French Onion Soup with Spring Onions!

French Onion Soup!

I used to lump french onion soup into the category I have for complicated-sounding desserts, called “Best Ordered in a Restaurant and Not Attempted in my Kitchen.” You know, one of those advanced class dishes.

That was before last week, as we scrambled to finish the vegetables from the previous Norwood CSA share delivery. 4-5 spring onions, what to do? Soon, after Googling a recipe, I came to a shocking realization: not only is french onion soup pretty easy to make; I already had most of the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.

This recipe from Gimme Some Oven was super easy to follow and delicious. I used five small spring onions and one regular-sized yellow onion. I think the freshness and natural moistness of the spring onions made for a richer and more flavorful caramelization process. The dish was even more perfect and filling with a baguette from Madonia Brothers Bakery on Arthur Avenue that I’d been keeping in the freezer and later toasted in the oven. For garnish, I didn’t have thyme on hand, so I chopped a sprig of oregano from our rooftop garden. Turns out you can eat this herb once it starts to flower (I think, anyway).

Also, a note: for anyone who saw someone identical to me in the Dobbs Ferry Stop & Shop adding Progresso french onion soup to her cart during early days of quarantine, you are surely mistaken; I'm far too much of a cook to commit such a mortal sin. 

Grilled Zucchini and Squash

Hello  CSA members,

The best thing I have bought during this online shopping season is a cast iron stove top grill. It has brought the taste of back yard grilling to indoor apartment living due to current circumstances by covid. Now that the we are getting beautiful squash from our CSA, we turn on the grill and have delicious veggies in only a few minutes. Here is an easy recipe to use if you would like to have outdoor tastes while at home:

https://www.marthastewart.com/352690/grilled-zucchini-and-squash

The grill is so good we now have two, can't wait to get more from the farm to see what more we can do!

Post by : Afua Baako

Amaranth Greens- the new, new, new super food?

Cooking unfamiliar vegetables we get from Norwich Meadows Farm in the CSA is a whole new world these days.  When I joined the Norwood CSA in 2005, cookbooks were really the only place to turn for recipe ideas:
Farmer John's The Real Dirt on Vegetables was a must have
Simply in Season from the Mennonite Central Committee, also useful

These days, I almost always turn to the computer to produce creative and delicious dishes.  You still need to wade through many less than stellar recipes, but it turns up a lot of family crowd pleasers in our household!

I found this post on the Organic Authority (relation to the now bankrupt Sports Authority- could be!), extolling the wonders of mighty Amaranth Greens:

• vitamin E in them could lower cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease
• potassium can improve brain function and reduce risk of stroke
• magnesium reduces high blood pressure, gives energy, calms anxiety, prevents osteoperosis
• improves digestion
• high in iron, addresses anemia

We are now feeding the stems to our guinea pig with the hopes that he develops super powers, or at least starts cleaning his own cage.

We tried the recipe included, using some of the spring onions and garlic scapes, replacing the coconut milk with some of the cream we had left over after making chicken tikka masala (ok, I realize that cream might counteract some of the amaranth benefits).  The girls loved the pink greens, as well as their parents.  If that's not a super food, I don't know what is!

The First Week of the 2020 Summer Season

In previous years, when asked what I looked forward to the most about the CSA, I’d exclaim, “Garlic scapes!” -- I love chopping them up and putting them in anything from salads to stir fry to omelets to pesto, and their brief appearance at the beginning of the summer season signals the end of an exhausting school year and the harbinger of many vegetable adventures to come.

This year, though, the mere existence of the CSA felt both necessary and impossible for a time, and so I find myself looking forward to all of it. Not only the produce, but the time outdoors in the garden volunteering, seeing neighbors from a distance, and rallying 50-some households to keep showing up. It is a credit to core organizers, current and past, that we have the tools to support each other and continue to work to grow our membership.

Our old routines are fairly well-documented on this blog and other social media; in stark contrast, this season we’ll have pre-packed boxes and limited dawdling. Our first delivery went smoothly and it was great to see familiar, albeit masked, faces and meet new members as well. It was a combination of taking back some control (knowing where our food comes from, avoiding gathering indoors), and yielding some of it (what’s in the box??), too. 

Food sovereignty and food justice are necessary branches in the larger overlapping struggles for racial equity, environmental justice, and liberation for all. I look forward to hearing how members use the material fuel of these gorgeous vegetables to expand their vision of a better world, while hoping for the day we can fling the garden gates wide open once again.

Summer 2020 CSA is Now Taking Signups!

join us for our summer season from june-november!

Your membership in the Norwood CSA supports:

Organic produce. Norwich Meadows Farm offers weekly deliveries of organic produce from mid-June to mid-November. Your weekly share will include fresh organic vegetables and fruits grown in season and picked just prior to delivery. Expect to receive between 7 and 9 different vegetables per week.

Affordable shopping. The quantity and variety of items in the share will vary weekly, depending on weather and season. In an average year, the share prices reflect a savings of about 15-20% off what you would pay in a green market for a comparable amount of local organic produce.

Local agriculture. Unfortunately, our CSA family at Norwich Meadows farm has seen a downtrend in signups over the past few seasons. We value supporting the direct link between the farmer and consumer, giving consumers fresh and more wholesome organic foods and farmers more security in their work. (The food co-op is not like shopping at the supermarket. You pay in advance for produce selected by the farm.)

Community. This CSA is run by members. A rotating core group of volunteers take on much of the administrative management of the CSA. This can include signing up new members, collecting members payments, running the distribution site, and planning community-building or educational events. All sign up for one volunteer shift hours during the season. In doing so, you'll meet other members and neighbors who care about good food, sustainability, and eco-justice.

Sign up:

Cravings for Sweets Before the Holidays

Halloween is right around the corner which means that soon the Holidays will be here!  Thanksgiving means indulging in many homecooked delicious decadent foods, and I can’t wait (Yay!), love to enjoy these foods with my dear family and friends.  Planning out these meals, however, is a full-time job.  Gathering all the necessary ingredients, double-checking for allergens, pricing and etc. is enough to make me tempted to cater to it (LOL!).  

So, I gleaned through my past CSA emails to find a couple of recipes which can definitely help, these were contributed by Afua Yeboa:

The carrot cake was the inspiration for this delicious dessert. Grated zucchini, which makes the cake extra-moist takes the place of the carrots:

Yield: Makes 10 servings

Active Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

ingredients

Cake:

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin)
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 8 ounces)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Frosting:

• 1/2 8-ounce package Philadelphia brand cream cheese (do not use reduced-fat or fat-free), room temperature
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• preparation

For cake:

• Position rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Coat parchment paper with nonstick spray.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, coarse salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in medium bowl to blend well. Whisk oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl to blend well; fold in flour mixture, then grated zucchini and pecans. Transfer cake batter to prepared pan.
• Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto platter; peel off the parchment paper.

For frosting:

• Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until blended. Beat in sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Spread frosting thickly over top of the cake. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
• Cut cake into wedges and serve.

Butternut Squash with Walnuts and Vanilla Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds, peeled, seeds removed, flesh cut into 1-inch cubes (see how to cut and peel a butternut squash)
• 3 bay leaves (if boiling the squash)
• Salt
• 1 heaping cup of walnuts (can substitute pecans or pine nuts)
• 2-3 Tbsp butter
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Black pepper to taste

Method:

• If roasting Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat the cubed squash with a little vegetable oil and spread out onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and roast until the cubes begin to brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven.
• If boiling Put 4 cups of water into a medium-sized pot and add the bay leaves. Bring to a simmer. Add the squash to the pot. Boil, covered for 10 minutes. Drain.
• Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and toast the walnuts. Stir frequently or they will burn. Once they start to brown, and you can smell the aroma of toasted walnuts, remove from heat.
• Melt the butter in the pan with the walnuts over medium-high heat. Toss the walnuts to coat with butter, then add the squash. Toss them to coat with butter.
•  Add the grated ginger, vanilla extract, black pepper, a little salt, and dried thyme and toss once more. Turn off the heat and squeeze some lemon juice over everything. Taste for salt and lemon and add more to taste. If you want this to be a bit more luxurious, mix in another tablespoon of butter or two before serving.
• Serves 4.