In The Box 12: Final Madison Delivery of 2010!

Thanks so much to all of you who partnered with us for our 4th CSA season! We are so thankful to be involved in work that is nurturing and fulfilling for our family and farm. We couldn’t do it with out your support and we remember you daily. This week is a celebration of all that is heartiest in the garden – root crops, storage squash, winter greens – and we hope you’ll agree it’s a delicious close to the growing year. Here’s what’s in the box:

Carrots – Hooray! We are so proud of these pretty and tasty carrots. This week we were at a party where the caterer featured our carrots on a dipping tray. They were scrubbed but not peeled, the tops were cut to about 1/2-inch, and then the carrots were halved and quartered lengthwise. They looked so adorable and we felt like proud parents. Yum!

We really had fun digging these beauties up. Here Emma and Becky working in the washstation show off the favorite color – red!

Celeriac – This is one of my (Kriss’s) personal favorite vegetables. First – it looks crazy, like a mandrake in a Harry Potter movie. Second – it has a unique celery/nut flavor that I find delicious. Third – because it can masquerade as a potato, I can sneak it into my winter stews and serve it to my husband, who hates celery. Peel and cook along with other root vegetables in soups, gratins and casseroles.

Golden Hubbard Winter Squash – These odd tear-drop shaped squash are sweet and dense, wonderful to use as you would any pumpkin or hard squash. We’ve put a few recipes below.

Decorative Gourds – These little guys are not to eat – they are to decorate your Thanksgiving table!

Bok Choy – This was a really nice strong closer in the fall season for us. It is so wonderful to have a crisp green at this time of year. Try the yummy recipe with salad turnips below!

Salad Turnips – The mice started getting to these in the past week. They must be storing up for winter because we’ve suddenly seen evidence of them all over the farm in places we haven’t all summer. Nevermind, they are a few of these left for us and what a treat!

Spinach – Spring spinach is OK, but winter spinach is really where it’s at. This is almost winter spinach and is getting very tasty. Even if you aren’t a spinach eater, you might like this – try it! And if you do like this, you’ll really love winter spinach. (Get it at the winter market in Madison in a month or so from Bill and Judy at Snug Haven Farm – I work there in the winter and we practically live on the stuff over here! They grow exclusively in hoop houses and harvest all winter long.) We suggest eating this raw.

Jen’s Amazing Pumpkin Bread
We really enjoyed this at our Homestead Harvest Party potluck. Thanks for bringing it, Jen!

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin (or other squash)
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2/ teaspoon nutmeg

Cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Stir flour, baking soda, and salt together and all the butter and sugar. Add the pumpkin, sour cream cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 for 1 hour. If using mini loaf pans, bake about 45 minutes.

Cooking Hard Squash
Squash are nutritional powerhouses, high in iron, riboflavin, and vitamins A and C, in addition to tasting great! But using squash in a recipe is admittedly a bit more work than popping open a can of pumpkin goo. Here’s an easy way to have some ready for the next time you want to whip up a pumpkin bread or pie. Rinse the outside of the squash, then cut into half and scoop out seeds and fibers in the middle. Then quarter or slice the rest, with the skin on, and put into a tall stock pot in a colander or steamer basket. Fill with 1/2 inch water and steam the squash with the lid on until tender. When cool, remove the skin and put the squash into 2-quart freezer bags. Store frozen until you are ready to use. After thawing, discard the water in the bag, or use for stock. Then you’ll have about 2 cups of squash pulp ready for a recipe.

Sauteed Salad Turnips with Bok Choy
We really enjoyed this at our Homestead Harvest Day. Thanks for making it, Nicole!

6 salad turnips
2 heads of bok choy
2 Tbsp olive oil

Rinse and dice salad turnips and greens, discarding skinny taproot. Rinse and chop bok choy. Saute all in a skillet with the olive oil over medium heat. Remove from heat when greens have just started to wilt – stems and turnips should be a bit crisp. Season with salt and pepper – enjoy!

SQUASH GNOCCHI
from the Berkeley Farmers Market

1 small butternut squash, halved
Extra virgin olive oil
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 to 1 ½ cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place squash cut side down. Bake until soft, about one hour. Remove from oven, and, when cool enough to handle, scoop out seeds, remove skin, and discard. Run squash flesh through a food mill or potato ricer, then place in a fine strainer and press out as much liquid as you can.

Transfer squash to a large bowl, add eggs, and mix well. Add salt and flour, then mix to form a thick, soft batter. Refrigerate, covered, at least one hour or overnight. Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Using two tablespoons (one to scoop batter, one to push batter off spoon), drop spoonfuls of batter into water (I usually cook no more than six at a time). If gnocchi fall apart, you need to mix in a bit more flour into batter.

Cook until gnocchi have floated to surface and have simmered for 1-2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to colander. You may served gnocchi immediately with your favorite sauce, or pan-fry.

Curried Squash Soup
I’m a bit embarrassed to say that this recipe comes from this month’s Glamour magazine – Taylor Swift is on the cover! But it is a great and easy dish that we made tonight with some additions that I listed.

2 15-oz cans of chicken broth (we used a quart of homemade)
2 cups roasted squash (as much as you have from whatever squash you have)
1 tbsp Indian spice (such as garam masala, or hot curry)
Raisins, cashews and/or sour cream/yogurt

In a sauce pot, combine chicken broth and squash. Add the spice and heat through. (We also added a half a cup of cream of coconut.) Garnish with raisins, cashews and sour cream or plain yogurt.