Week 9 Vegetable Share Ideas

cherry tomatoes
toss with pasta and pecorino romano

beets
classic salad with goat cheese

chard
creamed chard 

radishes
cucumber-radish salad

carrots
carrot souffle

potatoes
roasted with smashed garlic & lemon 

scallions
with eggs

cut greens
with guanciale and tomato

radicchio
grill it and toss with balsamic 

cucumbers
indispensable in veggie wraps

zucchini
zucchini pancakes

tomatoes
tomato-mozzarella salad

cabbage
search okonomiyaki

lettuce
avocado caesar, please

Week 8 Vegetables

CHERRY TOMATOES
roasted tomato sauce for pasta

SUMMER SQUASH
shred & saute and serve under a fried egg

JERSEY WAKEFIELD CABBAGE
try David Liebovitz's wasabi slaw

CARROTS
in carrot-coriander humus

CHARD
baked along with blanched beet tops in a frittata

BASIL
make foccacia

CUT GREENS
heavenly with plenty of balsamic vinaigrette

BELL PEPPER
in gazpacho

POTATOES
the weather's cooler this week--make a gratin

CUCUMBERS
eat them plain fora quick snack

BEETS
beet chips with roasted garlic dipping sauce

ITALIAN PARSLEY
everywhere

RED FIRE LETTUCE
with shallot vinaigrette

TOMATOES
tomato bisque!

Storing Summer Vegetables

You paid good money for that food. Now you want to make the most of it, right? Here's how we keep summer vegetables fresh at our house. 

Don't store tomatoes in the fridge! We try to harvest tomatoes at varying states of readiness so they ripen for you throughout the week. Put them in a paper bag and keep them on the counter: it keeps fruit flies and other insects away while allowing the tomatoes to breathe.

Everything else we can think of should go into refrigeration right away. Separate any roots from their leaves as soon as you get them home. The poor things think they're still trying to grow, and the longer you leave the tops on carrots, beets, radishes, or whatever, the more the quality of the roots will suffer. So give them a quick whack with a knife before you send them off into the fridge, OK?

Fruit flies. If you eat fresh food, you've probably got them this summer, and so much the worse if you're composting. When they said you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar, they obviously weren't talking about fruit flies. Totally more flies with vinegar.

Cover a paper cup (or a recycled yogurt container, etc.) with saran wrap and punch little holes in the plastic with a fork. Don't make too many holes. If the plastic wrap isn't sticking well, use a rubber band.

We add a banana to the vinegar to really get 'em. 

Week 7 CSA Share Ideas

Text too small to read? Here's what we're doing with our CSA share this week at Bluestem Farm: 

CUCUMBERS how bout cilantro-chile salad?

SUMMER SQUASH try zucchini fridge pickles

CHERRY TOMATOES broil and smear them on bread

RED LEAF LETTUCE try something lemony

CARROTS roast them with honey & coriander

POTATOES pink potato vichyssoise

KALE with cherry tomatoes in quiche

TOMATOES might be time for gazpacho

EARLY WONDER BEETS shredded raw with dill & balsamic

ARUGULA we're loving arugula smoothies

CHARD with too much garlic, fish sauce & a squeeze of lemon

ITALIAN PARSLEY a little here, a little there

BASIL with grilled zucchini, please