The plums are here!

Total time: 50 minutes

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1½ tablespoons plus 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ plus ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
12 plums, cut in half and pitted
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 well beaten egg
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
Vanilla ice cream, optional.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in center.

2. Thoroughly mix brown sugar, 1½ tablespoons flour, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ground ginger and candied ginger. Add to plums and mix well. Arrange, skin side up, in ungreased, deep 9-inch pie plate.

3. Combine remaining sugar, baking powder, flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in egg. Then, using hands, mix thoroughly to produce little particles. Sprinkle over plums.

4. Drizzle butter evenly over crumb mixture and bake 30 to 35 minutes. Crumble is done when top is browned and plums yield easily when pricked with cake tester. Remove from oven and cool.

5. Serve warm or refrigerate for up to two days or freeze well covered. If reheating, bring to room temperature then warm at 300 degrees. If desired, serve with ice cream.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Members Melisa and Denise sent in this recipe that uses A LOT of what we got this week.  Check it out!

I’ll admit up front that this recipe comes right off the back of a Near East Couscous box! We did however improvise a little.

Zesty Greek Couscous Salad:

1 package couscous (original plain)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 small)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 medium zucchini (or lovely CSA summer squash)

2 small cloves garlic

1/2 cup fresh basil cut into strips

1/3 cup green onions

3/4 cup feta cheese

1. prepare couscous according to package directions. we chose to use chicken stock

over water and left out butter/olive oil

2. here we improvised… and sauteed small cubes of zucchini (or CSA summer squash)

with small splash of olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic listed above

3. in large bowl, combine prepared couscous, lemon juice and olive oil. add

tomatoes, sauteed zucchini, basil and green onions. the recipe then says to chill

for 4 hours or overnight

4. serve over any of the great varieties of lettuce we’ve received in our CSA pick-ups

5. stir in feta cheese or sprinkle it right on top

**we also added almost a full can of white navy beans that were left over from another

meal. this addition mixed in nicely and made for a heartier salad. we didn’t wait

for the mixture to chill before eating and it was still delicious!

enjoy-

I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love parsley.  I have had a busy couple of weeks, so I needed something fast, but still satisfying.  I was inspired by Ana Costa’s scape recipe from a couple of weeks ago and I threw my remaining three scapes ( free bin score!) in with all the parsley in the fruit processor. I added a bunch of walnuts and some australian parmesan and oil.  I put it on some whole wheat pasta with fresh tomatoes.  It was kind of the perfect summer meal.  I still have some pesto in the fridge for the next time I need something fast.

Let us know what you are doing with your share.

I love getting scapes.  It’s such a quick season, but each year it reminds me of all the the good things to come (GARLIC!).  Two of our members shared what they have done with their scapes.

Ana Costa made a great pesto for her family

Add to you food processor:
12 garlic swirls
bunch of dill or basil or cilantro
1 cup toasted pecans or pinenuts or walnuts
3/4 grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil (or more, plus a little water to get to the consistency you like)
Toss with pasta!

Megan Hackett made a fabulous dip for her friends

Also in a food processor

4 scapes

2 cans white beans

s and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Puree

Let us know what you are doing with your share!

Another season is coming to an end.  I think we are all going to miss our Tuesday bounties.  I know this year, I enjoyed the CSA  more because I got to know so many of you.  Going to pick up is way more fun now that I know you better.  Thanks for sharing so many of your stories, recipes and ideas with us.  It is a beautiful community.

I have a bag of hot peppers in the fridge because I still haven’t gotten around to making that hot pepper jam.  But, at long last, I finally found out what all the fuss about kale chips was about.  They’re actually something 3 generations of my family will eat.

This year, I’m more content to have meals that are strictly vegetarian.  I’m learning to use and plan what to do with my share. Next year, l plan on doing even better with less waste.  And I look forward to getting to know even more of you.

Eat well.

The time has almost come to say goodbye for the winter.  It’s not easy, but the memories can live on throughout the year.  We want to warm you with them as you go into hibernation.  Tell us:

What was your favorite part of your CSA this year?  What was the best thing you made?  What did you really want to make only to find you waited too long and mold had set in?  What do you love about your pickup routine each week?  A word, a paragraph or a picture, send us your musings on this year for our end of the season wrap-up.

Earlier in the season, we got some radishes.  I’m just not that into radishes, but this year I was on a mission to use all that I got to the full potential.  I used them in salads - green, tuna and rice salads.  I kind of started to like them.  My friend in Vermont also got radishes from her CSA and told me about this radish top soup.   I was curious, but it was too late, no more radishes.  Until two weeks ago.  I got a small bunch of radishes, not enough to make the soup, but I didn’t use them and then last week in the free bin SCORE!  Radishes!  Loads of radishes!  I made the soup.  It was on one of the chilly fall nights last week.  I didn’t really know what to expect.  Well . . . it was perfect.  Cozy and comforting and a little bit like baby food.  And it was super simple.  I’m hoping for another score this week in the free bin.  I used the tops of four bunches.  Now I have plenty of radishes left over and a little bird told me I can roast them.  We’ll see.  I am going to make this soup again.  I’m hoping for another score this week in the free bin.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 medium red potatoes, diced
• 4 cups raw radish greens
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup milk
• 5 radishes, sliced

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion, and saute until tender.
2. Mix in potatoes and radish greens, coating them with butter.
3. Pour in chicken broth.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
5. Allow the soup mixture to cool slightly, and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth.
6. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Mix in the milk.
7. Cook and stir until well blended. Serve with radish slices.

This week check out member, Amy Plattsmier’s recipe that uses potatoes, parsnips and a food mill. Yum!

When my packrat husband, Jason, and I were slogging through the process of signing up for a wedding registry 10+ years ago, I nixed many items he wanted to include, one of them being a Williams Sonoma food mill. Not having any idea what a food mill was, I never gave the omission a second thought, that is, until I had a baby. All of the baby books with sections on making one’s own baby food extolled incessantly the virtues of the food mill, but still I stubbornly chose the back of a fork to mash freshly steamed squash or banana for my toothless child.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight was one of those nights when I came home from work and realized we have another delivery tomorrow, and I still had a fridge full of stuff from last week. Eek! Plus I also had a leftover container of takeout rice. (Why, you ask, did I order Chinese takeout the other day when I had a ton of CSA veggies sitting around? Because I’m a bad person, and very lazy.) But anyway, never fear, because fried rice came to the rescue! Here’s my recipe:

Heat some peanut or canola oil in a wok or frying pan. Add a clove of chopped garlic, a little grated ginger, and a chopped scallion, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the leftover rice, crumbing it with your fingers if it’s clumpy. Stir frequently for a few minutes, and then add some chopped veggies. I tossed in broccoli, eggplant, tatsoi, green bell pepper, and hot red pepper, but you can really improvise here. Cook until the veggies are tender but still crisp. I also like to add some egg in my fried rice, so I made a little hole in the middle of the rice/veggie mixture, cracked an egg in there, and scrambled it in. Then sprinkle on a splash of soy sauce, mix it all up a little more, and it’s done. You could also add tofu, chicken, or pork for protein instead of the egg. I should have taken a picture of this, but I was so hungry I just dug in and totally forgot. But trust me, it looked delicious (and tasted pretty good too).

So lately, we have been making some really amazing things with our CSA veggies, and mostly vegetarian dishes that can be served as main courses. With our CSA share, we have made fried red potatoes, a zucchini/pepper/eggplant “tart,” a tomato salad, and a tomato and eggplant pasta sauce made from scratch.

First, my husband, Chris, made this zucchini “tart” from the latest issue of Gourmet. In addition to the recipe which consists of sauteed zucchini, roasted onion and peppers (also from our CSA) layered with parmesan cheese, he threw in some sauteed eggplant (CSA) as well. It was wonderful over the course of several days as a side to various dishes we made. We ate it with fried red potatoes and a delicious tomato salad. The zucchini tart was also eaten for breakfast with toast and for another meal with some pate. Read the rest of this entry »