CSA Week 4

Vegetable List

Oh Boy! Beets!
Gonzales Cabbage
Napa Cabbage
Some Cucumbers
Mediterranean Eggplant
Orion Fennel
Kossak Kohlrabi
Muir Head Lettuce
New Red Fire Lettuce
Ailsa Craig Sweet Onions
Virtus Radicchio
PYO Herbs
PYO Flowers

Notes from the Farm

Here we go... the food is in.

Essentially everything we grow is connected to some part of my farming past... threads bound to my heart.
There was a time when I was just picking varieties out of a hat, farming with my eyes, because, well, I didn't know any better, or any more, or any other way of doing it. But farming is inherently social, it's a culture, an agriculture, and I find more warmth in our totemistic approach than by just chasing the hip-vegetable vanguard.
I grow Napa for Tom Earle, a cornerstone farm mentor, equal parts Wendell Barryian stoic and second wave Back to the Lander. I remember the conversation vividly as if 20 years hadn't passed... him, lean and cross-legged, looking at my records from the previous year, and seeing the gap that could be filled by Napa Cabbage.
Evan Grant is my best friend, when I first was getting to know him 3 decades ago, he had a block print shirt of a beet that said “OH, Boy! Beets”... I'd grow beets without that connection, but I grow them for him, and I think of him anytime we are handling the beets.
I grow Okra and Collards for Earle Sassar, I grow Mediterranean (Turkish) Eggplant for Courtney, I grow Corn for Johnny Pease, I grow Broccoli for Matt Derose, I grow Silver Surfer Cukes for Marly Davies, I grow Head Lettuce for Bruce and Don, I grow Kohlrabi for Terry, I grow Tomatillos for Chip and Marian, I grow Husk Cherries for the Sparks Family... and on and on.
I grow Sunflowers for my ex-wife. Gina loved the Sunflowers, I think it was the only thing she really loved about farming... and while there is no love loss, and both of us are happier and healthier now, we did have a few magical moments, and I grow Sunflowers to honor those moments and her... and growing Sunflowers for Gina makes me happy.
In the morning at the kitchen sink, or on the tractor, or taking stock of the fields after dinner, I can kind of lose myself... I daydream with the farm... fiddle with my memories, remember the loves of my life and the people who I've connected with through food... it's not just food, or a job, or whatever... it's kinda this living, pulsing, ever unfolding record of my life... it's all of all the days, tethered to my heart.
And it can be hard to tell, depending on the day, if the farm is a constant choral celebration of connection, or a haunted house of my own creation... and I'm not sure it matters, I love it either way.

Recipes

Napa Cabbage Slaw

8 cups very thinly sliced Napa cabbage (from 1 medium head)
1 beet, shredded
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup rice vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup fresh mint leaves, torn if large

In a large bowl, toss together cabbage and beets. In a small bowl, combine sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Stir until sugar dissolves, then pour over cabbage mixture. Toss until slaw is coated and top with mint leaves.

Tricolor-Salad Pizza

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 Pizza Dough
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 ounces fresh salted mozzarella, thinly sliced
10 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (2 cups)
Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated, for sprinkling
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup very thinly sliced fennel (from 1 bulb)
1 cup thinly sliced radicchio
4 cups finely cut, loosely packed Napa Cabbage

Preheat oven to 450° with a pizza stone or baking sheet set on a rack in lowest position. Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil onto a rimmed quarter-sheet pan (9 by 12 1/2 inches). Stretch dough to edges of pan. Drizzle evenly with 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Top with mozzarella, leaving a 1/2-inch border, then tomatoes, cut-sides up.
Bake in pan on stone until bubbly and crust is golden brown and set on bottom, 20 to 22 minutes. Sprinkle generously with Parmigiano. Whisk together vinegar, oregano, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Toss with fennel, radicchio, and Napa to evenly coat. Top pizza with salad; serve immediately with more Parmigiano.

Roasted-Eggplant Dip with Greek Yogurt

2 medium eggplants (about 2 pounds)
1 small garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
½ cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

Using tongs, cook eggplants one at a time over the flame of a gas burner (or a grill), turning as skin chars and bubbles, until completely soft, about 15 minutes. (If eggplant doesn't soften, finish cooking on a baking sheet in a 375-degree oven.) Let stand until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Peel off charred skin and discard. Coarsely chop the eggplants, and place in a colander to drain, about 1 hour. Finely chop, and transfer to a bowl.
Using a chef's knife, press flat side of blade back and forth across garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to make a paste. Mix into eggplant. Stir in oil. Mix in yogurt and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. (Dip can be refrigerated, for up to 1 day.) Drizzle with oil before serving.