CSA Week 9, Thanks for all the memories summer members!

Vegetable List

Nufar Basil
Culiver's Carrots
Delectable Sweet Corn
Eggplant
Lacinato Kale
Kossak Kohlrabi
Ailsa Craig Sweet Onion
Sungolds
Tomatoes
Some Kind Of Zucchini and/or Summer Squash


Notes from the Farm

Snap your clapper, and whammo, just like that, summer is gone...
Today is the last day for the summer members. Summer members, thank you... thanks for being a part of the farm this season.
The farm season always feels very long in a hyper-short kind of way. I feel like, when I'm just goofing around in the farmstand, chatting up some poor unsuspecting customer, I'm always giving either predictions or explanations... looking forward or back 6 weeks... it's a fun game to play... the what's coming or the why'd it do that.
Every season is unique, some are more average, some are more medium, some are remarkable. This has been a remarkable season... but not because it was the best one ever... although, it wasn't the worst either.
This season was marked by two very distinct periods. The cold, rainy spring, and the dry, hot as all blazes summer... there was not a medium setting this season, it was all gas pedal in whatever direction it happened to be going... and that was cool. This season laid more than a few challenges at our feet, and rising to meet them made for one of the most fun summers we've had on the farm.
Most things worked out... some did not... but the fun came from the grind of willpower over imminent disaster.
Thank you all for enduring the relative madness of the Hancock Family Farm. Because of you, we get to do what we love, and there isn't an effective, or eloquent, way for me to express my humble gratitude. I am grateful. Thank you.
Have a wonderful winter, and swing in for a visit every now and again... years of farming have left us only boarder-line capable of integrating with civil society... it's best we stay put on the farm, for our sake, for your sake... really for the good of humanity... it's just better that way.


Recipes

Sauteed Kohlrabi with Onions and Cream


Cubes of peeled kohlrabi
Thinly sliced white onion
Unsalted butter
Heavy cream
Salt and pepper
Grated nutmeg
1. Cook kohlrabi and onion in butter over medium-high heat until almost tender. Add a generous splash of heavy cream, and cook for a few seconds to reduce. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Serve with chicken, pork chops, or steak.


French Onion Soup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds yellow onions, sliced 1/4-inch into half circles
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry sherry
3 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small French baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3 cups)
1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot on medium-low heat. Add onions. Spread them out in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with sugar, and cook, stirring just as needed to keep onions from sticking, until they are melting and soft, golden brown, and beginning to caramelize, about 1 hour.
2. Sprinkle flour over onions, and stir to coat. Add sherry, stock, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Meanwhile, lightly toast bread under a broiler; set aside. Ladle hot soup into six ovenproof bowls. Arrange the bowls on a baking pan. Place 1 or 2 slices of toasted bread over each bowl of soup. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated cheese over bread in each bowl, and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and crusty brown around the edges. Watch carefully that bread doesn't burn. Serve immediately.


Caramelized Onion Tart with Olives

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, leaves
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/4 cup oil-cured small black olives, pitted and halved lengthwise
4 to 6 anchovy fillets (optional), rinsed
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter with oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and thyme, and cook until onions are golden and soft, about 10 minutes.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry, and trim to an 8 1/2-by-15-inch rectangle. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, transfer to oven, and immediately reduce oven to 400. Bake until pastry begins to rise, about 12 minutes.
3. Arrange onions in a single layer over pastry, leaving a 1-inch border around edge. Top with olives and anchovies if using. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 375 degrees, and bake until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes more (tent with foil if crust browns too quickly). Cut into squares.