Week #17, Sept 7 2017

Bok choy, 1 head
Red potatoes, ~ 3.3 lb
Globe eggplant, 1 or 2
Green or red leaf lettuce
Slicing tomatoes, ~5 lb
Bell or Orano peppers, ~2 (or 3 if small)
Zucchini/squash, maybe 1.5 lb
Cucumber, ~1
Yellow onion
Anaheim chile, 1
Garlic
A few sites get one heirloom tomato per box.
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Next week’s box will probably contain tomatoes, peppers, leeks, lettuce, beans, some kind of green and more.
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Bok choy (large rosette with thick white stems and green leaves) – This Asian green is good for stir-frying or sautéing or in soup.  You can think of the stems and leaves as two separate vegetables.  The stems require longer cooking.  The leaves will cook almost as quickly as spinach.  Bok choy stores well, so feel free to pull off leaves as you need them, or use the whole head at once.  Refrigerate in a plastic bag.
Red potatoes – These Red Norland potatoes are from our friends at Driftless Organics.
Yellow onion – This week’s onion is an intermediate type.  They are not very pungent but not as mild as a Walla Walla.  They are fairly moist but you can brown them successfully.
Heirloom tomatoes (ONLY AT SOME SITES; a large tomato that’s not in the paper bag with the other tomatoes) – We will rotate heirloom tomatoes among the sites as they ripen.  Heirloom tomatoes are full-flavored but delicate.  If you receive one this week, please handle it very gently, as these fragile beauties bruise easily.  Some are delivered ripe, some need to ripen at room temperature for a day or two.  Plan to eat your heirloom as soon as it is ripe.  FYI, we did not wash the heirlooms this week, in an effort to minimize handling and bruising.  Just give it a gentle wash when you are ready to eat it.
Anaheim chiles (MEDIUM HEAT, long slender peppers, red or green) – Anaheims usually have medium spiciness although it varies from pepper to pepper.  As usual, the heat is concentrated in the seeds and midveins.  Remove the seeds and midveins is to lessen the chili’s heat.  Anaheims are easily mistaken for Italian frying peppers. We never send them in the same box for that reason. Keep this in mind if you have peppers left over from previous weeks.
The only slender green or red peppers in your box this are spicy Anaheims.  Slender orange peppers are sweet Oranos.  Bell peppers this week are blocky and could be green, red, yellow, orange or purple.  Everyone gets two sweet peppers this week (or three if they are small).  Everyone also gets one Anaheim.

RECIPE LOG

Visit our Recipe Log, a list of all our 2017 recipes to date.

LOCAL TIME RECIPES

COMFORTING CLASSICS
Fresh Marinara
Korean Style Bok Choy Fried Rice
Zucchini, Tomato and Eggplant Tian
Potato and Sweet Pepper SM-Hash with Smoked Salmon or Trout and Poached Eggs
From earlier this year: Ratatouille Provencal

OUTSIDE THE BOX
Charred 2 Pepper and Tomato Salsa
Bok Choy Kimchi
Rigatoni with Roasted Eggplant, Capers and Anchovies
Summer Squash, Potato and Tomato Tagine

QUICK AND EASY MEAL
Salad with Tuna, Olives, Cucumbers, and Onion Vinaigrette

RECIPES FROM LAUREN

FARM STAND QUINOA BOWL
Adapted from my farming buddy Andrea Bemis. Lauren
Takes 1 hour
Serves 4-6

2 cups cooked quinoa (or grain of your choice)
1 anaheim chili, seeded and diced
1 bell pepper or 2 orano peppers, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound zucchini, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 Expression onion, sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds tomatoes, cored and sliced
15-ounce chickpea
1 teaspoon paprika

Tahini Dressing:
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cook your quinoa (or grain of your choice). I always follow these directions for perfect results.†Once cooked, add diced peppers and set to the side.
3. On a large baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add zucchini and onion to pan and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes. Move veggies to one side of the pan and add sliced tomatoes to the other. Season with salt and pepper. Roast 25 more minutes. At this point, veggies should begin to look charred. If not, turn on the broiler and cook 5-10 more minutes.
4. Meanwhile, while the veggies cook, heat remaining olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add chickpeas and 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt. Cook for 15 minutes until chickpeas are golden brown and crispy. Remove to paper towel to drain grease and then toss with paprika.
5. Prepare the dressing by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and whisking until smooth.
6. To serve, scoop quinoa into large bowls. Top with roasted veggies and drizzle with dressing. Add crispy chickpeas just before serving.

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PAN-FRIED EGGPLANT with BUTTERMILK DRESSING
Adapted ever so slightly from Bon Appetit.  Lauren
Takes 30 minutes
Serves 2-4

1 eggplant, quartered and cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
1 cucumber, seeded, quartered and sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 lemon zest
2 avocados, cup into 1/2-inch slices

Buttermilk Dressing:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 Expession onion, diced
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons yogurt
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Begin with the dressing. In a large, heavy saucepan (use a cast-iron skillet if you have it!) heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and saute gently for 5-7 minutes for until the onions begin to be charred (and smell almost burnt). Sprinkle generously with Kosher salt and remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, combine yogurt with vinegar, honey, mustard and garlic. Whisk until smooth then add sauteed onion. Stir in olive oil and set aside to marinate.
3. In the same large pan you cooked the onions in, heat two tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. Add half the eggplant in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes without moving until browned. Use tongs to flip and cook 2 minutes longer. Remove to a large bowl. Add remaining olive oil to pan and repeat browning with remaining eggplant.
4. Add cucumbers followed by lemon juice and lemon zest. Gently fold in avocado.**
5. Transfer to a platter and drizzle with dressing. Enjoy at room temperature (with a grilled pork chop if you’re anything like me).**

**If you aren’t planning to eat all the salad in this one sitting, place as much avocado as you plan to use on a platter and top with proportionate amounts of salad. Drizzle with dressing.
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