Hot Pepper Sauce

I had a conversation with Jennifer Halicki about what to do with those cute little jalapenos. My suggestion was to do a very simple pickle, just putting the jalapenos in a jar (with or without stems) and cover them with vinegar. Leave them for a week or forever, they’ll keep indefinitely as long as you keep topping up the vinegar. This was the old Southern standby for making hot pepper vinegar to season fall and winter greens like turnips, collards and mustard. And it works fine with jalapenos.

Then just the other day I opened an email from Import Food, a company on the west coast that imports primarily food from Thailand. They offered a little more complex version of this peppered vinegar idea. They were recommending the Thai chiles they sell, but it would be just as delicious with your jalapenos or leftover cayenne peppers.

In their words: “Spice up your food with this simple, homemade heat. The combination of sour vinegar with hot Thai chiles is a common condiment in Thailand (called “nam som”), but this goes along great with American food too–especially southern favorites like collard greens, fried chicken, green tomatoes, etc.”

Turkish-Style Braised Green Beans

And I’ve been waiting to try this recipe that appeared in early August in the New York Times. So glad to see green beans in our box today.

Yes, you can lightly steam your green beans, but sometimes what you really want is a dish of beans that’s been slowly braised with wonderful aromatic companions. I grew up with a dish like this, served over rice pilaf. My mom added cubes of browned beef, but otherwise, this is pretty much her recipe.

Butternut Oyster Stew

On my mind right now are oysters – having just come home from one coast and headed to another in about a week. September brings the months with “r” back, so it’s time to be thinking oysters again. I think this is adapted from a recipe that actually came from Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

And how great is it to see that butternut squash in our box today? It may be the first of many to come, but what a blessing – a vegetable you can sock away in the pantry and pull out come January when we’re missing the delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables every week.

Bacon and Cashew Caramel Corn

First of all, I hear there’s great consternation and confusion about how to handle those beautiful ears of popcorn in your box. We got popcorn last year, and I gave it all to Marcia Killingsworth – your faithful photographer – because she loves popcorn so much. Come to discover today that she tried to take the kernels off the cob before popping them and gave it up as an impossible job. I’m guessing last year’s popcorn went to feed the squirrels in her neighborhood.

The good news is that I’m keeping all the popcorn in this box for me. Now I get to experiment with it. Everything I’ve read says cook it in your microwave – on the cob – in a bag. Same idea as microwave popcorn, but just on the cob and without the icky stuff I imagine impregnates those microwave popcorn bags. I remember hearing from some CSA members last year that popping the corn in a paper bag worked just fine.

I know there are some folks who have concerns over what’s in our paper bags these days – especially those made of recycled content. Bits of metal? Tiny pieces of plastic?

It’s actually my intention to try the popcorn in my Whirley Pop popcorn popper – the lightweight metal pan with a lid that folds back and a crank to turn a small metal arm that keeps the popcorn from hanging out too long on the bottom of the pan. I’ll probably have to break the cobs in half, but that seems easy enough to do.

Let us know how your popcorn turns out.

I’m so glad to see the popcorn because I’ve been saving this recipe just for its appearance. The aforementioned Ms. Killingsworth is a true fan of bacon. She might be willing to pop a little Riverview popcorn to make this recipe.

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This recipe comes from Denver restaurant Colt & Gray. Who can resist salty-sweet caramel corn studded with cashews and bits of bacon? The method of popping corn here would work fine with the whole cobs. Oolong is a lovely chef-y addition to the recipe, adding its bit of smoky flavor to the mix. Bacon and Cashew Caramel Corn balls for Halloween anyone?

Makes about 15 cups

Baked Chicken with Peppers

We’ll no doubt have peppers until frost, so here’s one more idea for what to do with them. Mix in a jalapeno or two if your household likes the heat. Did I mention that about 3 weeks ago I made cantaloupe-jalapeno preserves? I had seen a recipe for strawberry-jalapeno jam and I had this bowl of jalapenos just waiting for a use ….. turned out pretty well and I think we’ll be enjoying it on pork chops and tenderloin … chicken breasts …. grilled shrimp …. I can think of lots of uses.

Anyway, this chicken and pepper recipe came from Bertha’s Kitchen, a soul food restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s a reminder that a slow braise is a wonderful, fragrant thing.

Squash Pickles

I’m sorry I don’t remember the provenance of this last recipe, but it’s a fairly traditional way to make pickled squash. I can eat it by the pint. The directions are for processing the pickles in a boiling water bath. If you want to skip that step, just pack the pickles into jars after they’ve been heated in the vinegar, and seal them up. Let them cool and then keep the pickles in your refrigerator. They should keep about 2 months without processing but they have to be refrigerated. The recipe also says to wait a month before eating, but I don’t generally have that much patience. They’re really fine right away.

Makes 4 pints