This Week's Delivery Saturday March 12, 2011

I'm typing this before I head into tonight's Moutoux Orchard Dinner (where I will see some of you!)

Store In A Cool Dry Place:

Coco Rubico Beans-Path Valley Farms-PA

Store In The Refrigerator:

Corn Meal-Path Valley Farms-PA

Savoy Melody Spinach-Corvallis Farm-VA

Red Russian and Vates Kale-Hartland Farm-Locust Dale, VA

White Button Mushrooms-Mother Earth Mushroom-PA

Monocacy Ash Goat Cheese-Cherry Glenn Goat Cheese-MD

Recipes and Information

Cherry Glenn Monocacy Ash
Farmstead Soft Ripened Goat Cheese

This soft-ripened two-layer cheese is very similar to the previous cheese, but has an edible ash coating and ash line through the center. Using the same culture as in the Silver, this more complex cheese tastes slightly different due to the alkalinity of the vegetable ash. Although we would not pair this with Champagne or dark chocolate - it ranks right up there. Decadent! Serve with fresh or dried fruit, toasted nuts, preserves, honey, crackers and/or bread. Awesome with eggs.

Coco Rubico Beans are bush-type beans.
The pods are 5 to 6 inches (13 to 15 cm) long, with up to 6 beans per pod; 60 days from seed.
The pods are cream-colored, and almost completely covered with bright red-coloured streaks. The beans inside are similar: cream-colored with red spots.
Coco Rubico Beans can used fresh (shelled from the pod, partially-dried or fully dried), or when harvested very young, can be eaten as green beans, pod and all.

Beans and Greens

Serves 2

1 cup dried beans

5 T olive oil

1 whole dried red hot chili

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 bunch greens, such as Swiss chard or kale, washed and cut into ½-inch wide strips

1 fresh lemon, sliced

Sort beans and soak overnight in bowl using 3 times as much water as beans. The next morning rinse beans thoroughly with cold water. In medium saucepan, combine soaked drained beans with 1-quart fresh water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, leaving lid slightly ajar, until beans are tender (about 30 minutes). Turn off heat and set aside. In small fry pan, heat 3 T olive oil. Add dried red chili, onion and garlic and cook until onion turns brown on the edges. Add contents of fry pan to pot of beans and stir to mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In large pan heat olive oil, add greens and coat with oil. Add several tablespoons of water; cover pan and steam until greens are tender. Combine greens with beans or serve on the side and garnish with fresh lemon slices.

recipe from zursunbeans.com

Cornmeal Pancakes

1 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon brown sugar or honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 medium egg

oil for frying

In a good sized mixing bowl combine the cornmeal, sugar or honey, and salt. Add the boiling water. The cornmeal will swell up into a lumpy mess. That’s alright, don’t worry about it. Stir the lumpy mess vigorously with a whisk or fork until it is a thick batter. Let it cool down a little bit. Add the flour, baking powder, milk and egg. Keep stirring the batter until it is nice and smooth. Drop the mixture by 1/3 cupfuls onto a hot, greased skillet. Fry until the underside is golden brown, and the top side bubbles a bit. Turn the pancakes over and continue frying until well browned.

Stack on a plate and serve with applesauce, or pancake syrup. Another option is to serve them as the hot bread with a main meal like soup, or chili.

One more thing. About mushrooms. I myself have never understood them raw. Canned, forget it. Do yourself a favor and learn how to properly sautee a mushroom. It will change your life forever.

Here's how.

Extras:

Local Humanely Ground Rose Veal $6.99/pound

Wild, Sustainably Caught Mahi-Mahi from Florida $16/pound

Whole Organic Pastured Amish Chicken Eggs $4/dozen

Head's Up: We will be doing and event with Olli Salumeria from Richmond on April 14th. Details to come...