CSA, week 15
The tomatoes are definitely in. Last week's beefsteak was underwhelming -- big & red, but not luscious. This week's is Soldaki, a Russian heirloom; we'll see. The cherry tomatoes, though, are fantastic. Last week was a bag of yellows; this week is a bag of reds (pretty large, almost ping-pong ball size) and yellows (two kinds, a smallish true-yellow variety and a slightly larger one with an orangey cast). The newsletter says the reds are Tommy Toes and the yellows are Sun Sugars (the other variety, whichever it is, must have come in too late for the newsletter). Grab a handful and pop 'em for a snack -- or last night we rolled some around in pesto/oil/vinegar as a dinner side. Oh, yum.
Potatoes continue to arrive, to my surprise; and continue to be good, which we've come to expect. What's fun is that the last couple of weeks there have been two or three varieties mixed up in the bag -- so I pull them out randomly and get a mix of red & brown with white & yellow flesh. They're all waxy, but the whites generally more so. We've been going Indian with them this past week -- curried potatoes & peas, chicken-and-veg korma. They'd be great scalloped, but the lead time is too much for a weeknight. Maybe on Sunday.
There's another eight-ball zucchini this week; thank God it's (a little) smaller than the last, and there are two of us to eat it. The last one had quite a volume of seeds and placenta (and surprisingly dry & fluffy for such a juicy vegetable), so I'm optimistic that we can get thru this one without too much struggle.
There's also another squash looks like a small Delicata; I've only ever seen them as winter squash, although apparently if you harvest them small and shiny they can be treated as summer squash.
There's only one cuke, and it's large and knobbly; I'm thinking we're reaching the end of this crop.
More tomatillos! More chile verde! Oh, baby.
More basil! A smaller bunch, maybe not enough to em-pesto. I seem to have a permanent brown stain under my right thumbnail from pinching off basil leaves last week, but it's worth it.
And some more of the cute little onions. They're not babies or on stems, just picked young -- golf ball sized, although more elongated. Since it's hard to find onions smaller than a baseball at most markets, these are a welcome scale for two-person cooking.
Potatoes continue to arrive, to my surprise; and continue to be good, which we've come to expect. What's fun is that the last couple of weeks there have been two or three varieties mixed up in the bag -- so I pull them out randomly and get a mix of red & brown with white & yellow flesh. They're all waxy, but the whites generally more so. We've been going Indian with them this past week -- curried potatoes & peas, chicken-and-veg korma. They'd be great scalloped, but the lead time is too much for a weeknight. Maybe on Sunday.
There's another eight-ball zucchini this week; thank God it's (a little) smaller than the last, and there are two of us to eat it. The last one had quite a volume of seeds and placenta (and surprisingly dry & fluffy for such a juicy vegetable), so I'm optimistic that we can get thru this one without too much struggle.
There's also another squash looks like a small Delicata; I've only ever seen them as winter squash, although apparently if you harvest them small and shiny they can be treated as summer squash.
There's only one cuke, and it's large and knobbly; I'm thinking we're reaching the end of this crop.
More tomatillos! More chile verde! Oh, baby.
More basil! A smaller bunch, maybe not enough to em-pesto. I seem to have a permanent brown stain under my right thumbnail from pinching off basil leaves last week, but it's worth it.
And some more of the cute little onions. They're not babies or on stems, just picked young -- golf ball sized, although more elongated. Since it's hard to find onions smaller than a baseball at most markets, these are a welcome scale for two-person cooking.