A member of the brassicas family along with cabbage and kale, pac choi (aka bok choy or Chinese cabbage) originated in China, where it has been grown for over 1500 years. It was introduced into the US during the late 19th century by Chinese immigrants. Part of the cabbage family, it packs in nutrition with high scores for vitamins A and C and calcium. Pac Choi is mild enough to be chopped up for a salad, particularly if you give it a quick wilt in a hot pan. It's also great in stir-fries and sautes and in asian soups (and other soups too).  As leaves become more mature they are more often served cooked. Pac Choi has a mild flavor. The leaves taste similar to Swiss chard and the stems (called ribs) are deliciously crispy and can be substituted for celery in recipes. We grow both purple and green varieties. My favorite way to cook it is to halve or quarter it lengthwise (depending on the size), brush it with olive or sunflower oil and throw it on the grill. Prepared this way, it makes an excellent and easy side. Store pac choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.

Each week on the farm we create seconds vegetables as we wash and sort vegetables for the weeks CSA shares and wholesale orders.  These seconds go to the food shelf in great numbers, but we are always striving to find uses for them.  This year we are trying to make a perfect roasting root vegetable medley, making it easier for our members to prepare a quick dinner.  Our roasting root medley contains various potato varieties, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, and kohlrabi.  These come to you raw, ready to be tossed into your roasting pan. Store in your fridge for up to three days. 

To use, simply preheat oven to 400°F.  Place vegetables on a cookie sheet or roasting pan, and then drizzle with sunflower oil, olive oil, or canola.  You can sprinkle with rosemary, thyme or another herb that compliments the rest of your meal menu or just leave them plain.  You can salt and pepper now, or later to taste.  Roast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  You can add chopped garlic to the pan now if you wish, or just continue roasting.  Veggies are done when they are browned on edges, and easily pierced with a fork.

We grow several verieties of cauliflower on the farm including the traditional white, a yellow known as cheddar, a purple variety, and the beautiful Romanesca.  All of these may be used interchangeably in recipes of course.  We freeze our summer cauliflower so that our members have greater diversity in winter.  Frozen cauliflower is great in many recipes including soups, stir fries, stews, casseroles, etc.  Our frozen cauliflower is blanched briefly before freezing so is partly pre-cooked, cooking times for recipes calling for fresh cauliflower will be shorter.  You will want to test your cauliflower when cooking for perfect doneness as some recipes will want cauliflower more or less tender.  Store your frozen cauliflower in the freezer until you are ready to use it.  I like to chop for recipes when it it still partly frozen 

Shoots are the nutritious baby greens of plants such as peas, sunflowers and radishes and are used for salad greens, sandwich toppers, and garnishes for soups and cooked dishes.  We grow them in rich organic compost for maximum flavor and nutrition.  They are crisp, tender and delicious.  We grow sunflower, pea and radish shoots all winter long on the farm.  The sunflower shoots deliver an earthy nutty flavor, the radish shoots add some spice, and the pea shoots are mild and delicious.  A great treat when there is little green to eat! Store in a sealed plastic bag in your crisper drawer for 3-4 days.

Butterworks Farm Black Turtle Beans are the triumphant result of prevailing over the elements here in Vermont where dry beans can be extremely hard to grow in our wet summers. This heirloom bean originates from Southern Mexico and Central America. Its history can be traced to over 7,000 years ago. The black turtle bean has a dense, meaty texture and is very high in protein, which makes it popular in vegetarian dishes. It is an excellent choice for making into soups and chilis as it broth cooks down to a paste like consistency. You can also cook and add to salads, rice or use in my favorite dish huevos rancheros (see recipe below). It is common to keep the boiled water of these beans and consume it as a soup with other ingredients for seasoning (known as sopa negra, black soup), as a broth (caldo de frijol, bean broth) or to season or color other dishes.

Here are some tricks and instructions for cooking these little black nuggets. Number one, some sort of pre-soak is required to cook beans and will significantly reduce cooking time. Cover with 2 inches of water and soak overnight or for 6-8 hours. Drain and cover with fresh water and simmer until beans are soft, about an hour. In warm conditions, refrigerate black beans while they soak to prevent fermentation. A quick-soak method involves covering beans with water, bring to a boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat and let sit for 2 hours. Drain, cover with fresh water and simmer until soft, about an hour. The beans may prematurely break up with a quick-soak method. Use the overnight method for dishes where it is essential the beans stay whole, such as salads and relishes. Important! Do not add salt or acidic ingredients such as lemon, vinegar, wine, and tomatoes until the beans are finished or nearly done cooking. Adding earlier can cause the beans to toughen. If additional water is needed during the cooking process, use boiling water rather than cold water. Addition of the herbs known as summer savory and epazote can help reduce the flatulence suffered by many who eat beans.

Round with crinkled leaves, Savoys are the beauties of the cabbage world. Their leaves are more delicate and more loosely packed than their green cabbage cousins. These cabbages are great in soups and stir fries, and the leaves are are perfect for stuffing with rice.  Red Savoys may be used just like green savoys.  Only the outer leaves are red, the inner leaves are green.  Store as you would other cabbages, unwashed, loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer. Don't worry if the outer leaves begin to discolor or tear on you, just remove them to expose the perfectly good leaves remaining below.

Potato and Root vegetable mash

1-2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
1-2 rutabagas, peeled, halved, thinly sliced
3 small parsnips, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes, rutabagas and parsnips. Boil until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Drain well.

Return vegetables to same pot. Mash until coarse puree forms. Mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Season vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. (Vegetable mash can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm over low heat, stirring frequently.) Transfer vegetables to bowl and serve.

Spoon Potato and Root Vegetable Mash onto plates. Top vegetables with lamb shanks and sauce.


We have featured a couple recipes for Thai inspired Winter Squash soups that are so easy to make with this squash puree. They plus other recipes are available on Pete's blog. Take a look:

Braised Lamb Shanks with Potato Root Vegetable Mash

There are many recipes for lamb shanks and they all call for long, slow cooking to tenderize the meat. But you are rewarded with tender, velvety meat in beautiful rich sauce. This recipe source is a combo. The Braised Lamb part comes from seriouslygood.com and the Potato Root Veg Mash comes from Bon Appetit Jan 1996 by way of epicurious.com.

2 Lamb Shanks -- closely trimmed of fat
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions -- cut into eighths
3 medium carrots -- peeled and cut into 1 chunks
1 ea celery stalk -- cut into 1/4 pieces
2 cloves garlic -- sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 TB dried Herbes de Provence
1 TB juniper berries -- smashed (optional, but good)
2 c red wine
1 - 2 c beef stock
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 325F.

Generously season lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add lamb shanks and brown on all sides, including end. Remove to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium and add onions, carrots, and celery to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until ingredients begin to brown. Add tomato paste, juniper, herbs, and garlic. add salt and pepper to taste. Cook an addition 1 1/2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add wine, deglaze pan, and reduce by half. Return shanks to the pot and add enough beef stock to come halfway up the sides of the shanks.

Cover and place in the center of the oven, and cook for 3 hours, turning shanks over about halfway through the cooking time. The meat should be just about falling from the bone when done.

Chicken Curry with Cashews

This is one of my favorite chicken recipes that a friend gave me years ago and one that I make over and over. It calls for adding the chicken to the dish raw and cooking it, but I always have whole chickens to deal with and since I can't be bothered cutting them up before cooking, I used cooked meat. Usually I roast the whole bird on the day prior, eat one meal from the bird, and the following day I throw the rest into this dish. Honestly this dish is so good it's like dessert. You can't stop eating it.

1/4 c butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TB finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
3 TB curry powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne

1 chicken, cut into pieces
14-16 oz diced tomatoes
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro (this is nice but not essential)
3/4 c cashews (this I suppose is not essential but is what makes the dish dessert like)
3/4 c. whole milk plain yogurt

Heat butter over moderately low heat until foam subsided, then cook onions, garlic, and ginger, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne and cook, stirring, 2 mins. Add chicken and cook stirring to coat, 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and their juice, and cilantro and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes.

*If making with cooked chicken, add the tomatoes and cilantro after cooking the spices for 2 mins, and let simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to come together. Then add the cooked chicken and heat through. Then move to the steps below.

Just before serving (or heating up- the above can be cooked well in advance):
pulse cashews in a food processor until very finely ground, then add to curry along with yogurt and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring, until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Serve with basmati rice.