Just Food visit this Saturday!

Just Food staff member Paula Lukats will be joining us at our distribution this Saturday, July 30th 10:30-12:00 to meet (and thank!) members, talk more about Just Food and answer questions about the new Just Food CSA Network. Be sure to take a minute to say hi and grab a button when you pick up your share. And find out more at justfood.org

Just Food is a non profit that works with communities to make fresh, locally grown food accessible throughout NYC. One way they do that is by helping start and support CSA sites like ours. Over the years, Just Food has helped over 100 NYC neighborhoods connect with 29 vegetable growers to create an extensive network of CSA throughout the city. They work to support city groups in starting and maintaining CSA sites as well as with farmers who want to grow for CSA.

This year, Just Food is formalizing their relationship with all the people who have benefited from CSA by creating a CSA Network that each one of us contributes to — $5 of your share fee goes to Just Food to help them build new CSAs, support additional farms and existing sites, and make NYC a better place to eat and live.

Purslane tips

Thanks Deb!

Purslane is best raw. Snip into bite sized pieces and toss it with vinaigrette and let it marinate up to a half hour. Nice with garlic or thinly sliced onion added. Also, add to tossed salads. You could do same thing you would do with sliced cukes, too - a sour cream cold salad, or quick pickles. It's a rare plant source of Omega 3 fatty acids - great for heart and circulatory system. I just eat it raw in the garden - have thought about trying to pickle it with a bread & butter pickle brine to preserve it, but haven't gotten that ambitious. It's ubiquitous!

here are two links that look good:

http://www.prairielandcsa.org/recipes/purslane.html

http://www.culinarymusings.com/2008/06/purslane-not-a-weed-but-a-wonder/

bon appétit!

Wheat Berry Salad with Zucchini and Mozzarella

http://markbittman.com/wheat-berries-with-zucchini-and-mozz
Thanks Erin!

1⁄4 cup pine nuts
3 or 4 medium zucchini (about 1 1⁄2 pounds), halved lengthwise
1⁄4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and black pepper
2 cups cooked wheat berries
1 teaspoon minced garlic, or to taste
1⁄2 cup fresh dill, or 1 teaspoon dried
3 tablespoons sherry or white wine vinegar
1 cup cubed mozzarella, optional

1. Toast the pine nuts in a small, dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove from the pan.

2. Turn on the broiler; the heat should be medium-high and the rack about 4 inches from the fire. Brush the zucchini with the 1 tablespoon oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and broil, turning as needed, until lightly charred on both sides and beginning to soften, 5 minutes or more. When they’re cool enough to handle, cut the zucchini into chunks or slices.

3. Toss together the zucchini, wheat berries, garlic, and about half of the dill in a large salad bowl. Add the vinegar and 1⁄4 cup oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss again. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. (The salad can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated for up to a day.) To serve, toss the mozzarella into the salad, along with the remaining dill.

Share items for July 20 & 23

We did pick our first few tomatoes (about 10 of them) this past weekend – so hopefully we’ll be able to get them into the share soon. The dry weather does help hold off the blight fungus but we’ll see what happens as the rest of summer unfolds…

Share items for July 20, 23:
1 bu Carrots
Zucchini (green, yellow)
1 bu Swiss Chard
Cucumbers, white and/or green
1 head lettuce
Basil
Arugula
Fennel
Dill

Possible additional items TBA

Fruit share:
1 lb sugar plums
1 pt organic blueberries
1 box blackberries
peaches

Flower share:
sunflowers
zinnias
snapdragons
sparkler flower (cleome)
agyranthemum, etc.

Egg share: ½ dozen pastured eggs

Photos From Sat 7/9 pickup

Thanks Meagan!

Flower Care tips from Eve

Flower Share Care

We want your cut flowers to last after you get them, and so do you. Realistically they

are likely to last 3-6 days, due to the types of flowers we grow, and often some flowers

in a mixed bouquet will die before others. If you pick the dying ones out, you can enjoy

the longer-lived varieties for a few more days.

Here are some simple things you can do to help flowers last longer:

1. KEEP THEM IN WATER

This may seem self-evident, but try not to let them be out of water for too long. If

you're not going straight home after your CSA pickup, bring some paper towel and a

plastic baggie and wet down the stem ends before you put the bouquet in your bag. Try

not to leave flowers anywhere hot, like in your car. Once they have wilted, some types

of flowers will perk up when put back into water, but some will not.

2. CUT THE STEMS ONCE YOU GET HOME

Trim the stems (anywhere from 1 cm to as much as you want) once you get home, with

a knife (not a scissors). This opens the stem water vessels that have hardened from

exposure to the air (xylem - remember from biology class?) so that the flower can drink

again. They say to "cut under water", but logistically I've never figured out how to do

this. If you can, great.

3. ADD PRESERVATIVE TO THE WATER

You can add a tablespoon of sugar, bleach, or commercial floral preservative to your

vase water if you want. I usually don't at home, myself, but if you do they will last

longer.

4. CHANGE WATER FREQUENTLY AND RECUT STEMS

Every couple of days, dump the vase water out and recut the stems an inch or so. This

will slow the decay process and keep the flowers drinking

5. KEEP FLOWERS AWAY FROM RIPENING FRUIT

Hormones (ethylene) from ripening fruit or tomatoes will make your flowers ripen (die)

faster. So don't put them next to the banana bowl. Also, if you can keep them out of

direct sunlight that will help.

That's about it. Some flowers just intrinsically last longer than others, some wilt more

easily, etc., which is not your fault. Unfortunately some of the prettiest flowers have the

shortest vase life... but we use many that hold up well, and we hope that your bouquet

will last 4-6 days on average.

If you learn tricks that seem to help, or have feedback on which flowers did well/not

well, please feel free to share them here - it will help us for future seasons!

Fruit Care Tips from Eve

HOW TO TREAT RIPE FRUIT: FOR FRUIT SHARE MEMBERS

1) RIPE FRUIT MUST BE EATEN WITHIN A FEW DAYS OF YOUR CSA PICKUP.

The fruit in your share is picked no more than one or two days before we bring it to you.

Because it is picked ripe, it does not have a long shelf life. Therefore, instead of

engineering the fruit to suit your schedule (i.e. picking fruit hard and unripe, cooling it,

growing varieties that stay hard for a long time but have no taste, etc.) you will

sometimes have to mold your eating schedule to the fruit.

Ripe berries, heirloom tomatoes, ripe peaches, etc. will begin to soften and then mold

after a few days... that's just what happens. If you can't eat them by then, cut them up

and put them in the freezer, which will give you a source of delicious smoothies for the

reat of the year. You can also bake fruit muffins and pies using frozen fruit.

2) DON'T CONFUSE SOFT WITH ROTTEN

Some of the fruit and tomatoes you get may be soft. This does not mean they are

rotten. This means they are ripe or sometimes perhaps have spots that are slightly over-

ripe. Again, this makes them good candiates for cooking rather than eating raw. Even

moldy spots can often just be cut out of fruit and the rest of it used in cooked dishes.

Make a sauce, chop them up and put them in pancakes or an omelet, make jam or

cobbler or anything else tasty that occurs to you. Remember, our ancestors invented all

these dishes in the first place as a way of using up their over-ripe fruit! Follow their

good example of creativity and you will be rewarded.

3) LEARN HOW TO RIPEN UN-RIPE FRUIT

Some of the fruits you get will NOT yet be ripe, because they can't be handled at all

when they are ripe and soft. Peaches are picked and delivered to you hard. Some

tomatoes may need another couple of days to reach their peak. DON'T TRY TO EAT

HARD FRUIT until it is RIPE!

To ripen, just let the fruit sit on a counter OUT OF THE FRIDGE for a couple of days to

let the sugars develop. Some people it in a brown paper bag, which keeps the plant

hormones (ethylene) inside and aids ripening. You can put unripe fruit near some

ripening bananas etc. to speed ripening. Don't put it near anything you don't want to

over-ripen, like cut flowers, tomatoes, or fruit that is already ripe.

Good luck, and yum

Share items for July 13, 16

Vegetable Share:
1 head Chinese cabbage/napa cabbage (Wed); Kohlrabi (Sat)
2 lb mixed zucchini (green, yellow)
4 sprigs Basil
1 large onion
1 head Broccoli
1 head lettuce
2 lb cucumbers (approx 4, but weigh them if poss)

Fruit share:
3 pints organic blueberries and 1 box organic blackberries

Flower share:
sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, bachelor buttons, and more!

Egg share:
½ dozen pastured eggs

Radish, Watermelon and Bulgar Wheat Salad Recipe

Radish, Watermelon and Bulgar Wheat Salad Recipe
Thanks to Marcus Samuelsson and Aine Carlin

Ingredients:
1 cup bulgar wheat
7-8 radishes
3 spring onion/scallions
1 small stick of celery
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup chopped and deseeded watermelon
zest of 1 lemon or lime
juice of 1 lemon or lime
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
salt and pepper

Method:
Place the bulgar wheat in a bowl and cover with 1 cup of freshly boiled water. Cover the bowl with a plate or some clingfilm and allow to stand for at least ten minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork. Allow to cool uncovered
Finely slice the radishes and spring onions. Cut the celery into tiny pieces. Set aside.
De-seed the melon and cut into small pieces.
Zest and juice the lemon.
Heat a dry frying pan/skillet and lightly toast the pumpkin seeds until crunchy and paler in colour. Move frequently to avoid burning them. Transfer to a small bowl and leave to cool completely.
When the bulgar wheat has cooled sufficiently, add all the ingredients including the lemon/lime juice. Season generously, pour over the oil and the vinegar.
Toss in the toasted pumpkin seeds. Taste and season further if necessary. Serve.

Easy grilled zucchini

Easy grilled zucchini

Thanks Deb!

It's that time of year again: zucchini takes over the world.
If you have a grill pan or are cooking out, this is easy and super tasty:

Heat up a grill pan over medium-high heat.
Quarter zucchini the long way.
Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill cut side down for 4-5 minutes, until there are nice grill marks.
Flip to the other cut side and do the same.
Flip to the skin side, sprinkle with oregano and/or basil, and cook until tender (if needed).

Serve as is, or toss with pesto and pasta.

Kohlrabi Puree

Kohlrabi Puree

http://emilysrecipeblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/kohlrabi-puree.html

4 kohlrabi bulbs
1-2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 handful parsley
a few T. cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel the kohlrabi, and cut the bulbs into ~1" chunks.
2. Boil some salted water, and add the kohlrabi. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until somewhat caramelized, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat, add the garlic and cook another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain the kohlrabi. Put kohlrabi, onions, and everything else in the bowl of a food processor. Purée until smooth.

Brooklyn Commune Dinner

Share items for July 6 & 9

Share items for July 6,9:

Veg Share:
mixed zucchini (green, yellow)
Basil
1 bunch beets
1 head Endive (frizzy, like a lettuce, not the little spears you see in the supermarket)
1 head lettuce
1 bu kale
Bok choi or tat soi
kohlrabi

Fruit share: organic blueberries and raspberries

Flower share: sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, bachelor buttons, and more!

Egg share: ½ dozen pastured eggs