Adventures in CSA: Weeks 12 + 13

I was home for week twelve of our CSA share, but out of town again for week thirteen's retrieval (I gave Jennifer those goodies, since I couldn't get them). This means one little post will cover the last two weeks of vegetal (and occasionally fruity) adventures.

During week twelve, we had:

Corn
Squash
Yellow cherry tomatoes
Assorted tiny peppers
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Melon

Now, let's talk about the eats!



(photo by Dan)

1. Untitled Cucumber Sandwich. Dan made this sandwich of chevre, tomato, and cucumber on a roll. It was made and eaten while I was at work, but he kindly snapped a photo of it for my (and your) edification.

Although the experience was not photographed, I do believe I finished the cucumber by eating it as raw slices. I'm a sucker for raw cucumber. Can I also mention that I never peel or seed my cucumbers? I don't understand why people bother.





2. Eggplant Bread Salad. The second I saw the recipe on Serious Eats, I knew I had to make and eat this baby. Grilling the eggplant took a little time, but all the assembly was worth it. We used up more yellow tomatoes in this dish, as well as some leftover turkey bacon. So delicious! This is one of my favorite recipe discoveries of the season so far.





3. Pasta with squash and cherry tomatoes. Here's an easy, self-explanatory dish. I found it needed just a drizzle of olive oil over the top (and some cheese). The sauteed squash had a rich, outstanding flavor.




(photo by Dan)

4. Unknown Melon. Can anyone identify this small, yellow, oblong variety of melon? It had a very mild, slightly sweet flavor. We ate it raw.




(photo by Dan)

5. Corn and Pepper Soup. Dan found the recipe (though he added peppers and omitted ginger) for this soup online one evening, and it worked perfectly to utilize the corn and peppers (and buttermilk) in our fridge. It had a slightly coarse texture (might have benefited from longer cooking or straining), but was lovely and thick, like a hearty chowder. We ate it warm, but it could have been served cold. The jalapeno tortilla chips as garnish were really, really nice. I really can't imagine the soup without them.

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Even though week twelve was a light one, in terms of effort spent and dishes made, it was hard for me to not have any CSA vegetables at all during the portion of week thirteen for which I was in town (since I missed the pickup). I didn't quite know what to do with my dinners, and I missed having lunches of leftovers that week.

Because of this, I have to thank Paul in advance for his willingness to pick up my vegetables for this coming week (fourteen). I will be missing the pickup myself (again), but Paul volunteered to tote my lot to work. So, thanks to him, I'll have my vegetables for the coming week. And thanks to him, I'll be reporting back to you soon!