Week 5

Hello again,
Week 5 is here and summer is in full swing. Which means it's really really hot. But despite the hot weather, we were able to get a wonderful assortment of veggies together for you this week.

Here's what's in the bags:
Salad mix- talk about a perfect summer meal! No hot stove or oven, just nice cool crunchy lettuce...
Summer Squash
Snow peas & Sugar Snap peas (the first is flat, the second is fat)
Yellow & Green beans (some people call the yellow ones Wax beans, but they don't taste like wax... I promise)
A White Onion
Red Beets
... and (drum roll please) TOMATOES! Some people got cherry tomatoes and some got sandwich tomatoes, but don't worry- everyone will get the full spectrum before we're through.


I had many similar things on hand for my dinner this evening, so I put this together. It was super tasty:
Sarah's Summer Pasta
Ingredients:
Olive oil, diced onion, thinly sliced summer squash, chopped mushrooms, peas (I grow shell peas), basil, tomatoes, pasta
1) Heat about 2+ Tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil; it's not a big deal) in a large skillet on medium heat. Dice one medium onion (or the equivalent) and add when the oil is heated. Saute for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to soften.
2) Add the summer squash (make sure the pieces are about the rough size of a quarter) and saute another 3 minutes or so
3) Add 2 Tbsp butter and add the chopped mushrooms. After a few minutes add the peas.
4) Boil water and cook the pasta of your choice until al dente, meanwhile turn the heat on the saute down to low.
5) While the pasta is cooking, roughly chop the basil and add it to the saute. Once it begins to wilt, turn off the heat. Cover if your pasta isn't close to being done.
6) Serve the pasta with the vegetable saute on top, add some diced fresh tomatoes (cherry or sandwich), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and salt & pepper to taste.

Very yummy, and quite pretty, too (I wanted to take a picture, but my camera isn't working, so here's a stock photo to get you the idea...). And the beauty is you can experiment with whatever you have on hand. Sliced green beans would have worked really well instead of the peas, and mushrooms are optional (though delicious). Good food doesn't take a lot of dressing up.

I Also wanted to let you know that this Saturday, Madison County is organizing an Open Farm Day for lots of farms throughout the county. Lucky Moon will be taking part, and if you'd like to stop by, say hello, get a tour and see where your vegetables come from, we'd love to see you. The farms will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM. The address is 4976 Lincklaen Rd, Cazenovia, NY. Hope to see you there!

Week 4 in brief

Hi everyone,
So this is going to be short and sweet, because I can barely keep my eyes open...
But the contents of your bags this week include:
Arugula (smallest bag of greens, leaves are bright green with a peppery flavor)
Asian Greens (medium bag, different colored leaves in many different shapes- spicy and great in a stir-fry!)
Summer Squash (yellow, green, or in between, it's still summer squash)
Snow peas (flat pods)
Sugar Snap peas
Salad mix (biggest bag of greens)

Feel free to email me (luckymoonfm@gmail.com) with recipe ideas or post them as a comment to this blog post.

All the best,
Sarah
for Lucky Moon Farm


Thursday, July 14th
Here are two recipes from Lars that work with many of the veggies you're getting in your bags.

Arugula Pesto (from simplyrecipes):

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed

1/2 cup of shelled walnuts

· 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

· 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

· 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

· 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, salt, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

3b Mortar and pestle method: Combine the nuts, salt and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.

Serve with pasta, over freshly roasted potatoes, or as a sauce forpizza.

Yield: Makes 1 heaping cup.

-Note: Lars suggested using the hot peppers (if you still have any from last week) in the stir-fry. I also often add peas and sliced summer squash to stir-fries. Happy cooking!

Stir Fry (modified from food.com):

Ingredients

· 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

· 11-14 ounces mixed Chinese greens

· 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

· 1 tablespoon sesame oil

· 1/2 tablespoon thinly sliced ginger

· 1 clove garlic thinly sliced

· 4 scallions, finely shredded

· 2 tablespoons oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

· 1 tablespoon soy sauce

· 2 pinches of sugar

· juice of 1 lime

· salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put the oil, garlic and the ginger into a very large, hot wok or other suitable pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken stirring constantly until the outside is cooked. Add the scallions and the rest of the ingredients apart from the greens and seasoning. Stir, then add the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, lime juice and greens and toss so that everything is coated in sauce. The oyster and soy sauce will reduce, just coating the greens, which will begin to wilt. At this point season to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. Stir-fry for a further minute and serve immediately over steamed rice.

Week 3, July 2011

Hello again
Week three is here and so is the hot weather! Things are coming along very well for the most part, and your bags this week reflect the somewhat odd timing that we have this year. It's not typical to be giving out peppers with peas!
But there are plenty of tasty meals to be made with the veggies for this week:
Salad mix
Swiss Chard (think "quiche" !)
Lucky Moon Garlic
Snow Peas
Hungarian Hotwax Pepper (milder than a jalapeno)
raspberries

While I was helping to pack up the garlic, snow peas and pepper, I couldn't help but think what a tasty stir-fry that would make. And that made me hungry, so I made one myself that night with a few things I had on hand.

Besides a quiche, here's another interesting idea for using the Swiss Chard. The recipe calls for Ruby Chard, which is simply a kind of Chard with red stems and veining. The bag you have is a mix of Ruby Chard, Bright Lights Chard (rainbow colors) and some green and white veined chard. But it all works the same.

This is another recipe from the Moosewood's "Cooking for Health"
Pasta w/ Ruby Chard and Cherries
1/2 C dried cherries
16 oz chunky-shaped whole grain pasta
1 Bunch Ruby Chard
1/4 C olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional for added spicyness)
1/4 C chopped toasted walnuts
grated parmesan or crumbled ricotta salata cheese (optional)

1) Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. When the water comes to a rapid boil, ladle a few tablespoons of it into a bowl, add the dried cherries and set aside to soak. Cook the pasta until al dente and drain.

2)While the water is heating, rinse the chard and remove the bottom 1/2 inch or so of the stems. Cut any of the large ones in half again (to make them thinner). Chop the leaves. Set aside.

3)While the pasta cooks, warm the oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add the chard stems a saute for a minute. Add the garlic and chard leaves and cook uncovered, stirring often, until the chard is limp but the leaves are still bright green, about 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and a sprinkling of pepper and add the red pepper flakes, if you wish.

4) Toast the walnuts

5) Drain the soaked cherries.

6) Put the pasta into a serving bowl and top with the garlicky chard, plump hot cherries and toasted walnuts. Offer cheese at the table if you like.

Bon appetite!

Week 2, 2011 Season

Hello,
The Tuesday pick-up in Manlius just wrapped up and I wanted to write a quick post about the veggies for this week. In the bags is a beautiful mix of different greens. Now I know many of us (myself included) don't have a lot of experience with the different varieties of greens or have a lot of great ideas with how to use them, beyond making a salad. But part of the fun of joining a CSA is learning how to eat new things and discovering whole new recipes and methods to prepare truly tasty greens. And if your mother is anything like mine, then you know that dark, leafy greens are oh so good for you!

(arugula)

Week 2
Salad mix (every week the mix is different- enjoy the different colors!)
Arugula (light green leaves with a peppery flavor)
Asian Braising Greens (great in a stir-fry)
Swiss Chard or Spinach- oh, the possibilities!

Here are a few recipes and ideas to try:
Try making a pesto out of the Arugula and serving it with pasta. It's zippy flavor goes well with olive oil, parmesian cheese and walnuts or pinenuts, if you have them.

If you're looking for more cooking guidance, I can't recommend highly enough the collection of Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks that are out on the market. There are hundreds of excellent, delicious recipes that use normal ingredients, are quite healthy for you, and can help you learn to cook new or unfamiliar vegetables. I own and use constantly their Moosewood "Cooks at Home" and "Cooking for Health."

Spinach Salad w/ Strawberries & Pecans
-actually, this is more like a salad template. Spinach and strawberries go especially well together, especially with a poppy seed dressing, but adding different fruits, fresh or dried, nuts, cheese, meat or herbs are a great way to turn your side salad into a satisfying meal all on its own. I often use golden raisins, chopped up dried apricots, an apple, a pear, any kind of nut I have on hand, bits of cheese, a radish or a carrot- if it sounds good to you, give it a try!

Spinach Quesadillas (From the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook)
- yields 4 quesadillas
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 fresh chile, minced (or a sweet pepper, if you prefer)
~5 cups chopped fresh spinach (coarsly chopped with large stems removed)
pinch of dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 whole wheat tortillas, or your favorite kind
1 cup grated cheese (such as Montery Jack)

1) In a large saucepan on medium-high heat, warm the oil and cook the onion and chilis for about 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Add the spinach, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir until the spinach had wilted, a minute or two. Remove from the heat and drain.
2) Place one of the tortillas in a dry skillet on medium heat. Sprinkle on 1/4 cup of the cheese. After about a minute, when the cheese has begun to melt, spread 1/4 of the drained spinach mixture over 1/2 the tortilla. Fold the tortilla over the spinach and cheese to make a 1/2 circle and cook for a minute. Turn the quesadilla over and cook until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
3) Remove tortilla, slice into wedges, and dip in your favorite salsa. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

If I have time, I'll try and add some more.

All the best!
Sarah

Week 1 of CSA

Hi everyone,
The CSA officially started this week and the veggies are getting distributed to our members. I had the first pick-up day at my house (the Manlius satellite location) yesterday and it was great to meet so many new people who are giving the CSA model a try as well as welcoming back members from last year. Things are really growing right along now, even though the strange weather this spring delayed many of the crops. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing like gangbusters! They'll be as tall as we are pretty soon. I can't wait for tomato sandwiches!

If you come out to the farm some time, you might notice that there are more hoop houses this year. These are move-able structures made of PVC pipe for the ribs of the house with special woven cloth to cover the frame that keeps bugs out, lets sun and water through, and generally creates a warmer environment for the plants. There are two for the peppers and eggplant and eventually we'll have four put up for the broccoli and cauliflower. It's exciting to have more and more of them, since they create a really perfect environment for growing a lot of different kinds of vegetables.

Summer is in full swing now, so things are incredibly busy, but it's all going well. For you members of the CSA, I hope you enjoy your vegetables and try out some new recipes this year. As always, I'd love to hear from any of you about how you're cooking up and eating your vegetables. I'll try and share some recipes that have worked well for me and other people in the CSA.

I hope you're all able to enjoy your summers to the fullest! Remember to spend time together, get outside as much as you can, and eat good food.

All the best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
for Lucky Moon Farm

Spring Has Sprung

Hello again,
It's May and the tulips and daffodils are blooming and the buds on the trees are swelling out with a brilliant shade of yellowy-green. The rain has been a bit incessant, but hopefully things will start drying out soon so planting can begin outside. Indoors, the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and flower seedlings are growing well and will be ready to move outdoors when the weather cooperates in a few more weeks.
Lucky Moon Farm is still accepting people who would like to join the 2011 CSA. In case you're not familiar with how a CSA works or want to read more about the farm, please check out the previous post from March. If you're already a member, please spread the word to people you think might be interested in getting farm-fresh vegetables this summer.
Hope you all can get outside between the rain showers and enjoy this long-awaited Spring!
All the best,
Sarah VanNorstrand