Sauteed Dandelion Greens

3 lbs dandelion greens, tough stems discarded, cut into 2 inch pieces.

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, smashed

Red pepper flakes to taste

Sea salt to taste

Instructions:

Cook greens in a 10-to 12-quart pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 8 quarts water), uncovered, until ribs are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, then rinse under cold water to stop cooking and drain well, gently pressing out excess water.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic and red-pepper flakes, stirring, until pale golden, about 45 seconds. Increase heat to medium-high, then add greens and sea salt and sauté until coated with oil and heated through, about 4 minutes.

Source: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sauteed-Dandelion-Greens-242014

Fried Pecan Okra

1 cup Pecans

1 ½ cups all purpose baking mix

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp pepper

About 1 pint or so of Okra

Peanut Oil

Instructions:

Place pecans in an even layer in a shallow pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally. Process pecan, flour, salt and pepper in a food processor until pecans are finely ground. Place pecan mixture in a large bowl. Add okra and toss to coat. Gently press pecan mixture into okra. Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 350 degrees. Fry okra in batches, turning once, 5-6 minutes, or until golden brown.

Source: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fried-pecan-okra-10000001589415/

Tim's Pickling Recipe

4 cups white wine vinegar

2 cups water

½ cup sugar

6 tbsp salt

1-3 tsp each: mustard seed, red chili flakes, coriander seed, green pepper corns, cracked (dried) ginger

2-4 bay leaves crumbled

Other seedy spices as desired (cumin, fennel, dill, etc).

Instructions:

Prepare vegetables by washing and slicing them. Put them in a stoneware or ceramic container big enough to allow pickling liquid to cover them completely.

Heat water and dissolve sugar and salt, add vinegar and spices. Let mixture boil for 3 – 5 minutes, turn heat off.

Pour hot mixture over vegetables, cover with stone or plate to push vegetables under liquid and let stand until they cool to room temperature. Place in refrigerator, wait a few days and enjoy!

Source: Shareholder Heidi Barr’s Brother Tim!

Education Corner Uodate

By: Clare Hyre, Education Coordinator

We closed out our exceptional season of 2012 with a wonderful Food justice workshop followed by a cook out hosted by the Weavers Way farm crew. As a thank you for their hard work Nina gave our final four interns a choice of salsa, pasta sauce, or peaches, all canned at our Tuesday canning workshop. 

You will see a few youth from Fumcog out on the farm for the next few weeks but the real excitement when our school groups started coming out again in hordes!  Exciting!!!

Tomato Love

By Shareholder Heidi Barr

My first day of being a working share member at Henry got crops, I helped stake tomatoes. The stakes seemed massive at 6 feet next to the tomato seedlings standing 10 inches at best. A mere 10 weeks later the tomato plants have eclipsed the stakes and the tomatoes are coming by the hundreds of pounds.

Today, receiving 7lbs (small share) – 14 lbs (large share) of tomatoes had us all talking about what in the world we would do with them.  I realize I have no shortage of plans for mine and as I look over my abundant portion of the harvest, I can hardly choose where to begin.

Here are a few of my tomato eating plans. Aside from the first suggestion being first…try these in no particular order.

Rush home and eat a warm ripe tomato straight, like an apple, probably standing over the sink and letting the juice drip where it may. This is best if the tomato in question is still warm from the sun on the farm.

Make very thin slices of a large tomato and lay them on buttered toast for breakfast.  More than one layer is good and I like un-salted butter. I sprinkle the tomato with either sea salt or sugar depending on my mood.

Cut a tomato into wedges, slice a cucumber, thinly slice ½ a red onion, put them together in a bowl, add a generous amount of rice vinegar and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar, mix it up and enjoy.

An Open-faced sandwich with sliced tomato and cheddar cheese broiled to a bubbly crispness has been a favorite of mine since junior high. A close second being grilled cheese and tomato.

I love a sort of bread lasagna I heard about on the radio one day. Layer in a baking dish stale bread, sliced tomatoes (several varieties make it colorful) plenty of fresh basil smashed (to release flavor) and fresh mozzarella sliced. Squeeze the juice of 1 or 2 super ripe tomatoes over this and top with grated Parmesan. Bake at 375 until cheese is melty and delicious looking. Let stand and cool for a while before serving. This is great at room temperature as leftovers.

There are the traditional Greek salads, the always-delicious Caprese salad not to mention the simple green salad with plenty of tomatoes – of course.

You can sun dry them, fire roast them (on the grill),stew them, can them, blanch them and freeze’em. Make salsa fresca, Ratatouille, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich, stuffed tomatoes with tuna or chicken salad and of course gravy, as my south Philly Italian neighbor ladies used to call it, otherwise known as tomato sauce.

Happy tomato season. Isn’t it grand?

Update from the Field

As I wrote “Week 12” on the chalk board last week, I said out loud to Chris, Matt and Nancy, “Half way!” Week 12 of our 24 week season….This brings  about various, diverse reactions. My mind says, “Half way already?” and my body says, “Only half way?” 

In the field, this feels like a turning point. Two weeks ago the tomatoes were exploding (see shareholder Heidi Barr’s contribution below, written two weeks ago), but now they have decided their summer boom is done and have quickly decided it is time to die. (Let’s all take a moment to grieve.) Tomatoes are the drama queens of the vegetable world. 

As far as upcoming crops, we are looking forward to more colored, sweet peppers, consisting of beautiful oranges, reds and yellows. We also have potatoes as well as sweet potatoes for the first time this year, that have yet to make it to your tables. If you look at the tall metal shelf behind the pick-up table you’ll see about 6 layers of onions curing, waiting to jump into your bags and go home with you. The number of crops we have to get into the ground right now has drastically increased as it is the appropriate time to get fall crops planted. It is almost a blessing in disguise that the tomatoes are slowing down otherwise we wouldn’t have time to plant all the fall vegetables that we need to right now! A return or your favorite spring vegetables is on the agenda- more kale, collards, kohlrabi, turnips, bok choi and radishes. Speaking of radishes, I’m quite excited about three varieties of specialty radishes that are currently sprouting nicely. We have planted Daikon radishes (long and white), Watermelon radishes (large, round with green outsides and red insides), and new this year, Nero Tondo radishes (large, round, black outside with white insides).

As we turn the corner into the second half of the CSA, I’ll tell my mind to enjoy every minute as the season goes whizzing by, and I’ll remind my body that the days are getting shorter….