[Week 24] Wrapping it Up + 6 Vegetable-Focused Cookbooks

Plus: 8 Farm Share Themed Thanksgiving Recipes

Week 24 Farm Share

Farm Share Friends: Can you believe this is the last week? It feels like yesterday we were trimming away the greens from all of those radishes and turnips, pooling them together with chard and kale, and making fried green meatless balls.

Thank you for subscribing to The Farm Share Newsletter. I've loved experiencing the joys — the tenderest lettuces, the spiciest arugula, the sweetest tomatoes — and the challenges — beets to feed the neighborhood! — with all of you these past 24 weeks.

Every farm share season brings new challenges and solutions, and I so appreciate all of your thoughts and suggestions along the way, especially your recipe ideas for celeriac, rutabaga, tomatillos, broccoli rabe, and more.

Friends, I had originally planned on signing up for the Roxbury Farm winter share and keeping this newsletter going through the winter season, but unfortunately I am not going to. I’m currently working on a cookbook (about pizza 🍕🍕), and I’m getting a little worried about time.

That said, I hope we can stay in touch! I send out another newsletter once a week (usually Saturday or Sunday morning) that includes new and/or seasonal recipes along with any other discoveries I’ve made in the kitchen. Sign up here:

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6 Vegetable-Focused Cookbooks

I meant to share this list many weeks ago now, but I suppose it’s better late than never. Here are a few books I refer to often throughout the CSA season and beyond:

• ​Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters

• ​Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden

• The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach

• ​Ruffage by Abra Berens

• ​Canal House Cooks Every Day by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hersheimer

• ​The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

If you have book recommendations, please share them:

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Week 24 Vegetables

• Cabbage → Cabbage Recipes

• Carrots → Carrot Recipes

• Kale → Kale Recipes

• Beets → Beet Recipes

• Brussels Sprouts → Brussels Sprout Recipes

• Sweet Potatoes → Sweet Potato Recipes

• Onions → Onion Recipes

• Broccoli → Broccoli Recipes

• Popcorn → See Week 23

Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables

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8 Holiday-Themed Recipes to Make this Week (or next)

If Thanksgiving menu planning is on your brain, here are eight ideas. And if you’d like even more guidance, I’ve compiled all of my Thanksgiving Day recipes here (printable timelines included 🎉).

Classic Sweet Potato Casserole

If you've found yourself up to your eyeballs in sweet potatoes, here's a thought: save four pounds of them for next week, and make this classic sweet potato casserole. It's an old family recipe, an orange-scented, brandy-spiked sweet potato purée buried under a blanket of brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon-spiced pecans.

This is not how I typically enjoy eating sweet potatoes. As I noted in Week 18’s newsletters, it was this sweet potato quesadilla recipe, which calls for lots of smoky spices, a heap of cilantro, and a ton of fresh lime juice that taught me to love sweet potatoes.

This sweet potato casserole does not call for any of those bright, herby accents, but if there is a time and a place for this sort of festive, nostalgic ensemble, it’s on the Thanksgiving table.

Here's another holiday recipe that will make good use of your farm share vegetables: Alice Waters's Potato Gratin.​

It comes from Chez Panisse Vegetables, which offers a number of enticing combinations — potato with turnips or celery root or leeks or sweet potato — but I've only ever made it with potatoes. The seasonings are simple — salt, pepper, thyme, and a dash of freshly grated nutmeg — as is the braising liquid, a mixture of equal parts heavy cream and chicken stock. Topped with Gruyère and parmesan, these potatoes emerge irresistibly crispy on top and creamy underneath.

Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin A new discovery for me from Serious Eats via The New York Times, this one no doubt will be on the holiday table for years to come.

 Kale & Onion Stuffing  An old favorite.

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Simple Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette A new favorite.

 Butternut Squash Lasagna  A show-stopping vegetarian entree.

Ina Garten’s Balsamic-Roasted Brussels Sprouts A classic.

Butternut Squash Pie From Kristin Kimball’s The Dirty Life, in which she writes: “Pumpkin shmumpkin, winter squash has more flavor and better texture.” Truth!

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Goodbye for now Farm Share Friends! 👋 🥦🥬🥒🌶🌽🥕