August 5th Newsletter

A WEEK – August 5, 2009

Faces of Fort Greene CSA: Coordinator Edition
Cambra Moniz-Edwards, General Coordinator

Cambra is originally from Northern California. She moved to the Clinton Hill area when she first came to New York 3 years ago, and can't imagine living anywhere else! She joined the Fort Green CSA last year, and liked it so much that she jumped at the chance to help organize its second season.

Cambra recently earned her Master's degree in Media Studies (with a focus on radio and sound art) from The New School in Manhattan. She's enjoying using the summer to travel, read, cook, and look for a job!


Photos taken by our ever-talented CSA member Ryan Scott. Check out our Flickr page if you haven’t already at http://www.flickr.com/photos/28816593@N07/

Using It All Up by CSA Member Ann Monroe

I have to start with a couple of confessions. First, I don't do beets. I don't like them, so I don't cook them. (I did once try a “Chocolate Surprise Cake” - the surprise being that there were cooked beets in it – but while it's true you couldn't taste the beets, you couldn't taste much chocolate either.) So no help from me on beets.
Second (and I don't know if this is a confession or a boast), I am the one who made a ruckus about all that cabbage, cucumber and beets, the result being that this week we're getting fennel, peppers & basil instead. If you don't like fennel, I apologize. But how can you not like fennel?
Fennel: Since we had cabbage last week, I tried a fennel and cabbage slaw. Basically a cole slaw with a mayonnaise dressing with the addition of sliced fennel, toasted ground fennel and anise seeds, and chopped fennel fronds. In spite of all that fennel, it didn't taste all that different from ordinary cole slaw, but if you're cautious about fennel, it might be a good place to start. Having gotten the cabbage out of the way, I moved on to my number one favorite fennel dish: fennel and radish salad. It's very easy: thinly sliced fennel, thinly sliced radishes, dressed with oil and lemon, sprinkled with chopped fennel fronds. Heaven.
Cucumber: I've never cooked cucumbers before, but this week I did – twice. First. a cucumber and shrimp curry. Toast curry powder in oil, add chopped onion, then the shrimp. When the shrimp is barely pink, remove it, and toss the cubed cucumbers in the oil-and-onion. Add a little broth and simmer briskly till the cucumber's just tender and the broth has thickened a bit. Stir in your choice of creamy liquid (cream, sour cream, yogurt, coconut milk), put the shrimp back in to warm up, and serve.
On to the very odd-sounding cucumber and gooseberry soup. (Google it in quotes and you'll find only two hits, both for this recipe.) Cook a chopped onion in butter, add peeled, chopped cucumbers (3-4), and a couple of potatoes, also peeled and chopped, and a cup of gooseberries, and stir them around. (Several of the Ft. Greene Greenmarket farmers are selling gooseberries right now. If you like rhubarb, you'll like gooseberries.) Then add chicken broth, cook until everything's tender, and puree. (Best done in a blender – in a food processor it comes out a bit chunky.) Add as much sour cream as your conscience and waistline will allow, and serve with a dollop of sour cream on top. (The recipe says to add strips of smoked trout or salmon, but I can't report on that because my husband accidentally bought unsmoked salmon. But it sounds good.) You can serve it warm or cold, but I think cold is better. It's rich and a bit sour and very very good.
Plums: Ah, lovely plums. These, bless their hearts, turned out to be easy to stone (many varieties are not!). I made a honey-plum crisp with half of them (google “plum and honey crumble” - yes, another English recipe – but who makes better desserts than the Brits?). Basically, you cook the plums lightly in butter with honey and brown sugar, then top with a mixture of flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar, and bake. Serve warm or cold, with cream or ice-cream or by itself.
The rest of the plums (apart from the ripest, which we kept to snack on), I baked with vanilla sugar – an extremely good way of cooking both plums and apricots. (Vanilla sugar is plain old white sugar that's been stored in a jar with a vanilla bean or two.) You can serve them as is, possibly with a mild cheese. But I didn't have enough vanilla sugar left, so mine were too sour. Solution: add some powdered sugar (and maybe a bit of brandy), puree them, and freeze them into a sorbet.


Ann Monroe blogs about food and sustainability at www.annmonroe.com

Storage Tips for this Week's Share

Tomatoes: Store tomatoes at room temperature to promote flavor, healthy appearance and freshness. Temperatures below 50 degrees will destroy the natural sugars in tomatoes. Tomatoes can be refrigerated for use at a later time but should be served at room temperature for optimum flavor.
Corn: Store corn in the refrigerator for up to three days. Keep the husk attached to the corn during storage; it will help protect and retain the corn’s moisture content. Cook sweet corn as soon as possible
White Onions: Onions should be kept in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, but beware of the moisture accumulation that causes them to spoil. Eat them within 2 weeks.
Basil: Store basil dry to prevent the leaves from turning black. Basil that is to be used within five days should be wrapped in a dry paper towel and kept in an airtight container at about 50 degrees (you can wash it just before use).
Red Amaranto (Callaloo): Keep Red Amaranto (Callaloo) greens refrigerated in a plastic bag for up to 3 days.
Beets: Remove the greens, leaving an inch of stem. Keep the greens unwashed and refrigerated in a plastic bag. Store the unwashed beet roots in a plastic bag as well. Placed in the crisper bin, they will keep for several weeks.
Apricots: Apricots ripen at room temperature, but you can speed the process by placing them in a paper bag with an ethylene gas-producing fruit (apple, pear, banana). Keep apricots away from direct sunlight or heat. A ripe apricot will yield to a gentle squeeze, and will refrigerate up to 2 days, unwashed, in a paper or plastic bag
Red Sugar Plums: Ripen firm plums at room temperature in a paper bag, with the top folded over but not sealed, for a couple of days. Ripe plums should keep in the refrigerator up to three days.
Sunflowers: Place in water. Inhale and enjoy!

This Week's Recipe: Curried Callaloo

1/3 cup of Sweet Bell Pepper, chopped and de-seeded
3 Scallions, crushed and chopped
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
3 cups chopped Callaloo leaves
3 Medium Potatoes, diced
½ cup Fresh Corn
2 Sprigs of Thyme
1 Tomato, chopped and de-seeded
½ cup Curry

Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan; sauté the scallions and bell pepper in the vegetable oil. Add the other ingredients and let simmer for 7 minutes while constantly stirring.

Serve hot with Yams, Dumplings, or Boiled Green Bananas—or as a side with anything!

Opportunities for Involvement:

* Share your photos on the Fort Greene CSA Flickr page by sending photos to ryanscott.photography@gmail.com!
* If you have an idea for a great member event, let us know! We are always open to suggestions to make our CSA an integral part of our Fort Greene community.