This week’s box included: Okra, tomato, cherry tomato, onion, eggplant, Cucumbers (European-style seedless + Kirby), sweet peppers, hot peppers (in the bag), watermelon, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, field peas
Another box so heavy that you have to give huge thanks to those who deliver dozens and dozens of these boxes in the heat so we can enjoy such a bounty of melons – and our first spaghetti squash – and other summer vegetables. Thank you!
Don’t forget that the little bag of peppers means “hot!” We have hot pepper recipes under “Jalapenos” at grassfedcow.com. I haven’t decided what to do with ours yet.
I got a pitch the other day from a dietitian about the importance of staying hydrated and who was suggesting recipes so you could “eat your water.” We’re not doing anything with her recipes, but I liked the concept and for the first time (obviously, I’m slow) I made the connection between all these water-filled (and heavy) vegetables and fruits and why we crave them in the heat of summer. Some of her recipe ideas were a cucumber noodle bowl (seasoned spiralized cucumber noodles), a watermelon pizza (with a watermelon slice as the pizza crust) and Tomato Burgers with tomatoes acting as the bun. Maybe something in there will spark an idea for you?
Love getting field peas this week. And my lesson for the field peas is go ahead and cook them. Even if you want to stash them away in the freezer, cook them first. Last year I made the mistake of buying 10 pounds of field peas and just putting them in their quart bags right into the freezer. When I tried to cook them, there was nothing I could do to make them tender and edible. In fact, I ended up having to compost all 10 pounds. So – blanch those peas!
Next week the AJC will run a field pea recipe from C. Ellet’s. The chef there had excellent advice for cooking field peas. He cooks them with a bit of onion, celery and carrot – but no salt. When the peas are tender, he takes them off the heat, and adds salt, a teaspooon at a time, to the cooking liquid. When it’s salty, but not as salty as the sea, he leaves the peas to cool in the liquid. Then you taste them after 15 minutes to see if the peas have absorbed enough salt. No? Let them sit another 5 minutes and taste again. When they’re as seasoned as you like, drain them. Now you can heat them and serve hot, cool them complete and freeze, or make the cold salad they serve at C. Ellet’s with its sweet and tangy dressing. I can share that recipe after it publishes. But it was an eye opener for the best way to cook field peas. Sometimes those chefs really know what they’re doing.
In the meantime, try the field pea recipes at grassfedcow.com. At our house we’ll be eating the Roasted Okra, Tomatoes and Field Peas from Scott Peacock.
For our cucumbers this week, I’m going to make cucumber jelly. A friend who’s had a bounty of cucumbers in her garden told me about this Sweet and Tangy Cucumber Jelly recipe from “The Free Range Life” and I think there are enough cucumbers in this week’s box that I can get enough juice to make a batch. As the author says, “there are only so many pickles we can handle around here.” Also cucumber salads, cucumber sandwiches … we’ve enjoyed them all but I’m looking forward to doing something different.