THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: cabbage, onions, winter squash, celery, and bok choy

Last month’s spate of low overnight temperatures is having an impact on our baskets.  Many of the crops (especially greens like chard, collards & kale) will need a few weeks of nicer growing weather to get past the damage.  Things we have in hoop houses fared better (the exact reason we invested in the hoop houses).  The celery was in a hoop house and covered with frost protection fabric and still had significant damage (we threw out as many stalks due to cold damage as we included in your baskets).  We have been taking outer stalks on a cut-and-come-again basis in the hopes that warmer weather will give us another harvest in a few weeks.  We included a lot of leaves on your celery with the thought that they are great in stock.  Perhaps the best way to use your celery this week would be in a mirepoix. Mirepoix, raw, roasted, or sauteed with butter or olive oil, is the flavor base for a wide variety of dishes such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.  The listed veggies are really just a suggestion, and you can use whatever root-like veggies you have on hand.

MIREPOIX

1 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced celery and/or celeriac

Try to dice vegetables to a uniform size. You can dice into larger pieces for a longer-cooking recipe, smaller for a shorter cooking time. The diced vegetables can be sauteed in olive oil or butter over relatively low heat until starting to brown. A littlle tomato sauce can then be added if desired.

In the recipe below you can use diced celeriac to bulk up the celery stalks.

CREAM OF CELERY SOUP

3 tablespoons butter

1 ¹⁄₂ lbs celery ribs, sliced

2 large onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons flour

6 cups chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 -4 dashes hot sauce

salt

white pepper

celery leaves

In a large sauce pan, melt butter, add celery, onions, and garlic. Cook over medium low heat until soft. Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes over low heat. Add chicken broth and bay leaf, bring to a boil reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf, puree (in small batches) in a blender or processor. Add cream, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Reheat and simmer 5 minutes. Garnish with celery leaves. Adapted from Geniuskitchen.com

We’ve been harvesting the bok choy with the same method as the celery and are pleased with the size of this week’s harvest.  We should have another harvest of leaves or perhaps whole heads in a few weeks.  For this week, the recipe below was the first to come to mind.  It can be made with any white fleshed fish.

PAN-SEARED SEA BASS WITH BOK CHOY AND ORIENTAL NOODLES

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 (5 ounce) skinless sea bass or orange roughy fish fillets, no more than 1/2-inch thick
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 (14-1/2 ounce) chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil (optional)
1 (5 ounce) package curly Chinese noodles
1 small head bok choy
1 (6 ounce) can or 8-ounce jar straw mushrooms, drained (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat sesame oil in a large deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine the flour and ginger on a plate. Dip fish into flour mixture, turning to coat lightly. Cook in hot oil for 3 minutes per side or until fish is opaque. Transfer fish to four dinner plates with raised rims. Drizzle soy sauce over fish and place plates in the oven to keep warm while preparing noodles.   Add broth and, if desired, chili oil to the same skillet. Add noodles, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Uncover and stir the noodles to separate them. Reduce heat, cover, and continue to simmer for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, cut bok choy crosswise through stems and leaves into 1/4-inch slices. Stir into noodle mixture and increase heat to high. Stir in mushrooms, if desired. Cook, uncovered, for about 2 minutes or until noodles are tender (bok choy will be crisp-tender). Using a pot holder, remove plates from oven. Spoon noodle mixture alongside fish. Serve with additional soy sauce, if desired.   Makes 4 servings.  Adapted and reprinted from Twenty-Minute Chicken Dishes by Karen A. Levin.