This Week's Share--More Peppers

Every once and a while I will have a week where Monday's share is different from Wednesday's share--unfortunately vegetables don't seem to adhere to a work week schedule and tend to ripen as they see fit. So this week I won't list what's included in the share, instead I will just give you some recipe ideas for all those peppers.

One of my most favorite culinary treats is the versatile roasted pepper--great in sandwiches, on toast with sheep cheese, in salads, on pizzas--the perfect way to enjoy all the nutritional goodness in a ripe pepper.

Here are a couple of links to the roasting peppers:

From e-how--how to roast a pepper.

From the Wednesday Chef blog--roasting in an oven

And finally a video from Forkable blog.

Moving on the hot peppers---your choices are poblano, jalapenos, and a chile. I will post more about hot peppers in a future entry. In the meantime I thought I would share a blog all about poblanos--who knew. Poblanos by the way are the dark green, thinner skinned pepper in the hot pepper basket.

Finally a recipe from Fine Cooking using bell peppers, poblanos, and potatoes--perfect for this week's share:
Potato & Rajas Tacos
by Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger

Though cream may seem a little unexpected, a thick, slightly sour version plays an important role in Mexican cooking, adding a luxurious silkiness to special dishes. Here we use regular heavy cream and add shredded cheese for flavor and as a thickener.
Yields enough for 12 small tacos.
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3 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium onions, halved and cut into 1/4 -inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and julienned
4 medium poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and julienned
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup shredded manchego or Monterey Jack cheese
2/3 cup grated queso añejo, Romano, or Parmesan cheese

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Bring a medium saucepan full of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook just until tender, 6 to 8 min. Drain, pat dry, and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, season with the salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and turn golden, 15 to 18 min. Stir in the roasted red peppers and poblanos. Add the cream; bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and let the mixture simmer it until begins to thicken, about 4 min. (You can make the filling up to this point a day or two ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat gently over medium-low heat when ready to serve.) Stir in the grated cheeses. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through.

photo: Rita Maas
From Fine Cooking 26, pp. 49-50
April 1, 1998

National Farmers Market Week-Vote For Your Favorite Market

August 2-8th marks National Farmers Market Week--the perfect time to come on out and support your favorite market. This week long acknowledgement of the value of farmers markets to the community is the brain child of the Farmers Market Coalition --an organization with some fantastic materials related to farmers market promotion. Partnering with the FMC, FoodRoutes (the good folks behind the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign) and American Farmland Trust. AFT is hosting a vote for your favorite market campaign that ends this Sunday at Midnight. Of course I hope you will vote (and vote for the Kennett Square Farmers Market, not that I am biased or anything). .
Speaking of the Kennett Farmers Market, if you were eyeing up the North Star Fruit Share and would like to purchase some fruit for yourself, good news--North Star will be at the Kennett Market this Friday--along with a host of extra vendors and the beautiful harmonies of Sisters 3

This Week's Share--Burger and Fruit

As August seems to usher in those hot and steamy days where indoor cooking seems less than appealing--I have the perfect solution--delicous Dr. Elkins angus burger, great on the grill. Starting this week burger will be available for purchase ($6 a one pound packet) in the freezer section of the refrigerator located in the distribution shed. Also beginning this week is the Fruit Explorers share from North Star Orchards. This fruit is ONLY for those who have signed up with the good folks at North Star ahead of time.

This Week's Share:
Beets
Carrots
Radish (an asian variety with a fair amount of heat and edible tops)
Cook Greens
Potatoes
Summer Squash
Cucumbers
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Dandelion Greens
Herbs

This week's menu suggestion --burger topped with sauted peppers and onions, a cucumber/radish/carrot salad, grill roasted potatoes, sweet corn (available at the kennett market), and a dessert of fresh fruit from North Star Orchards. Yum!

Sunday Times

As I search the web for the perfect recipes for this week's share I thought you would appreciate Michael Pollan's latest reflections on our American culture's relationship to cooking. Click here to read article or click here for more on his NPR radio interview

Vicarious Living

Although farm work has kept me firmly rooted in the immediate area this season, my wanderlust is tempered by the ability to live vicariously through others. I feel blessed to have friends and colleagues visiting places of interest and generously blogging and sharing pictures of their travels.

Check out Holly Tyson's trip around the world--SOS to the World.

Hoots and Hellmouth's latest farm visits.

And finally perhaps the posting I am most envious of, is by Tim Mountz of Happy Cat Organics regarding his visit to Eliot Coleman's Four Season Farm and the Good Life Center in Maine. Like Tim these sustainable agriculture/living forces have played a major role in my "career path".

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy a little on line travel as much as I.

Food Safety Votes--the aftermath

To: All PASA Members

From: Brian Snyder, Executive Director

I just want to give everyone a quick update after a VERY dramatic week in Congress concerning the food safety legislation we have been following. The outcome is that HR 2749 – the so-called “Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009” – passed the House of Representatives yesterday, but they had to bend the rules to get it done. As reported last week, leaders of the House attempted to pass the bill on Wednesday under “suspension,” which requires a two-thirds vote to avoid any real debate or amendments. The “loss” on Wednesday was a direct result of grassroots efforts within the organic and sustainable farming communities to get further improvements in the bill, particularly regarding the flat fee system it would initiate. To wit, the margin of failure in Wednesday’s vote was seven, which was quite a bit less than the number of representatives voting “no” on behalf of our issues. However, the near success of the bill on Wednesday caused the House to change the rules on Thursday to only require a simple majority – though still without much debate (an hour was allowed) or any amendments – which resulted in easy passage. But we were pleased that the debate on the bill yesterday did include a reading of the Kaptur-Farr language, on which we had collaborated, into the record for later consideration in Conference Committee negotiations.

There were many successes for us in the process of putting this bill together, enough so that we can consider its passage to be a “good” thing, especially in that it codifies much of the exemption and other progressive language we will definitely be glad to have on the table once a Conference Committee does convene (i.e. after a Senate bill passes, which might contain some other positive elements for our community). Though we did not set out to defeat food safety legislation, and all along wanted a very good bill to pass, we can also view the results of the suspension vote on Wednesday to be a very positive thing, because now it is understood by everyone that the advocates of sustainable agriculture are too numerous to easily allow other suspension votes (i.e. shutting down debate) without their support. It is also a very positive thing for PASA that we were able to show national leadership through this process, and in fact had a direct role in constructing favorable language in this bill, even right up to the final days and hours of the process.

On the more negative side, we still have the very regressive fee structure to contend with in the bill as passed, though I do want to be clear that the exemptions we got into the bill would make this a non-issue for most of our members. I think folks in Washington were very surprised to find that sustainable ag advocates were not happy to improve the situation just for our own members, but were concerned for small-scale food processing businesses of all kinds. This is a battle that will continue throughout the process to come. It’s also disappointing that many of the consumer groups we have worked closely with on issues such as milk labeling and antibiotic use on farms, ended up parting ways with us in this debate. It was clear they wanted this bill to pass, even it meant leaving behind some of their better partners along the way. In the final debate on this bill, a list of organizations that formed the “winning” coalition included just about all the conventional ag advocates, plus most of the best known consumer advocacy groups – an odd combination for sure. I think we can use this lesson, however, in building enthusiasm for our own consumer-organizing efforts in the future (e.g. with the Good Food Neighborhood).

Well, this is a little longer than I expected. Time for me to get back to Snyder family activities in this week that was a long-planned “vacation” for us. I will at least return to work next week knowing that PASA is a stronger and even more respected organization for the work we have done on these issues of huge importance to both farmers and non-farming consumers in the future. Thanks to all of you for your help in recent weeks!

Best to all,

Brian Snyder
Executive Director, PASA
brian@pasafarming.org

This Week's Share--last of the lettuce

This week will mark the last of the lettuce for a little while--its starting to get a really serious bite and now its time to think about alternative types of salads--those that feature beets, carrots, cucumbers and beans. For example click here for an Isreali Couscous, Feta, Cucumber and Mint salad. If you cannot live without some sort of salad in your life check out this recent NY Times article 101 Salads for the Season--the article should supply ample inspiration.

This Week's Share Includes:
Lettuce Mix
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Beans
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Beets
Herbs