THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Fancy Fall Salad Mix (with Arugula, Frisee and Radicchio), Little Gem Lettuces, Rainbow Chard, Leeks, Green Magic Broccoli, Romanesco, Watermelon Radishes, Celery Root, Bolero Carrots, Bintje Gold Potatoes, Cabernet Red Onions, Butternut Winter Squash, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic
U-pICK
Albion Strawberries: Gleanings
Herbs: Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Culinary Lavender, French Sorrel, Various Mints, Lemongrass (located near the picnic bench next to the far oak tree & strawberries, look for the tall grass and sign)
HARVEST NOTES
Butternut Winter Squash: The classic, reliable squash with a nutty charm. Perfect for soups or your Thanksgiving table.
Celery Root: Aka celeriac, aka turnip celery, is a variety of celery cultivated for its starchy bulbous stem. It is somewhat like a turnip that tastes like celery. Try adding it to a hardy winter stew, mashing it along with potatoes, or roasting in the oven . We’ve also heard legend that celery root fries (i.e. deep fried celery root sticks) are the best thing ever. For a more refreshing take, celery root can be grated or julienned into a fresh salad of apples and a creamy or mustardy dressing.
Take a load off and let the Oaks hold you for a while!
Pumpkin, parmesan and sage torta Recipe
by NICOLA LAMB
Looking for some inspiration for how to use up our autumnal abundance of winter squash? This savory, Italian-inspired rustic pie can be made with any of our larger squash or pumpkins (think Kabocha, Bonbon, Butternut, or Marina di Chioggia). We discovered it in Nicola Lamb’s deeply researched and exciting pastry newsletter Kitchen Projects, which we highly recommend for the pastry-curious. You can find and subscribe to it here. (One of her other recent deep-dives was into finding the perfect apple cake, and she has a wealth of other pumpkin recipes, including Pumpkin Basque Cheesecake and Pumpkin Maple Tart!)
Serves 6
Sage flaky olive oil pastry
230g plain flour
120g fridge cold butter
40g olive oil
5g salt
10g white wine vinegar
75g ice water
5g sage, chopped finely
5-8 sticks of thyme, leaves removed
Pumpkin filling
225g mashed pumpkin / puree
200g thinly sliced pumpkin (keep this aside before you roast it!)
55g whole egg
110g ricotta
40g good parmesan
1 tsp salt, plus more for flavour!
Lots of black pepper - about 100 twists!
Plus egg wash and sage leaves for the top
Photos by Nicola Lamb
Method - Pumpkin Puree and filling
First keep around 250g pumpkin for slices for the top of the torta. Then roast the rest cut face down on a baking tray with parchment.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 mins until very soft. A knife should easily pierce the flesh
Allow to cool completely. Remove the flesh. For the pie, smash it up with a fork or if its really dry and lumpy (as some delicas) whizz it through a food processor. For sweet applications, puree through a food processor and pass through a sieve, twice, if you can be bothered
For the pie filling, add the ricotta, parmesan, then check the seasoning. When you are happy, mix in the egg. I don’t mind eating raw egg, so i like to check the seasoning again, but it is now ready to use.
Method - Pastry
Weigh out ice water and vinegar. Set aside in fridge until ready to use.
Weigh out flours, salt and herbs. Mix with paddle until all combined.
Add in cubed butter and mix on a low speed until the butter is in irregular sized pieces - you want some to be breadcrumb style and some to still be large - around 1.5cm. Then add the olive oil and paddle until well distributed, about 10 seconds.
Immediately add in your cold water/vinegar and mix until it looks hydrated - about 20 seconds. You will still have dry bits at the bottom of the bowl
Move onto a clean surface and add flour if you need to underneath
Roll the pastry out to be 40cm long and perform a double fold - this is when you fold both edges into the middle and then fold it over itself again
Perform two more double folds, immediately, adding flour when you need
Chill in the fridge for 1 hour before using
Assembly
Divide the pastry into 1/3 (about 150g) and 2/3. Reserve the smaller piece in the fridge. Roll out the pastry using firm strokes of the rolling pin, turning it a quarter turn between each roll to keep it in an even shape. Roll it to about 3mm and about 12 inches wide.
Use a cake tin to make a rough mark in the middle of the pastry to guide the build of the free-form torta. Spread the pumpkin mixture out evenly
Thinly slice around 200g of pumpkin (about 1-2mm!) and toss with 1 tsp olive oil then layer on top of the pumpkin ricotta mix. Grate a layer of parmesan.
Place in fridge whilst you roll out the other sheet of pastry to around 3mm thick and 9 inches wide.
Lay the pastry on top of the pumpkin, trim if required, then egg wash. Trim any excess pastry before folding the base up over the top in a slightly pleated but overall rustic fashion. Egg was the top and decorate with small sage leaves. Chill in fridge for 1 hour or in the freezer for 20 minutes before baking
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees with fan. Turn down to 350 degrees with fan and bake for 40-50 minutes until golden.
WHEN DOES THE CSA END?
Our 2022 harvest season runs until the first week of December. The last Saturday pickup will be December 3rd, and the last Tuesday pick-up of the year will be December, 6th.
WHEN CAN I RESERVE MY SPOT FOR 2023?
We are deep in the planning phases for next season, rest assured, current members will be given the first chance to reserve a spot in 2023 CSA program!
FARMER’S LOG
ON LIMITS AND THE ENJOYMENT OF LIFE
As our fields and harvests transition fully away from the cacophonous colors and flavors of Summer, and toward the rich, baritone notes of Fall, we’re reminded of some of the reasons why we love this CSA model and eating from the farm.
First, we eat with the seasons. Perhaps nothing dictates what is on our tables more than the tilt of the Earth. And as you have seen, the shares of early June are very different from those of late July, and those of mid-November. The Spring, with it’s soft waxing light, lends itself to tender, almost translucent, baby softness in vegetables. Mentally compare an early Spring strawberry, with it’s silky soft skin and water content, to the more sun hardened acid-sweet, candy-packet strawberries of July, to the crisp, crunch of a Fall strawberry gleaning.
Another cool thing about eating from the farm is that we get to experience the full arc of plant growth — from fresh onions to cured onions; from baby Spring carrots to deep orange Fall carrots kissed by frost; from green garlic to fully cured bulbs — and all the flavors and textures in between. In supermarkets buyers only accept, and are often only offered, produce of a certain size and shape... in other words, produce that is at a particular growth stage when it is harvested. In this way, vegetables have become standardized and rote. But out on the farm, life is happening. In our harvests here, we are beholden to these growth arcs and get to cook and enjoy the whole arc of taste.
What a difference a few months make!
We also love that this model allows us the chance to distribute damaged produce and to share over-abundant harvests with members. Older cultures, agrarian cultures, were scrupulously efficient in their use of food because they had to be. There was a use for everything. And it was a duty to preserve the abundance of Summer. In this spirit, we put out the 2nd tomaotes, split and cracked, but still perfectly good (sometimes even better!) sliced on a BLT.
But perhaps our favorite thing about this model and about eating from the farm is an unsung hero: Limits. Yes, limits. Scarcity. Not having something. “Limit: 1 per share.”
“What!?”
We live in a time and a place where we can get just about any food, anytime, en masse, if you can afford it. Tomatoes in February. Melons in the Winter. Mangos in Sebastopol. We have conquered seasons and limits and scarcity.
But have we also conquered one of the simplest pleasures in life? What is the fulfillment of desire without the longing that precedes it?
In August, before unlimited tomatoes, we cherished our first 1 or 2 or 3 tomatoes. After seven, tomato-less months, that first juicy sweet acid slice of heirloom tomato on an open faced sandwich brought back a flood of memories of last summer, and summers before that, and we smiled at our loved ones in our shared remembrance and shared enjoyment of this thing that we have now, but did not have for so long. It brought us together. Perhaps your first bite of Delicata squash unlocked a similar smile.
In most (or maybe all) ancient cultures there are festivals celebrating these moments — basically giant parties celebrating the return of a certain food. In Southern France there is a Spring festival marking the return of the egg, when the hens finally start laying again. Finally. What is cake without eggs!? In Sebastopol, we have the Apple Blossom festival. In Italy, in the Fall, there is a conference on all things Radicchio and Chicory.
Limits, scarcity, the lean times — they help us appreciate, like really appreciate, what we have.
Life's fleeting nature is really it's spice. So it goes for food, we'd say.
Next week, to stock you up for Thanksgiving, we’ll harvest our first Brussels sprouts and distribute our beautiful Calico popcorn. The intoxicating aroma of fresh popcorn popping on the stove might make you forget, at least for moment, that longing for sweet Summer tomatoes.
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
