Weather you’re harvesting from your own garden or buying at the store, winter-time produce makes for delicious dishes! And there are more options than you might think. For instance, did you know that certain varieties of pears are a winter fruit in Washington? Or that chestnuts are harvested in late fall/early winter, and that we have two chestnut farms in Whatcom and Skagit Counties?
While writing this piece, I read the 20th anniversary edition of “Winter Harvest Cookbook” by Lane Morgan, a Whatcom-based writer and teacher. The book is peppered with references to the Bellingham Farmers Market, Cloud Mountain Farm Center, and other local businesses, as well as advice on growing and shopping for winter produce in our region. These recipes are inspired by the ones in “Winter Harvest Cookbook,” with a few alterations, and I can’t recommend the book enough!
BORSCHT
Although more Americans than ever probably know about borscht, it’s safe to say it isn’t considered a staple meal. If you haven’t ever made or even eaten borscht, give this bright red vegetarian soup a go. It’s made with lots of winter veggies and a few easy-to-buy ingredients, and can be dressed up to your tastes.
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoons oil
- 3-4 beets, peeled and grated
- 1 onion, chopped or diced
- 4 carrots, sliced or grated
- 2 potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 4 cups vegetable stock (can use meat broth)
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes and/or ½ cup of ketchup
- To taste: lemon juice, fresh or dried dill, sour cream, salt, and pepper
Instructions
- Prepare all veggies.
- Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add onion and sauté 10 minutes.
- Add beets, carrots, and potatoes, and sauté another 10 minutes or until everything has started to soften.
- Add vegetable stock, tomatoes and/or ketchup, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- To taste, add lemon juice and/or dill. Serve hot.
Tip: Lots of borscht recipes also call for cabbage, so throw that in if you like. If you love borscht and want to experiment with it, try adding beans, garlic, celeriac, celery, peppers, chili sauce, or other spices and herbs, and garnishing with sour cream or yogurt.
PREPARING BEETS
Beets are the star ingredient in borscht, and are responsible for its famous ruby-red coloring. If you’re new to preparing beets, here are a few words to the wise.
- Cut off the beet greens, but save them! They can also be eaten.
- Give the beets a good scrub—their skin can hold on to a good amount of dirt, much like fresh carrots.
- Beets can and will stain nearly anything absorbent, including your fingers! If you don’t want to be red-handed for the next couple of days, use disposable gloves, preferably the compostable or biodegradable sort.
- Peel beets with a regular veggie peeler.
- Grating the beets allows for a full release of their juice and flavor, but it disrupts their interesting texture. Try cutting them into matchsticks or small chunks, too!
FENNEL, PEAR, AND WINTER SPINACH SALAD
Don’t get me wrong, I love the more famous wintery greens like peppery arugula and crunchy kale! Still, this salad makes for a nice change and a more delicate-tasting raw meal. If the spinach is a bit too earthy for you, leave it out and double the fennel!
Ingredients
- 2 cups of winter spinach
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced
- 2 pears, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon of crushed anise seed
- Salt and pepper
- Optional: apples, lemon juice, parsley, fennel greens, watercress, shaved pecorino, crumbled feta
Instructions
- Rinse and prepare your produce.
- Mix your white wine vinegar, anise seed, and salt and pepper in a serving bowl. Whisk in the olive oil.
- Add the fennel and spinach to the bowl, then toss.
- Add the sliced pears. You can leave it here for a simple salad, or add any of the other suggested toppings to taste. Serve.
PREPARING FENNEL
Fennel is available basically year-round in Washington State but is often considered a winter produce thanks to being harvested as late as November. You can use all of it with some work, but the bulb is easy to prepare and eat both raw and cooked. It has a light anise flavor and plenty of crunch!
- The roots can be peeled and cooked like carrots, but aren’t popular for eating raw.
- The stalks are very fibrous. You can use them for flavor in cooking or broths, but they must be well-cooked if you’re determined to eat them.
- The feathery greens at the tops of the stalks often remind people of dill, but they carry the anise flavor of the rest of the plant! Use them as a fresh herb and garnish.
- The bulb is made of thick and layered leaves, and looks kind of like an onion when you cut into them. You can prepare these however you like! Slicing is great for salads, while cubing works well for soups and stews.
- Culinary explorers can make fennel syrup and candy by thinly slicing the stalks and cooking them in sugar syrup.
RED CABBAGE AND CHESTNUTS
This dish is a favorite of chefs for being unexpected, and a favorite of ours because of the chance to spotlight the key ingredients. Red cabbage is sweet and nutritious, and chestnuts are underappreciated! They’re more often sung about than eaten. The recipe generally calls for a fatty meat, like bacon or sausage, which adds an excellent depth to the flavor—but feel free to switch it out for less-fatty turkey bacon or your favorite meat alternative.
Ingredients
- 20 fresh chestnuts (about 1 pound) from Lazy Squirrel Nut Farm in Mount Vernon or Washington Chestnut Company in Everson
- ¼ pound of lean bacon, diced or cut into thin strips or bits
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 pounds of red cabbage, sliced or shredded
- 3 cups of beef stock
- Salt and pepper.
- Optional: dried cranberries or cherries, bay leaves, garlic, a healthy splash of red wine, butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Prepare the fresh chestnuts. Start by cutting an X in the shell.
- Roasting the chestnuts: place in a pan and bake for about 35 minutes, until the skins have peeled back. The shells will loosen. Remove the shell and brown skin from each nut, chop roughly, and set aside.
- Boiling the chestnuts: Bring water to boil in a large saucepan, add chestnuts, then cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove, drain, peel, chop roughly, and set aside.
- Fry your bacon, then put it to the side and allow to drain.
- Sauté the chopped onion in the bacon fat for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. If not using bacon, sauté with butter or oil.
- In a large casserole dish, add cabbage, bacon, stock, and chestnuts, and season with salt and pepper. Stir gently.
- Cook covered for about 1-1 ½ hours.
LOCALLY-GROWN CHESTNUTS
Be honest—despite hearing about chestnuts roasting over an open fire all last month, did you actually eat any? It’s a shame if you didn’t! They’re lower in calories and fats than other nuts thanks to their high water content, but still provide vitamin C, minerals, antioxidants, and a yummy, sweet flavor. Their flesh is soft and satisfying after being cooked, and soaks flavors right up when added to other dishes.
According to Chestnut Hill Nursery, a Florida chestnut farm with 40 years of expertise, chestnuts are being passed up way too often by U.S. growers. They assert that we import $20 million worth of chestnuts annually, despite being able to grow them all over North America with care and proper conditions.
You probably didn’t know we have chestnut farms in Whatcom and Skagit county! In Everson, Washington Chestnut Company has been growing nut trees since the late ‘80s. They planted their first chestnut trees in 2006, and have been proudly doing their part to pioneer the commercial chestnut industry in the U.S. ever since. Thanks to our cool growing region, much like those in European mountaintops, the trees hold on the chestnuts for longer, resulting in sweeter flavors and a harvest season that lasts October-December. That means fresh winter chestnuts for you! You can buy their chestnuts at buyfreshchestnuts.com, or check out their free “The Growers Guide for Farming Chestnuts” on their website, washingtonchestnut.com.
Their expertise is part of why we now also have Lazy Squirrel Nut Farm in Mount Vernon. Anne Basye of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland reports that Bernie Hilgert of Washington Chestnut Company helped Beth and Kevin Meenaghan learn the ins and outs of running a chestnut orchard after they purchased the former Balser Tree Farm in 2016. They bought the 20-acre property to live on without knowing that Don Balser, the late previous owner, was a biologist who had developed the land. He planted 5 acres of fruitful chestnut trees that locals and friends loved to pick from. Balser believed in the chestnut, and Lazy Squirrel Nut Farm carries on that legacy. In addition to retail and wholesale, they offer U-Pick during the fall harvest season.