CSA Week 12

And that’s a wrap on summer! Fall and frost came hard and fast last week, delivering a final blow to all the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other summer favorites. This is relatively early for a hard frost in our area – typically the weather gets cold in early September but just touches freezing, this weekend was a serious frost and put an end to all our hopes of a long, leisurely season.

This has a pretty major impact on how we approach the rest of the season. When combined with another year of severe drought and all of the complications from COVID-19, it’s feeling like winter almost can’t come soon enough. 

The end of summer doesn’t mean the end of activity on the farm. Our farm manager Hussein is hard at work cleaning up fields and planting a variety of fall cover crops to protect the soil over winter. At this stage in the season, we plant most of the space freed up when crops are finished to winter rye. This cold-tolerant grass does a great job at getting established late in the year, holding the soil in place through the winter’s freezes and thaws, and starts growing again as soon as days get longer in the spring. When June comes around, we till it back into the soil so the rye can break down and feed all the little microbes in the earth, and by extension, feed next year’s plants. 

These cycles of planting and harvesting and freezing and thawing are a big part of how we organize our season and our work and we appreciate your understanding that a lot of these factors are outside of our control. Please refer to the email we sent yesterday about changes to our marketing schedule, instructions for picking up next week’s final double share, and more information about how and why we made the decision to end the season a few weeks early.

Thanks again for your understanding and stay warm this week!

Spiced Lentil Soup with Roasted Beets and Delicata Squash

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium whole beets, scrubbed and ends trimmed
• 1 delicata squash, washed and diced
• ½ Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 cup dry red lentils
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil (I like unrefined)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• Sprinkle of crushed red pepper
• Pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
• 1 15 oz. can of full-fat coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp. vegan sugar
• ½ tsp. kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400 F. Wrap the whole, scrubbed beets loosely in tinfoil. Place on a baking sheet. Toss the diced squash in olive oil and scatter on the same baking sheet. Roast at 400 F for about 30 minutes. Stir the squash at 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, transfer the squash to bowl for later and turn over the beets. Allow the beets to cook for an additional 15-30 minutes, until fork tender. Remove when done and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, bring the lentils and vegetable broth to a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure to watch it or it could boil over. Reduce to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, remove from heat.
• In a medium frying pan, heat the coconut oil over low. Add the onion and garlic and sauté a few minutes. Next, add in the turmeric through and including the nutmeg, stirring well and scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Sauté for about 8 minutes, until the onion begins to brown.
• Once lentils are done, add the coconut milk through and including the salt to the lentils and broth. Also, add the squash and the onion mixture. When the beets are cooled, dice and add to the soup. Stir well to combine.
• Serve hot, garnished with broccoli sprouts (if you wish!)

https://www.produceonparade.com/produce-on-parade/spiced-lentil-soup-with-roasted-beets-delicata-squash

Tahini-Glazed Carrots

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ pounds slender carrots (or thick carrots, halved lengthwise), peeled
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

FOR THE TAHINI GLAZE:

• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup tahini
• 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
• 3 tablespoons silan (date syrup), or maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place carrots on a large rimmed baking sheet and toss with the oil, salt and cumin. Roast carrots for 15 minutes, then turn them and continue roasting until they are golden at the edges and tender, 12 to 15 minutes longer.
2. While the carrots are roasting, make the tahini glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, tahini, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, silan, cayenne, salt and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Whisk in 1 to 2 more tablespoons water until you have a thick but pourable sauce. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice, or both, if you like.
3. Transfer the carrots to a platter and drizzle with the tahini glaze, tossing the carrots to coat.

Recipe from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020458-tahini-glazed-carrots