[Week 23] Adventures in Microwaved Corn on The Cob + A Bright Late Fall Farm Share Salad
[Week 23] Adventures in Microwaved Corn on The Cob + A Bright Late Fall Farm Share Salad
Also: Celeriac Remoulade, Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes & More
Hello Farm Share Friends,
Almost to the week last year, we received a bag of corn kernels in our vegetable share. It was such a nice surprise, and I popped it immediately for a pre-dinner snack. We all devoured it.
Remembering this fond moment, I attempted the same with the two ears of dried corn on the cob we received yesterday. Before popping it, I quickly googled “microwaved corn on the cob” and found a recipe (with zero photos and reviews) explaining how to do it: place dried corn on the cob in a paper bag and microwave for 2 to 4 minutes.
Sounded promising. I tucked the two cobs into a paper bag, rolled it tightly closed, and set it in the microwave. It took more like 5 to 6 minutes before I heard any popping, but when I did, my heart fluttered. It smelled really good. I pulled out a little crock to melt some butter.
After about 8 minutes when the popping began to subside, I opened the microwave, pulled out the ballooned bag, set it on the table before the children, and tore it open to reveal…
… 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Friends, oh my. I was dying. If you have any advice about doing this the right way, please share.
Celeriac
Yesterday we received celeriac also known as celery root. Celeriac is one of those vegetables that if I don’t use immediately, it will get forgotten in my vegetable bin, then thrown away six months later when it has shriveled to half its size and feels like a stress-relief ball.
So I got right to it and made celeriac remoulade, which, as far as I can tell, is just a fancier way of saying celery root slaw. After peeling it, I shredded it using my food processor’s shredder attachment, but this could also be done with a box grater:
Then, using the dressing I use for my favorite egg salad as a guide, I added mayonnaise, pickle juice, salt, and sliced scallions and chives:
Once I tossed it all together, I adjusted to taste with a splash of vinegar and a drizzle of honey — it tasted a little too woodsy, and the honey helped balance everything out.
If you have other ideas for celery root, please share.
A Bright Late Fall Salad
Friends, thank you for all of your recipe suggestions last week for turnips. I didn’t have a chance to tend to the turnips till last night after I picked up this week’s share, and I took your advice to sauté them, which worked beautifully:
I then threw them in a salad with the kale, carrots, and watermelon radishes we received yesterday:
I added some some goat cheese and tossed it all together with this apple cider vinaigrette:
It was delicious.
A Note about Watermelon Radishes
Most often I shave watermelon radishes thinly on my mandoline and then toss them into salads. Before doing so, however, I like to sprinkle them with salt and a few splashes of vinegar, which helps soften them up, making them easier to eat as well as to toss with other vegetables.
Storage Vegetables
Thank you all also for your recipe suggestions for rutabaga. I have not had a chance to make anything with them yet, but I am so looking forward to steaming and mashing them and perhaps mixing them with apple sauce or pureeing them with a splash of cream and an egg and baking them until golden and puffed.
The beauty of these root vegetables is that they are much more forgiving than much of the produce we receive throughout the year, so I have some time to experiment.
With the exception of sweet potatoes, which do well stored in a paper bag at room temperature, I store everything else — carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, watermelon radishes, etc. — in the vegetable bins in my fridge. If you have a cool place outside of your fridge, that works, too.
My CSA, Roxbury Farm CSA, passed along this resource at the start of the season, and it might be helpful to reference for these late-season vegetables as well.
Week 23 Vegetables
Carrots → Carrot Recipes
Kale → Kale Recipes
Celeriac → Celery Root Recipes
Watermelon Radishes → Radish Recipes
Sweet Potatoes → Sweet Potato Recipes
Onions → Onion Recipes
Broccoli → Broccoli Recipes
Popcorn → 🤷♀️
Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables
3 More Recipes to Make this Week
Smitten Kitchen’s Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes: I’ve eyed these for years.
Sheet Pan Pasta Gratin with Kale
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… our last 😭
In Austria celeriac is typically made like a "Wiener schnitzel".
Peel celeriac, slice 1/2 " thick, dry, dip in flour, egg wash and good bread crumbs. Saute in olive oil.
If celeriac is used in a raw salad, celeriac is sliced (like Ali's recipe) and mixed with a grated tart apple. Salad is dressed with a light lemony creamy dressing.
I forgot to add that lemon is used to prevent celeriac from discoloration!
In six seasons, there's recipe for breaded celeriac slices. The author says something about it tasting like mozzarella sticks--I thought, "yeah right" but it is AMAZING.