Here’s a peek inside this week’s CSA box, an abundance of flavors, nutrition, and textures grown and harvested with love for your table!
- Bok Choy
- Collards
- Red Butter Lettuce
- Sweet Red Onions
- Snow Peas
- Black Spanish Radishes
- Peaches
- Bonita Sweet Potatoes
Spring Festival This Weekend!
Come on out to the farm THIS Saturday, April 15, for full day of festing! Guests will experience and tour the farm, enjoy live music, special events, delicious healthy food, shopping, and community! You’re even invited to get your hands dirty at our strawberry and calendula U-pick. Handwashing stations are available, too 🙂 More details, including registration, are on our event page.
The sweet and luscious 2023 strawberries making their debut are grown on real beds of straw mulch to ensure optimal flavor and nutrition. With our commitment to sustainable farming practices, you can rest easy knowing that FSO berries are never grown on plastic! They’re carefully handpicked at the peak of ripeness, guaranteeing a burst of juicy sweetness in every bite.
If you “accidentally” pick or order too many berries, jam is your best bet to utilize them! Like all homemade foods, one of the many benefits is that you can control the sugar level. A typical jam has a 1:1 ratio when it comes to sugar to fruit. Yikes! If you plan to consume your jam in a reasonable timeframe (i.e. one month), you don’t need to load it with sugar to increase the shelf life. And our strawberries are sweet enough to stand on their own without all the extra sugar. We can’t reveal Farmer Amy’s secret jam recipe (buy hers online while supplies last!) but are share another low sugar option below.
A word of caution about those gorgeous black radishes in this week’s box: they’re spicier than other varieties (think horseradish. Our radish recipes below help take it down a notch for those who prefer a milder treat. Please share your kitchen magic with us and join us this Saturday to celebrate everything that’s awesome about your FSO farm and friends!
Recipes
Black Radishes with Truffle Oil & Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:
- 5 black radishes
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons black truffle oil
- Crumbled sharp cheddar cheese (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Prep Your Ingredients: Preheat oven to 425ºF. Scrub the black radishes and trim off the tops and the bottoms and quarter. Peel, halve, and thinly slice the onion. Finely chop the chives.
- Brown the Onions: Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. When hot and just shimmering, add the sliced onions. Stirring regularly, continue to cook the onions for about thirty minutes or until they’ve caramelized and are golden brown. The Kitchn offers an amazing how-to for browning onions perfectly every time.
- Cook the Radishes: Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and add the radishes. Season with salt and pepper and coat the radishes with oil and cook in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on the bottoms and tender.
- Truffles: Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and add the onions back to the pan and combine with the radishes over medium heat. Add half the chives and stir to combine. Drizzle with two teaspoons of truffle oil. Remove the skillet from the heat and crumble half of the cheese into the skillet. Stir quickly to combine.
- Plate it Up: Spoon the radishes into a serving dish and top with the remaining chives and crumbled cheese. Enjoy!
Black Radish Chips
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds black radishes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Using a mandolin, slice the radishes 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. Place in a large mixing bowl and toss with the oil, salt and pepper.
- Arrange the radishes on a single layer on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 10 to 15 minutes, turn once, until lightly browned and slightly crisp. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with your favorite dip.
Low Sugar Strawberry Jam
Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled (approximately one quart)
1 ½ cups organic cane sugar (or to taste)
¼ cup lemon juice
pinch of sea salt
Instructions:
- Heat large saucepan over medium-low heat and add strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Increase saucepan to medium-high to bring mixture to a boil. Continue to boil for 15 minutes or until thickened. If you have a candy thermometer, just boil until the temperature reaches 220°F. Remove from heat and add pinch of salt.
- Transfer the jam to a jar and let cool at room temperature. Store in fridge and use within 1 month.
Julia Child’s Roasted Sweet Onions
Ingredients:
- large sweet onion
- 1⁄2 tablespoon cheese, grated
- olive oil, to taste (or Roasted Garlic, Herb Butter, to taste)
- salt and pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or herbs of choice)
Instructions:
- Pierce a whole sweet onion in five or six places with a knife or a pointed chop stick.
- Bake in a 450 degree oven for 45 minutes or until carmelized.
- Remove from oven; cut it in half or open it up. Sprinkle it with grated cheese and olive oil or butter, herbs, salt and pepper.
- Bon appetite!