Friday, August 24, 2012

CSA Share Week 17: From our farm to your table this week

Bell peppers
Eggplant
Red
Tomatoes
Sweet corn              
Yellow squash  
Watermelon

Tips for using &/or preserving your produce…


All is well on the farm.  There are still plenty of veggies but Ford has noticed that in the last 1-2 weeks, the summer staples like squash, zucchini & tomatoes are slowing in productivity as the days shorten & the end of summer draws near. 

For a fairly quick weeknight dinner that incorporates several of the veggies in your share, try the mix and match recipe below: Garden Vegetable Tart.  The frozen puff pastry in this recipe cuts preparation time but if you feel like whipping this up on a weekend and want to use whole grains, make your own homemade pizza or puff pastry dough using your favorite whole grain flour.


Mix & Match Recipe for the Week: Garden Vegetable Tart
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
August 2012 issue
~ 4 servings



1 frozen puff pastry sheet (half a 17.3 oz package)
1 large red tomato, peeled, cubed, & excess water squeezed out (tip – prepare these first and set them aside in a colander to drain while you work on the other veggies)

2 ears of fresh sweet corn
1 medium yellow squash (or zucchini), thinly sliced lengthwise

1 medium bell pepper, sliced into thin rings

¼ cup tomato paste

¼ cup water

4-6 oz fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Garnish: crushed red pepper and/or dried basil

 

Preheat oven to 425oF.
Roll puff pastry into a 14x10” rectangle and carefully transfer to a baking pan or cookie sheet.  Pierce dough all over with a fork.

Bake 10 minutes, then remove from the oven lightly press the center with a spatula to give you a slightly depressed center and elevated edges for a little crust.
While dough is cooling, prepare the veggies as follows:

Option 1 – Toss ALL of the veggies with a bit of olive oil & salt and grill for about 8 minutes on a hot grill, (you’ll need a foil pack or grill pan for the tomatoes).
Option 2 – Toss ALL of the veggies with a bit of olive oil and salt & roast them on another baking sheet for about 20 minutes while your oven is still hot.  They won’t have pretty grill marks this way but they’ll taste good & it will make the preparation a little simpler & conserve a bit of energy.

While the veggies cool just a bit, whisk the tomato paste & water together and spread on the puff pastry.

Cut corn from the cobs.  Spread corn, tomatoes, peppers, & squash/zucchini on top of the tomato paste mixture. Top with cheese.

Return the assembled tart to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes to heat things back up & melt the cheese.

Remove from the oven, top with pepper flakes and basil if desired, cut into squares with a pizza cutter & ENJOY!


Bell peppers

Ford frequently walks around the field or the barn eating these sweet peppers like apples.  They really are that good.  Eating them raw is quick, easy, & delicious, but they are also great on the grill or mixed into just about anything.  For a nice, cool appetizer, take the smallest peppers in your share, cut them into thirds and fill them with a yummy cream cheese mixture.  Here’s my favorite cream cheese filling for fresh peppers: “toast” 1/3 cup pecans in the microwave for 1 minute, remove and shop finely.  Stir the pecans, ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce & ¼ tsp cayenne pepper into an 8oz block of softened cream cheese.  Stuff the pepper pieces with the cheese mixture and arrange on your favorite serving dish.  This should easily fill sections from about 4-5 peppers.

 
Eggplant

Opening up a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans is an easy, tasty way to add some protein to a vegetarian meal.  Susan Voisin, of the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen has an interesting recipe for Eggplant and Chickpea Curry.  I love eggplant, chickpeas (garbanzo beans) & the flavor of curry, so this promises to be a satisfying combination.  This one uses authentic Indian spices that aren’t always so easy to find (at a reasonable price) in our neck of the woods BUT you could also use the same basic recipe with some of your own favorite seasonal ingredients.  The next time you’re in Lexington or Knoxville, however, you might find that it’s a lot of fun to check out an Indian market and purchase the ingredients listed in this recipe along with some other new items.  I love bringing home new flavors and pairing them with familiar, local produce.  Happy shopping!


Tomatoes
Stuffed vegetables are fun, relatively easy & they always hold the promise of a warm delicious surprise masked by the outward appearance of one of your favorite foods.  You’ve seen stuffed zucchini, stuffed peppers, & now another veggie joins the party – stuffed tomatoes!  The recipe below lends itself well to variations in cheese and herbs.  Give this one a try then tweak it to perfectly please your palate. 


Tomatoes Stuffed with Corn and Black Beans
adapted from the August 2012 Issue of Everyday Food

~ 4 servings

large, red tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
¾ cup corn kernels (from about 1 large ear)
1 small onion, thinly sliced then chopped
½ to 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded & finely chopped
1 cup drained, rinsed black beans
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar (2 oz) divided
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs, divided
1 Tbsp lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450oF.
Slice top ½ inch from tomatoes, remove hard core if present, & scoop out flesh to reserve for another use (like spreading on crusty bread before baking).
In a medium skillet heat 2 tsp oil over medium heat.  Add corn & onion and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in jalapeno, beans, 1/4c cheddar, ½ c breadcrumbs, & lime juice.  Season with salt and pepper.
Coat an 8” square baking dish with 1 tsp oil. 
Brush tomato skins with 1 tsp oil, season all over with salt & pepper.  Place in dish and fill with corn mixture.  Combine remaining cheddar, breadcrumbs and 2 tsp oil, season with salt and pepper and divide evenly among tomatoes.
Tent pan loosely with foil and bake 10 minutes. 
Uncover and bake about 5 more minutes OR until tomatoes are soft, & breadcrumbs are golden.

Sweet corn
The corn in your share this week is what we call “late corn,” because it’s maturing at the end of the summer harvest season.  Savor the last delicious ears of the season but also think about preserving a few kernels for winter soups, stews and holiday meals.  My grandmother made sure that every Thanksgiving table included a big bowl of corn that she had preserved in the summer.  It was one of my favorite parts of the holiday meal and my mother and I try to keep that tradition going strong.  Use it however you like it most - boil it, grill it, blanch it and freeze it or use it one of the mix-and-match recipes above – just enjoy it!  Ford works really hard to make sure that the corn you receive is freshly harvested and cooled immediately after the harvest to preserve the flavor and texture.  You should be in for a treat!


Yellow Squash

Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman), whom Ford also refers to as my imaginary friend, has an amazing knack for creating delicious recipes and presenting them in a beautiful, step-by-step manner on the cooking section of her famous blog,
http://thepioneerwoman.com.  Earlier this week she posted a recipe for grilled zucchini that, I’m confident, would work equally well for yellow squash.  It combines coarse salt, ground pepper, olive and fresh lemon zest as a marinade for the zucchini – brilliant!  One look at these beautiful images will have you firing up the grill and slicing up your squash in no time.  Here’s the link: Pioneer Woman’s Yummy Grilled Zucchini.

Watermelon

Do you remove the seeds from your watermelon and put it in a container in the fridge for easy access?  Do you slice it and serve it with the rind?  Do you put salt on it?  How do YOU eat your watermelon?  It’s a much debated issue in my family.  Finley dips cubed watermelon into watermelon juice, slurps it, then, when he gets bored, squeezes it into a dripping, sticky mess in his hands.  …but he sure looks cute doing it.

As always, please feel free to contact me for clarification, further information, or to share your own adventures in cooking local, USDA-certified organic produce.  amanda.waterstrat@gmail.com


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