CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 20th

Recipe and Photos by Megan Winfrey

This stew is so comforting and delicious, without the heavy calories synonymous with most comfort dishes. Substituting turnip mash for mashed potatoes adds nutrients and subtracts starchy carbs. A beefy red wine broth seals the deal and makes for an enticing aroma. And of course, you can't beat the fresh flavor of JBG carrots and turnips, which make every dish extra yummy.



Red Wine Beef Stew over Turnip Mash

Stew:

• 2 pounds New York strip trimmed
• 3 tbs. flour
• 1 tsp. paprika
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 3/4 cup beef stock
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup mushrooms thinly sliced
• 3-4 carrots, diced
• 1 rib celery thinly sliced
• 1 shallot thinly sliced

Mash:

• 3 turnips, peeled and cubed
• 1 white potato peeled and cubed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 375.

Dice beef into 2" cubes and pat dry with a towel. In a mixing bowl combine flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Add the beef cubes and toss to coat.



Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high. Add the beef and reserve the rest of the flour spice mix. Turn the beef to brown on all sides, sealing in the juices. Cook about 1 minute on each side, then remove the beef cubes to drain on a paper towel. With the heat still on, add the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits.

Add the beef stock, thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Add the beef cubes and cook at a low simmer for 2 hours.

While the beef cooks, prepare the stew veggies and the mash veggies. 30 minutes before serving, add the stew veggies to the pot and crank up to a low boil.

For the mash, place the turnips and potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover. Boil for 25-30 minutes, or until tender. Drain the water and mix in the milk, 2 tbs. of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Mash, keeping it slightly lumpy.

Transfer the mixture to an oven safe dish, dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter, cover loosely with foil, and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve in big bowls with the turnip mash on bottom, and the juicy savory stew on top.

Just beet it. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Another week and we are busy, busy, busy. We are looking forward to the upcoming holiday, but also trying to get everything done in the meantime! With a food-centric holiday on the horizon, we have our hands full. This time of the year is magical for our veggies, our crops are varied and flourishing. Come check out the expansive spread at the markets this weekend!

Harvest bins. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Rainbow chard. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sun peeking through. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lettuce grace notes. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvesting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvesting collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Water on greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Rinsing carrots and having a good ole time. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fall 'maters. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Schedule Changes for the Week of 11/20-11/25

Sunflower showing some love. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

• All Wednesday Home Deliveries have been rescheduled for Monday, November 20th.
• All Thursday CSA Pickups & Home Deliveries have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Houston deliveries have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• Lakeline Farmers Market will be closed on Saturday, November 25th. If you normally get your CSA here, it will be sent to our Cedar Park drop on Wednesday, November 23rd. The address is 1505 Hunter Ace Way, and you can scoop up your share anytime between 3-7 pm. Please note: this pickup site is located at a home residence; boxes will be on the side of the house.
• All Thursday Dallas Pickups have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Friday Dallas Pickups have been rescheduled for Wednesday, November 22nd. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Friday Pickup and Home Delivery customers can change their pickup to a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday pickup location to get their veggies early and get cookin'! If you'd like to reschedule your delivery, please let us know by Monday, November 20th. See all of your pickup options here.
• If you'd like to donate your CSA share to our Sponsored Share Program instead of postponing the delivery, just shoot us an e-mail. More info about our donations program here.

CSA line. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Did you know that 1 in 4 people in Austin are or have been food insecure, or lacking dependable access to sufficient amounts of economical and nutritious food? That's 25% of our Austin community! Can you believe it? Depending on the area, up to even 40% of people do not have easy access to fresh and affordable food, and in neighborhoods where busy thoroughfares inundate the cityscape and sidewalks are lacking, folks who do not have vehicular access risk their lives daily to purchase groceries to feed their family. Despite sounding abysmal, there's a lot that we can all do to help, and if you are a part of the CSA community, have you thought about sharing the harvest this holiday season?

SafePlace donation. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

If your family is headed out of town for the holidays, or if you're trying to avoid an overflowing fridge, we hope you will consider donating your CSA share to The Settlement Home or SafePlace. With the produce received from JBG, The Settlement Home provides nutritious meals and teaches the girls it serves how to cook. Thanks to the weekly deliveries from JBG, SafePlace is able to stock its pantry with fresh organic vegetables (instead of canned goods) for the women and children living in their shelter. Your donated share helps feed children, young adults, and families in Texas with histories of trauma, abuse, and neglect. Donating your share is easy and helps secure nutrition for these folks in need. Just email us (farm@jbgorganic.com) with the dates you would like to donate your share(s), and we'll do the rest! Need your vegetables for your holiday meal but still want to help those in need? Sponsoring a share is easy, too. Find more information about that program here. In addition to our Sponsored Share program, Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) and Salvation Army pick up veggies once a week. In 2016, we donated 26,100 lbs of veggies, or 31,320 meals to CTFB! With the help from our CSA community and our Sponsored Share program, we donate around 2400 lbs of veggies, or 2900 meals per year to both SafePlace and The Settlement Home. That's a whole lot of vegetables!

Central Texas Food Bank donations. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Casey carting donations in. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Speaking of local warriors toiling against food insecurity... Ever heard of Music, Tech, and Food? This new nonprofit in town seeks to bring two thriving Austin communities together, Music and Tech, to promote hunger awareness, and via ticket sales to regularly scheduled music events, donate farm-fresh food to local shelters and pantries. Pretty cool, eh? Read more about it here and get involved! 'Til next time, folks!

Recipe and Photos by Nadia Tamby

This classic Southern specialty tastes similar to pumpkin pie (or at least uses similar spices). Although, I actually prefer sweet potato pie for a couple reasons – I want to make it from scratch and somehow opening a can of pumpkin isn’t nearly as romantic as roasting the vegetable at home – but roasting and de-seeding a pumpkin is a little more of a mess than its worth. I love the smooth, dense custard filling. The nice thing about this pie is it tastes better cold (and is easier to cut into precise pieces that way), so you can make it up to two days ahead and have one thing out of the way if you plan on making this for Thanksgiving! You can easily double the dough recipe and can freeze or refrigerate the other half to use it in a pinch for another tart or pie. Of course you can skip the whole homemade dough thing if you want to save time (and a slight mess) and just buy a pre-made pie dough.

Roast more sweet potatoes than you think you need, because you can always use the leftovers for mashed sweet potatoes or an easy lunch, but having to roast more sweet potatoes will take another hour.

Sometimes sweet potatoes can get stringy on the ends after roasting. Don’t worry – this is why I use a blender for an ultra-smooth rather than a mixer for the filling. However, if you don’t want to mess with a blender, no big deal – just whip up your sweet potatoes first, then remove the strings which get caught on your paddle attachment.



Pie Ingredients:

Filling:

• 3 medium sweet potatoes (you’ll want about 2 cups of sweet potato puree)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon of each: cinnamon, allspice, freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crust:

• 1 stick butter, cold
• 1 ¼ cups flour, plus extra for dusting counter and rolling out dough
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ cup ice-cold water (you will not use all of it)
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream to brush the crust
• Raw sugar or sanding sugar to sprinkle on the crust

Salted Maple Whipped Cream:

• ½ pint whipped cream
• 2 or more tablespoons of good quality, real maple syrup
• Large pinch of salt

Extras/Tools to have on hand:

• Pie dish (glass or ceramic both work), rolling pin, pastry cutter (optional), blender for filling (mixer works too), electric mixer for whipping cream, pastry brush, pie weights or dried beans, aluminum foil, microplane for nutmeg (if using the whole spice)

Instructions:

A day before (or up to a week before): Wrap your sweet potatoes whole in foil and roast at 425F for about 45 minutes until soft, then remove the skins (they should come off easily once cool).

Working quickly, cut your stick of butter into small cubes. I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the sticks lengthwise into thirds, then flip the stick over and cut into thirds again. Then you can slice them end to end. Put this into a large bowl with the flour and sugar and either use your hands to smash the butter into the flour, or use a pastry cutter to do this task. You’ll want all the pieces of butter to be smaller than peas but don’t overwork it. You want pieces of butter visible throughout because this is what makes that desirable flakey dough (the butter melts leaving very small air pockets between layers).

Add the ice-cold water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough can hold together. The less water you can add while forming the dough, the flakier it will be, and you will avoid having the crust shrink slightly while baking. Dump the dough onto a floured counter to prevent it from sticking.

Do not knead the dough! This is not bread, so just form it together in a ball, maybe fold it onto itself a couple times and then flatten it to a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes. You can make the dough up to two days in advance.

Roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thickness on a floured counter. Using your rolling pin (drape the dough over it to transfer it), place this on your pie dish, lightly press into dish, and use scissors to trim the edges. I like to use the extra trimmed dough to decorate the crust, so I rolled it into a long thing rectangle and cut it into long strips. Braid the strips and continually add strips of dough (use water to help it stick) until you have one long braid. Brush the edge of the pie crust with water and place the braided crust on top, tucking the end under to hide the seam.



Refrigerate the crust for another 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 375F. Pre-bake your crust: Brush the edge of the curst with cream and sprinkle your decorative sugar on it. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the crust and fill it with pie weights or dried beans until it is slightly browned (about 15 minutes). This helps prevent the crust from getting soggy when you have a custard filling like this one.

Meanwhile, in your blender, combine all of the filling ingredients at the same time and blend until very smooth. You may add a bit more cream if needed to help your blender work, but it should be a very thick mixture (not a smoothie!) Alternately if you do this in a mixer, start with the sweet potatoes, then remove the strings from your attachment, then continue mixing on medium speed adding butter, sugar, then eggs, and then all the other ingredients.

Remove the pre-baked pie shell and reduce the oven to 350F. Pour in the filling, smooth the top and pop it back into the oven for about 35-40 minutes. When you shake the dish slightly, the filling will jiggle a bit but should be mostly set. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before refrigerating.

To make the salted maple whipped cream, simple whip the cream and add the maple syrup and a bit of salt. Serve the pie cold with a dollop of the cream and an extra grating of nutmeg!

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 13th