Continue until all of the strings are removed. When preparing hothouse-grown rhubarb the stems are tender and should not be stringy.
Wash stalks and slice them into 3/4 inch to 1 inch pieces when preparing for stewing or making sauce. Pies and other recipes may call for the pieces to be cut to a smaller size, such as 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

USE: Rhubarb can be eaten raw with a little sugar sprinkled over it but it is generally cooked with other ingredients to produce a fruit dish of some type. Rhubarb can be used nicely to enhance the flavor of other fruits, such as pairing it with strawberries in baked sauces or beverages. It makes a delicious pie filling and is also used to make sauce in the same manner as applesauce. Rhubarb can also be used to make jellies, jams, cakes, muffins, and other desserts. It can also be used in savory dishes and is good as a sauce to serve with meats and fish.

BEEFSTEAK TOMATOES

STORE: Tomatoes are best stored and eaten at room temperature because their flavor is more pronounced. A very firm tomato can be kept at room temperature for about a week. Transfering them to the refrigerator to will slow their ripening, but can also result in loss of flavor. Softer tomatoes should be used as soon as possible, so they don’t become mushy or rot. Freezing: Tomatoes cooked into sauces, juiced or simply pureed can be frozen for up to six months.

PREP: Here are some tips on preparing your tomatoes:
– Wash tomatoes in cold water before use.
– Slice tomatoes vertically for salads and sandwiches to prevent the juice and seeds spilling out.
– For stuffed tomatoes, cut them horizontally to remove the seeds and juice.
– To peel your tomatoes, mark an X on the bottom of each one and place them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon, then plunge them into cold water. The skins should come off easily.

USE: Tomatoes are essential in a variety of cuisines, including those of Italy and Central American. Use them to make pasta sauces, salsas, soups or eaten raw to garnish salads. Cherry tomatoes can also be roasted whole and served alongside with meats. Broil tomato halves topped with bread crumbs and herbs for a healthy vegetable side dish. Roughly chop tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeños for a spicy salsa to accompany chips.

BLOOD ORANGES
STORE: Store blood oranges at room temperature for up to 1 week, or refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.
USE: Add the raspberry-colored flesh to green salads, fruit salads or get adventurous and make Blood Orange Sorbet, taste the freshness of spring!
Blood Orange Sorbet recipe:

Blood Orange Sorbet

1. Juice your blood oranges. The measure the juice.

2. For each 1 cup (250ml) of juice, figure 1/4 cup (50g) of granulated sugar to be added.

For example: Use 1/2 cup (100g) sugar for 2 cups juice (500ml).

3. Put the sugar in a small, non-reactive saucepan. Add just enough juice to saturate it very well. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. Stir the sugar back into the reserved blood orange juice.

5. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Recipe from:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/02/blood-orange-so/

Posted on by

A Wave of Good

Many of you know that Klesick Family Farm loves being involved in good! We have our Neighbor Helping Neighbor food bank program, our Thanksgiving donation boxes and our Christmas blessing boxes where we partner with you to make a difference here locally.  I have been considering an international outreach program, sort of a live locally and bless globally focus, if you will.  We have considered drilling wells in Africa or planting trees in Ethiopia or donating farm animals.  As I have been surveying the damage in Japan and having recently toured the nuclear plant at Hanford, it all came together.  I decided to send a Wave of Good to Japan and bless our neighbors there!

Once I got the idea, I called a few of our grocery suppliers and asked them to participate and they all agreed. So with the help of Scott & Renee of Breadfarm, Gary & Lori of Middleton Organic Specialty Foods, Paul & Judy of Sweet Creek Foods, and Jerry & Barbara of Oils of Paicines, Klesick Family Farm is going to donate 20% of our sales from these products from now until April 29th to World Vision USA – Japan Quake and Tsunami Relief Fund.  I am so excited to partner with these suppliers to help others.

What You Can Do: Join us in sending a Wave of Good by purchasing products from the above mentioned vendors (look for products denoted with an *asterisk). Not only will you be contributing toward World Vision’s relief efforts in Japan, but you will also be enjoying great products from some great companies. You can also make a donation directly to “A Wave of Good” in the “Unclassified” section (at the bottom) on the Grocery page of our website and we will include that in our donation to World Vision.

Posted on by

Wave of Good

A Wave of Good

On Friday, March 11, Japan was hit by the largest earthquake in its history. The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami swept away entire villages with walls of water more than 30 feet high, devastating lives and property. With this amount of devastation, the road to recovery will be a long one.

In response to this great need, Klesick Family Farm has partnered with her suppliers to be a part of the solution and send a Wave of Good to the people of Japan. Scott & Renee of Breadfarm, Gary & Lori of Middleton Organic Specialty Foods, Paul & Judy of Sweet Creek Foods, and Jerry & Barbara of Oils of Paicines have discounted the sale of their products to us and we in turn are matching their discount to send a combined donation to our neighbors overseas. We will thus be donating 20% of the sales on these vendors’ products, from now until April 29th, to World Vision’s Japan Quake & Tsunami Relief Fund. 

What You Can Do:  Join us in sending a Wave of Good by purchasing products from the above mentioned vendors (look for products denoted with an *asterisk). Not only will you be contributing toward World Vision’s relief efforts in Japan, but you will also be enjoying great products from some great companies.

For regular updates on World Vision’s efforts to help Japan, visit the World Vision Blog: http://blog.worldvision.org/tag/japan-quake-tsunami/

 

The information below is from http://www.worldvision.org/#/home/world-vision-news/japan-earthquake-2-1356

On March 11, Japan was hit by the largest earthquake in its history. The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami swept away entire villages with walls of water more than 30 feet high.

“We are now facing the most tragic [natural] disaster in our country’s history,” said Kenjiro Ban, World Vision’s humanitarian and emergency affairs manager in Japan.

“I’ve served on disaster response programs in Kenya, Sudan, India,  Pakistan, Myanmar, and Haiti, and the needs I’m seeing in my own country are as bad as anything I’ve seen globally.”

As a child-focused organization, we will focus our efforts on responding to the emotional needs of children.

“We’re planning to see how deep the needs are in the affected areas and begin to bring relief to families,” said Ban.

 

Major humanitarian needs

A World Vision assessment team reached Sendai, Japan, within 48 hours of the tragedy and began exploring how the organization’s relief expertise can support the government-led response.

Many evacuation sites do not have enough food for the populations using them, and there are not enough blankets to cope with the cold winter season.

Priority needs also include non-food relief items, supplies for babies and small children, support for women, and interventions for children who are separated from their parents, including safe locations they can use, known as Child-Friendly Spaces.

 

Relief supplies headed for distribution

Truckloads of World Vision relief items that arrived Thursday are en route and will be distributed Friday in Minami Sanriku, a devastated town where 9,600 people have been displaced into 40 shelters. Japanese authorities organized the distribution.

Local volunteers who are students and teachers from a junior high school in nearby Tome city helped with loading and unloading the items for distribution.

The supplies are enough to reach 6,000 people. Items to be distributed include:

4,800 bottles of water

4,500 blankets

130,000 wet wipes for children

Response and funding thus far

A team of emergency responders have been mobilized and dispatched from the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, with more on standby, to assist the efforts of World Vision’s Japan-based staff.

World Vision’s global pre-positioning response network, a logistics system that includes warehouses of relief supplies in Dubai and Frankfurt, is poised to ship urgent items to Japan as needed.

Please pray

Please keep in prayer the children, families, and communities left devastated by this earthquake, tsunami, and recurring aftershocks.

 

Help now

Each donation will help us rush emergency supplies like life-saving food, clean water, medical supplies, and shelter to those who need it most in the aftermath of the disaster in Japan.

Posted on by

Beef – The way it was meant to be

A couple years ago, I was invited by the director, Robert Kenner, to attend a screening of Food, Inc. in Los Angeles. This invitation was all thanks for my brother who filmed much of the movie. I jumped at the opportunity to see the film.

Food, Inc. “lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA” (www.foodincmovie.com). It does so in a way that is honest and not intended purely for shock value but to inform and educate the often misguided and undereducated consumer. If you haven’t seen the movie yet I highly recommend it.

What struck me the most while viewing the film is that food works best if we let it do what it was created to do. Tomatoes left to ripen on the vine are sweeter, have a much greater nutritional value and a flavor that cannot even compare to the tomatoes that were plucked while still green and left to ripen on the truck while in transit. The same goes for cows.

Cows were created to eat grass. Their digestive systems were designed to consume grass and yet lately, due to ease, cost and control, many cows are being fed grain. Now we all know grain in and of itself is not a bad thing but when cows start eating something other than grass things start to go wrong.

As things have started to go wrong for cows because of their unnatural diet, science has solved the problem by creating antibiotics that combat the diseases that arise. Rather than solving the problem by changing their diet, which would eliminate the need for antibiotics, we are now consuming meat from “cows that are essentially being kept alive by drugs” (baronbeef.com).

So now that we got that out of the way, let’s focus on the benefits of grass-fed beef. For me the most important part is that it just plain tastes better. Richer, meatier and more complex in flavor. But there are other reasons as well. “The animal itself thrives because it is getting the food it was designed to eat and it converts that food to muscle and fat that is higher in minerals, vitamins, CLAs (conjugated linoleic acid) and Omega 3 fatty acids, and lower in cholesterol and fat” (baronbeef.com). Even though grass-fed beef isn’t injected with antibiotics you have a much lower risk of getting diseases associated with beef such as E-Coli and Mad Cow Disease.

To learn more about this and in general where our food comes from I can’t recommend the film Food, Inc. enough. Also, any of Michael Pollen’s best-selling books like the Omnivores Dilemma provide a very thorough look into the world behind the food on our plate.

In the meantime, I highly encourage you to take advantage of this great opportunity to purchase and enjoy grass-fed beef (see below for more information). Not only can you eat it in good conscience but you will be thrilled with the wonderful taste that comes from cows who eat a diet that they were created for.

by Ashley Rodriguez – Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. You can read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com


Order Your Local All Natural Grass-fed Beef Today!

good for the animal … good for the land … good for you

“Last fall when I bought beef I was very nervous about buying a product I had never had, as I was so fussy about my beef and other meats. I did not know how grass-fed beef could possibly be better than grain-fed beef. Well, I could not have been more wrong. The hamburger was full of flavor, the roasts divine, but the steaks were where you separate the ‘men from the boys.’ The steaks were out of this world–reminiscent of Michigan back when beef was ‘beef.’ The New York strips were melt-in-your-mouth perfect! Please reserve another 1/4 for me.”
– C. in Arlington

If you are interested in providing yourself and your family with a healthy alternative to conventional feedlot beef, then Klesick Family Farm’s  grass-fed beef program is for you. Our cattle are free from growth hormones and antibiotics and are raised and finished on quality grass pasture and moved often to maintain healthy pastures and healthy cattle.

Call for more information or visit:

www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/ main/order-meat

Beef – the way it was meant to be!

Posted on by

Fresh This Week Tips – 03.09.11

SHALLOTS

STORE: Keep in a dry, well-ventilated space for up to 1 month. Do not store in a plastic bag, which traps moisture and can cause them to rot.

USE: Mild enough to be eaten raw, shallots can be diced and added to vinaigrette dressings. They can also be substituted for onions in almost any dish.

Here’s a helpful video on how to peel and mince shallots: http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/video/peeling-mincing-shallots-10000001614046/

ITALIAN PARSLEY

STORE: Wrap uncut stems in a damp paper towel, place inside a plastic bag, and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

USE: Adding fresh parsley to almost any dish gives food a bright, flavorful boost that the dried version of the herb just can’t provide. Follow the easy steps in this video for a fast, efficient way to prep parsley the next time you cook―and to store whatever you don’t use for maximum freshness.

Here’s a helpful video on how to clean, chop and store parsley: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/herbs-spices/clean-chop-store-parsley-00000000002226/index.html

MURCOTT TANGERINES

STORE: Quite perishable, Murcotts keep only a day or two at room temperature and up to one week refrigerated.

USE: Use Murcott tangerines as you would other varieties. Their sweetness pairs well with butter-based sauces and may be added to vinaigrette. Mix tangerine juice with grapefruit juice, sugar and water, then freeze into sorbet. Add tangerine sections to green salads with toasted pecans and goat cheese.

Posted on by

Meaningful Connections

What a great event! Having never hosted a dinner party before, I was unsure of how it would work itself out.  It was better than I imagined. The hors d’ oeuvres were awesome, the potato leek soup and chicken Florentine were culinary masterpieces, and the Café au Lait pudding was heavenly. But even more impressive than the organic dinner was the incredible activity of farmers, my office team and customers talking away.  All-in-all, I would say that our 1st Klesick Family Farm Dinner Party was a huge success towards my goal of making meaningful connections.  We will do it again.

Our next chance for meaningful connections will be at our 8th annual Spring Plant sale at the Rents Due Ranch on April 30th.
Posted on by

Fresh This Week Tips – Feb 22, 2011

BABY BOK CHOY – As far as cabbages go, baby bok choy are pretty irresistible!

STORE: Place in a plastic bag — but do not close — and refrigerate for no more than three days.
PREP: There is no need to cook the stalks and leaves separately – just wash the whole and drain and cut into small pieces.
USE: Bok Choy is normally used in stir-fries. But when the time comes to start cooking, you’ll find that bok choy is extremely adaptable. Boiling, steaming, stir-frying and even deep-frying are all possibilities. When stir-frying, a good basic method is to stir-fry the bok choy for a minute, sprinkling with a bit of salt, then add a small amount of water or chicken broth (about 3 tablespoons per pound of bok choy) cover, and simmer for 2 minutes.

RED BELL PEPPERS
STORE: Store peppers in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to five days.
PREP: Wash peppers just before using; remove the stem, seeds, and interior membranes, and add to salads, soups, or stir-fries.
USE: Peppers can be sautéed, steamed, or baked. Roast peppers by holding them over an open flame, or broiling them about 1/2-inch (1.25cm) from the broiler flame and rotating every minute or so until they blacken evenly. Put charred peppers in a plastic bag for about 10 minutes, then pull off the blackened peels and rinse the peppers under cold water. Pat dry, remove seeds and stems, and slice peppers. Use roasted pepper slices in salads, or purée in soups.

BUNCH CARROTS
STORE: Always remove tops from carrots as they take moisture from the “root” to stay green, leaving you with a limp carrot. Store carrots in the coolest part of the refrigerator in a plastic bag or wrapped in a paper towel to reduce the amount of moisture that is lost. They should keep for about two weeks. Be sure to store your carrots away from apples, pears, potatoes as they produce a gas that will make carrots bitter.
PREP:  Wash carrot roots and gently scrub them with a vegetable brush right before preparing them to eat. Peel (if desired) and chop according to your recipe or their purpose.
USE: You can steam, pickle, puree (for carrot soup!), juice, eat them raw or add them to any number of soups, stews and stir fries.

Do you hear what we hear? It is stir-fry time. See recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Stir-Fry/Detail.aspx

Images from flickr.com

Posted on by

Grass-fed lamb is available through Klesick Family Farm!

My friends Ken and Kathryn at Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez Island have offered to make their grass-fed lamb available to our customers! I am really excited to be able to offer this quality, locally raised product. Ken and Kathryn are excellent farmers, but even more important to me is their sincere commitment to sustainable, healthy farming. It is their way of life, not their job.

The lamb program will work similar to our beef program. The lamb has an approximate hanging weight (before being cut and wrapped) of 50 lbs. KFF will charge a flat fee of $250 at the time of your order—there will be no additional costs to KFF. You will pay Del Fox Custom Meats an additional $90 for their processing, cutting and wrapping service. The meat will be ready for you to pick up in Stanwood at Del Fox Custom Meats in May.

To place your order for grass-fed lamb visit the meat page of our website http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/main/order-meat , scroll down to the bottom of the page and select “Lamb-Whole.”

Posted on by

1st Annual “Meet Your Farmer” Dinner

The box of good starts here…

Joelle and I would like to invite you to spend an evening dining with us at the Everett Train Station. I have always wanted to host a dinner party for our customers and couldn’t quite find the time, but now we are going to make it happen. Through this event I am combining two things that are important to me: connecting with my customers and connecting my customers with the people that grow their food.  We already have our annual open house Farm Day on the third Saturday in August, but this special venue will be a “dinner party” for the 20-somethings on up to our 104 year old customer (yes, we have a customer reportedly that old—she swears by her diet!) who support Klesick Family Farm. What better way to pull it all together than with an organic meal and dessert.

To prepare this special meal I have teamed up with our organic community. Donna King from Scandia Coffeehouse and Café in Stanwood will be catering the event for us. Food blogger Ashley Rodriguez will be making the desserts—you have been reading about her recipes and now you will be able to meet her and taste her culinary expertise.  Camano Island Coffee Roasters will be providing the perfect coffee for the evening and Breadfarm will be adding their exceptional artisan bread.

Along with several of our KFF team members, we also plan on having several of our local growers on hand with whom you can connect, share gardening stories and ask questions. I will share a presentation on Chilean agriculture based on my recent two-week agricultural tour of that country, comparing it to American agriculture and the importance of local farmers.

So mark your calendar to join us for a fun evening together sharing great food and enjoying each other’s company.

Date: Thursday, March 3rd

Time: 6:30-9:00 p.m.

Location: Everett Train Station, Weyerhaeuser Room

Cost: $28 per person

Attire: Business Casual (farmers need a reason to dress up every now and then)

The menu will include both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

No host local wine bar.

Door prizes!

Space is limited, so RSVP early to our office (360-652-4663) or make your reservation online by purchasing the “Dinner Event: Meet Your Farmer” on our grocery page at http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/main/order-honey-eggs

I hope you will be able to join Joelle and I on March 3rd.

*Image courtesy of Amtrak Cascades