Week 24 of 28 from Valley Flora!

  • Brussels sprouts - perfect timing, we got a frost this week which sweetens up the Brussels sprouts for next-level yum!
  • Carrots
  • Leeks
  • Marinanta Radicchio
  • Kale
  • Violet Queen Turnips
  • Celery - alas, also popular with the slugs! It should be spelled "sl-ughs!"
  • Delicata Winter Squash

On Rotation:

  • White Cauliflower

Two different CSA members sent a thrill through my heart last week. The first professed her learned love for fennel. The second shared this spectacular radicchio recipe with me, which I promptly made, fell in love with, and decided must be a new part of our Thanksgiving menu this year: Raw and Roasted Radicchio Salad with Sweet Potato, Manchego, and Crunchy Seeds. Given that Delicata squash are at the peak of their season right now, and are sweeter than sweet potatoes, and are in your share this week, I subbed peeled, roasted Delicata for the potatoes. I didn't have manchego so we used chunks of parmesan. Home run.

Erica, our longtime CSA member who shared it, wrote: "I have never felt pulled to share a recipe with you before, but I am sending you this recipe because it is a winner for sure, and it holds up for days in the fridge - the only way I was going to get through that radicchio as the only person in the house who enjoys it." Of course I'm ever hopeful that the rest of her household WILL learn to love radicchio someday (and how could they not with a salad like this one!?), but in the meantime I'm delighted to know that Erica has found a way on her own, bravely :). This week's radicchio variety, Marinanta, is one of my faves. It is wildly expressive, sometimes presenting like a tight head of iceberg, other times as a loose curly head of juicy-ribbed leaves. I find it to be on the milder end of the bitter spectrum, which can be good for the skeptics. If you drink coffee, you can handle this radicchio. With the help of some salty manchego and super duper sweet Delicatas, you've got this people.

 

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