Paisley Farm CSA blog

In your shares, under the greens and over the beans, there lie bulbous red and white little radishes, complete with their green feathery leaves intact. Some people will bite right into the radishes after a quick rinse in water and be on their merry eating way… others, like myself some days, still do not fully understand what to do with this crispy and at times pungent vegetable. 

From the mustard family, the radish is a root who’s name comes from “radix” meaning root in Latin. Though we leave the leaves on, to store radishes, it is best to remove the leaves and refrigerate in a bag until the next share (in other words, they last five to seven days.) Say you wait a few days and your radishes have become soft and give to pressure…. which will make for a pithy and not as crisp bite. Soak your washed and sliced radishes in ice water for a bit before using to bring the crisp texture back. 

Radishes find their way into salads mostly and are welcome additions to good lettuces, but you could also cook radishes if you desired. Cooking radishes makes them taste like turnips with more bite, but just as little color. The heat will make the colors more pastel. With sweet butter and salt, radishes become a charming snack or crudites. Placing that mixture on a fresh baguette works well. Taking this same idea, a tea sandwich can be crafted with sliced radishes, sweet butter, good salt, a bit of lemon zest and thin slices of a firm bread. Another radish option I saw in a vegetable cookbook I flipped though is below; and sounds good considering most things are better with cheese. 

Radish Salad with Parmigiano-Reggiano (or a Dry Jack Cheese)

1 bunch radishes

fresh chives, chopped (1-2 tablespoons) 

olive oil 

1 to 3 ounces cheese

sea salt, fresh pepper

salad or radish greens to garnish or serve with if desired

* Wash and de-leave radishes. Pat mostly dry, and thinly slice. Place all ingredients *except* cheese in a bowl and toss with enough olive oil to coat. 

*Top with grated cheese. Season and serve greens as well if doing so. 

I will also be pickling radishes this summer and will keep you all updated on how this works, if it works, and if it gives any more insight into what to do with radishes.

It’s Week Three!

An exciting box this week is coming to you…complete with the maple syrup talked about last week. The box contains:

Maple Syrup

Apples… organic & local

Mesclun mix greens from the Green House

Red Beets

Eggs

Potatoes…chippowa or russet

Onions

Carrots

Red or Black beans 

and more local delicious Cheese!

Of course, menu ideas are still bouncing along with hashes and poached eggs. Stuffed onions and beet soups keep you warm, and who says salads disappear in the winter? The greens are a perfect way to keep raw foods in your diet during this season. The carrots I have been trimming of the woody core (compost it!) and turning into a sesame and carrot slaw of sorts or stuffing grated carrots into sandwiches. 

Getting the Local Harvest newsletter, this past week I noticed a great winter recipe from a close neighbor of ours here in upstate New York. Though being on the other side of the Hudson, New Paltz is a fun little town, with plenty of local eaters as well. 

Thank you Local Harvest Newsletter ! 

Cheese and Potato Tart

This tart recipe was shared with us by Agnes Devereux of The Village TeaRoom Restaurant and Bake Shop in New Paltz, NY.

It’s delicious winter food — dense with potatoes and heavy with cream and cheese. The original recipe calls for Toussaint cheese, a raw milk cheese The TeaRoom gets from Sproutcreek Farm in Poughkeepsie, NY. Cheddar or another semi-soft cheese may be substituted. Serve with an escarole salad or other bitter greens.

For the crust:
One recipe of your favorite pie, tart, or pate brisée crust for a 8″ spring form pan

Serves 4

For the filling:

• 1 ¼ lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 ¼ c. whole milk (no ultra pasteurized)
• 1 c. heavy cream (no ultra pasteurized))
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 T. butter
• 1 medium onion, diced into ½” pieces
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 8 oz. Toussaint cheese, crust removed and grated or cut into ¼” thick slices, OR 8 oz. grated cheddar or cheese of your choice

Line the spring form pan with refrigerated crust and chill for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees until cooked but not browned, 15 – 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350.

Combine potatoes with 1 c. of the milk, cream, 1 sprig thyme and 1 garlic clove. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a gentle boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Discard thyme and garlic and let potatoes cool in the liquid.

Warm the butter in a pan over medium to low heat and add the onions, remaining thyme, garlic and salt and pepper until the onions are translucent and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, discard thyme and garlic and set aside to cool.

Drain the potatoes, straining the milk and cream into a liquid measuring cup. If necessary, add extra milk to equal 1 ¼ c. liquid. In a bowl whisk together the egg and a pinch of nutmeg and then add the milk and cream mixture. Season with salt and pepper and whisk to combine.

Scatter ½ the onions, half the potatoes and ½ the cheese in the baked tart shell. Then add make a second layer with the remaining onions and potatoes. Top with the remaining cheese. Pour the milk/egg mixture over the filling and cover with foil. Make sure foil is tented and not touching the surface of the tart.

Bake for about 45 minutes, remove foil and bake a further 15 minutes. Let cool for 30 -60 minutes before serving.

We are taking orders for weekly “extras”!

Here’s how this works:

MEMBERS ONLY: Only members of Paisley Farm CSA may order these “extras”. To order, visit this page:
http://upstatefarmsny.com/orders.html 

DEADLINE: At the beginning of each week, you will receive a message about what’s available. Orders will be delivered the following week with your CSA share. You must place your order by Thursday evening at 5:00pm (again, for delivery the next week!).

PAYPAL: The orders page uses a PayPal shopping cart. Please set up a PayPal account if you don’t already have one.

FEES & MINIMUM: There is a $2.25 handling fee per order, and your order must total at least $12.00 (including the handling fee). We ask that members respect this minimum - PayPal will not enforce it automatically, so you are responsible for adhering to this rule. We won’t be able to fill orders that are less than $12.00 total.

SHIPPING ADDRESS: PayPal will ask for your shipping address, even though you are picking up at your CSA site. It’s ideal if you can enter your CSA pick-up site as your “shipping address,” but you may have your home address saved with your PayPal account. That’s okay.

There is also a text entry field in the checkout that asks for your CSA pick-up site: just enter the name here (i.e., “Jimmy’s”). It looks like this:

look for this when you checkout

PICK-UP: You will pick-up your order with your CSA share.

PRODUCTS: Please use the links on the farm descriptions on the order page to learn more about the products. We will be offering chickens, fruit, and possibly other items soon! Stay tuned.

THANK YOU!
We’ve worked hard to set up a system that is both feasible for us while being usable for you. We hope you make use of this special service! ENJOY.