Henry’s CSA

Food & Farm Notes

Week 23 – October 30, 2007

 

In Your Share This Week:

Mesclun

Green Tomatoes

Japanese Turnips

Choice of: Collard Greens or Mustard Greens

Sweet Potatoes

Jerusalem Artichokes

Komatsuna

 

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FARM NOTES: and it’s a hard. It’s a hard, it’s a hard . . . Frost gonna fall

 

Yup. This very night could be the third of our hard frosts in a row – Saturday night, Sunday night, and now tonight. The frosts were a long time coming this year, but they are here at last, and, as always, their arrival is bittersweet. The basil and okra, peppers and tomatoes are blackened now, but that same frosty kiss is making all your greens all the sweeter.

 

Everything from lettuces to Asian greens to broccoli raab and collard greens is lush and lovely after last week’s rains and this week’s frosts. Some people shake their heads with wonder at the sudden profusion of greens in Henry’s fields. They are a wonder, having been planted during the hottest, driest time of year. Somehow Henry manages, with well water and well wishes, to persuade them to germinate, and then sees then through their tender seedling stage under the brutal sun. With a little luck they survive and finally thrive once the autumn rains come. I actually prefer the fall lettuces to the spring ones . . . they are the same varieties, but somehow thicker-leaved and more flavorful . . . the adversity of their early lives having built their character admirably.

 

We were well prepared for the killing frost – Henry and the crew spent the end of last week picking all the peppers, sweet and hot, as well as all the green tomatoes . . . which would otherwise have turned to mush.

 

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Food NOTES: sunchokes, cooking greens, and green tomatoes

 

 

I was a late convert to green tomatoes. If you don’t think you like them, there are two things you have to do. First, don’t think of them as tomatoes, but as an entirely different and rather exotic vegetable. The next thing you have to do is fry some up. Frying green tomatoes is an old Southern custom, and it stuck around for good reason. I’m getting hungry just thinking about . . .

 

Basic Fried Green Tomatoes

1 large egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or cayenne pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

3 medium-size green tomatoes (sliced 1/4 inch thick)

2 tablespoons corn oil or bacon drippings

 

Step 1: In a pie plate, whisk the egg, milk, and hot pepper sauce. In a cup, mix the sugar, salt, and pepper. Spread the cornmeal on a plate. Dip the tomato slices into the egg mixture, sprinkle with the sugar mixture, then coat with the cornmeal.

 

Step 2: In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderate heat. Slide in about half of the tomato slices, without crowding, and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

 

Step 3: Repeat with the remaining oil and tomatoes. Serve immediately, because they lose their crispy texture if left standing.

 

 

FRIED GREEN TOMATO and MOZZARELLA "BLTS"

8 slices of the aforementioned fried green tomatoes

8 large slices firm white sandwich bread

3/4 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

fresh lettuce leaves from your mesclun mix

On a baking sheet broil one side of bread slices about 3 inches from heat until golden. Make sandwiches by layering, on untoasted sides of bread, mozzarella, lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon. Top with remaining bread slices, toasted sides up.

 

 

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Mustard greens and even’ star farm Champion collards

The collard greens you’ll get this week were developed by Brett Grohsgal of Even’ Star Organic Farm in Maryland. Even Star Champion Collards were developed to perform under bitterly cold growing conditions. They also offer a taste treat that is noticeably more robust and flavorful than your typical leafy green vegetables.

 

You can do a classic, slow-cooked collard or mustard green dish with ham or smoked turkey, or, for something different, make a delicious saag. Saag is a greens-based curry dish eaten in India and Pakistan, usually with bread such as roti or naan. Saag can be made from spinach, mustard leaves, collard greens, or other greens, along with added spices and sometimes other ingredients such as cheese or potatoes. A common form of saag is "Saag paneer", which contains a type of cheese known as paneer. You can substitute a firm tofu if you like.

 

Saag

from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian

1/4 cup peanut or canola oil
1 to 2 hot fresh green chiles, very finely chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and very finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and very finely chopped
1 small, ripe tomato, finely chopped
3 pounds cooking greens, cut crosswise into very fine strips
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon garam masala

 

Put the oil in a large, wide pot and set over medium-high heat. When very hot, put in the chile, onions, and garlic. Stir and fry until the onions turn medium brown. Add the tomato. Stir and fry for 2 minutes. Now put in the greens and salt. Cover, allowing the greens to wilt. Stir, turn the heat to medium, cover again, and cook for 25 to 45 minutes (shorter for mustard and longer for the collard greens). Uncover, add the garam masala, and stir. Cook, uncovered, another 5 to 6 minutes, or until almost no liquid is left is left at the bottom of the pan. Turn up the heat during this period, if needed.

 

Creamy Saag Curry

from Tyler Florence

2 pounds greens, finely sliced or chopped
1/4 cup butter or peanut oil
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Salt

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, toss in the greens and cook for 20 minutes or until very tender. Dump greens into a colander and press firmly with the back of a spoon to extract as much water as possible. Set aside.

Heat the butter or oil in a deep skillet over medium-high flame. Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger; cook and stir for about 5 minutes until soft. Sprinkle the mixture with the curry powder; continue to stir to marry the flavors, about 1 minute. Fold in the chopped greens and give everything a good toss. Shut off the heat and stir the buttermilk and yogurt into the spinach to incorporate. The mixture should be creamy and somewhat thick. Season with salt, to taste, and serve with steamed basmati rice and/or flat bread.

Slow-Cooked Collard Greens

from Tyler Florence

2 large bunches collard greens
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
1 smoked ham hock
2 quarts chicken broth, warm
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Wash the collards thoroughly and dry thoroughly. Tear the leaves into large pieces. Place a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, and ham hock. Cook until the onions are soft and starting to brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pack in the greens, pushing them down into the pot. Add the broth, vinegar, and sugar. Bring up to a boil turning the greens over occasionally with a wooden spoon as they wilt. Lower to a simmer, cover the pot, and let cook for 45 minutes. Taste the "pot liquor" (broth) and check the seasoning, add salt and pepper. Cover and let cook for 15 more minutes. Remove the bay leaves and serve.

 

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sunchokes

Those of you who attended our annual tour and picnic saw the 12-foot tall Helianthus tuberosus at the top edge of the field, the multibranching sunflowers bright as butterscotch, drowsing in the September sun. In the ground below, the tubers, Jerusalem artichokes or sunchokes, were growing sweeter and sweeter as the days shortened.

I wrote a little bit about sunchokes in the last newsletter, and offered a number of recipes for cooked sunchokes (all the CSA Food & Farm Notes are archived on http://www.henrysfarm.com/cgi-bin/mail.cgi). This week, for something really quick and easy, simply scrub them and then slice them into your mesclun salad. They are similar in texture to jícama or water chestnuts, and will add a light, sweet, earthy crunch to your salad.

You can also try them raw with your Japanese turnips and other vegetables for a snack or with a dip. Or slice and marinate in a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice or rice vinegar as a side dish.

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After this week, there are still 3 more weeks left in this year’s CSA . . . we’ll send details on re-subscribing in the next newsletter.

 

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