This week your basket contains: winter squash, pumpkin, shallots, potatoes, celery, Brussels sprouts, celeriac, carrots, onions, parsley, PARSNIPS, cauliflower, sweet peppers, and salad mix (radicchio, lettuce & spinach)
This is your Thanksgiving double basket. We will skip deliver next Friday, November 26th and be back to delivering on December 3rd.
Pumpkin is really no different from other winter squash in that you can add it to any winter squash recipe with good results. Conversely, you can also use the winter squash to make pumpkin pies if you want. This recipe is tasty, but the real standout in it is the presentation.
PUMPKIN WITH SOUP INSIDE
7-8 lb. pumpkin 4 cups vegetable or beef broth 4 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup peeled, chopped tomato salt and pepper 1/4 cup rice
1 cup minced leek Bay leaf 1/2 cup minced carrot
1 cup sour cream (optional) 1/2 cup minced celeriac or celery 3 Tbs. chives (optional)
Cut a lid from pumpkin, leaving on stem as handle. Clean out seeds. Melt 2 Tbs.. of butter and brush on inside. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, with lid on, in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté minced vegetables in 2 Tbs.. butter until wilted, 5-10 minutes. Add broth; heat to boiling point. Add tomatoes and season to taste. Place uncooked rice in pumpkin. Add boiling broth and veggie mixture and float bay leaf on top. Cover and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender, but not soft. Place on serving dish. To serve, ladle out soup, scraping out portion of pumpkin with each serving. Garnish with sour cream and chives, if desired. Serves six to eight.
This recipe is a nice alternative way to serve your acorn squash if you are bored with traditional squash puree.
CRISP-BAKED ACORN SQUASH RINGS
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons honey
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups fine fresh bread crumbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small acorn squash, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds and seeded
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, milk and honey. In another shallow dish, stir together the cornmeal, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Dip the squash rings into the egg mixture and then into the crumb mixture, coating them well and patting the crumbs on well. Generously butter 2 rimmed baking sheets. Arrange the squash rings in one layer on the sheets and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through, or until they are tender. Sprinkle the squash with salt to taste and arrange on a heated platter. Makes 6 servings. From Gourmet magazine, November 1985
For us Brussels sprouts lovers, this is the week we’ve been waiting for for months. In this recipe the roasting gives the outer leaves of the sprouts a crispy texture, while the middles remain nice and tender.
ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BROWNED GARLIC
1 lb Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed then cut in half
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Toss the Brussels sprouts with half of the olive oil, 1 tsp ground sage and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place Brussels sprouts in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes or until spouts are crisp, yet tender. Heat remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add sliced garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and stir in fresh lemon juice if using. Add roasted sprouts to the garlic oil, and toss to combine.
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This recipe is a fun way to use the carrots in your basket. You can add other root vegetables like the celeriac, or parsnip with good effect. It also is a good way to take advantage of the parsley leaves.
CAROTE INSALATA
2 lbs carrots
coarse grain salt
1 med lemon
15 sprigs Italian Parsley
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs. capers
½ cup olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Boil carrots, skin on, for 10 minutes. Remove skins by rubbing under cold water. Cut into ¼ inch disks. Cut lemons into quarters then slice as thinly as possible. Chop parsley and garlic. Mix all ingredients in a glass bowl & season to taste. Serve at room temperature.
The salad mix is predominately radicchio this week. We are growing more and more fond of this lovely winter salad green. Thus far this is our favorite recipe. The ice water bath portion of this recipe is important to making the salad as good as it can be, so don’t skip it even if you are tempted.
RACICCHIO SALAD
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup good-quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup good-quality sherry vinegar
3 heads radicchio
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups Manchego, finely grated and divided
1 pinch salt, plus more to taste
In a large bowl, add the balsamic vinegar, sherry vinegar, and chopped onion. Break the onion up into pieces so that all of that oniony flavor gets into the vinegar. Let it sit for 1 hour and then strain out the onions. Remove the cores from the radicchio and discard. Chop into 1-inch pieces. Take 1 gallon of water in a large bowl and add enough ice to make the water icy cold. Once cold, strain out the ice and add the radicchio to the water. Let it sit for 15 minutes to remove some of its bitterness, strain and then spin in a salad spinner until dry. Fluff the dried radicchio. (Note: If you don’t strain the ice out before adding the radicchio, you’ll be pulling out ice pieces for half an hour so that you don’t have wet radicchio.) Add the honey and olive oil to the strained vinegars and whisk. Using your hands, toss the radicchio with the dressing until evenly coated. Add 1 cup of finely grated Manchego, salt, and toss again. To serve, top the salad in a serving bowl with the remaining 1/2 cup grated Manchego or distribute salad and Manchego among 4 to 8 bowls or plates. Adapted From Toro Bravo. Stories.Recipes. No Bull by John Gorham & Liz Crain
Parsnips are a wonderful root vegetable that is used in many of the say ways as carrots. Roasting them brings out their sweet, earthy flavor. We chop them into slices and put them around a roasting chicken with small potatoes, carrots, and onions. Baste them as you would the chicken. They can also be boiled and mashed with potatoes. This parsnip take on carrot cake is a great alternative Thanksgiving desert. We love it.
PARSNIP CAKE
1 1/4 cups salad oil
1 1/4 cups sugar (or equivalent honey)
2 cups flour
1 Tb baking powder
1 Tb baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 eggs
3 cups grated raw parsnips
1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, or almonds)
Thoroughly combine oil and sugar. Sift together dry ingredients. Add to oil and sugar mixture, alternating with eggs and beating well after each addition. Mix in parsnips, then nuts. Pour into greased pans or spoon into muffin tin. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven until cooked through (1 hr and 10 minutes for cake and approx. 20 minutes for muffins). From The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash.
Many people know the rice alternative made with cauliflower. You can do a similar thing with celeriac.
FRAGRANT CELERIAC RICE
1 large celeriac
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1.5 tsp Herbes de Provence
½ tsp sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel and chop the celeriac into chunks. Place the celeriac chunks in the food processor and process or “rice” using the S-blade. This should take about 30 seconds. Don’t over process and pulse a few times to get consistency in riced texture. Transfer the riced celeriac to a medium bowl. Mix in the olive oil, herbes de provence, and sea salt. Pour onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring at the half-way point. Remove from the oven and serve. Serves: 4
Pumpkin Ridge Gardens 