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August 29, 2005
In the box...
The cooler weather this week heralds the season's change but we will still have some hot weather crops for you to enjoy. Cucumbers and tomatoes highlight are showcased in our salad recipe this week. This cous cous salad is one of my favorites with a light and fresh taste but the beans and cous cous give it substance. Speaking of substance, we are pleased to be including organic potatoes from Alden Farms, just across the street from our farm.
In addition to the tasty produce, you will find a copy of our winter CSA brochure in your box. We are trying something very different this year. We are offering a traditional CSA, like you have enjoyed all summer, and a customized CSA where you choose each week what you want in your box from a list of available produce. The boxes will be hand packed to your specifications.
We are also offering shorter subscriptions, to encourage others that are new to our product or to CSAs to give it a try. For established customers, signing up for a longer subscription in the form of multiple sessions, represents significant savings. We tried to time the Winter CSA sessions to begin at the end of the summer session but if you are on the 16 week plan but took less than 4 "off" weeks your current subscription will end in between sessions. Give us a call at (425) 485-4128 and we will give a deal to make sure you don't miss any weeks.
Small Shares:
1/2lb salad mix, 1 cucumber, 1 lb potatoes, 1 bn onions, 1 bn carrots, 1 tomato, 1/2 pt red raspberries.
Medium Shares:
Get the same as the smalls, with additional salad mix, potatoes & tomatoes. They will also receive beets and haricot beans.
Large Shares:
Same as the medium boxes, with additional salad mix, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and beets. They will also receive golden raspberries and spinach.
Posted by Christine at 12:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
For the love of cous cous!
This is one of my very favorite salads. It tastes better the second day so I often make a double batch to make sure there is some around the next day! This salad makes a great meal on it's on or paired with grilled fish.
Cous Cous Salad
2 1/2 c. cooked cous cous
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
the green tops off a bunch of Willie's Walla Wallas or 6 green onions, chopped
1 can garbanzo beans
1 c fresh parsley
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic mince
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 TBS fresh mint or 1 tsp dried
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Toss everything together in a large bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Posted by Christine at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Warm from the inside out
Early mornings and late evenings are quite cool on the farm. The cool moist weather makes me long for "comfort" food and to me that means potatoes.
Italian Potato Casserole
1 lb potatoes, washed and sliced into 1/4" slices.(Don't peel)
1 lg Willie's Walla Walla onion, sliced
3 medium or 2 large organic tomatoes sliced & seeded
1 TBS fresh oregano, minced (1/2 tsp dried)
2 TBS fresh basil, minced (1 tsp dried)
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup coarsely chopped spinach
1 c. grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a baking dish and layer half of the potatoes, onion and tomato slices. Layer all of the spinach. Sprinkle with the herbs and salt and pepper. Layer with half the cheese. Layer the remaining potatoes, onions and tomato. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Top with the remaining cheese.
Bake uncovered one hour until the potatoes are tender and golden.
Serves 6.
Posted by Christine at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 23, 2005
CSA Update
The turnips aren't meeting Brett's high standards, so medium and large subscribers will be receiving beets instead of turnips in their boxes this week. Have a great week!
Posted by Christine at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 22, 2005
This week...
This week's CSA boxes are featuring a few real summer treats. Fresh ripe melons from River Ranch Farms in Ellensberg, and our very own slicing cucumbers. For those of you with a large share you might need a hand carrying this weeks plentiful box. I'm sure you can figure out what to do with those melons, but we do have a few recipes ideas for your Romanos and tomatoes. Farm staffer Katie has offered up a great Romano Caprese recipe which incorporates our Romano beans and field ripened tomatoes. Jeff (Willie) also posted a recipe for salsa that you are sure to enjoy.
Small Shares
1/2 lb salad mix, 1/2 lb Romano beans, 1 cucumber, 1 melon, 1 bunch carrots, 1 small broccoli head, and 1 tomato.
Medium Share
3/4 lb salad mix, 3/4 lb Romano beans, 2 cucumbers, 2 melons, 2 bunches of carrots, 1 medium broccoli head, 2 tomatoes, 1/2 lb saute mix, 1 bunch baby turnips.
Large Share
1 lb salad mix, 1 lb Romano beans, 3 cucumbers, 3 melons, 3 carrot bunches, 2 small broccoli heads, 3 tomatoes, 3/4 lb saute mix, 2 bunches baby turnips, 1/2 pint red raspberries, and 1 bunch of Willies Walla onions.
Posted by at 10:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Romano Caprese
1/4 lb Romano beans
1 large tomato
4 oz fresh mozzarella
5-6 fresh basil leaves
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Blanch beans in salted water. Add 1/2" cubed tomatoes and diced mozzarella. Coat with extra virgin olive oil and drizzle with balsalmic to taste. Garnish with fresh basil after applying the dressing. Quick, easy, and delicious.
Posted by at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 21, 2005
Jeff's Salsa
Hmmm Fresh Salsa!
1 lg tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 TBS finely diced red onion
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp jalapeno, seeded and minced
Juice of 1 lime
4 Tomatillos, diced
Mix everything together and serve with your favorite chips for a refreshing summer time snack!
Posted by Jeff at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 15, 2005
Michael jumping into the deep end
Hey everybody,
Well it's been three weeks and some change since I arrived at Willie Green's. I originally imagined myself working at the markets this year, because back in the Fall of 2004 that's what Jeff mentioned would be a possibility. However during the spring and early summer a different role developed for me... It's kind of hard to pin point exactly--the WG utility man would be the best way to describe it since I'm doing a bit of everything on and off the farm.
Rewind a bit: I was traveling in South America when I decided to come back to the beautiful NW summer....and just in time to fill in the giant hole Misty left by traveling to costa rica in July. (Hmmmmmmm, maybe she was more intelligent by leaving the chaos of peak farm season, than I was by jumping into it.)
Although initially the transition here during these crazy summer weeks was a challenge-- probably since I had been living the easy life for so long--I've survived the dive into the deep end, and now it honestly feels good to be exhausted after an honest day's work. It is also refreshing to work outside in such a beautiful area of the earth.
If you have been to the University District Market and/or West Seattle
markets as of late, you probably have seen me. (Im the guy climbing around, over , and under the tables to make sure our display looks as beautiful as the food we grow. I've also made 2 appearances at Bellevue and 1 at the Lake City Festival. Mostly I'm on the farm working to get the finist berries, haricot verts, shelling peas, romano beans, and sugar snap peas, etc. to our faithful customers.
In the next few weeks I will make occasional appearences at the markets again, this time with the objective of promoting our winter CSA program. So if I happen to put a pamphlet into your hands, please introduce yourself to me.
Ate Logo (literally "until soon",
Michael
Posted by at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 14, 2005
Halfway through Summer CSA
We are in our 10th week of the summer CSA and we hope that you are enjoying your shares. This time of year, we are saying goodbye to some crops like peas while gearing up for crops like basil and cucumbers. Look for them soon.
Small Shares:
1/2lb salad mix, 1/2# spinach, 1 bn bok choy, 1 bn carrots, 1 beefsteak tomato, 1/2lb Romano Beans, 1/2pt golden raspberries.
Medium Shares:
All of the above except the golden raspberries, plus more salad mix, spinach, bok choy, carrots, tomatoes and beans. In addition, you will receive beets and onions.
Large Shares:
All that is in a medium share plus more salad, carrots, tomatoes, beans, onions, and beets. In addition, large shares will receive corn and red raspberries.
Posted by Christine at 10:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 12, 2005
Time flies....
Wow, we are nearly in mid August now, somehow the seemingly endless days have just flown by. As of today when I look back on some of our goals for the year at the markets, we seemed to have met them, not only have we supplied all of our long time customers with a steady stream of all we have to offer, but we have also kept supply steady at our newer markets as well, all the while maintaning the quality that we pride ourselves on, and even improving on it so I am told by some long time market shoppers. Believe me, this is not an easy task and still not something we have mastered. Our biggest issue is our August mkt table, which in the past tended to look a little empty this time of year, but with increased organization and labor to maintain these crops early in the season, we should have nice tables all through the year, with some markets going through December it is always exciting to see how much and how long we can produce our favorite crops. Every year has its ups and downs and this year is no different, but we can always count on our loyal shoppers who appreciate our hard work to produce the best product possible, and in turn, who's support is appreciated 10 fold by all of us at Willie Green's.
Posted by Christine at 12:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 08, 2005
Summer Pleasures
This week's boxes are full of summer pleasures with beans, corn and field ripened tomatoes! One of our favorite bloggers, Molly, wrote a great post about warm corn salad with Willie Green's corn. Check out the recipe here as well as her reader's comments. She also has a really yummy recipe for the Romano beans that you will find in this week's box.
We also have two recipes that spotlight summer and the taste of arugula, Crustini and Lemon Grass Prawn Salad.
Small Shares:
1/2 lb salad mix, 1/2 lb arugula, 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch onions, 2 ears corn, 1/2lb Romano beans and 1 large beefsteak tomato.
Medium Shares:
All of the above plus more salad mix, arugula,
carrots, corn, Romanos and tomatoes. In addition, they will receive strawberries and golden raspberries.
Large shares:
All of the above plus more salad mix, arugula, carrots, onions, corn, tomatoes and Romanos. In addition, baby turnips.
Posted by Christine at 12:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Lemon Grass Prawn Salad
Kathy Blair brought us this recipe from Ann Lovejoy because she thought it was a great way to use Willie Green's romaine and arugula. I have tweaked it a bit and infused it with lemongrass for a refreshing summer salad.
Lemon Grass Prawn Salad
1 1/2 lb raw prawns
2 4 in long lemon grass, finely sliced
1 c. dry white wine
2 limes
1 TBS finely minced garlic
1/2 c. olive oil
4 c. Romaine lettuce, shredded
1 c. arugula, shredded
1/4 c. cilantro, stemmed and chopped
2TBS roasted peanuts, chopped
In a medium non-reactive bowl, whisk together the lemon grass, wine, juice of 1 lime, garlic and olive oil. Add the prawns and marinate for a minumum of 30 minutes.
In a saute pan, cook the prawns in about 1 cup of the marinade. Cook until the prawns are translucent. Do not over cook. Remove from the heat. Add the chili sauce and toss to coat.
Mix the romaine and arugula together. Divide the greens between 4 plates. Add the prawns. Garnish with the cilantro, peanuts and the remaining lime, quartered.
Posted by Christine at 12:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Crustini for summer
These were a hit with our customers during the grand opening of our Monroe market. Pretty, simple to make and bursting with flavor, these crustini capture some of the great tastes of summer.
Crustini with Herbed Goat Cheese, Tomatoes, Arugula & Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 baguette, sliced 1/3” thick
olive oil
Herbed Goat Cheese
Vine ripened tomatoes, sliced
Willie Green's Organic Farm Arugula
Balsamic vinaigrette
Lightly brush the baguette slices with the olive oil. Place the slices in a single layer on a sheet pan. Toast the slices in a 400° oven, turn ad toast the other sides as well.
To assemble: spread a layer of goat cheese on the crustini. Layer with thinly sliced tomato. Toss the arugula with the balsamic vinaigrette. Top the crustini with a few of the dressed arugula leaves.
Posted by Christine at 12:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Balsalmic - Fig Vinaigrette
We often use this great tasting and simple recipe to provide salad samples. The dressing has a full flavor, keeps well and makes up quickly.
Willie Green's Organic Farm Salad with Balsamic – Fig Vinaigrette
¼# Willie Green's Organic Farm Salad Mix
1 bunch radish, thinly sliced
1 bunch turnips, thinly sliced
½ head broccoli, cut into small pieces
1/3 c. vinaigrette:
Use 1 pkt Good Seasonings Italian Salad Dressing, following the label directions. Substituting balsamic – fig vinegar for the standard vinegar and olive oil for the standard oil.
Mix the salad greens with the vegetables in a large bowl. Toss with the vinaigrette and serve immediately.
Posted by Christine at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack