This week’s box included: Collards, summer squash, white sweet potatoes, apples, sweet peppers (bell & Italian), tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, head of lettuce, butternut squash, Napa cabbage, poblano peppers (they can be hot, but not necessarily. You can see a photo that can help with identification on our Facebook page or check out our weekly video on Instagram.
Need storage instructions? Visit our fruit & veggie home pages. Click on the pic and a new page opens with storage instructions and a list of recipes curated by Conne over the years.
So much green in this week’s box. Love that poblanos are back (Charlotte recommends stuffing them – try the recipe for Mexican Stuffed Peppers we posted eight years ago). Yay for collards, yay for the light green of Napa cabbage and the brighter green of lettuce. There were green bell peppers and even a green apple.
Really excited for the tomatoes, both slicers and the little plum tomatoes. Who knew we’d be getting tomatoes in October? Charlotte said on Instagram that we’ll have tomatoes until frost. Yay!
Sad there were no cucumbers but I realize I may be alone in that. Also delighted to see white sweet potatoes. In my house we call those Japanese sweet potatoes, but they go by many different names including Cuban sweet potatoes. We find that they’re drier than orange sweet potatoes, not as sweet and not as fibrous as orange sweet potatoes sometimes can be. I find they generally work well in orange sweet potato recipes like the ones on the Riverview website. There’s a page there with sweet potato ideas from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission you might find useful.
But back to green. Again, there’s a page about greens which includes information on how to clean and then store them, and a little information about freezing them for use over the winter when there are no Riverview boxes and you’re missing those greens.
In clearing out the refrigerator in preparation for today’s box, I realized I had a bunch of turnip greens that was likely to become redundant. So I made the Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake below (with turnip greens instead of spinach, obviously!) and it was fabulous. Delicious hot out of the oven, delicious cold today for breakfast. I used shelf stable cheese tortellini. So easy! No boiling!
And subscriber Renee Areng offers a recipe for Roasted Turnip Greens since there have been turnip greens for several weeks. I’m not sure how it would work with collards, but try it! Or maybe, like me, you still have a bunch of turnip greens in the refrigerator and crisp roasted turnip greens sound good for October.
And way down at the bottom … do you still have muscadines from last week? If so, try this salad from Community Farmers Markets. Kale (substitute collards), apples and muscadines. It’s wonderful. Yes, muscadines are a bit of work since most folks don’t want to eat the seeds, but the fragrant flesh is so worth it – and they are such a taste of fall in the South.
Roasted Turnip Greens
From Renée Areng
1 bunch turnip greens
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 pinch salt and pepper
Submerge the greens in cold water for a few minutes, washing them to remove any dirt. Lay them flat on a plate or towel, or use a salad spinner to dry.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put the dry turnip greens in a medium bowl and drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil, massaging the greens to completely cover the greens in oil.
Grease a sheet pan with the remaining teaspoon oil, then spread the turnip greens out in the pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and any additional spices you like.
Bake greens for 8 to 10 minutes. About halfway through baking, take them out of the oven and flip so they can get crispy on all sides. Once they’re completely crispy, take them out of the oven. Enjoy while they are warm for the best flavor!
Make it cheesy! Parmesan would add a delicious flavor to roasted turnip greens. If you’re plant-based, nutritional yeast will do.
Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake
Source: Inspired by Ottolenghi’s Pasta and Butternut Squash Cake
1 egg
1 cup ricotta
1 cup finely grated parmesan, divided
1 cup coarsely grated fontina cheese
1 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
5 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons thinly-sliced sage leaves or 1 teaspoons chopped thyme leaves
1 1/4-pound butternut, peeled, seeded, sliced thin
8 ounces dried pasta (see Note), broken into pieces if large/long
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 9-inch springform with 3-inch sides with a sling of parchment paper, pressing it across the bottom and creasing the sides to get it to fit as best as possible. If the sides aren’t well covered, repeat with a second piece of parchment in the other direction.
Whisk egg and ricotta in a large bowl. Stir in half of the parmesan, fontina, water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, a few gratings of fresh nutmeg, lots of freshly ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Stir in squash, spinach, and sage or thyme, if using. Add dried noodles and stir until everything is coated.
Pour into prepared pan and press gently so everything is in as even of a layer as possible. Sprinkle with second half of parmesan. Gently fold any parchment that extends over the rim of the pan into the center and cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake on a sheet (for extra security against drips) for 1 hour, then remove foil, reopen the parchment folded over the top, and drizzle the dish with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Return to the oven uncovered for 30 minutes. Pasta will be baked through and the top will be crisp. If it doesn’t have as much color as you’d like on top, you can finish it under the broiler for a minute or two.
Cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes before removing the springform ring, sliding the pasta bake by its parchment onto a serving plate, and cut it into wedges.
Kale/muscadine/apple salad
From Community Farmers Markets
1 bunch of kale
Apple cider vinegar
Salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 pint muscadines
4 apples
Olive oil or neutral oil
Chutney
Minced shallot
Whole grain mustard
Pecans
Strip away kale stems. Chop the stems small and put them in a bowl. Cover with a little vinegar vinegar, 1 tsp salt and honey. This will soften the stems a bit, think funky pickle relish, we’ll add as much as we like to the salad and save any leftover for another use!
Slice or tear remainder of kale leaves into bite-size pieces.
Halve and remove seeds from muscadines. If the grapes are large and skins feel too chewy, peel or chop ’em smaller!
Core and slice apples.
To make the dressing: Start with 1:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. Add in a dash of salt (don’t be shy!), a few spoonsful of chutney, a drizzle of honey, a spoonful of minced shallot and a squirt of mustard. Taste and adjust according to your palate – because I knew our fruit was going to bring a lot of sweetness to this salad, I leaned more towards adding heat and acid (AKA mustard and vinegar). It’s okay if you make too much dressing, you can always use it for the next salad or marinade!
COMBINE your kale leaves, apples, and muscadines in a big bowl. Spoon in that chopped stem relish, drizzle in your dressing. Toss it all together, use your hands to rub the dressing into the kale and watch it turn bright green! Taste and adjust for more dressing and relish and anything else you think it might need. Trust your tastebuds. Serve with a sprinkle of pecans on top for an extra toasty crunchy moment. YUM!
Serves 4-6, stores well for leftovers!