Fall continues unabated.  Leaves around the farm seem to have reached their peak color and are now fading and falling.  We’re done digging potatoes and we’re done picking salad mix and stir-fry greens for the season.  The celeriacs we haven’t yet picked seem to be continuing to swell, or perhaps that’s just my wishful thinking.  The recent weather has been nice, but the cold nights have effectively stopped the growth of most summer crops.  Not that they’re dead, but they might as well be: basil, peppers, sweet potatoes, okra, tomatoes, tomatillos.  Many other crops seem not to mind, however, and soldier on: cabbage, broccoli, radishes, leeks, raab.  And every rule must have an exception: zucchini is going crazy!

Kendra continues to work on her oven in every spare minute.  Currently, it’s complete enough to use, but not at all insulated.  It has a door, a dome, a “tongue” or ledge out front and a beautiful brick arch over the door.  We hope to maybe make some pizza’s in it in a couple of weeks.  The final steps will be to build a crude willow basket over the dome, covering the basket in burlap and clay “plaster” and filling the gap between the baking dome and the “basket” with perlite for insulation.  We’ll get there…

We also helped out at MOFGA‘s more-or-less annual Nose to Tail Pork Processing Workshop.  We started Saturday morning with two pasture raised hogs from local farms and finished Monday afternoon with 95 pounds of sausage, 27 pounds of smoked bacon, 11 pounds of curing bacon, 40 pounds of curing ham, 4 curing jowls (guanciale), one 20 pound ham being cured into proscuitto and a whole lot of roasts and extra bits and pieces.  The goal of the workshop is not only to demonstrate how to humanely slaughter pigs at home or on a farm, but how to do so with respect for the animals that we are killing and consuming by practicing the utmost economy (or, more appropriately, econo-gastronomy) as we butcher them.  It is said that — with pigs — you can use everything but the squeel, and we try as hard as we can to live up to that.

Important reminder: last share of the season is Tuesday, November 4; three weeks from today.

All shares contain:

• Stir-fry Greens
• Celeriac
• Sage
• Delicata squash
• Leeks

“Full” shares also contain:

• another Delicata
• an Eastern Rise squash
• Carrots
• Broccoli Raab

Veggie Notes

Stir-fry greens – We enjoyed last week’s recipe for ginger sesame greens so much that we wanted to give out more stir-fry greens so you could make it again.

Delicata squash – The queen of winter squash and probably out favorite.  Upon eating their first Delicata, some friends of ours (who were visiting us last week from Manhattan) declared it their favorite squash and have started emailing us blurry Blackberry pictures of Delicatas in markets around NYC.  They also sent us week’s recipe, which we built the share around.  I’ve already written a bit about squash, but the synopsis is: halve the squash lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, brush with olive oil and some salt and roast at 350 for 20-30 minutes or so, until a fork will easily penetrate them.  Delicata halves are perfect single servings.

Eastern Rise squash – Similar in appearance to the Sunshine squash we gave out a few weeks ago, this is another very dry fleshed squash.  Suitable for mashing or slathering in butter.

Everything else should be familiar by now…

Recipe Ideas

Delicata Squash and Celery Root Puree
Taken from a food blog, this recipe was sent along by a good friend of ours after her conversion (mentioned above).  A couple of notes to reflect this weeks share: 1. the recipe calls for 2 Delicatas or 1 pound, so they must be used to truely diminuitive squashes.  The squashes in this weeks share are all at least a pound.  2.  Because of our tiny celeriac problem, I would recommend that you eyeball how many celeriacs (from the share) you would need to make up a tennis ball sized celeriac and use those in this recipe.

2 Delicata squashes (about 1 pound)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
6 sprigs sage
4 cloves garlic
1 medium celery root (celeriac)
1/2 cup cream
1 bay leaf

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Split the squashes in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and pulpy fiber with a spoon. Brush the squashes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put 1 sage leaf and 1 clove of garlic in the cavity of each squash half, and bake on a baking sheet, cut side down, for about 40 minutes, until completely tender.

3. Peel the celery root, cut it into small chunks, and put them in a pot of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, until tender. In another saucepan heat the cream, the remaining sage, and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer, turn off the heat, and let the mixture steep.
   
4. When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and discard the garlic and sage. When the celery root is done, drain it. Put the squash and celery root in a pot and puree with an immersion blender, or put them both through a food mill or ricer. (ed: or just put them into to a blender or food processor and puree)  Add the cream mixture, and thin with milk or water, depending on the desired consistency. Adjust the seasoning, reheat, and serve.

We hope you enjoy the share!

As always, we welcome your feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or problems.