Mixed Tomatoes
Tomatillos or Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
Middle Eastern, Italian, & Long Eggplant
Shishito, Cubanelle, or Seyrek Peppers
German White Garlic
Genovese Basil
Only five more weeks of the Spring & Summer share, time is really flying by. We had such a long and abundant Spring, which we are very thankful for especially in this crazy pandemic season. This was followed by a slow start to our Summer crops, with some pretty pitiful successions of beans and cucumber (our usual mid season fillers); but starting this week, you will get new and different crops each week. This week and next includes tomatillos and various peppers followed by watermelon and long beans, and then chilies and hopefully more beans. For now though revel in the abundance of eggplant, basil, garlic, and tomatoes. The tomatoes are coming, with new varieties each week and before we know it the sungolds will be done. Summer is the season where successions come and go quickly. Many farms plant multiple successions of every type of tomato and their other nightshades, due to our size and minimal labor, we prefer rolling plantings of tomatoes (with some types getting two plantings but most only one) and only one successions of peppers and eggplant, so we tend to the crops, feeding them to keep them healthy and they run their course a little differently each year. This week’s share includes Shishito peppers (a mildly spicy frying pepper), which can be an excellent addition to a stir-fry, pasta sauce, or even a scramble. They also excel on their own, done in a simple tempera or pan fried/charred in olive oil and finished with a nice flaky salt. These peppers are occasionally spicy; but mostly they have a bright, green, mild flavor. A shishito side dish can accompany steak, fish, or just about anything. Seyrek (also called corbaci) are a very skinny, fresh green flavored pepper with no heat. They are wonderful raw or cooked and do not need to be deseeded as like the shishito, they are picked young with tender seeds. They are a wonderful addition to a shepherd salad or your morning scramble. A cubanelle pepper is yellow green when unripe, has a tender flesh, a bit sweeter than a seyrek and is our version of a non-spicy green pepper for general use. Your standard green bell pepper is an un-ripened sweet pepper and it shows in that it has a strong bitter and tannic flavor, whereas a cubanelle is mild and balanced flavor. Check out the recipes and enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian
Blistered Shishito Peppers & Cherry Tomatoes
Pork Polpettine With Tomatillo Marinara Sauce
Caponata from The Kitchen Garden
Lots and lots of olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 head garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp chili flakes or fresh hot peppers, to taste
1 pound peppers, cut into large chunks
1 pound eggplant, cut into large chunks
1 or 2 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
salt & pepper
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp capers
3 Tbsp chopped Kalamata olives
Few sprigs chopped basil and parsley
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat about 4 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a lid that can go in the oven. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft. Add the pepper flakes and peppers and sauté over medium heat 5-10 minutes. Add eggplant and sauté another several minutes. You may want to add more oil to make sure everything is generously anointed. Add the tomatoes. Cover the pot and put it in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes. Everything should be very, very soft. Season with salt, pepper and the other seasonings. Adjust sweetness, salt and acidity to taste. Serve it warm on fresh crusty bread or at room temperature the next day. Makes a great pasta sauce, too. (The original version contains chunks of celery, too. If you like celery, you can add it when you add the tomatoes.)