These amazing Sweet Peppers are now rolling in! They really sing Summer to us. .
They are better than red and orange bell peppers, and they make their way into salads, salsa, sandwiches, tacos, burritos, snack plates, wraps, roasted vegetable side dishes, potato salads, pasta salads, and our Roasted Pepper and Onion Bread, which makes its 2018 debut at markets this Saturday. (Visit us at the Brandermill Green Market or the Farmer’s Market @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.)
Tomatoes are also finally rolling in nice abundance! Visit our FarmStand or either market this weekend. Look at our tomatoes in a customer’s Caprese Salad!
It’s the time to savor all the vegetables with seeds inside of them: Okra, Golden Zucchini, Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes….they are all at their peak this month.
This is what our Okra looks like, sliced and ready to roast:
These Golden Zucchinis are real show-stoppers, and have a gorgeous hue inside of them when sliced. Tender and tasty, we suggest marinating and grilling.
For our Farm Share CSA members, we hauled in Watermelons this week!
We prefer this yellow fleshed variety, and it’s delicious.
Salad Mix gets much harder to grow in July and August, but we still have some, and are working hard at keeping greens alive to harvest next month.
Saturday’s Farm Share will likely include:
Potatoes, Tomatoes, Salad Mix, Onions, Garlic, Okra, Sweet Peppers, and hopefully a Watermelon for everyone!
Vegetable Notes & Recipe Suggestions…also cataloged on our Recipe Page and see our Pinterest Page
Eggplant – This is a commonly misunderstood vegetable. Meaning, many don’t understand how to best enjoy it. All pick up locations will be getting some eggplant over the next two months, but not a lot. We don’t grow very much of it because we’ve seen it to be not as popular as other vegetables, and we grow untraditional varieties that we have found to be most delicious. It doesn’t have a strong flavor on its own, so combining it with the right sauce or spices is critical. One of our amazing work-share members made this Baba Ganoush recipe for us last week with our eggplant. It is garlicky and delicious, and you can adjust the garlic up or down according to your preference. Some of our eggplant are miniature varieties. Slice them in half length-wise and roast or grill. Then scoop out the cooked innards and process into this dip. Pro tip: Kids will often eat vegetables that are made into a dip! See this Baba Ganoush recipe for instructions about how to broil rounds of eggplant instead of grilling it. You don’t need to over think this. Just get the eggplant “meat” cooked, then blend it with tahini and other ingredients to make a crowd-pleasing dip. We also love eggplant roasted (in slices of our round variety, or halved miniature eggplants) and then topped with either Balsamic Glaze or Tahini Sauce.
Okra – (in Farm Share boxes this weekend) This vegetables is also often feared and misunderstood. We are growing a new variety this year that we really love. It’s tender (not woody) even at 12-15 inches long! And it has less goo inside than other varieties. Try it as Grilled Okra, Roasted Okra, Crunchy Oven Fried Okra, Pickled Okra, or enjoy it in a Vegetable Curry recipe: just choose your favorite jar of prepared curry sauce (or make your own) and add in a bunch of chopped vegetables, including okra and tomatoes, peppers, squash, and simmer. Serve with protein and carb of choice. We encourage you to try this veggie if you don’t know it or even if you’ve previously thought you didn’t like it. BUT if you are completely opposed to it and don’t want to give it to a friend, you are welcome to leave it in a white crate at the pick up site.
Summer Squash – We had forgotten about Summer Squash Fritters this summer until last weekend! They are so good! Even our squash-protesting kids ate them with smiles. Green or yellow, summer squash or zucchini, treat them all the same for making Fritters like these. They take some time to make, but we like to set aside time on the weekend for cooking longer dishes like this.
Sweet Peppers – Oh my these are such a staple of our summer. We serve a plate of them sliced with any dinner. We dice them for our Tomato-Relish-Salad recipe that we shared last week. We roast them and build sandwiches/subs with them as one of the toppings. Our kids made a lunch today of peppers sauteed with onions and served with rice. We grow bull-horn shaped peppers because they taste better AND grow better under organic conditions than the bell-shaped peppers we’ve tried. Think of them like red and orange bell peppers.
Chard – Slice into thin ribbons and saute with onions and fat or broth of your choice. Salt at the very end to encourage caramelization of the onions. Serve with eggs or protein of your choice. Think of this vegetable like Spinach.
Potatoes – We don’t grow many, but we think the ones we grow are extra delicious. Most of this year’s potatoes are Purple. Our favorite way to prepare is to dice into large 1-inch-ish chunks, toss with oil, salt, and pepper, and roast in the oven at 400 degrees, 20-25 minutes, or different depending on the size of your potato pieces.
Watermelon – We will say nothing about this, except that we prefer to grow yellow-fleshed watermelon because it’s yummier, and keep your fingers crossed!
{our purple potatoes look like this:}
STORAGE TIPS –
Bulb Onions – We are now giving you onions that we have dried. You can keep them in the fridge but they prefer a cool, dry, dark pantry. They aren’t long-storing onions, so use them within a week or two.
Eggplant – These can handle being at room temp for a couple of days, and they can handle fridge temp. They don’t have a very long shelf life, so use within a few days of receiving.
Sweet Peppers – They can be at room temp for a couple of days but are best refrigerated, bag or sealed container.
Watermelon – Fridge is best for a cold and refreshing melon! But it can handle room temp for a couple of days.
Garlic – Garlic prefers dry and dark. It’s best kept in a mesh bag or basket in a dark pantry. But the Farm Share will include a bulb each week for the next few weeks, so you don’t need to store each bulb for very long.
Our harvest for Saturday’s farmers’ markets will include:
Rainbow Chard, Cucumbers, Fairy Tale Eggplant, Italian Eggplant (Beatrice), Garlic, Okra, Onions, Sweet Peppers, Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Tomatoes…and our Organic Hearth Baked Bread (Roasted Pepper & Onion, Whole Rye, Raisin, & Seed loaves for this weekend) and Tomato Chutney.
{Our farmstand is open Thurs & Friday with most of the above items…see here for updated inventory}
Anything remaining after CSA shares are distributed and our farm stand is shopped (plus the bread we bake Saturday morning)… we’ll bring on Saturday to the Brandermill Green Market or the Farmer’s Market @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the West End of Richmond. Keep an eye on what we have available via the online farmers’ markets: FallLineFarms.com and Local Roots Food Coop.
~Market Share CSA member? You’re likely looking for this link here.
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
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