full share, above
medium share
small share
Greetings all,
Hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather this past weekend. The ground is still pretty wet out here from all the rain at the end of last week. Fall crops are now in full swing as winter squash and root vegetables start making their way into the boxes!
Erin harvesting winter squash
Maybelle checking on the Romano Beans
What’s in the box:
- Winter Squash: Acorn type (Carnival, Jester, or Sweet Dumpling) (1 small, 2 med & full)
- Onions
- Rutabaga (2 lbs med & full)
- Romano Beans (3/4 lb small, 1 lb med, 1.5 lb full)
- Beets (2 for small shares, 1 bunch for medium, and 1 large bunch for full)
- Peppers (1 small & med, 2 full)
- Pac Choi (1 lb small & med, 1.5 lb full)
- Summer Savory ( 1 bunch each)
- Head Lettuce (1 head med, 2 heads full)
- Purple Cauliflower (full only)
Recipes
The season has come, believe it or not, for some fall recipes! As we welcome new-for-the-season vegetables like rutabaga and winter squash, we rejoice in the soothing, nourishing tastes of these heartier foods.
Rutabaga is one of the best fall and winter vegetables to work with. Like the potato’s more interesting cousin, the rutabaga is golden in color and mild in flavor. The rutabaga takes on the flavors of whatever it’s cooked with-it’s essentially a blank palette to apply fall’s best flavors to. It is also remarkably tasty simply steamed and mashed with butter, as described in this recipe by Nigel Slater, but I’d urge you to try out this Slow Roast of Roots-especially since you’ve got onions, beets, and perhaps some carrots leftover from last week?
Acorn squash, foreground. Ben, background.
Acorn Squash is so darn cute and tasty! I’m always overjoyed to see it come in from the field, and its festive shape and colors make me so happy for fall to be here. One of the best features of acorn squash is that the thin skin is completely edible. I know! I was astounded the first time Brandon roasted little slivers of this squash, skin on, and then made me try it. It was awesome!!!! Please promise to try it, you’ll be getting so many nutrients and it really is good. This week we’d recommend the Stuffed Delicata Squash (all delicata recipes are interchangeable with acorn recipes, they are basically the same as far as flavor, meatiness, and texture, and both have edible skins) or the more unusual Squash with Orange and Pistachio.
As I was putting together the recipe section of this newsletter I stumbled across the Roasted Root Blog, with an intriguing recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash with Bourbon Butter. Somebody make this and tell us how it is, we’re so curious!
Lovely grafitti
Cauliflower is making a return to boxes this week, and the purple variety known as Grafitti makes a statement! Sadly, the purple fades upon cooking, so if you want to wow your family and friends, serve it as part of a healthy raw plate. We can’t help but roast most of the vegetables that come into our house this time of year, so try out the Roasted Cauliflower with Herbed Breadcrumbs. The Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce is equally satisfying.
Sneak Peek at Next Week:
- Winter Squash
- Onions
- Winter Greens
- Celeriac
Enjoy the shift in foods and cooking this week!
All the best from all of us,
Heather, Brandon, Maybelle, Frank, Michele, Erin and Chazz
sleepy root farm 