glacier grist

Issue #16 • Thursday, January 22, 2009

28 January 2009 box contents

from Alaska’s Glacier Valley Farm and VanderWeele Farm:
Alaskan onions | Alaskan carrots | Alaskan Yukon gold potatoes | Alaskan green cabbage

from Outside:
certified organic celery | certified organic celery root | certified organic crimini mushrooms | certified organic broccoli | certified organic mustard greens | certified organic Jonagold apples | certified organic cara-cara oranges

NEW EAGLE RIVER PICKUP SPOT!
For those of you who have signed up to pick up your CSA boxes at Mile 5.2 Greenhouses, your pickup location will change to our new Eagle River site:  Ri-Generation Nutrition Health Foods, at 12812 Old Glenn Highway, #A3. It’s been too cold this winter to have lots of people in and out of the greenhouse.

NEW PICKUP LOCATIONS!
We’re excited to offer four new pick-up locations in the New Year! You can choose to pick up your boxes at Aurora Waldorf School, at 3250 Baxter Road, from 2pm-6pm on Wednesdays, Winterberry Charter School, at 508 West 2nd Avenue (2nd & E Street) from noon-6pm on Wednesdays, Ri-Generation Nutrition Health Foods in Eagle River, at 12812 Old Glenn Highway, #A3, from noon-6pm on Wednesdays, and the ConocoPhillips Building (please note: for employees only), Pioneer Natural Resources, 700 G Street, Suite 600, from noon-5pm on Wednesdays.

If you’re signed up to pick up your box at a different location, but would like to switch to any of these sites (keep in mind, the ConocoPhillips building is a secure building--so only employees of that building can sign up there), just send me an email at and I’ll change your selection.

Alaskan onions
I’m writing to you about our Alaskan onions! Despite our best efforts to tell the good from the bad, sometimes an onion turns up rotten in the CSA boxes. Why is this? Arthur explains: “Onions are one of the newer crops we are producing here in Alaska, and we still have a lot to learn. Growing them is easy; the hard part is perfecting the curing process: getting the outer layer of the onion dry enough to protect the inner onion. In warmer climates, onions are cured in the field before they are stored. Here in Alaska, farmers are trying to figure out how to cure onions indoors, without the benefit of a longer, hotter growing season. We donʼt have the process perfected but we are well on our way.”

So--should we quit putting Alaskan onions in the box because of the risk of a rotten one ending up in the boxes? We decided to put extra onions in your boxes, so in case you get a bad one, you’ll still have plenty. You’re part of the process of Alaskan farmers learning how to cure onions!

Satisfaction guaranteed!
Please let us know if you aren’t happy with anything in your box, and we’ll make it up to you in your next box.

PLEASE RETURN YOUR BOXES!

For more recipes, check out my Alison’s Lunch blog, or the South Anchorage Farmers Market website.  And check out our

new glacier grist recipe index!

Cheers! And happy cooking!  --Alison

recipes

for glacier grist Issue #16

Print Recipes

winter vegetable soup with edamame beans

This yummy recipe is based on one from Deborah Madison’s Greens, although her recipe uses lima beans. I love edamame beans, those green soybeans you can buy frozen, either in the pods or already shelled. You could substitute white beans, though, and if you cook the beans yourself, you can use the bean cooking liquid instead of vegetable stock. I’ve included a recipe for stock, but you can use store-bought stock if you like. And as for the vegetables in the soup, you can substitute other winter vegetables! For example, you can use parsnips instead of fennel, sweet potatoes instead of celery root… Whatever you feel like! Just be creative! And remember, it will taste even yummier the next day!

The Vegetable Stock
I always make a big batch of this very easy stock, and then freeze the extra. You can make a half batch if you like, but why would you want to? Don’t be tempted to boil it longer than 30 minutes—it can turn bitter, and it doesn’t need any longer than that, anyway.

2 large onions
6 large carrots
6 celery ribs
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
16 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
16 parsley branches
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 12 sprigs of fresh thyme)
4 bay leaves
sea salt or kosher salt

1. Scrub the vegetables and chop them roughly into 1-inch chunks. Heat the oil in a large soup pot and add the vegetables and herbs and 1 teaspoon salt and cook over high heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. The more color they get, the richer the flavor of the stock.
2. Add 2 more teaspoons salt and 4 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes. Strain.

The Soup

2 cups frozen edamame beans (or other cooked beans), thawed
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
3 onions, diced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ cup dry white wine
4 carrots, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 very small head green cabbage, cored and sliced thinly
1 small fennel bulb, diced into ½-inch pieces (optional)
1 celery root, peeled and cut into ½-inch squares
4 to 8 ounces mushrooms, stems trimmed and roughly chopped
8 cups stock (recipe above)
Freshly-ground pepper

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat and sauté until the onion is golden brown and fragrant. Add ½ teaspoon salt and the dried herbs and garlic and cook together for a minute. Pour in the wine, reduce by half, then add all the vegetables and ½ cup stock.
2. Cover and stew slowly for 10 minutes, then add the rest of the liquid. Simmer 15 minutes, add the beans, and cook another 15 minutes. Taste the soup and season with additional salt, as needed.

broccoli marinated in sesame-walnut-ginger sauce

This fantastic recipe is based on one in Mollie Katzen’s The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without. And once you try this recipe, you’ll see why. You can adjust the recipe to your taste, adding more or less broccoli for a leaner or richer dish.

¼ cup roasted walnut oil (such as Loriva—don’t use refined walnut oil, it won’t have much taste)
1 tablespoon dark roasted sesame oil
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (I like Nama Shoyu)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
pinch of cayenne
2-4 pounds broccoli heads, cut into bite-sized florets
2-4 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar (I like brown rice vinegar best)
½ to 1 cup walnuts, toasted for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, and chopped coarsely

1. Reserve the broccoli stems for another use (like roasting them at 450 degrees with olive oil & salt).
2. Steam the broccoli florets for about 4 minutes, in batches, as necessary, just until tender. Dump them out on a dishtowel on the counter and spread them into a single layer. Let them cool and steam off their excess moisture.
3. Combine the oils, soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, and cayenne in a large bowl. Add the broccoli to this marinade and toss well until completely coated. Let stand at room temperature for an hour or two (or covered, in the refrigerator, if you’re going to let it marinate longer, like overnight).
4. Sprinkle in the vinegar just before serving (this keeps the broccoli green). Taste and see if you need more vinegar, soy sauce, or salt.
5. Sprinkle the walnuts on each serving at the table, and have a dish of nuts on the table for everyone to add more, as desired.

mustard greens braised with ginger, cilantro, & rice

This recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors, but I use brown basmati rice instead of white. This recipe is really nice as a side to any kind of Indian lentil dish—a dal made with red lentils, for example.

1-2 bunches mustard greens, coarse stems removed, or a combination of chard & mustard greens
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 cup cooked brown basmati rice (recipe below)
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger root
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup chopped cilantro stems and leaves
sea salt or kosher salt

1. Wash the mustard greens well, then chop, but don’t dry them.
2. Heat the oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, cumin, and paprika. Saute for 5 minutes, until the onions are softening, then add the mustard greens and/or chard. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt, cover the pan, and cook until the volume has reduced, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir, then reduce the heat to low, re-cover, and cook slowly for 15 more minutes.
3. Add the cooked rice, stir again, and cook for another 1o to 20 minutes or so until the greens are really tender. Add a few tablespoons of water as needed to keep things from sticking to the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Brown Basmati Rice
I learned this technique from Mollie Katzen’s Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven. The rice is cooked using lots of water, which I find works perfectly for brown basmati—it’s never gummy or undercooked this way.

1 ½ cups uncooked brown basmati rice
2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt

1. Fill a medium-sized pot with 10 cups or so of water (it doesn’t need to be exact) and bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice to the water, turn down the heat, and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the rice is just tender.
2. Drain the rice in a strainer over the sink, and immediately dump rice back into the hot pot. Cover tightly with the lid and let steam OFF THE HEAT for 20 minutes. Fluff the rice.

Print Recipes

comments

Penso che fare errori. Cerchiamo di discutere di questo. Scrivere a me in PM, parlare.

Che sia divertente parere

yay, to many recipes to choose from. I also downloaded the PDF version of this. It will come handy and very useful to me as a newbie.

Ron of Filipino Recipes

instructions
1. Prep the mustard greens, bacon and shallot. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter melts, add the bacon and shallots. Cook, engagement rings stirring often, until the bacon renders most of its fat, 4-6 minutes.

2. Add the mustard greens to the pan and cover. Remove the cover and stir when the greens have begun to wilt after 2-4 minutes. Add the water, sugar and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Stir the greens to combine with the bacon and shallots. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are necklaces & pendants soft and turn dark green, 15-20 minutes.

We made the Roasted Cauliflower but we drizzled ours with olive oil and sprinkled a little cajun seasoning on it and roasted it in the grill!  Delicious!  My people were sad that there was none left for them to make this dish at the cabin! I made something from the box each night this past week and finished up the night before. That is especially great as my January resolution is to not eat out all month. tip: I’ve bookmarked the recipe index to my desk-top as I keep going back to it. I want to thanks you for this.

If you are interested in helping to preserve Alaskan farm land, this is a perfect opportunity! Please let them know that you would rather see this land as part of the Alaska Farmland Trust than developed as a trucking