This week’s box included: Tomatoes, onion, garlic, kirby cucumbers, salad cucumbers, bell pepper, long peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, sweet corn, eggplant, cantaloupe (or yellow-skin watermelon), green beans.
Conne is on vacation this week, so this is Suzanne pinch hitting.
Summer cornucopia in the box this week! I’m excited to dig in on this one, especially since we just returned from being out of town. The eggplant and corn are my priorities for cooking this week. I’m looking forward to making the bartaco street corn recipe that Conne shared last week. Any leftover corn will go into a refreshing black bean, corn, and sweet pepper salad later in the week, topped with some protein.
The green beans and peppers are among my favorites to freeze if they don’t get eaten fresh while they’re still juicy and crisp. To freeze, cut to your liking and tuck them into the freezer on top of a piece of waxed or parchment paper on a baking sheet. Once frozen solid, transfer into a ziploc for longer term storage.
The tomatoes in my box were r-i-p-e. If yours are too, Conne has some great fresh tomato processing tips for dealing with the fruits that get bumped during the delivery process. Mine are headed for this Speedy Summer Gazpacho recipe. When I want to go over-the-top, I roast the garlic first, hopefully while I’ve got a grill going for something else. Last year when tomatoes started backing up, I grilled the tomato surplus too, freezing the chopped tomatoes in a muffin tin to create portions for flavoring pots of dried beans over the winter. Fingers crossed that magic happens again later this summer. And that I get a tip on the hatch chili sale at Kroger again.
The eggplant will be enjoyed this week. Confession: it’s not my family’s favorite. (That and squash!) I’m hoping they’ll enjoy Barbequed Eggplant with Miso Glaze, since they loved cauliflower with miso glaze so much. Conne’s recipes are always winners. I’m also going to try the Shaved Squash and Pecorino Salad recipe she shared a couple of weeks ago.
Finally, we devour one of these “real” greek salads every summer, from Cooks Illustrated. Their onion treatment kills any bitter onion vapors, and is especially tasty if you start with sweet onions. I’ll be using a couple of the salad cucumbers in it, a yellow onion instead of red, and subbing fresh mozzarella for the feta which we don’t have on hand at the moment. With corn on the cob and fresh melon, happy summer dinner!
Real Greek Salad (Horiatiki Salata)
1 ¾ pounds tomatoes, cored
1 ¼ teaspoons table salt, divided
½ red onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon pepper
1 English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut into ¾-inche chunks
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 2 by ½ -inch strips
1 cup pitted kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 (8-ounce) block feta cheese, sliced into ½-inthick triangles
- Cut tomatoes into ½-inch thick wedges. Cut wedges in half crosswise. Toss tomatoes and ½ teaspoon salt together in colander set in a large bowl. Let drain for 30 minutes. Place onion in small bowl, cover with ice water, and let sit for 15 minutes. Whisk vinegar, oregano, pepper, and remaining ¾ teaspoon salt together on second small bowl.
- Discard tomato juice and transfer tomatoes to now-empty bowl. Drain onion and add to bowl with tomatoes. Add vinegar mixture, cucumber, bell pepper, olives, and capers and toss to combine. Drizzle with ¼ cup oil and toss gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with feta and remaining 1 tablespoon oil.