Weekly Share June 29th – July 5th

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Fennel
Cucumber
Swiss Chard
Red or Chioggia Beets
Red Gold New Potatoes
Dill or Parsley
Salad Mix

Boiled Swiss Chard Salad – The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan
1 bunch Swiss chard leaves
Salt
Olive Oil
1 or more Tbls lemon juice
Pull the leaves from the stalks (reserving the stems for another use, such as Swiss Chard stalks with Parmesan Cheese) and wash in a basin of cold water, changing the water frequently until it shows no trace of soil.
Put the chard in a pan with whatever water clings to the leaves. Add 1/2 tsp salt, cover, and cook over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes from the time the liquid starts to bubble.
Drain in a pasta colander and gently press some of the water out of the chard with the back of a fork. Place in a salad bowl.
Serve cool (not refrigerated) or lukewarm, seasoning with salt, oil, and lemon only when ready to serve.

Potato Swiss Chard Frittata

Cracked New Potatoes with Fennel Raita

Seafood and fennel linguine recipe

Raw Beet Salad With Fennel

Beet, Cucumber, and Feta Salad with Dill Vinaigrette

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Weekly Share June 22nd – 28th

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Escarole
Russian Kale
Cabbage: Tendersweet (Tues) or Napa (Sat)
Suyo Long & Slicer Cucumbers
Cousa & Zephyr Squash
Tropea Spring Onion
Basil

Things like cabbage, escarole, kale or summer squash can become more delicious as you cook them in fat and finish with a good dose of salt & acidity. If your feeling like your fridge is full and the abundance is too much to handle, take a few lbs of squash or half a huge head of cabbage and slice thinly. Saute over medium high heat onions and/ or garlic in your fat of choice (butter, bacon grease, olive oil, or a combination) and then add whatever veggie single layer, salt and cover for a few minutes to sweat (remove the liquid) as well as get a little char, uncover stir it up and move to the side, add fat if needed and add another layer of veggie. Do this 3-5 times and the initial stuff will be confit with the latter ones having some texture. Finish with lemon, vinegar, or the like. Enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian

Cucumber-Basil Egg Salad

Cucumber and Baby Pea Salad

Escarole Caesar With Sardines and Hazelnuts

Escarole with Onion and Lemon

Halibut with Spring Onion and Summer Squash Sauté

Cabbage And Basil Salad

New Cabbage with Scallions – The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis
The first time we would cook and serve our newly grown garden cabbage was on a wheat-threshing day. We would cut up many heads and cook them in a large iron pot with liquid from the pork shoulder and a small amount of fat for seasoning. Cabbage cooked that way was a hearty fare, good sustenance for hardworking men. We children usually had the food that was left over from the midday meal that night for supper and thought it was just great. No other food in the world seemed to have quite the good flavor of what was left over from a wheat-threshing dinner.
1 2-pound head new cabbage
1/3 cup tender green scallion tops, cut into ¼” slices
2 cups boiling water, or preferably stock from boiled pork shoulder
3 Tbls freshly rendered fat from bacon or ham
salt and freshly ground pepper
To prepare the cabbage, trim away the outside leaves and cut the head into quarters. Cut away the core, leaving just enough to hold the leaves intact. Place the pieces of cabbage in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes or so to wash out any dust or bugs, particularly if it has come straight out of the garden. Remove, drain in a colander, then place in a 3-quart saucepan and add the scallion tops to give added flavor and color. Pour the boiling water or stock over and toss the cabbage with two spoons to make sure that each piece is scalded. Add the fat so that it coats the cabbage, then turn the burner low so that the cabbage boils briskly but not too rapidly for 25-30 minutes –any longer and the cabbage will become too soft and its taste will change. Drain. Toss the salt to taste and a good grating of freshly ground pepper to heighten the flavor. Serve hot.

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Weekly Share June 15th – 21st

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Carrots
Broccoli
Mustard Greens
Cabbage: Napa (Tues) or Tendersweet (Sat)
Hakurei Turnip or Daikon Radish
Spicy Asian Mix
Scallions

The weather has been so unusual this Spring. We are looking forward to this upcoming week with mild temperatures and light rain, as the Spring crops will be loving it and lets be honest so will we. The summer crops on the other hand will pause for a minute, at least we will see a little less flowering and slower growth later this week. Anyhow overall it has been a pretty easy season as far as the weather goes, although there are always extreme temperature shifts here in Virginia. This past week we harvested the majority of our garlic, the German white variety and it looks pretty good, we have a substantial crop this year. We were a week or two late to be honest; as all the overwintered crops came on slightly early due to the mild winter and spring but time and weather constraints kept us from harvesting earlier. Pulling hardneck garlic out a little later means the skin layers have died back a bit more and so their can be more mold presence which can eventually manifest into rotten cloves. We have sorted the garlic to avoid storing the more susceptible garlic too long; but it is something we are learning from year after year and hopefully honing our skills a little. Mid-May to June is so busy for us and due to the unusual May frost, we got 10 days behind in our planting schedule, which in turn puts us 10 days behind in our larger June projects.
The biggest struggle on our farm is that during the main season we have only Wednesdays and Thursdays for big projects (potato, garlic, onion harvests, large plantings of summer crops, root crop or herb succession weeding, processing chickens, etc.), because we have such a small crew and many days are focused on harvest, pack, and markets. On those project days if the conditions are ill suited (i.e hot and sunny we cannot work too long in the tunnels or wet and overcast we cannot cultivate or weed effectively), we have to push off certain tasks; which can manifest as mismanagement of crops. It is a norm for us. We have a great small crew this year, with a experienced farm hand three days per week and two awesome 1 day per week all season helpers; but between May and August there are always weeks where we need so much more help to really get it all done. Again we are slow learners but eventually we will get our staffing more in place or just grow a little less. Just wanted to explain the behind the scenes, as we never skimp from the harvesting, washing, packing side of things so from a CSA and customer stand point it can be hard to tell the difference. Sometimes I think we should just take half a harvest day and get more done around the farm and take less to sell; but once you’re in a harvest cycle, it is very difficult to step away. Fruiting crops have to be harvested like clockwork or they will not be sellable. The same goes for getting cutting greens, lettuce, quick roots, and other greens picked when they are ready, they sit too long and they get tough, bitter, bug eaten, and on and on. Enjoy these last spring like days making some delicious Asian cuisine inspired food or ferments and welcome in the coming heat and humidity of Summer which is just around the corner. Enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian

Easy to make Kimchi

Vietnamese Daikon and Carrot Pickles (Do Chua)

Savory Cabbage Pancakes (Okonomiyaki)

DASHI — MAKING IT, AND A COUPLE OF SIMPLE USES

Recipes Below From Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu

Bitter Greens with Dashi
2 small bunches (1 1/3lb) Bitter Greens: mustard, turnip, or komatsuna
1/3 cup Dashi
2 Tbls Soy Sauce
2 Tbls freshly shaved katsuobushi or 3 Tbls hanakatsuo
Bring a large pot of hot water to a boil and place a large bowl of cold water on the kitchen sink. Hold the bunches of greens by their tops and lower the stems into the boiling water.  Count to ten or twenty, then drop the greens into the pot and cook an additional 1-3 minutes. Scoop out the greens with a strainer and dump them immediately into the cold water. Turn on the tap and plunge your hands into the water, lifting the greens up directly into the stream of cold running tap water to cool them. Pull out a few connected strands and squeeze down the length of the greens to express the excess water. Ley the greens on the cutting board, cut off the end tips, and slice into 2” lengths.
Squeeze the greens one more time and arrange the clumps attractively on a medium-sized saucer with the cut sides face up. Season the dashi with soy sauce, pour over the greens, and sprinkle with shaved katsuobushi right before serving.
Variation: Also nice with some slivered citrus peel, such as yuzu or meyer lemon. Although in this case I would cut back, or omit the katsuobushi.

Daikon and Daikon Leaf Salad
1 medium-small daikon
1 TB Sea Salt
2 small or 1 medium Yuzu (or substitute Meyer Lemon)
2 TB Organic Miso
2 TB Organic Rice Vinegar
4 TB Organic Rapeseed Oil
2 TB Slivered Scallions
Slice the daikon into manageable lengths.  Cut those pieces in half vertically and slice lengthwise into fine slabs.  Lay those slabs flat on the cutting board and slice into fine julienned strands about 1.5 inches long.  Put the julienned daikon into a medium-sized bowl as you go.  Chop a large handful of the most tender leaves medium -fine and add to the julienned daikon.  Sprinkle with the salt and massage in gently.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Pare off the yellow zest of a yuzu or meyer lemon with a sharp knife, avoiding the white pith.  Stack roughly and slice into fine slivers.  Muddle the miso with the vinegar and whisk in the oil until emulsified.  Squeeze the daikon and daikon leaves in handfuls and drop into a clean bowl.  Toss with the yuzu peel and onion greens.  Give the dressing a quick whisk and fold into the daikon right before serving.  Ratio: miso:rice vinegar:oil – 1:1:2

Napa Cabbage Salad with Sesame Seeds
half a napa cabbage
½ Tbls fine sea salt
2 Tbls mild citrus juice (yuzu, Seville orange, Meyer lemon)
2 Tbls rapeseed oil
1 Tbls unhulled sesame seeds
Slice the cabbage crosswise into fine strands and toss lightly in a large bowl with the salt. Measure the citrus juice into a small bowl and slowly whisk in the oil to emulsify. Pour over the cabbage, mix gently to distribute the dressing. Toast the sesame seeds over medium-high heat in a dry frying pan until they are fragrant and start to pop. Toss into the salad and serve immediately.

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Weekly Share June 8th – 14th

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Tomten Farm


Salad Mix
Russian Kale
Butterhead Lettuce
Summer Squash Mix
Red Ace or Chioggia Beets
Hakurei Turnips or Red Radishes
Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
Fresh Garlic

Polenta Bowl With Garlicky Summer Squash & Kale

Charred Corn Tacos with Zucchini-Radish Slaw

Kale and Parsley Salad

Mashed Zucchini Salad (Ajlouke Qura’a)– The New Book of Middle Eastern Food  by Claudia Roden
In this Tunisian salad the blandness of zucchini is lifted by the very rich flavoring.
1 lb zucchini
Juice of ½ a lemon or more
3 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp harissa (or a little chile flake)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp caraway seeds
Trim the ends of the zucchini and cut into large pieces. Boil in water for 10-15 minutes, until very soft. Drain then chop and mash in the colander to get rid of excess water. Beat the rest of the ingredients together and mix into the zucchini. Serve Cold.

Zucchini Salad With Raisins and Pine Nuts – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
The combination of raisins and pine nuts was brought by the Arabs all the way to Spain and Sicily.
1 lb Zucchini
4 Tbls Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbls Pine Nuts
2 Tbls Black or Gold Raisins or Currants
1 clove Garlic, crushed and chopped
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp dried mint (optional)
Juice of ½ Lemon, or more
Saute the Zucchini quickly in the oil with the pine nuts, raisins, and garlic. Add salt and pepper and dried mint, if using, and cook, stirring, over moderate heat until the zucchini slices are just tender. Serve hot or cold with lemon juice squeezed over the salad.

Turnip and Orange Salad –The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
This Salad is Tunisian. Wash 1 lb young, tender turnips and slice them very thinly. Macerate for an hour in a mixture of 3 Tbls olive oil and the juice of one bitter Seville orange or a mixture of orange and lemon juice (the dressing needs to be sharp), with a crushed clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. A pinch of ground chile is optional (aleppo pepper is amazing). Serve as it is with a few sprigs of parsley or add a chopped up orange (my favorite).

Roasted Beets, Avocado, and Sunflower Seeds from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
1 lb beets
kosher salt & black pepper
extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbls red wine vinegar
¼ cup salted roasted sunflower seeds
½ cup lightly packed roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 scallions, trimmed, (including ½” off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
½ cup lightly packed, seeded, chopped pickled peppers
2 firm-ripe avocadoes
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Trim the tops and bottoms of the beets. Wash the greens and spin dry in a salad spinner. Rinse and scrub the beets to remove any mud and grit. Cut up any larger beets so that they are all about the same size.
Put the beets in a baking dish that’s large enough to accommodate all of them in a single layer. Season with salt, then pour ¼ cup water into the dish. Cover tightly with foil and steam roast until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife. Depending on the size, density, and age of the beets, this could take between 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Meanwhile, if you have beet greens to cook, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil, add the beet greens, and toss them until they are wilted and a bit stewed, about 5 minutes. Set aside until cool, then chop through them a few times.
When the beets are tender, let them cool until you can handle them, then rub or pare away the skins. Cut into ½-inch wedges or chunks and pile into a bowl. Add the greens.
While the beets are still warm, sprinkle with the vinegar, ½ tsp salt, and many twists of pepper. Toss to distribute the seasonings and let the beets absorb the vinegar for a few minutes. Add a healthy glug of olive oil and toss again. Let the beets sit at room temperature until you are ready to serve.
To assemble for serving, add the sunflower seeds, parsley, scallions, and pickled peppers and toss gently. Peel the avocadoes and cut them into neat chunks that are about the same size as the beet wedges, and add them to the beets too. Toss thoroughly but very gently, so you don’t mash the avocado too much. Taste and adjust with more salt, black pepper, vinegar, or oil. Serve right away.

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Weekly Share June 1st – 7th

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Fennel
Carrots
Escarole
Bibb Lettuce
Spring Onions
Swiss Chard
Broccoli
Dill

Well it’s week 4 of the CSA and May has been a wild time. Most of you know that Brian and I did not come from here and have lived our lives in a myriad of environments. This is an especially strange time to feel so isolated, both making life and work easier while also making it difficult to feel useful and connected during this time of social struggle and movement. While we often discuss the difficulty embroiled in farming and it is difficult, it is with great privilege that we are afforded the opportunity to be doing what we are doing, to be living away from density, to be able to hide our heads in the sand if we feel like it. It is with privilege that we continue working, our heads down, while brave human beings in cities across this country stand up in protest with their voices speaking to the deep inequities within this country. We salute them.
Usually around this time, in late May to early June, we have a crazy abundance of crops, as many things start putting off. This is compounded this season with unusually cool May temperatures and steady rain, wonderful conditions for many Spring crops. So this means the garlic is growing in leaps and bounds, our large spring succession of broccoli with multiple varietals is all ready at once, the greens are growing vast amounts every week, the squash plants are beginning to put off and the plants are enormous, and the fennel looks happy and not itty bitty. Over the next few weeks the shares will be big and abundant. If it’s overwhelming, cook the greens and they will dissipate. Roast the broccoli or carrots, tossed in olive oil and a generous seasoning of salt and whatever chile flake you prefer makes for a delicious side dish. Remember greens and herbs with eggs are a perfect combination. Escarole is a personal favorite of ours and it is enjoying this mild spring we have had. If the bitter is not your favorite, cook the escarole up. It’s divine braised or added to soups or even stuffed with rice and lots of aromatics (southern Italian style) and baked.  But if you enjoy a salad with bitter greens, as we do, this is such a perfect green to work with. You can do a traditional Caesar salad, or finally chop the greens and combine with a tahini, lemon, garlic dressing, or a simple lemon & olive oil dress with a poached egg, bacon, herbs, and finely grated Parmesan, or try the recipe below. The secret to success is properly salting the greens prior to dressing and balancing the salt and acid to find just the right balance.  Enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian

Chickpea Salad with Carrots and Dill

Lemony Braised Greens with Fennel

creamed chard and spring onions

Roasted Sausage with Broccoli and Fennel

Escarole Salad with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Yogurt and Spice Roasted Broccoli

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Weekly Share May 25th – 31st

Posted on May 24, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Mesclun Salad Mix
Yu Choy Sum or Mustard Greens
Hakurei Turnip or Daikon Radish
Black Summer Bok Choy
Dried Khmer Chile
Scallion
Cilantro

Mustard Greens with Mooli | Daikon Radish with Mustard Greens


Yu Choy Sum

Sesame Sheet Pan Salmon with Turnips and Bok Choy


Yunnan Greens
Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
1 pound Bok Choi
salt
2 tbls vegetable oil
2 Thai dried red chiles
½ tsp minced ginger
½ cup mild vegetable broth or water
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbls water
Place a large pot of water on to boil. Meanwhile cut the bok choi lengthwise into thirds or quarters and soak in cold water for a few minutes cleaning thoroughly. When the water is boiling, add about 1 tablespoon salt, bring back to a boil, and add the bok choi. Stir to make sure all the greens are immersed. Bring back to a boil, boil for under a minute, drain and set aside.
Heat a large wok over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the wok. Toss in the chiles and ginger. Stir briefly, then add the greens and stir-fry for 30 seconds, pressing them against the sides of the wok to sear them a little. Add the broth and let it boil for about 30 seconds. Stir the cornstarch paste well, then add it together with a ½ tsp of salt. Stir-fry for another 15-30 seconds, turn out onto a small platter, and serve.


Young Scallions with Miso
Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
Very thin young scallions
Organic brown rice miso
Clean the scallions. Cut off the root bottoms and any brown tapering of the tops. Peel off the tough or discolored outer layers. Spoon out a dollop of miso onto a medium sized plate. To eat, dip the scallion into the miso, scooping up about the same volume of miso to scallion.  This simple dish makes a fresh before dinner appetizer and is especially good with mixed drinks or a beer.

Turnips and Turnip Leaves Pickled in Salt Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
8 tender turnips with leaves
2 Tbls sea salt
1 meyer lemon or 2 yuzu
2 small fresh or dried red chile peppers
1 tsp slivered ginger
Ratio: turnips:salt-10:4
Slice the tops of turnips and reserve.  Cut turnips in half vertically, then crosswise into thin half rounds. Slice a couple of small handfuls of leaves into 2 by 1 ¼” pieces. Toss the turnips and leaves together in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Gently but firmly massage the salt in to distribute well, encouraging the turnips to exude a bit of their water. With a very sharp knife or vegetable peeler, shave off the outer yellow zest of the lemon, taking care to avoid the bitter white pith. Stack small slices of zest and slice into very thin strips. Slice the chiles into thin rounds. Slide the zest, chiles, and ginger into the bowl of turnips. Massage one more time and serve immediately. Variation: slice carrots into thin rounds in place of the turnips. Make sure to slice very thin as they have less water content. Add some of the carrot leaves as well.

Clams simmered in Sake with Scallions Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
8 cups small clams
3 cups sake
4 scallions (both white and green parts cut into a medium dice)
1 tsp salt
2 dried japones or arbol chile pepper, crumbled
1 handful roughly chopped cilantro
cooked Japanese Rice for serving
Scrub the clams in several changes of cold water. Drop the clams into a large heavy pot with a lid. Glug in enough sake to fill the pot about three-quarters the height of the clams, then sprinkle with the scallions, salt, and chile peppers. Replace the lid and cook on high heat until the clams have opened. Stir in the cilantro and cook for about 30 seconds more. Serve in bowls as an appetizer or accompanied with Japanese rice. Discard any unopened clams. 

Asian Chicken Soup with Greens 
For the broth:
1 whole chicken
1 head garlic, peeled and smashed
2-3 scallions, cut into large pieces
½ bunch cilantro, leaves, stems and roots, washed
2 inches ginger root, cut into thick slices
1 Tbsp salt & pepper to taste
For the soup:
4 oz. cellophane rice noodles or egg noodles
½ lb greens (bok choy, mustard greens, pea shoots, spinach)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet rice cooking wine or mirin
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnish
Rinse the chicken thoroughly, remove giblet bag and place in a large pot with cold water to cover by 2 inches (around 2 ½ quarts of water).  Add garlic, cilantro, scallions, ginger, salt & pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer very gently for 1 ½ hours, or until the meat falls off the bone.  Remove chicken carefully to a colander and allow it to cool.  Strain the stock and skim the fat that rises to the surface.  (If you make the stock in advance, refrigerate it overnight and remove the congealed fat the next day.  You can also use a special device for separating fat that looks like a big measuring cup with a spout that pours from the bottom).  When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull off all the meat and shred it with your fingers.  Use a nice handful of the meat for the soup and save the rest for another use (Vietnamese chicken salad, perhaps?).
Meanwhile soak the rice noodles in warm tap water for 15-20 minutes, drain and set aside. If using egg noodles, cook them in boiling water until al dente, drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.  Wash greens and cut into fairly large pieces.  Bring the stock to a boil and season with the soy sauce and wine.  Taste and adjust salt if necessary.  Add greens and chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Place a handful of noodles in each soup bowl.  Pour soup over noodles and serve garnished with chopped cilantro.
Variations: This soup can easily be made into wonton soup.  Get some wonton wrappers from the store (usually sold next to the tofu).  For the filling mix together ½ lb ground pork, 2 finely chopped scallions, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp rice wine, salt & pepper.  Follow directions on the package to fill them.  Boil with the greens in the hot stock until they float.

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Weekly Share May 18th – 24th

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Frisee
Arugula
Fava Beans or Radishes & Yu Choy
Red Leaf, Oakleaf, or Mignonette Lettuce
Red Gold New Potatoes or Space Spinach
Garlic Scapes or Fresh Garlic
Dill

This week’s share is loaded with greens;  big leafy lettuce, peppery arugula, a slightly bitter frisee, and maybe some nutty spring spinach. All of these paired with herbs, garlic, and even some radishes or beans and there are a multitude of salads you can make. Since this is the best fava season we have ever had, some of you will get favas a second time, don’t get overwhelmed by recipes instructing you to peel the outer casing, it has good flavor. You can simple  boil until cooked, throw in a food processor, add garlic, salt, lemon and olive oil for a delicious spread. Or what we frequently do is boil, then sauté with garlic and a ton of whatever herb you have and a dash of lemon. For salads we have been enjoying thinly chopping whatever greens (frisee, arugula, and lettuce are wonderful together) as it creates a slightly denser salad. After chopping add salt and toss, then dress with either a simple lemon and olive oil mix (add a little hard cheese) or  something creamy or a new favorite a tahini lemon garlic dressing. Garlic scapes or fresh garlic cloves are mild enough to eat a bit raw in your salad. Using a mortar and pastle mash it up, add more salt, lemon, and then tahini. Whisk until you have a nice texture and then thin with olive oil. The dressing should be strong and bright. Some of you will get yu choy sum in your shares, as its just beginning to pop off, meaning the flowers are emerging. It can be eaten stem, leaf, and flower enjoyed simply sautéed with olive oil and garlic (there is a garlic theme going on) or added to a light soup or stir fry. Check out the recipes below. Enjoy the share……Autumn & Brian

Frisée Salad with Poached Eggs and Bacon

Potato Salad with Yogurt, Arugula, and Dill

Garlic and Dill Fava Bean Salad (Bagula)
(use fresh fava beans instead)

Fava Beans – Gemelli With Fava & Frisee
(use fresh garlic or scapes in this recipe and we suggest not removing the outer skin of the bean)

Indian style Choy Sum

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Weekly Share May 11th – 17th

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Tomten Farm

Fava Beans
Spring Lettuce Mix
Garlic Scapes or Young Garlic
Spinach or New Potatoes
Russian Kale
Cilantro

The 9th season of Tomten Farm’s CSA begins. Welcome to all of you returning and new. This year is obviously so different due to the pandemic, affecting all of our lives in a myriad of ways. The social landscape has been reconfigured and I’m sure throughout this season we will continue adapting and shifting in order to be social responsible while trying to go on with life, interact, exchange, and get you all food. We appreciate your patience and diligence in keeping up with details and adhering to all safety precautions. Over the past two months the biggest impact on the farm has been moving most sales and communications online as we all navigate through this. Needless to say this is extremely time consuming for us (no set admin hours, horrible internet, and a luddites approach to technology), so we apologize in advance if our weekly journal updates and recipe selections suffer a bit; but there is really only so much time in each week. With less time for discussion at pickups, we know this information is all the more needed right now. We encourage you to reach out with questions you may have and we will do our best to communicate online as much as we can. Even with the pandemic though we are so excited to begin the CSA and due to some cool, very unusual Spring like conditions we have some abundant, lovely and delicious Spring crops waiting to be eaten. The spinach is the best outdoor, May grown spinach we have had since our first season back in 2012.
This week’s share is one of my (Autumn’s) favorites of the year. You all are getting some crops we have tended through the whole winter (garlic and favas) or were planted in our tunnels at the beginning of the year (potatoes), so we can provide a balanced, not too green heavy start to the CSA. And the spinach, cilantro, and kale has just been loving this weather, up until the last two nights May frost, a first in our 9 years here. There is always something new and different with farming, keeping us on our toes and having fun, if slightly tired. Late March was a difficult time for us (as for everyone) and we got a bit behind on planting, so some things like mustard greens, swiss chard, and broccoli are a little behind; but hey in late March our market was cancelled and we were looking towards the next week or week after trying to get as much food out at that moment to people who were sheltering in place. We have also had some struggling quick crop successions, the ones we plant every 7-10 days for 6-8 weeks. Due to some crusty heavy clay soil (the allotted spring brassica plot this spring) and some heavy rains, we have had extremely irregular germination for some successions affecting the hakurei turnips, radishes, asian mix, yu choy, and arugula. This means over the next month you may not see some crops; but they will show up. Fingers crossed our first tomatoes and summer squash made it through the last two nights tucked under covers; as we were looking forward to late May squash (there were baby squashes already on the plants) and some June sungolds. The weather though is a constant in our face reminder that we have very little control and we can only tend and manage in the most observant, flexible, and responsible way we know how, treating the land with thanks for giving us the abundance it does. That’s farming.
Due to an unseasonably temperate winter, our garlic has developed past the tender green garlic stage which we like to give you all in your first share. Garlic is planted the first week of November, so the Winter and early Spring weather indicates how much green growth the garlic will get and then once there are enough degree days (a combination of day length and temperature) it will begin to bulb. So even though we have had a grey and cool spring, that one bought of 80 degrees last month initiated bulbing on the garlic. Once it begins to bulb, the scape (would eventually be the garlic flower) and cloves begin to form, so this has happened about 2 weeks earlier than expected. What this means for you, is the garlic will still have a sweeter, mild quality; but it will be slightly less tender. You can still use most of the plant, stalk and all, although some baby cloves are beginning to emerge and there may be a small core in the center of the bulbing section, which you can easily remove. As you go up past the tender stalks to the leaves, its still very delicious, although it probably needs to be minced and cooked a little longer, think of leek leaves or if you get some of the scapes, use the entire thing and use in everything, they are fabulous. The other really special treat in this week’s share is the fava beans, also known as broad beans. We grow a small amount each winter; seeding them in early November, covering with low tunnels (small metal hops covered in greenhouse plastic) through the coldest months, venting them regularly, and then feeding and weeding in early Spring. We are one of the only farms in this area growing these beans as they take a bit of management; but we love them so much. They will taker a little work on your behalf too and will yield only about 1 cup of beans total, so relish in this creamy, fatty seasonal bean, a true speciality. There are a myriad of delicious preparations: cooked with rice , or boiled and then pureed with olive oil as a bean dip, or sautéed with green garlic and chilies and added to pasta or as a side dish. We have included some recipe ideas to inspire delicious meals with this week’s share items. We are excited to begin this season with you all. Enjoy the share…Autumn and Brian

Racha’s Spinach Salad with Walnuts and Cilantro (Spanakit)
1/2 the recipe and substitute young garlic or garlic scapes

Kale with Green Garlic
use young garlic green tops and cook longer than suggested, 10 minutes before adding the kale

Garlic Scapes & Eggs
This recipe is terrific with garlic scapes, the flower bud that forms on certain types of garlic just before the bulb starts to bulge and divide into cloves. 
1 cup chopped spring garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
4 eggs
salt & pepper
Saute the garlic in the olive oil for 5 minutes or so, until soft and starting to brown. Add the cheese in an even layer and immediately crack the eggs on top. Fry the eggs over high, sprinkle with salt & pepper, then flip. The bottom should be a slightly charred mass of crispy, salty, garlicky goodness. Cook the yolks easy or hard as desired. Serves two for breakfast with toast and orange juice.

Smashed Fava Beans, Pecorino, and Mint on Toast Six Seasons  by Joshua McFadden
This is a loose pesto of fava beans and mint, with plenty of olive oil. Use it as a pasta sauce or as a dip for vegetables, spoon it over crushed new potatoes, or spread some on toasted country bread.
1 ¼ lb Fava Beans in their pods
1 stalk green garlic roughly chopped
4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
salt & pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 – ½” thick slices bread
Shell the fava beans. Blanch beans for about 30 seconds in boiling salted water and then rinse well with very cold water. If desired, make a small slit on the bean, gently squeeze out two halves of the bean and peel off the membrane skin (it can be a little tough).
Put the green garlic and a pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse a few times. Add half the mint leaves and pulse a few more times so the garlic is fairly fine. Add the peeled favas and 1 Tbls olive oil and pulse again. Your goal is to bash up the favas but not completely puree them. You may need to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl between pulses.
Scrape the mixture into a bowl, season with some pepper, and stir in 1/8 cup grated pecorino cheese and the lemon juice, and adjust the consistency with olive oil so that its loose and luscious. Brush the bread on one side with olive oil and grill or broil until crisp. Arrange on plates, top with the fava mixture and the rest of the mint leaves, torn if their big, and finish with a nice shower of grated pecorino and a drizzle of oil.

Roz bel Ful Ahdar (Rice with Fava Beans) the New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
In Egypt this is prepared in the Spring, when fava beans are very young and tender. It is served hot as an accompaniment to meat, or cold with yogurt and a salad. Egyptians do not remove the skins of the beans.
1 pound fresh fava beans, shelled
salt
vegetable oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic or 1 green garlic stalk, minced white & greens
1 cup fresh dill, chopped
1 1/2 cups basmati or long-grain rice (wash)
pepper
2 ¼ cup water
Boil the beans in salted water for a few minutes, until they are tender, then drain. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and stir for a minute or two. Then add the drained beans and sauté a little, stirring and turning them over. Add the rice, and stir until transparent. Add the salt, pepper, and chopped dill and pour in the water. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, covered, for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.

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Weekly Share November 11th – 17th

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Tomten Farm

Mesclun Salad Mix
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Turnips
Carrots
Parsnips
Desiree Golden Potatoes
“Aleppo Style” Chile Flake or Hickory King Cornmeal

Well here it is, the last week of our CSA for the 2019 season. It seems to have crept up on us so quickly. These past few weeks have been quite busy, harvesting thousands of lbs of produce to store for our upcoming winter markets, protecting crops that will be in the ground longer, and flipping all our high tunnel beds from summer nightshade crops into winter green crops. We had our final CSA workday today, planting our garlic for the 2020 season. It was truly the best weather we could have asked for and thanks to a hard working group we got it all finished. We are tired and without a day off this week, but we are happy to have accomplished so much. This coming week we will plant our fava beans for this coming spring, our late winter spinach, arugula, sorrel, cress, and claytonia. This time of year we are planting crops for 2-4 months from now and beginning to plan the details for the coming season, from seeds, crop layout, and infrastructural changes. We also begin to discuss any changes we want to make. So although the days are getting shorter and it feels like the time to hibernate, we are actually quite busy getting ready for the future while continuing to harvest and make trips to market. This season has been really great in so many ways and the weather has treated us pretty well. Some crops have thrived and others have failed, mostly due to our lack of management and labor shortage. We feel delighted to have you all supporting our endeavor and we hope you have enjoyed cooking and eating what we grow.
This week’s share includes some of our favorites: cauliflower, parsnips, and either our delicious Aleppo chile flake or cornmeal. Cauliflower is always a treat in our kitchen, simply roasted with some smoked paprika, salt, and olive oil till crispy or made with a simple creamy cheesy sauce and pasta or into a cream soup. There are so many options. We are lucky to have gotten a hard frost this past Friday, as we do not begin harvesting our Parsnips until we get some very cold weather to help sweeten them up. They are great in a gratin, mashed into a puree, or even raw in a salad. We had almost a complete failure with our corn this year, from a lack of management (we were too busy in June to weed or thin and transplant properly) and then an intense drought period in August & September. So we do not have enough for the entire CSA, instead we are offering either our delicious “Aleppo style” chile flake, made from 3 peppers we grow or the cornmeal. Both are specialty product we offer and we hope you enjoy. Check out the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Autumn & Brian

Roasted Root Vegetable Hash

Simplified Cauliflower And Potato Curry “Aloo Gobi”

How To Make Colcannon (Irish Potatoes and Cabbage)

Moroccan Carrot Soup

Roasted Sausage & Cauliflower with Cumin and Turkish Pepper

19 Awesome Parsnip Recipes for Mains, Sides, and More

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Weekly Share November 4th – 10th

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Tomten Farm

Seminole Pumpkin
Red Ace or Chioggia Beets
Lusia, Brente Precoce, or Pallo Rossa Radicchio
Broccoli Raab, Spigariello, or Spinach
Butterhead, Oak, or Red Leaf Lettuce
German White Garlic
Fennel
Dill

Radicchio is one of our favorite crops of the year both for growing and eating. These varieties are great for eating raw. They will have some bitterness; but are extremely thin tender leaves with a nice crunch. The beets, dill, fennel and greens can all be paired for wonderful hot or cold dishes. Seminole Pumpkin is one of our favorite winter squashes. This heirloom varietal stores for an extremely long time, up to six months, and are hearty in the field, growing well in our hot humid summers.  They make an excellent classic flavor pumpkin pie; but are also fabulous in savory applications. Check the recipes below and enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian

Roasted Fennel Salad With Apple And Radicchio

Charred Beet Salad (with radicchio & dill)

Spigarello Poised To Replace Kale As Go-To Green Veggie

What is Broccoli Rabe? (And How Should You Cook It?)

Sausage, Fennel, and Broccoli Rabe Sheet Pan Dinner (Use Spigariello as a substitute)

Beetroot Tart With Fennel, Dill And Feta Cheese

Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli With Brown Butter, Sage, And Pine Nuts

Seminole Pumpkin Pie

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