German-Style Apples and Cabbage

2 packed cups thinly sliced red or green cabbage
1 ½ cups peeled, sliced tart apples
1 cup sliced red onion
½ cup apple cider or beer
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 tespoon caraway seeds
½ teaspoon salt
Coarsely ground black pepper to taste

Place cabbage, apples, red onion, and cider or beer in a heavy saucepan or skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until vegetables become slightly tender, about 8 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; cook another 7 to 8 minutes. Add more cider if necessary to keep vegetables from sticking. Serve with ring bologna, bratwurst, kielbasa, or sautéed mushrooms.

Makes 3 servings.

Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition, From Asparagus to Zucchini

Thai Fresh Cucumber Salad

Yields 4 to 5 cups

3 medium cucumbers, sliced as thinly as possible
Salt

½ teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in ¼ cup hot water
4 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon minced scallions

In a bowl, generously salt the sliced cucumbers. Allow to site for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine the other ingredients.

Squeeze out as much of the cucumber juice as you can, by wringing a handful at a time in a double layer of cheesecloth or a dish towel. Twist until you can extract no more juice.

Combine the squeezed cucumbers and the sauce in a serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant

Sweet and Sour Beets

Slice or dice:

1 pound/ 12 ounces cooked beets (about 3 cups)

Stir in the top of a double boiler until smooth:

½ cup sugar
½ cup cider vinegar or dry white wine
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
2 whole cloves

Cook over simmering water, stirring, until clear. Add the beats and let them stand over the hot water, off the heat, for about 30 minutes. Just before serving, reheat the beats until just heated through, and add:
1 tablespoon butter
And:
1 tablespoon orange marmalade
Or
½ teaspoon cider vinegar

Joy of Cooking

Saucy Green Beans

½ to ¾ pounds green beans
1 ¼ cups salted water
1 large onions, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
¼ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 ½ teaspoons dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse and trim green beans and cut them in half. Bring water to a rolling boil. Drop the onion slices into the boiling water. After a coupl of minutes, add the green beans. Cook until the beans are tender. Drain, reserving the liquid.
In a separate saucepan, make a roux. Melt the butter on low heat. Whisk in flour and continue cooking for a minute or two, stirring constantly and making sure not the burn. Whisk in about one cup of the reserved liquid, the sour cream, and the lemon juice. Add 2 teaspoons of the dill. Salt and pepper to taste.
Place the beans in a serving dish and pour sauce over them. Serve sprinkled with remaining dill.

Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant

Sweet Zucchini Biscuits

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon orange or lemon juice
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground mace
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cips shredded, drained zucchini
½ cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 2 baking sheets.
Beat butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar, eggs, and orange juice.
Combine flour, baking powder, spices, and salt; stir into egg mixture.
Stir in zucchini, pecans, and orange zest.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes; cool.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Makes 5 dozen biscuits.
Angele Theriault, Harmony Valley Farm
From Asparagus to Zucchini

Mannie’s Cold Zucchini Salad

Zucchini
Canola Oil
Minced Garlic
Red wine vinegar
Salt

Slice Zucchini into thin strips lengthwise. Fry lightly in hot oil until soft throughout. Transfer zucchini to a bowl; salt lightly. Discard most of the oil in the pan. Add generous amounts of garlic and sauté lightly. Add ¼ inch of red wine vinegar to the pan and bring to quick boil, then remove from heat. Toss sauce with squash. Cover and refrigerate, then serve.

From:
Drumlin Community Farm
From Asparagus to Zucchini

Featuring: Thai Basil and Purple Basil

Some of you may have noticed that we are growing some unusual types of basil. We decided to grow more Thai and purple basil this season because last season, our green basil incepted downy mildew, a destructive disease first seen in the United States in 2008. This disease has been prevalent in Europe since 2001, and has reoccurred commonly each year since then, sparking concerns that it will be similarly widespread in the United States.

Green basil, the most common and popular type of basil, is most susceptible to downy mildew. Thai basil has proven to be quite resistant to the disease in several tests, and purple basil has shown moderate resistance. We decided to hedge out bets and plant more of the resistant varieties so that we would still be able to provide basil even if we got the disease again.

Luckily, Thai and purple basil are delicious! Thai basil has a light anise flavor. Purple basil tastes similar to green basil. Both can be used to make pesto, a staple of basil-lovers, or can be used in place of green basil in any recipe. Here are some specific used for both:

Tofu Stir-fried with Thai Basil

Firm tofu or deep-fried tofu - about 3.5 oz
(Asian groceries will sell you deep-fried tofu if you can't make your own)
Garlic - 3 cloves
Hot green chillies (preferably Thai bird chillies) - 4-6 (adjust this to your taste please; I like mine hot)
Shallots - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Light soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Dark soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Stock or water - 1/4 cup (about 4 tbsp)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Peanut oil - about 1 tbsp (adjust as required)
White pepper - 2 pinches
Thai basil leaves - large handful

Mince the garlic cloves and chop the chilis finely. Cut the tofu into bite-sized chunks.
If you have the time, pound the garlic, chilis, shallots, and salt together into a paste. This makes the flavors blend better. If you're in a hurry, let it be.
Heat a wok until hot. Add the peanut oil.
When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the pounded paste. If you haven't pounded them together, add the chillies, garlic, shallots, and salt to the oil. Stir-fry on medium heat for about 10-15 seconds, taking care to make sure that the garlic doesn't burn.
Add the cut tofu and stir-fry again for another minute. Then add the light and dark soy sauces, the sugar, white pepper, and stock or water.
Stir-fry for one more minute to allow the sauce to thicken a bit and coat the tofu. Then tear the basil leaves with your hands and add them to the wok.
Stir it around till the basil wilts. Check quickly for any adjustments to seasoning. Take it off the heat.
Preparation time is about 3-5 minutes and cooking time is about 3 minutes. Serve this dish with white steamed rice or noodles or fried rice or anything else that's not too assertive.

http://www.shiokfood.com/notes/archives/000015.html

Purple Basil Lemonade
Yield: 4 servings

- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
-1/2 cup loosely packed purple basil leaves (about 1/4 ounce)
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 4 cups ice
- 4 purple basil sprigs

Combine 4 cups water and juice in a large bowl. Place 1/2 cup basil and sugar in a mortar; pound with pestle until a paste forms. Add sugar mixture to juice mixture; stir until sugar dissolves. Strain mixture through a sieve over a bowl; discard solids. Place 1 cup ice in each of 4 glasses. Pour about 1 cup lemonade into each glass; garnish each serving with 1 basil sprig.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906345

A Report-back from the United States Social Forum

By Zemora Tevah

I spent last week in Detroit, Michigan, at the United States Social Forum. I missed the farm crew, the vegetables, and our friends the groundhogs, but I had an amazing time and learned a lot!! If you haven't heard of the Social Forum before, don't worry. It's hard to describe, but I'll try. It's basically a convergence of leftist and radical activists and organizations from all corners of the country (and even the world) getting together and learning from one another, building momentum, networking, sharing skills, resources, ideas, workshops, energy, and action.

The Social Forum is completely built by its participants, for the people and by the people. Over 20,000 people attended, and led over 1,000 workshops, spanning five days. More details can be found on the website, ussf2010.org:

“The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a
 conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the 
economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our
 struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational,
 diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and
 changes history...We must declare what we want our world to look like and we 
must start planning the path to get there. The USSF provides spaces to learn 
from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems 
our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international 
brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world."

So why was I drawn to the Social Forum? The Forum had many interconnected themes, among them, poverty, immigration, climate justice, labor, indigenous sovereignty, housing, building alliances across race, class and gender... I was specifically most interested in learning about the food system, and how it is intertwined with all of the above. I see the ways that we as humans produce, consume, and distribute our food as interwoven with the current economic and ecological crises. I was lucky enough to attend various food related workshops and also to tour a few of Detroit's community gardens. I'll tell you about the first workshop I went to, the thoughts it provoked, and what it taught me.

The workshop I went to on farmworker's rights was held by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the tomato pickers of Immokalee, Florida, a corner of Florida where most of the tomatoes for the nation's fast food chains and supermarkets are grown. They had faced exploitative conditions, including being beaten in the fields, bosses stealing paychecks, very long days at low pay, living in isolated labor camps, and many instances of what they termed "modern day slavery." They began “The Campaign for Fair Food”, and battled eight corporations (including McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Subway) eventually becoming victorious in their demands. They were successful in getting 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes (it doesn't sound like much but over the course of the day, it adds up to significantly higher wages) as well as the corporations being held accountable to a new code of conduct, designed and implemented by the workers. This code of conduct included things like being actually being paid for overtime, having shade in the fields, being more protected from sexual harassment, and a zero tolerance policy for slavery conditions including physical violence. (see www.ciw-online.org)The CIW is now engaged in a struggle to change the policies of supermarket chains and their suppliers.

Hearing the stories of members of the CIW really made me think a lot about the so-called "food movement," what that means, and who it leaves out. In mainstream media the faces we see are frequently of young, college-educated, usually white farmers.These are the faces of the fashionable food movement, but this is so far from the whole story. We can't forget that the majority of our food supply still comes from huge corporations that exploit, abuse, and dehumanize people, and we have to change this. It's easy to forget this crucial aspect of the food system, especially when you work on an awesome small farm, and are surrounded by others who are working on growing food in better ways that don't hurt people or the earth. But it's not enough to focus on local, organic, fresh food. The general awareness of the importance of "local" and "organic" food seems to have grown tremendously in the last few years alone--which is a huge step-- but there is so much more to fight for. We need to work for fair food as well.

If you're interested in learning more about the Social Forum, or about the dynamics of the urban agriculture scene in Detroit in particular, here is a pretty good article in the Nation, entitled "Detroit's Social Forum: Hope in A Crisis." It can be found at: http://www.thenation.com/article/36615/detroits-social-forum-hope-crisis.