December 2006 - March 2007

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Date: March 26, 2007
Subject: Newsletter for Tuesday March 27 and Thursday March 29

Hello Again to all of our regular subscribers and welcome to our new ones.

In this week's newsletter:

What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week

I’ll see you all on Tuesday/Thursday

--Linda

What's in the Box?

In your box this week you'll find asparagus, salad greens and reds, frisee, pea shoots, Golden chard and Ruby chard, Lacianato kale and celery. The celery doesn't look like grocery store celery. I've not grown it before and perhaps this variety is supposed to be like mine. Mine is very dark green and the ribs are on the thin side, but the flavor is great. You will also have carrots. The carrots are on the small side as they are the thinings I pulled to give the remainder of the carrots room to grow. You will find pale yellow ones called Yellowstone, as well as Kyoto Red and scarlet Nantes.

Happenings at the Farm

As I mentioned in my greeting, we have added several new families to our small group of subscribers. We have been really fortunate to be able to keep things very local. All are within 10 miles of the farm, meaning less time and gas to deliver. Speaking of delivery, Jorah of Mountain Feed and Farm in Ben Lomond has kindly agreed to be a pick-up point for some of your boxes. If you are picking up from Mountain Feed, look for your box after 4 pm on your pickup day. Also while we are on the subject of Mountain Feed and Farm in Ben Lomond, I want to let you know (and please tell your friends) that Lindencroft is providing certified organic heirloom tomato starts for sale at the store from now through June.

Recipe of the Week

Steamed Asparagus with Almond Butter

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 pound asparagus
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Procedure

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy small skillet over low heat.

2.Add shallots and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl.

3. Add remaining 3 tablespoons butter, parsley, lemon juice and peel to shallot mixture and whisk to blend. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

4. Steam asparagus until crisp-tender. (Everything to this point can be made 1 day ahead. Cover butter mixture and asparagus separately; chill.)

5. Place butter mixture in heavy large skillet over medium heat.

Add almonds and cook until butter browns, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add asparagus and stir until heated through.

6. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide asparagus among plates.

Serves 6.

From Williams-Sonoma Collection Series

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Date: March 19, 2007
Subject: Newsletter for March 20, 07

Hi everybody,

In this week's newsletter:

What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week

I’ll see you all on Tuesday

--Linda

What's in the Box?

Asparagus. You will also get Kuroda and Purple Dragon carrots, Golden chard and Ruby chard, either spinach or kale, salad reds and greens, including frisee and mizuna, and a bunch of scallions. I will include a small bunch of oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, but no bridges over troubled waters . Those wonderful Meyer lemons you’ve been receiving are coming to you from Fred, one of our subscribers who has a tree in Santa Cruz.

Happenings at the Farm

Spring has really made the farm come alive. The orchard is in bloom, the bulbs are all pushing their way up, and the broccoli rabe is bolting (oops). It's all too beautiful.

We've added 21 new flower beds, and another long bed for asparagus and salad greens. Finally, our shipment of irrigation hoses arrived, so everything is getting a nice long drippy drink, and we can stop spending hours watering by hand. The push now is for Steven to get the new row of vegetable beds in before the starts need to go into the ground, around May 1st. It will be a busy, crazy, fun time.

Speaking of May 1st, we think by then we will have enough flowers to begin offering the flower option to our CSA subscribers. Some of the flowers we are growing are gladiolas, lilies, sunflowers, sweet peas, stalk, scabiosa, dahlias, zinnias. If you are interested, let us know soon, as it will be of limited availability. The cost is $5.00 per week.

We now have a Cabrillo College student helping us out with the seeding and planting. Josh can bend and kneel for hours and pop right up again. I think I remember those days.

We are adding new subscribers from our waiting list, starting with this week’s box. We will be up to capacity in a few more weeks.

Recipes of the Week

Risotto with Spinach

Ingredients

6 cups vegetable stock
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion
¾ pound spinach, stemmed and thinly sliced crosswise
2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring stock to a simmer, maintain over low heat.

2. In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add onion; sauté until softened, about 4 minutes.

3. Add spinach, reduce heat to low, cover and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl; set aside.

4. Add rice to the pan; stir until well coated with oil and translucent with a white dot in the center, about 3 minutes. Add wine and stir until absorbed. Add stock a ladleful at a time, stirring frequently after each addition. Wait until stock is almost completely absorbed before adding more. Reserve ¼ cup of stock to add at the end. When rice is almost tender to the bite but slightly firm in the center and looks creamy, after about 18 minutes, add spinach mixture to the pan and add a ladleful of stock.

5. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach mixture is heated through and rice is al dente, 2-3 minutes.

6. Remove from heat; stir in butter, cheese and reserved ¼ cup of stock. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Serves 6.

From Williams-Sonoma Collection Series

Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Spring Onion Frittata

I’ve changed this recipe from the original in a couple of places. First, you can buy prosciutto di Parma from any good grocery store, but usually I just use bacon which I cook until crisp and then crumble. I always keep bacon in the freezer for seasoning these kind of dishes. It’s really easy to cut frozen bacon into small dice for frying. The second change is that here as in many, many recipes we are told to put asparagus into boiling water and cook until tender. If you do that, you lose nutrients to the water and you water log the spears. It’s so much better to steam it. BTW, this recipe is from some cookbook, somewhere, but I’ve lost all the info and if anyone knows it’s origin, I will give the credits when I learn them.

Ingredients

½ pound small red potatoes, unpeeled
about 6 large asparagus spears, peel the ends
1 cup finely sliced spring green onions
8 whole eggs
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped herbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into several small pieces
3 ounces prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced and cut into strips
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled into small pieces

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375°

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the potatoes over high heat until tender when poerced with the tip of a knife, about 15 minutes. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, thickly slice. Set aside.

2. Steam the asparagus spears for just 2 or 3 minutes, cool them in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Slice them crosswise into bite size pieces. Set aside.

3. Saute the onions just until softened in about 1 tablespoon of butter.

4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and heavy cream until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the spring onions and the herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. In a 10-inch nonstick ovenproof sauté pan, spread the reserved asparagus pieces. Place the pan over medium heat and distribute the butter throughout the asparagus. When they begin to sizzle in the pan, after about 2 minutes, whisk the egg mixture to recombine and pour over the asparagus in the pan. Evenly distribute the prosciutto, potatoes, and goat cheese pieces around the pan, being sure not to neglect the outer edges. Cook for 2 minutes.

6. Transfer the pan to the hot oven and bake until fully set, about 12 minutes. It will be a little loose in the center. Pass the pan under the broiler for 1 minute, or until the fritta is lightly browned on top. Invert it onto a warm serving plate, slice into wedges, and serve immediately. You can also serve it at room temperature.

Serves 4

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Date: March 11, 2007
Subject: Newsletter for March 13, 07

Hello Again Everyone,

In this week's newsletter:

What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week

--Linda

What's in the Box?

This week you will get broccoli rabe, Red Russian kale, beets and their tops, Kuroda and Purple Dragon carrots. You will get beautiful red and green lettuces, with a few pea shoots added (just cut the pea shoots into bite size snippits and toss with the rest of the lettuce).

Finally, we get the first of the spring asparagus. The kale, beet tops, and broccoli rabe can all wait a few days in the fridge, but don’t let the asparagus sit in the fridge. It could wait even a few days, but each day it loses a little more of that sensational “spring pea” taste. Hold each spear in two hands and bend it till it snaps. It will naturally snap at the point where the top is most tender and the lower third can either go into the soup pot.or get peeled before cooking.

I’ve heard and read even that thin spears are more tender than the thick ones and that thin spears come from young plants. No, that’s not true. Thick spears are more tender because the genetically determined number of tough fibers running the length of the spear are further apart with sweet tender tissue between the fibers whereas thin ones have the same number of tough fibers but they are condensed in the thin body. We have harvested both thick and thin from the very first picking when the plants were only two years old. You get a mix of thick and thin until the plants are exhausted (after about 8 weeks) and then the spears get thinner and thinner. Commercial growers harvest all the thin spears because they pull their crowns every year or two and they don’t need to leave the thin spears to give life and nutrition to the crowns for next year. Asparagus plants will produce for upwards of 15 years if they're happy.

Green asparagus is rich in folic acid, and trace elements like zinc, manganese, iron, and calcium. The white asparagus, so favored in Europe is lacking in nutrition and flavor. It is white because it is denied sunlight. How healthy can that be?

One last note on asparagus. Some people have a gene that imparts an unpleasant odor to their urine if they eat asparagus. Do not be alarmed, it passes :-) .

Happenings at the Farm

The California Farm Conference

The conference that we attended was very useful and surprising in several ways. First we were surprised at how many USDA folks attended (they were a major sponsor) and how deeply they felt about supporting the small farmer. The USDA has many well thought out programs for educational, financial, and technical help, but there are a couple of problems. First, they don't have enough money. Congress has not passed a new budget and the nation is operating on a "continuing resolution", so money to fund the various programs is generally not available and no one knows when or how much will become available. Second, much of the USDA farm program financial support goes to crop subsidies for the big mid-western farmers. Billions of dollars are still being spent to support prices for commodities such as wheat, corn, and soy, with zero dollars for fruits and vegetables. This is a huge, complex issue with no simple answers, and there is a ton of lobby money behind big agro-business with many senators to represent the mid-west, but the sense we got is that many in the USDA would like to see the emphasis shift from supporting the big mega-farms to helping the small farmer.

The sessions at the conference were pretty good, with most of them led by farmers telling their stories. We picked up some good info, but, as with most of these things, perhaps the biggest benefit is in the networking.

We tacked on a little field trip to our venture to visit a small farm in Paso Robles. Windrose Farm is a beautiful organic farm on 50 acres, run by Barbara and Bill Spencer. They grow a large variety of fruits and veggies, and raise sheep. The night before we arrived, they had four new lambs born. But, the thing we went to see was Bill's magnificent smoker. Bill smokes peppers and tomatoes and sells them to restaurants and at farmers markets. We had never tasted smoke-dried tomatoes before, and they are delicious. Stop by our farm and you can try some. Steven is hoping to build a similar smoker for us, so we can expand our fire-roasted pepper and sun-dried tomato offerings with chipotles and smoke-dried tomatoes. Yum.

We're (Almost) Famous.

I hope everyone got to see the article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about CSAs in general and featuring Lindencroft Farm. Within just a few days of that article we filled our waiting list. As the article pointed out, there are at least six other CSA's in the Santa Cruz area and from the response that I received, we could use many more. People just want to buy fresh, local, sustainable, and seasonal food. We are an enlightened bunch around here.

Back on the Farm

Sunday the temperature reached 84° and it looks like no rain for awhile. We have 18 new beds filled with beautiful vegetables but no irrigation hoses! We ordered them a while back but they are slow in coming and that means lots of time hand watering. I'm potting up the tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings for your future dining pleasure. We will also be selling starts at Mountain Feed and Farm in Ben Lomond, so if you want to have the ultimate in local food, put some veggies in your backyard garden.

The orchard is in magnificent bloom, so with the clear weather ahead, maybe, just maybe, we will get a decent crop this year. This year we will include fruit in the boxes whenever we can at no extra charge.

Recipe of the Week

Basic Asparagus Ideas

Asparagus, when it is freshly picked has a “spring pea” kind of taste. Here are 4 quick cooking ideas. We have many more weeks to enjoy this vegetable. I will post recipes on the web site.

1. We like it just briefly steamed (3 or 4 minutes) or even uncooked.

2. If you have thick spears, they are excellent lightly oiled, and roasted in the oven at 450° for about 10 minutes, turned once about half way through the cooking. When it’s tender you can sprinkled a litter Pecorino Romano cheese over it, or give it a few squeezes of lemon or drizzle a little walnut oil on it.

3. Another popular and easy method is throwing the oiled spears on the barbeque. Just don't overcook them.

4. Finally, you can roll them in a little melted butter, sprinkle them with fresh bread crumbs, and roast them at 350° until the bread crumbs are toasted and the asparagus is tender.

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Date: February 25, 2007
Subject: Newsletter for February 27, 07

Hello Again,

In today's newsletter:

What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipes of the Week
Food for Thought

What's in the Box?

This week's box will have Kuroda and Purple Dragon carrots, Albina Verduna beets, Red Russian kale, Corenta spinach or broccoli rabe, and lettuce greens (frisee, and loose leaf) and eggs for those who ordered them. There will be no box next week, March 3rd. I will deliver eggs however when I get back. Probably on Wednesday or Thursday. See below.

Happenings at the Farm

Late last week we had a visit from Tara Leonard, a reporter from the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Over a bowl of soup and spinach salad we talked about CSA and our reasons for being certified organic. A photographer is coming out to the farm this Monday to take pictures of the vegetables you will have in your box on Tuesday.

In between cloud bursts I planted out more carrots, more broccoli rabe, and more Sugar Pod peas. Flats of fennel have germinated on my dining room table because the greenhouse is full.

Next week Steven and I will be attending the California Small Farm conference in Monterey. We were fortunate to get scholarship monies to pay for the conference. It's a great opportunity to meet other farmers and share ideas. There are workshops in farm management, specialty crops, developing and financing value added processing (e.g. getting our fire roasted peppers into jars for sale at farmers market) - all topics I'm really interested in. After the conference is over, we're going to head down to Paso Robles. The owners of Windrose Farm have invited us to come for a visit so they can show us how they make chipotles (smoked jalapeños). Farmers are great people, always willing to share their knowledge. Maybe if we have time on the way back we can stop at Point Lobos to see the wild flowers. This is a three day trip so instead of scrambling to get back and deliver, I thought we could relax and take a small break.

Recipes of the Week

Butternut Squash, Pepper, and Kale Soup

Last week I promised a butternut squash mexican style soup. I made a good one but, there was one ingredient that proved nearly impossible to find. That was organic pozole. Pozole is the same as hominy. It's corn which is processed by soaking in lime. This removes the hull and germ, making it easier to prepare. It's not sweet like fresh corn and it has more body, more substance and mouth feel. New Leaf was out of it, though they usually have it. The soup was good, I just ended up adding potatoes instead. Here it is even though I'm still waiting for pozole.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
3 or 4 Anaheim or Ancho/Poblano dried peppers
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb of kale roughly chopped
2 cups dried pozole
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel and cube the squash. Toss the cubes with about 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Spread them out on a sheet pan so they don't touch. Bake them for about 25 minutes until they are tender and a little brown on the edges.

3. While the squash is baking, briefly soak the peppers in about 1 or 2 cups of hot water. When they soften a little, pull them from the water, but save the water. Chop the peppers into small pieces.

4. In a stockpot add the rest of the olive oil, the chopped yellow onion, and the garlic. When the onions and garlic are cooked, add the kale and cook a little longer until it is wilted.

5. Add the stock and the pozole to the pot and simmer until the pozole has absorbed some of the broth and become tender. When the pozole is fully reconstituted, add the baked butternut squash. The roasted squash cubes will fall apart in the soup, making it even thicker. At this point if you want the soup to be thinner, you can use the chili water to thin it . Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6.

Butternut Squash and Bean Soup

Butternut Squash and Bean Soup from Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe. I substitute navy beans for the expensive beans in the recipe. It's still delicious.

Ingredients

1 pound dried borlotti beans (or cranberry beans)
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons kosher salt

Croutons
2 cups rustic or sourdough bread cubes (1 inch, crusts removed)
3 unpeeled garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion (1/2 inch)
1 cup diced carrots (1/2 inch)
1 cup sliced celery (stalks cut in half lenghthwise and then cut into 1/2 inch slices)
1 cup diced parsnip (1/2 inch)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 firmly packed tablespoons sliced fresh sage leaves
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced (1/2 inch)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon honey

Procedure

1. Soak the beans overnight, or for at least 6 hours, in enough cold water to cover. [We suggest 4 inches of water above the beans.] Drain and transfer to a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, until almost tender, 45 to 50 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the salt and cook 10 more minutes.

2. Make the croutons: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 5-10 minutes. Transfer the cubes to a large bowl and toss with the garlic, salt, pepper, oil, and sage. Let stand 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a second large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, parsnip, garlic, and sage and cook until the vegetables have softened but are not colored, about 10 minutes. Season with the remaining tablespoon of salt, and the black and Aleppo peppers. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4. Spoon 1 cup of the cooked beans along with 1/4 cup of their cooking liquid into a blender and puree until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the puree into the pan with the vegetables. Add the whole beans with their cooking liquid, the bay leaves, and honey, and simmer until the vegetables are completely tender, about 10 more miunutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if desired.

5 Serve the soup in warm bowls, topped with the croutons.

Serves 8-10

From Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe

Warm Spinach Salad

I keep a chunk of bacon, about 1/4 pound in the freezer to add flavor to some dishes. Freezing the bacon makes it easier to cut the lardons. Alice Waters doesn't give any specific amounts for the ingredients. You just have to use your intuition on the amounts. The instructions in parenthesis are my own.

Ingredients

spinach
bacon
shallot
olive oil
sherry vinegar
one fresh baguette, sweet or sour

Procedure

1. Wash and dry very fresh spinach leaves. Medium, slightly more substantial leaves are better for this salad than very delicate tiny ones. Prepare some lardons of bacon (cut bacon into fine sticks, 1/8 inch wide and about 1 inch long) and fry them crisp. Save the rendered fat. Oil and toast small croutons (slice a baguette into thin slices, allowing a couple of croutons for each diner, brush with a little olive oil, toast both sides under a broiler or grill both sides, rub it with a clove of raw garlic) and season with pepper. Marinate diced shallot in sherry vinegar with a pinch of salt. Whisk in olive oil to taste, keeping the dressing rather sharp.

2. Put the spinach leaves in a stainless steel bowl and toss with the dressing. Mix in the bacon and croutons and season with pepper. Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and toss continuously with tongs while the salad heats. Remove when the leaves are just wilted and serve immediately on warm plates. Serve with the croutons.

3. Alternatively, dress the salad with the shallots and vinegar, omitting the olive oil. Put the rendered fat in a small pan and heat it very hot. Heat the salad with the croutons and bacon over the simmering water, pour the hot fat over the spinach , toss until just wilted, and serve. Serve with the croutons.

From Chez Panisse Vegetables

Food for Thought

This week launches our first entry in this section. Steven rants on the high cost of organic. Read "Why Pay More" here.

That's all for this week. We will see you again on March 13.

Linda

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Date: February 18, 2007
Subject: What's in the box for February 20, 07

Hello All,

In today's newsletter:

What's in the Box?
Happenings at the Farm
Recipe of the Week

What's in the Box?

This week your box will have Lacinato kale (aka dinosaur), carrots. broccoli rabe or spinach, and salad greens. I will also put some more winter squash in your boxes.

Happenings at the Farm

Our four hundred asparagus crowns finally arrived and with four people working we got them all planted in their special beds in about four hours. Marge, our egg provider and fellow subscriber worked two whole days last week planting asparagus, Golden and Detroit Red beets, Yukon Gold potatoes, and leeks. Marge has unflagging energy and our profound thanks. I also planted Kuroda and Kyoto Red carrots, chard, sugar pod peas, and several kinds of lettuce.

I also planted horseradish which arrived looking like a half dozen hand carved wooden spears with little green tops. They were carved with one straight side and one slanted side, a standard practice letting the grower know which side to place downward. I planted them at an angle as directed, completely covering the growing end. We won't harvest the roots until autumn. We bought raspberry, golden raspberry, and black berry canes and had to plant them out in large pots because we don't have their beds ready.

Besides all the above I have sown the first of my tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds for starts that will will be sold at Mountain Feed and Farm in Ben Lomond. There will be sixteen heirloom tomato varieties, 6 peppers, and 2 kinds of eggplant.

Recipe of the Week

Sauteed Kale with Creamy Polenta

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of kale
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
1 cup of polenta (course ground corn meal)
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 gloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
more Pecorino Romano for shaving

Procedure

1. Wash and chop the kale

2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the stock and cream and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the 3/4 tsp of salt, then whisk in the polenta. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the polenta is thick, solft, and creamy. Stir in the 1/2 cup of Pecorino Romano.

3. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the red pepper to the pan. Add the garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the kale and stir until all the kale is wilted and tender, about 8-10 minutes. Serve over the polenta and finish with shaved cheese.

Serves 4

That's it for today's newsletter. Since I keep offering you more winter squash I will put a winter squash mexican soup recipe on the website for you to try. I don't want to put it out there until I've cooked it myself, so it will be a few days away.

Linda

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Date: February 11, 2007
Subject: What's in the box for February 13, 07

Hello All,

After a whole weeks worth of much needed rain the farm is looking refreshed and new. We have duck pairs in the ponds and whole symphonies of frogs. The box this week will hold tatsoi, kale, carrots or beets, winter squash, and curly endive. Curly endive is also called Frisee. It's a member of the chicory family but it has a mild flavor.

Here is a recipe using frisee called Warm Lentil Salad that I learned when attending the Homechef Cooking School. I have made it for company and doubled the recipe. Leftovers are good the next day.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Cabernet vinegar
12 ounces green lentils (available from New Leaf)
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
1 small onion, diced
2 ounces pancetta, diced (available from Ben Lomond Market, and Shopper's Corner)
1 pound curly endive, rinsed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 orange, separated into segments and used for garnish

Procedure

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine the oil and vinegar and set aside.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the lentils, carrot, celery, bay leaf and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes until the lentils are tender. Drain, remove the bay leaf and discard, set aside the lentils.

3. In a large saute pan saute the pancetta until crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan. Add the stock and reduce by half, then add the onions. Saute for about 7-10 minutes. Add the endive and cover. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the endive is wilted. Add the lentils, the pancetta, and the oil and vinegar misture and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with a little lemon if desired and serve warm, garnish with the orange sections.

Serves 4 as a salad and 2 as a main dish.

Per serving: 390 calories, 30g protiein, 58g carbohydrate, 6g fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 704mg sodium, 30g fiber

From the Homechef Health Concious Cooking Series

That's all for now, see you on Tuesday

Linda

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Date: February 6, 2007
Subject: What's in the box for February 6

Hi Friends,

The sun is shining as I write this and it feels so good. I am expecting four hundred asparagus crowns this week. We are racing to get the beds done before they arrive. I have put in three new apple trees, Braeburn, Ashmead's Kernal, and Pink Lady. I also put in a Green Gage plum tree. We should see the fruit in a couple of years..

I will be posting the newsletter for next week on the new web site. I will let you know when it's ready. This week I'm harvesting broccoli rabe, carrots, kale, and I'm including a package of my favorite whole wheat pasta just to make sure you try it. You will also get a butternut squash, salad greens, and a chunk of Pecorino Romano. You can use the broccoli rabe with the pasta using the same recipe that I wrote in an earlier email. I will print it out again so you don't have to go look for it.

Here is a simple and quick (20 minutes or so) vegetarian way to cook broccoli rabe aka rapini. Wash it under running water. Gather it all in a bunch and cut it into roughly into 2 inch pieces. Discard the woody ends, but do use all the upper leaves and stems. Put on some water for whole wheat spaghetti to cook in. Grate some Pecorino Romano, this is a cheese you can buy from Costco that I like a lot more that Parmesan but you can use Parmesan if thats what you have. It's a little richer and a little saltier than Parmesan. About 1 cup grated is enough for 2 people. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add some red pepper flakes, chopped garlic, and just as the garlic turns golden, add the chopped broccoli rabe to the pan. Saute until the broccoli rabe is tender. Add a few spoonfuls of pasta water if it needs to cook a little longer. Toss it with the cooked pasta and the grated cheese. I like to drizzle a little olive oil over the pasta at this time. You probably won't need to add salt, but taste it and see. Just the greens with a little cheese over pasta is a very typical Italian family dinner.

You can use this as a base recipe and substitute chard, kale, spinach, turnip greens, arugula, or mizuna for the broccoli rabe. You can saute a little Italian sausage with the greens, or add chopped sun dried tomatoes, fire roasted peppers, small diced and roasted butternut squash. All of these additions will sweeten the dish.

Arrivederci e buon appetito

Linda

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Date: January 28, 2007
Subject: good news and bad news

Hi Friends,
Well, you probably knew this was coming. Due to the cold weather I am not delivering boxes this week. The garden needs to catch a few rays of sun and grow a little. I will however deliver eggs to Laura and Fred. By next week you should have a full box of vegetables again. I have been busy planting seeds for spring. I've got new broccoli (4 kinds), cabbages red and green, cauliflower white, green and purple, kohlrabi, and sugar pod peas started. Beets, chard, kale, broccoli rabe and spinach will also be coming along soon. Lettuces are putting on size in the greenhouse.

I know you've all been reading about the frost damaged California produce. I've been reading a lot too. I learned that I should have watered the beds when the ground was frozen for those 5 or 6 days in a row that were so very cold. The plants are unable to get water when the ground is frozen and watering brings up the soil temperature and thaws it enough so the plants can get a drink. This is a lesson I won't forget. Every year I grow potatoes through out the winter. I cover them with row cover and they stay warm enough to continue their growth. Not this winter. They froze, causing what is known as hollow heart, a condition that causes the center of the potato to be empty and brown. I will replant with new seed potatoes when the soil reaches at least 45 degrees. No one is more anxious than I for the warm sunny weather to return.

My good news is that I've hired Tana Butler to build a web site for me. I'm sure she will come up with a good one. We will be posting pictures of the farm and all those gorgeous vegetables. The recipes will be archived and in general we'll be able to very stylishly keep you informed.

Linda

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Date: January 23, 2007
Subject: fresh eggs from a Lindencroft subscriber

Hi Friends,
One of your fellow subscribers to the Lindencroft CSA has announced that her chickens are now laying enough eggs to offer them to us each week for $4.50 per dozen. As the days get longer and warmer chickens lay more eggs, so at this time she can offer them to us at this great low price. These chickens are fed feed from Mountain Feed and Farm which another subscriber, Jorah owns. These lucky chickens also eat the organic greens and things that come from the Lindencroft farm that we don't eat. Buying eggs from Marge supports us all. Let me know if you want a dozen eggs included in your box next Tuesday.
Linda

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Date: January 21, 2007
Subject: What's in the box!

Hi Friends:
This week I'll be harvesting spinach, and some kind of cruciferous vegetable (either romanesco broccoli or broccoflower). You will also get more salad fixins, fire roasted peppers, and butternut squash. I will send along a little kale and chard to add to the spinach to make a braising mix. You will have enough spinach for both of these recipes if you want to try them. I'll see you on Tuesday.

Here's a recipe for the spinach from Deborah Madison's book "Vegetarian Suppers." Deborah Madison has many cookbooks from her days at "Greens," the very famous and nearly impossible to get a reservation at, restaurant on the San Francisco bay. I love all her books. She's all about vegetables.

Roasted Portobello Sandwich

4 large portobello mushrooms
2 pinches of hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices of ciabatta (that's 2 cut in half)
2 garlic cloves, chopped with a small handful of parsley leaves
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Two 4-ounce balls of fresh mozzarella or a mozzarella brick, grated or sliced
3/4 pound braising greens, trimmed and washed or spinach, stems removed

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, remove the mushroom stems, wipe the caps, scrape out the gills with a spoon. Drizzle the inside of the caps with half the oil and sprinkle on all but a teaspoon of the chopped garlic and parsley mix, season with salt and pepper, transfer to a shallow baking pan and bake until the mushrooms are hot and starting to sizzle about 8 to10 minutes.

2. Heat remaining oil in a skillet, add the pepper flakes then add the greens and saute with the reserved parsley-garlic mix until the greens are wilted. Season with salt. If the greens need longer cooking to be tender, you can add a little more water to the pan.

3. Toast the bread under the broiler or in a toaster (when toasted rub lightly with a garlic clove and drizzle a little olive oil over the toast, this is my addition). Divide the cheese among the mushroom caps, cover with the greens, and bake until the cheese is soft and warm, about 5 to 7 minutes. Set each mushroom on its waiting toast and serve.

Spinach quesadillas with fire roasted peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tortillas, corn or flour
1 small onion finely diced
1/3 cup monterey jack cheese grated
1/2 cup chopped cilantro salsa, avocado slices, and sour cream if desired
fire roasted peppers (cut into medium pieces) pinch of oregano
1/2 pound spinach
pinch of red pepper flakes

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet and the onion, pepper flakes, and oregano. Cook about 4 minutes until the onion is soft and add the fire roasted peppers. Then add the spinach with a a little salt. Cook until the spinach is wilted and tender, about 4 minutes. Add the cilantro

2. Brush a little bit of oil on one side of each tortilla. Using two pans heat one tortilla in each pan, flipping them over to heat both sides. When they get hot, scatter the cheese over the hot surface, then cover with the spinach mixture and top with another tortilla. Cook until the bottom of the tortillas are crisp and then flip to get the other side crisp.

3. Slide them onto a cutting board and cut them into quarters. Plate them and garnish with a dollop of salsa, sliced avocado, and a little sour cream.

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Date: January 14, 2007
Subject: This week's box

Hi Friends,
In spite of the frigid weather, we are able to bring to you for your dining pleasure more kale, either beets or turnips, fennel, and salad greens and reds. If the boxes seem a little meager, stay with us and I promise the bounty of spring will soon be here.

Has everybody seen Jorah and Andi's photo on the Cabrillo College Extension Spring class schudule? Jorah and Andi are our fourth subscribers and they own and operate the Mountain Feed and Farm store on Highway 9, in Ben Lomond. They carry all the organic soil amendments I use, but they are pictured on the cover because Jorah is teaching a class on Bio diesel which he supplies at his feed store. Stop in and meet them. They have everything you need in pet and livestock feed as well.

I'll see you all on Tuesday,
Linda

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Date: January 7, 2007
Subject: the blue bin and the fractal form

Hi Friends,
Finally we have the fractal form of the broccoli romanesco. It's the strange looking spiky spiral that's comes from the brassica family. It's related to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi. It is said to be most like a cauliflower but has a nuttier flavor. This is my first time growing it and eating it. Unfortunately the plant takes up a lot of real estate and once the main head is harvested, it's time to pull the whole plant out. It takes about 3 1/2 months to grow it so I'm hoping that it tastes really good. Most recipes say to treat it like cauliflower, steaming it, sauce or no, it's up to you. You can carefully break it up to steam it and then use it for dipping. I rarely use sauces on vegetables, preferring the pure and simple taste of a well grown vegetable. Let me know how you cooked it and what you thought of it.

You will also have carrots, tatsoi, and chard.
See you on Tuesday,
Linda

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Date: December 31, 2006
Subject: No box this week

Happy New Year All,
I'm taking a week off, giving the garden a little time to catch up with us. When the temperatures have been as low as they have for the past several weeks, the vegetables just don't grow. We will have chard, kale, spinach, fennel, broccoli rabe, and carrots ahead of us. The lettuces in the greenhouse will be ready soon. For those of you who have paid in advance, your shares will be extended by a week. I'll see you again on Jan 9th. Have a wonderful and safe New Years, and we thank all of you for supporting the farm.

Linda

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Date: December 25, 2006
Subject: what's in the box

Hi everyone,
I know I'm late with this newsletter. The family doings are all over and everyone has gone home with big bags of leftovers. I'm going to get out there early and harvest spinach, beets (but not for Laura), radishes, broccoli and broccoli rabe. There's supposed to be a big storm front on it's way with lots of rain. My satellite dish sometimes flakes out in the rain. If you need to contact me regarding pickup and it's raining cats and dogs, better use the phone to reach me. My number is 206-7126. See you all tomorrow.
Linda

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Date: December 17, 2006
Subject: what's in the blue bin for Tuesday December 19th

Hi Friends,
Speaking of blue bins, you need to round up the ones you've received so I can refill them. For those who always remember, thanks a bunch.

It's supposed to get down to 26 degrees tonight, usually a few degrees lower at my place. If everything makes it nicely through the freeze you can look forward to fennel, baby turnips, a mix of spinach and tatsoi and red russian kale. Also a butternut winter squash.

The fennel bulb should be used within a couple of days. You should cut off the root end and cut off the stems. The stems can be chopped and added to soups like potato leek or fish chowders. The bulb can be halved, then quartered, then sliced thinly and used just as you would celery. You can add it to tuna salad or chicken salad, tossed with green salad, or cut it in to dipping slices and use as crudites. Eaten raw they taste of mild licorice but cooked they become very mellow and sweet, a lot like onion. They are really good added to scalloped potatoes. I would quarter the fennel bulb, slice it as thin as you can, slice up a yellow onion and saute them together in a little butter and olive oil. Let them cool while you slice up some potatoes, add the fennel and onion mixture to the potatoes with some grated Jarlsberg or Gruyere cheese and a little salt and pepper. Put it in a buttered baking dish and add enough half-and-half or whole milk to come just to the top of the potatoes and bake it at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes or until the milk is absorbed and the potatoes are tender. Good cold weather food.

This time the kale is red russian. Red russian kale is a little more assertive than some of the other kales. The books say that it grows sweeter with a little frost. We'll see about that. I usually add it to soups. It goes well with bean soups and tomato based soups.

Here is a recipe for red russian kale with dried cranberries and red onions (very festive and seasonal)
1-1/2 pounds of kale
2 quarts of water
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium red onions, chopped
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Cut away the leaves from the center stem. Rinse the leaf pieces. Boil the water in a large pan, add the salt and the kale, pushing it down into the water. Cover and boil for 5 minutes. Add the cranberries and simmer for a few minutes more. Drain away the water and hold the kale in a bowl. Wipe out the pan and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Saute the onions until they are lightly browned, about 4 or 5 minutes. Transfer to another bowl. Put the last tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and add the drained kale and cranberries. Reheat a few minutes and add the onions. Mix in the onions and you're ready to serve.

The white baby turnips can be steamed until tender and then briefly glazed in a little butter. Or they can be eaten raw, sliced or grated and added to salads. Cut off the greens and without washing you can store them for a few days in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. You can saute the turnip greens just like chard, kale, and spinach greens.

My favorite way to cook butternut squash is to cut away the peel and cut the squash into cubes about 3/4 to one inch. Toss them with a few quatered shallots, a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. There are many other ways to use it though. Added to risotto, made into soup, the roasted cubes can be added to green salads. For hundreds more ideas go to www.epicurious.com Do a search on butternut squash.

That's it for this week.

Thank you all for supporting Lindencroft.
Linda

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Date: December 10, 2006
Subject: what's in the bin for Tuesday December 12

Hello Everyone,
This is 'eat your broccoli and peppers week' at the farm. I'm urging you to eat peppers because surprisingly we still have good looking peppers to harvest. I thought they would have long ago succumbed to the freezing temperatures and the soggy weather. The end is near, but until that time I will keep putting them in your bins. I've been adding them to the broccoli for stir-fries over brown rice. I've been making frittatas with the broccoli and peppers. I've been having roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwiches. Have you tried grilled chicken breast, fired roasted peppers, and Jarelsburg in ciabatta sandwiches. You brush a little olive oil over both sides of the bread and grill the sandwich. They are so good. I've made a sauce of peppers, tomatoes, and onions to pour over turkey meat loaf. There are so many ways to use peppers.

Besides broccoli and peppers, you'll find Purple Haze Carrots with a few Kurota carrots mixed in. Also you'll find a mix of Silver chard, Ruby chard, and Golden Chard. We will fire roast some peppers for you on Tuesday morning. Take the tops off the carrots before refrigerating them. The broccoli, peppers, and chard should be refrigerated. The fire roasted peppers can be refrigerated for 3 or 4 days, or you can put the package in the freezer and keep them for months.

I was hoping to have salad mix for everyone. The cool weather has slowed the growth, but by next week we should have beautiful greens. I'm growing some in the greenhouse and some in the outside lettuce bed. We'll see if there's a difference in the taste when their ready.

See you all on Tuesday.
Linda

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Date: December 3, 2006
Subject: What's in the Box

Hello to Everyone,
I'm harvesting broccoli rabe or "rapini" as the Italians call it. Also tat soi, mizuna, beets, and Delacata winter squash.

Here is a simple and quick (20 minutes or so) vegetarian way to cook rapini. Wash it under running water. Gather it all in a bunch and cut it into roughly into 2 inch pieces. Discard the woody ends, but do use all the upper leaves and stems. Put on some water for whole wheat spaghetti to cook in. Grate some Pecorino Romano, this is a cheese you can buy from Costco that I like a lot more that Parmesan. It's a little richer and a little saltier than Parmesan. About 1 cup grated is enough for 2 people. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add some red pepper flakes, chopped garlic, and just as the garlic turns golden, add the chopped broccoli rabe to the pan. Saute until the broccoli rabe is tender. Add a few spoonfuls of pasta water if it needs to cook a little longer. Toss it with the cooked pasta and the grated cheese. I like to drizzle a little olive oil over the pasta at this time. You probably won't need to add salt, but taste it and see. Just the greens with a little cheese over pasta is a very typical Italian family dinner.

About whole wheat pasta. The first few times I tried it, I didn't like it. I found that there is a lot of variation in the texture among the different brands. The one I like a lot is Bionaturae available from New Leaf. It's not gummy.

Tat soi is an asian green that is used like spinach. It's sweet like spinach and just as tender. You can tear the leaves and add them to salads for added nutrition. You can shred the leaves and add them to soup. If you do that, add them towards the end of the cooking time of the soup because they don't need much cooking. Mizuna is a Japanese mustard green, but it's mild, not hot like some mustards. I use tat soi and mizuna together to make a very pretty salad.

Make a dressing of the following ingredients:
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 tablespoons finely grated shallot
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil
Mix together with a fork to form an emulsion and drizzle over the greens.

Delicata winter squash is sometimes called sweet potato squash because the taste is similar. It is a good source of potassium, iron, and vitamins A and C. You can roast it and have it over greens for another vegetarian dinner. To prepare the squash, cut it in half the long way and then cut the halves into 1-inch thick slices. Scrape away the seeds. Add a few tablespoons of butter to a pan and brown the squash on both sides. Browning takes about 2 minutes for each side. When all the squash pieces have been browned, put them in a baking pan, sprinkle on salt, pepper, herbs if you like and bake at 450degrees until tender, about 20 minutes. At this point you can let the squash cool and serve it at room temperature over salad greens with a dressing of your choice.

The winter squash will be fine for several weeks in a cool, dark place. There is no need to refrigerate it. The greens and beets should be refrigerated.

See you all on Tuesday.
Linda

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Last updated: June 2, 2007

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