CSA 2010 - Week 8

This week we got a lot of variety, but not too much volume of any one thing. We're down to just some oranges left from the last share, and we're slowly working through those.

We were supposed to get mizuna or arugula this week. We were hoping for the later (we have a great pizza that uses it) but sadly got the former. I think that we'll press forward with the pizza anyway, even though the mizuna is much milder in flavor. Lettuce Six glorious ears of corn. We are using this with the leeks in the next picture for one of our favorite sides. It's basically creamed corn, but with fresh corn and leeks cooked in the rendered fat of bacon (which is sprinkled over the final dish) it's hard to go wrong. We got two novel herbs this week: summer savory and anise hyssop. The first looks and smells like it is in the thyme family (and is getting subbed for it in a few recipes) and the latter has a peppery anise flavor. A teeny, tiny little jalapeno pepper will make its way into a quick weeknight pork chili verde. The other peppers in the bag are hot banana peppers. I don't usually think of banana peppers as being very hot, but the newsletter said that these packed some heat. They are likely to end up in the chili as well.

This small eggplant and these squash are heading for a layered gratin-like dish. Still not out of squash recipes. A small bunch of chard will end up in our scramble with whatever herbs remain. Cucumber, I have the same advice for you that I had for the zucchini a few weeks ago: Less is more. We actually got two in the share, but I swapped out out for an extra leek since the two we had were small. I like that this CSA actually seeds the share box, since with the old it seemed like nobody wanted to start one. These green bell peppers are fairly small, but we did get four of them. No specific plans, but I am sure we'll muddle through. Oh joyous tomato season, how we love thee. These are not a mix of varieties, but a range of ripenesses. The CSA intentionally sends some that are not all the way ripe so that they will last a bit longer. These will end up in various dishes (the pizza with the mizuna, the gratin) as well as just sliced and enjoyed with a little salt. Nothing like a ripe tomato with a little salt on it to make it feel like summer.