CSA Week 7,8,9: Corn, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peaches
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Hello! Catching up on CSA posts…I’ve been slacking. I hope you have been, too. It’s that time of year, right?
PS: All past CSA posts can be found here.
PPS: What have you been making? Any discoveries?
CSA Weeks 7, 8, 9: corn, onions, eggplant, Japanese eggplant, beets, peppers, lettuce, scallions, tomato, zucchini, melon, chard, peaches
Corn: If you aren’t steaming or boiling it, and eating it straight up, I recommend fresh corn polenta, one of my all-time favorite things to eat. The corn has been delicious. Also: Tacos with Grilled Poblano and Corn Salad and Tomato, Corn and Gruyère Galette
Eggplant: About this time of year every year, I wonder where I would be without Chez Panisse Vegetables. Many of my favorite eggplant recipes come from the eggplant chapter of that book, and I recently made another one: grilled Japanese eggplant with salsa verde (recipe for salsa verde here; grill eggplant over high with olive oil, salt and pepper). A few other eggplant ideas: Pasta with Tomato, Eggplant and Caramelized Onions, Eggplant Caviar on Grilled Bread, Eggplant Involtini (a favorite!), Burnt Eggplant with Za’atar flatbread, Crispy Eggplant Rounds, Cook’s Illustrated Eggplant Parmesan
(Images link to recipes.)
Onions: Caramelize them and use them all week in omelets, on pizza with burrata, in pasta with Marcella Hazan tomato sauce.
Beets: What are you making with them? I’ve been boiling them, dressing them, and eating them with cheese. I do love this Ottolenghi beet, orange and olive salad — substituting the oranges with peaches or plums could work. Mores ideas for beets here.
Peppers: I love this red pepper and tomato pasta sauce — so easy and good. Or, make a pepperonata: sweat peppers and onions (2:1 ratio) together in olive oil with salt over low heat covered for 30 minutes. Uncover, and sauté until meltingly tender, another 30 minutes. Add garlic, capers, and a splash of vinegar. Taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve over toast.
Cucumber and canteloupe are a great match. Pair them together in a salad with a mint vinaigrette:
Zucchini: The Zucchini Anchovy, Sautéed Zucchini with Pine Nuts and Mint, Zucchini Fritters
Chard: What to do with an Overload of Swiss Chard?
Make a slab galette:
Tomatoes: Tomatoes with Grilled Bread and Homemade Ricotta, Roasted Tomato and Bread Soup, Tomatoes: Breakfast, Noon & Night
Peaches: Is it heresy to suggest eating a peach any other way than over a sink, juices dripping down your chin? Sorry. Here’s a peach-and-blue cheese toast (pictured up top) from the Canal House ladies via Bon Appetit. Love it.
Potatoes!! The first of the season — so exciting. I am looking forward to many many many trays of the crispiest oven fries.
Salsa verde for that grilled eggplant:
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14 Comments on “CSA Week 7,8,9: Corn, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peaches”
I want one of everything please! ❤️?????❤️
XOXO!!
PS: The Third Plate is still blowing my mind. Also, have you watched this TED talk? Amazing: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish?language=en
I am not reading it fast like I ususally do because there is so much there…I told Jeff last night I felt excited and depressed….because in so many ways I feel as though he was describing a utopian world that we will never see….I’m talking about a cultural sea change about how we grow and raise and prepare our food….The first part of the book about agricultural practices was truly eye opening….I mean, I had an idea, but he has taken that idea and turned my whole thought process on its’ head….I live in Kansas and Kansas is not going to change how it grows crops in my lifetime….so, then I think, I need to raise more of my own food….this is at a time in my life when the food I buy in the stores is truly sad…it is all tasteless…the produce, the meat….we pay a lot of money for it but in the end it mostly disappoints….I want to tear up my whole yard and start raising more food for my family but with a full time job and the back breaking work that that would entail….I’m only at the part where they started trying to raise geese on their own….I told Jeff before I even started reading his book that it wsn’t my fault that the meat in the stores is so dry and tasteless…….In any case, I have not watched that Ted and am going to go do that right now!! hugs! Me…..
Oh Laurie, I know, it’s depressing and overwhelming and inspiring all at the same time. I think I’m going to have to read it again as soon as I finish it…there’s never enough time! xo
Always an inspiration Ali! I agree with Chez Panisse Vegetables as a great source too. Yum yum yum.
Thank you, Dana! Hope you are well. xo
My toddler has been eating peaches sitting on the kitchen floor with a dish towel draped over his lap to catch the juice, and he is in heaven!
You have some beautiful dishes with your summer bounty, enjoy!
How good have the peaches been?! We are gobbling them up. Hope you are well!
Oh lord, so much produce, so many ideas, so little time….
Here is what mom and I have been doing with the loot from her garden:
PEPPERS
Stuff them w feta and eat them raw OR
Stuff with a feta-egg mixture (egg there just to bind) and bake off OR
Roast them, then stuff with the feta-egg mixture, then bread and fry them—so time consuming but ridiculously good
BEETS
Grating them (a mix of beets and carrots works too if all beets is too much) and serving with a sweet vinaigrette
Also, a few years ago while still in the US I attended a bridal shower and the hostess had made this wonderful beet and avocado salad. Basically roasted beets and avocados with a citrus-shallot vinaigrette and some sort of herb (chives maybe? Don’t remember). I was flipping through my recipe file a couple weeks ago and realized it is from one of the Chez Panisse books, so I bet you can track down the exact recipe if you wanted.
PEACHES
Grilled peaches….yes, everyone has done and written about that, but still amazing
That toast above, but with feta instead of the blue cheese (sorry about the overuse of feta, but I am Bulgarian, the stuff is like breastmilk to us)
Pitted, loosely cut or otherwise made into pieces and mixed in with yogurt
In an upside-down cake, peaches go in first, batter goes on top, you get it…
Mama Poule, you are amazing! I am tempted to doing the time-consuming peppers. I have so much feta on hand as well as peppers … stars are aligning. Beet and avo salad also sounds amazing. Thank you thank you!!
Let me know how they turn out if you make them! BTW, I said “bread” the peppers but just coating them in flour is fine too, just to dry them up a bit, and then fry them. You probably figured that out…
I will let you know! I love the idea of breading them…thanks!
Great ideas! I had to laugh at the part about the peaches. That is exactly how I have been eating them–over the sink and juices running everywhere. I have also been using them in caprese salads, sometimes sans tomatoes. They pair so well with balsamic vinegar. Not original but delicious!
Hope all is well and you are enjoying your summer!
That sounds amazing Trish! Love the idea of a peach caprese — you are so right about the balsamic.