Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
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The sleeper veggies this week are definitely the watermelon radishes and white-fleshed sweet potatoes. Sadly neither are not ours, but both are from local, high-integrity organic neighbor-growers of ours, Dick Peixoto [pronounced "pah-Shote"] of Lakeside Organic Gardens and Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm. Now Andy lives a stone's throw from LEF, but farms land in Hollister and Madera; that's how he's able to grow sweet potatoes. Tom says we can't grow them in our cool coastal climate, so we love having this connection with Andy! Dick spoke at last year's Eco-Farm conference, and the stuff he's up to is amazing. Lakeside may be a bigger grower than we are, but they definitely have the 'deep organic' integrity that matters. Both Andy and Dick do actually, so we are happy to include their goodies in our boxes. What's definitely ours though are the Brussels sprouts, and boy are they ever great this year! Tom stewarded and the weather and soil cooperated and we have just the most beautiful Brussels sprouts this season! We've struggled with aphids in them in the past, but hooray, not this year. They're so great that we're offering them through the webstore in case you want to get extra. - Debbie

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The most compelling aspect of watermelon radishes is their inner beauty (literally!) -- on the outside they're not much to look at; they are larger than normal radishes - they look a lot like turnips, actually - sometimes white-skinned, sometimes green... But when you slice into them, zowie! They have this beautiful magenta core, and it becomes immediately evident where they get their name from. They are sweet and mild, not as spicy/peppery as regular radishes.



Watermelon Radish ideas
You can cook watermelon radishes like you would turnips or rutabagas, but I think this diminishes their beauty. Although I did find a yummy-looking recipe for radish chips (think: crispy kale) so I'll include that below.

One idea I read and liked was to slice them into circles, then cut them into half moons, dress them lightly with a vinaigrette of some sort (use a light-colored vinegar) and sprinkle them with black sesame seeds (to mimic miniature watermelon seeds) ;-)

Another idea would be an open-faced radish sandwich. Spread sweet organic butter on either a baguette, or some suggest a nice dense pumpernickel, layer on thinly sliced watermelon radish, and (optionally) sprinkle with sea salt.

Of you can 'quick refrigerator pickle' them -- slice then cut them into half-moons, then put them into one of your empty Happy Girl Kitchen preserves jars with optionally a little thinly sliced onion, make a vinegar-brine dissolving a little salt and sugar into seasoned rice vinegar (maybe 1/2 C vinegar to 1 tsp sugar to 1/2 tsp salt) and pour that over the veggies and refrigerate for a day to season before using. Keep them in the fridge, of course; these are not heat canned. They should last a few weeks, easy, in the vinegar solution, but you'll probably eat them quicker than that.

Baked Watermelon Radish Chips
I liked this idea better than the 'fried' chips... deep-frying just takes so much oil!

Preheat your oven to fairly hot - 400 to 425 degrees.

Slice the radishes as thinly evenly as possible. Then lightly coat them with olive oil (or other veggie oil). I'd put them in a bowl and drizzle a little over them then use my hands and massage them around gently to get them all coated.

Spread them evenly on a baking sheet (you can put down some parchment paper if you like, for easier cleanup) - do not crowd or overlap them if at all possible. Sprinkle with seasonings -- option 1: salt and cumin; option 2: garlic salt, paprika and chili powder (or salt, paprika, chili powder and finely minced garlic); option 3: just salt.

Bake them 10 minutes, then check to see how they're doing. Depending on how thinly you sliced them, they may be done, or they may require more time. They should be lightly browned and crispy.

Serve as is for a crunchy snack, or with sour cream or ?? for dipping. Yum!

You know... while you're at it, why not slice up some turnip too, and bake 'em along with the radish slices, so you have crispy pink-and-white chips?


Now regarding those white-fleshed sweet potatoes from Mariquita Farm, I would treat them just the same as regular sweet potatoes, so any sweet potato recipe will do. My favorite, of course, is simply slow baked until completely soft, and then served with butter and salt!

A note off of Mariquita's website about shelf life, which I didn't know (it's advice from Alice Waters): "Don't plan on keeping sweet potatoes for more than a few days at home. Any needless handling causes bruising and shortens their shelf life. Remember their tropical origins and keep them at a cool room temperature with good air circulation, not in the refrigerator."

Debbie's slow-baked sweet potatoes
Try not to be in a rush when you're baking sweet potatoes... a lower temperature, longer bake makes them so darn wonderful! Especially the skins. I always scrub the potatoes but leave the skins on and bake and eat them skins and all.

One thing that will help is to have your potatoes at room temp before you bake them - and now I know from Alice Waters I shouldn't be storing them in the fridge anyway! So no wonder they didn't last so long in the past. ;-)

Preheat an oven to 300 degrees. Scrub potatoes and trim anything that to your mind needs trimming but otherwise leave skin intact. You can oil them, or not. You can wrap them in foil, or not. The foil or a pan underneath I think is not so much to help them cook (though it doesn't hurt), but when they get good and gooshy, sometimes the sugars in them drip out and this will burn in the bottom of your oven like a bubbling-over pie filling.

Bake 'em for an hour. Check on them. Do they look kinda pooped? When you poke them with a finger or give 'em a quick squeeze (careful, they're hot!) are they nice and soft? If yes, they're ready to eat! If no, leave 'em a little longer. If they seem almost done, but maybe other things you're making aren't done yet, just turn off the heat and let them stay in the oven. It'll slowly cool down, but the potatoes will continue to cook slowly too, and they'll just get softer and yummier.

Ready to eat? Just split them open and slide in some good organic butter and sprinkle with salt and voila! Of course you could even just try them plain if you're anti butter and anti salt. They'll still be awfully good.


Here's a recipe from Mariquita Farm's newsletter for their sweet potatoes:

 Sweet Potato Gnocchi
3 lbs sweet potatoes
2 C cider vinegar
3/4 C plus 2 tbsp. flour
2 egg yolks
butter
2 garlic cloves
6 sage leaves, julienned
1/2 lb. pancetta [or ham; or you can skip the pancetta/ham if you don't eat meat]
 
Cover the sweet potatoes with water and bring to a boil with a little salt. Simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and cool.
 
Simmer the cider vinegar until reduced to 1/2 C.
 
Dice your pancetta and fry the pieces in a small skillet until crisp.
 
Peel the potatoes and pass them through a ricer into a large bowl. Beat in the flour and yolks, then add some salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning.
 
Put the gnocchi dough into a pastry bag (or use a plastic bag and cut a corner off). Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and pipe the gnocchi dough out of the bag, cutting into 1 inch lengths, into the water. The gnocchi are done when they float. Scoop them out to a sheet pan.
 
In a large skillet, melt a few tablespoons of butter and add the gnocchi and saute to golden, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sage and cook for 1 minute more. Finish with the reduced vinegar, and the pancetta. Yummy!
 

And here's a recipe off the internet which I modified somewhat:

 Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 to 4 tbsp. softened butter
1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
salt to taste

[The reason for the range in quantity is because people's tastes are different. Don't want so much butter? Less is fine. And chipotle peppers can be reeeellly hot, so I'd suggest starting with less and then tasting it. You can always add more!]

Place the sweet potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two.

Place the potatoes into a bowl and add the butter, chipotle chiles, and adobo sauce. Mash well with a potato masher, and season to taste with salt to serve.


Lastly, here's a turnip recipe I clipped out of the SJ Mercury News from a few years back. It is very different than the savory turnip and collard greens recipe I ran last week! Since we're all getting turnips again, and it is not something a lot of us are familiar with cooking, thought you would like this:
 
Turnips with ginger, orange, mint and rosemary
by David Kinch - chef of Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos (modified only slightly)
serves 6

4 large turnips (about 2 lbs)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 C orange juice
1 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. finely chopped mint
1/2 tsp. finely chopped rosemary
 
Peel turnips and slice them into 1/2 inch thick pieces [Tom says our turnips are very tender and don't require peeling; you be the judge - peel or no, as you see fit.]

Melt butter in a large skillet (at least 12 inches) over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook the turnips until they begin to turn golden, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove cooked turnips to a plate and repeat until all of the slices have been cooked.

With all the slices now out of the skillet, turn the heat to high and add the orange juice, scraping the bottom of the skillet to dislodge any caramelized bits. Stir in the honey. Return the turnip slices to the skillet and simmer over medium-high heat until the turnips have softened and the juice has reduced to a glaze, about 25 minutes; spoon the juice over the turnips as they cook.

Just before serving, add the ginger, lemon zest, mint and rosemary; stir to coat and serve.

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