Paul Mazza’s CSA Newsletter
October 11 – October 17
The frost last week put an end to some crops, but not all. We’re still picking green beans, for instance, and we still have all the heartier veggies like potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Paul picked LOTS of beautiful peppers last Wednesday night in anticipation of a hard frost, and they still look great, so we’ll be giving out poblanos and sweet grilling peppers (cubanelles and sweet carmens) again this week. We’ll also have some sort of tomatoes this week, although I’m not yet sure if it will be romas, grape tomatoes, or regular tomatoes. The tomatoes, too, were picked before the frost and stored in the large garage attached to the Essex farmstand, which doubles as a tomato sorting and packing room.
This Week’s Produce
Small Share:
1 lb tomatoes (type to be determined) ($3)
2 delicata or 1 spaghetti squash ($4)
2 poblanos or 2 sweet grilling peppers ($1)
1 apple coupon
Choose 4 options ($12)
1 large bunch kale
1 large or 2 small cabbages
4 lbs potatoes (may be a few types to choose from)
1 lb sweet grilling peppers
4 decorative gourds
1 pumpkin voucher
1 lb green beans
1.5 lbs carrots
1.5 lbs beets
(Total Retail Value: $20)
Large Share:
3-4 honeycrisp apples ($4)
2 delicata or 1 spaghetti squash ($4)
2 poblanos and 2 sweet grilling peppers (or 4 of either one) ($2)
2 lbs tomatoes ($6)
1 apple coupon
Choose 5 options ($15)
1 large bunch kale
1 large or 2 small cabbages
4 lbs potatoes (may be a few types to choose from)
1 lb sweet grilling peppers
4 decorative gourds
1 pumpkin voucher
1 lb green beans
1.5 lbs carrots
1.5 lbs beets
(Total Retail Value: $31)
Red Hen Bread
This week’s bread is Mad River Grain. Next week will be Potato on Tuesday and Ciabatta on Thursday. If anyone on Thursday would prefer Pumpernickel, please let me know ASAP via e-mail. The reason we can’t give people in Colchester Potato bread is that Red Hen doesn’t bake it on Thursdays.
Next Week’s Produce
Peppers will probably be done next week, as well as beans. We’ll probably have apples for everyone again, though, as well as, possibly, brussels sprouts and/or sweet potatoes.
Signing Up for Next Year
A few people have asked me about signing up for next year. Here’s what we’re going to do, to try to make things as simple as possible. If you do want to join again, or if you’re not sure, you don’t have to do anything. We’ll send you a bill and a sign up sheet next March, and you can make your final decision then. If you don’t want to sign up next year, just e-mail me and let me know to take you off our mailing list. Please do let me know if you’re not planning on joining – I won’t be offended, and I’ll appreciate not having to waste the postage or paper! Also, if you know of anyone who is interested in joining, please let them know that they can e-mail me any time to sign up. All I need this year is a name, an e-mail address, and a mailing address.
Gourds
Our gourds aren’t lasting as long as they normally do this year, so if you take some don’t expect them to last months and months! If any of your gourds last less than a week, though, please let me know and we can give you a replacement.
Beets
You can boil beets, but they are tastiest, in my opinion, when baked. To bake your beets just wrap them in foil and bake at 400 until they’re tender (about 45 minutes or so). If your beets are different sizes you’ll probably have to take the smaller ones out first. Let the beets cool enough to handle, then rub off the skins (a paper towel helps with this!)
You can eat these sliced and tossed with olive oil or butter, or you can use them to make Harvard beets (see recipe below), or any other beet dish you enjoy.
Harvard Beets
This recipe is from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (Third Edition). It’ a great recipe for people (like me!) who like the taste of pickled beets.
1 lb beets, baked, peeled, and sliced
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (if serving hot)
Bring sugar, vinegar, and cornstarch to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking often. Add the beets and continue to simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in butter and serve hot, or chill completely and serve cold.