Every week we'll send you snapshots of veggies in your share. You can always find more recipes and storage info on our
blog and
website.
Mesclun: A beautiful, fresh blend of lettuces, chard, kale, cress, and mizuna this week! We wash the greens but recommend you give them a good rinse before eating. Store in a cold part of your fridge and use quickly.
Tomatillos: From A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen: "A tomatillo is a Mexican fruit similar to a tomato that remains firm and green when ripe. Tomatillos grow inside lantern-shaped paper husks, which must be removed. Wash the tomatillos well to remove the sticky substance that keeps the husks in place. Because they are quite acidic, tomatillos are rarely used raw. Roast them to rid them of excess liquid and soften their texture. Roasted with some fresh chiles, they can be turned into a quick salsa in the blender. Tomatillos exude a lot of liquid and seeds as they roast. Scrape all the flavorful juices into the blender."
For a decadent breakfast, try frying thick slices of tomatillos alongside a couple of eggs and serve with bacon. The acid of the tomatillos makes a nice foil for the richness of the protein. Store tomatillos in their husks in a paper bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper: A fun and hot variety of pepper! Popular for frying, stuffing, canning, and pickling.
Edamame: This is the funky looking tree in your boxes! Soybean varieties grown for eating the beans from the pod are called edamame. Long common in the Japanese diet, in recent years edamame has been gaining popularity in the US and now even kids in daycare have their little containers of beans for lunch. And no wonder because it's incredibly easy to prepare, the beans are delicious, and they pack a lot of nutrition into a very small package. A half cup of shelled edamame (from approx 1.25 cups of pods) contains 9 g fiber, 11 g protein, and a good amount of Vitas A and C. Edamame freezes really well too. Just blanch pods in boiling water for 2-3 mins, drain and cool in ice water, and freeze in a single layer, then bag. Edamame should not sit in the fridge for days before you get around to eating it. Like all beans they are better the fresher they are. If you won't eat them in the next few days, freeze them!
Cippolini Onion: Cippolini onions are a small flattened Italian onion with a sweet, mild flavor. Cippolinis are traditionally served roasted or baked, but also work well on kebabs or eaten fresh. If you have never eaten a roasted cippolini you must, as you will never think of onions the same way. The advantage of the cippolini is its mild flavor that when roasted caramelizes quickly into sweet, flavorful goodness! Their shape lends them well to roasting. Cippolini onions do not store as well as your typical onion so I recommend using them soon. When I packed them, I did a pretty heavy weeding out of some soft ones. If you have a bad cippolini, please let me know. Keep them cool.
Eggplant: Notes from Melissa about this week's eggplant:
As we prepare for our fall and winter harvest, we are slowly cleaning out our heated greenhouses and planting them in hardy greens to bring us a taste of fresh greens in the coldest Vermont months. This week the eggplants are from our pepper and eggplant house that was planted in mid-April. This house was still in peak production but it has to go to make way for claytonia that was planted last week and the spinach that will be planted next. We will still have peppers and eggplants from our fields until we get a hard frost. The eggplants in your share have quite a bit of variation in the skin color. This color is an indication of the fruit maturity. The darkest purples are immature and the bronzing fruits are starting to mature. As the fruits start to mature they will start to get a hint of bitter that is still delicious in all your favorite eggplant dishes. The dark purple fruits will be slightly sweeter. Taylar's taste tests verified this for us:) I love to roast these eggplants and slip in the freezer for colder days to prepare this soup from smitten kitchen.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/10/roasted-eggplant-soup/ Enjoy!
Husk Cherries: Husk cherries are in a pint box; these are the little papery husked things that look like tomatillos. In fact they are close cousins of tomatillos and are also related to tomatoes. But they are sweeter and have a diiferent flavor than either. Some liken their taste to vanilla, others to cinnamon bread (!). They are tasty little treat and will be wonderful on your salads this week. They would also be welcome in any dish that cries out for a touch of sweetness. If you don't eat them all straight out of the box.
Featured Recipes
Tomatillo Salsa
There are a lot of variations out there of tomatillo salsa. I've included a couple below. The first is from Alejandra de la Cruz. Alejandra has worked at our farm for several summer seasons. In the winter, she lives in a small mountain village with her family. I spent time with Ale this summer and this salsa is one she made often. Here's her recipe for a simple tomatillo salsa: With water, put tomatillos and jalapeños on the stove to stew for 10 minutes until they come to a roiling boil. Cut the heat. Then add a little bit of chopped garlic. Add salt to taste. They will break down.
Garlicky Mushroom Quesadillas with Tomatillo Chile Salsa
This recipe is adapted from the aforementioned "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen," by Jack Bishop. Serves 3-4.
Tomatillo-Chile Salsa
1 pint tomatillos, husked and washed
2-3 medium jalapenos
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Salt
Quesadillas
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz oyster mushrooms, thickly sliced
salt to taste
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
freshly ground black pepper
6 8-inch flour tortillas
4 ounces goat cheese
Preheat oven to 450F. Roast the whole tomatillos and chiles in a rimmed baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven, turning the veggies once, until lightly browned and tender, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly and transfer the tomatillos to a food processor. Cut off the stems of the chiles and add, (seeds and all, for extra heat), to the food processor. Pulse just until combined and still chunky. Scrape the salsa into a bowl and stir in the cilantro and salt to taste.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned lightly, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and pepper to taste and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Set the mushroom mixture aside.
Lay 3 tortillas flat on a work surface. Sprinkle goat cheese on top, leaving a 1/2" border around the edges. Divide the mushroom mixture evenly among the tortillas. Top with the remaining tortillas. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the first quesadilla and cook, turning once, until the tortillas are golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and repeat with the remaining quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into quarters. Spoon some salsa into the middle of each quesadilla. Serve the remaining salsa on the side.
Edamame
whole fresh edamame pods
salt (preferably sea salt or kosher salt)
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add edamame and continue boiling until beans are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. To prevent overcooking, start checking for doneness approximately 7 minutes after cooking. (To check, remove one carefully, dip in cold water to cool, and taste.)
When done, run cold water over, or put in ice water, to stop cooking. Drain well; pat excess moisture off, and sprinkle with salt to taste. (Start with 1/2 teaspoon.)
To eat, hold pod by stem end, and slide the individual beans out with your teeth. Discard pod.
Stuffed Peppers
No need for a recipe, just use your imagination. You won't go wrong.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Saute some onions and garlic, and add in some cooked rice, some cooked beans (canned kidney beans come in handy here!), some spices. Once everything is cooked and blended add some cheese (parm perhaps, or gruyere, or feta or goat). Spoon the filling into peppers that are cut in half and place peppers into an oiled baking dish.
Bake for 30 mins or more until peppers are softened and beginning to brown on some edges and filling is hot.
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