2016 CSA Week 11

Hi folks!
I hope you're doing well and weathering the heat with ease. Things have been pretty warm at the farm and it's quite dry, so we're looking forward to the chance of rain and cooler temperatures later this week. Cross your fingers for us!

We have some nice full bags for you this week:

Salad Mix
Green and Yellow Beans
Beet Greens
Mixed Summer Squash
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
Scallions
Mixed Hot Peppers (Poblanos: dark green, big and blocky, Jalafuegos: dark green, smaller, jalapeno-type, Hungarian Hotwax: bright yellow, pointed, Czech Black: little black pointed peppers)
Cilantro
Egglplant- Regular Shares only this week

Pepper Identification Pics:

Poblanos

Jalafuego

Hungarian Hotwax

Czech Black

Our tables are full of tomatoes now, in the barn. It's quite impressive looking! We have a nice mix of heirloom and some newer varieties as well. Some of my favorites are Striped German, Hungarian Heart, Jubilee, Cosmonaut Volkov, Black Krim and Striped Bumblebee. And the names are fun too :) These tomatoes are really special varieties that you won't find in most stores. Generally, that's because the heriloom tomatoes are too fragile to make the trip to the store in big trucks. They are easily bruised and squished, so please handle with care. We work really hard to deliver them to you a their peak of perfection, so just go easy on your bags until you get home and can set out the tomatoes on a towel on your counter. Even sitting in the carton for more than a day or two can damage some of these tomatoes. But it's worth the extra effort! Just make yourself a tomato sandwich with one of them and you'll see what I mean.

Also, we try hard to reduce, reuse and recycle at the farm, and we'd love it if you would help us out by returning the green tomato cartons in your bags each week. Thanks!

Here are some recipes to try this week:

Eggplant... a lot of people assume they don't like eggplant, but if you're like me, you probably just haven't been exposed to it very often, or in one of it's tastier forms. Recently, I've become an Eggie convert. When cooked long enough, it becomes incredibly tender and flavorful. Here are some ways to try preparing it:

1) Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds or slices, brush with olive oil, then coat with (spiced) bread crumbs. Bake them on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven until tender and browned. Serve with pasta and tomato sauce, or just eat them up as a side dish!

2) You can also take the whole eggplant, skip peeling it, but rub it with oil and poke it a few times with a fork. Stick it under the broiler and cook it about 20 minutes, turning it occasionally, until it's charred on all sides and the insides are soft. Remove it from the oven, allow it to cool, then cut it open and the insides can be scooped out and used to make Baba Ghanoush (Greek) or Baingan Bharta (Indian), both of which are excellent.

3) This is a recipe Sue gave me. Actually, it's more like a cooking method, and it uses the veggies you received this week. It's sort of like a ratatouille (rat-ah-too-ee, I think) but super quick and simple. And it's really really delicious. I spooned ours on top of rice, but feel free to experiment. I bet it'd be delicious on polenta, or maybe even pasta.

Lucky Moon Ratatouille

Prepare a deep roasting pan or oven-safe casserole dish by coating the bottom with olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 450, and chop up some garlic (3-4 cloves is nice). Put the garlic in the pan, and place in the oven as it's preheating. Let the garlic cook for a few minutes until golden brown, but check it so it doesn't burn.

Remove the pan from the oven, and shake some bread crumbs to coat the bottom. Toss in some chopped onion, then place a layer of eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch -1/4 inch rounds, across the bottom of the roasting pan. Drizzle with some olive oil and shake on some more bread crumbs.

Cut zucchini into rounds (about the same thickness) and layer on top of the eggplant/breadcrumbs. Repeat the olive oil and breadcrumbs. Cut thick slices of tomato and layer on top, adding some more bread crumbs on top (and maybe some cheese? Mozzarella? Parmesan?)

Bake in the oven about 45 minutes, covered, until all the layers are soft.

Have a great week!

Best,

Sarah VanNorstrand