Fifth Share

Hi everyone! We hope you are enjoying the newcomers this week! Zucchini, Carrots, and Cucumbers! Whoopie! I'm a day late here, hopefullly the share is familiar enough and the new items are common enough that you've been cooking up a storm already! We have been impossibly busy. Tomatoes require lots of attention. They do look good, though. Healthy and robust. We have them all staked and tied up as of 7:30 last night. The weeds are going crazy in the other areas. We've had to call in members of our "panic list" to help us bust out some of the projects that need to be done around the farm. What a wonderful breath of fresh air yesterday morning! We have been melting and drinking water like cattle. How nice to have some cool, non-humid air! One thing we should all do is a little rain dance. Our farm needs water! I wish you a happy fourth of july this weekend!

Scallions. Still the onion of the share. Cooked or raw is great. In a potato or pasta salad is lovely.

Sugar Snap Peas. Sautee w/ a little butter or olive oil and finish with some cracked sea salt. Sometimes I add these to a potato salad. While I'm boiling the potatoes in a deep pot with enough water at the top, I'll throw in the peas to blanch them in the boiling water. After three minutes or so they should be bright green and you can scoop them out with a metal strainer (or a slotted spoon in a pinch). A sautee of vegetables is delicious as well. I imagine scallion whites, carrots, diced zucchini, and snap peas would be a beautiful and delicious side of veggies.

Snow Peas. These would be great for a stir fry this week. Sliced, they are nice to throw in a salad or cole slaw.

Kale. The last until the fall crop. Lots of people have been talking about kale chips. Make sure to strip the leaves off the stems, as this heat has made the stems pretty tough. You can sautee the leaves with garlic and olive oil. Chop the cooked kale and throw it into an egg scramble, a frittata, a pasta salad. We like to do some kale with home fries. Fry up onions, garlic, and kale in a cast iron skillet, then add parboiled potatoes, salt, pepper, and maybe some secret seasonings: curry, paprika, chilli powder, fresh herbs. Great weekend breakfast. 

3 Heads Lettuce. Salad with cucumbers!!! perhaps even some sliced or shredded carrots! Maybe you even have a few radishes from last week to slice thin and throw on. Lettuce is a burger's friend, for anyone who may be grilling this weekend.

Zucchini. They made it through the striped cucumber beetle feast. My mom used to slice them in rounds and sautee with olive oil and a little butter, salt and pepper. I have fond memories of that summer treat. Zucchini is great on the grill. You can slice it lenthwise in long, flat slices so it won't fall through the grill, or put chunks on skewers or put in in a grill basket. Either way, make sure to toss it with some oil first (canola oil withstands higher heat - make sure it's organic to avoid GMO canola), salt or soy sauce, pepper, and fresh herbs if you like. One simple pasta that I observed at a little B&B I was working at in Abruzzo, Italy was Zucchini and Basil with spaghetti. Amazing. Here are the secrets: Start boiling the generously salted water for spaghetti. Start hard boiling two eggs - Grammie's method: put the eggs and cold water in the pot together. Turn on high and set the timer for fifteen minutes. When they're done, run cold water over the eggs so they can be peeled. Take just the two yolks and mash them in a little bowl with several tablespoons of room temperature butter. Save the whites for something else or throw to the compost or a pet. Very thinly slice the zucchini and sautee it in olive oil, then add a good amount of slivered basil, immediately coating it with the oil so it doesn't brown - stop cooking the zucchini before it becomes translucent. Cook the spaghetti according to the cook time on the package, drain (don't rinse), add that to the zucchini and basil. Mix a little bit (tongs are good for this) then add the butter/yolk mix, taste for salt and pepper, and add a cup of fresh grated parmigiano. Voila. If you want to make the most of boiling the eggs, you can do a bunch and use them for deviled eggs, egg salad, or a naturally convenience packaged snack.

Basil. try the pasta with zucchini and basil. or slice it and add it to eggs. put some on top of garlic bread, put it in a pasta or potato salad. put it on a veggie or turkey sandwich.

Cucumbers. Slice or dice onto a salad. We enjoyed diced cucs mixed in a bowl with some feta, mint, basil, parsley, and olive oil. We had that in a pita pocket with hummus. Perfect hot weather lunch.

Carrots. the first little cuties. scrub and snack. or cook (sautee or roast). or grate into a salad. Enjoy!