Winter share, 3 of 11

[magid]

From this week’s farm email:

For the first half of November there were delays in SNAP/EBT payments, putting even more pressure than usual on food banks and food pantries. Stone Soup already donates produce every week throughout the year, but the biggest free food program we're involved in is the CISA Senior Shares. We do 140 free shares weekly for 10 weeks in the summer in Springfield, MA, and it normally only runs from mid-July to early September because that's when we have the biggest quantity and best selection of produce.

So we've never done Senior Shares in the fall or winter, but since we had good weather this fall and had a good amount of nice extra produce to share, and the need was even more than normal, we did extra Senior Share distributions the past few weeks. The last two Fridays we brought free fall/winter shares down to Springfield for the same low-income seniors that do it in the summer.

Compared to the large scale of need and inequality this is a small thing. But it's something, and it's what we can do as a local farm and a local business, on top of the usual charity and mutual aid built into our model. Our whole business truly is oriented toward giving back to our community rather than maximizing profit or hoarding resources. Every spare cent we have goes into the health of the soil, the wages of the workers, free food for our neighbors, low-income CSA discounts, sharing farmland with refugees, and more. This is the difference between a large, rootless corporation and a small, local business! I know this isn't news to anyone, but it's another example and a good reminder of why supporting local businesses and keeping money in our own local economy is so important.

These things are possible because of your support of our farmshare program. Without our CSA subscribers Stone Soup Farm wouldn't exist, and our 30 acre field would likely revert back to uniform, conventional, high-spray, GMO field corn.

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes
  
• 3 pounds beets
  
• 3 pounds carrots
  
• 3 pounds purple-top turnips
  
• 1 head cabbage (I chose a large one)
  
• 6 leeks
  
• 1 pound collard greens
  
• 1 pound spinach (swapped with LindaK for her turnips, because I still have spinach left)
  
• take-what-you-want herbs (I picked up some sage and rosemary)

First thoughts: All of these are good, but I’m missing onions, potatoes, parsnips, celeriac, and rutabagas. Perhaps I’ll get some at one of the last farmers markets; I want mashed potatoes, possibly with some of the turnips, and celeriac to add to soup.
Roasted root veggies (or baked under turkey parts). Sauted leeks, sweet potatoes, collards, garlic, and (vegan) sausage. Cabbage and carrot slaw. If I get some mushrooms, make vegan ‘creamed’ greens with a mushroom white sauce.

I’m supposed to bring all the veggie sides for Thanksgiving dinner, and I haven’t decided exactly what that will entail. Mashed potatoes (with or without neeps) are likely, also roasted root veg (a mix of carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, turnips if they’re not mashed with the potatoes, and parsnips if I buy some). Cranberry relish is definite (I still need to get navel oranges). Roasted Brussels sprouts if I buy some.

What are your obligatory-for-Platonic-ideal Thanksgiving dinner side dishes?

Comments

[teddywolf]

I’m a potatoes, veg and stuffing kinda guy. (stuffing…)

I am pondering making a cranberry relish with both some cooked and some raw cranberries, cooked with cider and ginger, raw with lime juice, and seeing if it’s a good idea or a Franken-relish.

I might even *eat* a spoonful of it.

[magid]

Stuffing is excellent! The only reason I’m not bringing stuffing is that it (and the turkey) are being made by the people I’m going to.

Cranberry relish is awesome, and cranberry sauce is good too, but I wouldn’t put them together, because the textures don’t work together in my head. Separately, these both sound excellent.

[cellio]

My obligatory side dishes include roasted root veggies (and if I can add some cauliflower or brussels sprouts, even better), stuffing, and bread or rolls (homemade, not bought). I appreciate other veggies when present (tossed salads were standard at my parents' meals). I prefer my potatoes roasted rather than mashed but that's not how it usually works out.

[magid]

I like roasted potatoes a lot, but they seem more ‘regular Shabbat’ rather than ‘holiday’, somehow. (Also, I don’t think we had mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving (much? ever?) growing up, because my mom thought there was already plenty of starch, given stuffing and sweet potatoes/winter squash. So they might feel more special now than for most folks.)

I don’t think I’ve ever made bread-for-the-meal, rather than bread-for-the-stuffing (one year, I made sage rolls for the stuffing, which worked quite well).

I love a good salad, and it still seems not quite right to have one for Thanksgiving, even though I’ll likely make one (assuming a slaw counts as a salad).

[minoanmiss]

Growing up I found it entertaining to have an American turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce (sliced from the can) with Jamaican/multicultural side dishes, so that's my platonic Thanksgiving. unlike almost everyone else *waves to cellio I also prefer roasted to mashed potatoes.

[magid]

Could you list some of the Jamaican/multicultural side dishes you think of first? I’d love to get some inspiration for new dishes, whether for Thanksgiving or weekly cooking.

[minoanmiss]

Oh sure! Rice with red kidney beans and coconut milk. Or rice abd pigeon peas. Long coked greens (Jamaicans would use amaranth which we call callaloo). Sweet potatoes with a simple brown sugar syrup and maybe a few whole allspice.

[cellio]

I never thought to try allspice with sweet potatoes, but I have some of the former and an abundance of the latter, so this is a good time to try. Thanks!

[minoanmiss]

anytime :)

[magid]

Those all sound good; thanks!

I don’t think I’ve ever made pigeon peas, and I’ve never known what specifically to do with callaloo (which I’ve seen at the farmers markets), other than “cook like other greens”.

[minoanmiss]

Pigeon peas are ... a bit burlier than green peas? Bigger, starchier, more savory, but still green-tasting? I don't think I've ever cooked them from scratch, just from cans.

The thing about amaranth that makes it different to prepare is that the thick stems (anything over about a cm in width) need to be peeled. It has a slightly greener, juicier taste than most brassicas, IMO. But it's still basically a green.

[avivasedai]

It's been a long time since I participated in either American *or* Canadian Thanksgiving on the cooking side, so my thoughts were defaulting to what side dishes I like for any meal: roasted veggies, brown rice (could add mushrooms or other veg bits), ... soup? I don't eat potato so I'd go with sweet potato or butternut squash; my mom's tsimmes would be perfect (carrot/sweet potato/other squash baked w/cinnamon and sweetener and margarine).

[magid]

My mom’s tsimmes is fleishig; I was so surprised the first time I went to Rubin’s (the kosher deli in Brookline, gone too many years ago now… ::sigh::), ordered tsimmes, and got carrots cooked in orange juice, basically.

My mom included whichever cut of beef it was (brisket, maybe? not certain), along with some onions, a lot of sweet potatoes and carrots, also orange juice, honey, and Oregon tart prunes (now unfindable), plus sometimes white potatoes because my brother and I like them. One year there were extra kneidlach, and somehow they made their way into the tsimmes, which was also delicious.

[avivasedai]

Wow, that is a different dish entirely from what I know. Love it!