CSA Share Week 10: From our farm to your table this week...

Basil
Cucumbers
Fennel
Green Tomatoes
Squash & Zucchini
SWEET Corn
Watermelon

Mix & Match Recipe of the Week: Tomato Corn Pie
This delicious pie combines corn, tomatoes & basil into an amazing one-dish dinner.  Because we won’t have sufficient quantities of red tomatoes for all of our CSA members this week, you’ll be getting green tomatoes instead, but you should be able to find some local or regional red tomatoes this week for this YUMMY pie.  Check out the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.

Tips for using and/or preserving your produce…

Basil  This week, if you don’t want to dry  your basil or turn it into pesto, you might want to just snip the bottom of the stems, place them in a jar of water and pick of the leaves all week to enjoy fresh basil on your salads, sandwiches, and just about any summer dish.  I recently came across a nice twist on potato salad that called for stirring pesto (rather than mustard) and lemon juice into the mayonnaise mixture for the salad and garnishing it with a handful of tiny basil leaves.  What a great idea! 

Cucumbers

In my grandmother’s home, no summer meal was complete without a big plate of peeled, cucumber spears.  That simple preparation was always a cool, welcomed treat after a hot day of work.  This week, try enjoying them fresh, with maybe just a sprinkling of salt.  They make an excellent replacement for chips to go along with your sandwich.

Fennel

Fennel, also known as Florence fennel, anise, and anise bulb, is a popular Italian vegetable.  If you’ve never tried fennel, you may be surprised to find the distinct, licorice flavor in the roots & stems.  Yes, that’s right, licorice, but don’t stop reading now just because you saw the word licorice and thought of black licorice and jelly beans.  I didn’t inheret the gene that allows humans to tolerate black licorice or black jelly beans so I was quite reluctant to try this vegetable.   …but, I can honestly say that fennel has a lovely crisp, juicy, fresh flavor that far surpasses that of the rogue black jelly beans that, in my opinion, spoil joy of gobbling a handful of sugary jelly beans!  Enough about jelly beans.  You’re probably wondering just what to do with this interesting round, white root with feathery green leaves so I’ll get right to the point: fennel is probably best raw or lightly cooked.  The white root is what is eaten as vegetable but you can also use the feathery parts of the leaves as an herb.  The stems are quite unique and can make a simple, fresh-picked flower arrangement more interesting.  Raw fennel root is nice on a tray of raw veggies or in a salad.  When cooked, it becomes slightly sweet and loses a bit of the characteristic licorice flavor.  Don’t make the mistake of overcooking your fennel to drown out its flavor or you will miss out on the delightful texture.  Above, you’ll find a great salad recipe that brings fennel and apples together just beautifully!

Fennel, Apple, & Pecan Salad

from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman

Dressing
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 shallot or 1 small green onion minced

- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp white or white balsamic vinegar
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Salad

- 2 fennel bulbs , trimmed, cut into quarters, &
   thinly sliced
- 2 large apples, quartered, cored, & thinly sliced
- 1 cup pecans, toasted
- Chopped fennel leaves (fronds) as a garnish.

Whisk together first 5 ingredients to make the dressing.  Set aside.
Combine fennel, apples, & pecans in a large bowl.  Toss to mix.
Pour in the dressing. 

Garnish with fennel fronds & serve.
Green Tomatoes
Even if you don’t like them, you’ve probably at least seen or tried fried green tomatoes but you probably haven’t heard of another fabulous way to eat green tomatoes: green tomato pie.  That’s right, the word pie was at the end of that sentence and no, it’s not savory like a deep dish pizza.  It’s a sweet pie that is surprisingly similar to apple pie.  Okay, I was skeptical the first time I heard about it but my mother-in-law from Washington (state) convinced me to give it a try.  I highly recommend you bake one this week with the lovely little green tomatoes in your basket.  You’ll enjoy the flavor and the interesting conversations it will stir up at a dinner party!  This will probably be the last of the green tomatoes you will see until fall.

Green Tomato Pie
-5-6 small to medium green tomatoes
-2 Tbsp unbleached, all-purpose flour
-2 Tbsp cornstarch (or 3 more Tbsp flour)
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1/4 to 1/3 cup light brown sugar

-1/2 to 1 tsp of ground cinnamon

-1/4 tsp nutmeg

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Two 9” pie crusts (for the top & bottom of ONE 9” double-crust
   pie)
Optional topping
-1 Tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tsp additional granulated sugar + 1/2 tsp additional cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425^oF.
Wash, peel, slice and chop green tomatoes & place in a colander in the sink.
Place one 9” pie crust in the bottom of a well-greased 9” pie plate.
Whisk together flour, cornstarch (if using), sugars, cinnamon, & nutmeg.

Sprinkle about 1-2 Tbsp of this mixture on top of the pie crust in the bottom of your pie plate.

Stir tomatoes, lemon juice, & salt into the remaining mixture and pour into the pie crust.

Place the second crust on top, gently folding & crimping the edges all around with a fork.  Cut 3-4 generous slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.
Optional topping: brush top crust with heavy cream and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture before baking.
Bake for 20 minutes at 425 then reduce heat to 325 and bake for 40 minutes more.

Cool at room temperature for about 45-60 minutes before serving.

Squash & Zucchini

This week they’re together again because one of my favorite ways to prepare (and EAT) squash & zucchini is by grilling them side by side.  Just wash & slice them into large chunks, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper & your favorite summer herbs (like BASIL) and throw them directly on the grill or put them on sticks along with your favorite meat and make kebabs.

Sweet Corn

YES! Corn is finally here!  Tonight I ate two ears of boiled corn smeared with butter and rolled in salt.  Summer is HERE!  A quick boil (just 5-10 minutes) is all it takes to make those fresh kernels tender and delicious.  Boil them and eat them right of the cob or slice the kernels of the cob to mix into your favorite summer salad.  Any way you prepare it, it’s delicious.

Watermelon

The relatively small, round melons in your share this week are known as Sugar Baby Watermelons.  They are dark green on the outside with a sweet, dark red flesh.  They range from soccer ball to basketball size and were the first to reach their peak but we have a couple of larger varieties on the way for the weeks ahead.   You probably don’t need my help deciding how to prepare these.  Just slice, eat, enjoy & repeat!  My mother and I have been known to turn one large watermelon into dinner for two.  All we need is a knife and two spoons!  . 

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