[Week 13] The First Glimpse of Fall + 6 Recipes to Make This Week
Hello Farm Share Friends:
Today, the first glimpse of fall will make its way into the farm share: delicata squash. If you are unfamiliar, delicata squash is one of the easiest of all the squashes to prepare — unlike so many winter squashes, delicata squash's skin yields easily to a knife, making for quick, effortless prep work.
It's also one of the tastiest winter squashes: the flesh, when dressed simply with olive oil and salt, caramelizes beautifully in the oven, truly tasting like candy when it emerges. What's more, you can eat the skin! And it's delicious.
Tonight I'm making this salad: Raw Collard Greens with Roasted Delicata Squash, Almonds, and Parmesan.
We are not expecting collard greens in our farm share, but my local co-op sells collards from a nearby farm, and they are so, so tasty this time of year. If you associate collard greens with braising — with hours and hours of cooking with bacon and vinegar — you're not alone. Giving collards the raw kale (or Swiss chard) salad treatment was a revelation.
I learned the technique from Ronna Welsh's book, The Nimble Cook. Instead of massaging the greens (as you might for a kale salad), Ronna has you toss the thinly sliced leaves with a little bit of salt AND sugar. You then let them stand for 15 minutes before tossing with the dressing.
Why use both salt and sugar? Because collards, as Ronna says, "lean a bit bitter." Other greens, like kale, can be bitter, too, but because collards are thicker (and are more to chew), "the bitterness hangs around longer in your mouth.”
But this technique serves another purpose, too: Whereas massaged raw greens can collapse as they would under heat, “a light toss,” Ronna says, “leaves them crisp.”
I hope you love both the technique and the salad. It's a fall favorite!
PS: How delicious was last week’s corn? (Note: I know you all are from all over the place and it’s possible you didn’t receive corn but I hope you did. It’s been so good this year.)
Week 13 Vegetables
Tomatoes → Tomato Recipes
Head Lettuce & Arugula → Salads
Garlic → Garlic Recipes
Peppers → Pepper Recipes
Dill → Herb Recipes
Corn → Corn Recipes
Squash Recipes → Winter Squash Recipes
Cabbage → Cabbage Recipes
Green Beans → Green Bean Recipes
Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables
6 More Recipes to Make this Week
As we transition to fall, we’ll be seeing another wave of greens in the farm share: arugula, head lettuce, kale, etc. I’ll be making this lemon vinaigrette this week and likely this large-batch shallot vinaigrette, too.
Also: check out the posts from the past five weeks — Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 — for more recipe ideas for corn, peppers, tomatoes, and more.
Chickpea Tagine with Tomato "Jam" and Roasted Delicata Squash
Blistered Green Beans with Sizzling Garlic & Capers, perfect for both the farm share's beans and garlic.
Roasted Poblanos Stuffed with Quinoa & Corn, a favorite fall vegetarian entrée.
Sumac-Spiced Tomato and Chickpea Salad with Yogurt Sauce
Fall Salad with Cabbage, Candied Pepitas, and Manchego
Fellow Farm Sharers: Please share in the comments links to recipes you are loving for your farm share vegetables! Tips, questions, and suggestions are always welcome, too. Enjoy your vegetables! 🥦🥬🥒🌶🌽🥕 See you next week :)