Hi everyone,
We’re now are over 3/4 of the way through the season. The recent warm weather doesn’t make it feel like it, but fall is right around the corner.
With the end of the season in sight, we have to start thinking about what is next for Gard Mo. In the near future, we’re working to put together a fall program. Rather than the straight veggies of CSA Club, we’re thinking about trying out something slightly more prepared. The working idea at the moment is “Soup Club.” We’re still working through the details and will share more as soon as we have our carrots in a row. But don’t let that stop you from letting us know what you would like to see from us in the fall since nothing is finalized yet.
In the longer term, figuring out what’s next is a little tougher. We never expected Gard Mo to make us rich. Between our dedication to zero-waste and making the shares as easy for you all as possible, the work and time it takes to put everything together is considerable and only grows as the CSA Club grows. Then adding in our conviction that the CSA Club must remain affordable and accessible to make sense at all, Gard Mo is not necessarily sustainable as it exists today. Fortunately, we have some ideas…
The recipe this week is one that we shared with group A a few weeks back. It’s written by Azziza and is a Punjabi eggplant dish. It’s perfect for the eggplant and leek included in the shares. The missing piece in the shares however is tomatoes; the perfect opportunity for a trip to the farmer’s market.
Hope you all enjoy the share!
-Ben
These are also called Hakurai turnips, which we had in the shares all the back in May. I said then that these are my favorite, and I stand firmly behind it. Turnips are part of the Brassica family of vegetables (ex. broccoli, cabbage, and radish). They’re nice raw, with a crisp texture and more mild flavor compared to radishes, but take on a succulent texture when cooked.
Recently I’ve been opting to lightly blister peppers before chopping them to add to a salad, pasta, or vegetable medley. I lightly toss them in oil and then use high heat from either the grill or broiler to char slightly while softening the peppers without going all the way to mush.
This is likely the last of the corn for the season. Combined with the warm days and cool nights recently, we opted to leave them on the cob for one last grilling session for the season.
We received Honeycrisps in the last share. Nichols mentioned that this has been one of the best apples crops, particularly Honeycrisps, that they’ve ever had owing it to the dramatic rains back in July.
I’ve mentioned this to a couple members recently, but the pinpointing the exact is difficult. Sometimes the melons seem like they would be the same variety from the outside, but then they’re different colors with different flavors once you cut them open. But whether its actually a different variety, or just different ripeness, or variety within a particular variety; hard to tell.
Leeks are a top-tier allium. We split them down the middle to best clean them, and then cut them into nice manageable sizes pieces. Like this, they are easier to use than onion or garlic. Simply slice and they’re ready to be the base of flavor in whatever you’re cooking.
Compared to the japanese eggplant we had a couple shares back, these are more similar to your typical eggplant but a little rounder with a speckled purple skin. Eggplant is a great carrier of flavor since it readily absorbs any flavorful sauce that it’s cooked in.
Rapini or broccoli rabe is a leafy variety of broccoli. It will never form the large head that broccoli does, instead only putting out small florets. It’s popular in Mediterranean cuisine simply sautéed with chile flake and often served with pasta. We like to quickly char it over over a ripping hot grill or broiler for a very summery feel.
A mix of two varieties. The Yellow (green ) beans are crisp, with little to no flavor; great if you don’t like green beans much, and still great if you do. The Lewis green beans are thicker than the French green beans. This makes them great for slicing into about ~ 1/2″ pieces and sautéing. They have a mild flavor that leans towards the greener end of the spectrum.
