We had a very nice weekend in Minneapolis but we came home to some fruit that needed to be taken care of. Last night I made some baked pears and I have enough left still for another big batch or some pear cake. I wanted to make the pear cake last night since I already had the oven on, but it was after 10 by the time the plum cake was done, so that was a no go. The plums were a little past what I like for eating, which meant they were perfect for plum cake. I had some cake flour that I wanted to use up, so I used that instead of AP flour and the results were totally different. Instead of a dense cake with the plum halves glistening on top, the cake rose above the plum halves.

It’s pretty, but different. I’ll report back on how it tastes once I’ve tasted it.

I say tomato, tomato, tomato. 6 pounds of tomatoes this week! We’re going to the Minnesota State Fair this weekend and I didn’t think that the tomatoes would be in great shape by the time we got back, so I have two in my carry-on to take to Grandma’s house and 6 or so went in to the oven last night and became roasted tomato confit. I had a little on my eggs this morning. Very tasty. We ate two tomatoes for dinner last night with olive oil, good paisano bread from Zingermans and maldon sea salt. We had one giant yellow tomato and one smaller red tomato from my garden (the variety is escaping me right now). Both were fantastic.

Roma Beans-1 pound
Summer Onions-2
Edamame-1 bunch
Slicing Tomatoes-6 pounds
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes-1 basket
Lipstick Sweet Peppers-4
Basil-1 bunch
Beets-1 bunch
Eggplant-1

This week, pears are the main event in the fruit department. Luckily they’re pretty hard so I think they’ll still be ok when we get back. I think there will be too many to eat before they go bad, so I’ll probably have to do some pear-based baking.

Red Clapp Pears
Peaches
Plums

Last night I made:

Everything, especially the gnocchi, was amazingly delicious. I should have taken a picture, but I didn’t. We had pasta alla Norma at Babbo the night before and my gnocchi dish was better.

On with the rest! Week 10:

Summer Squash-1 pound
Lettuce-1 head
Bright Lights Swiss Chard-1bunch
Romano Beans-1 pound
Cilantro-1 bunch
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes-1 basket
Lilac Peppers-2
Slicing Tomatoes-2 pounds
Orient Express Eggplant-2
Sweet Onions-2
Tomatillos-1 pound
Fennel-1 head

I finally have everything I need to make gazpacho (I have cukes leftover from last week) and I think I’ll whip up a batch tonight. The other thing I’m definitely going to make is gnocchi with sauteed eggplant, chopped tomato, and basil. We’ll just have to see with the rest.

yellow peaches
nectarines
prune plums

To eat the plums or make plum cake? These are tough decisions.

I’m very excited about this week’s share. The ethereal flavor of the donut peaches is just too hard to put in to words. I did a lot of cooking yesterday, but first things first.

Summer Squash-2 pounds
Cucumbers-3
Lettuce-1 head
Provider String Beans-1 pound
Cilantro-1 bunch
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes-1 basket
Pablano Peppers-4
Slicing Tomatoes-2 pounds
Orient Express Eggplant-2
Scallions-1 bunch
Tomatillos-1 pound

donut peaches
yellow peaches
nectarines

I haven’t baked anything with the peaches/nectarines so far. They’re just too delicious and I’m perfectly happy to eat them plain or in yogurt, without any pastry. The summer squash was all zucchini this week, which was just fine by me since I wanted to make more chocolate chip zucchini bread. I made a double batch of batter last night and baked it into 4 mini loaf pans and 1 large bundt pan. I still have all of this share’s cucumbers and one of last week’s left, so I’m a bit long on cucumbers right now. I ought to make some type of a salad out of them but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. For shabbat I made a vegetarian mexican fiesta. I made salsa fresca with heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, mini purplette onions from a previous week, and some kosher salt. I made tomatillo salsa by throwing tomatillos in the food processor along with garlic, onion, and cilantro. It was very tasty but I might try and drain it a little bit next time, as it was a little on the watery side. I chopped up some onion, lettuce, green peppers, and poblano peppers to serve with it all. We also had guacamole, black beans, rice, cheddar cheese, and tortillas to round out the yummyness.
Sunday afternoon I made a good noodle salad with somen noodles tossed in a spicy peanut dressing, which I made from peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha, and a little sesame oil. To all that I added finely diced poblano peppers, green onions, julienned carrots, and diced garlic scapes. For dinner I served chopped arugula with balsamic vinaigrette and rough chopped tomatoes tossed with kosher salt and lots of fresh basil alongside grilled japanese eggplant. I halved the eggplant the long way, brushed the cut side with olive oil, and grilled for about 8 minutes per side. The eggplant were creamy and delicious.

Now I’m tired and hungry!

Last week (and the beginning of this week) was very busy and I just wasn’t able to get the details of week 8 up. My apologies! Here’s CSA Week 8:

Summer Squash-2 pounds
Cucumbers-2
Lettuce-1 head
Mini Purplette Onions-1 bunch
Provider String Beans-1 pound
Red Ace Beets-1 bunch
Perpetual Spinach-1 bunch
Cilantro-1 bunch
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes-1 basket
Black Bell Eggplant-1

What did we do with all that goodness? The eggplant went into a delicious pasta dish made with whole wheat rotelli, tomato sauce, diced eggplant , garlic scapes, and some zucchini from last week. The spinach and beet greens made for a delightful fritatta. We got a few salads out of the lettuce and the cukes topped sandwiches and made for good snacks. The pattypan squash was very good steamed in the microwave along with the mini onions.

My mom was visiting last week and we discovered that beets are delightful when cooked in the microwave. It couldn’t be any easier. All you need to do is:
wash the beets and trim the greens to about an inch above the top
put the beets in a microwaveable container and cover with a lid
microwave on high for 8 minutes
let the beets sit in the microwave for 5 minutes
if the beets are small, they might be done at this point. Take the beets out of the microwave and check them (poke with finger). If they’re not done, microwave for 3 minutes more and then let them sit in the microwave for 10 minutes.
Peel and eat or chill.

peaches
+nectarines
————-
super delicious