This week your basket contains:  cabbage, RADICCHIO, broccoli, onions, sweet peppers, potatoes, Hamburg parsley, and Florence fennel

There were several items left by subscribers after our Pumpkin Pick Up Weekend.  If you are missing something, let us know and we will reunite you with it!

THANKSGIVING DELIVERIES:  Your 2-week basket will be delivered on Nov. 21^st  ; we will skip delivery on Nov. 28^th, and resume normal deliveries on Dec. 5^th. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

PEAR UPDATE: OUR NEXT PEAR DELIVERY WILL BE WITH THE  BASKET BEFORE THANKSGIVING.  At that time, we will also have the 5# PEAR SAMPLE BAGS. These will have several varieties of pears and Asian pears for $12.  She’ll also have Comice and Bosc pears available. The cost for these  is  2 lbs $4: 4 lbs $7.50 25 lbs $30.  In addition, you can order canned pears in either water or light syrup (1 can $8; 3 cans $22; or a case for $80) and dried half Comice pears ( 4 oz $8; 8 oz $16 or 16 oz $30)As always, please email to order.

Parsley Root, sometimes called Hamburg Parsley, was widely used in medieval times but is now a mostly “forgotten food”. It’s often cooked with other roots (try it in mashed potatoes!) and is crucial for flavoring some traditional chicken soup recipes and authentic borscht. You can add it anywhere you’re cooking up carrots, celery and onions for a vegetable soup or braise. The leaves are just parsley leaves and should be used like you would either Italian or curly parsley.

LENTIL SOUP WITH PARSLEY ROOT

1 ¼ cup dried lentils, washed and drained
2 tbs.  lard, bacon drippings, or oil
1 onion or leek, chopped

1 parsley root
4 c   water
1 tsp. salt to or to taste
several whole black peppercorns
1 whole clove
1 bay leaf
1 lg potato, peeled and grated
1 smoked sausage, skin pricked with fork
1 tbs. vinegar

In a large pot, heat fat and add parsley root (and other root vegetables if used) and onions. Sauté until onions are golden. Add lentils, water, and seasonings. Grate the potato into the mixture and add sausage. Simmer covered 1 hour until lentils and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaves. Add vinegar just before serving and adjust salt. Serve with a crusty bread and salad. Adapted from Mariquita.com

Radicchio is an amazing winter green that is just starting to gain popularity in the Nowthwest, in large part due to the efforts of Lane Sellman and The Culinary Breeding Network (who turned us on to the Sicilian cooking school).  These amazing heads of beautiful salad (or cooking) greens do very well in our climate, and we are pleased with this year’s crop.  They are a bitter(ish) green.  Soaking the greens in ice water (as called for in the recipe below) mellows the bitterness significantly.

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