snap peas – Harmonious Belly

July 21, 2011

Hellgate CSA Week 6

csa week 6 collage — Week 6 share from our CSA

This week in our CSA we moved full force into stone fruit season – yum. Nectarines and peaches made their debut, which made me really happy. There’s also lots of green stuff this week. We got:

1 bag of snap peas
1/2 pound of zucchini
1/2 pound of cucumbers
1 head of lettuce
1 pound of wax beans
1 bunch of spring onions
1 bunch of sorrel
1 pound of yellow plums
2 pounds of nectarines
2 pounds peaches
5 apples

I’ve already eaten the lettuce head. A recipe for a lettuce and mint soup arrived in my inbox, so I tried it. I must admit, it’s only ok. But ok enough to continue eating it over the next few days. I like drinking it out of a mug. I was able to use the onion heads in it, too. I also made a simple salad of chopped cucumber and onion in sherry vinegar and olive oil, with some hot peppers added.

I may pickle the snap peas again, and perhaps even make lacto-fermented dilly beans with the beans. Or saute them with garlic and ginger for dinner this week.

The peaches have been great in raw yogurt, and the plums are awesome for simply snacking on.

The way life has been moving at this point in my life, summer really will be over in the blink of an eye. Hard to believe we’re already at mid-July. September is just around the corner. I plan to enjoy the high summer bounty as long as possible and really savor it.

July 13, 2011

Hellgate CSA Week 5

This week we resumed receiving CSA shares (last week there was no delivery due to the Independence Day holiday). The biggest surprise was a pint of cherry tomatoes in our fruit share! All in all, we received:

1 pound of fava beans
1 bunch of fennel
1 bag of snap peas
1 head of lettuce
1 bunch of swiss chard (broccoli rabe was another choice)
two apples
2 pounds of yellow plums
1 quart of sour cherries

I’ve already eaten a lot of this. The tomatoes are gone – last night I cooked half them with two of the zucchinis in olive oils and garlic, plus fresh herbs from my deck. Today I had them in a raw salad with more zucchini. The favas were sauteed in olive oil with garlic at the end and topped with a little fleur de sel.

The sour cherries will become cherry liqueur and hot cherry preserves. As I write this the cherries are macerating with dried peppers, vanilla bean, and sugar for preserves, and the liqueur is coming to be with cherries and sugar sitting in rum and vodka.

I may make a plum syrup with any of the plums we don’t eat simply out of hand.

Let me tell you – it is so great to have the veggies and fruit back!

June 30, 2011

Hellgate CSA Week 4

This week was a lighter week, with only four things in our share. We got:

1 head green leaf lettuce
1 head mustard greens
1 bunch beets with beautiful greens
1 bag of snap peas

There was an herb share this week, but I don’t partake in that. Our fruit share is on hold for a couple of weeks because this week the harvest was iffy and next week is July 4 holiday week and we won’t have a delivery from anyone that day. I’m really looking forward to more fruit.

In my head, I’ve been formulating a recipe for the mustard greens. Stay tuned for that.

Our CSA canning workshop went great! The CSA strawberries used made amazing preserves. More on that soon…

June 23, 2011June 22, 2011

Hellgate CSA Week 3

CSA week 3 collage — Our third share of the season

This week’s superstar element in the CSA share was the two quarts of strawberries from Hepworth Farms – they are spectacular. Wonderful strawberry flavor and the texture is fantastic. Firm yet silky. We also got apples in our fruit share, which was a surprise, but shouldn’t have been – Hepworth Farms grows something like 40 different kinds of apples on their land in Milton, NY.

For the vegetable share, we also got:

1 HUGE head of green leaf lettuce (we are overwhelmed with greens)
1 bunch swiss chard
1 larger bag of snap peas
1 bunch of lavender (smells amazing)
1 pint of strawberries

All told, we received 10 cups of strawberries. Just… wow. I love this time of year!

More exciting news – next week I’ll be hosting at my apartment a canning workshop for my CSA, taught by my friend and fellow core group member AJ. He’ll be teaching us how to can strawberry lemon preserves, as well as teaching basic water bath canning best practices. It should be awesome.

June 15, 2011June 14, 2011

Hellgate CSA Week 2

This was Hellgate CSA‘s second week and we got another terrific share. Our vegetable share consisted of:

1 bunch of very aromatic savory (I love the smell!)
1 head of lettuce
1 bag of sugar snap peas
1 small bag of asparagus
1 quart of fantastic strawberries

I plan to eat a large salad on Thursday, combining the savory, the lettuce I got from the CSA, and my own lettuces growing out back. That and the arugula have just exploded in the past week:

overgrown lettuces and arugula — Lettuce and arugula have exploded

Asparagus will be delicious with eggs, and the strawberries will likely be gone in a day or two. Too bad, as I have some raw cream in my future that will be in my hands a few days after these berries are gone. Here’s hoping more strawberries come next weekend so that I can enjoy these two treasures together.

So far, so good. Everything has been gorgeous and delicious!