Here’s this week’s CSA Newsletter, which I write for Hawthorne Valley Farm. They supply my Inwood CSA here in Upper Manhattan, as well as the Riverdale, Bronx CSA. I’m posting these newsletters which I create for my local group here because I’m participating in “Cooking Away my CSA” a group where we all post what we’re doing with our CSA shares to help inspire others to find new ways of cooking up their veggies!

This week I include more recipes for green peas, roasted kale, and this week we get the yummy yummy garlic scapes!!

Download the PDF here or click the images below: June 18th Newsletter

Here’s this week’s CSA Newsletter, which I write for Hawthorne Valley Farm. They supply my Inwood CSA here in Upper Manhattan, as well as the Riverdale, Bronx CSA. I’m posting these newsletters which I create for my local group here because I’m participating in “Cooking Away my CSA” a group where we all post what we’re doing with our CSA shares to help inspire others to find new ways of cooking up their veggies!

This is the first week of the season for us up here in the Northeast (we get going later than other parts of the country) with some fun recipes for green peas, arugula and Japanese Hakurei turnips.

Download the PDF here or click the images below: June 11th Newsletter

CMN Video: Indonesian Cooking – Kelepon

Chef Mark learns how to make Kelepon, rice flour dumplings filled with palm sugar syrup, at the New Treasure Island Cultural Center in Bali, Indonesia.

A production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

See Chef Mark’s Entire Adventure here:

Winter can be a tough time for fruit lovers like me. I love simple desserts made with fresh fruits. In North America, most fruits are non-existent, or shipped in from the southern hemisphere and taste like cardboard, since they’ve been picked far from ripe and shipped in a dark boxcar for weeks. (And you know how much we hate that!) So we must rely on tropical fruits or citrus that comes to us from more temperate climates like Florida and the Mediterranean.

One of my favorite fruits of winter is the blood orange. Native to Sicily and Spain, the blood orange is unique among citrus fruits for its intense deep red coloring, in some cases as deep and dark as blood. Like other citrus fruits, the blood orange is high in vitamin C. But what makes it unique is its high concentration of anthocyanin, an antioxidant which is believed to reduce the risks associated with many ailments, including age-related illnesses. Blood oranges diminish the risk of heart disease, some types of cancer and “bad” cholesterol build-up. They may also reduce the risk of cataracts, and aid in the body’s healing process. [wikipedia]

While in Sicily last Spring, I got to taste many fresh blood oranges in the markets of Palermo and in the countryside near the slopes of Mt. Etna, whose rich volcanic soil aids in the growing of the blood orange. There are three varieties of blood oranges, the Tarocco (a “half-blood” variety), the Moro, and the Sanguinello (both “full-blood” varieties). The Tarocco and Moro are native to Italy, while the Sanguinello originated in Spain. All three are grown and highly prized in Sicily.

So while I enjoyed the blood oranges of Sicily greatly, I didn’t expect to be able to enjoy the juice so readily here in the US. Well, recently, I received a package with samples of a new juice available here in the New York area from I.O. Italian Organics. I.O. is a blend of all 3 major varieties of blood orange, and it’s certified organic. Curious, I drank a bit (chilled, of course), and found it to be nearly as flavorful as the freshly pressed blood orange juice I sampled in Sicily. Sadly, it didn’t have quite the same punch of freshness that you’d get from a just-pressed orange, but it does have the sharp tartness and wonderful bitterness that hits the back of the throat.

So to really test this product, I decided to make a simple recipe, a blood orange granita. I love to have sorbets and granitas as an intermezzo between courses at a long dinner, or as a simple weeknight dessert. Cold desserts have to start with an intensely flavorful base, since the cold dampens the taste buds and makes it harder to taste the subtleties. So what better way to see just what kind of punch this juice would pack?

The recipe is quite simple:

Blood Orange Granita

3 cups blood orange juice

1/4 cup simple syrup:

(2 parts sugar to 1 part water, heated to boiling, then cooled)

splash of lemon juice (optional)

grind of black pepper (optional)

Mix the simple syrup into the juice until it tastes sweet enough to you. You want it to be too sweet to drink, but not so sweet that you won’t taste the distinctive tartness of the blood orange. You may not have to use all the simple syrup. If the juice is not very tart, you can add a splash of lemon juice, or a grind of black pepper to bring out the flavors.

Pour the mixture into a wide flat metal or glass dish. You want to have as much surface area as possible to help it to freeze quickly. Place flat in the freezer for a while, then scrape with a fork to break up the ice crystals and return to the freezer and repeat until the mixture is totally frozen and granular. I prefer to serve it very granular, with “chunks” of crystals. If you prefer, you can run it through a blender, then freeze again, if you want it to have more of a sorbet consistency.

I.O.’s juice did not disappoint. I found it to be very flavorful, very tart, and with a distinctive sharpness, that served as a perfect dessert for our New Year’s Day meal of Sausage and Mussels (see our recent video shot in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia with Chef Rick Ogilvie.) Try this yourself at home, but do try to get real blood orange juice, whether you find them fresh and juice them yourself, or from a quality bottled juice.

-Chef Mark

Here’s this week’s CSA Newsletter for Hawthorne Valley Farm. It’s all about beets, turnips, and using the greens from the tops of both. Plus an article about time on the farm from Farmer Katy.

Download PDF: July 3rd Newsletter

(6 servings)
From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 –inch piece ginger root, quartered
2 pounds bok choy
3-4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
A few drops hot pepper oil
Salt, to taste

Pour broth into a large sauté pan and add the ginger. Cut the bok choy into halves or quarters and add to the sauté pan with the salt. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10-12 minutes. Test for doneness by piercing the bulb end with a knife tip. When done, discard the ginger root and place the bok choy on a serving dish. Sprinkle with the vinegar (and hot pepper oil if desired).

food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, bok choy, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

This is a “quick pickle” that doesn’t require sterilizing jars, because you’ll eat it within an hour of making it! Tonight I substituted the zucchini and summer squash we’ve been getting from our CSA. I always add a couple cloves of garlic, chopped. (6 servings)

2 cucumbers
1 teaspon salt
2 teaspoons superfine sugar
¼ cup rice vinegar
(or your favorite flavored vinegar)
½ teaspoon red chili oil
A few drops of sesame oil

Halve the unpeeled cucumber lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and cut the cucumber into thick chunks.

In a bowl, sprinkle the cucumber chunks with the salt and mix well. Leave for at least 20-30 minutes, longer if possible. Then pour off the liquid.

Mix the cucumber with the sugar, vinegar and chili oil, if using. Sprinkle with the sesame oil just before serving.

food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, CSA, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

(makes 2 cups)
Recipe from: Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe by Mollie Katzen (Hyperion)

1 pound cooked beets
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp light honey
2 to 3 Tbsp chopped lemon zest
1/3 cup crystallized ginger

Peel and coarsely grate or mince the beets, and transfer to a medium-sized bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a tightly capped jar. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Serve cold. Use with any savory dish.

food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, food, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

Farm-Style Braised Kale
From Greene on Greens (4 servings)

2 strips bacon
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pound kale, stems removed, roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch of ground allspice
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 lemon, sliced thin

Sauté the bacon strips in a large skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble and reserve.

Add the butter to the bacon drippings in the skillet. Cook the onion over medium-low hear until golden, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the kale in cold water.

Add the kale to the skillet, with just the water that clings to the leaves. Cooked, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, the allspice, and the vinegar. Sprinkle with the reserved bacon and garnish with lemon slices.

food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, CSA, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

Well, the aliens have landed! We got our first delivery of kohlrabi in our CSA baskets this week, and I’m excited to make them. In addition to fine dicing them to throw in salads, I’m going to make the following dish this weekend:

Kohlrabi with Parmesan (4 servings)

2 small kohlrabi bulbs
1-2 Tablespons unsalted butter
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
ground black pepper, to taste

Peel the kohlrabi and cut into matchsticks. Cook in boiling water, or microwave until tender. Drain, and toss with the butter. Immediately sprinkle with the grated Parmesn cheese and ground black pepper to taste. Serve at once!

From Wikipedia: Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group) is a low, stout cultivar of the cabbage which has been selected for its swollen, nearly spherical, Sputnik-like shape. The name comes from the German kohl (cabbage) plus rabi (turnip), because the swollen stem resembles the latter. Kohlrabi has been created by artificial selection for lateral meristem growth, its origin in nature is the wild mustard plant.

The taste and texture of kohlrabi are similar to those of a broccoli stem or cabbage heart, but milder and sweeter, with a higher ratio of flesh to skin. The young stem in particular can be as crisp and juicy as an apple, although much less sweet.

Plus, my friend Cheryl Rogowski shared with me a super simple hors d’oeuvre. Boil up some peeled kohlrabi until just fork tender. Mash it up and mix it with cream cheese and whatever seasonings float your boat, and use it as a stuffing for sugar snap pea pods!

food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, food, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork