This week’s box included: Kirby cucumbers, okra, Italian sweet peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini (or yellow squash), cantaloupe, kabocha squash (it’s the orange orb), and watermelon. You can see a photo that can help with identification on our Facebook page or check out our weekly video on Instagram.
Need storage instructions? Visit our fruit & veggie home pages. Click on the pic and a new page opens with storage instructions and a list of recipes curated by Conne over the years.
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You’ve got to love that many weeks your Riverview CSA box contains a surprise. A yellow-skinned watermelon to fool you into thinking it’s a spaghetti squash? An adorable small kabocha squash (looks like a little pumpkin) to make you think it’s fall and you’re just imagining those temperatures in the 90s?
Were you as surprised as I was when I unpacked our box this afternoon? We don’t get kabocha squash often enough to have a section for them at grassfedcow.com but the butternut squash recipes (and there are dozens) provide lots of great ideas like maybe Browned Butternut Squash Couscous? Or Penne with Grilled Butternut Squash and Red Pepper? Or Spiced Lentil Salad with Butternut Squash?
Whatever you do … don’t do what I did last year. We received an adorable small pumpkin which I put on the counter amidst the bowls of potatoes and onions and heads of garlic that I always have on hand. I just wanted to admire it and think about cool fall weather. The pumpkin sat and sat and sat. Until it rotted. Oops!
I’ve got sandwiches on my mind and ran across the recipe below for Sabich Sandwiches (pita with eggplant, eggs, hummus and tahini) so I know exactly what I’ll do with my Italian eggplant. We didn’t get plum tomatoes, but the meaty slicer tomatoes will stand in just fine, especially with that first step of salting and straining off the resulting liquid.
And if you’re starting to run out of ideas for watermelon, how about the Spicy Watermelon Refresher below? I am very sorry to say that I have no idea where I found that recipe, but it will be perfect with that sandwich.
Sabich Sandwiches (Pitas With Eggplant, Eggs, Hummus, and Tahini)
From Seriouseats.com
2 plum tomatoes, cored and diced
Kosher salt
Olive oil or vegetable oil, for frying
3/4 pound Italian eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1/2 large seedless cucumber, diced
2 tablespoons fresh juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cored head cabbage, thinly shredded
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 fresh rounds pita bread, warmed and split just enough to form a pocket
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought hummus
1/2 cup homemade or store-bought tahini sauce (see recipe)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
Place tomatoes in a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and toss with a generous pinch of salt. Let stand 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches if necessary, fry eggplant slices, rotating for even browning and turning once halfway through, until golden on both sides and tender throughout, about 5 minutes; lower heat if oil begins to smoke. Transfer eggplant to a paper towel–lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
Transfer tomatoes to a medium bowl and discard drained liquid. Add cucumber, lemon juice, and parsley to tomatoes. Season Israeli salad with salt to taste and mix well.
In a medium bowl, toss cabbage with vinegar and season with salt.
In each pita pocket, smear 3 tablespoons of hummus in an even layer. Layer 2 to 3 slices fried eggplant on top of each. Drizzle each with 1 tablespoon tahini sauce, then top with sliced eggs, Israeli pickles, and remaining tahini sauce. Spoon some of the Israeli salad and seasoned cabbage into each pita, drizzle with amba, and serve.
Tahini Sauce
1 whole head garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves (about 20 cloves)
2/3 cup fresh juice from 3 to 4 lemons
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 generous cup tahini paste
Cold water
Kosher salt
Combine garlic and lemon juice in a blender. Pulse until a pulpy puree is formed, about 15 short pulses. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Press out as much liquid as you can with the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula, then discard solids. Add cumin and tahini paste to lemon/garlic juice and whisk to combine. The mixture will seize up and turn pasty. Add water a few tablespoons at a time, whisking in between each addition, until a smooth, light sauce is formed. The tahini sauce should very slowly lose its shape if you let ribbons of it drop from the whisk into the bowl. Season to taste with salt. Refrigerate for up to 1 1/2 weeks.
Spicy Watermelon Refresher
Prepare simple syrup by mixing equal parts granulated sugar and hot water and stirring until the sugar dissolve. If you don’t have a serrano pepper, any other hot pepper will do – or try some hot pepper flakes instead.
1/2 seeded and chopped serrano chile (about 1 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup simple syrup, or to taste
3 cups cubed seedless watermelon
3/4 cup tequila reposado
1 (12 oz.) can plain seltzer water
Garnish: salt for rim, chile slices, and watermelon wedges
Stir serrano chile into warm (freshly made) simple syrup. Cover and steep 30 minutes. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl; discard solids. Cool to room temperature, 1 hour.
While syrup cools, process cubed seedless watermelon in a blender until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Working in batches, pour watermelon puree through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl; discard solids.
Pour watermelon juice into a 2- to 3-qt. pitcher. Stir in tequila reposado, seltzer and cooled syrup. Salt the rims of 8 Collins glasses and fill with ice. Pour cocktail evenly into glasses; garnish with chile slices and watermelon wedges