-PICK LIST-
Carrots - Shishito Peppers - Eggplant - Potatoes -
Carmen Peppers- Cherry/Red/Heirloom Tomatoes - Kale
True signs of Fall this week! First and foremost, we began the winter squash harvest. We will mostly likely be picking up pumpkins, gourds, butternut, acorn, hubbard, etc for the next week or so. Also on the horizon is the great 2019 potato harvest!! On Monday, Mike, Ray, and Hobbes dusted off the old potato digger and brought it from our spot in Cornish, to the home farm on River Road. The harvester is quite the massive orange beast. When parked and under cover, it becomes a questionably safe jungle gym standing 100 feet tall (obviously I exaggerate, but still it’s huge). However living in our barn and acting as a massive toy for our 3 year old is not what this machine is built for (sorry kid). Off to the fields it will go, scooping up every bit of potato in its tracks- pretty impressive and a far cry from hand digging. In other field crew news, Ramone got a tattoo on Sunday and is supposed to keep it clean… while digging and sorting potatoes (how?). Also, we missed Jasper’s Birthday but celebrated it extra hard the next day with Chinese food and the traditional ice-cream cake. And lastly, I pulled the first sweet potatoes from the field, roasted them and heads up Fall CSAers, they are perfection.
TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES:
Blistered Shishito Peppers
(fave recipe alert)
This blistered shishito peppers recipe couldn't be easier to make. Don't be shy with the salt though.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups whole shishito peppers or Padrón chiles
Flaky sea salt
ingredient info
Fresh shishito peppers are available at some farmers’ markets and at Japanese markets.
RECIPE PREPARATION
Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook peppers, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately.
Tuscan Kale Chips
(THIS RECIPE WAS ALL THE RAGE IN 2012, LET’S BRING IT BACK PEOPLE!!)
Walk away from the vending machine—and let these crunchy kale chips satisfy any strong snack cravings you have on slow weekday afternoons.
12 large Tuscan kale leaves, rinsed, dried, cut lengthwise in half, center ribs and stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 250°F. Toss kale with oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange leaves in single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until crisp, about 30 minutes for flat leaves and up to 33 minutes for wrinkled leaves. Transfer leaves to rack to cool.
Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan
SERVINGS: 2 TO 4
If you’d like to make your own tomato sauce, here’s how I do it: Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pot over medium, add 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and a pinch or three of red pepper flakes, and a little dried oregano, if you wish. Cook for one minute. Grate any and all tomatoes you have in your kitchen into your pan (it will splatter, be careful) and stir. Cook at a simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until you get the saucy consistency you want.
2 medium eggplants (about 3/4-pound each); use more if fairytale (small) eggplants
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 pound ground sausage meat (I use mild Italian pork or chicken)
1 1/2 cups tomato marinara sauce, prepared (use your favorite brand or the recipe in Notes)
1 handful fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons panko-style breadcrumbs
6 ounces (about 1 1/3 cups) low-moisture mozzarella, coarsely grated, divided
2 ounces (about 1/2 cup) finely grated parmesan, divided
Prepare your eggplant: Heat oven to 400°F. Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise. Use a paring knife to outline a 1/2-inch border all around the eggplant half, then use a spoon or melon baller to remove the eggplant flesh, being sure not to cut through the bottom as you create boats out of the eggplant halves. Rub each half with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange halves cut sides up in a lasagna pan, 9×13-inch baking dish, or 3-quart casserole dish and roast until eggplant is tender and browned at edges, about 25 to 30 minutes. Leave oven on.
Make the filling: While the eggplant roasts, prepare the filling. Chop the scooped-out eggplant flesh into about 1/2-inch chunks and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add sausage meat and use your spoon to break it up and cook it just until no longer pink, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add chopped eggplant, season the mixture well with salt and black pepper, and cook, stirring as needed, until eggplant is soft and wants to stick to the pan, about 7 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of prepared marinara sauce and a bit of the basil and warm through. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Remove from heat and mix in half the mozzarella and parmesan.
Assemble and finish: When eggplant boats are soft, remove them briefly from their dish and pour remaining 1 cup prepared marinara sauce in the bottom and stir remaining basil into it. Arrange eggplant boats back in dish and stuff them with as much filling as you can (you’ll probably have a little extra which can be baked in a smaller dish). Sprinkle stuffed eggplants with remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil and pinch of salt over the breadcrumbs and stir to evenly coat the crumbs, then sprinkle them over the cheese.
Bake stuffed eggplants for 10 minutes, just to marry the flavors, and then run under your broiler until brown and blistered on top, anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how robust your oven is.
Serve: Let eggplant rest for 5 minutes before serving, spooning some extra sauce from the pan over each.
Do ahead: You can assemble this dish up to two days before baking it, and it also reheats well, keeping in the fridge for 2 to 4 days (the smaller length of time if you assembled it two days earlier). I haven’t frozen this dish but expect it to freeze well.