Veggies: Week Eleven! Come and get ’em!

Hello CSA members…

…and hello Week 11! It has been a hot one, hasn’t it? We were lucky to have the help of our good friend, Sarit, this week, who came to visit for a couple of days. We spent our time with her harvesting and weeding and jumping in and out of the crystal clear farm pond to cool off…and, not to mention, cooking amazing veggie-filled meals! There is really nothing like spending time with lovely friends sharing delicious food together.

This week’s recipes our mothers shared with us. They are recipes we’ve grown up with and enjoy time and time again. The first features one of my favorite veggies: okra! We’ve included okra in your shares recently and I decided it was finally time to post my mother’s fried okra recipe, which comes to you straight from Texas. Here are her instructions:

Chop the okra into bite size pieces and drizzle with milk (or soy milk). Add the okra to a mixture of flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper, and coat well. Next, cook in a pan on medium heat in olive oil or canola oil. Or, you can fry bacon beforehand and cook the okra in the lard like a true homesteader! Turn the okra occasionally. It’s ready when it is golden brown in color. If you cooked bacon beforehand, chop it up and throw it in the pan near the end. Quite a southern-inspired recipe. Y’all will love it.

If you’re not in the mood for fried okra, this veggie also combines beautifully with others in your share, like squash and peppers and tomatoes. Just sauté them all in a pan together. Or check out some Indian food recipes online that use okra, which is a common ingredient in that delectable cuisine.

The next recipe is for a sandwich that uses three ingredients we’re finally able to give out together this week: cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. It’s called a Cucumber Sandwich. When Alli introduced me to this sandwich, she claimed it was the best sandwich ever, and I must admit I was a quick convert. The classic recipe passed down to Alli from her mother uses the three aforementioned ingredients on toasted bread with butter. Truly simple and spectacular. I’ve toyed a bit with the recipe, and instead of using butter, I use mayonnaise and mustard (an award-winning duo). Either route you take, the combination of raw cucumber, tomato, and onion, is to die for. If there were a Best Sandwich On Earth Award, this would win it.

This week your share will include:

Squash

Cucumbers

Beans

Tomatoes

Lettuce Mix

Beets (a little bit)

Onions (the onions we’re giving you this week are fresh and not yet cured, so eat them quickly, as they are not for storage!)

Garlic

A pint of some other veggie (likely to include cherry tomatoes, okra, tomatillos, etc, as in previous weeks)

…plus some other surprises, I’m sure!

Happy eating, everyone!

Alison