Monday is harvest day. The first thing we harvest is lettuce, while it is cool out. Then we do radish bunches, carrot bunches, carrot loose, beets (when we have them), tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, zuke and cuke (which we actually harvest every evening), cabbage, melons, we organize the garlic and onion orders and after the sun goes down behind the trees, we harvest herbs, cut some zinnias, and pick kale.
Every week, we’ve given you a bag of lettuce. If you don’t want a bag of lettuce, you may exchange it for garlic or onion. Lettuce is in high demand and we can sell it elsewhere, just let me know by email beforehand. We grow three varieties of sweet peppers: Carmens, Escamillos and Nardellos. We haven't harvested any of these yet, they need to ripen up. Jalapeños have been in the share for a couple of weeks, as you know, and we will have them for sale at the farmstand. We will also have a few Chimayo Red Chiles and Padróns for sale. Chimayos are an heirloom chile from northern New Mexico. They can vary from chile to chile in spiciness, but can be about as spicy as a jalapeño. I usually chop up the fresh Chimayos and sprinkle them on top of things or put them in my pico-de-gallo. They are thin-fleshed and can be dried and crushed. They have a really special New Mexico flavor. Padróns also vary in heat, but in general are less spicy than a jalapeño. They are picked green and are traditionally fried whole. Heat a skillet and a little oil. Cook the whole peppers in the oil, turning every few minutes so that they are 'blistered' on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and just bite the whole thing off at the stem. They are thin fleshed and very tender. You can also cut them up and do whatever you want with them, of course. There are many factors that affect the spiciness of a pepper: water, stress, soil composition and temperature are a few. Some pepper varieties are more variable by nature. The highest concentration of capsaicin, the spicy substance, is in the membrane where the seed connects to the fruit wall so if you remove the seeds and the inner membrane, you drastically reduce the spiciness.
The tiny orange tomatoes are Sungolds. The mid sized red tomatoes are a variety called Mountain Magic, though we always refer to them as Mountain Mamas... I don't know why! Sarah just calls them The Mamas. They are best if you let them ripen up until they are as red as can be. They are a perfect size to halve and sun-dry or oven-dry sprinkled with a little salt and thyme. We should have these for sale at the farmstand for the next few weeks if anyone wants to do a drying project you can get a big bag. The full-size red slicing tomatoes are coming right along, we should have the farmstand well-stocked for the next few weeks.
In the photos
Padron is the light green pepper on the left, Chimayo Red Chile- center, Jalapeno- right, Sungolds and Mountain Magics.
Padrons- ready to eat
These are mountain mamas that we dried in the solar oven.
This picture is actually from this week last year: Leland in the cabbage patch. We never do the best job writing things down so we have to look back through the pictures to see what was happening when.
This is a recipe straight out of the Silver Palate Cookbook which is an excellent cookbook- everything that I have ever made from there is really good.
Warm Potato Salad
1 pound red onions thinly sliced
2 pounds new potatoes, quartered
1 1⁄2 cups red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2⁄3 cup finely chopped celery
1⁄4 cup finely chopped dill
Freshly ground pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 500. Lightly spray or wipe a baking sheet with
oil.
2. Arrange the onion slices on the sheet and roast for 12 minutes; turn and roast
for an additional 8 minutes. Coarsely chop the onion.
3. Meanwhile, boil the new potatoes for 15 minutes, or until just tender. Drain and transfer to a mixing bowl.
4. Bring the vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan and cook for 10 minutes, until
reduced by half. Pour half the reduced vinegar over the warm potatoes. Return
the remaining vinegar to the stove and add the olive oil; return to a boil and whisk in the mustard.
5. Pour the dressing over the potatoes and combine with the onions, celery, and
dill. Season to taste with pepper. Serve warm.
from the 2020 CSA Archives
