Kretschmann Farm July 3, 2007

257 Zeigler Rd., Rochester, PA 15074 (724)452-7189

don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com --note our new e-mail address—

Greetings from the Kretschmanns,

We are still not quite back to normal after our long drought and the hailstorm, but things are moving in that direction. Most of the damaged squash has been picked and new zucs have formed. It’s amazing how fast this plant grows! Damaged greens are either recovering or have been picked and gone out the door. Tomatoes and peppers continue to grow and soon no sign of hail will be visible. Everything is benefiting from the rains.

You might notice that the cauliflower has a little different look to it than the normal smooth white head—it has a purplish caste in the background and there are spaces between the florets. We puzzled over this and have come to the conclusion this is the result of the severely dry conditions in which it had been growing. There are purple varieties of cauliflower (bright yellow as well!), so perhaps this color reflects some heritage, and when broccoli is stressed, it too gets a rough spaced appearance. We’ve eaten it and there’s nothing wrong with the taste.

Some subscribers have asked what the longish red roots with beet tops are. These are an heirloom beet variety, Forono, which are particularly uniformly deep red and sweet. We like them for slicing because the rings are uniform and they cook quicker. We’ve been giving these randomly, so sooner or later you’ll likely get a bunch, if you haven’t already.

Sorry if you were expecting a cabbage this week. We saw the cauliflower coming on quickly and still have a lot of broccoli, so we figured the cabbage could wait. We usually leave many of the leaves on cauliflower to protect it. These (as well as broccoli and cabbage leaves) can be eaten. Prepare them as you would collards or kale. Speaking of wasted leaves—carrot tops when boiled make a great base stock for soups or anything where a flavorful stock is needed.

This is the last of the spring crop of spinach. Hope you have enjoyed it.

Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew

Veggie ID’s: We’ve taken a few pictures and posted them online under the newsletters to help you identify some of the herbs and vegetables you might be unfamiliar with. The small bag of mesclun greens is often a puzzle. This week it has baby mizuna, Red Russian kale, arugula, and raddichio.

Made this Sunday and it was delicious…

Simple Curried Cauliflower: Cut up a cauliflower into bite sized florets and piece using most of the stems as well. Saute 7 min in 1 tbs olive oil (or ghee) with 1 tsp minced fresh ginger. Stir in 2 tsp. curry powder ¼ tsp cumin and continue cooking 1 min. longer. Stir in ½ c. plain yogurt, cover tightly and turn down heat to med-low. Simmer until tender (about 7 min.). Mix in ½ c. chopped scallion greens about 1 min before serving. Boil off excess liquid to make a thick sauce before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley. Salt to taste.

Add a few thinly sliced carrots and sauté with the cauliflower for a nice combination veggie curry.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Carrot Salad: Cut veggies into bite-sized pieces, steam or cook until just barely tender and cool quickly by dousing in cold water. (if necessary cook separately) Combine 2 tbs. wine vinegar, 1/3 c. oil, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Toss veggies with dressing.

Tortellini w/Broccoli and Carrots- Either parboil broccoli pieces and sliced carrots until tender and add garlic powder, or stir fry the same (garlic first). Add this to hot tortellini with a little olive oil. Season as desired, salt, nutritional yeast, oregano, or dry parmesan. It's very colorful and a quick meal.

The small bag of heavy oval leafed greens on thick stems, is purslane. This is a wild green that is loaded with nutrients and is the richest source of omega-3 fatty acid (essential to metabolism, builds the immune system, and acts as a deterrent to heart disease) in the plant kingdom. The larger stems are too tough to eat raw, but the lemony peppery leaves are good in starchy salads like pasta salad, tabouleh, potato salad… Or leaves can be added to soups (where purslane acts like a thickener.) One can also use it wherever you’d use okra. Cusines of India, Greece, Turkey, and Mexico also have dishes with purslane. It makes a great salad. Try ½ c. purslane leaves, 1 diced cucumber, ¼ c. diced onions, some mint leaves, 1 diced beet or tomato. Mix w/2T olive oil 2 T. lemon juice and a dash of salt.

Purslane Fritters: Mix 1c. minced purslane sprigs, 1c. fine fresh bread crumbs, 2 tbs. currants, 1tbs. ground ginger, 1/2 tbs. black pepper, 1/2 t. salt. Beat 3 eggs well and add dry ingredients. Mold into about 15 fritters and fry until golden brown.