Maple-Sage Roasted Black Futsu Pumpkin
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Harmony Valley Farm An update for our Community Supported Agriculture Members - Since 1993 www.harmonyvalleyfarm.com November 22 - 23, 2019 VEGETABLE FEATURE: Black Futsu Pumpkin What’s In The Box? by Andrea Yoder RED & YELLOW ONIONS: Both red and yellow onions are delicious when This week I’m excited to introduce you to caramelized. This week’s feature recipe for Creamy Cider & Black Futsu the beau ful, unique Black Futsu Pumpkin! Pumpkin Soup starts with a base of caramelized yellow onions. This is a heirloom Japanese squash variety ITALIAN GARLIC: How many ways can you work garlic into this year’s that caught my a en on in the High Thanksgiving dinner? Roasted garlic gravy, garlic bu er for the rolls, garlic Mowing Seed catalog last winter. What mashed potatoes…..and the list goes on! was this odd looking pumpkin shaped ORANGE CARROTS: This week’s Cooking With the Box ar cle off ers two vegetable with skin that was a grayish, polar opposite ways to use carrots this week. On the sweet end, Carrot Cake charcoal color mixed with tan? A er Cheesecake! On the savory end, Red Cabbage Vegetable Quinoa Stew! a li le research indica ng it has good fl avor and is revered by chefs, I convinced BRUSSELS SPROUTS: There is one pound of sprouts in this week’s box. If Richard we needed to try it. there are any brown or spo y outer leaves they’ll fall off when you trim the When we harvested these black futsu base. If you have some larger sprouts in your bag, cut them in half so they cook pumpkins, their skin was star ng to show more quickly and evenly. some signs of changing to a buff tan color, CELERIAC: If ever there were an in mida ng vegetable, this might be it. Don’t but they were more of a mysterious gray. let it scare you though, it’s really quite gentle. Cut it into quarters and use a We weren’t quite sure what to expect. paring knife to peel away the outer skin. You’ll be le with the dense, solid Will they store well? Will they con nue to white fl esh inside that may be grated and used raw for salads and slaws or ripen in storage? We didn’t have a lot of add it to root mash or gra n, soups, stews, etc. If your stuffi ng recipe calls for informa on to work with, so we had to just celery, use celeriac instead! fi gure it out on our own. I had planned BURGUNDY SWEET POTATOES: Sweet potatoes actually pair nicely with to work them into the schedule much Brussels sprouts. We have several recipe ideas for this pair in this week’s earlier, however when I cooked one and Cooking With the Box ar cle. tasted it, it really was pre y bland and did not match the fl avor profi les I had read. CANELA RUSSET POTATOES: Russet potatoes have a dry, starchy fl esh and are So we le them alone for a bit. We were the variety typically used for baked potatoes. If you were to mash any potato pleasantly surprised to fi nd this variety from HVF, this is the one to use. actually holds up very well in storage! RED OR GREEN SAVOY CABBAGE: Don’t be deceived by the size of these They also con nued to ripen and now they cabbage heads, there’s a lot packed into these small heads! Use raw in salads have very li le to no gray coloring on the or cooked in soups & stews. skin. When I cooked one recently, I was BLACK FUTSU PUMPKINS: Read more about this unique vegetable in this surprised to see the color of the fl esh had week’s vegetable feature! If you aren’t going to cook them right away, use changed to a darker, bright orange color them as a decora on and enjoy their beauty! and the fl avor was much diff erent than my TAT SOI: These beau ful heads of tat soi survived the single digit temperatures fi rst experience! So it seems we made the we had the past few weeks, cozy and warm under a double cover in the fi eld. right decision to wait! I tried cooking this You may no ce some frost damage on some outer leaves. The leaf is s ll good pumpkin diff erent ways and the op ons for what you can do with these li le guys to eat and we hope you’ll forgive a li le imperfec on in exchange for their is endless! The fl esh is dense and holds delicious, sweet, mild fl avor! up well to roas ng and pan-frying. When BEAUTY HEART RADISHES: This is a winter storage radish also referred to as baked, either whole or cut in half, the fl esh a “Watermelon Radish.” Cut them open and you’ll fi nd a bright pink interior. was moist, smooth, creamy and sweet. You don’t need to peel them, however most of their pungency is in the skin. If The descrip ons I read also indicated that you fi nd them a li le strong, consider peeling away the outer skin. Use them the skin was edible. It does have a very raw in salads, add to s r-fries, roast them or turn them into pickles. thin skin and given the bumpiness of the SHALLOTS: This week’s box contains one pound. While they are in the onion exterior, I didn’t want to a empt to peel family, they are not just another onion but rather a mild, more refi ned cousin. it. When pan-fried or roasted the skin gets Shallots are o en used to provide a delicate background fl avor in sauces and nice and crispy and off ers a nice contrast to vinaigre es. the so , smooth fl esh. When I baked the pumpkin whole and scooped out the fl esh, I ate a li le piece of the skin. While it was edible, I didn’t fi nd it as delectable and did discard it. So what are you going to do with these cute things? As I men oned before, this variety is delicious when roasted. You can either cut them into wedges or chunks, toss them with oil, then roast them on a sheet tray. I’m not usually a fan of pan-frying squash, however this one is a candidate for this method. I would recommend cu ng thin slices about ⅛ - ¼ inch thick. Cooking them on a griddle or in a cast iron pan in bu er yields a nice crispy, golden fi nal product. You can also cut them in half and bake them in the oven. Honestly, if you don’t want to mess with anything else, just bake them and eat the fl esh seasoned with a touch of salt and pepper and a pat of bu er. It’s delicious just like that, however you could also stuff the pumpkin halves with a fi lling of your Harmony Valley Farm, S3442 Wire Hollow Rd, Viroqua, WI 54665 Phone:(608)483-2143 Email:[email protected] choosing. Of course, you can scrape the cooked fl esh out of the shell and use it to make a wide variety of things. In one of my trials, I used a paring knife to cut a circle around the stem, about 1 ½-2 inches in diameter. I li ed this li le sec on out and used a spoon to scoop out the seeds, then put the li le lid back on and baked the pumpkin un l the fl esh was tender. If you are careful when you scoop the fl esh out of the skin, you can use the skin as a li le bowl to hold your pumpkin crea on. With the holidays coming up, this would make a fes ve and eye-catching presenta on. I wouldn’t serve soup in it, but you could serve Pumpkin Hummus, Pumpkin Goat Cheese Dip with Caramelized Onions or even Pumpkin Fruit Dip! Don’t be afraid to eat pumpkin for breakfast too. I found some tasty recipes for Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal with Maple and Pecans, Pumpkin Overnight Oats, or even Pumpkin Cream Cheese to spread on a bagel or toast! Store your black futsu pumpkins at room temperature and use them as a decora on un l you’re ready to eat them! Once you’re ready to cook them, give them a li le scrubbing and then get to work. I forgot to men on that the seeds are also edible. Before cooking, extract them from the fl esh, rinse them and lay them out on a tea towel (the seeds will s ck to the towel, so don’t use paper or anything fuzzy) or a plate to dry. Once dry you can toss them with a li le oil and season them with salt and pepper or seasonings of your choosing before toas ng them in a 350°F oven. These seeds really are tasty and, in my opinion, worth the eff ort to extract them. If you have children, this is a great kitchen job for them! One more dbit of informa on I gathered from my experiments is that one medium sized black futsu pumpkin will yield about ¾-1 cup of cooked fl esh. I hope you have fun experimen ng with the Black Futsu! Creamy Cider & Black Futsu Pumpkin Soup Yield: 4 servings 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 cup peeled, chopped apple 1 ¾-2 cups cooked black futsu Seeds of 2 black futsu 2 medium yellow onions, (2-3 small to medium) pumpkin fl esh pumpkins, toasted thinly sliced ¼ tsp cinnamon 2 cups water (op onal, for serving) 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste ¼ tsp smoked paprika ½ cup cream or coconut milk Freshly ground black pepper, 1 pinch nutmeg 2-3 cups cooked wild rice to taste 1 cup non-alcoholic apple (op onal, for serving) cider or hard cider 1.