Bluebird CSA

Friday, August 24, 2012


Greetings from Bluebird Farm,
See you at the Morganton and Conover Farmers’ Markets tomorrow (Saturday) until noon.

Pastured Pork- My oh my, what tasty pork chops you have!
Have you been dreaming about our pastured pork? Even our personal freezer has been empty, but now we have a full offering of wonderful pork for you.
Mild Country Sausage, Hot Country Sausage, Sweet Italian Sausage, Bratwurst Sausage, Ground Pork, Thick Pork Chops,  Spare Ribs, Boneless Ham Roasts, Shoulder Roasts, Fresh Bacon (uncured.)  
Get the roasts and pork chops while they last.  We should have a good supple of everything else until our next hogs are ready in mid October.

This week’s garden harvest, grown with organic methods, of course

Yard Long Red Noodle Beans- Meaty and sweet.  Chop these very long beans (almost a yard long) into bite sized pieces and sauté. 
Cherry tomatoes- little gems of sunshine. Intense flavors.  Yellow, red, gold, black-purple tomatoes.
Slicing tomatoes- The season is winding down; get them while they’re ripe! There are not as many ripe tomatoes.  Can the tomato glory days really only be 1 month long?
Basil! Oh, the basil. The aroma of summer!  Pesto? I love pesto on pizzas. See pesto recipe below.
Bell peppers, Sweet Bell and Italian Frying Peppers- no synthetic chemicals.  Red and ripe!
So sweet and ripe. Amazing raw or cooked.
Cucumbers- Just a few cukes still coming in from the last plants of the year.  Sweet crisp summer flavor.
Summer Squash and Zucchini-They are all gone! Done for the year.


Pastured Chicken- Free range on grass pastures, fed certified organic grains. Flavorful and tender.
-Packs of 2 leg quarters and 2 wings
-We won’t have more whole chickens until our next flock is ready on October 10th. Stock up at in October; it will be the last flock of the year, and we won’t have any of our chicken in our freezer this winter.  We will take orders for chickens in mid September.

Pastured Free Range Eggs- The hens have new friends! They welcomed 12 small piglets in their pasture.  Little do they know…those piglets will be 250 pounds in no time!  Multi-species grazing is a unique part of our farm.  All our animals are fed certified organic grains.

Pesto version 1
This version is very thick! Great for spreading.

Ingredients
1 big cup of basil leaves
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ tablespoons of roasted pine nuts or walnuts
3 tablespoons of original parmesan cheese
1 ½ medium sized garlic cloves

Directions

Carefully wash the basil leaves and pat excess water from them.  Finely puree the garlic in a food processor or mince by hand if you are using a blender.  Add the basil and olive oil and puree for a minute or two. When it starts to look like a paste add the pine nuts,and continue pureeing. After you obtain a nice puree, add the parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper and continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes.  Let the pesto rest before you use it, so the flavor will unfold. 10 minutes should be enough. Use it with your favorite pasta dish or try another dish, such as pesto chicken.

Pesto version 2- This version is thinner and more sauce-like than version 1.  Great for drizzling over a large sauté of mixed summer vegetables and pasta.

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic
½ cup fresh basil
½ cup olive oil, approx
¼ cup roasted walnuts or pine nuts
Salt to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions same as version 1.  Add Parmesan cheese if desired.

Pesto Tips

Pesto can be made with almost any nut. I have had excellent pistachio pestos as well as roasted almond, pecan, cashew, or walnut pesto.

A homemade pesto sauce should be kept in the fridge if you don’t use everything in the same day. You can store homemade pesto for about 1 week, if you store it in an airtight jar or container and cover the top of the pesto with a thin layer of olive oil.

To freeze pesto, leave out the parmesan cheese. You can add the cheese after thawing. Divide pesto into meal size portions. Freeze in freezer bags.

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