This week your basket contains: leeks, potatoes, French sorrel (half shares), purple tatsoi (full shares), garlic, Brussels sprouts, celeriac and winter squash.
We have been renovating our web site and it is ready to launch! We wanted to give all our customers a heads up in case you have bookmarked any recipes on our current web site. Those bookmarks will stop working once we put our new web site up next week. As long as you know the title of favorite recipes, you will be able to find them easily on the new site. In fact, the recipe part of the site is much improved.
People have a mix of squash this week; there are a few butternuts, some orange Kabocha and green buttercup squash. All are sweet, rich and delicious. We’ve been making a lot of squash leek soup lately and it has been delicious (see our web site for the recipe).
Tatsoi is a mild mustard green that we often add to salad mixes. It works well as a lettuce substitute on sandwiches and is perfect for stir fry combos. It can also be used in soup recipes like the sorrel recipe below. Cooking any mustard green mellows its flavor.
Sorrel is one of the earliest greens to start producing in the spring, especially when, as we do, it is grown in a hoop house. This soup has the consistency of cream of spinach soup with the unique lemony flavor of sorrel. This recipe could be expanded easily by adding potatoes and/or celeriac. The celeriac will add a creamy texture as well as the nice celery flavor. We serve this soup with a hearty, peasant style bread and hard cheese and fruit.
SORREL SOUP
3 cups chopped de-ribbed sorrel leaves
1 onion, chopped
3 cups stale bread, cubed
3-4 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic
2-3 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
salt to taste
In a large heavy bottomed pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add stock and cover. Add the bread chunks and allow the soup to simmer until the bread is thoroughly soaked. Add the sorrel and simmer for 1 minute. Place the soup in a food processor and blend until smooth. More stock can be added at this time if the soup is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste and reheat if necessary.
This is another blended soup that is quick, easy and tasty.
BRUSSELS SPROUT & ALMOND SOUP
1 lb Brussels sprouts
3 C stock
1 C milk
1/2 C blanched almonds
Steam the sprouts till tender (or cook in boiling water). Grind the almonds very finely, then toast until golden. Puree the sprouts with the stock and about 2/3 of the ground almonds, then add the milk and reheat. Sprinkle reserved ground almonds on top to serve. You can add a bit more stock or milk to thin the soup if it’s too thick.
POTATOES AND CELERIAC WITH SMOKY BACON
1 lb. potatoes
1 medium celeriac
6 ounces double-smoked bacon, cut into 1/3 in. dice
Coarse sea salt
In a large pot of boiling salted water, boil the potatoes until just tender, about 25 minutes. Peel the celeriac and drop it whole into the boiling water and boil until it can be just pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. (Undercook both vegetables rather than overcooking). Drain both vegetables. Peel and halve the potatoes, then slice them 1/3-inch thick. Likewise, slice the celeriac 1/3-inch thick. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over low heat until most of the fat has been rendered, about 8 minutes. Scrape the bacon and the fat onto a large, rimmed baking sheet. Add the potatoes and celeriac and toss gently to coat. Spread the vegetables in a single layer and bake for about 15 minutes, or until browned on the bottom and crisp. Transfer to a bowl, season with salt and serve. Serves 4. Adapted from Food and Wine Dec. 2001.
Pumpkin Ridge Gardens 