Hellgate CSA Week 18

CSA Week 18

This week we still got what I think of as a summer-fall hybrid. Summer veggies like tomatoes, peppers, beans, and eggplant, then fall veggies like asian greens and beets, plus classic fall fruits like apples and pears. We also got some prune plums, which are beautiful. Well, everything is beautiful. We got:

1 pint mini tomatoes
1.5 small beets
1 pound green beans
.5 pounds eggplant
1 bunch asian greens
1.5 pounds sweet peppers
2 pounds pears
1 pound mutsu apples
1 pound yellow delicious apples

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Hellgate CSA Week 17

hellgate week 17 collage

This past week was a comparatively small share. We’re still seeing summer vegetables – tomatoes and green beans – and the onslaught of fall apples and pears is upon us. Good thing I like apples and pears!

We got:

1 bunch of mizuna
2 pounds tomatoes (not pictured)
1 bunch carrots
1 bitter melon
1 butternut squash
1 pound green beans
2 pounds bosc pears
2 pounds honeycrisp apples
1 pound empire apples

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Hellgate CSA Week 16

CSA Week 16 collage

This is week 16 of the CSA – that means we’ve been at this for about four months! We did skip a week because of Independence Day, but still. Four months! Awesome.

Last week’s share didn’t get documented, mostly because of laziness (yes, it happens). However, I will tell you – we got corn! I froze the niblets for winter. We also got an acorn squash, some seckel pears, and it was the second week of tomato shares.

I ordered another 25 pound box of plum tomatoes, which I think were actually romas. I used part of that tomato share for my tomato dehydrating project. I used the rest to can crushed tomatoes – 11 pints! I can imagine a tasty winter soup of tomatoes, corn, peppers, and chicken, made with my delicious and nourishing chicken bone broth.

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Hellgate CSA Week 13

CSA Week 13
What we got this past week in our Hellgate CSA share

This week was marked by a huge fruit share – awesome. Summer veggies are still with us, but fall arrived with some amazing crispy apples and succulent pears. In total, we got:

2 pounds of tomatoes
1 eggplant
1 pound green beans
1 pound peppers
1 bunch leeks
1 head lettuce
1 pound plums
2 pounds peaches
1 pound nectarines
2 pounds apples
2 pounds pears

I’ve been enjoying the tomatoes in quesadillas, with patties of turkey sausage (from the CSA), and I’ve also eaten them with the eggplant and peppers for a delicious saute (punctuated with home grown basil). I’ve been snacking on the apples and pears. The nectarines turned into a fruit crisp, the recipe for which I’ll post next week – it’s all naturally sweetened, with sprouted flour in place of the white flour.

I may end up making another shrub with last week’s peaches – needless to say, things got crazy last week, so no Week 12 will be posted.

Here’s to continued good eating!

Hellgate CSA Week 11

Collage Week 11
Week 11 in our CSA

This past week brought us many delicious vegetables and fruit. We got:

1 pound japanese eggplants
2 pounds tomatoes
1 bunch leeks
1 head lettuce
1 pound summer squash
1 pound green beans
2 pounds apples
1 pound nectarines
1 watermelon (missing)

Sad news about the watermelon – it kind of died. Hard to describe, but it was very sad. I’ve also been on an apples and peanut butter kick, which is a terrific, satisfying snack.

The tomatoes went into tomato jam. Everything else has been eaten as is, sauteed and such together – all these summer veggies go so well together! Except the lettuce, which is languishing in the fridge. So much lettuce.

Fagioli Con Limone – Amazing Green Beans

green beans in egg lemon sauce

We got summer’s first green beans in our CSA share last week; we tend to get a lot of green beans (and purple beans and yellow beans) in our share each season.  Sadly, wasting them – meaning, letting them rot in the fridge – inevitably happens because we get so, so many each summer.  This year, I’m determined to not waste any.

There are some simple and delicious ways out there to cook green beans: sautéing them with garlic, ginger, and a little naturally fermented soy sauce, topped with Sriracha; incorporating them into omelet; and simply eating them raw in salads.

But I have one way to cook them that makes them really special; it elevates the simple green bean to something truly amazing.

boiling beans

I discovered this method several years ago, and rediscovered it while perusing my cookbooks last week.  After making it mid-week, I was reminded why I love this dish – it holds a wonderful combination of summery, earthy green flavors lent by the beans in a silky lemony egg sauce, almost like they are in a warm lemony aioli.  The green beans also take on my favorite texture – fork tender. It’s really easy to make, too.  And it’s full of good fat and protein from the pastured eggs and butter.

beans and lemon egg mixture

I find it’s easy to down a half pound of beans when cooked like this.  In fact, I had to restrain myself from eating them all the other night, so that I could save some for lunch the next day. They were terrific as leftovers.

I’ll be making this all summer, I believe.  I doubt there will be any wasted green beans, too!

Fagioli Con Limone
from The Vegetarian Table: Italy

1/2 pound string beans, ends trimmed, preferably organic
2 tsp kosher salt or coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
1 tbs unsalted butter (I used raw butter)
2 small eggs, preferably pastured
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (not from a bottle)
grated zest of 1/2 small lemon
freshly milled black pepper

In a saucepan bring enough water to cover the beans generously to a rolling boil. Add the beans and 2 tsp salt. Cook until tender, 6-7 minutes, then drain well.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the drained beans to the butter, toss to coat, and cover the pan to keep them hot. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and then beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper to taste. Add the egg mixture to the hot beans and stir quickly with a wooden spoon. To prevent the eggs from curdling, keep the pot over the lowest possible heat, or place a flame tamer over the burner. As soon as the sauce thickens, remove the pot from the flame.

Serve hot.

CSA Bounty – Week Six

CSA Bounty Week Six

This week we got a wonderful variety of vegetables in our veggie share, and some delicious stone fruit in the fruit share.  I decided to display them in a grid this time.  From top to bottom row, left to right:

lettuce, green beans, spring onions, carrots, cucumbers, plums, nectarines, peaches, mint.

I forgot to take a picture of the zucchini!  This week I got a large one, which I’ll use to put in zucchini muffins most likely.  The zucchini from last week went into zucchini fritters.  I’ll post about them at some point, after I tweak a few things.

distribution on a humid cool day

The weather was better than last week – not great, but better.  It was much cooler, thanks to thunderstorms that passed through this afternoon.  It’s still humid, though, and a heat wave is expected this weekend.  I have hopes that it won’t be as intense as last time.

I have plans to make a sorbet out of some of the stone fruit.  Perfect for hot weather!

Additionally, I got a chunk of chevre and some ground pastured beef.  Looking forward to having hamburgers tomorrow!

And finally, our dry bean and grain share was this week and the most striking thing was the oats.  I don’t think I’ve actually seen whole oats before.  They look perfect to sprout – I’ll have to look into a grain mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  Or, perhaps I will eat them as hot cereal.  I also came across a recipe for a sprouted oat milk, which is intriguing.