Category Archives: Winter CSA
Spring has Sprung
What a glorious weekend!!! This is the first time in all the years I’ve lived in New England when I remember the first day of spring actually feeling like spring.
This weekend was warm and sunny. We have a cottage in the woods on a lake in Maine. We went to spend the night there this weekend, and to retrieve Howard’s mid-life crisis car from the garage there.
Yesterday was a relaxing day. We arrived in Maine late morning. We went for several walks with Bella. We took Howard’s convertible for a spin. We risked the metallic red paint on the long dirt road in search of ice cream. We didn’t actually find an open ice cream stand. It is only mid-March after all. Despite an unsuccessful mission, we enjoyed the sun shining and the wind blowing as we rode around on the country roads with the top down.
When we got back, we hauled the lawn chairs into the front garden to bask in the sun and read. For dinner, Howard broke out the grill, and we had the season’s first hamburgers from one of our last packages of ground beef from Codman Farm.
This morning, we headed home as I had plans to meet up with my friends Laury and April to visit the Concord Museum to catch the final day of an exhibit of work from students of the North Bennet Street School. The North Bennet Street School is in Boston’s North End.. They teach fine artisan crafts, like furniture making, musical instrument making, jewelry making, and book binding. The school is celebrating their 125th anniversary this year. We enjoyed admiring the varied work, especially the furniture.
We also started the vegetable garden this afternoon. I don’t know whether it is overly optimistic, but we planted peas (both shell peas and sugar snaps) and lettuce (two mesclun mixes and some head lettuce). In the herb garden, my chives are a few inches tall, and the tarragon is starting to come up.
It’s definitely time to step efforts to finish up the last of the winter vegetables. I’m down to 4 butternut squash, 3 turnips, and a pound or so of beets. I used the last of the parsnips and some beets for St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s time to finish up the rest.
I used one of the squashes to make a Butternut Squash Lasagne. It’s a light lasagne, not hearty like my usual Spinach Lasagne. This lasagne layers no-boil noodles with pureed squash topped with a white sauce with pesto stirred in.
Butternut Squash Lasagne
Adapted from this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis/Food Network
Serves 6-8
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water
3 amaretti cookies, crushed
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour (whole wheat, if you have it)
3½ cups skim milk
Pinch of nutmeg
½ cup pesto
1 box Barilla Oven-Ready (no-boil) Lasagne noodles
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (part-skim)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and toss to coat with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the water into the skill, then cover and simmer over medium heat until the squash is tender, stirring occasionally, adding more water if needed, about 20 minutes.
Puree the squash in the food processor. Add the crushed amaretti cookies and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the nutmeg and the pesto until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Lightly oil a 13×9 baking dish. Spread ¾ cup of the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange 4 lasagne noodles to cover the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the squash mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with ½ cup mozzarella. Drizzle ½ cup of sauce over the noodles. Repeat 3 more times. Use up all the sauce and all but ½ cup of the mozzarella.
Tightly cover the dish with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Combine the reserved ½ cup of mozzarella with the Parmesan. Remove the foil and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes more until the lasagna is bubbly and the top is golden brown.
Let the lasagna rest a few minutes before serving.
Winter Wind Down
It’s so exciting! Winter is definitely on its way out! Next weekend, it will be officially be Spring. I’ve been noticing how much lighter it is when I leave work each evening. With the time change tonight, it will be light even later. I suppose that means it will get light later in the morning to compensate (and it will be really hard for me to get up in the morning).
Our bounty from the Winter CSA has dwindled, but we still have some vegetables left. They have stored well in plastic bags in the refrigerator. (We also have half a dozen butternut squash left in a basket in the basement.)
I was able to put together a delicious shepherd’s pie with ingredients we had on hand: ground beef from Chestnut Farms, root vegetables from Shared Harvest CSA, and other odds and ends in the refrigerator, taking my herbal inspiration from Simon & Garfunkel (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme). I diced and roasted the vegetables the night before to make this easy to throw together after work, so it came together quickly.
Shepherd’s Pie
Serve 6
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
1 celery root, peeled and diced
1 tsp sage, divided
1 tsp rosemary, divided
1 tsp thyme, divided
1 onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
½ cup chopped parsley
2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
½ cup yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350F. Toss diced parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, and celery root with 2 Tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp each of the sage, rosemary, and thyme. Spread the vegetables in a single layer onto a large baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and slightly caramelized.
Place the peeled potatoes into a pot of water. Bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes). Before draining, set aside ¼ cup of the potato cooking water. Drain the potatoes. Whisk the potato cooking water into the yogurt. Mash the potatoes with the yogurt mixture and a generous seasoning of salt.
In a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and ground beef. Saute, breaking up the meat as it cooks, until the onions are soft and the meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes. If the meat gave off a large amount of fat, drain the fat before continuing.
Add tomato paste, beef broth, and the remaining sage, rosemary, and thyme to the meat. Cook until the sauce thickens up. Stir in the roasted vegetables and the parsley.
Pour the mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the meat.
Bake until edges of the mashed potatoes start to brown, about 25-30 minutes.
A Plateful of Happiness 