Kretschmann Farm Aug. 12, 2008
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
We’ve gotten a few ¼” showers in the last
week, but it’s been pretty hard to tell it’s rained at all within a few hours
of the rain. Yet once again we got a
call from Rich Hunter, our blueberry grower, saying that he was rained out
picking yesterday. Our Tuesday folk are
crying the blues.
It always comes as a great surprise how often
people comment on the recipes. When we first started this method of providing
veggies through subscriptions, often these were just meals we had
made for ourselves. As time went on, we began including many extended family
favorites and ethnic traditional recipes.
Tellingly, many recipes suggested by subscribers begin with lines like,
“My grandmother used to…”, or “My mother…”. I
sense that many of us have rediscovered that when cooking with primary
ingredients, we nourish our own traditions, and our traditions nourish us as
well.
Fresh tomato sauces are quick and easy to
make-- a great way to use up ripe tomatoes which might accumulate in the
kitchen. They are best not overcooked—to
keep the tomatoes a little bit chunky.
They are also a good addition to stir fries—add them toward the end,
after all the other things have been stir fried a
little. Just a few tomatoes added at
this point substitutes for the few tbs. of water usually added just before the
low simmer to finish stir fries. Serve
with a little grated parmesan and it makes a sort of vegetarian marinara. Add some precooked chick peas and you’ve got
an entre with pasta.
Apologies for the raggedyness of the basil. It’s been chewed a bit by Japanese beetles,
but doesn’t effect the usefulness of the leaves. We seem to have turned the tide with these
beetles. Three weeks ago, we were
capturing about half a gallon per trap per day, now it’s just a pint in two
days. Though there are still lots of
them out there, the next two plantings of basil are untouched!
Hoping you enjoy the cooler weather, and
all those veggies, we
are
----
Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew
Tomato Note: We
try to give you a mix of tomatoes—some ripe, some turners (green with one spot
of red) , some large, some small. The greener tomatoes will all ripen within a
few days. Tomatoes should not be
refrigerated unless you have a bunch of them which are dead ripe and need to
hold them. If they aren’t yet ripe and
you refrigerate, they might not ever ripen.
Even the greener “turners” will be red in a short time. To slow the process, just put them in a cool
place like basement.
Potato Note:
The spuds now have developed a good skin and don’t need to be
refrigerated. We usually don’t wash the
mature potatoes because washing can nick them and then they don’t store as
well.
Pesto: 2 c. fresh basil leaves, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp
pepper, 1-2 tsp finely chopped garlic, 2-4 T pine nuts (or walnuts), 1/2 c.
olive oil, 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese.
Combine in blender or food processor until texture is slightly
grainy. Mix well with your favorite
pasta. Pesto can be frozen in ice cube trays then removed to a plastic bag for
storage, or spread on a slightly oiled pie pan and cut into cubes when frozen. Frozen pesto makes for a gourmet quick-meal
year round. It’s hard to have too much
frozen pesto stashed away.
Pesto
Pizza: Spread pesto atop pizza crust, then arrange
thinly sliced tomatoes or olives on the top. Bake until tomatoes soften.
Tested this
one just last night—A++:Radicchio Salad with Tomatoes: Clean and shred 1 small radicchio. Cut up 2 tomatoes into bite sized
chunks. Dice 4oz. Feta cheese. Gently chop 1 c. basil leaves. Whisk 5tbsp olive oil, 1tbsp lemon juice,
salt, pepper to taste. Toss veggie
ingredients; drizzle with dressing.
Vegetable Lo Mein: 2 cups pepper strips, 1 cup shredded carrots, 1-2 cup shredded green
cabbage, 1/2 cup chopped green onion, 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 1/2 teaspoon
pepper, 4 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoon oil stir fried. Stir in 1/4 cup
soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons water. Add 12 onces
cooked vermicelli, thin spaghetti noodles, or somen
noodles and toss. Remove from heat and toss with 3 teaspoons sesame oil. Variation: add chicken, tofu or pork strips
to stir-fry. Variation: add bean sprouts when adding sesame oil.
An all-time
favorite: Carrot Soup With Dill Pesto: Saute 4 large carrots, 1
onion and and 1 tsp dill seeds in 2 tbs butter until tender, about 10 minutes. Add 4 cups broth
and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are very tender, about
35 minutes. Transfer soup to blender in batches and puree. Thin with more broth
if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Combine 1 c. fresh dill and 2 tbs pine nuts or
sunflower seeds in processor and chop finely using on/off turns. Then slowly add 2 tbs olive oil and process until well blended. Season to
taste with salt and pepper.. Ladle into bowls. Swirl
pesto into soupbowls.
Special
Orders: Organic Blueberries—12
pt. flat $45 (We’ll continue to have these as an extra as long as the season lasts—likely
late Aug.) Basil—1/2bu. $11 Jalepenos
or Hungarian Wax Hot Peppers--$15/half bu.