Turtle Times
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Vol. 13, No. 23, Oct. 14, ‘08 7260 NW 58th St., Johnston 50131 278-4522 (577-9208)
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Rain: 10/7 1.3 “
In the Box . . .
Cabbage ‘Late Flat Dutch’
Radish ‘Misato Rose’
Collard greens ‘Green Glaze’ or ‘Champion’
Potatoes ‘La Ratte’
Winter squash ‘Butternut’ and ‘Spaghetti’
Spinach ‘Pelican’, ‘Hector’
Pole beans ‘Fortex’, ‘Aunt Ada’s’, and/or ‘Gold of Baucau’ medley
Shallots ‘Ambition’
By request: sage, basil (while it lasts)
October Farm Update
There’s something about fall crops that sometimes makes them quite large. The daikons from last week, in some cases were almost too large for the box. This week we have a different large radish, the ‘Misato Rose’. Its lovely pink interior makes it a beautiful sliced radish. The round leaves of the collard greens, which are the size of plates, make it a handsome plant. And the cabbage this week, well, it’s over the top large—too large to go in your box. We had great fun watching it grow over the weeks. We hope you can find a place for it in your refrigerator. However, the ‘La Ratte’ potatoes are at the other end of the scale, small fingerlings. Be sure to enjoy every tiny tasty one. They didn’t yield well, and we had trouble digging them with equipment without burying them, so we resorted to hand digging to get every one we could. We figured that they got their name by frustrated farmers trying to dig them and instead deciding to let them “la rot” in the field.
The Great Turtle Farm Pumpkin Contest
We only have six guesses for the weight of the beautiful, great Turtle Farm pumpkin so far. Please send in your guess by the 19th to get a chance to win one of the ‘Amish Pie’ pumpkins from the farm. If you need to see the picture again, it’s posted on my website with last week’s newsletter (http://www.turtle-farm.com).
Recipe
I’ve seen several recipes that call for using collard greens as a wrap raw, so there’s a new idea if you don’t want to cook them all. I haven’t tried that yet, but if you do, remove the center rib first. I would think it would make a good wrap after cooking it as well.
There seems to several ways to cook a spaghetti squash. Among your choices are to cut it in half lengthwise, scoop seeds and fibrous strips from the center of the squash. Bake cut side down on a baking sheet at 375 for about 30 minutes. You can also prick the whole squash all over and bake in a shallow pan at 375 for about 1 hour. Cool to handle; cut in half lengthwise, scoop seeds out from center of squash. Or microwave cut side down in a microwave safe dish, add 2 T. water, cover with vented plastic wrap, and cook on high for 15 to 20 minutes, turning it once. Once the squash is done, however you choose to cook it, use a fork to scrape the edges of the squash to shred pulp into strands (i.e. spaghetti).
You can use the squash as you would pasta by putting sauces over it, for instance, brown Italian sausage, green peppers, and onion in a skillet, then mix with a marinara sauce and serve over the squash strands. Here’s a recipe from allrecipes.com.
Spaghetti Squash with Pine Nuts, Sage, and Romano
1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
¼ c. toasted pine nuts
¼ c. grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 T. chopped fresh sage
2 tsp. butter, melted
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash, cut side down, in a large baking dish. Bake the squash in the oven for 50 minutes. Scrape flesh of squash from the rind using a fork and place in a bowl. Add the pine nuts, cheese, sage, butter, salt, and pepper; toss to combine. Serve immediately.