Category Archives: Eggplant

Fresh Baby Ginger

2016 CSA Summer September 10 Ginger

2016 CSA    Summer  September 10th Ginger

  • First Harvest Baby Ginger
  • Bell Peppers
  • Eggplant
  • Okra
  • Yellow Squash
  • Gold Bar Zucchini
  • Tomatoes
  • Gourmet Cucumber
  • Patty Pan Squash
  • Sorrel bunch
  • Beet tops bunch
  • Dill
  • Baby Salad Mix

Woot! It’s the first harvest of the season for our baby ginger! You will find that this ginger is unlike any kind you have bought at a store. It is very aromatic, tender, almost buttery, without the stringyness or toughness that is found in commercial ginger. Keep your ginger wrapped in the refrigerator until ready to use. Yes, we leave the stalks and the leaves on because the whole plant can be utilized in the kitchen. One chef that uses it skewers it into his roast so that as it is cut, little round medalions are embedded throughout. The leaves can be laid out in aluminum foil, glass baking dish or the like and used as a wrap to infuse your meat or veggies. Ginger is a phenomenal digestive aid, anti-microbial, and great tonic for the body. Try cutting some, including rounds of the inner stalk, into stir-fry for a punch of flavor and to enhance wellbeing. We like to brew it into tea and we also grind it with honey, making it easy to add a dollop to hot water for that cup. To your health and your pleasure!

2016csa_summer_sept_10-red-sorrel

2016csa_summer_sept_10-baby-salad-mix clusters

Ginger Harvest

2016 Ginger Harvest

2016 Ginger Harvest

Salad Mix Clamshell

2016 CSA Summer August 13th Baby Salad Mix

2016 CSA Summer August 13th Baby Salad Mix

  • Baby Salad Mix clamshell
  • Chard
  • Kale
  • Pepper Medley
  • Eggplant
  • Mint
  • Basil
  • Thai Basil
  • Yellow Squash
  • Gold Bar Zucchini
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Gourmet Cucumber

 

Spring Roll

Spring Roll

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salad Mix Clamshell

Salad Mix Clamshell

Baby Salad Mix

Mint Tea

Mint Tea

The photos above are inspiration for preparing spring rolls; image at top right is courtesy of lavatnus.blogspot.com.  Since we are having such hot weather, a cool meal of spring rolls would be nice. Planks cut of your squash, zucchini and cucumbers can be used raw with baby salad mix, garnished with mint and thai basil. Strips of cooked eggplant can also be used. Some spring rolls that you may find at a restaurant are typically shrimp or chicken, rolled up with greens and served with a plum sauce, sometimes a peanut sauce. There are enough ingredients in the CSA share this week to make vegetarian spring rolls, but they also lend themselves nicely to wrapping up leftovers with fresh greens. Pick up some rice paper wraps at your local Asian market and try this simple yet delicious treat at home. And what an easy way to have a meal from raw ingredients! For the wrapper, i heat up water in a large frying pan just until warm; then gently dunk the rice paper sheet until submerged and place it on a moistened plate. If it is too stiff to roll, it wasn’t left in the water long enough. If it becomes too delicate, tears or becomes gooey, then it was left in the water too long. Usually just a few seconds under water is all that is necessary. Place prepped ingredients  near the bottom and fold as you would a burrito, folding in the sides and rolling up until the ingredients are sealed inside. These can be stored for a while refrigerated but are best enjoyed fresh.  Use some of your mint for tea and get a bit of relief from the heat with a cooling yet nutritious meal. (The metal lunch box came from C’ville Oriental.) To your health and pleasure…  Enjoy!

2016 CSA Summer July 23rd

2016 CSA Summer July 23rd

  • Field Arugula
  • Mixed Field Greens
  • Chard
  • Squash Blossoms
  • Onion bunch
  • Garlic
  • Peppers
  • Eggplant
  • Thai Basil
  • Yellow Squash
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Gourmet Cucumber

2016 CSA Summer July 23rd: A friend of mine turned me on to a new quick way to make fresh tomato sauce: use a food grater! I had not heard of this and an online search returned many results; the inspiration for the following recipe for a grain-free spaghetti dinner comes from a combination of input from Little Things and Food & Wine. For the sauce, cut the tomatoes horizontally in half and grate them into a bowl, thus removing the skin from the equation. Some recipes suggest using this raw, and certainly you can, but we liked it better by sautéing the garlic and onion first and then adding the freshly grated tomato for a few minutes at the end to marry the flavors. For the grain-free spaghetti, substitute zucchini that has been made into strips with a peeler. This is consumed raw. (There is a video of this technique at Little Things.) Three augmentations that can enhance this basic outline: use your arugula torn over top the zucchini, under the hot sauce to just wilt it into the dish; tear the squash blossoms into strips over the top; grill, roast or sauté the eggplant to add a new dimension to the dish.

2016CSA_Summer_Jul_23 Food and Wine Tomato grated

2016CSA_Summer_Jul_23 Food and Wine Tomato grated

For a chilled infused salad, cut onion, cucumber and tomato into a bowl, dress with vinegar and steep in the refrigerator until cold. This can be used on top of your greens or can stand alone as a side.

To your health and your pleasure! Enjoy