I like to walk fast and have a hard time slowing my pace. It feel so good to move my body. Still I try to not let my mind always match the intensity of my gait. With each step, I try to notice the small shoots of grass coming up now from the recent rains, to listen to the birds, and to be grateful everyday for this land, the crew, and this community.
This week’s pick list:
Eggs
Rose Finn Fingerling, Harvest Moon Purple, and Yellow Finn Potatoes
Rhonda Beets
Yaya Carrots
Cortland Yellow, Monastrell Red, and Sweet Cipollini Onions
Kossack Kohlrabi
Purple Top Turnips
Bora King and Cheong Du Radish
Watermelon Radish
Balena Celeriac
Hablinge Parsnips
Solaris Fennel
Evergreen Hardy Scallions
Takrima Leeks
Caraflex, Primo, and Kilmaro Cabbage (both green and red types)
Marathon Broccoli OR Goodman Cauliflower
Calypso Celery
Both Head Lettuce and Lettuce mix
Ruby Red Chard
Champion Collards
Rainbow Lacinato and Old Growth Palm Kale
Regiment Spinach
Escarole and Leonardo Radicchio
Parsley and Cilantro
Brussel Sprouts
Tetsukabota Kabocha, Delicata, Sweet Reba Acorn, Burpee’s Butterbush, & Spaghetti Winter Squash
Pie-Pita Pumpkin (Flesh is sweet for cooking plus the seeds are hulless and delicious!)
Saltonstall Olive Oil
Fall Salad With Lemony Brown Butter Vinaigrette, from food52.com
1/4 cup raw almonds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound carrots, scrubbed clean and halved, quartered if large
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup beluga or French lentils
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds, crushed
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 head treviso radicchio, regular radicchio, or another chicory
1/2 cup mixed fresh tender herbs like parsley, cilantro, mint, or dill, torn or roughly chopped
Flaky sea salt
Toast, for serving
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread almonds on a sheet pan and bake until fragrant and toasty, 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool. When cool, use a small bowl to gently crush. Turn up the oven to 425°F.
Meanwhile, toss carrots with olive oil, Aleppo pepper, a few good pinches of salt, and some pepper. Bake 25-30 minutes, until carrots are tender.
While carrots bake, bring a small saucepan of salted water to boil. Cook lentils until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Drain and set aside in a small bowl.
Wipe out the saucepan you cooked lentils in and melt butter over medium heat. Continue to cook until butter starts foaming, bubbling, then turns starts to golden brown and smell nutty, about 6 minutes. Use a heatproof spatula to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and immediately add crushed cumin and fennel seeds.
Whisk lemon juice, half the lemon zest, mustard, and honey into butter mixture. Add half the dressing to the bowl with lentils and season with salt and pepper.
Lay carrots and radicchio in a shallow bowl and spoon remaining dressing over. Spoon lentils over, letting some fall in between the leaves and carrots and others nestled inside the leaves. Top with herbs, remaining lemon zest, crushed almonds, and flaky sea salt. Serve with toast.