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Know Your Produce: “Excuse me, but do you have the thyme?”

From http://homecooking.about.com

Thyme is one of the best known and most widely-used culinary herbs. It is quite easy to grow and is commonly found as a decorative as well as a functional plant in many home gardens.

You will find thyme a welcome flavor in salads, soups, chowders, sauces, breads, vegetable and meat dishes, and even jellies and desserts.

A member of the mint family, thyme is a perennial evergreen shrub, whose sometimes woody stems are covered with small, gray-green to green leaves. Its small, two-lipped flowers range in color from pale pink to purple and bear quadruplet nutlet fruits. The entire plant is aromatic.

There are over one hundred varieties of thyme, with the most common being Garden Thyme and Lemon Thyme. The many types are so close in appearance, it is often difficult to differentiate them.

Lemon thyme has a slightly more-pronounced lemony fragrance, particularly good with fish. All varieties of thyme are highly attractive to bees.

Honey from bees that feed on thyme flower nectar is a gourmet delight.

Yet interestingly enough, insects are repelled by thyme. Make a cup of thyme tea, put it in a plant mister, and spray around doorways and windows in summer to repel insects.

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Plenty of Pumpkins

The summer toys were still strewn all over the yard and the leaves were just starting to think about their annual transition from green to shades of red, orange and yellow, and yet I was already dreaming of pumpkins.

Every year it is my mission to try and squeeze pumpkin into as many meals as possible. This is a skill I am very gifted in. I roll out of bed and make myself a homemade pumpkin spice latte. For breakfast I eat pumpkin muffins. For lunch it’s pumpkin soup. Dinner is some sort of pasta dish with pumpkin, sage, parmesan and bacon. Dessert is pumpkin rice pudding.

As a newlywed, I was determined to make a pumpkin pie completely from scratch for my contribution to our first Thanksgiving. I had heard rumors that it was possible to make a pie from the actual pumpkin rather than using what is found in the can. So, I got myself a pumpkin, clumsily hacked off the top and began to remove the innards. That’s where my project came to a halt. “What part do I roast?” I asked myself. I’m ashamed to admit it, but up to this point in my kitchen career pumpkin had always come from a can. I was in foreign territory. With the help of the internet, my questions were answered and I continued on my mission. The results were well worth the effort. I was rewarded with a pie rich in fresh pumpkin flavor and the thrill of telling people that this pie was made completely from scratch.

Since that embarrassing kitchen fiasco, I have roasted many a pumpkin. I have also turned back to the trusted canned pumpkin on several occasions and there is nothing wrong with that.

From the 1st of October to the last bite of my second helping of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I get my fill of pumpkin. This is enough to last us the rest of the year, which gives me plenty of time to figure out all the recipes that I can squeeze pumpkin in to for the next season.

by Ashley Rodriquez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. Read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

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Fresh This Week Tips, Week 10.23.10

Gala  Apples
STORE: To store, keep Gala apples as cold as possible in the crisper of your refrigerator.
PREP: Wash apples prior to eating under cool water. Peel, core and chop them if you plan to make sauce or simply cut them into thin wedges for making apple pie.

USE: Gala apples make delicious applesauce, but they can also be used in pies, juice, apple butter or eaten straight out of the hand. For a tasty applesauce add 4 apples (peeled, cored and chopped), ¾ cup water, ¼ cup sugar (omit for sugar-free sauce) and ½ tsp ground cinnamon (or one cinnamon stick) to a dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the apples are nice and soft. Once apples are cooled, mash with a fork for chunkier sauce or puree in your blender.
image from bestfruitnow.com

Dapple Dandy Pluots

STORE: Your pluots will continue to ripen once off the tree. Turn them upside down and leave them on the counter away from the sun. When ripe, store them unwrapped in the refrigerator for up to three days.
PREP: If stored in the refrigerator, remove your pluots before eating and let them return to room temperature. They taste much better this way. Rinse and leave whole, slice into wedges or cut into chunks.

USE: These sweet Dapple Dandy Pluots can be eaten out of hand, as a fresh topping for yogurt, dehydrated into dried pluots or made into jam. You can also experiment by substituting them for plums in recipes (after all, they are the delicious hybrid of the plum and apricot).
image from newfinmysoup.blogspot.com.


Pomegranates

STORE: A whole pomegranate can be stored for up to a month on the counter or up to two months in the fridge.
PREP: Cut off the crown and cut the pomegranate into sections. Place the sections in bowl of water then push out the arils (seeds) with your fingers. Discard the membrane and strain out the water.

USE: You can either snack on the juicy, tart arils of the pomegranate or use them in dishes. Arils make a beautiful garnish for salads, bruschetta or desserts. Don’t be afraid to try something a little decadent with these jewels. Try this recipe for Beef Filets with Pomegranate-Pinot sauce.
image from my recipes.

Acorn Squash
STORE:
Store acorn squash in a cool, dark and well-ventilated area for up to five weeks.
PREP: Rinse off dirt from your squash and halve it from the stem end to its point with a sturdy knife. If you are making acorn squash rings, begin by cutting the squash horizontally. Clean out all of the fibers and seeds from the cavity with a spoon.

USE: This round, acorn-shaped squash is one of the best for baking. Make a classic acorn squash side with butter and brown sugar(or just butter, then top with a sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves – a Klesick Farm favorite). If you’re feeling more adventurous, stuff your squash or make a risotto.
image from mango tomato.

Cilantro

STORE: Snip off the bottom of the cilantro stems and make sure leaves are completely dry. Fill a jar half full with water and place the stem ends of the herbs into the water. Store in the refrigerator with a plastic bag loosely covering the top of the herbs. Change the water every few days. It should last a little over a week.
You can also freeze cilantro for later use in soups and entrees (it won’t work as a garnish, but will add that nice cilantro flavor). Begin by removing the leaves from the stem and proportionally adding them to an ice tray. Fill the tray with water on top of the leaves and freeze for 2 days. Remove cilantro cubes from tray and place in a freezer bag. Thaw when needed and use within 2 months.
PREP: Fill a bowl with water, submerge your cilantro leaves in the water and swish them from side to side to remove any dirt. Shake off the excess water and pat dry with a paper towel. Slice through the stems with your chef’s knife and finely chop the leaves (by rocking back and forth) or leave them whole.
USE: Cilantro provides great flavor for Mexican, Thai, Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. It’s a staple ingredient for salsa and is the perfect garnish for soups and curries.
image from qwickstep.

Yams*


STORE: Store yams in a cool, dark and dry area for up to two weeks.
PREP: Wash them thoroughly to remove dirt. Slice with a sharp knife into rounds, cubes or whatever cut your recipe requires.
USE: Yams are a wonderful and versatile fall staple. Make candied yams, mashed yams or yam fries. You can also bake them in the oven (rubbed with a little extra virgin olive oil for crisp skin) at 400F for 45 minutes to an hour. For a delicious vegetarian dinner, try this week’s Yam & Black Bean Burritos.

*Note: Did you know that yams and sweet potatoes are entirely different vegetables? In North America we seem to use the names interchangeably, but they aren’t actually related. True yams typically have black or brown thick skin with flesh that varies from off-white to red or purple. These large tubers are from Africa and not readily available in the US.  Sweet potatoes have thinner skin and are generally shorter and stubbier than yams with flesh that ranges from a pale yellow to bright orange. For cooking purposes, sweet potatoes are sweeter, moister and less starchy than yams. In regards to this week’s box of good, here at Klesick Family Farm we call the dark skinned, bright orange sweet potatoes “North American yams.” All that being said, sweet potatoes and North American yams are usually interchangeable in recipes with minimal changes needed to compensate for the differences.
image from rhapsody in books.

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Know Your Produce: Is it a Yam or a Sweet Potato

From www.southernfood.about.com

Yam or sweet potato, what in the world is it? Many people use these terms interchangeably both in conversation and in cooking, but they are really two different vegetables.

Popular in the American South, these yellow or orange tubers are elongated with ends that taper to a point and are of two dominant types. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called “yam” in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

The true yam is the tuber of a tropical (African) vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. It has tubers which can grow up to seven feet long!

Store: Yams should last for two weeks or more if stored in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place and handled with care.

Prep: Before using, gently scrub sweet potatoes with a cloth under running water, to remove dirt. Avoid using a brush, as it will take the skin off of the sweet potato.

Use: Like potatoes, sweet potatoes are always eaten cooked, but their sweetness makes them versatile. They can be used in a wide variety of dishes, both savory and sweet, and go well with cinnamon, honey, lime, ginger, coconut and nutmeg. Enjoy them in baked desserts and quick breads, puddings and custards, casseroles, stews or croquettes.

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Exciting New Organic Products

We have added some new organic products to our list of grocery items (find them online under our “Grocery” section).

With the addition of these organic products we are hoping to better serve our customers by making quality organic grocery items more easily accessible.

We plan on adding more products in the days ahead, so keep checking back to see what’s new!

Wishing you the best of health!

The Klesick Family Farm

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Fresh This Week Tips, Week 10.17.10

Spitzenburg Apples
STORE: To store, keep apples as cold as possible in the refrigerator.
PREP: Gently rub the apple as you run warm water over it to clean. Peel and cut your apple into slices or cubes. To prevent apples from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: This dessert apple is great for cider, apple pies or eating out of hand. It is also rumored to have been a favorite of President Thomas Jefferson!

Bartlett Pears
STORE: Keep pears in a cool, dark place until ripe. To test for ripeness, gently push on the stem. If it gives a little, your pear is ready to eat. Once ripe, pears may be stored in the refrigerator.
PREP: Wash pears in cold water and keep them whole, slice them or chop them.
USE: Bartlett pears are delicious eaten out of hand, but are also great choices for canning or baking.

Beets
STORE: Separate your greens from the beets and keep them in separate plastic bags in the refrigerator. Leave an inch of the greens to prevent flavor loss and bleeding. The beets should last for about a week, but use your greens as soon as possible.
PREP: Scrub your beets and rinse the greens before using.
USE: Beets can be roasted, baked, steamed or eaten raw. The Klesick family loves to boil the beets, quarter them and eat them while they’re still warm with a bit of butter straight out of the pot! Be sure to sauté, steam or braise the tasty greens with a little olive oil and salt.

Cauliflower
STORE: Store cauliflower for up to one week in your crisper covered by a plastic or paper bag.
PREP: Keep whole and chop off ¼ inch off the stem or cut the head into bite-sized florets.
USE: Steam, roast, bake or stir fry cauliflower. Be careful not to overcook!  For a simple, delicious pizza, try this “pizza” with cauliflower crust recommended by a customer (great for those eating gluten free).

Fennel
STORE: Store fresh fennel in the refrigerator crisper. It should keep fresh for about four days, but try to use it as soon as possible for the best flavor.
PREP: Wash your fennel thoroughly to remove all dirt. Don’t be afraid to use all parts of the fennel in cooking: the base, stalks and leaves. The ideal way to slice your fennel is to cut it vertically through the bulb.
USE: Fennel is the unique, crunchy, licorice-tasting vegetable used commonly in Mediterranean cooking. When paired with juicy oranges, the fresh flavor and crisp texture of the fennel really shines. Try this festive Fennel and Orange Salad from kiss my spatula. You can also use fennel leaves as an herbaceous seasoning to entrees or soups.

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Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear

I have been spending some of the most blissful moments of the farm season during the fall clean up. Ever since I got my new Belgian team, Sally and Sandy, I have been working them a lot. My previous team was a bear to work with and, consequently, they didn’t get worked because it wasn’t any fun. But my new team—aaaaaah!—has been for the most part a dream.
However, the other week I was away for a few days and put them out on pasture so that my kiddos didn’t have to worry about them. I came home, caught them, harnessed them, and set out for the field. Fortunately, my good friend Ken, from Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez, was visiting and we worked them together. Those two fillies were a handful that morning. When it comes to horses, I am a greenhorn, but Ken is a real teamster. I had bought the girls from Ken and he quietly reprimanded me and said, “No more green grass for them.” Our pastures are very rich and so after feeding off them for a week the Belgians were affected like a toddler on soda pop—they were all wound up. It took a couple of hours driving them around the farm to burn off that excess sugar!
I have always pastured my horses and so this experience got me thinking that maybe my previous team was just high strung because their feed was too rich??? I will never really know. However, I did notice today that when I harnessed up Katy, the remaining horse from my first team, for the most part she was amenable working with me. And she has been off pasture for a couple days and eating our local hay. (We have local hay available if you would like some.)
Yesterday and this morning, I harnessed up Sally and Sandy and we backed up and headed out to the field. It was like I was “Driving Miss Daisy.” We leisurely wandered out to the field got the disc and went to work. Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… all these sounds as the disc cut through the corn stocks. I have never heard a disc as it did its job. When we are on the tractors it is too noisy to hear yourself think let alone a disc cutting and tearing. But even before, when I was using my previous team, I had to concentrate so much on those horses as they raced through the field that I couldn’t enjoy the moment.
But today, Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… were the sounds of music. I love that sound and nothing could be finer than working with my team, the mountains in the background and the sun shining overhead! Working steady horses on a beautiful day, an old English poet from Suffolk once said, “is a poor excuse for work.” And this farmer said, “Amen.”

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Know Your Produce: Kale

Kale:

How to Store: Keep kale unwashed (moisture speeds decay) in a plastic bag in the coldest section of the refrigerator, which is usually in the back.

Shelf Life: Because kale contains a lot of water, it doesn’t last long once it has been bought. Use it within 1 to 3 days of purchase for the tastiest results. Kale that has been sitting around can develop a strong bitter flavor.

Best Uses: Kale has a slight cabbage-y taste but none of the bitterness of some other greens, like broccoli rabe. Remove the leaves from the tough center stalk before sautéing or adding them to salads. Try adding 2 cups chopped leaves to a pot of soup. Simmer until tender, about 4 minutes. Kale is also a good substitute for spinach.

Try this delicious sounding recipe for kale and olive oil mashed potatoes! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001566.html