CSA Members 2004: Newsletter Archive

Dear CSA Members,

Mark your calendars for this year's open house to be held on Saturday August 14th. We are in the process of printing invitations, which will include a map and directions to the farm. Look forward to a fun afternoon for your family: live music, a tractor dedication, light fare from the garden, a farm tour and a chance to meet your farmers and fellow share holders along with our market customers, friends and neighbors. The invitations will be located at the drop sites next week. Don't forget to pick one up. They will also be e-mailed. As always please RSVP if possible so we can plan accordingly.

This week's delivery includes our first green beans and an organic treat from east of the mountains, fresh apricots. The small deep purple head resembling cabbage is a bitter Italian green called radicchio (radeekio), serving suggestions follow. The other unusual selection this week is a bunch of flowering kale. The fresh onions are the first of a crop of Walla Walla sweets, which may be topped, and should be refrigerated for best keeping. The apricots should be left on the counter and may take a day or two to fully ripen.

Radicchio as mentioned before is a traditional Italian green commonly found sliced thin and tossed in salads, it has a sharp flavor which pairs beautifully with the rich flavor of a good goat cheese. I usually peel individual leaves from the radicchio and fill them with a good herbed chevre. Then roll them up and place them in an oiled baking dish. Drizzle them with olive oil and bake at 350 until the leaves begin to brown, and then serve as an appetizer. Or try this. Slowly sauté sliced onions in a heavy skillet, when onions are translucent but before they begin to brown, add leaves of radicchio. When the leaves have wilted, transfer this mix to top thinly sliced Italian herbed bread slices. Top with a good cheese and bake at 350 like a mini pizza. The radicchio is a stout little thing and will hold up well in the fridge until you have become brave enough to try it as suggested or used it leaf by leaf as an addition to your dinner salads.

The bunch of flowering kale is our first real success at including a rapini. Rapini is a flowering broccoli. We have had a great deal of difficulty either growing or harvesting a marketable product when it comes to this, but I took it as a personal challenge and after dedicating more time and energy than practical or necessary have finally succeeded. Use the "green lance" as you would broccoli. I prefer it lightly sautéed in a dash of sesame oil. It is also an excellent addition to stir fries, or served raw in salads.

To help use the trophy romaine included in this week's delivery I have included two Caesar recipes. We eat a lot of salads around here and I highly recommend investing in a spinner to ease with preparation. We prepare a huge bag of mixed salad and store in the refrigerator so it's always ready to hit the table. A spinner allows you to dry the lettuce leaves after washing and they will store much better without water on them.

Caesar Dressing

For a true Caesar salad toss this dressing with torn Romaine leaves, grated Parmesan cheese, an egg yolk, and herbed croutons. Or better yet, use it in the following recipe as a no holds barred replacement for the yogurt based low fat dressing recipe.

• 3/4-cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 10 anchovy fillets

Blend the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and anchovies in a food processor or blender until smooth. Refrigerate.

Green Bean Caesar Salad

This reduced-fat version hits all the flavor notes of the original Caesar.

• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 cup light Italian dressing
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• 1 pound green beans, trimmed, halved
• 2 heads (or one giant head from your local farmer) romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
• 1 head radicchio, thinly sliced
• 8 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Combine first 5 ingredients in small bowl; whisk to blend. Season with pepper.

Cook beans in medium pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water; drain again. Combine beans, romaine, radicchio and 4 tablespoons cheese in large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons cheese.

Serves 8.

Boistfort Valley Farm
426 Boistfort Road
Curtis, WA 98538
(360) 245-3796

website: BoistfortValleyFarm.com
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