Autumn Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Apple, Radish and Goat Cheese

Ingredients2 cups rocket or mixed Asian greens 1/2 sliced, cored apple 1 cup cubed, roasted sweet potato, carrot and/or pumpkin 4 sliced radishes 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon honey salt & pepper 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Method 1. Put the greens, apple, roasted veggies, radish and sesame seeds in a large mixing bowl. 2. In a small separate bowl make the dressing: mix the olive oil, lemon juice, honey and season with salt & pepper. 3. Toss the salad with the dressing, using the amount you like. 4. Divide salad into two serving bowls. Scatter the goat cheese on top of the salads.

Pea and broad bean salad with nasturtium leaves and bagna cauda

Peter's mother found this recipe in the good food section of The Age on Tuesday 17 September. While not essential, the nasturtium leaves add a delicious accent to this Spring salad with their distinctive peppery notes. 

Ingredients 1kg broad beans (to yield 150g double podded beans, plus a handful to garnish) 3 handfuls fresh peas 200g sugar snap peas 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped Salt flakes Freshly ground pepper Extra virgin olive oil 150g frozen peas, refreshes in boiling water 1/2 bunch mint, picked and roughly chopped 5 small radishes 100g soft goats cheese 2 handfuls nasturtium leaves lemon, to serve

Method 1. Blanch the broad beans for three minutes in simmering water.  Lift out and immediately refresh in a bowl of ice water.  Follow by blanching peas then sugar snaps, refreshing in iced water each time - this stops the cooking and helps to keep them bright green. 2. Split the sugar snap peas. Double pod the broad beans, leaving a handful or so of the smaller ones whole to garnish. 3. In a mortar, add garlic, some salt and pepper and a splash of oil and grind to a paste.  Add the podded broad beans, the refreshed frozen peas and mint and pound to a rough paste - you can add a little oil if necessary but it should be a quite stiff. Check and adjust seasoning. 4. Put the remainder handful of broad beans, fresh peas, whole radishes and split sugar snap peas in a bowl, season, drizzle with oil and toss through. 5. Spread the bean paste across a large platter and arrange the pea and broad bean mix on top.  Finish with the goat's cheese, nasturtium leaves and a squeeze of lemon.  Spoon over some bagna couda and serve.

note - I had to google bagna couda and found several recipes. I tried this one.  Jamie Oliver also has a recipe which includes many of the vegetables you are receiving in the box over the next few weeks.

We are happy to include some nasturtium leaves into your box if you request them.

Preserving the Harvest

For the past two weeks, the CSA boxes have been really full with up to 16 different vegetables, not including herbs and garlic!  We cleaned out the last of the early summer cabbage and the first beetroot and carrot plantings, had a great broccoli crop, a bumper harvest of beans and a rocket planting that never seemed to end.  We love loading these heavy boxes into the cooler and wonder what will be created in kitchens around the peninsula.

We have had a few emails regarding what's left in the vegetable drawer as members get ready for this weeks box.  Here are some of the ways we have found to preserve the harvest - fermentation, condiments, freezing and jarring.

Last year, I wrote a post on Preserving, Fermenting and Freezing which may also lend some inspiration. It has a list of some of my favourite preserving books.

These suggestions range from very simple to requiring a bit more time and effort.  It really helps to keep a supply of jars and new lids on hand throughout the summer.  If you do not have to look and/or clean the jars, you greatly reduce your time. The relish for example takes 1hour and 15 minutes from start to finish.  I also tend to stock our pantry with good quality vinegars and any special herbs now so that when I have the produce, I can get started right away.

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Greens Beans I was passed on a traditional New England recipe for Dilly Beans.  I usually make at least one batch as they are a fun addition to an entree platter or you can make a batch of these Spicy Dilly Beans to stir a Bloody Mary.

I love adding beans to minestrone soup.  So when there is a bumper harvest, I quick freeze them by chopping them into 1 inch pieces, dropping them into boiling water for 2 minutes, quickly transferring them into very cold water and then letting them dry in a colander before bagging them into ziplocks and freezing them.  These beans can be thawed and lightly steamed for a vegetable side or added in the last five minutes to a soup.

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Beetroot Although in these parts, we can harvest beetroot year round, I love having jars of pickled beetroot and beetroot relish to add to summer and winter sandwiches and platters.

Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff has a fantastic spiced, pickled beetroot recipe.  The vinegar is countered with a touch of honey and then cinnamon sticks, whole allspice berries and peppercorns offer that wonderful spiced scent that is a pickling memory I still hold from my childhood.  These beets are a far cry from the sickly sweet ones that used to be served in the diners dotting US1 in my home state of Florida.

Beetroot Relish is a great addition to a sandwich and a cheese platter.  There are two recipes with the link and they take less then 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete!

Cabbage I love sauerkrauts and kimichis and also believe in their health giving benefits. I highly recommend Sador Ellix Katz'sbooks about fermentation.  Scythes Australia offer great fermentation pots and other useful tools.

I also like a quicker Pickled Red Cabbage recipe which includes a pickling spice mix that I really love.

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Carrots We have carrots from the beginning of December until about the end of September when it is too cold to germinate more and the ones from winter have gone to seed.  I have to admit that I have never frozen or jarred carrots to try and have them for those two months in the middle.  But I do love Home-Made Vegetable Stock!  Each week starting in mid summer, I make a big pot of stock. Vegetable, chicken, beef - I use whatever I have around and let it simmer for several hours.  I freeze it in glass bottling jars. You can also find quart containers from a packaging supply store.  It is wonderful to have fresh stock for a myriad of recipes...from gravy to stir-fries to soups.

We also juice extra carrots and make a delicious Carrot Mash.

Celery Again, as an essential ingredient in stock, I add any extra celery each week into my stock pot or we juice it.

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Chillies If you love hot sauces or Sweet Chilli Sauce,  make your own spicy condiments using pure ingredients!  They are usually simpler then the ones you can buy, do not include the myriad of preservatives or corn derivatives and are much tastier. Liana Krissoff offers several hot sauce recipes including the mango and peach hot sauce pictured above.

You can also make Curry Pastes and then keep them for at least a month in the refrigerator in an air tight jar or freeze for longer!

Kosher Dill Naturally Fermented Pickles

Cucumbers Fermented Dill Pickles or Sweet Bread and Butter Pickles, I love them all.  You can make the bread and butter pickles as refrigerator pickles in small batches and use them within 1 month, thus eliminating the need to seal the jars with a water bath.  Both Sandor Katz and Liana Krissoff have wonderful recipes for pickles that range from quick dills to two week naturally fermented ones.

Eggplant Nikki Fisher at The Wholefood Mama posted a great Eggplant Pickle recipe from Jay Black.

Radishes Again, another vegetable which pickles and ferments into a wonderful accompaniment.  I will be trying a beetroot and radish ferment in the next few weeks using Sandor Katz's recommendations and a bit of imagination.  I did find this recipe for Pickled Radish which sounded good to me.

RocketRocket Pesto freezes well and uses large amounts of rocket!  Great way to get all of its wonderful health giving benefits.

Tomatoes Now that is a post on its own and, as we are not really to that stage yet, I will leave that for now.

Zucchini You can grate zucchini, drain it in a colander and freeze it in bags to add to quiches, slices or zucchini bread all through the winter.  You can also slice it, blanch it and freeze it to use in pasta sauces or as a vegetable side.  Here is a post on Farmgirl Fare which talks about how to freeze zucchini and summer squash and the many uses for it.

Herbs And what about any extra herbs you have each week.  A simple thing to do is hang the whole bunch upside down in a cool and shaded spot of the kitchen.  When the plant has completely dried, separate the herb from the stalk or stem, ensure that it is completely dried (or put onto a baking tray and leave on top of an oven that is cooling...NOT in the oven) and jar the herbs.  These fresh herbs will be far fresher dried then anything you can buy.

You can also freeze Basil Pesto for simple dinners and yummy pizzas throughout the winter. Make it omitting the cheese and freeze in glass jars or ziplock bags.

What other ideas do you have?

Carrot and Radish Salad with a Glorious Moroccan Inspired Dressing

Here is a lovely salad recipe donated from a CSA member Ingredients 1 garlic clove, crushed 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, cumin and paprika 60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil 1 tsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp honey 1/2 lemon, juiced 4 largish carrots, peeled, thinly sliced however you like (I halve carrots and then slice lengthwise for appearance) 10 radishes, thinly sliced 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley 1 tsp orange flower water*

Method 1. Place garlic, spices, oil, vinegar, honey and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. 2. Blanch carrots in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes, drain and refresh. While still warm, toss in the dressing, then set aside at room temperature. 3. To serve, toss in the radish and parsley and drizzle with orange flower water

Notes I didn’t have any orange water flower so just omitted it. I also varied the quantity of radishes to my preferences – as long as there is an even balance of the vegetables in the salad I think it works.

Served with Nikki Fisher’s Beetroot, Rocket, Walnut and Persian Feta Salad and Spinach and Feta Triangles.  The combination of flavours was gorgeous!

Roasted Radishes

Still have radishes left from last weeks box and unsure how to use them?  Roasting sweetens the radish, tames some of the bite, and gives them a softer, fuller flavor. You can combine potatoes, carrots, fennel, onions, or just roast the radishes alone, leaving them whole as an interesting and delicious side.  Would work well with Spinach, Herb and Goat's Cheese Tartlets or as a side with a steak. Ingredients 1 bunch fresh radishes, washed, dried, stems removed Olive oil Salt Pepper Fresh Thyme

Method 1.  Preheat oven to 220C. Place a sheet tray in the oven to get it smoking hot. 2.  In a bowl, toss radishes in oil (just a little bit), salt, pepper, and thyme. When tray is hot, toss the radishes on the tray (they will sizzle) and put the tray back in the oven. 3.  Every 3-4 minutes or so, stir the tray so the radishes in the corners move to the middle, and vice-versa. Total cooking time should be about 15 minutes, depending on the size of the radishes. 4.  When ready, they’ll be blistered and pink with just a little bite left to the texture.

Crunchy Salad

Here is a recipe adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe...which he prefaces by saying that it is a very adaptable salad..."One of the things I love about a good crunchy salad is that you can simply change it according to where you live  and what fresh ingredients are available to you."  So have a go at inventing your own crunchy salad - be inventive with how you slice, chop, shave your ingredients.  Explore texture and flavours and revel in a truly seasonal compliment to any meal! Ingredients 1 cucumber 1 red onion, peeled and shaved 3 small carrots 1 fennel bulbs outer leaves peeled back, quartered lengthways 1 zucchini ribbon sliced 6 radishes, quartered 1 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 heaped tsp castor sugar 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil small bunch of fresh dill or thyme small bunch of flat leaf parsley finely chopped

Method 1. Chop, shred  and/or ribbon slice all of your vegetables. 2. Mix olive oil, vinegar and castor sugar in a small jar.  Shake until well blended. 3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix by hand with the herbs.  Serve.

Photo credit and recipe suggestion - Emma Travers

Ottolenghi’s Perfect Lettuce Salad with Radishes, Semi-dried Tomatoes, and Capers

"It is essential for every good cook to have a solid lettuce salad up their sleeve, a good in-between course to cleanse the palate and lighten the spirits.  This one should do the trick; it also makes for a good starter." - Ottolenghi Ingredients 400 grams of mixed baby lettuces 3 green onions, thinly sliced on an angle 15 radishes trimmed and cut very thinly 2 cups semi-dried tomatoes, whole or roughly torn 2 tbsp capers Dressing 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 1/2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp grapeseed oil salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Method Dressing 1.  In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients, being quite generous with salt and pepper. Salad 1. Wash the mixed greens and spin dry.  Keep whole or tear into smaller pieces. 2. Place into large mixing bowl and add radishes, semi-dried tomatoes and green onions. 3.  Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently. 4. Transfer to a larger serving bowl and sprinkle the capers over the top.

Source: recipe adapted very slightly from Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi

Fennel and Radish Salad

This is a Jamie Oliver super quick, easy and delicious recipe.  The bite of the radish is lovely with the licorice of the fennel.  Serve with pasta, grilled meat and chicken. Ingredients 1 fennel bulb 4-5 radishes 1 lemon extra virgin olive oil

Method 1. Trim and quarter the fennel. Trim excess leaves from the radishes. 2. Put the fennel and radish into the food processor and shred.  Tip into a large bowl 3. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, 1 lug of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper, then toss and scrunch with your hands to get the juices to mingle. 4. Season to taste.