Roots and Shoots Farm - 18th Week of CSA Food 2013

It is always with a bit of sadness when we go to pick up our last Roots and Shoots Farm CSA share of the season. Week 18 came so quickly and that was two weeks ago already.

BASKET CONTAINED:
1 quart of Carrots
2 quarts of Potatoes - a mix of Chieftain and Russet
1 Butternut Squash
2 Acorn Squash
1 bunch of Leeks
2 Cooking Onions
2 Garlic
1 pint of Parsnips
1 bunch of Broccoli leaves
1 quart of Beets
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 Rutabaga

Much of of the preparation of this share was very basic. Often just roasted to have the beautiful produce accompany some special meals. As you will see, the dishes speak to the change in the weather.  More comfort food and food to that can be stored in the freezer for another day.

The carrots were roasted with two meals - one was a prime rib roast dinner.  The other was a roasted chicken (Roots and Shoots Farm chickens) dinner.

The Chieftain potatoes were roasted for the prime rib dinner.  The russets were used with the leeks for a scalloped potato recipe to which we also included sweet potatoes, bacon and onion.

The butternut squash went into homemade butternut squash ravioli.  After roasting the squash, I mixed the pulp with a bit of cream, maple syrup, finely diced sauteed onions, sage, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

 

The acorn squash was roasted for the chicken dinner.  Since it was a dinner party, we used both.  A dinner we called Christmas in October. The squash were roasted with a bit of butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

The onions were used in French Onion Soup.

The garlic was used in our ubiquitous garlic shrimp pasta dish.

The parsnips were roasted up for the prime rib roast dinner.

The rutabaga was used in the big vat of beef stew.

The broccoli leaves and Swiss chard was chopped up and put in the freezer for another day.

The beets are still in the fridge.  They are not big and will be sweet when roasted.  There is a nice selection of colours too.  It may not be imaginative, but I bet they end up in a roasted beet salad.  We never tire of this dish.

They say they have learned a lot over the last 4 years. I can say that I have too. Thank you Roots and Shoots Farm.

Roots and Shoots Farm - 14th Week of CSA Food 2013

We are almost done this last Roots and Shoots Farm CSA basket as we are just days away from getting the next.  It was an exciting basket because of all the great colour. We have been enjoying some delicious dishes. I have a few pictures from my smartphone to share with you throughout the post.

BASKET CONTAINED:
4 leeks
1 bunch of Swiss chard
6 green tomatoes
2 ripe tomatoes (I took one red and one yellow)
1 head of garlic
1 quart russet potatoes
1 bunch beets (I picked a bunch that included red, golden and candy cane)
1 kohlrabi
1 quart carrots
1 bunch of kale
2 acorn squash
2 red onions

The leeks and Swiss chard went into a Martha Stewart recipe - Leek and Swiss Chard Tart.  It was a lot of work.  We enjoyed it best when it was first made.  We didn't think the leftover reheated that well.  I would consider making this again but playing with the ingredients a bit.  The mister suggested adding bacon.  Let's not be surprised. I appreciated making a pâte brisée again.  It is not my regular crust.

Danny was emphatic that the green tomatoes would stay green.  I am glad they defied him.  All 6 of them turned red over the week before we ate them.  I turned them into a tomato salad with a few of their yellow cherry tomatoes that I picked up at the market.  They were tossed with some chives and a dressing of Kricklewood Farm's sunflower oil, Temecula Olive Oil Company's California Balsamico Bianco vinegar, salt and pepper.

The two ripe tomatoes were used in an heirloom tomato salad along with other heirlooms I bought at the market.  We make this recipe each September and I blogged about it here.

The entire head of garlic went into our favourite Garlic Shrimp Pasta dish.

The russet potatoes were used in a mashed topping for the Shepherd's Pie. It sure isn't a pretty thing to photograph when it hits the plate!

The beets were roasted and used in a salad with goat cheese, Spicy Maple Pecans and mixed greens.  By now you know we love that salad and make it a lot.

The kohlrabi was made into a matchstick slaw along with an Empire apple, celery and CSA carrots.  The dressing I used was adapted from Bobby Flay's Creamy Coleslaw dressing.

The carrots we used for lunches with other raw veggies for munching, in the Shepherd's Pie and in the kohlrabi slaw.

Still outstanding are: the kale, the two acorn squash and the 2 red onions.  The squash and onions can keep for quite a bit. The kale will become a salad or I will put it in the freezer for a future dish.  Frozen it will still be fine in a soup or quiche.

I think overall this basket can be declared a success.  We had a number of dining out experiences mixed in with the home cooking that has made managing the fridge a bit tricky.  We are striving to use all of our basket and to use it well.

The No Rules Autumn Lunch Menu

If there are rules for menu planning when having company, today we probably broke them all.

We didn't have canapés or anything that resembled an appetizer.

We thought little about protein.

There was no natural order to the dishes, other than we did serve dessert last.

I wanted a salad but couldn't decide between a beet salad or a tomato salad.  We had all the ingredients for both, thanks to our latest CSA basket and some market shopping.  So we did both.  That is probably breaking a really big rule.  Do people ever do two salads?

I couldn't decide on a 'main' and the mister was really keen to have shrimp and requested our garlic shrimp pasta that we make all the time. Boring to us maybe but not to our company.  And we do love this dish.  I hardly ever have a pasta dish as a 'main'.  Then again maybe we didn't have a main. Maybe it should be called something else.

I have, or did at one point have, 18 pounds of rhubarb in the freezer.  I bought strawberries at the market yesterday and decided on pie.  Is pie a legitimate dessert when hosting?  I don't typically do it if I am pulling out the silverware.

I was lost when it came to planning for hosting company for lunch today. But I didn't really care if I got the menu 'right'. More than anything I wanted to use what I had in my fridge.  Our latest CSA basket played a big part in that.

I figured our company wouldn't care either as long as it tasted delicious and looked reasonably attractive.

Rules be damned.

Roasted beets (red, yellow and candy cane) from Roots and Shoots Farm. Goat cheese. Baby romaine. Pea shoots from O'Grady Farms. Spicy Maple Pecans. Orange and maple syrup dressing.

Garlic shrimp pasta. I used the whole garlic from the last Roots and Shoots Farm CSA basket.

Heirloom tomato salad. Tomatoes from Roots and Shoots Farm and also Acorn Creek Garden Farm. Pea shoots from O'Grady Farms. Chives. Parmesan crisps. Champagne wine vinaigrette.

Very Puckery Rhubarb Strawberry Pie. Strawberries from Just Farms. Rhubarb from Helen & Merrill.

Do You Call It Tatziki or Tzatziki?

For this traditional Greek dish I say tzatziki, but I see many refer to it as tatziki. How about you? Do you call it tzatziki or tatziki?  Wikipedia seems consistent on tzatziki.  We were just at the Ottawa Greekfest last week (our 28th year!) and their menu board refers to it as tzatziki.  When in Athens, do as the Greeks do. So tzatziki it is!

My first taste of tzatziki was at the Ottawa Greekfest 29 years ago.  We have been going every year since and have only missed out once because of holidays.  After much tzatziki in Greece on our month long honeymoon, we started making it regularly for ourselves.

Roots and Shoots Farm gave me 6 cucumbers in my last CSA basket.  And as the saying goes, when life hands you cucumbers, you make tzatziki. Well, something like that.

Our darling son has been going to Greekfest every year since he was zero.  With garlic juice coursing through his veins he took to preparing our lunch today.

GREEK TZATZIKI DIP

INGREDIENTS:
750 gr natural yogurt, drained well
1 or 2 cucumbers, peeled, grated and drained well
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 to 3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

METHOD:
Combine drained yogurt, one drained cucumber, one minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil.  Add more cucumber pulp, minced garlic or salt to suit your taste. Lightly dribble 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil on top of the tzatziki when serving.

CHEF'S NOTES:

• Use full fat yogurt.
• Drain the yogurt through cheesecloth in a plastic (not metal) colander. I prefer to drain it for a whole day so the yogurt cheese is the consistency of spreadable cream cheese.
• The cucumber pulp can be squeezed 'dry' if you do not have time to wait for it to drain.
• Seed the cucumber before grating if the seeds are large.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

• In gyros and doner.  
• As a dip with raw vegetables or warmed Greek pita bread.
• Along side souvlaki. 

THE PITA:
My favourite store bought Greek pita is made by Pita Delight and can be found at Produce Depot. If you know naan bread, it is very similar in bread texture vs. Lebanese pita.

It tastes best warmed but not so much that it dries out.  If the BBQ is on then I will use it; otherwise, I use a cast iron pan or my heavy crepe pan.

I lightly brush the pita with olive oil.  Place the pita over medium heat until to is starting to brown.  Flip the pita and heat on the second side until it is starting to brown.  The bread should still be soft inside but feel and taste 'baked through'.

You can wrap the bread in foil and keep in the oven at 165F if you are timing the pita with other dishes. Cut into wedges just before serving.

I keep my pita stored in the freezer and take out just what I need each time.  It defrosts very quickly on its own.

OPA!

Roots and Shoots Farm - 8th Week of CSA Food 2013

This summer my CSA shares from Roots and Shoots Farm has been feeding guests here at home but also traveling.

My company on Friday night dug into a pesto pasta dish with a medley of vegetables (onions, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, garlic).

My company on Saturday shared in our Mediterranean Zucchini Salad in Pita Pockets (zucchini and tomatoes).

With the mister away, I have also had many summer jaunts out and about to visit others. I try to bring prepared dishes to share the bounty, but also to be a contributing guest.

This past week I traded a night's stay in my brother's fabulous 5-star guest room for homemade Tzatziki (cucumbers and garlic), a Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese (beets) and Vikram Vij's Eggplant, Tomato, Green Onion Curry (eggplant and tomatoes) with basmati rice.

It is proving to be another beautiful CSA share.

BASKET CONTAINED:

3 peppers

2 zucchinis

6 cucumbers

pint of tomatoes

head of lettuce

2 heads of garlic

kale

2 white onions

carrots

eggplants

beets

What are you making fellow vegetable lovers?

Roots and Shoots Farm - 6th Week of CSA Food 2013

Week 6 pick-up just passed and I received my 3rd CSA basket for the season.  You won't have trouble agreeing with me that this is Roots and Shoots Farm's best basket yet.  It wins on colour alone!

 

BASKET CONTAINED:

5 peppers

5 zucchinis

2 cucumbers

pint of tomatoes

head of lettuce

garlic

Swiss chard

basil

bunch of onions

carrots

eggplants

 

GONE ALREADY:

basil and garlic - you guessed it. I made pesto.

carrots - ate them raw as snacks

lettuce - in three different salads

tomatoes - in salads

garlic and one cucumber - tzatziki

PLANS BEING CONSIDERED:

Zucchini, peppers and some of the onions are going into Mediterranean Zucchini Salad in Pita Pockets.

Swiss chard is undecided but a friend of mine tried this recipe.

Eggplant is headed to baba ghanoush. I have my eye on this recipe. It will be hard to let him go.  He's so good-looking.

Roots and Shoots Farm - 4th Week of CSA Food 2013

As a half share participant, my second CSA basket from Roots and Shoots Farm had more hits of colour.  A sign that the season is moving along.

This particular week's share included:
4 cucumbers
a bunch of red onions
beets
head of lettuce
kale
mixed greens
2 zucchini
basil
garlic scapes
hakurei turnips

ORGANIC FREE-RANGE CHICKEN!
I bought a chicken from Roots and Shoots Farm and they were delivered frozen with our share this week.  I chose a smaller one.  It is 3.89 lbs. Quite the charmer.  Regular readers know I like to name my chickens before they hit the oven.  Unless I get a better offer, this one will be called Charles William George Esquire.

I MET THE INTERN
Kelsey is working at Roots and Shoots Farm for the summer.  With the pick-up being extra busy with chickens, she was on hand to help Danny ensure things went smoothly.  Kelsey says she is having a great summer.

SPECIAL TRICK FOR STORING BASIL: One of my best experiences of this share was my basil.  It kept beautifully. My trick this time was to cut the stems just before placing the bunch in a mini vase.  I then put a bag loosely around them but fully covering the plant right to the base of the vase.  Then into the fridge.  I picked up my share on Thursday and made my pesto on the Monday.  It looked like it had just been picked.  No brown spots.  A fluke? I don't know. But I am going to try that again. When I get basil, I do try to use it right away as it is one of the more delicate herbs.

UPDATE ON BASIL STORAGE (July 0, 2013):  I just came across this post on The Kitchn regarding storing basil. It seems Emily Ho is also a 'bagger'. As you will read in the comments, opinions are varied.  I stored mine in the fridge.  I will try the counter next time.  I think the trick is to keep moisture off the leaves whatever technique you use.

BEST THING THAT IS HAPPENING IN THE KITCHEN THIS SEASON: I am using the tops on my beets and Hakurei turnips.  My favourite way to use them is to wilt them into my pasta dishes.  If you don't think you will use them right away, wash them up, dry them and then store them in the freezer in a ziplock bag with the air removed.

SOME WAYS I HAVE USED MY PRODUCE:
We used the salad and mixed greens right away over the first two days.  The mister said repeated after each bite how fresh the head of lettuce tasted.  He was right.  It was noticeably different than what we can normally get in the store. 

I ate one of the cucumbers as a snack and the other 3 went into a Danish Cucumber Salad that I brought to a potluck.  I was thrilled to have 4 cucumbers in the share.

The onions were used for grilling and also in a pasta dish.  That pasta dish also included scapes, beet tops and my basil, which was turned into a pesto (using more scapes).

The zucchinis were grilled as well.

My scapes have contributed to pasta dishes and anytime I've needed garlic, like when I made pesto.

Do you want to try kale in a salad?  I love the kale salad at Supply and Demand on Wellington Avenue.  It will remind you of a Caesar Salad.  They have been kind to share the recipe.

Stuck for what to do with hakurei turnips? This tasty appetizer works well for happy hour snacks.

What are you making with your CSA basket?

Roots and Shoots Farm - 2nd Week of CSA Food 2013

As Season 4 of Roots and Shoots Farms' CSA food basket program gets underway, I am feeling like an old hand.  We have been members since year one.

Roots and Shoots Farm is located south of Ottawa and has been certified organic for a few years.  In addition to the CSA shares, they also sell their produce at local markets around the Capital.  I will sometimes buy from them at the Ottawa Farmers' Market - either the location in Westboro or at Brewer Park.

My pickup location is at the Mountain Equipment Co-op in Westboro.  Roots and Shoots sets up a produce stand for walk by shoppers.  This week it included bunches of Jess Weatherhead's beautiful organic flowers. Normally Danny is cheerfully greeting us as we roots through the bins but this time we had Robin Turner himself, the owner of the farm.  The Beatnik van plastered in psychedelic murals has been replaced by a larger, slick looking refrigeration truck.

Typically a pickup takes just a few minutes, but as we get to know each other, we stop to enjoy a friendly chat.  This week I ran into an other veteran, Lesli.  By the time we swapped recipes, food inspirations, and updates on our own home gardens, I am sure the mister figured I had stopped in somewhere for dinner.  We covered it all. Strawberries, canning, tomatoes, garlic, kale, cookbooks and probably a bit more. It made my day.

One of the biggest challenges with having a CSA share is the uncertainty.  It isn't until the last minute that you find out what will be filling the fridge.  Most of us shop with a predetermined grocery list. What used to be so stressful, is now just something we are taking in stride.

Our first basket is not dissimilar to our first one last year, though a wee bit smaller because of a cold, wet past few months.

But what we did receive was high quality and well developed.

This week's basket included:
Cucumber (two)
Lettuce
Kale (I chose curly leaf)
Swiss chard
Spring onions
Herbs (I chose basil)
Radishes
Hakurei turnips

Tonight we used our radish tops in an open galette, baked on the BBQ.  A few years ago, ignorant of their goodness, radish greens would have ended up in the compost.  Today, I use them like I would spinach.  In fact, the greens were substituted into a recipe that had originally called for spinach - Spinach and Feta Galette found in the latest issue of the LCBO Food & Drink magazine.

With the radishes all tidied up, the mister will be munching on the red buds. A favourite snack.

The bunch of basil was used in a Margherita pizza.  First, some went into the sauce.  Then a number of fresh leaves were laid on the pizza when it came off the grill, as a finishing garnish.

Tomorrow I am making a kale salad.  I have said many times how much I enjoy the kale salad created by Chef Steve Wall at Supply and Demand.  He was gracious enough to allow the recipe to be published.  I just hope I can do it justice.  Jen Wall says the trick is to put in lots of time massaging the leaves during preparation.

And on it will go. Before long, we will be shopping at the markets to fill in until the next basket arrives.

Are you a CSA member? What are you doing with your food basket?