CSA Week 4
This week you may have corn, any color of summer squashes, cucumbers, blueberries or raspberries, Florence fennel, and Swiss chard.
Summer squash varieties to look for: green or golden zucchini, yellow straight-neck (pale yellow), pale green cousa (Mediterranean zucchini), and the green, yellow or both pattypan/scallopini. Remember, they are interchangeable 🙂
Florence fennel (finocchio) is grown for the white “bulb” part, which is technically a swollen stem. If the green stalks and frondy leaves are attached, they are best used as seasoning, as the stalks can be fairly tough.
Recipes
Easy Zucchini Sticks (no egg and I used air fryer)
These were greeted with “these are stupid”, and expression at our house when something shouldn’t be so good. You can click on the link is you want more banter from me 😉
- 2 large zucchini (or any summer squash)
- 1/2 cup canola or other mild oil
- 3 tsp onion powder
- 3 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp favorite chili powder (I used pasilla de negro)
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3+ cup grated parmesan (skip altogether or sub with some nutritional yeast)
- 1/2+ cup cup seasoned bread crumbs or pankow
Cut zucchini into fries and lay out on paper toweling while you assemble the coating. I cut mine to length, then into fry wedges so each “fry” has skin.
This weather calls for cucumbers in water! Stay hydrated people 🙂 I love to keep a pitcher of water with cucumber slices and whatever else I have on hand…mint, lemon, basil, so refreshing!
Just to clarify from last week, I do not salt my cucumbers when using in a fresh garden salad or when I make cucumber-radish salad (which is almost a daily thing here – they are just marinated/marinating in cider vinegar, a little oil, and S & P).
Fennel is ready! The bottom bulb part is choice, the stems and leaves can be used for flavoring, they tend to be tough. Delicious raw, roasted, soup, stir fry…
Fresh Summer Squash, Cucumber and Fennel Salad
(this is a perfect time to use your mandolin if you have one ;))
- 1 medium Summer Squash, sliced very thin
- 1 medium Cucumber, sliced very thin
- 1 small fennel bulb, shaved
- Zest and Juice from 2 medium lemons
- 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 1/4 cup mint, chiffonade
- Salt & pepper to taste
Combine Summer Squash, Cucumber, and Fennel in a medium mixing bowl. Fold in lemon zest and juice, EVOO, mint chiffonade and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Drizzle with a additional EVOO, sprinkle with a few coarse grains of salt and a fresh mint leaf.
Cool Cucumber Soup – Taste of Home
- 1 pound cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups fat-free plain yogurt
- 1 green onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 4-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh dill
- Additional chopped green onion and snipped fresh dill
In a colander set over a bowl, toss cucumbers with salt. Let stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze and pat dry.
From member Jordan: Hi! I thought this recipe might be useful to anyone looking to use up some summer squash in a delicious way. I have been using an InstantPot for a lot of my cooking because it doesn’t heat up my kitchen on hot days.
Zucchini & Summer Squash Soup
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds any combination of zucchini and summer squash (2-3 large), halved and sliced ¼ inch thick
- 2/3 cup vegetable stock/low sodium broth
- 1 ½ cups water
Stovetop directions:
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter in the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a simmer; cook until the zucchini is very soft, about 10 minutes.
- Working in 2 batches, puree the soup in a blender until it’s silky-smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Alternatively, blend in the pot with a stick blender and season to taste with salt and pepper.
InstantPot directions:
- Place butter, olive oil, chopped onion, chopped garlic clove, slice zucchini, vegetable stock, and water into the instant pot. Cook on high/manual for 3 minutes and quick release the steam.
- Puree the soup with a stick blender or in batches in a tabletop blender until silky smooth and return to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve it either hot or chilled, with suggested garnishes of drizzled olive oil, extra julienned zucchini, or a spoon of crème fraiche/sour cream.
Check out
Farm Dirt
Picking lots of good stuff and more readying weekly!
They planted out the Fall crop of tomatoes this week just as we pick our first few tomatoes today. Often we have some tomatoes earlier, but not this year and I am seriously going into withdrawal. Personally I am waiting to have my first burger with a fat tomato slice, a mound of gorgonzola, lettuce or arugula and some hot sauce. For now I am very content having some kind of squash daily, corn…right, don’t over cook it. You know we only send you corn the day it was picked…doesn’t get any fresher and it also is not bred to hold up in the supermarket. The corn at the super is bred to have a very thick pericarp and extra high sugars to hold up for weeks. Our corn is not like that; the sugars start converting to starches quickly, so if you are not going to eat it the day of, husk it and store in relatively airtight container in fridge. Hate to spoil it for anyone, but the majority of the sweet corn available at the super is GMO or “bioengineered”, so if that is a concern of yours, now you know.
Even the bears think our corn is superior, LOL. We have a sow and 2 or 3 cubs in the “Big Field” helping themselves. Hopefully, we can get ahead of them and the loss is not too great. Right now mom is pulling up stalks and the kids are running off to pig out…the imagery is amusing, but the actual viewing is cringe. There’s corn stalks strewn all over >:^{
The weather has been perfect for weed growth, as well as blooms of aphids and other obnoxious pests. The rain is still steady and keeping field puddles adequate for the baby frogs to hang out. It is always very cute to be waking at the edge of a field and watch all the amphibians hop into the puddles for safety (none are safe from Faith, LOL). AND, as always, all our amphibians are perfect! from AphibianArk.com, “Amphibians have been likened to canaries in the coal mine: just as miners used sensitive canaries to warn them of toxic gases in the mines, amphibians might be warning us of unsafe environmental conditions that could eventually seriously impact our health.” Stillman’s takes the health of our amphibians very seriously as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, plus, they eat A LOT of insects and other small creatures here! They need to get BUSY with the earwigs in my garden, jeepers.
Glenn is out scouting the peach crop as I type…maybe there will be an update before I post 🙂 Hey, reminder you are welcome out here at the New Braintree farm to pick berries and cukes, weed a few rows and whatever else. Just give me the heads up!
Glenn is back – peaches look very nice, but not ready yet. I am sooo excited!
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
Coming up: corn, beans, blueberries, fruit and tomato CSAs starting soon…
