2013 CSA Week 15

From our farm to your table this week…

Item	How to Store it	How long will it last?
Acorn Squash	room temperature or slightly cooler in a dry, dark place	~2 months
Eggplant Saturday only	room temperature	3-4 days
Melon	room temperature	1 week
Green Beans	unwashed in fridge	3-4 days
Peppers	unwashed in fridge	1 week
Sweet corn – non-organic	shucked (my preference) or with husks on in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the bottom vegetable crisper)	Enjoy as soon as possible – fresh corn is much sweeter when fresh than when stored
Tomatoes	at room temp	~1 week

 

 

Tips for storing and enjoying the produce in your weekly share

 

New items this week…

 

Acorn Squash

This week marks the beginning of one of the major highlights of the harvest season.  We are now enjoying the first winter squashes of the year and acorn squash just happens to be my favorite!  I love it stuffed with delicious grains and fruit or sliced into rings or wedges, basted in a citrus glaze and baked.  It is an amazing vegetable.  It also happens to be the only winter squash we grow with a skin that’s thin and tender enough to be eaten.  Some folks still pass on the skin, but a well baked/roasted acorn squash has firm, crisp skin and soft orange flesh and I think they make a great pair!  Here a couple of my favorite ways to enjoy acorn squash, skin and all: #1) Acorn Squash Rings Glazed with Maple & Orange and #2) a homemade recipe below for Stuffed Acorn Squash with items that are usually available at the same time in late summer/early fall – acorn squash and fresh pears!

Stuffed Acorn Squash – 6 servings

3 small to medium acorn squash
3-4 cups brown rice, cooked
1.5 cups toasted walnuts, broken into small pieces
2 cups orange or pear juice
1 cup pears, peeled & chopped into small squares
½ to 2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp REAL butter
1.5 cups raisins
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Wash acorn squash remove stem or stem end and cut in half from the pointed end to the flat, stem-end.
Remove seeds and any stringy flesh inside.
Place cut-side down in a baking dish with about ½ inch of water and bake for 1 hour.
In the meantime cook your rice if you don’t have prepared rice on hand.  (I like to make big batches of rice then store it in the freezer for quicker meal preparations.) Set aside.
Toast walnuts in oven or microwave and set aside.Combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil on the stove while stirring frequently with a whisk.  (You don’t want the raisins to stick and burn.  You want them plump and juicy!)  Reduce heat but continue stirring until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened slightly.Remove baked acorn squash from oven, remove any excess water from squash and pan.Arrange squash, cut-side up, on a lightly greased cookie sheet or baking dish.Combine the rice, walnuts and all but 3/4 cup of the liquid portion of the juice mixture.  Stir until ingredients are evenly distributed then fill the acorn squash. Now put the stuffed squash back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes to let all the flavors blend.In the meantime, return the ¾ cup remaining juice mixture to the stove and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.  Allow it to get just a bit thicker but don’t let it turn into a sticky syrup.Remove stuffed squash from oven and drizzle with remaining juice mixture.Serve immediately!This is great alone but a light salad of fall lettuce & greens balances out this hearty, vegetarian main dish.

 Familiar Favorites

This week our dear friend and CSA member Tifany, shared a wonderful recipe that uses both tomatoes and corn.  It’s quick, simple and received a lot of great reviews online!  You can find the recipe at this link: Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes & Corn. Thanks Tifany!