The Food Project: Youth. Food. Community.

Holiday Cards Our friends at Corey McPherson Nash designed their 2009 holiday cards around recipes from TFP's farmers, as can be found on this very blog.

What better way to celebrate the season than by cooking something delicious with seasonally appropriate ingredients? Thanks to CMN for donating to us on behalf of their clients, and for spreading the word about The Food Project through these recipes!

P.S. You can blame Michael for the punny headline

These burgers are delicious. They are a little labor-intensive, but you can freeze and reheat them for a quick, nutritious meal when you're running behind schedule. Enjoy!

From “Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.”

½ cup sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1½ cups grated beets (2 medium beets)
2 cups grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
½ cup minced onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup vegetable oil
½ cup finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons tamari
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Place a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir them until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.

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This is the soup that I grew up on. In Portuguese, we call it "Caldo Verde," or a green broth. My mom uses collard greens, because it's most similar to the portuguese kale or galician cabbage that she used back home to make this soup. The traditional way of cutting the greens is to stack them flat, roll them up like a hot dog and then slice along the roll to get very thin strips.

1.5 cups of yellow onion, peeled and minced fine
6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups chicken or vegetable. broth
4 cups water
1-2 bunches kale or collards, stems removed, leaves very thinly sliced
(optional) 3/4 pound linguica, sliced 1/4 inch thick

In a large pot, sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat, stirring until soft – do not brown.

Add potatoes, water and broth, bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft (10 – 15 minutes). While the potatoes are simmering, cook linguica in a skillet over medium to high heat, browning on both sides. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

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I’m not 100% sure what triggered this, it may have been Sundays 59-0 Patriots snow infused dismantling of the Titans or that the fields have transitioned from summer crops to fall, but I started thinking about miso soup today. Most seasons the transition from ratatouille to miso soup isn’t as pronounced. The 2009 season has yet again surprised me.

Simple Miso Soup a la today’s share:

Ingredients:

Olive oil
3 or 4 carrots cut thin
2 or 3 leeks cut thin
2 or 3 bok choy , both stems and leaves cut thin
miso, 5 or 6 tsp (I use traditional red and well worth a special trip to the supermarket)
block of tofu, cubed
water
crushed black pepper and soy sauce (tamari) to taste

Preparation:

Add olive oil, carrots, and leeks into a pan and sauté until carrots are less crunchy (approx 10 minutes).

Add bok choy, tofu, and water to just cover the veggies and cook until bok choy is tender.

Remove from heat and add miso (follow directions for use on miso container).

Add crushed pepper and soy sauce to taste.

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1 cup butter
2 leeks, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups heavy cream

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook leeks in butter with salt and pepper until tender, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes.
2. Stir cornstarch into broth and pour broth into pot. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the cream, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Bon Appetite!

Yet another vegetable transformed by the weather, Brussels sprouts, after hard frosts like we had last week, are sweet and a bit nutty, nothing like the bitter, probably grey, overcooked sulfurous brassica you might have been served as a child. We like them so much better after the frost that we always wait until late October to harvest them. Snap the sprouts off the stalk to enjoy this nutritious seasonal treat high in fiber, vitamins A and C, potassium and iron. While some boil the sprouts, stir fry them or peel them and cook the leaves individually, my favorite Brussels sprout mouthfuls have all been roasted so here are two suggestions for how to go about it:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

www.thefoodnetwork.com

1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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News from the Farm

Dear Members,

We hope to see you at Long Hill at our Fall Fiesta this coming Saturday. We'll be having a potluck lunch from 12:00 - 1:00 PM, and then will be pressing apple cider afterwards with our old-time cider press until 3:30 PM. Please join us for all or part of the day.

During my pre-farmer days (while in college) I read a passage from Hermann Hesse’s Beneath the Wheel that struck me with the beauty of Fall and of sharing a harvest. I found the passage on Google books just now:

The crunching of the apples sounded harsh but appetizing. Anyone passing by who heard this sound could not help reaching for an apple and taking a bite. The sweet cider poured out of the pipes in a thick stream, reddish-yellow, sparkling in the sun. Anyone passing by who saw this could not help asking for a glass, taking a sip and then just standing there, his eyes moistened by a sense of well-being and sweetness which surged through him. And this sweet cider filled the air far and wide with its delicious fragrance.

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update: due to the earlier darkness, markets are closing at 6 PM for the rest of the season

Dudley Town Common Farmers Market
intersection of Blue Hill Ave and Dudley Street
Tuesday and Thursdays 3-6pm
Through Oct 29

Bowdoin Street Health Center Farmers Market
230 Bowdoin St, Dorchester
Thursdays 2:30-6pm
Through Oct 29

This Week

We'll have: Beets, Carrots, Potatoes, Shelling Beans, Cabbage, Collard Greens, Swiss Chard, Kale, Spicy Salad Mix, Lettuce Mix, Parsley, (Apples and, with any luck, Corn, on Thursday) and the last of the Peppers, Eggplant, Japanese Eggplant, Yellow Summer Squash, Zucchini and Cousa Squash for the season!

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Just two more weeks after this one

Your Farmers

We've neglected all this time to introduce you to those of us who have been growing your vegetables.

Miriam Stason, Lincoln resident and glowing mother of one young boy quite fond of kohlrabi, heads up the Baker Bridge farm team in her second year as Farm Manager. Miriam is our Food Project veteran, in this her 7th year on the farm, starting out as a Grower's Assistant, pioneering the Box Shares and now at the helm as list-maker in chief.

Karen Pettinelli has been in charge of the Box Shares for the last two years, putting to work her passion for agriculture gained through many years of experience working on farms in Eastern Massachusetts. Karen also brings local knowledge, having grown up in Sudbury where her family and much loved dogs still reside.

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Save the date

What: CSA Fall Celebration
Where: Long Hill Reservation, 572 Essex St., Beverly
When: October 17, 12:00 - 2:00 PM

Please RSVP to nscsa@thefoodproject.org by October 12

News from the farm

One of my favorite things about farming is the feeling of Abundance. There are points in every season when I find myself in the middle of picking, and just can't believe how much food is out there. Whether picking tomatoes, summer squash or potatoes, I just start laughing at how much food, and therefore how much more work, lies ahead of me. I can only describe it as a kind of giddy-despair. While this season has been shorter on these moments than usual, with farmers across the state reporting record low crop yields in everything from hay to pumpkins to tomatoes to honey, we have found Abundance in abundance in the Kanner Orchard in Lincoln.

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