• Kale 10×10
• Salad Mix 10×10
• Chervil
• Thai Basil Box
• Sage
• Red Sorrel
• Green Sorrel
• Microgreens

Winter greens: Sorrel is a leaf vegetable that is tart and tangy. This green can be eaten raw or cooked. Worldwide it can be found as the main ingredient in sorrel soups, served warm or chilled. There are curry recipes that include sorrel. It is very popular to combine with cream as a sauce. A simple sauce can be made to top off fish, chicken, potatoes, and other veggies. Here is a simple recipe to make use of all of your sorrel and ½ a cup of cream. Heat a skillet and melt butter. Chop your sorrel as large or as fine as you like and add to heat, just wilting the leaves. Pour in your cream and when it approaches a boil, reduce until the cream sauce coats the back of a spoon. Slather this on your cooked meat or veggies. Sorrel makes a yummy pesto which is also great for fish and potatoes. More rare are recipes combining fruits such as strawberries or peaches with sorrel. It adds a punch to smoothies and is a welcome addition to salads. I like to cut it into a salad of apples with nuts. When the peaches come, I want to try a recipe suggestion from whiteonricecouple.com: peach and sorrel salad, which is torn sorrel leaves topped with peaches and dressed with a vinaigrette salad dressing of honey, grapeseed oil, balsamic vinegar and vanilla. Yum!

Our sorrel won in an international cooking competition when the Inn at Little Washington took it to France with them. We hope you will enjoy a little extra zing this week in your meal preparations! Bon appétit!

• Watercress 8×8
• Baby Kale 8×8
• Baby Tatsoi 8×8
• Chervil
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Chives
• 2 Butternut Squash
• 2 Acorn Squash
• Papaya
• Blue/Purple Sweet Potatoes
• Turmeric*
• Ginger*

While building from this week’s CSA ingredients, I find all I need to add to this grocery list is a dozen eggs. The greens and herbs can be used to make a quiche, frittata, or homemade pasta as well as enjoyed raw alongside a meal, in a sandwich or even a wrap. Two to three eggs and the butternut, roasted and pureed, becomes the base for a “pumpkin” pie (the flavor and consistency is more of how we dream of for pumpkin pie, try it! Great substitute). Any greens and herbs can also be frozen, in a paste, or chopped to add to later dishes such as lentils, stews, curries and pot pies.

And of course, these are all packed with flavorful aromatic medicinal healing qualities…just check out the antimicrobial activities of herbs and essential oils…blows my mind sometime how we miss that the kitchen cupboard is also the medicine chest.

To your health and your pleasure, always, leslie   

• Fresh Ginger
• Fresh Turmeric
• Papaya
• Jalapenos
• Mixed Greens
• Baby Kale
• Arugula
• Chervil
• Delicata Squash
• Cherry Tomatoes

2017 CSA Winter January 14: Yes! there are some jalapenos in your share this week! A nice southwestern soup can be enhanced by these…just add one to a pureed squash base, adding a bit of cream, cumin, sage, garlic or onion, the jalapeno can be roasted or diced raw and then simmered until soft. We like to stuff the jalapenos with cheese and roast, leaving some unstuffed for future dishes. The soup can be topped with cheese and garnished with halves of the cherry tomatoes. Dip in with a nicely toasted bread or some tortilla chips. Speaking of tortilla chips, the jalapeno would also go well with the papaya for a salsa…To make quick work of the kale, Mike likes to roast up veggies into stew and add in the kale leaves at the end, so that they are just wilted when they reach his bowl. For an incredible fresh tea experience, grate the fresh ginger and turmeric into a pot of water (1½ in. of each, per serving) and boil. Add a dash of black pepper to enhance absorption. Strain into cups, using lemon and honey to taste. Powerful! Enjoy!

• Papaya
• Tomatoes
• Chives
• Sage
• Pineapple Sage
• Rose Geranium
• Baby Red Sorrel
• Arugula
• Tatsoi
• Baby Red Kale
• 2 Delicata Squash
• Beet Tops

“These are a few of my favorite things…”  Included is a photo of Michael with his very first tomato…the “love apple”. It sits above his Dad’s desk. We like to cook the squash and top it with pumpkin pie spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, but we also like it stuffed with tomato, arugula and cheese, giving it a nut topping. The beet tops make a very nice simple salad with goat cheese and a splash of balsamic. The rose geranium is one of my favorite cups of tea, infusing the leaves before the water comes to a boil to not lose much of its aroma. It also steeps in milk products very well, just be sure to not overcook it. It can flavor chilled yogurt in less than an hour for a unique dressing or dip that goes nicely with cheese and fruit plates. Then there is another cutting of the pineapple sage to soothe and comfort you. May peace and harmony be with you. To your health and your pleasure always! Enjoy

First Tomato

• Field Arugula
• Field Mix Greens
• Chard
• Lacinato Kale
• Onions
• Specialty Peppers
• Eggplant
• Thai Basil
• Yellow Squash
• Gold Zucchini
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Gourmet Cucumber

Welcome to our newest CSA members! Here is the kale chip recipe we promised, listed below.

– jelly roll pan

-leaves of kale, prepped

-1-3 tablespoons oil

-salt and pepper, spices to liking

-oven 300-325F

(a jelly roll pan is a double bottom cookie sheet with sides)

To prep your kale, just give it a check for any natural debris or water, dry where necessary and remove any of the greater sized ribs or veins of fibrous tissue that run thru the middle of the leaf.

Rip by hand or cut with scissors your pieces into large sections. Toss these pieces with your oil and seasoning, being sure that your greens are evenly coated with the oil. Spread the prepped pieces out on your pan…i like to use a sheet of parchment paper between the baking sheet and the greens. Besides salt or pepper, we like to use spices like garlic, cumin and smoked paprika. We have even had chips that were curry flavored..use your imagination and your favorites for these greens. We love to use the pesto here, adding to the oil then tossing the oil with the greens… Bake your chips up for about 10 to 15 minutes, checking for doneness along edges and turning the chips over, if you like. Bake for another 7-9 minutes or until the leaves are cooked all the way through. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a bit while prepping a presentation plate with paper. Use tongs to move the chips from pan to plate and serve with a side of nutritional gourmet salt to taste. These chips have turned even the most biased into rabid kale eaters! J

Mike on Cville

The image from the above right is when Michael appeared on the cover for Cville Weekly two years ago. The article “Beyond Organic” can be viewed at this website: http://www.c-ville.com/beyond-organic-local-farmer-michael-clarks-produce-thrives-despite-growing-pains/#.V5vqo_krLDc. This can introduce you to a more in-depth look into him and his experiences.

To your health & pleasure, always,