Chatfield CSA E - news July July 22 - 26

Dear Shareholders,

We are excited to annouce the basil edition of the CSA E-news! We have been giving out a manageable amount of basil each week to add into a couple recipes. So this coming week for both Tuesday and Thursday we will be giving all our shareholders a wonderfully large amount of basil for pesto making and other tasty basil dishes.

**Event reminder: CSA Potluck, July 26, 5:30-8:30 p.m. THEME CHANGE!!!

Due to it being basil week at the CSA, we thought it would be fun to host a basil cook-off instead (if you want to compete in the cook-off or bring any dish you like) to share with fellow CSA shareholders and CSA staff. Please bring with you any picnic items needed.  Head to the CSA Washstand/Hildebrand Ranch area of Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfiled this coming Friday for local flavors, conversation and farm fun!

Weekly Produce List for July 22-26
*This list is tenative and is subject to change.

Basil
Red onion!
Garlic!
Beets
Kale
Chard
Summer squash or cucumbers!
Peppermint, oregano, sage - choice 

Please note: this first round of garlic is not fully cured so it's not for storage, like the white onions – we’re curing only the best heads so you might notice some smaller heads or small cracks in the outer layer of skin in this first round. The cloves inside are still good to eat (immidiately or out of the fridge.)

Featured Recipes: BASIL CRAZE 

One of the recipes I (Josie Hart-Genter) would like to highlight for this week is an adapted recipe from "Mesa's Edge," by Eugenia Bone, one of my favorite local Colorado (San Luis Valley) cookbook authors - she also has an amazing canning and preserving book that's worth reading as well. This recipe has two parts, a little involved but simple enough once you get going and perfect for a weekend starter dish with friends and family. Not the best recipe for a 20-minute weekday after-work recipe. I spent part of this week in an old mountain cabin outside Nederland, and loved being there in the simple kitchen with my mom, children and tons of CSA produce and other garden treats to cook with! Eugenia's book was a perfect accompaniment to our time there. I tried all of these recipes out while there and judging from the happy faces and questions about seconds, I think you all are in good hands with the following.

Squash Blossom or Summer Squash Fritters with Basil Aoli                                                  Adapted from Eugenia Bone

Squash Fritters

1 1/2 cup flour
1 can of beer (12 oz)
1 full teaspoon of baking powder
a few pinches of salt
12 squash blossoms or 12 medium sized strips of zuccini or any summer squash
Plenty of oil for frying

Wisk batter in a large bowl and set aside. If you are going to bread and fry squash blossoms (keep them dry and shake them out to get rid of bugs and dirt), use about 12 large male blossoms by pulling them away from your squash plants. If you are going to use the CSA summer squash choose a large one and purchase one extra. Or raid a zuccini from a friend's garden!
Slice the squash into long strips about 1/4 inch thick, making sure to cut length-wise

Add vegetable oil (not olive, and use plenty) into a frying pan and heat the oil until it's hot and crackles when you test it (use water or flour to test oil).

Dip the squash blossom or squash strip into the bowl of batter and cover completely.
Lay the battered pieces into a frying pan, keeping each piece seperate or they will stick together.
Fry for about 1.5 minutes on each side until a golden brown crust forms
After the peices are fried, lay them on a paper towel to drain the greese.
Fry all blossoms or strips and let cool.

Basil Aoli

1 egg yolk
3/4 cup olive oil
juice from one fresh lemon
1 - 2 fresh CSA garlic clove depending on size
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons of minced fresh CSA basil

Add the egg yolk to a mixing bowl and whisk. Very slowly pour the oil with a small stream gently into the bowl, whisking the oil and egg together until the oil starts thickening in the bowl. Add crushed garlic, lemon, salt and pepper, and fresh basil. Whisk until the mixture gets thicker. Salt to taste and and serve in a small bowl with your fritters.
(If you need to set the aoli in the fridge to thicken up more it should be fine for at least 24 hours).

Dip the hot fritters right into the aoli and enjoy. This is perfect for an appetizer and so rich you only need two or three fritters Per person.

Steamed Beet and Basil Salad - with shaved turnip and red onion (this dish only serves two unless you add this mixture over salad greens or arugula)

1. Steam your 3-4 CSA beets until tender, let them cool (some people slip the skins off at this point) and chop them into bite-size chunks.
2. If you still have your harukai turnip, shave it thin with a knife or 1/2 kohlrabi (or skip this step if you don't have these)
3. mince 1/4 cup red onion
4. mince 1 small bunch of basil leaves
5. squeeze 2 whole limes into the beet mixture
6. use plenty of salt to taste
7. Non-local, but amazing extra ingredient - fresh sweet corn cut off the cob! (I steamed the corn lightly and set aside until cool)
8. One splash of apple cider vinegar and toss everything together
9. Put the salad in the fridge if you can for a few hours so the flavors have time to set.

Basil Gin Fizz Cocktail

3-4 basil leaves torn up
juice from 1/2 small lemon
1/2 teaspoon honey or simple sugar
1.5 oz Gin
3 - 5 oz club soda

Muddle all the dry ingredients at the bottom of a pint glass with simple sugar or honey, pour the gin into the herb blend and stir well to mix everything together. Add the ice and soda water at the end - give it a good stir once again. Garnish with an additional basil or peppermint leaf.

Really, there is a long list of recipes and uses for basil that I'd like to include here, as basil really is one of the best crops we grow at the Chatfield CSA. But instead of a mile-long newsletter, I will include this link to a great weekly installment at the Huffington Post - covering what to do with your CSA basket during the week. Have fun with my favorite green goddess of a plant - basil!

Of course you can enjoy your basil the traditional way with pesto and pasta or with fresh mozzarella but being part of a CSA can be a great excuse to eat outside the box! Happy basil week!