Welcome to the Rootabaga Reboot! After a brief hiatus from the Rootabaga subscription program we are back, re-organized, and re-inspired to get veggie shares back in your pantries. The next Rootabaga pickup date will be Saturday November 12, and the signup deadline is Thursday November 10. What’s Rootabaga you ask? You can find out more and sign up here.
Before we dive into the first week’s produce, we would first like to thank you all for your continued support and interest in the Rootabaga subscription. It’s thanks to you that we keep doing what we’re doing!
This week we are celebrating the fall harvest with butternut squash, apples, and cold weather greens.
The small veggie share contains:
Onions – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
Leeks – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Spinach – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Arugula – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Butternut Squash – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
White Mushrooms – Valley Mushrooms, PEI
Cortland Apples – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
The large share has all the above plus:
Super Sweet Carrots – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Sweet Potatoes – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
This week’s produce bags were inspired by a delicious dinner I had at a friend’s house recently, Butternut Squash and Millet Patties. The recipe is based on this blog post (https://www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com/2014/09/roasted-pumpkin-millet-herb-patties.html), but she made quite a few amendments which I’ll share for you here:
- 1 cup millet - we carry Speerville Mills’ Organic Millet if you don't already have millet in your cupboard
- 2 cups water or veggie broth
- ½ of a roasted butternut squash
- olive oil, salt & pepper
- 1 small onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 leek
- 2 handfuls fresh herbs (parsley, chives, thyme, sage, or cilantro are all good options, use what you have available, substitute 1 teaspoon mixed dry herbs if preferred)
- ½ cup diced mushrooms
- 2 cups chopped spinach
- 1 egg (or for a vegan option, 1 flax egg, method here (https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-a-flax-egg/)
- ½ cup breadcrumbs give or take (or rolled oats for a gluten-free option) + more for frying
- 3 tablespoons buckwheat flour
- Cook the millet - bring 2 cups of water or vegetable broth to a boil. Add the millet, reduce heat, and simmer with the lid on until liquid is absorbed, 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
- Roast the squash - preheat the oven to 375 degrees, cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds and innards. Place the squash cut side up on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender.
- Heat a frying pan with some olive oil. Fry the diced onion, garlic, sliced leek, herbs, and diced mushroom. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 5-10 minutes or until the onion is translucent and the mushrooms have released some of their moisture.
- Add the spinach to the pan and cook until just wilted.
- Once the squash is cool enough to touch, scoop it out of its skin into a large bowl and mash with a fork. Add the cooked millet and the frying pan mixture to the bowl. Add the whisked egg/flax egg, breadcrumbs or oats, and buckwheat flour. Mix everything together until a nice dough forms, let it rest a few minutes to let the juices absorb. Using 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture, form patties with your hands. If the mixture is too wet to hold their shape add more buckwheat flour or bread crumbs.
- Fry the patties! In a frying pan over medium heat, add a generous layer of olive oil (or your preferred cooking oil). An optional but delicious step is to pour some bread crumbs onto a plate and dip the patties in the bread crumbs before frying, this gives them a nice crispy finish. Fry the patties for a couple minutes on each side until golden brown.
Vegetable patties are a bit of a labour of love but they make for a delicious dinner and the leftovers hold up well for lunch. I like to serve them over a bed of greens, the bite of arugula pairs exceptionally well with the sweet nuttiness of the butternut squash and millet, and some homemade applesauce on top (using this method https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/51301/sarahs-applesauce/). The Noggin’s Farm Cortland Apples from this week’s share are my favourite for making applesauce, and since they’re naturally soft and sweet I omit the added sugar from the recipe. Once you get the hang of making veggie patties they’re a great addition to your meal repertoire as they’re perfect for using up leftover grains and veggies in your fridge. Another way I like to eat them is with sausage (like Osprey’s Roost Garlic and Thyme sausage) or stir-fried Acadiana Tofu, and a side of pickled beets.
That’s it for this week folks! Thanks again for supporting us and supporting local. We hope you enjoy the first round of the Rootabaga Reboot and look forward to sharing more seasonal food ideas next week.
Robin, your new Rootabaga resource.