week 7

Cooking in Season

week 7

It is the end of July now. I feel like I have to say that to remind myself not to complain about the heat. If this year was like every other year, it would be sweltering and 90, but perhaps I am heaving a sigh of relief too soon. We still have all of August…

While picking today, I fear it might be a light week. The melons just keep growing and growing, the tomatoes are sooo slow, the peppers are still rather small, the squash is dying like a Shakespearian actor, and my boss picked all the blue berries at work for her pies. Our first tomato turned red, a nice roma ox heart type. Our second tomato turned yellow, a golden jubilee. Prepare thy tomato recipes. We are about to get bombarded.

I did pull some turnips up yesterday while a neighbor farmer told me turnip stories and how to cook them – cut them in cubes and boil them like potatoes until they are no longer crunchy, then drain the water and add heavy cream and spices (not sure what spices he meant) and put back on the heat, stir constantly until the flavors meld together. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but this is just the first pass through the field, thinning out the ones that are too close together. Usually you can eat the leaves but I picked them yesterday and they lost a lot of water with the heat.

In good new, the cucumbers are coming on now. I think that nothing is better than just peeling and slicing a cucumber and putting garlic salt or soy sauce on it and eating it fresh. I have no idea what is going on this year but some of the skins are a bit bitter. It depends on the fruit but it seems to only be skin deep, which is easily remedied with peeling.

Here is a recipe submitted last year by Linda Chen. Simply delicious!

-----This is the recipe for the Taiwanese cucumbers - I'll give my mother-in-law credit & call them 'Betty Chen's (Taiwanese) Pickled Cucumbers'!

~ 1 cucumber, cut into 2 inch sticks or cut to your preference (but not too thin)

~ 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt

~ 1 TBsp apple cider vinegar

~ 1/2 - 3/4 tsp brown sugar

~ garlic, 2 cloves minced or to taste

~ 1 tsp sesame oil

~ tiny bit of hot chili bean paste (doe ban jan) - you can probably substitute with chili oil, dash hot sauce, or red pepper flakes

cut cucumbers & sprinkle with salt - let sit for 15 min - mix vinegar, sugar, garlic, sesame oil, & chili bean paste - pour over cucumbers, toss & eat!

It tastes just as good if the cukes don't sit for 15 min.

*sesame oil* - Not all sesame oil is created equal, I've tried several. My & husband I agree that Kadoya is the best!- thumbs down on Ty Ling brand

- I always refrigerate my sesame oil since it's not used quickly. This will retain freshness & prevent rancidity.

Enjoy….

~Janeé