Blueberries are fading, but the peaches are getting going…and apples could appear any time!
You MAY have any of these things: Summer squash, or cousa, cukes, pickling cukes, lemon cukes, corn, beans, chard or beets, tomato, potatoes, eggplant, peaches, broccoli, kale, lettuce … There’s an abundance of beautiful, exotic looking eggplants around, enjoy. Also, fresh eggplants have nasty thorns near the stem end, so beware.
Still eating lots of cereal with berries, also salads and stir-fry. I made Swiss chard and cousa (use any summer squash) enchiladas with white sauce for dinner the other night – pretty tasty! I will get it up on the blog for sure.
About Eggplant
We grow a lot of eggplant 😉
Now, right away, I have to tell you if you have never liked eggplant, and never tried ours, you have to try it again. As usual, the freshness and variety of our product simply tastes better than anything you have ever bought at the grocery store. Also, I have found that with eggplants, in particular, most people’s experience involves bitter, old, seedy eggplants that are cooked in a lot of grease. AND, who likes anything that is bitter and old? Thank you to all the members reading this that have humored me in the past and tried eggplant again. For the success stories (which is a large percentage) – yeah! For those who still don’t care for it, thanks for playing and you know you can swap your eggplant out for more greens or potatoes or what have you.
Varieties: the basic dark purple ‘Classic’, the original white skinned (thus the name ‘eggplant’) ‘Tango’ – a very tender, white fleshed variety; Purple Blush – white to lilac skinned large softballs and a farm favorite; Neon – a magenta skinned elongated egg shape; Zebra/Nubia – a magenta-purple striped with white; Round Mauve an heirloom variety – pinkish-purple skin, Bride – slim, light rose with white stripes; Green Apple- as it name suggests in appearance only, some other elongated white one who’s name escapes me now; Rosa Bianca an heirloom variety- round with rosy-lavender streaks. Then there’s the Asian types: Little Fingers and Orient Express– dark purple skinned, long cylindrical; Machiaw – magenta, very long, and skinny. Well, what’s what? At first sampling, the Purple Blush, Rosa Bianca and the white are distinctly tender and sweet; they also cook faster. The others really have to be sampled side by side, and yes, they are different. We hope you can have fun with them as we do: baking, sautéing, grilling….
Eggplant with Brown Rice Penne
- 1 (16-ounce) package brown rice penne (or ziti) 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups cubed eggplant
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil
- 1½ cups shredded Parmesan, divided
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add eggplant and onion; sauté 8 minutes or until onion is browned. Stir in garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and pasta sauce; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in basil. Toss eggplant mixture with pasta. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese; toss gently. Top evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Serve immediately.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.
Farm Dirt
We still need help at the Boston Public Market. If you know anyone who is reliable, has a personality and is a quick study, we’d love to talk with them! It’s a lot of fun and it’s a long day to cover, so even if it was one shift, one day a week, we could use the help.
No one reached out to me about the Open House/Pot luck, so I guess we will forgo that this year. I will inquire again next year to see where people are at. Meanwhile you are always welcome out here and we have had lots of visitors 🙂
Onion harvest will begin in earnest in the next week or so. And, the apple picking has begun! I ate my first Early Mac this past week and it was nice and tart. The early apples tend to be on the tart side and they do not keep well, so store in the fridge and eat them 😉
It is the time of year to get tomatoes and cukes, pickles, and squash for canning or processing. Please let me us know if we should have extra for you at your pickup location. Pickles are $20/box, tomatoes are $25/box.
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman