CSA Week 9
This week you MAY have corn (butter and sugar or Mirai yellow) tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, apples, beans and a melon OR peaches
Tomatoes! This is the time of year to preserve tomatoes…please contact me if you are interested in a 25lb box. Break out those salsa and sauce recipes, or simply can some whole tomato goodness to remind you of Summer this winter.
A little bit about peaches, in case you see them in your bag this week: Did you know they are exactly the same genus and species? A nectarine is merely a fuzzless peach and has been cultivated for thousands of years. Well, that might be a little over simplified, but it is not wrong. Some people like to think they are a cross between a plum and a peach. Not so. Anyway, like their sisters, the flesh can be white, yellow, peach and even fairly red. They can sit out on the counter, but if they are ripe (smell, your nose knows) refrigerate them.
Paula Red apples this week -as with all early apples, store in fridge if you are not going to eat them right away.
Farm snob alert: If you are new to fresh, local tomatoes, you cannot handle them as those rock-hard things masquerading as tomatoes at the supermarket. Be very gentle with them, knowing that they don’t like being squeezed, dropped, or having other produce piled on top of them. Also, wipe from your mind that a tomato is supposed to be firm, or soft for that matter. We have been programmed to squeeze produce to check for ripeness. Just don’t. Also, I have observed people over the years that pick up a tomato and if it gives to the touch (because it’s being squeezed), they put it back, as though it is supposed to feel like a supermarket tomato. Wrong. Just remember that the supermarket tomatoes, even those labeled “vine-ripe” are NOT. “Vine-ripes” are harvested when “pink” starts to show at the blossom end versus harvested at “mature green” or “breaker”. Then they run the tomatoes through sorters to grade them by size, then pack them. Usually they are refrigerated (a huge no-no for any unripe fruit); then they are shipped and gassed with ethylene during their journey to “ripen” them. By the way, ethylene is the natural gas produce by fruits to ripen, so it’s not harmful, just leaves me with the feeling of lab created. How on earth can you do all that to a ripe tomato…you can’t. And why would you want a fresh, harvested by hand, ripe tomato to feel or resemble those sold in the super? You don’t, it’s not real. OK, tomato rant off. If you love supermarket tomatoes or the hard, flavorless, pink circles on your sandwich, I am truly sorry if I offended…but you’re probably not going to like our tomatoes then
Just kidding – We actually do grow a very firm variety called Market Pride just for you – but they are red, LOL :~}
Eggplants! If it looks like an eggplant, it probably is – they come with many different skin and shape variations.
Recipes
Baked Eggplant for dummies Geniuses
This recipe goes into every year’s eggplant letter…it’s simple, not slimy or greasy, and very tasty.
Slice thinly (the long way or the round way), lay on lightly greased baking sheet, thinly spread mayonnaise on top, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and pepper and bake in hot (400) oven for 10 mins, or until fork tender. If you’re a purist with garlic, omit the powder and mix minced garlic in with the mayonnaise. And, really, the garlic is not necessary at all, it is simply another excuse to put garlic on something. Everyone has time for this recipe!
This also freezes beautifully – freeze the baked eggplant on the baking sheet and then package up after frozen…it is fabulous to have on hand in the winter to re-bake and serve with red sauce and pasta for a quick vegetarian meal. Baked Eggplant
Fresh Salsa
Sharon’s Summer Arugula Wrap
Eggplant with Tomato Coulis
Any Fruit Crisp
Prepare any fruit you have laying about. I’ll be honest with you, I never peel my peaches when I make crisp (THE HORROR!) but simply rinse extra fuzz off, cut up in chunks, sprinkle with a little flour and lemon juice and toss with any berries languishing on the counter. I’ve decided the fuzz, which sometimes can irritate my lips, is rendered impotent when cooked – kinda like nettles.
With my fingers, I blend a stick of butter with ½ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 cup oats/fine nuts (you know I don’t really measure anything). Prep your fruit, toss with a coulpe tablespoons flour and a sprinkle of sugar if desired. 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 and bubbling and the top is crisped and golden. YUM!
A few notes:
- crisp gets soggy the next day but is still delicious; I have enjoyed it on yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast.
- You can mix fruits freely, but apples cook at a different rate than peaches, so take that into consideration.
- Crisps and cobblers are a perfect way to use soft fruit that no one wants to eat fresh.
- The crisp topping may benefit from cinnamon and nutmeg, especially with apples and feel free to add a little granola or finely chopped nuts or seeds if yo have them
- If your fruit is dry (as apples can be), you may want to sprinkle a little water and lemon juice over them before topping.
- Substitute whatever flour you like, I have had the best success with corn flour, but have used blends of rice flour too.
- Cook with The Force, I do!
*Wet fruits like peaches, nectarines and blueberries really need the addition of some thickening agent, if you skip that you may have a runny, yet delicious, mess. I mostly use wheat flour because it is handy, but I can go gluten free any time with instant tapioca, tapioca flour or potato starch – so make necessary substitutions but not omission 😉
Eggplants
I love eggplant and the Farmer accommodates my enthusiasm by growing many varieties. Eggplants come in many shapes, colors and sizes! Everyone can readily identify the common dark purple-almost black, Italian variety carried in every store, but there are so many more and, yes, they can be strikingly different or have merely the subtlest nuance.
I assume because the large, dark eggplant is so common, most people think that not only is that the “original” eggplant but that their origin is Italy. Not so. As far as we eggplant aficionados know, eggplants origins are Oriental and did not make it to Europe until the 13th Century. mainly white (though there were other colors) and the size of a large egg. When they were brought to North America, it was as an ornamental plant and not for the dinner table…it’s funny because when tomatoes were introduced, there was a lot of suspicion about consuming them – nightshades had a bad wrap, I guess 😉 Funny, no one was worried about tobacco (also in the nightshade family)!
More info about eggplants and varieties
Farm Dirt
Glenn has been busy laying plastic for the Fall crops. He remarked that this time of year you start to think you are done with field work and focusing on maintenance and harvest, but it’s not done yet. There is still broccoli and other greens to be planted. It is a little cooler today, so we are hoping the winter squashes will take their cue and start producing female blossoms again. And, as always, we hope for a very nice late Summer and long growing season in the Fall. We got a little rain, but not nearly enough to replenish irrigation ponds or push things along…it was enough to keep things from dying, and that is great!
I managed to get some pickles started and have put them in the cellar already – it was too hot for good fermenting in the kitchen. The absence of a stove meant I did not start canning tomatoes this week…I have a new one as of today, so maybe next week. Usually I pick the hottest day of the summer to make salsa or can tomatoes, but I am hoping that hottest day has come and gone now and I will have to settle for a perfect 80 degree day, LOL.
The last crop of Barn Swallows are close to fledglings and first batch of babies and the adults that did not nest again are starting to line up on the wires. They typically migrate on the 25th, so we have a little more time to enjoy their flying prowess. Glenn has been seeing a Louisiana Heron at the pond this week and we also had an Osprey fly over the yard, which is always fun. Glenn saw the bear coming out of our cornfield, and a doe and her fawn in another field. The Red-Tails are busy, and noisy! He also captured a great shot of a Giant Ichneumon Wasp chillin on the Hosta!
It’s looking like a nice week ahead. Enjoy.
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
