( Dark Delicacies Perfume Circle )

Still the large share.

• an avocado, Homestead, FL
  
• four satsumas, Eagle’s Nest, FL
  
• a bunch of collards, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• six potatoes, Full Bloom, Whately, MA
  
• a rutabaga, Deep Root, VT
  
• three stalks of broccoli, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• a medium bag of green beans, Homestead, FL
  
• a head of red leaf lettuce, from somewhere unknown
  
• two green bell peppers, Lady Moon, FL
  
• a big bag of baby arugula, Equinox Farms, Sheffield, MA
  
• three summer squash, Lady Moon, FL
  
• two of the most anemic tomatoes I have ever seen, Lady Moon, FL
  
• four apples, Bashista, Southampton, MA (low spray/IPM)
  
• three yellow onions, Deep Root, VT
  
• four carrots, also from somewhere unknown

Last night was the start of a new fish share (10 weeks, though they've given themselves 12 weeks to do it in, just in case Weather happens sometimes). It was cod, and not a particularly large one: I got seven servings from the fillets, rather than the 11 or 12 I'd gotten from the larger fish towards the end of the previous share. I'm still in the fillet-and-bake rut, though I've run out of tandoori seasoning (which seems to be a specialty item; anyone know where I can get tandoori seasoning locally that's kosher certified?), so had to default to something else. That turned out to be zaatar, with copious quantitied mixed in with plain hummus and mayo. Once that was on the fillets, I mixed what was left with white wheat flour to make 'crumbs' (read: I would have used panko or other breadcrumbs, but had none). Those baked for 14 minutes in a hot oven, and that last minute after the timer went off before I took them out was a mistake. Not a horrible one, but the fish was closer to dried out/ overbaked than I prefer.

Continuing the theme of use what's around, I put together a green salad of farm share vegetables: salad mix, the end of the red leaf lettuce, arugula, cucumber, and grape tomatoes, with a bit of very non-local (Israeli) sheep's milk feta on the side. I still had the end of the kohlrabi-apple slaw with chipotle mustard dressing, which added much more crunch than the green salad did. No hot vegetable dish, but despite the cold, that felt ok.

And I made an improv pie for dessert. I chopped finer the remaining Bosc pears from liqueur making, along with the MacIntosh apples that had been the basis of other liqueur (both fruits from the Davis Square farmer's market). They didn't have much liquid left in them, so I added some home-made applesauce (made from the same bag of MacIntoshes as the liqueur), and some raisins for sweetness (and to absorb some liquid from the applesauce). I pre-baked the crust a bit (but not enough; I got impatient) before pouring this filling in and baking it for half an hour or so until all the ingredients had gotten familiar with one another. Since there was no top crust or other binder, the filling didn't stay together in nice pie-shaped wedges, but it tasted pretty good. Or there was enough booze left in the fruit to make me think so :-). If I were to do this again, I'd use a thickener of some sort, or make individual pies.

( More perfume to sell )

[local eating] Red Fire winter share (3/4)

• a butternut squash
  
• a bunch of kale (I chose lacinato)
  
• a pound of beets (all red)
  
• two pounds of sweet potatoes (I chose regular orange ones, but there were white ones too)
  
• half a pint of shallots
  
• two pounds of onions (I chose yellow over red)
  
• three quarters of a pound of spinach
  
• three quarters of a pound of salad mix
  
• a stalk of Brussels sprouts
  
• a bunch of cilantro (given away to this week's share coordinator)

What with the Enterprise share earlier this week, I need to eat lots of salad!

I got a winter share from Enterprise Farm, which is December to May (leaving me with perhaps a month's gap before Red Fire starts in June. Though I could have switched to Enterprise year round, which in some ways is more convenient. Perhaps next year, depending.). Not everything is as local as in the summer, but they work with a number of farms in New England and down the east coast to provide produce with fewer miles traveled than otherwise (FL rather than CA citrus, for instance). And the newsletters tell me what's from where, whether it's conventional, and other useful tidbits (such as the citrus being harvested ripe, rather than green and then gassed with ethylene.

As it turns out, though I thought I'd asked about a smaller share, I apparently got a large share. I think I'm going to go with it for a bit and see how I do....

This week's share:

• two stalks of broccoli, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• a cucumber, Lady Moon Farms, FL (the boring supermarket kind)
  
• a pint of grape tomatoes, Lady Moon Farms, FL
  
• a small bunch of parsley, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• about a pound of carrots (seven, ranging from white to palest orange), Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• four medium sweet potatoes, Faucette Farm, NC
  
• a small head of green cabbage, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• a big bag of spinach, Enterprise, Whately, MA
  
• eight satsumas, Eagle’s Nest, FL
  
• eight small red onions, Full Bloom Farm, Whately, MA
  
• a big bag of baby arugula, Equinox Farms, Sheffield MA
  
• about half a pound of wheat berries (conventional) Four Star Farms, Northfield, MA

That last is extremely exciting. I remember getting wheat berries for the first time, in Jerusalem (though there, it's just called "wheat"), and being really pleased with the chewy texture when it was cooked.