In Your Share This Week
- Carrots
- Escarole
- Kale
- Onions
- Peppers
- Potatoes
- Winter Squash, Delicata
Crop Notes
Carrots: Sometimes, carrots have a sense of humor too. Not every carrot is a uniform, straight root…we see all sorts of configurations when we pull up our carrots. By the time carrots hit the grocery store, everything but the ‘Grade-A’ has been culled out, but there’s a whole secret world that I would imagine most folks never see. Carrots (and other root vegetables) can appear hairy if too much Nitrogen is present in the soil, and forking generally happens when the taproot encounters an obstacle on its way down- like a clod of soil, or chunks of organic matter that aren’t fully decomposed. Here’s an assortment of treasure that I found from the cull bin just the other day (by the way this is what we either eat ourselves, or send excess to non-profits around town like Urban Gleaners, The Oregon Food Bank, or Apples to Applesauce). The carrots spiraled together are always our favorite…they’re best friends forever, awwwww. 
Chicories: Its time to eat your bitters! Everyone will receive a head of Escarole this week, and Full Share members will also receive a head of Radicchio. Both can be eaten wither raw (more bitter) or cooked (less bitter and more savory). My new favorite thing is the white ribs near the base of the Escarole…they’re so sweet and delicious with just the right amount of that feel-good bitter flavor! Yum!
Peppers, Sweet: Tuesday pick up site folks will see the mix of red and gold Italian sweet peppers that we have been featuring in the share recently, with mostly gold since they seem to be yielding much higher at this point in time. For Thursday pick ups this week we are also excited to share the amazingness that is the Jimmy Nardello frying pepper. It looks more like a cayenne with a very long, slender shape but don’t fret- although it looks like a hot pepper, its about as sweet as they come. Just slice it into rounds and fry it up. The seeds are concentrated near the stem, so you can just halve it and scoop them out when you get there. We will make sure that Tuesday folks get some Jimmy Nardellos in the next week or two. Click here for a fun bit of the cultural history of Jimmy Nardellos.
Potatoes, RedGolds: We were excited to find that we had more usable RedGold potatoes come out of the field than we originally thought were going to wind up with. Some of the skins have scab, which looks like dark soil that is encrusted on the skins. It can be easily removed with a quick scrub using a bristled brush. I love the flavor of RedGolds and my favorite is to boil, smash, and toss with salt, parsley, and either butter or olive oil.
Winter Squash, Delicata: This tends to be the reigning favorite of CSA members. Delicata is a very versatile squash that’s great either savory or sweet. Since the skins are thin enough, you can even pan sear it in thin half-circle slices for a real treat. Although Delicatas are grown, eaten, and stored like a winter squash, they actually belong to the same cucurbita ‘pepo’ species as summer squash (think zucchini, pattypan, crooknecks, etc.) acorn, carnival squash, as well as the jack-o-lantern pumpkins that you see for Halloween. Squashes are native to the Americas, and also include two other species- cucurbita ‘maxima’ which includes hubbards, kabocha, and many of the large storage heirloom varieties that we will feature in our Winter CSA Share, and ‘moschata’ which features butternuts and other crookneck squash like ‘Trombocino’.
Pitch in for PACSAC
Enjoy a delicious pop up dinner and support the programs of of the Portland Area CSA Coalition. Proceeds from the night make CSA shares affordable for families while supporting an education network for CSA farmers. The Portland Area CSA Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit representing 54 CSA farms providing over 7,000 CSA households in the Portland tri-county area with locally-grown produce.
Chef Megan Denton, who has two decades of culinary experience in small farm-focused restaurants, will host an intimate pop-up dinner in the heart of Portland on N Mississippi Ave. You will enjoy a four course meal with wine pairings from Amalia Roberts of Petite Monde Wines.
Where: 4025 N Mississippi Ave (Bryant Park at Lot 13, next to Fresh Pot)
When: Saturday, September 24 at 5 PM
Cost: Sliding Scale $50 and up. Ticket and raffle proceeds benefit the Portland Area CSA Coalition
Click here to purchase tickets.