A note about your okra. There’s been lots of conversation about okra recently, especially with the bounty Suzanne was offering last weekend. Fried okra is great, but don’t think of it as a side dish alone. I loved these suggestions from the July issue of Southern Living.
And when you tire of corn on the cob, how about creamed corn? Some of us grew up only eating creamed corn from a can or a tube in the freezer case. How about making your own?
I’m delighted each week with the little bag of okra. I’m the only one in my house who likes okra, and I am glad to have it all to myself. But there was one year I grew a row in my garden, and each week harvested six pounds of okra. For weeks and weeks … six pounds of okra, every week. At that time there were three of us at home who liked okra, but even so, after a week or two, nobody really wanted okra with every meal and we needed an alternative. And so we made okra pickles. JCT Kitchen’s Ford Fry will be demoing okra pickles with Bloody Marys this weekend at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. Yum.
Here’s a recipe that Steven Satterfield of Miller Union gave out earlier. Your little bag of okra is probably just enough for this recipe. You can make these pickles and just keep them in the refrigerator, or for shelf life, carefully boil the jars and lids and then process the pickles in boiling water for 10 minutes before storing in a cool place. Properly processed, they’ll keep for about a year.
Adapted from a recipe by Martha Rose Shulman who writes the “Recipes for Health” series for the New York Times.
This refreshing summer salad can sit in the refrigerator for a few hours without deteriorating, so it makes a great choice for bringing to work or to a summer picnic. There was a hot pepper in my box which I will use for this recipe, or you can substitute one of the other sweeter peppers. Since the cucumbers in my garden are coming in like crazy, I’ve got everything I need for this salad. And of course you could substitute bulgur or some other grain for the quinoa.
The crumb-cheese filling recipe below would be just as good stuffing the tomatoes or peppers.
If you think your squash might be a little mature and need some tenderizing, scoop them out and then boil for about 2 minutes in a mixture of water, garlic and whatever herbs you have on hand or that go with your filling. Drain upside down while you prepare the filling.
And this recipe for tomato soup was a fabulous surprise. No cooking at all, and absolutely delicious. I served it to Marcia, MellowBellies’ intrepid photographer, this evening and she kept saying, “It’s so sweet!” That was just because of the fabulous MellowBelly tomatoes. You’d only want to make this when you have really wonderful summer tomatoes. But it couldn’t be easier and I think it will keep for several days in the refrigerator. It does separate when it settles, so just shake it up before serving. The recipe came from the August 2010 issue of Woman’s Day magazine.
I’ve been experimenting with cold soups this week, and I’m really enjoying these two options which use a number of items from this week’s box.
I‘ve been a huge fan of gazpacho since my first taste at the Peasant Uptown at Phipps Plaza (which means I’m really dating myself since they’ve been closed for years). Spicy, flavorful tomato gazpacho, topped with shrimp … and served with their cheese toast …. it opened my eyes to the pleasures of cold soup. Now most summers I keep a half gallon jar of gazpacho in the refrigerator as soon as the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers come in.
Recently I’ve been seeing recipes for watermelon gazpacho, and this week I finally tried it out. Delicious! Here’s one way to make it, but I’ve seen it demonstrated by chefs at local farmers’ markets using many variations including adding tomatoes, using more hot peppers, or varying herbs like using dill. I liked this recipe because it used what I have in my garden and box right now. You could leave out the crab, or substitute shrimp. The sweet seafood is a nice foil for the spicy fruitiness of the soup.
Also at the Morningside market this summer, Robert Gerstenecker of Park 75 made this yummy hummus with pink-eye peas. Yes, those any of those field peas will make delicious hummus, and it’s just too easy. If you’ve run out of ideas for your weekly bag of crowder peas, give this a try.