Delivery Week 5; July 2, 2020
echnical difficulties are making getting photos on the blog impossible right now. I hope to update soon once I figure out what is going on!
What’s in the Box?
Napa Cabbage (Large and Medium)
Lettuce
Carrots
Cucumber
Zucchini/ Summer Squash
Fennel
Hakuri Turnips
Radishes (Meduim and Large Shares)
Red Onions (Medium and Large Shares)
Notes on the box.
Small shares got either two lettuce or a lettuce and a napa cabbage.
Fennel is a new vegetable this week and might be new to you. It has a nice anise flavor. It can be sliced thinly and eaten raw in salads or it can be roasted. More details about fennel here! Otto likes to make a salad with sliced cucumbers, cabbage, thinly sliced fennel, and fennel leaves. I like to make a quick pickle with the fronds. Recipe Below.
Summer has started with the beginning of the squash and cucumbers! More will come in the following weeks.
Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.
Fresh, whole-milk Ricotta and Cygnus, our swiss-style cheese. Ricotta is usually made from the whey from cheese making. Our whole-milk ricotta is thicker and more rich than whey ricotta. It’s a personal favorite of mine and I hope you enjoy it, too! I’ve included a hefty pint so you have enough to enjoy in a couple of meals. I encourage you to try some fresh on a nice piece of toasted bread with a drizzle of good olive oil and some salt and pepper. You can also go sweet with it. There’s a lot of recipes for ricotta cakes and pancakes and other sweet treats. Just remember that this ricotta isn’t as liquid as a lot that you might get at the store, so you might have to adjust baking recipes by stirring in a little milk or whey if you have it.
The Cygnus is a swiss-style cheese. I can’t get those nice big holes in our swiss. That requires different aging rooms with different temperatures, but the flavor is nice! I hope you enjoy it!
Recipes.
Carmelized Carrots and Fennel with Ricotta and Walnuts
Roasted Fennel
Preheat your oven to 425.
Remove the fronds and core from the fennel bulb and roughly chop.
Toss the chopped fennel with 2 T extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Place the fennel on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so to ensure the fennel does not burn.
You can add lemon zest and juice and put this on just about anything! Including the recipe below!
Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Zucchini, Summer Squash, Roasted Fennel, or Greens
Spring Onions and/or garlic scapes, Sliced
Olive oil, as needed
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons or more Parmesan or another gratable, flavorful cheese such as CWC Antares
Zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 pinch dried red pepper flakes
veggies of your choice
Boil pasta in well salted water. Drain and set aside, retaining about 1 cup of liquid from cooking the noodles.
Saute onion in olive oil. Add zucchini, summer squash, or greens such as kale or chard and cook until tender. OR
Roast fennel as above recipe
Combine the ricotta and Parmesan in a small bowl, and add the lemon zest and juice, salt, and red pepper flakes. Add to the veggie mixture in the saute pan and mix well.
Add cooked pasta and some of the pasta water as needed.
On the Farm.
We got 6 inches of water in 2 days. That’s a lot! I mean, it was really dry, but the water came faster than the ground could absorb. This is a perfect recipe for erosion. We would have lost a lot of soil and veggies if we hadn’t changed to low/no-till, raised beds, and using landscaping fabric to grow our veggies.
We are watching the broccoli and scratching our heads about what’s taking so long. We hoped it would be ready this week, but maybe next week…
Next Week.
lettuce
beets
cillantro
fennel
squash
cucumbers
cabbage?
broccoli?