yumpittsburgh

How do I love thee, tomatoes…

Let me count the ways.

That might be a silly way to start a post, but nothing is more true in the sunny, hot and glorious month of August, here in western PA. Yum planted sungold cherry toms along the sidewalk leading from the house to the driveway as an excuse to eat as many as possible, every day.As a good friend said, ‘they are better than m&m’s!’.

Yesterday was a blitz where hubby yum made homemade pasta and sauce from our homegrown garlic and tomatoes. Summer is the good life!

CSA Adventures: Haluski, Southeast Asian Sytle

Haluski, Southeast Asian Style

Summer is upon us, and the contents of the CSA box are starting to reflect the transition from spring to summer crops. It has been wonderful to have peaches from Dawson’s Orchards, for example.

Yum admits the arrival of cukes, beans and plums does not mean the back log of greens have been cleared from the fridge. Hardy greens like chard, collards and kale boast impressive nutritional profiles, and a long shelf life. But every situation has a moment of rekoning, the time had come.

A package of rice noodles provided inspiration. Yum LOVES Thai noodle dishes, and all good Pittsburgher’s love all things buttery and starchy from Eastern Europe, so the decision was made to  bastardize two much loved national dishes in one go: Haluski and Pad Thai. Knowing that the former is a classic marriage of cabbage and noodles and that the latter is a classic sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors, yum brokered a diplomatic compromise. This lightened dish has much less fat that either original and can be used as a side dish or main course.

Haluski, Southeast Asian style:

1/3 pack of any type of rice noodles

2 candy onions (from Blue Goose Farms), chopped

1 garlic scape, (from Bill Foulk), chopped

1 lime, juiced

2 bunches seasonal greens (Beccari’s Farm, Clarion River Organics), rough chop

1/8 c. rice wine vinegar

2 T sugar

2 T ground or fresh ginger

1/8 c. soy sauce or fish sauce

1/4 c fresh herbs, any combo basil, cilantro, parsley chopped, Reserve 2 T for garnish.

1/4 ground peanuts

Chop all ingredients. Soak and drain rice noodles according to package instructions. In a small bowl or food processor combine sugar, soy sauce, herbs, ginger vinegar, set aside. Heat a bit of oil in a wok , add scapes and onions when hot. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add drained rice noodles with 1/4 of soy/ginger dressing. Stir fry until the noodles soak up the moisture, then repeat until all of the dressing has been used. (Note: if the noodles start scorching you can add a tablespoon of water at a time, or more oil). Add chopped greens and toss with noodle mixture, 3 -5 minutes. When greens are softened turn off hear, drizzle juice of lime and peanuts and toss again. Garnish with reserved herbs, peanuts and lime wedges.

Late Blight Update in Western PA

There have been no new reports of late blight in recent days thanks to the hot and dry weather that was prevalent across much of the state. However, keep in mind that the pathogen does not necessarily need free moisture on the leaf surface to infect. A relative humidity of 90% or greater within the crop canopy can be sufficient for infection to occur in the absence of leaf wetness. The pathogen will not die when the conditions become unfavorable but rather will become “dormant” as resume once more favorable conditions develop.

Regionally, the only new late blight reports have been on potato from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada.

To-date, late blight has been confirmed only on tomatoes in 7 counties in PA including Beaver, Allegheny, Indiana, Somerset, Blair, Cameron and another county in the Northwest region on PA. All the confirmed reports have been on either locally grown tomato transplants  or tomato plants growing in home gardens or community gardens. In cases where transplants were for sale, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture was involved. Earlier this spring PDA screened many tomato transplants destined for the retail and wholesale markets and all of those samples were negative for late blight. Late blight was also not reported on any tomato transplants sold in any big-box stores this spring in PA.

A new website is being developed to share current information on the spread of late blight.There will be information for both commercial growers and home owners with links to additional on-line resources and a photo gallery which will contain images of many tomato and potato diseases. When posted for the public, the web address will be http://extension.psu.edu/late-blight Yum will let you know when the site is live.

Please report any suspect cases of late blight bring or send a sample (overnight delivery) for confirmation to The Plant Disease Clinic, Department of Plant Pathology, 220 Buckhout Lab, University Park, PA 16802. Yum would like to thank Penn State Extension Pathologist Beth Gugino for this update.

CSA adventures: This week’s harvest

I like to think of food like building blocks, a creative medium to get funky with. When the CSA list comes out each week I start to play tetris in my head with the ingredients, playing around with how to fit them all together.

This week is starting to look like summer. The overabundance of greens is starting to give way to a greater variety of veggies and most exciting: berries!  From this week’s bounty, the following dishes may be on yum’s menu: zucchini and candy onion gratin, curried cauliflower, shredded carrot and chopped spring peas marinated in a basil vinaigrette over salad greens, and berry fool for dessert. That is if the berries don’t disappear on the way home! Stay tuned for the final cut with recipes and pictures. Follow along, these things are readily available at your local farmers market.

This week’s harvest includes, and was grown by the following area farmers (farm websites are listed here) :
~ carrots -David / Nu Way Farm, chemical free
~ cauliflower head – Clarion River Organics, OG
~ zucchini – Clarion River Organics, OG
~ head lettuce – Scott / Blue Goose Farm, CNG
~ half pint of blueberries & raspberries – Carolyn / Dawson’s Orchards
~ Allegheny cheese – Lori / Hidden Hills Dairy
~ quart of shell peas or a pint of snap peas – Tim, Kistaco Farm
~ basil – Scott / Blue Goose Farm, CNG
~ candy onions – Scott/ Blue Goose Farm, CNG
~ cucumber – Tim / Kistaco Farm

USDA handbook for SNAP EBT’s @ Farmers Markets

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at Farmers Markets: A How-To Handbook. The handbook provides the managers of farmers markets with a step-by-step guide to installing Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) machines and accepting SNAP benefits.

The handbook was developed by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), in cooperation with the Project for Public Spaces. It provides essential guidance for farmers market managers who are thinking about implementing EBT technology at their market sites to allow them to accept SNAP benefits (previously known as food stamps).

Topics addressed in the handbook include how to install an EBT machine and how to make the program work successfully for vendors and customers. The handbook also features a list of resources, a glossary of important terms, and several case studies from farmers markets that have successfully implemented EBT technology.

The total value of SNAP redemptions at farmers markets and food stands doubled from $2 million to $4 million between fiscal years 2008 and 2009. Currently, there are more than 1,100 farmers markets and farm stands using EBT machines across the country. In FY 2009, 946 farmers’ markets participated in SNAP. Over the past five years, the number of farmers markets increased 250 percent. As of May 2, 2010, there are 1,156 authorized FMs in SNAP. More SNAP benefits were redeemed at farmers’ markets in fiscal year 2009 during October than any other month of the year. Of the 3,153 counties in the United States, 496 (16%) have at least one SNAP authorized market.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at Farmers Markets: A How-To Handbook, is available by clicking here.

6/28 – 7/1 PASTAFEST @ Casbah!!

There is a lot of good food in town, by a lot of talented Chefs, at many wonderful restaurants. Yum had to point this one out. Why? Perhaps because of my Italian ancestry, perhaps because I still remember the short rib ravioli and house made gnocci from last year. This year features the rare treat ‘gnudi’ with truffle butter and wild mushrooms. YUM!

Pasta seems to be something that might be considered too heavy for summer, but Chef Wahl  at Casbah has created a menu with seasonal flair perfect for the weather your mood is traditional or light.

Just Harvest up for No Kid Hungry Innovation Award -Vote Now!

Just Harvest, Pittsburgh’s premier anti-hunger non-profit, has been selected as one of the finalists in Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Innovation Awards.  Please vote now for Just Harvest to receive the $25,000 award!  Click here to vote! Voting is open from Monday, June 21^st until next Wednesday, June 30^th.  You may vote once every day-be sure to come back every day to vote for us!

CSA snack of the day

Well kids, we are in that glorious flush of berry season, and what a wonderful time of the year it is!

Our CSA box included strawberries from Ben & Raymond’s farm, and when you have gorgeous food, it is nice to serve it in a gorgeous vessel.

Yum picked up at the arts festival from a local studio called Dunnmorr Pottery, which is located in Corry, PA. It is an ingenious strainer shaped like an oversized mug with holes in the bottom so you can rinse a handful of this or that and then eat from it.

CSA day, after work snack

This is the first week for our CSA. It is wonderful to pick up a box of fresh food, especially after a long day of meetings. Since lunch was 5 hours ago, I am a bit rumbly in the tummy, as a certain bear says! Rumaging through I see greens, greens, more greens, some chevre (if only there were crackers and a bottle of wine!), and a bag of crisp green sugar snack peas.

Hopefully the family won’t miss these if I eat them before getting home!

Adventures of CSA eating!

Just officially signed up for a 2010 CSA share! This may only be really exciting to me, but yum is so thrilled to have the convenience of picking up a box of fresh local food every week. We subscribed to a CSA in 2008 for the first time, but skipped 2009 for no good reason.

While visiting farmers markets is part of my job, and markets are my favorite place to shop for food, it isn’t always a stop that I can squeeze into my schedule. I hate to pull the working mom card, but really, it takes time to go to market. It is also hard to carry 3 or 4 bags of heavy produce, especially when melons come into season, while keeping track of a squirming baby.

Since baby yum has now grown into a world-class sprinter, it may be even harder to work this out without adult back up. Yum also likes the element of surprise when peering into the CSA box every week. What is in there? How do you cook that? Ohhh, honey this week!

The yum family also likes to cook, and having a box of seemingly random produce feels like a home version of iron chef. The share starts second week in June so stay tuned for reports on our adventures in CSA eating, in the ‘food’ section. There will be photos, recipes and random musings on the more random or less known produce. Three cheers for the growing season!