This week your basket contains: carrots, winter squash, onions, beets, potatoes, cabbage, celeriac, and leeks

Boy, are we happy to be delivering again!  We greatly appreciated all the support and positive emails we received last week.  Sometimes it is hard for us to remember that you all signed up to support our farm knowing it meant in good times as well as bad.  Thank you! All in all, the farm fared well in all the snow, cold temperatures and freezing rain in the past month.  We were fortunate to not lose any of our hoop houses and the few breaks in the water system were very minor and easily fixed.  Before all the craziness hit we were able to cover the most sensitive outdoor crops with frost protection fabric.  That, along with the nice layer of snow kept things relatively warm (we got down to 10 degrees or colder) and losses were minimal.  Greens (collards, chard, etc.) and Brussels sprouts seemed to take the cold the hardest and will need a bit more time to recover before we can add them to your basket again.  Even though we missed a delivery, we did not give you a full double basket this week but will spread out the veggies slated for the missed week (for example we usually don’t give potatoes and squash in the same week).  WE SENT OUT A BULK EMAIL ANNOUNCING THE CANCELLATION OF DELIVERY LAST THURSDAY.  If you did not see that email, please check your spam folder then let us know if we have your email address wrong so we can update our database.

With beets and cabbage in your basket, borscht is a natural.  This is one of the best borscht recipes we’ve tried.

LILIIYA’S UKRAINIAN BORSCHT

1 pound of lean pork

8-10 cups of water

4 med chopped potatoes

half head of chopped cabbage

4-6 chopped beets

chopped fresh dill (about 1/4 cup)

1 medium onion

2 TB butter

4 medium finely chopped carrots

4 finely chopped tomatoes (canned or frozen)

In a pan, brown pork.  Add the browned pork to a large soup pot with water and boil for 15 minutes.  Add potatoes and boil another 10 min. Add cabbage, beets, and dill.  Boil another 20 min.  Meanwhile, in a separate pan, brown onion in butter.  Cook until golden. Add carrots to the onions and cook until tender. Add tomatoes and simmer slowly for 10-15 minutes.  Add the pan vegetables to the soup pot.  Add enough water to make the consistency of soup you enjoy.  Add salt to taste.  Cook until all the vegetables are soft.  Serve topped with sour cream sprinkled with chopped parsley.

This is an amazing salad that has turned more than one person into an enthusiastic beet eater.  It is great with fish.

BEET AND ORANGE SALSA

2  medium beets

1 medium orange

1 small lemon, halved widthways

30g pitted Kalamata olives, quartered lengthways

½ small onion, finely chopped

15g chopped flat-leaf parsley

½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed

¾ tsp cumin seeds, toasted and crushed

½ tsp sweet paprika

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp hazelnut or walnut oil

Salt

Boil the beets in plenty of water for about 20 minutes (they may take much longer, depending on the variety), until a skewer goes in smoothly. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel, then cut into 5mm dice and place in a bowl.  Peel the orange and one lemon half, making sure you remove all the outer pith, then cut them into quarters.  Remove the middle pith and any seeds, and cut the flesh into 5mm dice. Add to the beet bowl, along with the olives, red onion and parsley. In a separate bowl, mix the spices, the juice of the remaining lemon half and the nut oil. Pour this on to the beetroot and orange mix, stir and season with salt to taste. It’s best to let the salsa to stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes, to allow the flavors to mingle.  From Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi

CHICKEN TAGINE WITH SWEET POTATOES AND CELERIAC

3 Lbs. chicken thighs

salt and freshly ground pepper

½ Tbs. ground cumin

3 Tbs. butter

1 large onion thinly sliced

2/3 cup raisins

pinch of saffron threads, crumbled

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 Lb. sweet potatoes or Kabocha squash peeled and cubed (1/2 inch)

1 celeriac peeled and cubed (1/2 inch)

1 Tbs. honey

Rub chicken pieces with salt, pepper and cumin.  If time allows, let stand for 1 to 2 hours.  Covering the chicken and refrigerating overnight would be best.  When ready to prepare the dish, heat the butter in a large casserole or Dutch oven and cook chicken in batches until golden on all sides.  Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add raisins, saffron, cinnamon and ginger and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Pour 2 cups water into the casserole.  Cover and cook the chicken for 30 minutes over low heat.  Add the sweet potatoes or squash and the celeriac along with additional salt and pepper.  Simmer the stew, covered 20 minutes.  Carefully stir in the honey, taking care not to mash the vegetables.  Serves 4-6.  Adapted from Fooday