Garden Happenings: Hyper-Healthy Microgreen Salads + Rosemary Polenta w/ Caramelized Apples
#33: Fall Happenings @ Featherstone Garden
Welcome to Vol. #7 of Featherstone’s Fall Happenings Newsletter. Each week we will share a rotating variety of garden updates: from heirloom seasonal produce features, to veg-ed(ucation) content, farm stand news, plant-centered recipes, community partners, and more. As a subscriber, you will be the first to know all about our Garden Happenings. If you’re not a newsletter subscriber but would like to be, click below to sign up.
Say hello to salads you never knew you wanted and shouldn’t live without.
It’s salad season at Featherstone Garden! We are pleased to announce that BOTH of our 6-week Fall/Winter Subscriptions (Salad Kits & Microgreens) are back, and we’re currently enrolling a limited number of members. The signup deadline is November 15th or until we sell out, so be sure to signup sooner rather than later.
Our Vegan Salad Kits are Robust & Nutritious
Our Salad Kits include enough salad greens, homemade vegan dressing, a variety of nutrient-dense micro and petite greens, crunchy toppers, plant-based proteins and rotating supplemental produce for 4 hearty salads per week. In addition, each kit includes a dressing recipe card for at-home recreation! Here is a sneak-peak of a few weeks of the subscription menu:
Sesame Ginger Dressing, Organic Micro and Petite Greens, Toasted Sesame Seeds, Black Quinoa & Shaved Beets
Lemon Bliss Dressing, Organic Micro and Petite Greens, Pumpkin Seeds, Cannellini Beans, & Rainbow Carrots
Apple Cider Vinaigrette, Organic Micro and Petite Greens, Tri-Color Quinoa & Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Signup for our weekly Salad Kits at the link below.
Our Microgreens are Exceptionally Healthy
Our micro & petite greens really set our salads apart from what you typically find at the grocery store or in a restaurant, and this year, we’re offering an exclusive 6-week Microgreen Subscription separate from our 6-week Salad Kit Subscription. These tiny but mighty greens will add a burst of distinct flavors and nutrients, making your meals dynamic with substantial health benefits. This upcoming Fall/Winter cycle our greens rotation will include over 10-micro & petite greens varieties: red cabbage, green mizuna, frilly mustards, garnet mustards, red pac choi, arugula, green curly kale, red kale, radish, sunflower, and pea shoots. Sign up for weekly microgreens at the link below.
Our blog contributor Sara Thornton wrote a few posts last year to highlight the specific health benefits of some of the microgreens that we grow. Check our her posts on: Micro Mizuna, Micro Red Cabbage, Sunflower Shoots, Radish Shoots, and Pea Shoots on our Garden Goodness Blog.
*SIDE NOTE: Prefer to pay with Venmo? Email or text Annie: annie@featherstonegarden.com // 704-996-3711
Apple Picking + Rosemary Polenta w/ Caramelized Shallots & Apples
By Renee Sandoval
Over the weekend, a couple friends and I drove upstate (New York) for apple picking. The weather has been relatively mild, thankfully, but the mornings are crisp. We layered on proper fall attire—oversize sweaters, leather or suede jackets, hats and gloves—and filled thermoses with hot cider and cinnamon sticks for some extra oomf. As this was my first time apple picking since moving to New York almost 4 years ago, I was surprised to see how many people were there to get an early start, filling their pre-purchased apple picking bags to the absolute brim. And at $25 per small bag, you have to make the most of it.
Our harvest was plentiful, but the amount of extra space I have in my kitchen is not. We have a large bowl full of apples spilling out over our coffee table, two bowls on the kitchen table, and a few strewn about any extra surface area left unclaimed. Needless to say, we’ve been finding ways to incorporate apples into each dish we’ve been making over the last few days. On Monday, I made a quick breakfast of polenta and piled sautéed apples and all of the leftover veggies in my fridge on top. I didn’t put too much effort into flavoring the polenta itself, but I knew there was potential. (If you’re unfamiliar with polenta, it’s a type of cornmeal porridge (gluten-free!), very similar to grits. You can read more about it, here.)
In developing this recipe, my aim was to create a savory base with seasonal flair, so I cooked the polenta in a mushroom broth (veggie broth works great, too), and added fresh rosemary because I associate it so much with the fall/winter seasons. I kept the ingredients list to a minimum by narrowing down the toppings to apples and shallots exclusively, but don’t hesitate to add additional veggies if you have some on hand. I added sautéed kale to my bowl, which was a simple way to get in my daily dose of greens. I encourage you to have fun with this recipe and adjust the toppings to suit your taste buds. If you have any questions or suggestions you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you in the comment section at the bottom of this newsletter!
Recipe: Rosemary Polenta w/ Caramelized Shallots & Apples
Yields: 2-3 servings
Ingredients:
2 cup vegetable or mushroom broth (plus more if needed)
½ cup polenta
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 shallot or 1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 apple, skin on, diced into small (approx.) ½-inch pieces
1 ½ tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
½-1 tsp cracked black pepper (1 tsp if you like extra peppery polenta)
1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 dried red pepper or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions:
Step 1
In a large skillet or sauté pan over med-low heat, add 2 tablespoons oil or butter and cook down shallots until tender and translucent (about 6-10 min). Add apples and salt, turn up heat to med-high and sauté until apples and onions until they begin to brown and crisp up (about 10-15 minutes).
Step 2
In a separate pot, bring 2 cups broth to a boil with (optional) dried red pepper or red pepper flakes. Once water is boiling, add polenta, fresh chopped rosemary, pepper, and allow to simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid clumps. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Side note: If the polenta starts to get too thick, add more liquid (broth or water) until you achieve your preferred consistency.
Step 3
Divvy out rosemary polenta into individual bowls, spoon the sautéed apples & onions on top, garnish with a rosemary sprig. And there you have it, a perfect warming breakfast to start off the day.
Enjoy!
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Watch our new cooking demo! Click here to watch the making of this recipe via Instagram Reels.
Weekly Worthwhile Read
For your reading pleasure, the team members at Featherstone will occasionally share an article or link we found to be a worthwhile read. We hope you enjoy our pick of the week.
Renee’s (Book) Pick: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab; A book review article via NPR (get cozy and enjoy this book after making our Rosemary Polenta w/ Caramelized Shallots & Apples!)
This week, I’m sharing a fantasy fiction book as my pick. I don’t know about you, but I’m always more drawn to cozying up with a good book during the colder months, so I haven’t been reading as many newsletters and articles since I checked this book out from the Library. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue follows the story of a girl from the 17th century who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever without fully understanding the consequences that lay ahead.
An excerpt from the NPR Book Review article linked above: “What follows is an ouroboros of a tale as Addie slips through time, desperately trying to have some influence on the world and the people she meets. For while she can't leave a mark or memory in her wake, she finds that she can plant ideas and tend to them, filling art and music with echoes of her presence. Her devil appears occasionally to taunt her and push her, but no hardship he can conjure is enough to make her give in and surrender her immortal life and her soul along with it.”
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Thanks for reading!
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Have a great week,
Annie, Aaron, Renee, Jessi, Phoebe + Chili, Pepper & Bean (our farm cats)
