• Red Leaf Lettuce

• Green Beans

• Eggplant

• Red Cabbage

• Potatoes

News from the Farm
By Rhys Williams

Last week, Rebecca wrote a brief piece on the life of salad mix. Salad Mix is a relatively small crop for us but is a good example of the uniqueness of vegetable farming. In the 6 years that I have been with Featherstone one of the things that I have enjoyed is the variety of our crops and the idiosyncrasies of each. You really need to keep a lot of balls in the air. With the wet conditions this year we have had to hustle to prevent problems. Disease in tomatoes and winter squash can be devastating.  Although it is present in both of our crops we have been able to keep it at bay. The timing of seeding and transplanting has to be pretty precise or you will have everything coming on at once. You need a handle on the present and a plan for the next 3 weeks. Each year that goes by we get a little better at some things but still have time to screw up something else.

Varieties

By Rhys Williams

Green Beans:  Jade green beans are long thin beans that grow very quickly
Eggplant: a globe shaped egg plant  
Red Leaf lettuce: the end of lettuce until fall when the temperature cools down again
Red cabbage:  an early season cabbage that will store in the fridge.

Roasted Eggplant Spread

• 2 eggplants
• olive oil, for coating
• 1 head of garlic, poached (see recipe), pulp squeezed from the cloves
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and finely diced
• 4 oz fresh, soft goat cheese
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbl chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbl chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems
• juice of ½ lemon
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat up your grill and place 2 eggplants, split lengthwise, cut side down on the grate, along with 1 whole red bell pepper.  Roast until very soft, about 20 minutes, turning the pepper several times until evenly charred on all sides.
2. Place red bell pepper in a paper bag and close up.  Scoop flesh from eggplant  and finely chop.  Remove pepper after 10 minutes and scrape off charred skin.  Seed and chop.
3. Combine eggplant, garlic, pepper, cheese, scallion, basil, cilantro, lemon juice, vinegar, cumin, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.  Mash together with a fork until well combined.  Adjust seasonings and serve with pita bread as an appetizer or with lemon dressed greens as a light first course, or as a sandwich spread or pasta sauce.

Poached Garlic

• 1 head garlic
• milk

Cut ends from cloves of one head of garlic.  Set cut side down in a pan with enough milk to reach halfway up the garlic head.  Simmer 20-30 minutes. Voila!  Poached garlic beats any roasted garlic I've made.

Curried Potato Cabbage Roll-Ups

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites by The Moosewood Collective

• 1 cup diced onions
• ½ tsp vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 small fresh green chile, minced and seeded
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp dried mustard
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• ½ cup water
• 2 cups cubed potatoes (1/2 inch cubes)
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas(11 oz can, drained)
• salt to taste
• 4 eight inch flour tortillas

1. Saute onions in oil on medium 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic, chile, cinnamon, mustard, turmeric, cardamom, cabbage and ¼ cup water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring once
2. Add the rest of the water and the potatoes, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.  Stir in chickpeas and salt to taste.
3. Warm tortillas one at a time in a non stick skillet at medium heat.
4. Place ¼ of the filling on the lower half of each tortilla and roll it up. Serve immediately.

Green Beans with Onions

Adapted from White Dog Café by Judy Wicks and Kevin Von Klause

• 2 tbl olive oil
• 1 cup white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 ½ lbs trimmed green beans, blanched
• salt and pepper

Saute onion until it caramelizes.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add beans and a few tbl of water and cook, stirring, until the water evaporates and the beans are crisp-tender.  Season to taste and serve.