Greetings food lovers,
It’s quite strange to find ourselves contemplating spring already, especially since winter seems to have barely made an appearance… Thanks a bunch, El Niño! Nevertheless, it’s that time of year. The root cellar seems more spacious with each passing week, and excitement for onion seeding is steadily growing. The team is looking forward to a change of scenery from the pack shed as we transition into more greenhouse work.
These days, carrot bagging tends to stretch on quite a bit. With the influx of orders from Super One, we’re handling much larger volumes than usual. It can feel overwhelming to see the stacks of empty boxes waiting to be filled for the day’s orders; however, this bagging time gives us ample opportunity to engage in casual conversation. Lately, there’s been a lot of chatter about seeds, which is quite enjoyable. As lunchtime draws near, our discussions typically turn to recent cooking endeavors or recipes we’re eager to try. The standout from this past week has been Jennifer’s effortless pasta sauce featuring beets!
In Your Share This Month:
Beets – Green Cabbage – Orange & Purple Carrots – Garlic – Onions
Parsnips – White Potatoes – Russet Potatoes – Delicata Squash
Jennifer’s Beet Pasta Sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup salted cashews
4 medium sized beets
- Boil & peel the beets
- Blend beets & cashews
- Stir in coconut milk
- Serve over pasta
Some of the beets we harvested last year are rather large… If you happened to get a gigantic one in your share, feel free to count that as four medium beets. A nice thing about this recipe is that it is easily adjustable. Simply add more or less coconut milk & cashews to get the consistency and salt content just where you like it!
Braised Green Cabbage
1 medium green cabbage
1 yellow onion, rough chop
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4″ coins (I’d stick with the orange ones for this dish)
1 parsnip, cut into 1/4″ coins
1/4 cup bone broth or vegetable broth
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons olive oil, duck fat or ghee
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, whole
1 Bay leave
- Heat oven to 325°F with the rack in the middle.
- Lop off the tough stem end of the cabbage and divide it into 6-8 wedges. Keep the core attached so the wedges stay intact after the long cooking time. Don’t worry: The tough core will get super tender, too.
- Generously salt the cabbages and let sit for a little while.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, duck fat or ghee in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, sauté onion, carrots and parsnip until vegetables start to sweat.
- Pour in bone broth to deglaze the pan.
- Turn off heat and add 1/4 cups of oil / fat. Place cabbage wedges in a single layer in the dutch oven – a little overlap is okay. Throw in salt, pepper, garlic cloves and bay leave. Cover tightly with foil & dutch oven lid and place in the oven.
- Cook the cabbage undisturbed for 1 hour. Crack open the foil cover and carefully flip the wedges over. Reseal the dish tightly and braise for another hour or until fork-tender.
- At this point, you can remove the cabbage to cool and store in the fridge until you’re ready to eat it (up to 4 days). When you’re ready to serve, crank the oven up to 425°F and bake until browned (about 15 minutes).
For the farm crew,
Charlie
Food Farm 