Ready-made Topping

I sometimes forget how helpful it is to prep some of our vegetables into what I think of as “meal components.” So for this week’s bounty of jalapenos, I’m making what we call “fajita mix” although it’s good for adding to tacos and nachos and topping a bowl of chili (if we ever get any cool weather) and scrambled eggs and burritos … I could go on. ~Conne

Fish Stuffed with Pico de Gallo

The calendar says “fall.” The contents of our box say “fall.” But the temperatures? Summer still reigns.

This light fish entree works perfectly with these crazy hot temperatures and the peppers and tomatoes in today’s box. It’s a recipe that first came from Saveur magazine. Grill the fish instead of broiling it if you wish.

If you don’t want to cook fish, at least make the pico de gallo (first five ingredients) and use it for something yummy.

Hot Pepper Sauce

I had a conversation with Jennifer Halicki about what to do with those cute little jalapenos. My suggestion was to do a very simple pickle, just putting the jalapenos in a jar (with or without stems) and cover them with vinegar. Leave them for a week or forever, they’ll keep indefinitely as long as you keep topping up the vinegar. This was the old Southern standby for making hot pepper vinegar to season fall and winter greens like turnips, collards and mustard. And it works fine with jalapenos.

Then just the other day I opened an email from Import Food, a company on the west coast that imports primarily food from Thailand. They offered a little more complex version of this peppered vinegar idea. They were recommending the Thai chiles they sell, but it would be just as delicious with your jalapenos or leftover cayenne peppers.

In their words: “Spice up your food with this simple, homemade heat. The combination of sour vinegar with hot Thai chiles is a common condiment in Thailand (called “nam som”), but this goes along great with American food too–especially southern favorites like collard greens, fried chicken, green tomatoes, etc.”