We are having a harvest party this Sunday at 10am, followed by a pot-luck lunch at 1pm. We’ll be focusing on getting the winter carrots topped, boxed up and into the cooler. We have an amazing crop of storage carrots this year—straight, long beautiful roots that are sweet and oh so crispy, and pop right out of the sandy soil effortlessly. Come for as little or as much of the work as possible. Snack on carrots as you go and bring a dish to share for lunch in the new farm kitchen.
Delicious Kale
Scottie sent in an amazing sounding recipe for kale pesto. Kale is a really hearty green that will grow well past the fall and into early winter, getting sweeter with each cold night. It is popular in soups, casseroles, salads, steamed or sauteed as a side dish or baked and salted in chip form. I like it cooked down with garlic or onion and added to scrambled eggs for a quick yet substantial start to the day.
Kale is loaded with nutrients including beta-carotene, antioxidants, vitamins A and C, potassium, fiber, iron, calcium and protein. The recipe, by way of The Burlington Free Press, is below. We’ll have two kinds of kale tonight at pick-up, both flat and curly leafed varieties to experiment with.
Kale-Sage Pesto Recipe
Adapted from Jess Hyman, Vermont Community Garden Network. Makes about 1 ¾ to 2 cups pesto.
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
- ½ cup fresh sage leaves, more to taste
- 1 large bunch (about 6 to 7 large leaves) kale, stems removed and torn into pieces to yield about 8 packed cups
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup grated cheese such as Parmesan
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1. Put sunflower seeds in a dry skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking occasionally, just until golden and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Cool.
2. Place garlic and sunflower seeds in a food processor with a metal blade and pulse just until evenly and finely minced. Scrape down sides of food processor as needed.
3. Add sage, 2 cups of the kale, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice to the food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped and combined, scraping down sides of food processor as needed.
4. Add the rest of the kale 2 cups at a time, pulsing after each addition and scraping down sides regularly.
5. Add cheese and pulse until just combined. Taste and add more sage if desired.
6. With the food processor running, drizzle olive oil into feed tube until pesto is evenly mixed.
7. Taste and unless pesto is already salty (this will depend on your cheese), pulse in the salt and generous grinds of pepper. Taste again and add more lemon juice or oil if needed.
Follow this link for the complete article plus a recipe for a chickpea flour pizza crust to spread your pesto on.
In the Farm Shares
In the veggie share: the full array of winter squash, leeks, garlic, potatoes, spinach, napa cabbage, cabbage, onions, swiss chard, kale, carrots, beets, last week’s tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, sage, wheat berries, and red and blue cornmeal.
In the meat share: Chickens, beef and pork in the freezer.
Related articles
- Full and By Farm: Preparing for Cold (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Fall Treats (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Fall Gifts (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: More Cider and A New Calf (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Reber Rock Farm Fotofeeds #3 (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
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