ORGANIC FARM NOTES: WEEK 9: August 24 – 30, 2014
CONTACT INFORMATION: Coordinator: Mike Rabinowitz
Farm/House Phone. ( 895-2884) Call before 5:15. Leave a message.
During Pick-Up from 6 – 6:30 p.m. Cell Phone: 749-2884 (not answered at other times.) .
Help us keep your veggies fresh! If you can’t get away from the soccer game or are late getting back from your week-end outing, call before 5 p.m on pick up day. We will leave your bag at the farm to be picked up at your convenience. Your name will be written on the chalk board on the chill room door. Please remember to check it off, so Mike doesn’t have to go for days wondering……?
EXTRA GOODIES! BE SURE TO E-MAIL MIKE if you want something in addition to what is available in the bag. For example, some people are requesting tomatoes since we don’t have enough yet to put a pint in each of the 40 bags. Or basil to make pesto for freezing? Anita Best, who was a member of the Veggie Coop for many years, says she makes the pesto mixture and freezes it without Parmesan, returning it to blender and adding the cheese when she plans to serve. Another Idea from a satisfied customer!
TAIL GATE SALES will offer locally picked mushrooms and several small containers of spicy pesto.
WHAT’S COOKING?
Tromboncino Squash Oven Dish. If you bought or swapped for a Tromboncino at Tail Gate sales, you are in for a treat. This squash is as mild and fit for multitasking as Zucchini. It is my favourite. The first year we grew this interesting shaped squash, I tried it in several recipes. Our favourite was dipped in egg, then seasoned bread crumbs, placed on thinly sliced garlic in the bottom of a lightly oiled casserole dish and baked. The Chef from the Newfoundland Hotel/ now Sheraton came to visit to discuss accessing farm produce. Mike invited him into the kitchen to sample the Tromboncino that was coming out of the oven. Imagine how this might have happened! That season, the hotel bought Tromboncino every week and the dish was included in the Sunday buffet. The recipe which appeared in Farm notes, probably ten years ago, was based roughly on first steps of making Eggplant Parmesan. It is now in the Farm Recipe file, courtesy of Tess Burke, a long time, Veggie Coop Member.
Squash Boereg from Treasured Armenian Recipes. (See Farm Recipe file!) We all like the Zucchini/ Monterrey Jack dish prepared on top of stove, but I felt we needed a change. I remember this recipe and found it on Website Recipe collection. It comes from a friend who doesn’t like onions and garlic but when I made it, I added finely clipped garlic scapes; also clipped in a few chard leaves I found in the fridge along with the parsley the recipe calls for. Both Toby and Oz said that it was like a quiche without a crust. Mike said, he still prefers the dish made with Monterrey Jack, even though he has had it six times in the last six weeks.
Meatless spaghetti sauce made with tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian spices, garlic scapes, celery, onion, zucchini, green peppers, egg plant and carrots. ( No Recipe)
Salsa. Split tomatoes, including some green tomatoes, garlic, onion, peppers, etc. .
Bean Salad. Thawed green and yellow beans mixed and blanched for freezer last season; A can of red beans and a can of garbanzo beans, along with celery, green onion and peppers, chopped small. Pinch of salt. Pinch of sugar with fresh oregano, olive oil and balsamic to taste.
Gooseberry Syrup for freezer. Made from berries discarded because they were split or over ripe, i.e. squashed. This will be used for gooseberry fool, cold gooseberry soup or sauces to accompany meat. One veggie coop member told me about making a basting sauce to use for roasting chicken. It sounded like a great idea but I was not able to get the recipe.
Gooseberry- Apple Pie. Prepare like regular apple pie, gently turning apple slices in a bowl with gooseberry syrup.
Fruit Compote made with various type of fruit – apples, berries and gooseberry syrup. Use with yogurt for breakfast food or as filling for crisp and squares. You know, the ones with lower and top crust made with sugar, butter and equal parts/ flour and oats. See MUN Botanical Garden Cookbook.
But I don’t like squash!
So said Gillian who came to dinner with her sister on Thursday evening. Gillian is a friend of Toby, also an artist and they joined the Veggie Coop last year. But Gillian changed her mind after tasting the Zucchini dish with Monterrey Jack cheese. Sister, Sharon was delighted because now she would be able to use the squash in her bag. Mike told the story of how the recipe was passed to us almost 50 years ago, along with a couple of healthy looking zucchini by a man selling blue berry bushes. He said, “You won’t remember me, but you will remember this recipe” And he was right. Over the years, it is the recipe we use to introduce the idea of squash, to people who don’t like squash.
The other story we told Gillian was about an elder from Sheshatshiu, who was part of a group who came for training at Daybreak Parent Child Centre when I was Director. We hosted three Aboriginal women – the community health nurse, the Head Start Director and the elder, who was about 80 years old. When she didn’t want to try the dish, the two other women respectfully let it be, but not me. I explained to her that at Daybreak, we ask the children if they want a little or a lot, but we also put a small, small portion on their plates. She sort of grunted, “a little!” I put a tablespoon on her plate. We went on with our conversation, purposely ignoring whether she tasted it or not. She did, then, eventually she reached for more. We quietly looked at each other, acknowledging what we had just witnessed with our eyes and silent tongues. Then, more, until she ate what would have been the portion allocated to her at the beginning of the meal. So, there you have it. Another dish guaranteed by the Organic Farm!
When is a pie, not a pie? Answer: When it is a cobbler. When Gillian and her sister were here for dinner, I set dessert plates on the table and brought a delicious pie to the table, along with a pie spatula, announcing it was apple-gooseberry. However, when I started to but it in usual slices, it was much too juicy to serve as slices. I didn’t use a recipe and obviously did not manage to thicken it properly. I smiled and said, “Oh, maybe we have cobbler.” I put back the dessert plates, brought out bowls and serving spoon. I served the cobbler and Mike added ice cream. A Perfect ending to a meal with friends.
WEATHER IS OUTRAGEOUS!
The Farm News Bulletins from Atlantic Canada have interviews with farmers from various provinces, reporting how their crops are suffering due to the weather. We are no different. Although the Organic Farm has more potential than ever with the two new Geo-thermal greenhouses, the crops need sun in addition to heat. While he has his first cup of coffee, Mike sits at the table each morning, looking out the window, shuddering at the cold, shoulders hunched, reluctantly getting ready to go outdoors and meet his workers. I ask about the cucumbers. “Will we have enough for the Veggie Coop folks to make the White Gazpacho/ cold cucumber soup recipe.” He shakes his head. “There will be only one, but it is an English Cucumber.” “And the tomatoes?” He went on to explain, “ Both the tomatoes and cucumbers are at a standstill, until we get more sun. The plants seem healthy but they are not setting fruit. He ended by saying, we should have hundreds by now, but we have to have more heat. This is the worst August weather I can ever remember!”
Ryan posted the cold cucumber soup in Farm recipe file for this week, just in case. It is from a friend, Bill Dunlap, who worked with Mike in the Psychology Department at Tulane in New Orleans before we moved to Newfoundland. The ingredients include cucumber, white wine, chicken or vegetable stock and sour cream.
Picking/ Washing Lettuce In the Rain
As most of our members know, the extreme hot weather in July caused the young lettuce plants to bolt and there were weeks without lettuce. As Mike went on to say how well the lettuce crop is doing because lettuce likes cool weather, I wondered if he realized the effort that went into getting it ready.
Every morning when Diane and her team arrive, the first order of business is picking the lettuce and starting the process of rinsing and drying, rain or shine. The lettuce is washed in a large open shed built for that purpose, using a series of three rinsing sinks, long expansive drying tables and a complex arrangement of fans. Last Monday or Tuesday, Alice came into the kitchen when I was about to begin my morning cooking and said, they needed to dry the lettuce in the house. We all know the routine. Sweep, mop and clean floors, remove everything from kitchen counters to the dining room table; cover the kitchen table with a large sterile cloth which we keep for this occasion, bring in the fans and open the windows. Put on the sterile gloves and head coverings and close the kitchen doors to indicate no flight zone. This drying process went on for hours. People who came for coffee and snacks were sentenced to time in the family room. These magicians disguised as Organic Farm employees, dried and bagged lettuce in this manner on three different days producing more salad mix than any week during the past six. Fortunately, we are back in the business of salad mix again, in spite of the weather.
Please be mindful that whatever type of gooseberries you get, large or small, greener or overripe, it is all part of the weather challenge! I have a few pints of left overs – too mushy or split which I will use to make syrup which I will use for Gooseberry Fool or Gooseberry Soup, depending on who is coming to dinner and or perhaps vinaigrette. Don’t forget you can combine this with other fruit to make compote. Earlier in the week, I chipped in some zucchini, into this mixture and no one was the wiser.
I appreciate the feed-back and the recipes! Keep’m rolling in. Just remember it is payday! Gotta run from my work station on the table in the dining room to Farm Work Station in the Family Room.
Thanks/Melba ( Monday, August 25, 2014)
