Week 12 – Tomatoes!
You may have these things in your box: TOMATOES! Peaches, Apples, still no lettuce ☹, peppers, onion, eggplant, hot peppers, we have Napa, but it is so HUGE that you may see it as a choice – it won’t fit in the box.
The apple, peach and nectarine harvest is great so far! For apples, you MAY see Paula Reds or Molly Delicious this week; as for peaches, I had 5 different varieties on my display at market today, 2 white fleshed varieties and 3 yellow fleshed, we also had white and yellow fleshed nectarines. And no way can I begin to tell you their names 😉
We are not swimming in corn this week, so some of you may not see it, the lettuce is still stalled out too, but it should make another appearance before the season is over. We finally have the land shortage worked out for next year (lots of heavy lifting this year, but that means we should be able to control the little gaps in heavy production). We are still harvesting a TON of tomatoes, so that’s great news! I think cabbages size up for next week and I know most of you have seen nice broccoli. Cauliflower will happen soon too, with orange, green or violet cauli that may appear with the white! The peppers and eggplants continue with quality, quantity and variety.
Hang on to the following info for when it is relevant…I am not sure about the greens harvest: There are all sorts of interesting Asian greens to be harvested soon: Bekana – a mini Chinese Cabbage, light green ruffled leaves, perfect for salad or stir fry; Joi Choi – thick, white stemmed Pac Choi, Red Choi– greenish thick stems with reddish leaves; Hon Tsai Tai– long, thin purple stems, green leaves and little yellow flowers, mild mustard taste and versatile for salads, stir fry or soup; Vitamin Green– thinner stalked than the Pac Choi, very tender; and Komatsuna– Japanese greens for salads and braising mixes, thin green stems with dark green rounded leaves. I have no idea which will appear in your box, or if they will only be offered as a choice, but, as always, feel free to open your box and see what’s in it so you have a chance to try different varieties!
Check out squash tian, eggplant meatballs or galumpkis on the blog.
I cannot recall now if I have covered fruit crisp this year…but it’s good and easy and a great way to clear all the fruit away that may be languishing on the counter. Today I washed about 10 small peaches and nectarines (they were all bruised up from market), and cut them up (roughly into quarters and eighths) and put them in a greased baking dish with a box of raspberries.
With my fingers, I blended a stick of butter with ½ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup oats (might have been closer to a cup, I don’t measure anything). Top the fruit with this mixture (if this is new to you, it is crumbly, so just sprinkle/spread it around the best you can). Bake at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes, until the fruit is tender. YUM! A few notes: 1-crisp gets soggy the next day but is still delicious, I have enjoyed it on yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast. 2-You can mix fruits freely, but apples cook at a different rate than peaches, so take that into consideration. 3-Crisps and cobblers are a perfect way to use soft fruit that no one wants to eat fresh. 4-The crisp topping may benefit from cinnamon and nutmeg, especially with apples 🙂 5-If your fruit is dry (as apples can be), you may want to sprinkle a little water and lemon juice over them before topping. 6-Substitute whatever flour you like, I have had the best success with corn flour. 7-Cook with The Force, I do!
Recipes
Farmer’s Wife stir fry
Wash and chop any bunch or head of your Asian greens. Heat 2 T of oil and a splash of toasted sesame oil in a skillet (yes, you can use your wok if you have one). If you have an onion to slice, or a couple cloves of garlic, a hot or sweet pepper, or ginger add them to your hot oil and sauté for a couple minutes. Add your chopped greens (please be careful of spattering when the water clinging to your greens hits the hot oil). Toss round and season with a little soy sauce and rice vinegar.
This is a fine side or full meal on some rice. It takes less time to make from start to finish than it takes to cook the rice!
Asian Slaw- I think you should use whatever you have for this…it is the dressing that makes the recipe. I have used a half a head of bok choi, omitting all the other veggies, so no worries J
3 tablespoons minced ginger 1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons brown sugar 5 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin, or white wine 1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup thinly sliced napa cabbage 1/2 cup thinly sliced green cabbage
1 cup julienned carrots 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper 1/2 cup thinly sliced bok choy
1/2 cup bean sprouts 1/2 cup julienned snap peas
1/2 cup julienned green onions 15 wonton skins, fried
Peanuts, for garnish
In a small saucepan add 2 tablespoons olive oil, ginger and garlic, lightly saute until lightly brown. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, and mirin. Saute for 5 minutes and remove from heat. When cool whisk in olive oil, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Mix all vegetables in a bowl and toss with dressing. Garnish with crushed wontons and peanuts
Still have eggplant?? – make the baked eggplant slices as seen in the letter weeks ago or on the blog…trust me!.
Farm Dirt
Hey members – don’t forget you are welcome at the farm ANYTIME (within reason). Roam around, pick some tomatoes, raspberries, apples… it’s kind of weedy in areas, but that is to be expected by September. Holy cow! What happened to the summer? Before you know it winter squash and cabbage will be happening ? Halley and I got 25 quarts and 22 pints of tomatoes canned on Wednesday. It was a really nice feeling! Farm Dirt is short this week – I am whipping something out before heading to Quincy Farmer’s Market with the gang to support anticipated sales and then getting Reid packed up for school.
