This week’s box included: turnip greens, sweet Italian & banana peppers, potatoes, sweet potato, okra, eggplants, honeynut winter squashes, Kirby cucumbers, summer squash, and apples. 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.
————————————–
Suzanne here, pinch hitting for Conne who is enjoying a well-earned week off.
These late summer boxes always put me in a mind of ratatouille. We’ve got these recipes in our database:
- Ratatouille Stuffed Eggplant: Makes use of 1 cup of summer squash!
- Spaghetti with Grilled Ratatouille: Use roasted spaghetti squash instead of pasta.
- Ratatouille Quiche: Also uses summer squash & peppers.
- Ratatouille: The classic.
This week’s eggplants? They’re enormous. For inspiration beyond ratatouille, check out the entire list of recipes on our eggplant page.
Need more convincing on the merits of eggplant? In “How to Love Eggplant,” NY Times writer Allison Jiang last week sang the praises of eggplant in The Veggie enewsletter. The Spiced Eggplant Roasted Eggplant recipe referenced in the newsletter is below. I made it recently mainly because it hit my inbox with a title of “Learn to make the best roasted eggplant of your life.” Very simple, fast and easy — maybe not the best of my life, but I hear that readers who have been turned off by eggplant found that they loved this recipe. The results are versatile enough to be served as a side, make sandwiches (add sundried tomatoes or roasted peppers + fresh mozzarella), or layer into moussaka.
[This email message to you was delayed at this point by a trip to the auto repair shop which necessitated a visit to nearby Decatur restaurant Hai for their Dry Fried Eggplant tossed with green onions, cilantro, and yummy Szechuan spices. Oh-so-good.]
Above all, this week’s harvest makes it clear that summer produce is waning: no watermelons, fewer cucumbers, sparse summer squash. In their stead, the vegetables of fall are making a stand: darling honeynut winter squashes, the first greens of fall, and the first of the North Georgia apples.
Charlotte suggests that these early season apples be eaten quickly, especially those that have spots on them. Not her favorite variety, apparently, but she thought you’d appreciate getting apples this week as a consolation for the (apparent) end of melon season. If they’re not to your taste, peeled + cored + sliced apples freeze well, ready for any recipe that calls for cooked apples.
The greens in this week’s box bear special mention. They’re turnip greens, but a variety that’s lacking that signature turnip tang – exceptionally mild flavored and versatile. Use them in just about any greens recipe (literally dozens of them here) but probably not in recipes like roll-ups that require a sturdier leaf.
This tender turnip variety tends to be the cooking green that we receive the most of in the CSA; also watch for appearances from collards, mustard greens, and more kale as greens become a weekly addition to the CSA boxes in the fall.
Spiced Roasted Eggplant
From the NY Times
1 ½ lbs eggplant
½ cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tablespoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.
Heat the oven to 450 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Prepare eggplants by slicing off their tops and a fine layer of skin from their bottoms. Slice the eggplant into 1-inch thick rounds and place on the lined pan.
Make your spice oil by combining the olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt and red-pepper flakes (optional) in a small bowl. Brush the spiced oil onto the faces of all the eggplant slices, then flip each one over and repeat on the second side.
Roast for 20 minutes, then use a spatula to flip over each round. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, or until soft, browned and crips. If you’re looking for a little extra color, broil the eggplant, watching carefully, for about a minute.
***
My biggest recent dinner “win” was a garbage-can approach to shepherd’s pie that made use of the odds and ends languishing in the produce drawer: carrots (don’t judge; I know it’s been months since we received them), celery (ditto, buh bye), diced green beans, tomato ends, field peas, bell peppers, garlic and onions. Using this week’s box, I’d use that single sweet potato, more of the leftover green beans, onions, sweet peppers, turnip greens, and summer squash.
Odds & Ends Shepherd’s Pie
1 lb ground beef
4 cups chopped veggies, including 1 large onion (diced)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 – 2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 – 2 cups liquid (water or beef broth)
Topping
1 ½ – 2 lbs white potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan
Peel potatoes, cut into 2” cubes, and boil with water in saucepan for 20 min, until fork-tender.
Sautee ground beef in a large skillet on medium high heat. Break up the meat into chunks as it cooks. While the meat is cooking, chop the veggies. Ideas for additions from this week + recent boxes:
- Sweet Potato: peel and cut into ½” dice
- Onions: peel and dice.
- Peppers: core, remove seeds and ribs and cut into 1” strips.
- Summer Squash: Cut into quarters lengthwise and slice into ¼” pieces.
- Green Beans: Cut into pea-sized pieces.
- Turnip Greens: de-stem and slice into shreds.
The total volume doesn’t need to be exact; about 4 – 6 cups is ideal. The shredded greens will pump up the volume; keep in mind that they’ll cook down to nothing.
Add onions, sweet potatoes, peppers and summer squash to the skillet when the meat is almost completely cooked. Toss with the meat and cook 5-7 minutes until onions are translucent and sweet potato chunks tender.
Reduce heat to medium. Mix in garlic, curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper and tomato paste until well-incorporated. Toss in the more tender vegetables (green beans & shredded greens).
Add olive oil to the skillet; sprinkle flour on top and mix to coat meat and veggies. Add 1 cup of the liquid to the skillet; mix with ingredients to make a gravy, scraping up any yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add more liquid ½ cup at a time to reach your ideal consistency. Transfer meat mixture to a casserole pan.
Preheat oven to 400 F.
TOPPING
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and return the hot potato cubes to the now mostly dry pan. Add butter; after it melts add the milk. Mash the potatoes to your desired consistency; add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the shredded cheddar.
Transfer the mashed potatoes by large spoonful to the casserole that contains the meat mixture. Carefully spread the potatoes into an even layer over the meat. Sprinkle parmesan on top of the potatoes. Cook for 30 minutes in the oven, until the beef mixture is bubbling and the top is a bit browned.