CSA 2023 Spring Week 4

Written by

Becca Lagarcha

in

Here’s a peek inside your week 4 box – packed with flavor, nutrition, and love!

  • Yellow and Green Beans
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Sweet Corn
  • Fennel
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Sweet Red Onions
  • Peaches
  • Daikon Radishes
  • Murasaki Sweet Potatoes

Phytonutrients: a picture of health

Long sunny days help give this week’s CSA box its vibrant yellows, greens, reds, and purples. It paints a perfect picture of health: all those colors mean we get the full range of nutrients we need to thrive. What’s even better is that we harvest your fruits and veggies at the peak of ripeness when our crops are the densest with nutrients. But how does it translate to health? Here’s a snapshot of the benefits we reap by “eating the rainbow”:

Blue/purple: veggies like the red onions in your CSA share are a boost for the urinary tract, memory function, and healthy aging.

Yellow/orange: the peaches, corn, and yellow beans tucked inside your box are also loaded with vitamin C, vitamin A and potassium. This supports our immune system and can help with vision.

Red: these fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium and antioxidants. The reds can reduce cancer and stroke risk, plus help our brain, skin, heart, and prostrate do their jobs.

White: Ok, so technically white isn’t a color, but out bodies need those onions, potatoes, and other white fruits and veggies, too! They help control cholesterol and blood pressure levels, among other benefits.

Green: Dark green, leafy vegetables like this week’s rainbow chard win the prize for antioxidants and fiber content. They’re also chock full of potassium and vitamin K that nurture our bones, teeth, and heart. What’s not to love?

Recipes

French Onion Tart – adapted from newyorktimes.com

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into thumbnail cubes
  • ½ cup ice-cold water
  • 1 pound sweet onions
  • 2 tablespoons FSO lard
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Freshly grated nutmeg

Instructions:

  1. Use a pastry knife to blend flour, salt, and butter to a coarse meal consistency.
  2. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour ice-cold water into the well.
  3. Using a flexible dough scraper, bring the dough together by folding and pressing. Be firm and brisk to form into a neat disk, trying to avoid using your hands or too much kneading. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
  4. Halve the onions, peel, and create julienne slices rather than half moons.
  5. In a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt the lard and slowly sweat the onions until caramelized, usually approx. 25 minutes. Let them soften to translucent and allow the sugars they contain to start to brown in the pan. The result should be soft, sweet and evenly browned onions. Set onions aside to cool.
  6. Roll dough out to a ¼-inch-thick round, and drape over a round 10-inch fluted false-bottom tart pan. Lay dough into the pan, gently pressing into the bottom, and roll the pin across the pan to cut off the excess dough. Use your fingers to press the edges into the flutes, accentuating the shape of the dough edge. Dock the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork, weight the pastry with beans or weight and blind-bake for 25 minutes.
  7. In a bowl, beat the egg with the cream. Stir in the caramelized onions. Season with pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Stir well, and make sure the onions are all evenly coated with the custard.
  8. Remove tart shell from oven, and slip it onto a baking sheet. Remove weights, fill with the onion-custard mixture and distribute it evenly. Return tart to oven on the sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until custard has set, the tops of the onions start to achieve a deeper brown and the dough is dark golden brown at the edges.
  9. Remove from the ring, and allow to cool just a few minutes on the rack, so that the piping hot tart shell can kind of tighten up enough to be sliced with a sharp chef’s knife. (In the first few minutes straight out of the oven, the dough is kind of soft from the heat, possibly giving you the false impression that you have a soggy tart. Let it sit on the rack just to shake off this initial soft stage and to recrisp and refirm, which it will.) Cut into wedges, and serve while hot.

Fennel Al Forno 

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, a few fronds reserved for garnish
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the baking pan
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste with a little salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary, plus 2 teaspoons whole leaves
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced or shredded
  • 1/4 cup coarse dry bread crumbs, homemade from an Italian or French loaf
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, or a mixture of parsley and fennel fronds

Instructions:

  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove a thin layer of the fennel bulbs’ tough exterior. Cut the fennel crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fennel and boil for 1 minute, then drain and put it in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking; drain and pat dry. Season the fennel with salt and pepper.
  3. Lightly oil a large baking dish. Layer in the fennel to a depth of 1.5 inches.
  4. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic, chopped rosemary, and crushed red pepper. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of this mixture over the fennel. Sprinkle with the rosemary leaves. Cover with the mozzarella, then sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Drizzle the remaining oil mixture over the top, then sprinkle with the Parmesan.
  5. Bake the fennel, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned. Garnish with the chopped parsley.

Pickled Red Onions

Ingredients:

  • 2 small red onions
  • 2 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/3 cup cane sugar (or FSO cane syrup)
  • 2 tablespoons sea salt
  • 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns

Instructions:

  1. Thinly slice the onions (it’s helpful to use a mandoline), and divide the onions between 2 (16-ounce) jars or 3 (10-ounce) jars. Place the garlic and peppercorns in each jar.
  2. Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Let cool and pour over the onions. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then store the onions in the fridge.
  3. Your pickled onions will be ready to eat once they’re bright pink and tender – about 1 hour for very thinly sliced onions, or overnight for thicker sliced onions. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

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