A CSA That’s A Cut Above

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Baia Nicchia's unusual varieties of fall/winter squash.

If your New Year’s resolution includes eating more healthful, you just might want to make good on that by joining a CSA.

For a community supported agriculture program that’s a cut above the rest, look no further than Baia Nicchia’s. Fred Hempel, a geneticist turned farmer who owns the 9 1/2-acre Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, provides a weekly box of his fresh fruit, veggies and herbs to you. You pay $30 a week, but end up getting $35 or more worth of produce.

Recently, I had a chance to sample a couple of boxes and what a culinary treasure trove they were. Included was a brilliant rainbow of winter squash — from the deep orange-hued French Potimarron to the dusty peach-colored Kikuza (an heirloom Japanese variety) to the large pale creamsicle Terremoto to the haunting pale blue Australian Triamble that can be stored up to two years. Additionally, there was a bunch of my fave lacinato kale, as well as sweet Scotch Blue kale, peppery Dutch arugula, spigarello (a broccoli rabe relative), baby turnips, sprigs of pungent orange balsam thyme and fragrant yuzu.

Baia Nicchia supplies to top Bay Area restaurants (including Marché in Menlo Park), so Hempel will often include some fun, unusual items in his CSA boxes that he grows primarily for chefs, such as edible chrysanthemum and amazing finger limes. Because he operates a nursery, he sometimes includes seedlings as well, such as mustard greens that you can pot in your backyard and snip all winter long to enhance salads and stir-fry dishes.

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My Fave Eats of 2010

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I’ve eaten a lot this year. Let’s just get that out of the way at the start.

So, you can imagine my dilemma in coming up with a list of a mere 10 dishes or items that were my ultimate favorites this year. I limited the list to meals I ate out at restaurants, rather than made at home.  They also had to be so great as to have me still longing for a taste even now.

Here, in no particular order, are my top eats of this year:

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Elegant Crackers and Dip for New Year’s Eve

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So thin and so crisp.

You could almost float away on these crackers as they’re so thin, light and delicate.

34° Crispbread is a wonder — round, fragile wafers that are made from whole wheat flour, salt and natural cheese flavor, then baked until shatteringly crisp. The name comes from the latitude of Sydney, Australia, where company founder Craig Lieberman hails from. The product is inspired by his favorite Australian crispbread.

Now made in Boulder, Colo., the crackers come in six varieties: Whole Grain, Natural, Sesame, Cracked Pepper, Rosemary, and Lemon Zest. They’re sold at Safeway, Whole Foods and Walmart. Nine crackers have a total of 35 calories. A 4.5-ounce box is about $4.99.

I had a chance to sample a couple of boxes recently. I especially liked the Cracked Pepper variety with is subtle hit of spice. The crackers crumble easily so handle them gently. But they can stand up to the likes of charcuterie, cheese and all manner of dips if you spread them on with a knife rather than dunking them.

Sardine rillettes to whip up in 10 minutes.

I served them over the holidays to great acclaim with food writer and blogger superstar Dorie Greenspan’s “Sardine Rillettes.”

The recipe is from her new book, “Around My French Table” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

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Indescribably Great Frozen Maple Mousse Pie

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Be prepared to swoon over this frozen maple mousse pie with candied cranberries.

After taking my first bite of this creamy-dreamy dessert, words simply failed me.

Search as I may, I don’t think there’s a word that can properly describe how amazing this “Frozen Maple-Mousse Pie with Candied Cranberries” is.

Luscious? Yes. But more than that. Gorgeous? You bet it is, but it’s even beyond that. Swoonful? Oh my, it sure is, but I’m not even sure that’s a real word.

I made this as the finale to my Christmas dinner. And what a showstopper it was.

The recipe is from Kathleen Callahan of Seattle’s Emmer & Rye and was published in the November 2010 issue of Food & Wine magazine.

It’s deceptively light tasting, given that the crust is almost all pulverized toasted pecans with a little bit of butter to hold it all together and the filling is a full cup of maple syrup, egg whites and 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream.

A slice of cheesecake may be decadently wonderful, but at the end of a big holiday meal, it just sits like a lead weight in your stomach at the end of the night. Not so this pie. Once frozen, the filling turns ethereal. It’s much more airy than any ice cream; more like a sound wedge of whipped cream. Best yet, you can make it days ahead of time and keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to serve it.

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