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January 30th, 2010
What’s in the Vegetable Box? Braising Mix, Italian Salad Mix (stronger but still wonderful in used as a salad), Bok Choy, Yellow Fin Potatoes, Rutabagas, Celeriac, and Cilantro. What’s in the Fruit Bag? Oranges, Tangelos, Grapefruit, and Dried Nectarines
This Week on the Farm Last weekend I think I had a hint of cabin blues. Can I admit that after such a going on about how great the fog and rain are for winter hibernation? With the flooding I know that I was running on the fear factor of driving the roads out of the farm, between Saturday Market to Saturday market I stayed home, I was becoming reclusive, a bit depressed, and grumpy, feeling somewhat like Pillsbury dough girl too (maybe just like the bear in her cave). The blue skies this week definitely helped cheer the spirits and clear the roads, I headed into town to shop, go to the gym, and yoga! It felt good to be alive and feel my body tingling (well actually aching) from activity. It is raining again tonight, but the reprieve was nice. So far Jeff’s 5 gallon bucket on the lawn rain gauge is about 2 inches from the top-Jeff estimates (and don’t ask me how he makes this calculation) that with this last rain spell we have gotten about 9 1/2” of rain, half of our rainfall for the year!!! With the enclosure of the rain, the seclusion that it creates, I was able to focus, (like the horse with its blinders on kinda focus) on working on our house. Zach has been steadily working on putting up the wall board, and this week, between he and Jeff they have now finished the sunroom, living room, stairway, almost all bedrooms, one bathroom. What is left is the library, two bathrooms and the kitchen. I have been “mudding” the wall board, taping the seams, and then putting on layers of join compound. In Claire’s room I put 4 layers of “mud” on her walls to get it to a smooth texture, with no seams or tape showing and it is almost ready for primer and paint. We are also experimenting with clay that has a pigment in it instead of using the “mud”. It is real clay from the South West, and the color we used in the living room is Tucson Gold. The process no matter what the material is, is slow. One coat on and then two day to dry, sand, smooth and then the next coat, two more days to dry, again sand…slowly we are making progress, and I think one of these days we will be surprised that there are no more layers to put on, and all the rooms will be finished. I think that is the carrot that keeps me going; I can’t wait to see the finished clay walls, or the painted rooms. I know I have told you about the tile mural (4’x8’) that Meg Hehner and I have been working on since last January. Well we were stalled on the sky since August, trying to find the right glaze and the right technique to give the feeling of a summer sky in the valley. After many, many, many sample trials, talking it over, trying to duplicate success trials, this week we put the finishing touches on the sky, and turned the entire mural in to our ceramic Guru Susan Shelton to fire away. We won’t know what we really did until we see them cooled and out of the kiln sometime next week, but we boxed up close to 80 tiles out of the 104 that we glazed. Now that is down right exciting, and scary, but it was time for the tile making workshop to be taken down so Zach could go up in the loft and put up the last of the wall board in that room. So the rain and the fog has allowed us to put in a lot of hours on the house, the crew doesn’t come to work unless we have a harvest for the Tuesday delivery or the Saturday market, and Jeff and I burry ourselves in mud, clay and gypsum dry wall. I never knew how much work it takes to build a house, snail creeping slow, and how much detail goes into each piece, each part, and I know that even though it seems that we are getting closer to the end, there are so many parts that I don’t know about yet. How to put up the wainscoting, the tile floor, the oak floor, the trim around windows, doors…Our time to give so much of ourselves to the house project is short, in this California winter; really we only have a few months of cave life. With the blue skies, I can tell you we were not the only ones looking relieved for the warmth, the willow trees, the lilacs, the pussy willow are all pushing buds, and my flowering plum, apricot and peaches are starting to bloom. We harvested several dozen bunches of flowering fruit branches for market this morning. With this, one knows that spring is coming, coming this next month and our ability to focus gets lost in the rush to keep up with the tightly coiled springs of the “prima verde”. The other day I was on my way over to work on the new house and I had a thought…one of these days I will be walking the other direction, I will be coming out of the new house and going to work to the barn, I will have a completely new view, almost walking a new direction, heading east instead of west to work. I almost felt like it would be doing things backwards, but you know it just made me smile inside, because I am so ready to head a new direction. Have a great week! Annie
Celeriac Celeriac is the “ugly Stepsister” relative to parsnips, carrots, parsley and fennel. Celeriac was developed from traditional celery in areas around the Mediterranean sometime in the late 1500 to early 1600’s. The flavor of celery was appreciated byte the populations of temperate Asia and Europe for thousands of years but the bitter tasting stalks were considered undesirable. The small root of the celery plant is sweet and mild, which prompted botanists to breed the plant with enlarged roots and few bitter leaves. Celeriac is long season plants taking up to 200 days to fully mature. With its single root lumpy, brown, and somewhat hairy, creating a first impression that could easily frighten off all but the most stalwart fan. The root needs peeling before cooking in soups, stews or stocks. Celeriac is delectable addition to roasted vegetables and pairs nicely with potatoes. Young roots can be grated into salads or cut for crudités. However it oxidizes quickly, so cut roots must be held in acidulated water before preparation.
Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables For the Chicken 4 branches fresh rosemary, bruised 6 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled ½ cup olive oil 1 3 1/2 –4 pound chicken Salt and pepper Strip leaves from 2 of the rosemary branches and finely chop. Finely chop 3 of the garlic cloves. Combine chopped rosemary and garlic and oil in a bowl and set aside. Generously season chicken cavity with salt and pepper, then stuff with remaining 2 branches rosemary and 3 garlic cloves. Tie legs together with kitchen twine and run all over with half the prepared oil. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 400. Rub chicken with half the remaining prepared oil and generous season with salt and pepper. Put chicken, breast side up, directly on an oven rack set in the middle and cook until skin is deeply golden 50-60 minutes. For the Vegetables 6 cloves garlic quartered 2 Bell Peppers (Now? I would skip these) 1 red and 1 green cored, seeded and cut into 2” squares how about carrots or potatoes or rutabagas ½ small winter squash seeded, peeled and cut into 2” squares 2-3 celery rots, cut in half lengthwise then into thirds 2-3 leeks, white part only, Trimmed, halved lengthwise, cleaned, 1 onion, peeled and halved crosswise each half quartered Salt and pepper While the chicken is roasting, put garlic, potatoes, peppers, squash, celery root, leeks, and onions into a large bowl. Add the remaining prepared oil, season to taste with salt and pepper, and mix well. After chicken has roasted for 25 minutes, put vegetables in toasting pan under chicken to roast for the remaining time the chicken has to cook. For the Sauce 1-tablespoon olive oil 3 cloves garlic peeled blanched for 15 seconds, cooled in ice water then sliced 1 sprig fresh rosemary ½ cup rich chicken stock 4 tablespoons butter cut into pieces Juice of ½ lemon Salt and pepper1.4 bunch parsley leaves chopped Heat oil, garlic and rosemary in a small pan over medium heat until garlic begins to brown about 2 minutes. Add stock & simmer until reduced by half, discard rosemary. Whisk in butter, a few pieces at a time, then add lemon juice and season to taste. Add parsley just before serving. Transfer all to a platter and pour sauce over the top
Winter Vegetable Pasta with Cheese 12 ounces angel hair or linguine pasta 3 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion or leek cut into small wedges 2-3 garlic cloves minced 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ½ cup chicken or vegetable broth 4 cups cooked winter vegetables such as parsnips, rutabagas, winter squash, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale cut into bite size pieces 2 tablespoons chopped oregano 3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley Salt and pepper 6 ounces cheese such as feta, goat cheddar or Jack crumbles or shredded ¼ cup grated Romano, Parmesan or Asiago Cheese Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and place in a large bowl. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onion and cook for 4 minutes or until almost soft. Add the garlic, vinegar and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables, oregano, parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes or until heated through. Pour over the pasta, top with the cheese, and toss to coat well. From Your Organic Kitchen
Bok Choy Quick Cooked Bok Choy is, dare I say, unique. Not the greens; they are about the same as those of many other cabbages/ But its fat, thick stems become creamy and tender during cooking in a way that you cannot duplicate with other greens. This makes the basic, simple version of this recipe just wonderful; the slightly more complicated variations are even better. Other vegetables you can use; Napa or Chinese cabbage, chard, or broccoli raab. 1 head bok choy about 1 ½ pounds 3 tablespoons peanut oil, or neutral oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper Cut the leaves from the stems or the bok choy. Trim the stems as necessary, and then cut them into roughly 1 inch pieces, rinse everything well. Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the stems and cook, stirring occasionally, until they just lose their crunch about 3 minutes. Add the greens and about ½ cup water. Cook stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates and the stems become very tender, about 10 minutes more; add a little more water if necessary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
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