CSA Week 5, 2019

CSA Week 5

Things you MAY have in your box/bag this week: hopefully the first corn! cucumbers, summer squash, blueberries?, chard or kale, beans, lettuce…there may be a few Hungarian Wax peppers floating around too.

The blueberries are in, but sporadically – Some of you saw them last week and you all should see them for quite a few weeks in the future.

I cannot recall if I covered the cucumber situation already or not so, here it is: we grow a regular slicing cuke (long, dark green, slight bumps, sometimes with spines still attached), an Armenian style cuke called Diva (looks like the slicer but with smooth skin, spineless, almost no seeds), pickling or Kirby cukes (short, somewhat striped with light and dark green), and lemon cukes (round, yellow, lemon looking ;~)). Like their cucurbit friends the summer squashes, they are interchangeable.

Apollo enjoyed his ear!

Lemon, Diva, slicing and pickling cukes

The hot weather has inspired lots of grilled squash, cucumber salad, and cereal with fruit this week. What have you been up to?

If you got corn, we hope you will eat it the same day you got it…the day it was picked. Our corn only needs to be steamed  4-6 minutes for perfection. OR, eat it raw, it’s so sweet. The natural sugars in the corn convert to starch starting the moment the eat is broken off the stalk. It’s funny, we always say “picking corn” and the guys from Jamaica use the term “breaking corn”…this is one case where their vernacular seems slightly more accurate 😉

A customer told me about this video…I really have to try this because the timing sounds outrageously long!!! BUT, they said it was the best way to microwave corn and then husk it, silks and all. WARNING, this guy’s narration is so hokey it reminds me of PSA from the 1930’s and 40’s. 🙂

 

If you are not using the corn immediately, we find it holds better to husk it and store in the fridge.

From member Jordan (OMG another InstantPot fan! -I’ve probably sold 40 and I’ve bought 4 for gifts – I should get a commission ;))
Jordan says: 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 instant pot 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

Instant pot directions:

1. 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.
2. 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.

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Member Diane sent us her gorgeous Scallop Risotto with peas and fennel. Looks great!

I grabbed this recipe off thefeedfeed.com

• 5 cups Chicken Stock
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 small/medium Onion
• 1 stick Celery
• 1/2Fennel Bulb
• 200 g Arborio Rice
• splash White Wine
• knob of Butter
• 80 g Parmesan Cheese
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 pounds Scallops
• Pinch of Salt

Here’s a link to the full recipe

Cucumber Drink

Member Alicia found this recipe at www.chowhound.com.

• 1 1/4 cups peeled, seeded, roughly chopped cucumbers 2 c cold water
• 1 c crushed ice 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used simple syrup, which worked well, too) pinch salt, if desired

Place all ingredients in blender and blend well.  Can be enjoyed as is, or filter through a fine sieve if you want a beverage without the pulp.

*I’m ready for this with a splash of gin, soda and squeeze of lime!

Cucumbers

Eat more salad 🙂

I think we will see the tomatoes starting to come in for real and I think there will be peppers soon! This week the fall crop of tomatoes was planted, we started digging potatoes, and there are lots and lots of cukes and squash 😉

We’d love for you to come out to the New Braintree farm to harvest your own! It is great when members experience the harvest for themselves and it is part of understanding the labor involved with our local food supply. If you have children, it is a timeless lesson to have them pick a head of lettuce, pull a beet, pick berries, eat an ear of corn raw, standing in the field…. Not only does one understand how something grows, but one gains perspective on the labor costs of harvest. Actually, it is a perspective many adults are missing too – so if you’ve never picked a tomato or bean, put that on your CSA bucket list. Check out our directions and other things to do page

At this time last year it had been very dry, we had been irrigating everything we could and the honey bees were all looking for water. After the non-stop rain all Fall, Winter and Spring, it is actually starting to dry up a little and I think the irrigation will get set up for the first time this week. That is perfect! I’m sure we will get one of the next showers but if not, we would rather it be like this than a deluge. Prayers up for Louisiana and all the farmers (and everyone) in the Mississippi water shed!

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman