Our newsletters are informal and include our suggestions for using your seasonal produce, from storage to recipes. You can also find recipes organized by ingredient on our recipe page, as well as links to popular recipe databases. Enjoy!
Most recent newsletters appear at the top, like a weblog.
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Date: July 8, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for July 10th and 12th
Hello to All,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week
Carrots, beets (the last for awhile), rainbow chard, fennel, summer squash, and some folks will get spinach and some will get broccoli raab. We won't have salad reds and greens this week. A few weeks back I sowed a lot of lettuces and I didn't get good germination. I suspect it was too hot for them. I've resown and now I have hundreds of beautiful 2-3 inch baby lettuces. It will be a couple of weeks before we have lettuces in your boxes again.
Happenings at the FarmThings have quieted down around here since the farm dinner. The heat wave turned out to be relatively mild after all. Some of the beans show signs of stress, a few crispy leaves, but by next week you will be having Montpelier filet beans in your boxes. From the questionnaires you filled out at the dinner, the only statistically meaningful data we got was that you wanted more asparagus, more butternut squash, more carrots, fewer radishes and more herbs. This was good news as we are going to have gobs of asparagus next spring and lots of butternut squash over the winter. I will be stepping up the herbs starting this week with basil, summer savory, and parsley.
Recipe of the WeekSpinach with Tahini
Note: In the Middle East, this dish is made with dandelion greens or Swiss Chard. Here, spinach substitutes, and the tahini takes care of the exotic flair.Ingredients
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini (Middle Eastern sesame paste)
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of water
15 oz loosely packed spinach (about 24 cups)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted (optional)
Procedure
1. Blend together garlic, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and 1/4 cup of water in a blender until smooth.
• • • • • • • • • • •
2. Bring remaining 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a 12 inch skillet over moderately high heat.
3. Add spinach in handfuls, tossing with tongs, and cook until wilted about 5 minutes.
4. Drain spinach in a large sieve set over a bowl, pressing to extract any excess liquid.
5. Discard liquid and wipe the bowl dry, then stir together spinach and tahini mixture in bowl. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serves 4.
From Gourmet magazine July 2006.Date: July 1, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for July 3rd and 5th
Hi Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week
There will be summer squash, Red Ace beets, Purple Dragon carrots, Rainbow chard, salad reds and greens, leeks, and we have smaller amounts of broccoli rabe, spinach, and broccoli Di Cicco.
Happenings at the FarmThe boxes will be a little light for a few weeks. The transition from spring to summer vegetables is always a little dicey. Usually when the heat kicks in, the spring vegetables start having a rough time and we need to pull them. The broccoli and peas struggle the most so we pulled them a few weeks ago. Asparagus is over and the chard, lettuces, and rapini are not real happy with the heat either. The true heat lovers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatillos, beans, and melons follow the summer squash by two or three weeks. I've also got french fillet beans and more potatoes on the way. But for now we will share what we can.
Recipe of the Week
Steven and I almost always have some anxiety regarding the harvest but this week it's well founded. The heat spell which has been forecast for this week is going to slow things down at best and at worst. will cause some real crop damage depending on how high the temperatures get. We have spent the last couple of days putting up shade cloth on as many of the beds as we can. If the temperatures look like their going to be over a hundred I'll cover the tomatoes so they don't drop their blossoms. The lack of rain this past winter has already made itself a daily presence in our lives. Steven monitors the water applied to each row of beds and notes how much water is being delivered to each bed. We can't afford to have a single valve stuck open or have any holes in lines this year. On watering days he makes a trip to the pump house about every half an hour to check the meters and this goes on for hours. We are working on getting all the parts we need to hook up the pump in the rainwater reservoir thats sits next to the farm. This should get us through the summer.
Some of you may have met Tana Butler at the farm dinner. She was the lady with camera. She has given the farm dinner some space on her blog and if you want to read about it, you can go here, this has the complete menu that we served. I had said that I would print some of the recipes of the dishes that were served, but now I think that rather than asking the cooks for all the recipes, I'll ask them for the ones that you specifically request. If after reading the menu, you find a dish your interested in, just send me an email and I'll try to get them to give me the recipes.Zucchini Tart from chef J.D. Olson of Lou in Los Angeles
Ingredients
Pate brise crust (see recipe)
2 medium sized zucchini and 1 large red onion (enough to make one single layer across the entire tart)
1 cup ricotta
1 cup creme fraiche
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt
¼ cup cream
¼ cup milk
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon of flour
goat cheese
For the crust:
9 oz. flour
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
5 oz. butter, diced and slightly softened
1 Tbsp. milk
Procedure
For the crust:
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1. Put the flour on a surface and make a well in the center. Put in the egg, salt, sugar, and diced butter and rub the ingredients together with the fingertips of the your right hand, drawing the flour into the well with your left hand.
2. When everything is almost completely mixed, add milk and knead 2-3 times with heel of hand to make smooth, but don't overwork it. Wrap in greaseproof paper, like plastic wrap and leave to rest in fridge several hours before using. Will keep in fridge 3-4 days and for several days in freezer. Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and roll out pate brise in 1/2 sheet pan.
For the tart:
1. Mix together the ricotta, crème fraiche, egg yolks, olive oil and salt. Spread out on dough.
2. Slice up sweet red onions and medallions of zucchini. Layer in single layer on top of dough and ricotta mixture.
3. On top, pour the cream, milk, whole egg, flour and salt.
4. Crumble a dry goat cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Serves 6-8.
From KCRW.com "Good Food".Date: June 24, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for June 26th and 28th
Hello to Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
This week you get Kuroda carrots, Red Ace beets, red torpedo onions, Rose Gold potatoes, Ruby and Golden chard, salad reds and greens, and finally the first of many summer squashes.
Happenings at the FarmThe first annual Farm dinner was wildly successful. First I want to thank the two fabulous chefs Chris LaVeque and Bridget Butler for creating the most imaginative menu with the vegetables our little farm produces. Who could have guessed food like this was possible with the beets, carrots, lettuces, potatoes, fennel, and chard that we get nearly every week. By next newsletter I'll be able to include the recipes (or if not actual recipes, at least the ingredients) for the dishes they served us and while we may not produce all of them on our own, many of them we can make ourselves.
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The porchetta was procured by Justin Severino from TLC ranch in Watsonville. The animals they raise are all free range, grazing grassy meadows under the shade of oaks and when they do supplement their diets, they do it with certified organic feed. I believe that you can taste the difference between an animal that has been treated with respect and care for it's comfort and all the other unfortunate beasts that are raised for food. You can buy this pork at farmers markets or go to Local Harvest and read more about TLC ranch. Those wickedly wonderful sausages were the work of Justin Severino "The community butcher" with the help of Chris who cooks for him in his kitchen. The chickens we bought are Rocky Jr. from New Leaf market. They too are free range and hormone free. They just taste better.
I want to thank Marge (our egg supplier) for making the delicious desserts, the kumquat cake, the lemon tart, and the chocolate mousse cake. She is the mother of Chris the chef, so we know how he got interested in cooking. I also want to thank all of you who were able to come. You were all so patient when I was late with my preparations up at the farm. Everybody helped carry up the appetizers and tie up the umbrellas that didn't want to stand up and then carry all the wine and empty plates back down to the house. Your really a great bunch of people and I'm so happy to know you. We are so fortunate.
Tana is going to post a bunch of pictures of food and folks on her web site http://smallfarms.typepad.com/. It should be up in a couple more days. I have to provide her with some of the details of the dinner.
Last I just want to say thank you to all our subscribers for your support, in the coming year I hope you can all be here.
I have to go harvest now.
LindaDate: June 10, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for June 12th and 14th
Hello Friends of the Farm,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
This week you will have leeks, fennel, carrots, beets, chard, kohlrabi, broccoli, salad reds and greens, and maybe a small amount of sugar pod peas.
Happenings at the FarmWe are making preparations for the farm dinner. Cooking for us will be two young professional chefs, Chris LaVeque, formerly of Manresa and now cooking in the kitchen of Justin Severino, and Bridget Butler of Sanderlings, Seascape Resort. They are putting their heads together to come up with some excellent dishes featuring the same farm fresh food you get each week. Steven will be cooking chicken on the wood-fired rotisserie. Please don't bring any food. We will have plenty. If you haven't sent me your RSVP already, please do it ASAP. It will be a beautiful day.
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We have entered into a relationship with Gabriella's Cafe in Santa Cruz, one of the few restaurants in the county serving local, seasonal, organic, and imaginative cuisine. For us, it is the one restaurant that we look to for consistently fine dining. If you would like to read more, click here
If you have any questions at all please call me at 206-7126.
LindaDate: June 3, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for June 5th and 7th
Hi Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Food for Thought
Recipe of the Week
The Tuesday folks will get the last of the asparagus for this year. The Thursday folks will get broccoli. There will also be leeks, Rose Gold potatoes, golden and ruby red chard, beets, carrots, spinach, and salad reds and greens.
Happenings at the FarmWe are only three weeks away from our first farm dinner which is on June 24th between 2 and 6 pm. We are working as fast as we can to get the beds finished and the placed spruced up so that it looks as beautiful to you as it does to us. We remind you once again that when paying for the month of June, please pay for only 3 weeks as we won't be delivering the week of June 19th in order to have plenty of food for the dinner. I'm going to send a separate email to all of you and it is essential that you reply with whether or not your planning to attend and how many people will be in your party. We want to make sure that we have enough food and beverages for all. We are asking that you bring a bottle of wine, a six-pack of good beer or sparkling cider. Whatever you would like to drink. The following is a note from Steven on the subject of flowers.
Food for Thought
Flowers
Did you know that 78% of cut flowers in the US are imported, mostly from Latin America? Most of these flowers are heavily laden with pesticides and other chemicals to help preserve them for the long trip from places like Columbia to your local supermarket. Workers at the processing plants are often teenagers, usually girls, starting out at 14 or 15 years old (the legal age for such work) or sometimes younger. They work in near freezing temperatures, for obscenely long hours, for slave wages. I won’t go into the horrific conditions here, but if you have ever read Dickens or anything on the child labor practices of the 18th or 19th centuries, you’ll get the general idea.
This “globilization” industry exists so that Americans can buy cheap bouquets for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. For me, knowing what happens behind the scene makes it impossible to enjoy the beauty of these flowers.
So, we grow our own flowers. Organically. We will may never make a profit from these flowers – people can buy flowers much more cheaply at the supermarket, or just do without. So, why do we still do it?
Flowers in the home bring one of nature’s great visual and fragrant beauties into your everyday life. We want to be able to offer to our community that joy, without the chemicals, suffering, and thousands of “carbon miles” associated with the commercial flower trade. But we also have our own personal reasons. Yes, the flowers do grace our house, but more importantly, they surround our workplace. Between Linda and me, we are in the farm something like 150 hours a week, and the flowers provide us with a workplace paradise. And they do much more. The flowers provide food and habitat for birds, bees, butterflies, and many other beneficial insects. It is such a delight to see a small flowering plant with 10 butterflies on it, as we saw last week, or watch the attack of the lesser goldfinches on the leaves of a sunflower (they only take small nips, and the plants don’t seem to mind).
So, really, I’m not trying to push our flowers on you. I just want you to know there are real and important differences between what you get in the supermarket and what you get from a local organic grower, with flowers as with fruits and vegetables. If you would like to buy our flowers, we would be more than happy to work with you to ensure they arrive in you house in great shape. They should look beautiful for more than a week. If flowers are too expensive to buy, then try putting a child’s drawing of a flower in a nice frame, or take the time to walk in a beautiful garden on a regular basis or just spend some time here at the farm. Let nature’s living beauty add joy and solace to your life. And please, consider avoiding those imported flowers. Recipe of the WeekSpinach and Roasted Beet Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette
Ingredients
4 medium beets, trimmed
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
8 cups fresh spinach leaves (about 8 ounces)
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in foil. Roast beets until tender when pierced with skewer, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool beets slightly. Peel beets; cut into wedges. Place in medium bowl.
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2. Whisk vinegar, oil, soy sauce and ginger in small bowl to blend well. Season vinaigrette to taste with salt and pepper. Add red onion and half of vinaigrette to beets and toss to blend.
3. Place spinach in large bowl. Drizzle remaing vinaigrette over; toss to coat. Arrange beet minture atop spinach and serve.
Serves 4.
From The Flavors of Bon Appetit 2001.Date: May 28, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for May 29th and 31st
Hello Everyone,
For those of you who usually pick up your boxes at Mountain Feed and Farm on Tuesday there may be a change in plans this week. Andi and Jorah, the owners of Mountain Feed have probably had their baby arrive this weekend. They have closed their business for the weekend and Jorah may open again on Monday. If they do indeed open on Monday, you can pick up your box as usual at Mountain Feed on Tuesday, however if they don't open on Monday, I will send you an email and you can pick up your box at the farm just for this week. Stay tuned for further news.
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week
Asparagus for the Thursday group and broccoli for the Tuesday group. Next week we'll switch. For everyone this week there will be kohlrabi, globe onions, cabbage, carrots, golden and red beets, sugar pod peas, chard, and salad reds and greens. You can store kohlrabi in the fridge for at least one week if you remove the leaves and store separately. The greens are fully edible and can be cooked along with any other greens.
Happenings at the FarmWe are finally ready to add a few more subscribers to the CSA. If you know of anyone who may be interested in joining, please have them call or email me. We haven't got much in the way of news. Sometimes things just quietly grow with no crisis and no surprises and that's what I call a good week. Last week we planted out more seed potatoes, and sowed 5 beds of lettuces, 2 beds of carrots, one bed of fennel, 1 bed of scallions and started the melon seeds. The beans and fennel are coming along. I've seen beautiful heirloom tomatoes and summer squashes in the stores and it makes it hard to wait for ours to be ready, but wait we will because we have so many other great vegetables to enjoy while we're waiting.
Recipes of the WeekKohlrabi
How to prepare kohlrabi. You can peel the skin and cut it in to crudités and serve it raw for dipping. You can grate it and add it to salads. I like to leave the skin on and cube it and roast it along with the carrots, beets, potatoes, and the onions.
Baked Polenta with Swiss Chard and Cheese
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olice oil
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 pound Swiss Chard
3-½ cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta (course cornmeal)
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
2 cups coarsely grated low-fat mozzarella cheese (about 8 ounces)
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil 2-quart glass baking dish. Heat oil in heavy large deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion, saute until tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in garlic and crushed red pepper, then chard; cover and cook until chard is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Uncover; stir until any excess liquid in skillet evaporates. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile, bring 3-½ cups water and salt to boil in heavy large saucepan. Gradually stir polenta into boiling water. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until polenta is very thick, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Whisk ricotta and eggs in bowl; whisk in 1 cup hot polenta. Stir ricotta mixture into polenta in saucepan. Spread half of polenta mixture in baking dish. Spread half of chard mixture over. Sprinkle with half of mozzarella. Repeat layering with remaining polenta, chard, and cheese. Bake until putted and brown on top, about 45 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.
Serves 8.
From Bon Appetit, Cooking for Health, November 2002.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: May 20, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for May 22nd and 24th
Hello Again to Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week
This week in the box you'll find asparagus, Golden and Ruby chard, green cabbage, broccoli rabe, salad reds and greens, broccoli, sugar pod peas, Yukon Gold potatoes, and globe onions. Also, a little tarragon for the recipe of the week.
Happenings at the FarmThe great celeriac harvest of 2007.
Recipes of the Week
In the fall of 2006, we eagerly prepared a space - about 16 square feet of perfect growing soil, on the south-west end of a bed on row 4. Carefully, we transplanted the seedlings, watered them in, and crossed our fingers. It worked, they grew - vibrantly green, seemingly happy in rain and shine, smelling clearly of celery. As the months progressed, the plants transformed from a normal looking celery plant to something greater, more majestic - a Sequoia of celeries. Finally, in mid-May, the time had come - the plants are starting to flower, and they must be harvested.
First we pulled out one of the smaller ones in order to sample our work. Standing around 5 feet tall, a few sturdy tugs uprooted the plant, and revealed the swollen root. A little field trimming yields maybe a quarter pound to take to the kitchen. Trimming off the fibers and the green-tinted top of the root, we are left with a couple of ounces of what will surely be pure nirvana. Time to slice it. But the knife stops as if it had hit the root of a madrone. So, time for some more careful trimming to remove the outer hard shell. We're down to perhaps a half of an ounce, but the texture looks perfect. At long l ast, the time has come for the taste test. Linda and I each get a thin slice. And the taste? The taste is like nothing I can describe, or more precisely, it is like nothing at all. I mean, there is no taste. The little morsel takes like nothing with a hint of celery. That's it. Months of growing, 10 minutes of trimming yields a small bite of crunchy celery-hinted nothing.
The joys of farming are wide and varied. This experience definitely qualifies as one of the more varied. So, please don't expect celeriac in your CSA boxes this season.
But we have good news too. Steven (the en of Lindencroft (I'm the Lind)) and several of the fine fellows that work for us from time to time, poured a pad of cement that is absolutely beautiful. It's smooth where it should be, it slopes with gentle grace toward the center drain and it measures 32 feet x 12 feet. It took 400 bags of concrete and hours and hours of careful tending to make it just right. On it will stand a new 24 foot greenhouse which will be the winter home of our CSA salad greens.
I'm hoping to see some of you at the Capitola Book Cafe at 7:30pm on May 21st. Russ Parsons, the author of "How to Pick a Peach" will be there to read from his book and sign copies. The food will be excellent, crafted by the Heidi Schlecht, chef of the River Cafe & Cheese Shop and Justin Severino, the Community Butcher, and donated by Lindencroft Farm. I promise you, there will be lots of very nice people to meet and the book is the kind that I as a farmer and cook would refer to often (I got a little sneak preview).
Almost last, I want to apologize for the difficult to read newsletter of last week. I forgot to hit the HTML button and all my careful spacing and highlights didn't make it to the email.
And last, we have beautiful alstroemeria (Peruvian lily) that you can buy for an extra $7 a bunch. If you decide you want them, let me know by email or phone and I'll make arrangements to get your flowers to you. We have lilies, gladioli, dahlias, and sunflowers coming up in the weeks ahead plus bunches of cottage garden flowers.Sugar Snap Peas with Toasted Sesame Seeds
[Linda's note: to toast the seeds, just put them in a pan over medium heat and toss a bit until they become fragrant and very lightly brown.]
Ingredients
1 pound sugar snap peas, stringed
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
Procedure
1. Steam sugar snap peas until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Toss with seeds and oil. Season with salt.
Serves 6.
From Bon Appetit, April 2000.Sugar Snap Peas with Tarragon Butter
Ingredients
¾ pound sugar snap peas, strings discarded and peas halved diagonally
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
½ teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Procedure
1. Blanch sugar snaps in a 4-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, 1 minute. Drain in a colander. Immerse colander with sugar snaps in a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking, a bout 1 minute. Drain again well, then transfer to paper towels and pat dry.
2. Cook shallot in butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 1 minute. Increase heat to high, then add sugar snaps and saute, stirring occasionally, until sugar snaps are crisp-tender, 2-4 minutes. Add tarragon, zest, salt, and pepper and toss until combined well.
Serves 4.
From Gourmet, May 2007.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: May 13, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for May 15 and May 17
Hi Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week
This week you'll have green cabbage, leeks and Rose Gold potatoes, Ruby and Golden beets (that's two colors of beets), Spinach, Golden and Ruby chard, sugar pod peas, and salad reds and greens. You will also get rosemary, sage, and thyme to use with the recipes this week.
Happenings at the FarmWe've been talking about the upcoming 1st annual "End of Spring farm dinner" coming up on June 24th. In order for us to have enough food to feed everyone, we have decided to take the week before the farm dinner off and not harvest for CSA. So please be aware that there will be no boxes on June 19th and June 21st. This also gives us time to pull together a really special dinner for you. Please send your CSA checks for June to cover only 3 boxes. If you've already paid for June and paid for 4 weeks, you will get credit for the first week in July.
Recipes of the Week
Our subscribers have been growing in number almost weekly. We have outgrown the fridge at Mountain Feed. that Jorah so generously let us use. We have ordered 6 picnic coolers which will have blue ice blocks in them to keep your vegetables cool. If you pickup your boxes at Mountain Feed and Farm, at least by next week we will have the coolers lined up some where in the shade with your names on them. We will unload the blue bins into the coolers. Please bring a box of your own or a bag to put your vegees in. Please do not take the coolers home, they are needed for the next group of subscribers.
Throughout this spring we have been selling our asparagus that is not needed for you, our subscribers, to a few restaurants. One of them is our own local Gabriella's . The owner of Gabriella's agrees with me that the big fat ones are the tastiest. You won't find asparagus in your box this week and the restaurant will not get any because a very special author is coming to town. We are donating some of our vegetables to the chef, Heidi Schlecht, of the River Cafe & Cheese Shop who will use it to prepare appetizers for a reception honoring Russ Parsons, the LA Times food editor. He has a new book out called How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table. He will be speaking and doing a book signing at the Capitola Book Cafe on 41st at 7:30, May 21st. You can go here to learn more about his new book, but better yet, try to come out and hear him with me on May 21st.Beet Salad with Feta, Orange, and Mint
This simple, vibrant salad extracts everything beets have to offer by first roasting them to concentrate their flavor, then tossing them with orange segments, imbuing the oranges with a crimson tint. If you think of feta cheese as dry, crumbly, and excessively salty, you've probably had the ubiquitous, mass-produced Greek variety that's sold in supermarkets. Seek out a high-quality Greek or French feta, with moderate salinity and more creaminess.
Ingredients
2 large beets, washed but not peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
4 ½ teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons minced shallots
about 4 ounces French or Greek feta cheese, crumbled into large pieces (1 cup crumbled)
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees In a bowl, toss the beets with the olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Put the beets on a roasting pan and cover them with foil. Roast in the preheated oven until tender, about 1 1/2 hours ( I find it usually only takes about 50-60 minutes). They are done when a sharp, thin-bladed knife can easily pierce through to their center. Remove the pan from the oven, remove the beets from the pan, and set them aside to cool.
2. While the beets are roasting, make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the beets and cut them into 1/2 -inch dice. Put them in a bowl with 1 cup of the orange segments, the mint, and the shallots. Add the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, and toss gently. Transfer the salad to a platter. Arrange the cheese and the remaining orange sections on top, and serve.
Serves 4.
From Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures.Herb-Roasted Oven Fries
Freshly dug potatoes have so much going for them in terms of taste and texture, it's never easy to pinpoint only one attribute, but I especially like how beautifully they roast. they are so moist that after a short time in the oven, they are just perfect. I cut the potatoes into slices rather than wedges so that more of the surface comes into contact with the hot pan and the final result is crisp perfection. Be sure the pan is hot when adding the potatoes so that they sear immediately. I weave herb stems among the potatoes for optimal flavor and to reduce the labor (no pulling leaves from the stems or chopping).
Ingredients
6 medium-large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½ inch thick slices
grapeseed or canola oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6-8 fresh rosemary sprigs and 3 inches long
6 fresh sage sprigs, each with 3 to 5 leaves
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
Procedure
1. Put a large cast-iron skillet (or any other large oven proof pan you have) in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. In a large bowl, lightly mist the potatoes with oil (or gently rub the potatoes with oil to coat), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to mix.
3 Meanwhile, lightly spray (or put the oil on your hands and gently coat the herbs by rubbing) the rosemary and sage sprigs with oil and set aside.
4. Remove the hot skillet from the oven and lay the potatoes in the skillet, arranging them in as close to a single layer as possible. Roast for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are browned on one side.
5. Turn the potatoes over and sprinkle evenly with the onion. "Weave" the rosemary and sage sprigs between the potatoes and return the skillet to the oven. Cook, turning the potatoes and herbs occasionally, for about 15 minutes longer, or until the potatoes are browned and cooked through.
6. Season the potatoes to taste with salt and pepper. Stack the potato slices, with the herbs between them, on a warmed platter and serve.
Serves 4.
From Homegrown Pure and Simple, by Michel Nischan.Cabbage and Potato Gratin with Sage
[A note from Linda - the recipe calls for peeling the potatoes, but the potatoes in your box are freshly dug and the skin is extremely thin and tender, so I wouldn't bother to peel. Besides, you lose a lot of good nutrition when you cut off the potato peels.]
Ingredients
1 pound potatoes 1-½ pounds savory or other green cabbage
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoon chopped sage
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 1/3 cups of milk
3 eggs
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter an 8 X 12 inch gratin dish. Bring a gallon of water to a boil while you prepare the vegetables. Peel [see my note] and slice the potatoes 1/4 inch thick; slice the cabbage into 1-inch ribbons.
2. Add 1 tablespoon salt to the water, add the potatoes, and boil until nearly tender, about 6 minutes. Scoop them into a colander, then add the cabbage to the pot and cook for 5 minutes. The water may not return to a boil. Drain, rinse under cool water, then twist in a kitchen towel to remove the excess moisture. Get it as dry as you can. Combine the cabbage and potatoes in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter in a small skillet with the sage and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute without letting the garlic brown. Pour it over the cabbage and potatoes. Toss well, taste for salt, and season with pepper. Transfer to the baking dish.
4. Whisk the remaining ingredients together, pour them over the vegetables, and bake until firm and lightly browned, about 50 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes, then cut into pieces and serve.
Serves 4-6.
From Local Flavors, by Deborah Madison.Savory Goat Cheese Tart with Leeks
[A note from Linda - the recipe calls for creme fraiche, this is a very slightly sour cream that you can make at home:
1 to 2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk
Combine the buttermilk and cream in a saucepan and heat only to tepid (not more than 85 degrees on an instant reading thermometer). Pour into a clean glass jar. Partially cover and let stand at room temperature (between 65 and 75 degrees) for 8 to 24 hours, or until thickened. Stir and refrigerate at least 24 hours before using. The cream will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.]
2 cups heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra pasteurized or sterilized, and with no additives)
Ingredients
1 (9-inch) prebaked tart shell
6 slender leeks (an inch or less across)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 ounces goat cheese
1 large egg
½ cup creme fraiche
½ cup milk
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Keep the prebaked tart shell on its baking pan.
2. Slice the leeks into thin roungs, separate them, and wash them well in a bowl of water. Lift them into a strainer. Melt the butter in a medium skillet, add the leeks with any water clinging to them, and cookover medium heat until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Beat the goat cheese with the egg until fairly smooth, then stir in the milk, creme fraiche, pinch of salt, and a little white pepper. Pour the custard into the shell and bake until golden and putted, about 30 minutes. Scatter the thyme leaves over the top. Remove the tart from the pan and transfer to a round serving platter. Serve warm.
Serves 6-8, serve on a bed of lightly dressed lettuce leaves for lunch, or light dinner.
From Local Flavors, by Deborah Madison.Leek and Potato Soup
This is a classic soup I make year around whenever I need comfort food. It helps to make your own chicken broth. Sometimes I add cooked chicken, or diced celery and carrots. Any of the greens, chard, spinach, kale, and cabbage are also good variations.
Ingredients
4 to 6 leeks, washed well, using only the white and pale green part, slice into rounds
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose unbleached flour
1-½ to 2 quarts chicken stock
1 to 1-½ pounds of potatoes cut into small ½ to 1-inch dice
½ teaspoon of dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Procedure
1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the chopped leeks. Cook on medium heat until tender, but not browned. Add the flour and continue cooking for about 5 minutes more, stirring to keep the butter from burning.
2. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
3. Add the potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
4. Add the thyme, and the salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Serves 4-6.
A Lindencroft Farm Kitchen original recipe.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: May 7, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for May 8th and 10th
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I'm late with the letter, but it's 8 pm, and since it's getting too dark to work outside, we've only now come in from the farm. It's been like this everyday since the weather warmed up.
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
This week we are harvesting asparagus, Tenderstem and DiCicco Broccoli, Kuroda carrots, broccoli rabe, Ruby and Golden chard, salad reds and greens, and a mix of snow peas and sugar pod peas. There will also be radish sprouts to put on your salad (these will be bagged separately in case you don't care for radishes).
Happenings at the FarmThis has been another week of hard work. Steven has been installing water meters, and timers to help conserve water on the farm. After weather, water is probably our biggest concern. It even ranks above insects and rodents. We use drip irrigation and to hold moisture in the soil we add big blocks of coconut fiber to each of the beds. The coconut fiber comes from Sri Lanka where they had to burn it to get rid of it. Then some brilliant person figured out that by shredding the coconut shells and adding it to the soil it could replace peet which is a non renewable resource. Coconut fiber lasts longer, and is easier to wet than peet moss.
I have planted 128 tomato plants and I'm still working on the 180 pepper plants. I must be crazy.
I'm afraid recipes will have to come later, it's time for bed.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: April 29, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for Tuesday May 1 and Thursday May 3
Hello to Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week
Asparagus, Golden and Ruby beets, leeks, chard, spinach or broccoli rabe, salad reds and greens, radishes, and one small Romanesco broccoli. There is only one small Romanesco for each of you instead of the two or three big ones we would like you to have, due to the cabbage root problem I wrote about awhile back. I steamed up a little one (don't over cook it) and it was delicious as finger food, in fact I'm munching it as I write. The taste is more like broccoli than cauliflower but nuttier. They can be bright chartreuse or purple with green underneath. The weather is too warm now for me to start over, but come fall, I'm going to grow it again.
Happenings at the FarmThe fruit trees are loaded, so much so, that Steven has thinned buckets of apricots, plums, pears, and peaches. After meager harvests for the last few years, it's kind of painful to have to pull off perfect little fruits and drop them in a bucket, but the limbs will be too heavy and the health of the tree will suffer if we just leave it to nature. I planted out the first 30 or so tomato plants. There will be 45 varieties and about 96 total tomato plants when I'm finished. I hope your as crazy about tomatoes as I am. I also planted out the first 30 or so pepper plants. There will be 17 hot pepper varieties from just a little heat to absolutely searing. There will be 10 varieties of sweet peppers this year with the emphasis on Italian heirlooms. The total number of pepper plants comes out to be about 200. Peppers are highly nutritious and we plan on giving you fire-roasted, smoked, dried, and fresh peppers from around August till the end of November.
Recipes of the Week
The phenomena of bee swarms happens in the spring. For the second time in 3 years we have found ourselves surrounded by swarming bees. Tens of thousands of bees, laden with honey to fortify them in their journey to their new home. The sound of a swarm is huge as they swirl and mill about. It is an awesome experience and we find it glorious to be caught in the middle of it. We have not had a single bee sting during swarming. Swarms occur when the old queen leaves the hive and takes with her half or most of the worker bees leaving some worker bees to raise a new queen. We know that the honey bee population is in serious decline, but we are fortunate to have a sizable number here on the farm. We grow many salvias, buckwheats, penstemon, allysum, helianthus, monardella, agastache, and many flowering herbs to attract beneficial insects and bees. Of course we never use pesticides either. Having water sources and wet sandy areas helps them keep hydrated while their doing their work of gathering pollen. Speaking of which, if you go to the nurseries looking for sunflower seeds you will notice that increasingly, hybridizers and seed companies are selling more and more pollenless sunflower varieties. Many people object to the pollen that forms as the flowers age. But for the bees, pollen is their principal source of protein.
These are a few recipes I found for using the leeks and asparagus you will get this week. I had planted Rose Gold potatoes to be harvested at the same time as the leeks but nature took its own course and the potatoes aren't quite ready. It would have been even more cool if the potatoes and the fennel were ready now so you could make the second recipe. I'm sharing it anyway and maybe in a few weeks all three will be available at the same time.
Asparagus and Leek Risotto with Proscuitto
Ingredients
1 pound asparagus spears, tough ends trimmed, cut diagonally into ½-inch pieces
5 cups low salt chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced leek (white and pale green parts only)
1-½ cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
½ cup dry white wine
2 ounces prosciutto, minced (about ¼ cup)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Procedure
1. Cook asparagus in pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Transfer asparagus to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain. Bring broth to boil in medium saucepan. Reduce heat to very low; Cover and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add rice and stir 2 minutes. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup hot chicken broth. Reduce heat and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 30 minutes. Add asparagus and stir until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in prosciutto, Parmesan and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Serves 4.
From Bon Appetit, June 1998.Leek and Fennel Mashed Potatoes
Note from Linda: you can make this dish using an old fashioned potato masher, it works just fine.
Ingredients
2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), quartered lengthwise, then finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1-½ lb yellow-fleshed potatoes such as Yukon Gold
1 medium fennel bulb (sometimes called anise, 1-¼ lb), stalks trimmed flush with bulb, bulb halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1/3 cup low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
2/3 cup 1% milk, heated
½ teaspoon black pepper
Procedure
1. Special equipment: a potato ricer, or a food mill fitted with a medium disk Wash leeks with 1/4 teaspoon salt in 1 teaspoon butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 6-8 minutes, then transfer to a bowl. Reserve skillet.
2. Peel and quarter potatoes, then cover with salted cold water by 1 inch in a 4'quart saucepan and simmer until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. While potatoes are simmering, cook fennel with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in remaining teaspoon butter in skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add broth and simmer, covered, until tender, 10-12 minutes.
4. Drain potatoes and force through ricer or food mill back into saucepan. Stir in milk, leeks, fenel, and pepper.
Cook's note: Leek and fennel mashed potatoes can be made 1 day ahead and reheated.
Each serving contains about 127 calories and 2 grams fat.
Makes 6 servings.
From Gourmet magazine, December 2001.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: April 23, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for Tuesday April 24 and Thursday April 26
Hi Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week
There will be asparagus, Lacinato kale, spinach, turnip greens, Kuroda carrots, salad reds and greens, and radishes.
Happenings at the FarmWe don't have a lot to report this week. We had a thorough soaking of rain a few days ago and I believe it made the sugar pod peas shoot up another foot. Speaking of peas, I would like to know how many of you are interested in trying some Southern pink eyed peas. A very nice person from Texas named Carol grows Mississippi Pink Eyed peas and she told me where I could get some seed. I went looking for Southern peas because I wanted to do something nice for Shay, a young woman who trains and boards over 30 horses on her Ben Lomond ranch. She brings us horse manure twice weekly. She too is from Texas and she was telling me how she missed those peas that she had every summer of her youth. The manure she brings is part of the reason our vegetables are so good. In a couple of weeks I'll be planting out Lady Peas and Pinkeye Purplehull peas and we're all going to get a chance to try this Texas tradition. They only take about two and half months to mature so we could be eating them around early August. If any of you have recipes for Texas Pinkeyes or any Southern style peas I'd be mighty grateful if you could share it with us.
Recipe of the Week
While we're on the subject of trying new vegetables, we invite you to tell us what you would like to have us grow. If your thinking strawberries, (OK it's a fruit) it's a nice idea, but I'll tell you why we don't grow them. We are just one small acre here at Lindencroft. If I grew strawberries, it would take up about 4 of our 12 x 4 foot beds to grow enough for all our subscribers to have 1 basket a week for about 6 weeks. To me, that's a lot of real estate to tie up in a crop that I can grow well but not as well as Esther and Rudy at the Felton Farmers Market. I did grow them one year and they were fine, but my strawberries were not better than theirs so I decided to go back to buying them from Esther as I have for at least 20 years.
Canadian Bacon, Potato, and Swiss-Chard Gratin
The recipe is from Food & Wine. I made this for a Slow Food dinner recently and it turned out to be really tasty. Since it uses chicken broth instead of cream it isn't quite so heavy as some gratins. You can substitute spinach, kale, or even broccoli rabe for the chard. I doubled the recipe without a problem. The intro to the recipe reads as follows: Grated Gruyere cheese melts among ribbons of leafy Swiss chard and slices of Canadian bacon and potato. The dish bakes until the cheese on top is a crusty golden brown.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
½ pound Swiss chard, large stems removed, leaves cut crosswise into approximately 1-inch ribbons
1 clove of garlic minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh- ground black pepper
1-½ pounds of baking potatoes, peeled and cut into approximately 1/8 inch slices
¼ pound Gruyere, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
½ pound sliced Canadian bacon
2/3 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
Procedure
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a medium frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over moderately low heat. Add the Swiss chard and cook until starting to wilt, about 1 minute. Stir in the garlic and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook until no liquid remains in the pan, about 2 minutes.
2. Butter an 8 x 8 inch baking pan or similarly sized gratin dish. Layer one third of the potatoes in the dish and top with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper, a third of the cheese, and half the Canadian bacon. Spread the Swiss chard in a single layer. Top with half the remaining potatoes and sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Spread half the remaining cheese and the remaining Canadian bacon over the potatoes. Add the remaining potatoes to the dish, sprinkle with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and top with the remaining cheese and 1 tablespoon butter. Pour the chicken broth over all.
3. Cover the gratin with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes longer. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes before cutting.
Serves 4.
From foodandwine.com.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: April 15, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for Tuesday April 17 and Thursday April 19
Hi Everyone,
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week
Asparagus, Golden Chard and Ruby Chard, Broccoli Rabe or Spinach Correnta, Salad Reds and Greens, and Kuroda carrots.
Happenings at the FarmWhat a week we've had here. Mother nature was sure dishing it out this week. We had several cauliflower and broccoli Romanesco just keel over and die. The culprit was the insidious little white cabbage maggot. It was also responsible for your getting lots of good turnip tops last week but no bottoms. I never had this problem before and didn't recognize the symptoms until it was too late to save some of the cole crop. The solution was to apply a beneficial nematode that would seek out and destroy the vile creatures. While my back was turned with this problem, an invasion of flea beetles attacked my beautiful potatoes. I'm growing mustard plants to entice the beetles away from the potatoes, a little device I read about for organic gardeners. The potatoes were the tallest and healthiest I've ever grown so they are holding their own and we don't eat potato leaves anyway. At this point the damage is only superficial. But wait, there's more trouble in paradise. A more attractive parasite I will probably never see, enter the brilliant orange dodder. Dodder is a California native member of the morning glory family. It is also known as angel's hair, devil's gut, love vine, and witches shoelaces (obviously there is some confusion here). To me it looks like orange silly string. It's easy, but time consuming to detach the little stringy thing from each of the leeks, carrots, and beet plants it's wrapped itself around, but I read, that left to it's own devises, it may grow to lengths of a half a mile, so I'm not taking any chances. The funny thing about it is that it all but shouts "I'm here" with it's bright orange color, so obvious as it's wrapped around a green stem.
Recipe of the Week
The asparagus is indeed winding down. A little sooner than I expected, but oh it has been good. We were supplying a couple of restaurants, but now I'm saving it all for you.
Winter Green Slaw with Warm Bacon Dressing
Though this recipe calls for kale, beet greens, and chard I think using spinach with the chard would be just fine. This recipe comes from The Organic Cook's Bible by Jeff Cox.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup sliced onion
¼ cup of cream cheese, softened
¼ cup of fat free milk
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon dry dill
½ teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups thinly sliced kale
2 cups thinly sliced beet greens
2 cups thinly sliced chard leaves
2 strips of turkey bacon, (or regular bacon) cooked and chopped
Procedure
1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender and browned. Reduce heat to low, add the cream cheese, milk, vinegar, mustard, dill, honey, and black pepper. Stir until all is well blended then remove from heat.
2. Place sliced greens in a bowl, pour on the cream cheese mixture, and toss until the greens are evenly covered. Divide on plates and top with the chopped bacon.
Serves 4.
From The Organic Cook's Bible by Jeff Cox.• • • • • • • • • • •
Date: April 2, 2007
What's in the Box?
Subject: Newsletter for Tuesday April 3 and Thursday April 5
Hello to Everyone,
In this week's newsletter, as usual:
What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week
See you this week,
--LindaThis week we will be harvesting more asparagus. I hope you're not tired of it already. We have several weeks to go before it's time to stop picking it. Also you will get spinach Correnta, more golden and ruby chard, chioggia beets, and salad reds and greens. We're going to include a little package of smoke-dried tomatoes and chipotles (smoked jalapenos). When we went to the farm conference we visited a farmer who has a smoker that he built himself. We bought them at $40/pound wholesale!, but when you consider that the drying process reduces the weight to 1/10th, and the added cost of smoking, it isn't out of line. We ask you to try them and tell us what you think. Add them to soups, stews, salsas, omelets, the list is long. It will be an investment in time and money to either build or buy a sizable smoker and we want to be sure that people really like them. If we go that way, you will find them from time-to-time in your box, and we will sell them at farmers market (probably at a dollar a pop).
Happenings at the FarmMy mother passed away Saturday night. She was ready and tired of pain, so it's a good thing. I'm telling you this because there may not be a box next week. It depends on when I have to leave for Utah. If it turns out that I must be gone during the regular harvest days, I will email you all and let you know.
Recipe of the Week
Here on the farm everywhere I look I see such an array of natural beauty that all stress and worries just melt away. I saw our resident bobcat sunning himself (or herself) down at the big pond. He was grooming just like a house cat only his paws were enormous. The sugar pod peas are making their way up their trellises. They are about two feet up now and in a month they will be at the top and winding around and then we'll have peas for you. I could make a bouquet of the different colors of green leaves that spring has brought us. The peas are pale with a tinge of yellow when the sun shines through them, the Lacinato kale is very dark almost blue/black-green, the broccoli rabe is bright kelly green, the potatoes are a deep true green, and the carrot tops have that green of new grass. Cabbages are gorgeous red-green and some are blue-green. The celery is lush dark green and the asparagus is sort of army green with purple tops. (This is starting to sound like Margaret Wise Brown's The Color Kittens. ;-)
Save June 24th for our first annual end of spring farm dinner. We want to welcome all our subscribers and their families to the farm and thank you for your support. You don't have to do anything, just bring a hat and an appetite, and maybe a beverage of your choice. It will probably be from 2pm to 6pm or thereabouts. We chose the end of June because by then all the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, tomatillos, and beans will be in the ground and we can relax a little ourselves. More details to follow.
Savory Chard No-Crust Quiche
This recipe is from The Organic Cook's Bible by Jeff Cox. It calls for 2 bunches of chard. I think grocery store chard that is sold in bunches are ½ pound bunches. We usually give you 1½ pounds of cooking greens so for this recipe you'll have some left over. By the way this is a great book, full of nutrition and history of each vegetable he covers.
Jeff Cox writes, "If you like, make a partially baked pastry pie shell and use this recipe as the filling for a quiche."
You will need a 9 inch round baking dish, 4-5 inches deep. [But with no pie crust you could make it in any shaped baking dish.]Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, plus extra for buttering the baking dish
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 bunches chard, leaves only
1 pound ham, sliced thin
¼ pound coarsely grated provolone (about 1 cup)
¼ pound coarsely grated mozzarella (about 1 cup)
¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano [or Pecorino Romano]
½ cup ricotta
1-2/3 cups whole milk
6 eggs, beaten
Salt and fresly ground black pepper
Procedure
1. Butter the baking dish, and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit. Butter the paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a 12 inch skillet, heat the canola oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat, then add the onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chard leaves and turn heat to high. Cook, stirring continually, until the leaves are well wilted and any moisture is evaporated (don't let the leaves scorch). Remove from heat and reserve.
3. Slice the ham into strips about ½ inch wide and cook them in a medium skillet in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, turning them several times until they're lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Reserve.
4. In a bowl, mix together the provolone, mozzarella, and Parmigiano-Reggiano [or Pecorino Remano]. Puree the ricotta with the milk in a blender, then pour into another bowl. Whisk the eggs into the wet ingredients. Season the custard mixture to taste with salt and pepper (remember, the cheese and ham are salty, so easy on the salt, but don't skimp on the pepper!).
5. Place a third of the dry cheeses in the baking dish and drizzle a small amount of the custard on top. (You're going to make a stack of nine layers, each drizzled with custard, so use it accordingly.) Make layer with a third of the ham and drizzle that with custard. Make a layer with a third of the chard and drizzle with custard. Repeat this layering sequence 2 more times. The layers should not quite reach the top of the dish.
6. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place the dish in a roasting pan with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the side of the baking dish. Gently place this in the oven and bake for 1 hour, then turn the heat to 400ºF and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil so the top will brown and bake for 10 minutes more. The custard is done when it pulls away from the side of the dish and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and dry.
7. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack until you can handle the baking dish, about 20 minutes or more. Run a knife around the edges of the dish, then place a large plate over the top of the baking dish and carefully invert. Remove the paper. Select a serving dish and place it on top of the custard, then invert once again.
Serves 8.
From The Organic Cook's Bible by Jeff Cox.• • • • • • • • • • •
Newsletter Archives
December 2006 - March 2007• • • • • • • • • • •
Last updated: July 9, 2007
Lindencroft Farm
Linda and Steven Butler
900 Pedro Ave.
Ben Lomond, CA 95005
831-206-7126
email – Lindencroft@gmail.com
website design + some photography by Tana Butler of I Heart Farms
