Dry beans are an extremely nutritious and inexpensive piece of a meal. Hope you'll try some, its so great to have a local source!
Member, Julie recommends this recipe.
Cuban Black Beans
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Ingredients:
2 cups dried black beans (or 3-4 cans)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 cup white cooking wine (add at end, optional)
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar (add at end, optional)
Directions:
Dried/soaked beans:
Sort and rinse dried beans, and cover with water (about 2 inches above level
of the beans). Soak for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight. To cook, saute
onions and green pepper in olive oil, and add cumin, oregano and bay leaves.
Add soaked beans with soaking water, plus enough water to cover beans about
1 inch above the level of the beans. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently
until beans are tender, about 1 hour. Add water if the beans begin to look
dry. Stir in vinegar and wine (if using) and 1-2 teaspoons of salt, to
taste.
Canned beans:
In a medium stockpot over medium-high heat, add some oil to pan. Stir fry
onions and pepper. Add all ingredients except wine and vinegar. Stir this
in when beans are cooked through (optional).
Notes:
Cuban Black Beans are good with crusty bread, on top of rice, or wrapped in
a tortilla with some cheese and cilantro or lettuce.
For more bean recipes, and advice about soaking and cooking dried beans, see
www.ranchogordo.com (they grow and sell heirloom beans in California). Also try the cayuga pure organics website www.cporganics.com.
This time of year we are always finding plant labels kicking around our farm. We find them in the laundry, in the couch cushions, in every pocket, and crevice in the truck and in our carts. The Title of this post is the names of an heirloom tomato, celeriac, acorn squash, and swiss chard in that order. Its sort of like a dada poem to pick up a handful of labels and read them aloud. We like to reuse them, but haven't quite developed a system of where to put them for reuse, so we tend to just pile them all together in various spots until the time when we can group them all together for recycling next year.
I learned a shocking fact this week. 10% of all oil used in the US is used in plastic bags. This seems an appropriate time to remind members to bring their own bag to pickup. We of course always have some, but we do pay for them and then most bags get thrown away and not recycled. Please get a reusable canvas, cloth, or other kind of bag to reuse. We can bring Ithaca farmer's market bags for sale for $1 to the shares next week if anyone is interested. They are also available from all of the local grocery stores now (not ithaca farmer's market, but reusable bags). Also please remember to return grocery bags to the store to be recycled. They are number 2 plastic and it is the law that any store that distributes them must have a recycling bin for them.
There is currently a contest for america's best farmers market. Get on and vote for yours. Ithaca, corning, watkins glen, if you love it, you can vote for it at www.farmland.org/vote.
Its been snowing here all week. Between the cottonwood's and the willows, the "flakes" have been floating down all week. It hasn't piled up too much yet, but we know where the snow shovels are if it gets out of hand.
Items you may see in your share this week:
lettuce
garlic scapes (See below)
Kale
chard
broccoli (not a total loss, in fact seems ok)
peas
cilantro
Will see soon:
summer squash and zucchini, cabbage
don't forget to mark June 28th on the calendar. We will be getting together at 3 PM to make garlic scape pesto and we will have a farm scavenger hunt for those who are interested. RSVP is mandatory for pesto-making so that we can shop accordingly, an email will go out early in that week. Or make garlic scape pesto your self this week!
Raw Scape Pesto
Garlic scapes make a pesto that is a pretty green color and a knock-your-socks-off rich garlic flavor. If this pesto is too strong for your taste, add mayonnaise or sour cream to dilute by 1/1 or even 2/1.
½ lb. scapes (chopped into 1" sections)
1½ c. olive oil
2 c. grated parmesan cheese
In a blender, combine the scapes and olive oil. Pour mixture into bowl and blend the cheese in by hand. Can be used as a cracker or pizza spread. Can be frozen in plastic ice cube trays and used later - this applies to the other pestos, dips, and dressings as well. Put them in a freezer bag, use all year for making bruschetta, with pasta or pizza.
ALSO, garlic bread: 2 or 3 cubes thawed works great as a substitution for the oil component of bread.
Pak Choi (works with Kale) and Greens with Ginger
Wash a mixture of Pak Choi and greens. Steam for 3 to 5 minutes. Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari), 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger, and 2 tablespoons water. Remove greens from steamer and pour sauce over them.
We said goodbye to an old friend this week- our 1985 Volvo station wagon. It was matthew's first car. he owned it for more than a decade. It served us well for six years of farmer's market. We loaded it so full that sometimes vegetables hung out the windows. I know i saw tomatoes growing in the cracks under the seats a few times from cherry tomatoes that had gotten loose en route to market. It was a great car, if we hadn't outgrown it, i'm sure we would have just driven it until it couldn't go any more. Any way, this is it leaving our driveway for the last time.
have a great week,
liz and matthew
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