This week’s box includes: cucumbers (slicers aka salad cucumbers and Kirbys), one huge white onion, yellow summer squash, green beans, garlic, bell pepper, mild banana peppers and purple cabbage. 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 Ward Cameron over the years.
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Over 200 paddlers floated the Coosawattee River around the farm today with Georgia Rivers’ annual Paddle Georgia trip. Graham, Wes & Charlotte’s son, was a gracious and congenial host. How much fun to introduce him as the third generation of the Swancy’s farming family. “Fun” is the theme for this week’s message, in fact.
What a pretty box this week. Purple cabbage will be punching up the color of every salad I make this week. Does your body “eat” color? Artists think so. I agree.
Exciting to see peppers making their first appearance of the year! The yellow elongated peppers are banana peppers. Like the cubanelle peppers we’ll have later in the summer, banana peppers are a mild variety. Be aware that the amount of heat-producing capsaicin in each individual pepper can on occasion vary, even between peppers harvested from the same plant. If you’re sensitive to capsaicin, nick off a tiny bit of the pepper and sample it before jumping in.
I’m inspired to reprise the raw veggie tray that was such a hit last week this time with a Green Goddess Dressing for dipping an all-green platter of veggies: cool green beans, celery sticks, cucumber spears and raw green peppers. Nothing snaps like a freshly harvested green bell pepper. Eat it like an apple for a treat.
The cucumber bounty is top of mind here. First up, Salad of the Week: it’s time for one of my absolute favorites, Peach and Cucumber Salad. Celebrate the start of peach season by hitting up Pearson Peaches at your neighborhood farmers market.
Of course you’re going to replenish your fresh pickle jar with those Kirbys. (See last week’s message for quick pickling advice.) Do you have pickles left over from last week that are in the way? This NY Times Cooking recipe that clocks in at ten minutes prep time calls for pickles instead of fresh cucumbers. No purple onion? Don’t fret. Use the white onion from the box instead of purple onion, or add some strips of purple cabbage for color.
Smashed Pickle Salad
By Ali Slagle
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
4 whole pickles (or 16 spears), plus 1 tablespoon brine
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup chopped dill fronds and stems
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
In a medium bowl, stir together the red onion and pickle brine.
On your cutting board, whack the pickles with a meat mallet or the back of a wooden spoon, then rip into ½-inch pieces. (If using spears, simply rip them into ½-inch pieces.)
Add the smashed pickles to the bowl, along with the celery, sour cream, dill and mayonnaise. Stir vigorously until creamy and combined. This salad is best eaten right away. (It can be refrigerated up to one day, but the dressing will start to get watery.)
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Finally, this cooling main dish – also from NY Times Cooking – makes use of 6 smallish Persian cucumbers. Why Persians? They’re thin-skinned and lacking seeds. The Kirby cucumbers are the closest to Persians of the two varieties you received this week; the main difference being the texture of the skin. Salad cucumbers have a thicker skin that can be on the bitter side; their centers have a jelly-like seed pouch that can mess with the texture of your dish.
Regardless, you can use either variety in this dish. First, remove all or part of the peel. I like to leave long strips of peel that create striped pieces after they’re sliced or smashed. Scoop the seeds and their gel out of the salad cucumbers – the center of the Kirbys are compact and don’t need scooping.
Smashed Cucumber and Chicken Salad
By Zainab Shah, via NY Times Cooking
6 Persian or other thin-skinned small cucumbers
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar, or to taste
1 tablespoon sesame oil (untoasted or toasted)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
1 pound coarsely shredded cooked chicken, about 2½ cups (from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or 1 pound poached chicken breast, see Tip)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
½ to 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
2 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds (optional)
Trim off the ends of the cucumbers and halve the cucumbers lengthwise. Place the flat side of each piece on the chopping board and, using the back of a chef’s knife, mallet or other heavy tool, smash the cucumbers to flatten them. Further break the flattened cucumbers by hand, then place them in a colander set over a large bowl. Mix in the salt and refrigerate 20 minutes to chill and drain.
Remove the cucumbers from the refrigerator. In the same large bowl (wipe dry if necessary), whisk together the vinegar (feel free to start with less and add more after tasting), sesame oil, soy sauce and honey (if using). Add the drained smashed cucumbers and shredded chicken, and mix well. Top with cilantro, red-pepper flakes and sesame seeds, if you like. Though enjoyable at room temperature, this salad is best served chilled.
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What’s next? Sweet corn is imminent.
Go make some art this week!
~Suzanne