Fresh Peas

Growing up I was never a huge fan of peas. Sure, if they were hidden in something like a soup or a chicken pot pie, I would eat them, but I never really liked them on their own. That all changed when I had fresh peas for the first time. Fresh peas are entirely different from their canned or frozen cousins. They are sweet and crunchy and require a little bit of work to earn that reward (although the most difficult thing about shelling peas is keeping up with rouge bouncers). With the recent peas, Katie and I wanted to make something quick and easy where the peas were the main flavor.

Crushed Peas with Sesame Dressing

1 1/2 cups peas already shelled or frozen and defrosted
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 scallions, thinly sliced
Toasted pitas, cut into wedges, for serving



Cook peas: Have ready a colander and an ice bath, and bring a medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Blanche peas for 30 seconds (if you like them with a real residual snap) to 1 minute (for a slightly more yielding pea) and drain them, then immediately shocking them in the ice water. Drain the peas again and pat them dry on a large towel.



Crush peas: Using a potato or egg-masher (and hopefully not an annoying one like mine, with holes the exact size of peas!), muddler or meat pounder (be gentle!), lightly crush the peas. Aim for mixed textures, some left whole, most in halves and a few a little more broken up. Put them in a large bowl.

Make dressing: Whisk together tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, water, cumin, paprika and salt. You might be tempted, as I was, to swap the water with olive oil but don’t do it — it makes a horrible curdled mess you will be sad to have to toss.

Assemble: Mix peas with about 3 tablespoons of the dressing, to start, then add more to taste. Sprinkle with scallions. Heap pea mixture on toasted pita wedges.

Roasted Beets with Feta

Before Katie and I joined the CSA a few years ago, I had never eaten beets. There were definitely other items that were a first for me that summer, but beets stand out just because they don't seem very appetizing to me. I know many people love beets, and I mean no offense, but they just don't look like they'd be any good. But I'm game for trying new things, and I can't stand for anything to go to waste, so we did our best to eat our beets. This is the recipe that we use for our beets.

Ingredients

* 4 beets, trimmed, leaving 1 inch of stems attached
* 1/4 cup minced shallot
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
* 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil, and place onto a baking sheet.
2. Bake beets in preheated oven until easily pierced with a fork, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once done, remove from oven, and allow to cool until you can handle them. Peel beets, and cut into 1/4 inch slices.
3. While the beets are roasting, whisk together shallot, parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and red wine vinegar in a bowl until blended; season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.
4. To assemble the dish, place the warm, sliced beets onto a serving dish, pour vinaigrette over the beets, and sprinkle with feta cheese before serving.



I can't say that I now love beets, and I don't really ever crave them, but they're pretty good every once in a while. How do you like your beets?

Ripe Strawberries

Happy first week of CSA!

Adam and I were really excited to meet everyone on Thursday. Unfortunately, we've had a busy few days and forgot about our wonderful strawberries. When we went to eat them this morning they were on the verge of being too ripe, so we decided to make them into muffins! Here is the recipe we used:

Muffin Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup milk or half and half or soymilk (whatever you have in the house)
• 1 small single-serving container of strawberry yogurt
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use paper liners. In a small bowl, combine oats, yogurt and milk, and let stand 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the egg, oil, brown sugar and vanilla. Blend in the oat mixture. Stir in the flour mixture, just until moistened. Fold in strawberries. (I also threw in some chocolate chips) Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Icing

This icing recipe is really easy. When I worked at the Blue Moon Cafe in Fell's Point, we would whip this stuff up and drizzle it over our freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Yum. Anyway, we mostly made it by feel, so there aren't any specific measurements. Just go with it!

Ingredients

• Milk or half and half or soymilk
• vanilla
• powdered sugar
• cornstarch (if you want it thicker)
  

Directions

1. Put a handful of powdered sugar in a bowl.
2. Add a touch of vanilla (maybe a teaspoon?)
3. Add a glug of milk.
   
4. Stir until it is a smooth creamy consistency.
5. Spoon it over your warm muffins.

I also shaved a chocolate bar and sprinkled the shavings on top of the muffins. Hope you enjoy them!

What did you guys do with your strawberries? Or anything else for that matter? Share with us in the comments.

And FYI, this is a community blog, so anyone who wants to post is more than welcome. Share your recipes and thoughts about the CSA or food in general! Just email adam_yeargin @ hcpss.org for an account. Thanks and see you all on Thursday.

Heirloom Tomatoes

This week we got some heirloom grape tomatoes. Not only were they beautiful, they were the most delicious tomatoes I can ever remember eating. They would have been great on a salad, a pizza, or any other dish, but they didn’t last an hour after getting home. These tomatoes didn’t stand a chance.

* Taken from an earlier blog post

Eggs!

The egg on the right is a cage-free, store-bought, egg. The egg on the left is a locally grown, naturally raised, cage-free, no hormones, antibiotics, etc. The difference is obvious in the picture and even more so in-person. It says a lot about how farming habits affect our food, and consequently affect our health. You won’t believe the difference in taste until you try it.

* Taken from an earlier blog post

What's This All About, Anyway?

One of my favorite things my wife and I have done in recent years is to join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is basically a group of people who buy into a local farm, or in our case, a group of farms. Katie and I had wanted to join one for some time, but it wasn’t until we met R.J. Caulder at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that we had an opportunity. In addition to making all-natural, hand-crafted soaps and body products, R.J. and her family run the Breezy Willow CSA and Katie and I have been members for a few years now. We commit to a subscription fee and every week we get to go to the farm and pick up a supply of fruits, vegetables, and occasionally dairy products. All of it is grown locally using organic and/or sustainable farming methods.

The season begins in May/June (depending on the weather) with asparagus, strawberries, and other early harvest vegetables and ends around late October with squash, apples, pears, etc. We get 24 weeks of locally grown produce filling our kitchen and it's awesome. It's basically a surprise each week when we go to the farm and an unexpected benefit is that it is forcing us to cook many things we may never have bought on our own. The first year we joined was my first time to have ever eaten beets, turnips, parsnips, and a few others that I can't remember.

Here's a picture of one week's pick-up. I don’t have a date on this photo, but I know it was a pick-up from late fall.


From left to right: fresh milled bread, tomatoes, beets, brussels sprouts, broccoli, pears, red apples, green apples, Romanesco broccoli, carrots, turnips, and red cabbage. (the onions and butternut squash are left over from a previous week)

This is typical of the amount of food we get each week, and we're pretty good about using it all just in time for the next week's pick-up. The items change each week based on what’s being harvested at the time. I'm very excited that Tiffany and Donna have worked to bring this opportunity to our school community. I'm proud to support local, independent farmers and I love eating healthy foods grown in a responsible, natural way.

* Parts taken from an earlier blog post

Welcome!

Welcome to the Ilchester Road CSA blog. This blog was designed for members of the Ilchester Elementary School/Bonnie Branch Middle School CSA pickup through Breezy Willow Farm. Everyone is welcome to join and encouraged to contribute. We’re really hoping to use this to foster the “community” aspect of this CSA. In addition to supporting local farmers, we wanted a place for community members themselves to gather. Here we can share recipes and other experiences related to the CSA. Just to get things jump-started, I’ve copied and pasted a few blog entries from my personal blog.