Weekly Share September 18th – 24th

Salad Mix or Lettuce (Bibb, Butterhead, or Oakleaf)
Japanese Red or Southern Giant Mustard Greens
Eggplant (Thai & Asian long)
French Breakfast Radish
Daikon Radish
San Fan Bok Choy
Shishito Peppers
Khmer Thai, Lemondrop, and Serrano Chiles
Thai & Paneng Basil
Cilantro
Shiso
Garlic

The 2nd Fall share is almost always filled with crops ideal for making Southeast Asian or Japanese cuisine, as we still have late Summer peppers, chiles, and eggplant mixed with our early Fall abundance of radishes, greens, and herbs. This will be the one time you all get Shiso (a native wild herb also known as perilla), this summer we did not have the usual abundance around the farm due to the extremely dry and hot weather in June and July; but with the August rains it began creeping up around our fruit trees and along fence lines. Without getting very big it is already sending up its flower heads, so it will be a bit more bitter than usual and each share will only get a small amount. It is often used in Korean and Japanese food, chopped up and added to a dish just before serving. We also use it in our salad rolls or added to our kimchi recipe. It provides a deep, earthy, herbaceous flavor to dishes. In addition to the shiso, you will receive cilantro, Thai basil, and Penang basil, a Thai lemon basil variety that smells like Fruit Loops.
Both baby daikon radish and French breakfast salad radishes will be included this week. This might seem like radish overload; but remove the tops and store in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer and both styles of radish will hold for a long while, daikon can be stored easily for up to 3 months. The chiles included this week have a varying amount of spice and are on the upper end of what you will receive this season. Even if you do not like spicy food, we encourage you to think about using them to flavor your dishes rather than make it hot. Methods include using the chile whole while stir-frying or sautéing, then remove before eating or slice the chile open lengthwise, remove the seeds and mince very finely or mash before adding to a sauce. If you are unsure add a small amount at a time and continually taste. Khmer Thai are very hot, floral and complex in flavor, Lemondrops have a sweet, citrus flavor with heat equivalent to a serrano, and serranos are a medium-hot chile which make great garnish (chop them up and soak in vinegar or fish sauce for a wonderful sauce), seasoning for dishes using whole or chopped up, for salsa or curry recipes. Once again we have added the eggplant with Thai basil recipe, because it is our favorite. Check out the recipes below, have fun cooking, and enjoy the share…..Autumn and Brian
Thai basil chicken recipe (pad kra pao gai )
Thai Red Curry Eggplant and Mustard Greens
Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Daikon with Crisp Tofu
Herb-Wrapped Shrimp with Lemongrass Dipping Sauce
Agedashi Deep-Fried Tofu and Eggplant
This very traditional Japanese recipe is a great way to combine eggplant, daikon, and shishito peppers. Since we do not have a microwave, we would drain the tofu by adding weight from a cutting board for 30+ minutes and heat up the sauce on the stove. Katakuriko is a potato starch used for thickener, it can be found at Asian grocery stores or cornstarch can be used as a replacement.
Northern Thai Eggplant Salad Recipe
Eggplant with Thai Basil
1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
4-5 cloves garlic
1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 bunch Thai basil
Slice the eggplant into ½ inch rounds and fry them over medium high in a wide skillet with ¼ inch of canola or other frying oil. When things get going, the eggplant slices will absorb the oil and you will gradually see it penetrate through to the top.  Make sure that they don’t get too brown on the bottom before this happens.  If the eggplant slices absorb all the oil and still don’t look wet, you must add more—but don’t worry, because they will release much of it as they cook.  When they look like they have absorbed enough oil and they start to get nice and brown on the bottom, flip them over and brown them on the other side.  If the pan is dry at this point, don’t add more oil because the slices have absorbed enough to fry themselves.  When they’re done, drain the slices on paper towels
Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)
Daikon and Daikon Leaf Salad Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
1 medium-small daikon
1 TB Sea Salt
2 small or 1 medium Yuzu (or substitute Meyer Lemon)
2 TB Organic Miso
2 TB Organic Rice Vinegar
4 TB Organic Rapeseed Oil
2 TB Slivered Scallions
Slice the daikon into manageable lengths.  Cut those pieces in half vertically and slice lengthwise into fine slabs.  Lay those slabs flat on the cutting board and slice into fine julienned strands about 1.5 inches long.  Put the julienned daikon into a medium-sized bowl as you go.  Chop a large handful of the most tender leaves medium -fine and add to the julienned daikon.  Sprinkle with the salt and massage in gently.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Pare off the yellow zest of a yuzu or meyer lemon with a sharp knife, avoiding the white pith.  Stack roughly and slice into fine slivers.  Muddle the miso with the vinegar and whisk in the oil until emulsified.  Squeeze the daikon and daikon leaves in handfuls and drop into a clean bowl.  Toss with the yuzu peel and onion greens.  Give the dressing a quick whisk and fold into the daikon right before serving.  Ratio: miso:rice vinegar:oil – 1:1:2

 

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