December 17th
Good morning!
Last night, when i opened my Take Out dinner, I suddenly realized that i was about to experience something i had wished upon for years. Sitting in front of me was a salad made with our Chez Nous Salad Mix from a restaurant! You think it would have hit me when I ordered it, I mean we were making a drop off at The Kitchen in Ridgeway and she
has been ordering salad mix lately but I guess fatigue was running the show at the time. So after, a much longer time than necessary( thank you for your patience)...we came home with a very large bag of food. Luckily, it's one of those places where,
everything is good because we were in no state to make even the simplest decisions. When i saw my salad, covered in perfectly sliced thin beets and juicy bright pink grapefruit I was intrigued but then I notice that this was
my salad mix, it was a moment and it was delicious! Grapefruit ...you are my new salad friend.
I can't believe there is only 1 week till Christmas... the farm has really swallowed us up this season and it looks like yet again, there are some big goals to accomplish this week. The weather is expected to get milder and so the rest of the carrots need to get out. Rick is also hoping to get the second layer of plastic on the greenhouse. Next weeks baskets will be on the simple side as somehow, someway Christmas needs to happen here too! Therefore, expect extra root crops and less fresh greens.
In your baskets this week:
Carrots
Hakurei Turnips
Chipotles (ideas and recipe below)
Salad Mix
Tatsoi
x-tra Greens: Kale and salad
 |
| Rick working on Hakurei Turnips while I harvest Tatsoi. |
 |
| Harvesting is a little more involved at first, as you want to take time to clean the plants from any bad leaves. |
 |
| Rick hooked up some fans in greenhouse this week. How convenient that my brother and sister-in law where changing all the fans in their house! |
 |
| Harvesting outside...not so comfortable. However, a little less muddy with the snow. |
 |
Something we have noticed about harvesting leeks after a hard frost is a yellow tinge they get and extra sweetness too!
|
Finally, we've given out some Chipotles this week. These are Red Jalapeños that have been smoked and dried. They were smoked with some clean Applewood. They have a lovely sweet raisin smell.
I use them all sorts of ways. The simplest is to grind them in a spice grinder seeds and all and then use to season dishes.
Another way, is to re-hydrate by soaking in hot water and then you can even remove seeds if you don't like so much spice. I often put them into what ever i'm cooking( soup) when i see they are soft enough i will remove the Chipotles and take them apart in sink...washing out the seeds. Then i Vitamix (blend) with juice from my recipe.
They can be used to make sauces such as Chipotle Aioli from dried or moist ( moist allows you so remove seeds and gives a fresher taste)
Please use gloves!
 |
Here I was building some meatballs....i used the chipotles in sauce.
Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients:
coconut or olive oil
Nice chunk of ginger
2 large sweet potatoes
2 leeks
1 clove of garlic
1-3 Chipotles ( i used 3 seeds removed and it was hot)
1 can coconut milk
1/2 to 3/4 box of pre-made vegetable broth
2 tsp of tomato paste
pinch nutmeg
pinch cumin seed
Start with leeks in oil (coconut or olive).
When soft add ginger and garlic.
Add sweet potatoes, whole chipotles vegetable broth.
When all is cooked, remove chipotles and seed then put in blender with soup. ( you can leave some out if you like chunkier) Blend till smooth. Season with Nutmeg and toasted cumin seed.
* Toast cumin seed in dry pan till aromatic.
|
Thanks! Have a great week!
Shirley
