glacier grist

Issue #25 • Thursday, April 16, 2009

22 April 2009 box contents

from Alaska’s Glacier Valley Farm and VanderWeele Farm:
Alaskan russet potatoes |  Alaskan carrots |  Alaskan onions

from Outside:
certified organic romaine lettuce |  certified organic scallions |  certified organic cremini mushrooms |  certified organic radishes |  certified organic celery root |  certified organic Braeburn apples |  certified organic Navel oranges |  certified organic Asian pears

LOOK FOR YOUR LABEL
When you are picking up your box, please make sure that your name is on the label. If you accidentally pick up someone else’s box, it sets off a terrible chain of events.Thank you!

PRICE CHANGE
In order to be able to offer you a nice variety of domestic, certified organic vegetables and fruits along with your local produce, we’ve discovered that we need to raise the price of each box to $35.

LOCAL VEGETABLE FORECAST
We’re so pleased that we’ve been able to keep the boxes coming this winter—we weren’t sure how long our local vegetables would hold out! We’ve just run out of cabbage, but our carrots, potatoes, and onions are still holding out. We’ve been talking with lots of local farmers, asking them to plant lots of interesting vegetables for us, including plenty of storage crops for next winter!

The radishes have popped up in Arthur’s greenhouse, and we’re watching the spinach…  We’re really looking forward to loading your boxes with local produce, in just a few weeks! Arthur has big strawberry plans (and lots of plants ordered)…  Look forward to local FRUIT in your boxes as soon as strawberries can be harvested this summer!

Thanks so much for supporting your local farms through the winter, and we look forward to offering you even more exciting boxes as we move into spring and summer.

BOX LIMITS
Because we have to pre-order our Outside produce ahead of time, each week we set a limit for the number of boxes available. We’re excited to grow with you, so if we hit our limit one week, we’ll set the limit higher the following week! But if we hit the limit for the boxes in a week, you won’t be able to order for that week—so try and get your orders in early!

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.

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!

NEW PICKUP LOCATIONS!
We’re excited about our several new pickup locations since the new year. 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 us an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll change your selection.

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 #25

Print Recipes

I’m saving you time in this issue by sharing two recipes that use the same components: the Garlicky Mustard Red Wine Vinaigrette, and the Garlic Oil for roasting the vegetables. Cook once for two meals!

green salad with roasted mushrooms

You’ll probably recognize this salad dressing from previous newsletters… use it for this recipe and for the following roasted potato salad.  You can even freeze pint jars of the dressing if you want to make a double batch for future salads.
Salad

large bowl of romaine lettuce
several scallions, chopped
garlicky mustard red wine vinaigrette (recipe follows)
roasted mushrooms (recipe follows)
toasted pine nuts (optional—toast them in a small skillet over medium heat until golden brown)

1. Toss the lettuce and scallions with vinaigrette to your taste.
2. Scoop the dressed salad into individual bowls. Top each bowl with roasted mushrooms and a sprinkle of pine nuts, if desired.

Garlicky Mustard Red Wine Vinaigrette

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey
——
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put first 5 ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Slowly pour in oil to make a creamy emulsion. Taste and season with more salt and/or honey.

Roasted Mushrooms

6 - 8 ounces mushrooms (or more)
1 - 2 tablespoons garlic oil or olive oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and coat a heavy rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice the mushrooms into ¼-inch slices, cutting off the ends of the stems.
3. Toss the mushroom slices with the the oil and salt and spread out in a single layer on the baking sheet. If they don’t fit in a single layer, use an additional baking sheet, because they will steam instead of roast if they aren’t directly on the sheet.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and flip them all around with a spatula. Depending on the type of mushroom you’re using, they may need quite a bit more time. If they are brown and crispy in places, and completely tender, they are done, but if not, continue roasting until browned and perfect.

Garlic Oil
You can use this oil for the mushrooms and for the roasted potatoes in the next recipe!

3 - 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mash or mince the garlic cloves and cover with the olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time.
2. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.

roasted potato salad with green beans and thyme

This recipe is modified from a recipe in Annie Somerville’s Everyday Greens. If you serve this recipe at a picnic, I predict that people will be neglecting the burgers. I like a high proportion of green beans to potatoes, but if you’d prefer the salad to be heavier on the potatoes, use fewer green beans.

2 pounds garlic-roasted potatoes (recipe follows)
garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette (see previous recipe)
½ medium red or yellow onion, minced (½ cup)
red wine vinegar
1-2 pounds green beans, cut into 1” pieces
1 ½ tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
½ tablespoon fresh thyme, coarsely chopped, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme

1. Make the garlic-roasted potatoes.
2. Make the vinaigrette.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil and salt lightly. Place the onions in a small bowl and scoop a little boiling water out of the pot, just enough to cover them. Let the onions soak for 30 seconds, drain, and toss with ½ tablespoon of the vinegar. This takes away the sharp bite of the onions, but leaves great flavor and crunch.
4. Drop the green beans into the boiling water and cook until just tender (2-5 minutes). Drain the beans and immediately spread them out on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This allows extra water to evaporate, and the beans stop cooking almost immediately.)
5. Transfer the roasted potatoes to a large bowl with the onions, capers, thyme, and several large spoonfuls of vinaigrette. Add the green beans just before serving (so their color won’t fade from the acid in the vinaigrette) and adjust the seasoning with more vinaigrette, salt, pepper, and/or a splash of vinegar, if needed.
6. If you’ve made enough for leftovers, only add the green beans to the portion you’ll be serving right away, to keep them nice and green.

Garlic-Roasted Potatoes

2 pounds potatoes
garlic oil (recipe in previous salad recipe)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.
2. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes.

super-easy roasted celery root

This is one of my favorite ways to make celery root. You could roast it at the same time that you roast your potatoes and/or mushrooms!

celery root
olive oil
salt

Peel the celery root with a paring knife, quarter it and cut into ¼-inch slices. Toss it with a little salt and a spoonful or two of olive oil. Roast it in a 450-degree oven until browned and yummy, 20 to 30 minutes.

Greek beans baked with carrots and tomatoes

Several years ago Dan & I travelled through Greece with our tandem bicycle and camping gear. We were amazed by the very steep hills, the beautiful scenery, and the delicious food… fantastic vegetables, seafood, and bean dishes. Here’s a recipe from one of the cookbooks we brought home: The Greek Cook, by Rena Salaman. I use dried lima beans for the recipe, although Greeks use a type of large white bean called gigantes. You could use regular white beans instead of limas if you like!

1 ½ cups large dried white beans, such as limas
2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 onions, chopped
3 celery sticks, thinly sliced
4 large or 8 small carrots, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste, diluted in 1 cup hot water
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
sea salt or kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper

1. Soak the beans overnight. Drain the beans, rinse them and drain again. Pour the beans into a large pot, pour in plenty of water to cover, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook the beans until they are just tender. Limas cook more quickly than other large beans, so keep your eye on them and start checking after 30 or 40 minutes.
2. When the beans are cooked, drain them, discarding the cooking liquid, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. While the beans are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet or the cleaned bean-cooking pot. Add the onions and sauté them until light golden brown. Add the celery, carrots, garlic, and dried herbs and stir under the garlic becomes aromatic.
4. Add the tomatoes, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes or more, until the carrots are tender. Pour in the diluted tomato puree, then stir the beans into the vegetables. Stir in the sugar and parsley, with plenty of salt and pepper.
5. Pour the beans into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, checking the beans once or twice and adding more hot water if they look dry. The surface should be slightly scorched and sugary.

Print Recipes

comments