Late Fall Eating

We all enjoy the robust summer growing season that brings us a ton of fresh fruits and veggies throughout May-October. It's simple to make meals with the bounty.

Late fall and into winter are more challenging. But in many ways we find the food more interesting.

Many years ago, Steve Keune, offered a year round CSA. Lloyd and I thought it was the perfect time to challenge ourselves to eat with the seasons as much as possible. We had to be uber inventive as the winter closed in with all the root and "keeper" veggies. They took a starring role in our cooking.

We discovered it was easier than we expected to enjoy the vegetables we had available in late fall and early winter. And we got a little hooked on those humble roots in our eating. We have found ourselves in fall or winter CSA's ever since.

Harmony Valley CSA will be providing veggies through January for us this year. Squash, rutabagas, potatoes, onions, beets, brussel sprouts, cabbage, turnips, celeriac, carrots, parsnips, winter radish, sweet potatoes - these all become the stars of braises, stews, mashes, veggie roasts, soups and salads. We buy salad greens at the co-op. This year we are thinking about making sprouts to keep fresh healthy greens at our fingertips too.

Let me share a favorite recipe that lets rutabagas shine out. It's inspired by a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone : Turnip or Rutabaga Puree with Leeks

Rutabaga/Potato Mash

• 2 small buttery potatoes (russet,  yukon gold, kennebac, yellow finn), peeled & chopped
• 1 medium rutabaga, peeled and chopped to about half the size of the potato chunks
• 1 medium leek, white parts only chopped
• splash of buttermilk 
• 1-2 T butter, depending on your taste
• S & P

Add water to cover veggies, some salt and simmer, partially covered 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain the liquid. Mash the veggies with butter and buttermilk until smooth. Eat 'em up!

Cold weather coming? We are ready!

Ramping Up for Ramps

And the spring food continues!  We are late this year for ramps - the wild leeks that grow in swaths in just the right spot. They usually spring up in late April and then literally fade away soon after. While we do some foraging, all our tramping this spring never revealed a good spot for these oniony short-lived treats. We don't worry about it though. Our friends at Harmony Valley Farms sustainably harvest these alliums and sell them at farmer's markets and the Viroqua Food Coop.

We always try to get our hands on 5-10 bunches during the season and cook with abandon. Stir-fries, added to scrambled eggs, sauteed and added to soups and stews, made into a pesto, on pizza. Theses are all wonderful ways to use these roots.

We were first introduced to ramps through our CSA on the eastern side of the state. Our May shares often contained ramps that our farmer Steve brought over from this area. We fell instantly in love with them. We were the CSA pick-up point for our area and I always hoped that members would take one look at these and put them in the "Anybody can take these" box for unwanted veggies. I would even leave an oh-so-casual note, "If you don't want your ramps, we would be happy to have them". One friend, a cook of some reputation though unfamiliar with ramps, took that as a ringing endorsement for these treats...and I didn't get his share!

Locally a Ramp Festival has started (invitation only..and no, we aren't on the list) in a forest that boasts fields of ramps. Last night Lloyd and I met some friends at the Rooted Spoon Culinary for a spring ramps dinner featuring ramps dug Thursday from those fields. The menu was delightful and included:

• Chicken and ramp terrine
• Ramp pesto and goat cheese crostini
• Pickled ramps (to die for)
• Pea shoot salad with ramp dressing
• Trout stuffed with ramps
• Couscous with wild mushrooms, carmelized ramps and watercress
• Maple creme brulee

We wondered if we would be overwhelmed but our chefs knew how to weave the strong flavors throughout the meals in a way that had us savoring the offerings.

The fleeting season of ramps is almost over but we feel like we honored it well. And there are still two more bunches in the fridge to play with!