C.S.A. Week 9

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As part of the winter cooperative group we participate in, the Foothill Farm Alliance, we take once monthly tours or so of all the participating farms.  Its always an interesting and valuable excursion.  We get to see how other farmers are doing things, ask questions, laugh, and eat good food.  At this month's tour the discussion revolved around scaling up versus scaling down in direct correlation to available farm labor.  Many small farms rely on interns to meet their work needs.  From an intern's perspective, it's a great way to learn and experience farm life, but you have to be up for hard work with long hours and low pay.  We are in a position of growth, and trying to find the right size operation that works for us.  At the end of the tour discussion, someone talked about finding the intersection between "head" and "heart", often it's never where you think it'll be, and involves a lot of letting go.  All worth pondering. 

In the share

  • Sweet Corn (From Earle Family Farm)
  • Eggplant
  • Green Beans
  • Edamame Beans
  • Colored Peppers
  • Assorted Tomatoes
  • Celery
  • Russian Kale

How to Cook Edamame

  • Bring a pot of water or lightly salted water to boiling. Add the pods and return the water to boiling; boil pods about 3 minutes. Do not overcook them or they will get mushy.
  • Drain the beans; cool them under cold running water or immerse them in ice water to stop the cooking.
  • To shell the beans, gently squeeze the pods with your fingers to release them. Or have fun putting the pods in your mouth and popping the beans out of their skins.
  • Some people serve edamame cold and will refrigerate the cooked beans for an hour or two after cooking.

Roast Edamame

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil or 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon onion salt
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1⁄8 teaspoon paprika
  • 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 (10 ounce) Fresh edamame
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. In small bowl, stir together oil, basil, chili powder, onion salt, cumin, paprika and black pepper.
  3. Drizzle mixture over soybeans and toss to coat well.
  4. Arrange beans in a single layer in a shallow baking dish.
  5. Roast, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring once, until soybeans begin to brown.
  6. Serve hot as a vegetable side dish or cooled as a snack

Celery Salad

  • ¾ cup celery (sliced)
  • ⅓ cup dried sweet cherries
  • ⅓ cup edamame cooked
  • 3 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon pecans (chopped, toasted)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 ½ tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper (ground)

Combine ingredients for a cold salad.