CSA Week 5

Brought home Collard Greens, Fennel, Turnips, Zucchini, Lemon Cucumbers, Summer Squash, and Lettuce.

chicken biriyani

While Curry can be made from start to finish in 30 minutes, and is why I tend to make it several times a week, Biriyani is the ultimate slow food. I tend to make it on lazy Sunday afternoons when I am just puttering around the house. It is a multi step cooking process that takes about three hours to prepare if you want real home style Biriyani. The long cooking process is well worth the effort, as Biriyani dishes have a complexity flavors that is impossible to achieve with quickly cooked foods.

The star ingredient of this Chicken Biriyani dish is Pickled Lemon relish. I first tasted this at Hot Stuff, a great little Indian restaurant in London. When I got back home I searched it out at local Indian grocery stores until I found one that tasted just like the relish I had in London, and this Lemon Pickle made by Nirav is delicious. Just the right combination of sweet, sour, and heat...




I marinate boneless chicken thighs in some olive oil, Madras Curry powder, Garlic Chili sauce, and Lemon Pickle. Mix together well and let it marinate for at least a hour...




Now saute some onions and peppers in some oil...



add a couple tablespoons of finely chopped Lemon Pickle...



when the onions have cooked down add some diced Yellow Squash...



add some Basil, Black pepper, and some grated Nutmeg and let simmer for several minutes...



Now grill the Chicken thighs...



Takes no more than ten minutes. They should be pink inside...




Dice the chicken and add it to the vegetables, and mix together...



Remove all of these ingredients to a bowl, and then rinse out your pan and then return it to the stove and melt some butter or Ghee in the bottom...



Before I started any of the other cooking, I steamed three cups of brown rice in my rice cooker with some bay leaves and star anise added to the cooking water...



Place half of the rice in the bottom of the pot. I am using a heavy enameled cast iron dutch oven...



Now put the chicken and vegetable mixture over the layer of rice...



Then cover that with the remaining rice, and you can put the bay leaves and star anise from the rice cooking on top...



Now are several important steps. The Biriyani will be roasted Dum style. This is a very slow cooking method in as tight a roasting pot as possible. Almost a form of pressure cooking. The best way to do this is to cover the pot with a layer of aluminum foil, then cover with the pot lid and scrunch up the foil around the edge as a seal. Indian cooks use dough to seal the lid. The Biriyani also needs to be cooked at a very low heat. I set the burner to it's lowest flame setting and then raise the pot off of the stove top using my wok burner grill. This raises the pot off of the flame about 1 1/2 inches. You could also roast the Biriyani in a very low oven. I leave it on the burner to roast Dum style for at least an hour...




During that long slow roast, the Biriyani develops a complex and intense level of flavors. The smoke and spice from the chicken play off of the citrus of the Lemon Pickle so well. This is just incredible tasting, and is even better the next day!

Goodbye Suckers!

There is some debate over weather to prune tomato plants or not.There are those gardeners who don't want to cut back any vine that could potentially develop fruit. I have always felt that pruning back the side sucker shoots during the early growth season will help to enhance the vigorous development of the main stem, and all of the energy will go into producing flowers from the main part of the plant. It also keeps your tomato bed from becoming a wild jungle.

The side suckers tend to grow out from the main stem at the bottom of the plant. They will also grow from thee crotch of larger branches as the plants get bigger...



When my plants are big enough to need staking, I usually go around and snip off all of the side suckers...



... and here is a perfect example of my newly staked and sucker free tomato plants. Every bit of nutrients from the soil and sun are now being concentrated into the main plants...

Rasa Kayi

I love Curry. My pantry is always stocked with basic ingredients to make some type of curry at a moments notice. As my family will tell you, I rarely make the exact same curry twice. I never follow recipes, and I prefer to experiment with different flavors and with whatever ingredients are available fresh from the market or garden.

The produce coming from my CSA these days is predominately root veggies, so I decided to make a Root Vegetable Curry. While this doesn't really follow any particular regional curry style, it is probably closest to a Southern Indian Rasa Kayi (Mixed Vegetable Curry). I went with traditional Indian curry powder instead of a Thai style curry paste because I thought it would better compliment the earthiness of the root vegetables.

Here is a quick Curry 101 lesson...

I start out by frying some spices in a hot pan. Here I used Bay Leaves, Star Anise, and Whole Cloves. This imparts a really nice flavor into the oil. Remove the spices once they are nicely toasted...




Now add chopped Onions and Garlic. I used Garlic Scapes because thats what I had on hand from my CSA. Add chopped Peppers at this point if you are using them. I didn't have any on hand, and ended up adding some jarred hot banana peppers towards the end. While the onions are cooking, add several tablespoons of Curry Powder and let everything cook down to a thick paste consistency...



At this point I add a little butter, or Ghee if I have it, and then I added chopped Kohlrabi, Turnip, and New Potatoes. Stir them around in the pan to coat them with the curry powder and onions and let them cook for a few minutes...



Then I added about a tablespoon of Chili Sauce (Sambal). This is an essential ingredient to every curry I make. Sometimes I use Garlic Chili Sauce and sometimes just plain old Chili Sauce, but it goes into every curry. This is what provides the background heat, not overpowering, just nice subtle heat. Let the Chili Sauce cook and mix in with the rest of the ingredients...



Now add a can of Coconut Milk and let simmer on very low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the veggies are cooked through. Do not allow the coconut milk to boil, you will ruin the subtle flavor...



I serve this on Brown Rice with some fresh Basil and a shot of lemon juice...




This was a really yummy curry. I have been trying to reduce my meat consumption lately, and I have gotten slightly tired of the steamed veggies I have been making for dinner most nights. This was really satisfying. I considered adding Tofu, which I do quite often when I want to make a Vegetarian Curry, but I didn't miss the protein at all.And I was right about the Indian Curry powder complimenting the root vegetables, especially the Kohlrabi. The mix of flavors was just right.

a walk through the garden...

a quick walk through the garden on a steamy night in late June...

All of the pepper plants are doing well except the Tabasco Peppers. The leaves are turning brownish and it looks like something is eating at it. I don't know why it is only this variety that is doing poorly. All of the other varieties are thriving, such as these Thai Dragon Peppers...

thai dragon peppers

I have been carefully thinning out the Carrots and Beets, and both new raised beds are coming up nicely. The seedlings are really starting to look like actual plants!

carrots

The container Pumpkin experiment is going really well. The vines are growing vigorously, and I see lot's of flower buds forming. I can't wait to see pumpkins growing around the base of my oak tree.

container pumpkins


I put in several Genovese Basil plants, not as many as I have grown in the past, but it should be enough...(can there ever be enough Basil?? Maybe I should get more!)

genovese basil

The first sign of a true Tomato has appeared on the little Tom Thumb patio plants. These container plants are loaded with flowers right now.

tom thumb tomatoes

And here is the Amish Heirloom Tomato bed soaking up the last hours of sunlight. A few plants have developed flowers, and all of the plants are really thriving. I need to get some support stakes in this bed this weekend.

amish heirloom bed

CSA week 3

What a gorgeous day! I got a great selection of items at Pennypack Farm this afternoon.
Fresh eggs just laid this morning, New Potatoes, U-pick Snow Peas, Mizuna, Turnips, Garlic Scapes, and Bok Choi.

Cherry Sunday....

I have a very old and very tall Cherry tree in the back corner of my yard. It is impossible for me to get a decent harvest of cherries unless I rented a cherry picker, which I am not going to do any time soon,. But today I actually climbed up onto the roof of my garage and harvested about 2 cups of nice ripe cherries...




I was going to make a Cherry Pie, but then I found a Cherry Pudding recipe in The Willing Worker's Cookbook, a great collection of recipe's from the Lower Skippack Mennonite Church of Creamery, Pa. dated 1961. This was a cinch to make. The only ingredients were 4 cups Flour,3 Eggs,1 3/4 cups Sugar,1 pint Milk,3/4 cup Butter,3 tsp. Baking Powder, and 2 cups of Cherries. Baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I made it in two dishes; one for me and one for my neighbor.

a walk through the garden...

Just a quick walk through the garden to see how things are progressing on June 10th.


First stop is the Patio Tomatoes which have a nice amount of flowers and I was pleasantly surprised to find this Ladybug standing guard...



The Tomatoes are growing nicely in the enhanced soil. I seem to notice a change in their size every day, but still no flowers yet. I lined the perimeter of the bed with yellow Marigolds. They look nice and they are a natural pest preventer...





Pepper bed is looking good. I planted two each of five different types of peppers, ranging from Thai Dragon and Tabasco to Sweet Banana and a mild Jubilee pepper...



I have never grown Pumpkins before because I don't really have the room. This year I am experimenting with two plants in a large pot, hoping the vine will spill over and I can train it around the base of my large Oak tree. We'll see what happens...




The Highbush Blueberries seem to be doing well. I'm not sure they are getting enough sun. I might move them to a different location at the end of the season...



I have grown Strawberries for the past several years now. They don't get enough sun so they do not produce very many berries, and the ones they do produce get eaten before I can ever harvest them. Oh well, they look nice in the herb garden...

CSA Week 2

Last week half of my share went to the 2 quarts of Strawberries I got. This week I concentrated on all veggies.... 3 heads of lettuce, 1 lb Broccoli, 2 bunches of Red Radishes, 1 bunch of Garlic Scrapes, 1 bunch of Kale, and the freebie extra of the week was Black Radishes.(I grabbed them up because they were so good last week) Quite a haul! Oh, and of course another dozen eggs. The eggs were laid yesterday. They say that by participating in a CSA you will end up trying some varieties of produce you wouldn't normally buy at the grocery store. I have found that to be true even in the second week. I had never eaten Garlic Scrapes or Black Radishes before, and I ended up getting them both again for the second week in a row because I loved them both.




Tonight's dinner made from some of the produce I brought home today. Steamed Red and Black Radishes and Radish Greens, over some re-heated Organic Brown Rice with scrambled Fresh Farm Eggs. Salt, Pepper, a little butter and a drizzle of Pearl River Bridge Soy Sauce.
These radishes were in the ground this morning! Both the Black and Red radishes are very strong and peppery when eaten raw, but steaming them produces a nice mild and almost nutty flavor. I could detect the faintest earthy flavor to the Radish greens that only comes from produce that is straight out of the soil. That flavor is impossible to achieve from store bought produce.

seedling beds...

Seedling beds are doing just fine. We had a lot of heavy rain the past few days and I was worried the seedlings would get water logged. Checked on them today and they seem just fine. I began the process of thinning them out and got some wonderful micro greens for my efforts.

beets. june 6, 2009


carrots. june 6, 2009


turnips. june 6, 2009


I carefully washed the micro greens and then drizzled a few drops of Balsamic Vinegar over them with a pinch of Sea Salt. It only amounted to about three fork fulls of salad, but the flavor was very intense! Very clear notes of carrot and beet came through.


micro greens

farm report....

This was sent to all members of the Pennypack Farm CSA...

Farm Notes ~ June 4, 2009
From Farmer Fred

We've just wrapped up the first week of summer share distribution, and we hope everyone was happy with the strawberry bonanza. Not only were the berries easy to find in the patch, they had mouth-watering flavor. But let's consider the cold-hard cash value question. I just checked at Whole Foods and saw that a quart of California organic strawberries was selling for around $4. On Wednesday, June 3, Pennypack Farm members could pick up to 3 quarts of strawberries, and take 3 more item besides.

Those three items could include a three-quarter pound bunch of kale with fronds 18 inches long and stalks so tender and sweet they snap in your fingers. Another two items (out of many to select from) could include a half-pound each of spinach and arugula. Sorry to pound our own drum here, folks. But the fact is that a Pennypack Farm share is a great value. At a cost of $450, a small share works out to $18 a week over the 25-week season. We strive to meet or beat an equivalent supermarket shopping basket value each week. We're off to a good start in that effort.

In Community Supported Agriculture, members take the bitter with the sweet, and we know that there will be crop failures as well as triumphs. At the moment, some of our spring broccoli is looking a little peaked. Broccoli needs a lot of available nitrogen, and we took a gamble by trying to reduce our purchased organic fertilizer input. Last fall we sowed a cover crop of legumes, which were supposed to add a significant amount of nitrogen to the soil for following crops to use. But it didn't seem to work out that way, at least not for the broccoli beds. We will harvest less broccoli in the coming month than we planned, but there will be much more coming in the fall, so we hope to make up for any shortfall.

We're trying another experiment in sustainability this season, which is to use biodegradable, corn-based plastic mulch on some beds. Each season we use thousands of row feet of disposable plastic sheeting as one of our primary weed control methods. We'd love to reduce or eliminate all this waste. But the corn-based plastic has only been commercially available for the last year or so, and it may not function as well as "real" plastic, or biodegrade completely in our conditions. I'll report back on this effort later in the season.

The weather this spring has been very cool and damp. One result has been an explosion of slugs. We use organic slug bait on a few crops, but it isn't that effective under these conditions. As a result almost all of our leafy greens have some slug holes. We've even seen slugs on mustard family crops like kale, which is quite unusual. Hopefully we'll turn the corner on summer soon and the heat will end the slug problem. Remember that week of 90-degree weather back in April? We're ready for some more of that!

daily farm eats

I make some version of this on an almost daily basis as long as I can harvest something straight from the garden. I will typically stir fry or steam vegetables with some organic Tofu and eat it with scrambled eggs or serve over rice.

This particular combination is Kale from my garden, and Black Radish & Garlic Scrapes from Pennypack Farm (my CSA). Sautéed in some oil and Sambal chili sauce with fresh farm eggs. A drizzle of soy sauce on top... and pure heaven!

CSA Week 1

Today was the first pick up day of the season at Pennypack Farm, the CSA I joined.It was such a pleasure to be out in the Strawberry fields walking among really cool people and a few stray chickens while picking the two quarts of incredible berries I gathered along with a couple heads of lettuce, something called Garlic scrapes (the curly long green stuff) and some wonderful root veggies. There were plenty of braising greens to select from, but I stuck with the root veggies because I have had quite my fill of greens from my own garden this spring.



Tonight I steamed leftover basmati rice with some slices of Black Radish and Celeriac from the farm. I chopped up the Garlic Scrapes and sprinkled them over the rice and let everything steam until it was buttery tender. Absolutely delicious! The Black Radish has quite a bite when raw, but was perfect once steamed, and the Celeriac was a new experience for me... loved it!

I had never heard of Garlic Scrapes before.... here is a good New York Times article about them...Spring Menu of Green Garlic and Scrapes

The wandering chickens reminded me to buy a dozen of Pennypack's own eggs, the freshest and most delicious eggs I have ever eaten.