Over the last two weeks, things have been hectic here and I haven’t recorded what we have cooked with our CSA vegetables quite as well as in the past. Here is some of what we received in week 9:
Our farmer says: “Sweet corn from Spring Creek Farm in Baldwin City, KS. This is one of my main reasons for sometimes offering crops from different farms. I don’t have room to grow sweet corn in quantity, and I know the farmers at Spring Creek, Stephanie and Tom, grow great sweet corn without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, etc. The variety is ‘Incredible’ and it is indeed, and ‘Ambrosia,’ a bi-color.”
Our farmer says: “Beautiful ‘Rossa di Milano’ pink sweet onions.”
Our farmer says: “The tomatoes have hit stride at Blue Door, and you’ll all be receiving some; a mix of red slicers and smaller heirloom saladette tomatoes. The big reds are hybrid “’Jet Stars,’ and the smaller ones include orange ‘Jaune Flammes,’ purple ‘Purple Ukrainians,’ chocolatey ‘Nyagous,’ yellow/green striped ‘Green Zebra,’ and red ‘Stupice’ and ‘Mountain Magic’ (the only hybrid saladette). Confused about what a hybrid is? It isn’t a GMO, just a cross of two different varieties.”
We also received beets and red cabbage that same week. In week 10 we received garlic and tomatoes, and the following:
Our farmer says: “A mix of green bell and horn shaped SWEET Carmen red peppers. I promise those long red peppers aren’t at all hot, but are instead deliciously sweet. Give them a try.” We added them to chili and I did not take a picture.
Our farmer says: “These fat beauties are from Green Gate Farm, where their eggplants are doing well and are undiscovered by groundhogs (here at Blue Door the furry fiends ate 50+ eggplants in the past 2 weeks).”
Our farmer says: “Don’t panic! These burgundy beauties are tasty and easy to prepare. They don’t boil or steam well, but if you chop them up into manageable pieces, and pop them in a hot pan with lots of garlic and let them sizzle for a while, tossing occasionally, then add (if you are so inclined) a bit of hot pepper or hot sauce, a tiny bit of sugar and a bit of soy sauce, stir and turn off the heat, you will have a tasty dish. Alternately, use the my favorite technique: google ‘yard long bean recipes’ and pick one that looks good!”
We cooked them as she described!