CSA

Week 14: It's September 18 and its 80 degrees…

Umm
Ok
We will take it to help ripen all the nightshades, melons, and corn. Such crazy weather this summer. Sorry we haven’t written more. It’s one of those things that I try to write, then I get pulled away for this or that. Our fall crops of turnips, napa cabbage, spinach, baby red russian kale, baby greens, ground cherries, chard, kale and potatoes and more are looking great! The jury is still out for the onions and leeks – I think the leek moth came – I need to assess the damage. The heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are finally cranking it out. We are working pretty much non stop to keep up with the veggies, animals and kids. I dare say we will have to water this week with no sign of rain until next Tuesday. We added another senior share site – Elm Place in Milton – we are up to 38 Senior shares with Pine Manor in Alburgh and Round Barn in Grand Isle. We finished strong with Food for thought – the summer lunch program for kids in the islands at risk of hunger with school being out. The last few weeks of the program we had enough food to give to the program thanks to donations from our CSA members! Thank you – I think the program fed over 130 children this summer.
I think next week we will start having potatoes in the share – we wanted them to get nice and big and plentiful since they are loving all this sun! all the varieties of hot peppers are ripening. We will have our hot sauce again available for purchase at next pickup and this weekend at the farmers market.
We have printed a few tshirts, totes, and sweatshirts (by order) and are available for sale. We do have frozen chicken still available if anyone would like to stock their freezers.
The 18th and final week of CSA will be the week of October 16. We will have pickup on Indigenous day October 9.
We are so very grateful to our amazing Jill of all trades apprentice KristenJ We are also thankful to all our amazing volunteers 🙂 thank you!
The days are long but worth it. I tell the girls every time we sit for dinner – we are lucky, we eat better than any king or president.
We look forward to farming with you this season.
Peace, your farmers, Christine, Adam, Sadie, Delia and Kristen
What’s in the share this week:
This list is what is in a full share this week. Things may change between Monday and Thursday and Individual and Salad share will get differing amounts and may not get everything on the list. Swiss Chard, Shishito peppers or bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lettuce mix, arugula, bok choy, hot peppers, eggplant, and grab bag veggie itemJ
Eggs for sale We have the pretty girls’ eggs for sale – these are free-range, certified organic chicken eggs that are brown eggs– with the brightest yellow/orange yolks you ever seen. The eggs are $6.00 a dozen. $3.00 half dozen

**CERTIFIED ORGANIC whole CHICKEN AVAILABLE **

Recipes

Those thin smaller peppers are a Japanese heirloom called Shishito. They are mild and smoky and 1 in 10 are spicy. Get a pan hot, put oil in it, blister the peppers whole, add some salt and eat everything but the stem. So good!
The following two recipes are from www.seriouseats.com – YUM!
Roasted Eggplant With Tahini, Pine Nuts, and Lentils J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT
This dish of eggplant roasted until caramelized and tender, served over stewed lentils with an extraordinarily light and creamy tahini sauce and crunchy pine nuts, was dinner and lunch for more meals than I care to count a couple of weeks back. Not that I’m complaining: It’s extremely good.
It’s very rare that I’m completely satisfied with a technique the first time I try it, but after some serious tinkering with the technique for making tahini sauce that Michael Solomonov details in his book, Zahav, I couldn’t find any way to really improve upon it. With the exception of a few minor changes in ratios, it’s essentially step for step how he does it. It works wonders as an ingredient in dips, in a salad dressing, or, as I’m using it here, as a sauce for roasted eggplant.
Why It Works
· Puréeing the garlic in lemon juice tames its flavor, creating a tahini that’s flavorful but not pungent.
· Cooking the eggplant at high heat evaporates its moisture quickly.
· YIELD:Serves 4
· ACTIVE TIME:1 hour
· TOTAL TIME:1 hour
Ingredients
For the Lentils:
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks (about 1 cup; 170g)
2 small stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 1 cup; 115g)
1 medium onion, finely diced (about 1 cup; 225g)
6 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
12 ounces (340g) brown or de Puy lentils
2 bay leaves
4 cups homemade vegetable stock or water (about 1L) (see note above)
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons (10ml) red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or sherry vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
For the Eggplant:
2 large Italian or small globe eggplants, about 1 pound (450g) each
4 tablespoons (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large sprigs fresh rosemary
To Serve:
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/4 cup pine nuts (about 2 1/2 ounces; 70g)
1 recipe Tahini Sauce With Garlic and Lemon
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Directions
For the Lentils: Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F to prepare for roasting eggplant. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add lentils, bay leaves, stock or water, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer, cover with the lid partially ajar, and cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. (Top up with water if lentils are at any point not fully submerged.) Remove lid, stir in vinegar, and reduce until lentils are moist but not soupy. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover, and keep warm until ready to serve.
For the Eggplant: While lentils cook, cut each eggplant in half. Score flesh with the tip of a paring knife in a cross-hatch pattern at 1-inch intervals. Transfer to a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, cut side up, and brush each eggplant half with 1 tablespoon oil, letting each brushstroke be fully absorbed before brushing with more. Season with salt and pepper. Place a rosemary sprig on top of each one. Transfer to oven and roast until completely tender and well charred, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and discard rosemary.
To Serve: Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and pine nuts in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Cook, tossing nuts frequently, until golden brown and aromatic, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to halt cooking. Stir half of parsley and rosemary into lentils and transfer to a serving platter. Arrange eggplant halves on top. Spread a few tablespoons of tahini sauce over each eggplant half and sprinkle with pine nuts. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and rosemary, drizzle with additional olive oil, and serve.
 
Stovetop Eggplant With Harissa, Chickpeas, and Cumin Yogurt Recipe
ONE-POT WONDERS  YASMIN FAHR
This recipe, which combines small Italian eggplants cooked whole in olive oil along with harissa, chickpeas, and tomatoes, will make an eggplant believer out of you. [Photographs: Yasmin Fahr]
Eggplants have always been a difficult vegetable for me. They come in different shapes, sizes, colors, and stripes and are surrounded by dos and don’ts. But with enough delicious recipes under your belt, it’s pretty easy to overlook the post-cooking appearance and realize that all those dos and don’ts are really more suggestions than hard-and-fast rules. This recipe, which combines small Italian eggplants cooked whole in olive oil along with harissa, chickpeas, and tomatoes, is one such preparation.
Why this recipe works:
· Frying the eggplants whole browns the outside while steaming in the inside
· The tomatoes blister and breakdown to make an impromptu sauce
· Harissa adds depth and flavor to the dish, plus it tastes great with eggplant
· YIELD:Serves 4
· ACTIVE TIME:30 minutes
· TOTAL TIME:30 minutes
Ingredients
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
5 to 6 small Italian eggplants, peeled and trimmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ tablespoon harissa, plus more as desired
1 (15-oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 cups 2% Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon ground cumin
½ cup picked parsley leaves
Directions
Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add the eggplants and lower the heat to medium. Season with salt and pepper as you rotate the eggplants, browning them on all sides. Continue to cook, turning regularly, until a fork inserted into the eggplant meets no resistance (you may have to stand them up on their fat end to finish cooking the thickest parts), about 20 minutes, lowering the heat and sprinkling water into the pan as necessary if the eggplants threaten to burn or smoke excessively..
Mix the harissa, chickpeas and tomatoes together, then add to the eggplants. Cook until the tomatoes have blistered and broken down, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and add water as necessary to thin to a saucy consistency. Meanwhile, combine the yogurt and cumin in a serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Top the eggplant mixture with the parsley, drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil, and serve with the yogurt on the side.

Category: CSA

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