THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: RED KING DAIKON RADISH, CELERIAC, carrots, GREEN TOMATOES, collards, eggplant, onions, broccoli, and sweet peppers

THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING TO THE PUMPKIN PICK UP WEEKEND!  We had a blast getting to meet new folks and catching up with long-term subscribers.  Turnout was fantastic and we made a ton of pizzas; we used over 35lbs of pizza flour!  There were a few items left that we would love to get back to their owners, so if you are missing something, just let us know.

When we were in Japan, we fell in love with Japanese style pickled vegetables.  The Red King Daikon are the perfect radish for this style of pickling.

PICKLED DAIKON RADISH

1 Lb daikon

1 Tbs kosher salt

½ cup sugar

½ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup waer

1tsp ground turmeric

Slice daikon into thin rounds, place in colander and add salt.  Toss to mix and let stand in the sink for an hour.  Transfer daikon to a glass jar.  In a small sauce pan combine sugar, vinegar, and water and heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and sir n turmeric.  Pour vinegar mix over daikon slices in the jar.  Cap the jar, shake to make sure all the daikon is in the brine.  Refrigerate 24 to 48 hours before serving.  Pickles will last in the refrigerator for at least a month.  From allwaysdelicious.com

It doesn’t look like any more tomatoes will be ripening, so it is time to use those green tomatoes.  The recipe below makes a lot of soup base, which is nice to have on hand.  We also have a recipe for fried green tomatoes in the recipe section of our web site (password is in the footer of this note).

CREAM OF GREEN TOMATO SOUP

Base:

3 onions

10 green tomatoes

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

4 Tbs butter

For each 2 cups of base, add: 1 ½ cups half-and-half, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt

Cut onions and cook slowly in butter in a large heavy pot.  When they are soft, add cut, cored but not peeled tomatoes.  Cook slowly for 30 minutes, cover pot and cook an additional 30 minutes.  Add broth and pass the soup through a strainer or food mill to remove the seeds and skin.  This is the base of the soup, which can be frozen for later use.  When ready to use, stir in half-and-half, sugar and salt.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Serve hot or chilled topped with a Tbs of sour cream.  From Classic American Food Without Fuss by McCullough and Witt.

Celeriac, or celery root as it is also known, is a wonderful combination of celery flavor and potato texture.  The leaves, which are very similar to the herb lovage, can be used in soup stock or stews to add a celery flavor. To use the root, it must be peeled first.  Perhaps the easiest way to use celeriac is to grate it after peeling, dressing with mustard vinaigrette and serving cold.  The soup below is also one of my favorites.

CREAMY CELERY ROOT AND BARLEY SOUP

1/4 cup pearl Barley

1 large celeriac

4 cups water

3 cups vegetable broth

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup half-and-half

2 Tbs butter

1/2 cup milk

1 leek or onion

Cook barley with 3 cups of water and salt until tender.  Drain and set aside.  Peel celeriac and dice into 1-inch cubes.  Mince leek including tender portion of greens.  Melt butter in heavy saucepan, add leek and celeriac.  Sauté until color changes slightly (3-4 min.).  Add broth and remaining cup of water, bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered until celeriac is tender (15-20 min.).  Remove from heat.   Roughly puree half of the celeriac/leek mixture, return it to the pot.  Add the barley, milk and half-and-half, stir well and heat to serving temperature. Do not allow the soup to boil.