ATHENS HILLS WINTER CSA:

WEEK FOURTEEN

Hello Everyone!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! I hope you all had a moment to celebrate whether you’re Irish or not. This week I’ve included some recipes inspired by the cuisine of the Emerald Isle. Believe it or not, there’s more to the menu there than cabbage & potatoes! Perhaps these dishes will inspire you to take a culinary journey to a cuisine you’ve not explored before. Meanwhile “Cead Mille Failte” (“Welcome”) to a taste of Ireland!

On the farm, the spring plantings of carrots, beets, onions, lettuces, etc. are getting bigger and tastier by the day. Spring is in the air and as we welcome more days of warmer weather the veggies really start to recuperate and revive. We are continuing the seeding of flats for the late spring & summer and are looking forward to planting out in the fields in the next couple of months. Spring brings all kinds of changes here on the farm—it’s so exciting!

Our Green Edge Gardens worker profiles are winding up, and this week we are featuring our very own omniscient & efficient Wonder Woman, the Micro House Queen, Penny Bingman. Please have a look at the back of this newsletter for her brief autobiography. I hope you enjoy getting to know all of us over the next couple of weeks, and if you have missed the profiles of Kip & Becky, Dan, John, Margaret, Kate, Cale or me please let us know and we can email you that newsletter. Have a great week!

Best Wishes,

Claudia

FEATURED VEGGIES

Salad Mix (a mix of several lettuce varieties picked for their delicious taste and color combinations.)

Micro Mix (a mix of sunflower, buckwheat, radish, cabbage and kogani (pac choi)).

Mushrooms (pickers' choice of our farm-grown shiitake, oyster or trumpet mushrooms. Store these beauties in your refrigerator in a paper bag or in an unsealed plastic bag for a least a week.)

Spinach (A truly wonderful green vegetable, very nutritious and delicious. It adds wonderful color and texture to a salad when you chop it into strips and toss with the lettuces. The best storage for fresh spinach is to wash it, place it in a plastic Ziploc with a paper towel lain in between the side of the bag and the leaves. You can also wash, blanch and freeze to save for later. Enjoy this familiar staple this week—it might just help you avoid those yucky winter illnesses that have been hanging around.)

Rutabaga (a wonderful winter root vegetable that is often used interchangeably with turnips. However, these hearty veggies are sweeter and are a great substitute to mashed potatoes. Chop and boil to do so, or you can roast or braise the rutabagas. They are even great julienned small and added to your favorite salad raw. Some flavors that go well with this veggie are honey, raisins, allspice, cumin, dill, garlic, mustard, butter, cream cheese, lemon juice & olive oil.)

Recipe: Oyster Stew (Serves 6-4)

6 Tbs. butter

2 Tbs. flour

1 C. chopped onions

½ C. chopped celery

2 C. milk

2 dozen oysters, shucked drained (reserve liquid)

Salt & cayenne

Fresh black pepper

1 Tbs. chopped garlic

¼ C. fresh parsley, chopped finely

2 C. fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

In a large sauté pan, melt 4 Tbs. butter. Stir in the flour, stirring constantly and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onions and celery and cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in the milk and oyster liquid. Season the mixture with salt, cayenne and black pepper to taste. Bring the liquid up to a simmer. Simmer the liquid for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the oysters, garlic and parsley. Bring the liquid back up to a simmer and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the oysters curl. Stir in remaining 2 Tbs. butter and remove from the heat. Stir in the spinach. Serve immediately with a nice Irish soda bread and salad.

(Recipe adapted from The Food Network & Emeril Lagasse, 2003.)

Recipe: Lamb with Caper Sauce

1 leg of lamb (enough to serve 4-6)

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

3 large onions, cut into wedges

15 g. butter

3 Tbs. chopped capers

4 cloves garlic, cut into slivers

2 bay leaves

2 large carrots, sliced

3 Tbs. plain flour

3 Tbs. cream

2 ½ C. water or stock

½ tsp. grated lemon rind

2 large turnips, sliced

½ tsp. seeded mustard

1 Tbs. whole capers

Remove excess fat and sinew from meat, roll and tie with string. Pierce small incisions over meat, stud with garlic. Place meat into large pan, add water or stock, rosemary, bay leaves and lemon rind. Cover with a tightly fitting lid, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.

Remove lid, add onion, carrots and turnip slices. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, until meat and vegetables are tender. Remove meat, cover and allow to stand 10 minutes before slicing. Reserve one and a half cups liquid.

To prepare Sauce: Melt butter in a pan, add flour, cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in reserved liquid. Return to heat, stir until sauce thickens. Add mustard, capers and cream. Slice meat, serve with sauce and vegetables from stock. Serve garnished with whole capers.

(Recipe courtesy of RecipeHound.com, 2008.)

PENNY BINGMAN

Hello, I’m Penny & I’ve been with Green Edge for about a year. I work in the microgreen house, planting and harvesting. I enjoy my job and the great people who work here. I’ve lived in the area for about 20 years, on a farm with my wonderful husband, Eric, of 29 years. I have 3 grown children (2 boys and 1 girl) who have all been part of this farm at one time or another. Plus, I also have a 7 year old granddaughter. All of my farm knowledge I’ve received from the school of hard knocks, raising cattle, hogs and turkeys. I have found vegetables much easier to “catch.” I sing and play fiddle and guitar with our family square dance band. I also love to hike and fish. This job fits my outdoors life as well as encourages me to live a healthier lifestyle.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget you can contact us at:

(740) 448-4021 OR

greenedgegardens@verizon.net

We look forward to hearing from you!