week 14

Cooking in Season
week 14

I am so happy. It has been a few months of searching through the massive amount of apple trees at work, taking a bite out of each tree to find plenty of cider apples or wild apples with that mealy texture and mild taste, thinking maybe they’re not that bad. This tree is it. Laden with a bunch of juicy but crisp apples, these are the apples I was searching for. I know I asked the name and it’s one of those combo names that’s escaping me right now like jonafree or jonagold. In any case, they are delicious and no spray… but I still strongly advise as I always do to wash before eating. Most blemishes are only skin deep, but with all apples, a small hole can mean someone already found the tasty fruit and might still be inside. Oh, and we should be pressing cider soon, which is always exciting.

We also have a couple grapes too scattered throughout. They all have seeds. I have a concord seedless planted, but at the rate it’s growing, it will be years before I start picking the fruit. If the seeds are too much for you, you could always enjoy some juice, although one bunch really won’t give you that much. The internet has some creative ways of extracting juice like boiling and straining, but if you just want a glass of very fresh grape juice, just wash and stem the grapes, put them in a ziplock bag, mash, and then strain. You don’t get a lot of juice, but it’s delicious and no seeds to worry about..

Anyway, on to the veggies…
I remember the first time I ever cooked eggplant. It was at the start of my culinary explorations when I was young and I picked up an eggplant out of the produce aisle for it’s beautiful purple color and lovely shape. I figured it couldn’t be that hard and it reminded me of zucchini so sliced it up and sautéed it in a pan all by itself. Excited to try my new dish, I shoveled the first flimsy piece in my mouth only to spit it back out. The texture was like a raw fish, it soaked up all the oil like a sponge, and there was this overwhelming bitterness to it which made me vow never to cook it again.
I have since gotten over that with a simple tip I plucked out of a vegetarian cookbook – an hour before cooking, slice your eggplant, lay it on a paper towel and flip it halfway through with a dash of salt and it will sweat out all of the bitter juices. So that was one problem solved. The next was how to cook it without saturating it completely with oil and loosing the firm texture. I find that with all super absorbent veggies, when sautéed I used half water and half oil, allowing the water to soak in first and then adding the oil so it doesn’t stick. A step up from this is throw it on the grill and brush with seasoned oil or butter. In the end, I find it has a firm texture which reminds me of steak or a good portabella mushroom.
After the initial fear of eggplant left me, I found it is great stacked into a lasagna or sautéed with squash on a bed of scalloped potatoes. This recipe is simple (and would be great with a grilled half of a sweet pepper too) and with the sweating preparation out of the way, it might make you look at this beautiful vegetable in a different light. If not, well it’s always great breaded, deep fried and covered in cheese like a good eggplant parmesean.

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich
4 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped1 1/2 teaspoons chopped, Fresh Basil2 small Eggplants sliced1/2 cup Cream Cheese, Low-Fat Whipped, or Goat Cheese4 pieces Focaccia or other good quality bread, sliced in half, lengthwise2/3 cup kale or other greens, washed and dried4 slices Tomato
Preparation:Preheat grill to medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic, salt, and fresh ground pepper and ½ teaspoon fresh chopped basil to small bowl. Stir to combine. Brush both sides of eggplant slices with olive oil mixture. Grill eggplant over direct heat, 3 minutes per side. Mix cream cheese, 1-tablespoon fresh chopped basil, salt, and fresh ground pepper in small bowl. Spread 4 halves of focaccia bread with cheese mixture. Top with kale, slice of tomato and focaccia bread slice.

See you next week ~janee

week 13

Cooking in Season

week 13

The tips on the leaves are starting to turn now but the weather is holding at the same –not really too hot- level it’s been at all summer. The pumpkins are crawling along and a few are hinting at oranges through their green veins. The tomatoes in the back garden got blight and are now toast, but the romas and heirlooms at work are doing just fine so far surrounded by ragweed in bloom. (sneeze.) I see local plums and peaches at the farm up the street and wonder how the heck they manage that. I’ve been looking for local cherries but this season has been a bust. Exotic fruit growers in the area said we had an extremely ground chilling winter last year and everything took a hit. We’re planting new peach trees in hopes of production in the future.

The grapes are hanging airily on the vines at work and I’m testing them every three days and charting them to see when the chemical compounds are just right for harvest. It’s so funny how something as earthy and basic as growing things can turn so scientifically complicated.

This past week I’ve eaten out of the garden more than ever. Wed night I grabbed a leftover basket and chopped up some turnips, squash, beet greens, potatoes and fresh tomatoes and put them in a light tomato sauce and it turned out amazing. I feel as though I’ve overlooked turnips unjustly as their mild flavor was just the perfect surprising zing to the dish. Last night for Labor day my sister cooked up a green / purple / yellow bean and tomato dish that was amazing and we had steamed sweet corn and ribs. I loved the red corn, which turned an odd shade when cooked but still was sweeter than I thought it would be. I would plant it again.

And I already feel this year winding down a lot as we start to tuck up the gardens after another very odd Ohio growing season. Last year we had so many tomatoes we didn’t know what to do. This year was the year of the summer squash. I wonder what next year will be like…

Anyway, now is the time for some much appreciated feedback. Throughout the season we hope that we are providing what our members are looking for; weather and growing conditions permitting. Here’s your chance to let us know how we did and what we could do better. Also, if anyone feels so inclined to post on our localharvest page, we’d much appreciate it and offer up a free dozen eggs for your time.

You can email me your feed back or fill it out and bring it in next week.

On a scale of 1 to 5 for your CSA preferences, how important are the following with 1 being not at all and 5 being extremely important:

__ Diversity of fruits and veggies __Flexibility in pickup

__ Organic __ Local

__ Recipes __Heirloom varieties

__ Fruits included

Anything you would have liked to see more of?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Comments or suggestions for next year? ______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Any feedback is always helpful. Thanks and see you next week…. ~janee

week 12

Cooking in Season
week 12

The

The nights are really dropping temperature now and the morning feeding now requires long sleeves. It seems like as soon as I put my sweaters away it’s time to get them back out again. We just tilled for our winter gardens and are about to plant garlic for next season… and lots of it! We never have enough. Also to keep us through the winter, we’re planting more kale, carrots for next year, turnips, spinach (which I usually have terrible luck with), along with any other root veggie seeds we still have around. Soon it will be time to press the apple cider, which is always a really good time and very messy. The winter wheat is going in soon as well.

The melon patch has officially been picked! After months of waiting and grandma telling us every week that we were a month away, we’re finally pretty confident that they are ready. Use them right away or cut them up and freeze them for great smoothies to beat the winter blues. Our sugar baby melons took a blue ribbon at the Randolph fair, our tomatoes, flower arrangement and shelled beans got second. We’re already planning for next year and I’m kicking myself for not entering stark county’s fair. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Outside my mom’s kitchen window we’ve been watching a volunteer squash / pumpkin looking vine crawl its way among the volunteer sunflowers under the bird feeder. It’s been the mystery plant for months with big leaves and beautiful yellow flowers with spotted green fruits forming. I was worried that it was a squash cross pollinated with a gourd and it would be bitter, but it turned out to be completely delicious. I love stuffed squash. Here’s a recipe that will use up the winter squash that are just now coming in. It calls for sausage, but it is just as delicious with a sticky wild rice or some cooked down pinto beans as well.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Molasses
· 4 small acorn squash or 1 spaghetti squash
· 1 tablespoon butter
· 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
· 2 large green onions, thinly sliced
· 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (or substitute wild rice or julienned green beans or cooked beans)
· 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
· 1/2 cup canned beef broth (or veggie broth)
· 1/2 teaspoon pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 2/3 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses (or I loooove to use real maple syrup)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut two 3/4-inch-thick slices from center of each acorn squash for a total of 8 slices (reserve ends of squash for another use). Scoop out seeds and fibers from center slices and discard. Arrange squash rings in single layer in 15x10x2-inch baking dish.
Melt butter in heavy medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and green onions; sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; cool. Mix in sausage (or substitute), breadcrumbs, broth, pepper and salt. Mound mixture in center of squash rings, using about 1/3 cup for each. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Brush squash with half of molasses. Bake 15 minutes. Brush with remaining molasses and bake until squash are tender and sausage is cooked through, about 25 minutes.


Enjoy,
~Janee

week 11

Cooking in Season

week 11

These are the glory days of gardening, when buckets are over flowing with fresh picked goodies from the garden and after picking barefoot in the morning dew with the sunrise warming my back, I ran inside to throw a chicken in the slow cooker nestled in among juicy fresh tomatoes and fresh parsley and spices. The pickles from a couple of weeks are ready and disappearing fast. The winter squash are growing and growing and climbing all over their neighboring weeds. The sweet corn at work is among ragweed as tall as me and so picking ended up being allergy hell as the subtle pollen drifted in the wind… right into my nose. The sweet corn here is on it’s second wave, a new variety we’ve never tried that was supposed to be a super sweet red but it cross pollinated with the super sweet incredible corn next to it and is a weirdly tinted combo of the two.

The tomatoes are ripening on the vine, taking their good sweet time. I just submitted a bunch of veggies to the Randolph fair up by my work and I giggled when I saw that many of the “red tomato” entries were not yet red, but blushing greens. Then I didn’t feel so bad for my sun kissed entries. We also entered a giant version of a CSA basket along with some shelled beans and two sugar baby melons, which grandma contends are still not ripe yet.
I love tomato season. I had tomatoes with my eggs this morning. My slow cooker is filled with my chicken, tomato and lentil dish and my mom is working on onions, peppers, tomato, and sausage for Wed night dinner. I have tomatoes in my lunch, on every sandwich, and Travis admitted to picking one and eating it right there in the middle of the garden. The sauce tomatoes are coming on well and I look forward to canning pasta sauce and salsa, though my cilantro never really cooperates.

We were talking at work about how supermarkets have made everything be by the pound and made to look pretty, which leaves the consumer with pretty produce with empty taste. Wine grape growers are having a similar dilemma – if the suppliers sell by the ton, it is to their benefit to grow a lot of over fertilized, over irrigated grapes of lower quality because no one wants to pay for a product done right. That makes me sad, but I know often in the supermarket I am looking only for a good deal too, but usually it’s at the cost of taste. Enter our pears. (Make sure to wash them!!!!) They are not much to look at to be sure. You’d probably pass them over at the supermarket, but they are completely delicious. The skin is so thin it’s like cutting through butter and they are so sweet and delicious it makes me swear off those hard green pear-rocks at the store. It takes a long time to make sure they are just right and we do not get the yield that commercial growers get –same thing with our tomatoes, corn, beans, pigs, turkeys… pretty much everything around here! It takes a long time and a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it.

… maybe I’m just getting nostalgic with autumn coming and school back in session. We’re already saving seeds for next year, taking about what we’re planting where. Only 5 weeks left in CSA including today. It sure is flying by!

Anyway, I love America’s Test Kitchen. Here’s a great salsa recipe that they tested to be a sure fire winner.

Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 ½ pounds firm, ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 3/8 inch dice - about 3 cups (I throw in tomatillos as well for some zip)
1 large jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed and set aside, minced (option in my opinion)
½ cup minced red onion
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (sorry, mine all went to seed)
½ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground pepper
2 – 6 teaspoons juice from 1 to 2 limes
Sugar to taste (up to 1 teaspoon)
1. set a large colander in a large bowl. Place the tomatoes in the colander and let them drain for 30 minutes. As the tomatoes drain, layer the jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro on top. Shake the colander to drain off the excess tomato juice. Discard the juice and wipe out the bowl.
2. transfer the contents of the colander to the now empty bowl. Add the salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons of the lime juice; toss to combine. Taste and add the minced jalapeno ribs and seeds, sugar and additional lime juice to taste.

See you next week,
Janee

week 10

Cooking in Season

week 10

The middle of August is the perfect time for sweet tea and I have to remind myself to do all those summertime things that I’d been too busy to do during the crazy early days of summer. The cicadas are out and the nights sound a bit more eerie now as the dusk is sneaking up closer and closer each night. The pumpkins at work are flowering, but with all the fungus that’s hit the cucumbers, I’m worried it’s going to jump over to the winter squash and pumpkins.
Welcome the tomatoes to the scene and I am about ready to walk down to the orchard to taste test to see if the pears are ready. Travis found a cool caterpillar in the carrots. Turns out it’s going to be a black swallowtail. Good thing he didn’t smash it!

The okra is coming along well, the beets are at all different stages of getting ripe, and we’re testing melons weekly to see if they are ready. I am sure it looks very scientific – all of us out in the melon patch, holding each one up to an ear and knocking on it to hear a thud. I am not sure what a thud sounds like, but I hope they are ready soon.

Also, if anyone is a home bread maker, I have organic wheat from a local farmer that I’d like to share. I think its soft winter wheat and I got it to put some in the ground for next year and use some for beer making. Let me know if you’d like some. Also, if anyone would like to buy in to a pig share, let me know. We have their date set in mid September and if you’d prefer different cuts, we can do that as well. Also just ordered second batch of meat birds, which should be ready in October if you’re interested.

Our recipe was submitted by our member Tracy Weiner for a dense casserole that uses everything in season right now. It’s completely delicious and very easy to make, and a great way to use corn off the cob if you so desire.
CORN, ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO PIE
3 cups fresh or frozen defrosted corn kernels
5 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks 5-6 cups
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP fresh dill weed
2 TBSP melted butter
3-4 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into ½ inch thick slices
½ cup freshly grated parmesan 2-3 cups
½ cup dry bread crumbs 3 cups
2 TBSP olive oil
I also added some sautéed onions, green peppers and mushrooms
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In 13” x 9” baking dish, combine the corn, zucchini, 1 tsp salt ½ tsp. pepper, dill and melted butter, tossing to coat the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper.
In small bowl, combine the cheese and the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Remove it from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
See you next week,
Janee

week 9

Cooking in Season
week 9

Every single window is open, screened or unscreened. The ceiling fans are on. The dogs are swimming. Even the turkeys took a wade through the creek to cool off. It is August.

As with every season in Ohio, this one has been an unpredictable roller coaster ride. Every year we break records and every year we fight a different problem. Last year, we had a hot, dry July, which made the peppers go crazy and the kale weep. This year we are having trouble with all the rain and humidity. The vineyard has mildew that spreads like wildfire and a fungus wiped out our peach trees early this wet spring. The potatoes are really disheartening as there are types that have just rotted in the ground while others are holding up pretty well. Our tomatoes look weepy. The garlic is puzzling me as to what’s going wrong. Our cucumbers are getting hit with all different cucumber diseases, but they keep growing through it. And I am holding back a green tomato recipe.
But the good thing about a CSA vs. a regular farm that only grows two crops is… well, the potatoes are struggling, but man, the turnips and melons are happy. I am walking through, picking the few ripe tomatoes and cursing that the zucchini are still producing… but the recipe this week will bring everything in your basket together in total delicious bliss. I am going to try to freeze some batches to see how it does because this casserole really tastes like summer.

A quick walk around the orchard makes me happy as the Liberty apple tree has a triple crop this year and they are the most delicious apples! The early Lodi tree is a bust this year, but the pears are looking good… if we can only keep the blights off of them with this warm weather.

The wait is over and to pick or not to pick the sweet corn has been decided. Fire up the grill! First round of butter and sugar corn is in the baskets this week along with some of whatever they planted at work. The corn we grow here is organic and being that corn is so delicious, lots of other things might have found it first, so I apologize for any uninvited guests. But then again, I’d take an occasional worm over dousing it with Sevin or any other harsh chemical. My favorite way to cook corn I think I learned from Martha Stewart – remove the silk and shuck the corn down, leaving a couple of husks left to cover the cob – then grill adding a little bit of water and butter just to keep it from drying out. I haven’t tried it again yet this year so I might be forgetting a step and I think she tied her corn husks in a perfect little bow, using the stem as a handle, but I’m not that fancy.

Anyway, here is a delicious and easy recipe from my mom’s friend Kim that will throw all the veggies in your basket together for a great meal. Leftovers are great too and it goes great with eggs. Simple and delicious!

Squash-Rice Casserole
8 T rice
4 small squash, sliced
6 tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green peppers, diced
3 t salt
1 t pepper
4 T butter, sliced
5 T brown sugar
9x13 baking dish

Throw the rice in the bottom of the pan, uncooked. Layer everything in order listed on top of rice. Cover tightly with foil. Cook at 300 degrees for 2 hours.

The rice cooks itself and everything melds together amazingly If you have a recipe, email it to me. Now I am going to get back to waiting for the tomatoes to turn red… and gold, and purple, and striped orange. My sandwiches just seem dull until then.
Janee

week 8

Cooking in Season week 8



Week 8 is upon us and we are halfway through the season. It is at this point in the season where the back garden is really starting to make an appearance along with a great contribution this week from gardens around where I work. My boss who lives with just his wife planted about 10 crookneck squash plants and has only eaten squash once this season! His plants are huge and producing perfectly warty summer squash that are begging for a home. The black raspberries in his woods are a bit smaller than the ones up around here, but delicious all the same.

The great debate today is whether or not the sweet corn is ready. I like it young and tender but Jason is saying it is still too small to pick. Our first batch is Butter and Sugar, which a neighbor at the vineyard proclaims to be the best. Our second planting is That’s Delicious S2, a super sweet type, which my boss says will make you swear off all other sweet corn. I am not a great connoisseur of sweet corn. What I do know is once it is picked, the sugars start to change into a different carbohydrate and it looses its deliciously sweet flavor. The sooner you eat it the better. I just got another laboriously long story from an old farmer about how disgusted and outraged he was at this one local market when he saw the sweet corn being packed up at the end of the day only to be refrigerated and sold the next day. Sweet corn doesn’t send me into a rage or anything, but I know the fresher the better.

Oh, and the pickles are here! Now is the time to start thinking about putting some veggies back for the long (and boring) months of winter. We have been freezing beans and zucchini bread like crazy around here. Now we are about ready to jump into canning and inviting anyone who would like to join. I got some bulk cucumbers that are begging to be pickled and a recipe to die for. (email if you’d like it.) I highly suggest refrigerator pickles if you are not into the whole hot water bath canning thing. Anyway, we are taking helping hands in our canning kitchen. Come if you’re a canning master or would like to learn. $20 for all the supplies and you take home a portion of whatever we make. Jars, lids, vinegar or any contributions are welcome. Probably will be Wed or Thursday night… might be Sunday if the cukes will keep that long. Just email me if you’re interested. janeehouston@gmail.com

Appearing in this week’s basket and probably popping up in the ones to come are tomatillos. This cousin of tomatoes is used in South American cooking and is loved for its tart, tomato-like flavor. They keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks, husked. If you didn’t catch some in your basket this week, don’t worry. There are plenty more on the way….

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
• 5 or 6 fresh tomatillos
• 1 fresh pepper
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
• 1t fresh cilantro
• 1/4 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
Remove husks and rinse under warm water to remove stickiness. Broil peppers, garlic, and fresh tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.
Peel garlic and pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender.
See you all next week,
Janee