CSA 2011 - Week 2

Summer is HERE! I hope you all had a relaxing and happy Fourth of July weekend.
This weekend was such a great reminder of how much I appreciate Vermont's small towns and their individual senses of identity. Bristol's got the outhouse races-- outhouses on wheels-- racing down Main Street. Dunmore had the longest fireworks celebration (almost 40 minutes!) I've seen. There were at least two movie screenings in barns in Landgrove and Middletown Springs of which I'm aware-- one a Miyasaki film; the other a documentary about the history of the ukelele. Manchester with its Vermont Symphony Orchestra picnic-concert, and sales at the outlet stores. A Red, White and Blues Festival in Ludlow. Londonderry was packed to the gills with the West River Farmer's Market and roadside grillin'. Glory.

In your share this week:

summer squash
lettuce mix
new potatoes
garlic scapes
green garlic
sugar snap peas
snow peas
radish bunch
bunch swiss chard

herbs: dill, lavender, oregano, summer and winter savory, mint.

New potatoes were freshly dug this morning. After some stellar help planting from my advisees at school, the plants are big, happy, and spudding right up. You'll notice your new potatoes are rather dirty-- the skins are super delicate and will rub off under gentle pressure. I bit into one raw this morning, and had a sudden realization why the french call them pomme de terre-- earth apples. They've got killer crisp! New potatoes are used just like regular potatoes. Remember to store them in the dark (a paper bag works great.)
Lettuce mix is a blend of four types of lettuce and nasturtium leaves for some peppery zing and nice color. If your lettuce looks flat before serving, you can always soak it in a bowl of the coldest tap water you've got. LOTS of garlic scapes this week-- the end! We're at the end of the season for scapes, so they need a bit more cooking to soften them up. I'll suggest again making garlic scape pesto as it holds beautifully in the fridge and is outstanding with a cheese plate. Like basil pesto, it freezes well. Scape pesto just substitutes scapes for the basil; I also only use half the amount of pine nuts that the recipe calls for, as they're a little pricey. For the other half I substitute in sunflower seeds.

Your summer squash is the first harvest of the season. Three types: pattypan (shaped like flying saucers/sunbursts), yellow crookneck, and costata romanesco zucchini. They're all harvested small before the seeds fully develop to keep the flavor potent, and flesh firm. I think the costata romanesco (green) has the most squashy/blossomy/sunny/summery aroma and flavor-- what are your thoughts?

I love cutting the pattypan laterally so the slices maintain the pinked edges... and are awesome baked on a greased tray with a dollop of scape pesto on top.

So many sugar snap peas (full-sized shares get 1.25 lbs!) They are awesome to have in excess since they're just oh-so-snackable. I'm a big fan of the Soy Vey teriyaki marinade as a dipping sauce (available at our very own Shaw's) or as a base for stir fry. It's got a very potent flavor, and it's magic for making fresh peas disappear... You can also blanche and freeze peas by boiling for a few minutes then rapid-cooling them by dunking into ice-cold water. You can, of course, shell the fattier pods for little sugar-bomb, naked peas. This especially great if you've got little people (or relatives in town for the holiday) who need a task!

Swiss chard is great cooked, steamed, or chopped and added raw to your salad mix!

I've been making lots of omlettes-- which open up the category of entirely-local food. We used to do breakfast for dinner as a family a lot when I was a kid, and I'm having fun bringing that back, especially using lots of fresh herbs (dill, the savories, thyme...)

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!