This week your basket contains: Florence fennel, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, red onions, garlic, and cabbage.

We hope you all had as nice a Thanksgiving as we did. The clear and colder than normal weather (19 degrees here), while beautiful, was a bit nerve wracking for us. We spent part of our time off harvesting and storing some crops in our walk in cooler and covering other sensitive crops with frost fabric. In the end, we came through quite well and are pleased with how things look in our gardens and hoop houses. Let’s hope we’ve seen the end of really cold weather for the winter! We would have liked to have a bag of greens for you today to round out the basket, but we felt like the greens, while they survived the cold, need a week or so to recover a bit before we start harvesting them again.

The recipe below is from the Moosewood Cookbook. It is one of our favorite ways to use cabbage and potatoes together. You can also use this recipe for a stovetop, one-pan version by simply topping the cabbage mix with the potatoes right in the pan you sautéed it in.

SOLYANKA

4 medium potatoes

4 cups shredded cabbage

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

3 Tbs butter

1/2 tsp caraway seed

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dill weed

black pepper

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

paprika

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup yogurt

2 Tbs cider vinegar

Scrub (don’t peel) the potatoes, cut into small pieces and boil until mashable. Drain and mash, while still hot, with cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt. Sauté onions in butter with 1/2-tsp salt. After five minutes add caraway, cabbage and remaining salt. Sauté until cabbage is tender. Combine with potato mixture, and add everything except 2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds and paprika. Spread into a deep buttered casserole. Top with paprika and remaining sunflower seeds. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered 35-40 minutes.

Lamb and parsnips are an amazing combination. In addition to this recipe, we often start a lamb stew by browning parsnips in butter, removing them from the pan before browning the meat, then adding them back in to simmer with all the other ingredients.

LAMB CHOPS WITH PARSNIPS

2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 medium parsnips (about 1 pound), peeled and sliced 1/3 inch thick

3/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate (6 ounces), thawed

Zest and juice from 1 lemon

2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 lamb loin chops, 1 inch thick (2 1/2 pounds)

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the parsnips and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden and tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer the parsnips to a plate. Add the apple concentrate to the skillet and boil until syrupy and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 8 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, the parsnips and 1 tablespoon of the horseradish. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm. Meanwhile, in another large skillet, heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil until shimmering. Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper, add them to the pan and cook over high heat, turning once, until the meat is cooked but still pink throughout, about 7 minutes. Transfer the lamb and parsnips to plates. Spoon the sauce over the lamb, top the chops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of horseradish and serve.

LINGUINE WITH FENNEL AND TUNA

1 lb. linguine

2 medium fennel bulbs

3 Tbs. olive oil

3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbs. capers

2 6-oz. cans solid light tuna

salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and return to pot; reserve ½ cup pasta water. Trim the fennel bulbs, reserving ¼ chopped fronds. Quarter, core and thinly slice bulbs crosswise; cook in 1 Tbs. of the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat until golden, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Add to pasta along with fronds, lemon juice, capers, 2 Tbs. of the olive oil, and the reserved pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Flake in the tuna. Gently toss. Serves 4-6. From Everyday Food October 2003.

DECEMBER DELIVERY SCHEDULE: As we did for Thanksgiving, we will be delivering a double basket to you before Christmas/New Year’s Day. Your double will arrive Dec. 22^nd. We will skip delivery on Dec. 29^th and January 5^th, and be back to normal on January 12^th. The schedule is on our web site as well. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.