We had a whole bunch of stuff left over from our CSA that we needed to get rid of, so I decided to throw it all in a big pot and call it soup. Most of the ingredients were the same ingredients you’d put in ratatoullie, so I decided I was going to call it soupatoullie. Then I discovered that big chunks of eggplant floating around in chicken broth did not appear very appetizing, so I decided to puree the whole mess, which made it into this nasty grey broth. A big honking chunk of paprika later, we ended up with this:

I think it came out pretty well.

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This is officially the last CSA post of the season!  It seems like the 18 week season flew by, and now we’re starting to head in to winter.  In honor of the last week, I thought I’d throw up a picture of our pickup location.

You can’t quite tell from the picture, but there have been times that this tiny garage is packed with people all trying to get their produce from the bins.  Also, I like that we can go through and pull the produce we like.

Our final haul:

Roma Beans:  I imagine that we’ll saute these, but I don’t know that I’ve ever worked with these before.  We may also try a stir fry.

Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Zucchini, and Eggplant:  I’m lumping these all together because, well, we’ve seen a lot of these this summer!  I think I’ll throw all the last three into a stuffed pepper dish for tomorrow night.

Hot peppers:  Today, they were giving these out by the stalk.  We then traded in our pickling cucumbers for a second stalk, and now we have a substantial handful of hot peppers (see below, sorted by color and size).  Does anyone have any good preservation techniques?

Sweet Peppers:  Mmmm, stuffed peppers.  Probably with quinoa.  This is a particular favorite of mine!

Potatoes: It’s soup season, so these will make a fine base for a soup.

Acorn Squash:  Hopefully we’ll do a repeat of a tasty dish D made last week (but you’ll hear more about that from him soon!).

Kuri Squash:  Say what?  According to wikipedia, underneath the hard skin is a firm flesh with a delicate and mellow chestnut-like flavor.  Also according to wikipedia, we can make anything with it!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed following us through our CSA season.  We’ve enjoyed the challenge of trying out new foods based on our veggies, and are looking forward to more produce next summer/fall!

The farm supported through out CSA is wrapping things up for the year, which means big, diverse shares.  I’m pretty excited about all of the veggies (especially the ones that are more specific to the fall), but there is so much produce!

There were a few fun tidbits in this week’s email, including ways to store squash in pantyhose (apparently this is very effective, but I think I’d rather just roast and freeze any extra).  It also seems that the animals on the farm are already putting on heavy coats, so the farmers are predicting a long and cold winter.

In any case, here’s our haul:

Eggplant:  D just made a tasty eggplant Parmesan, but I’m not sure where this one will wind up.

Butternut Squash:  Oh, the possibilities!

Zucchini/Summer Squash:  Roasted, grilled, served in omelets – we have some good options here.

Hot peppers:  I’m sure these will wind up in some appropriately spicy dishes.

Radishes:  We had a tasty Asian dish at the beginning of the summer with radishes – maybe I can convince D to make it again.

Cucumbers:  Salads and snacking.  And then I’m swearing off cucumbers for the rest of the year.  (I never thought I’d say that!  I used to love cucumbers!)

Potatoes:  I’m pretty sure that a potato-leek soup is coming soon.  It’s the perfect weather for it!

Peppers:  The spicy zest of cooking.  (Especially when you don’t have onions.)

Purple beans:  Don’t they look awesome??  I want to make sure to maximize their color impact, so we’ll probably just saute these guys.

Lettuce:  I’m having a salad for lunch, and am very excited about it!

Basil:  I’d like to make some basil pasta, but this might wind up as a simple pesto.  Either would be very tasty.

Anybody who’s spent any time eating food with me or reading this blog knows that I like my spices, and my favourite spices of all are those of Middle Eastern or Indian origin. So, naturally, I was quite thrilled when K’s mom got me a set of Indian spice blends a few weeks ago! Here they are:

From left-to-right, we have the following:

• Maharajah Curry Powder: this spice blend is apparently “the very top quality” curry powder. It can be used for both sweet or savory dishes, and interestingly, the accompanying recipe for this blend is a breakfast dish! I’m not quite sure how I feel about curry for breakfast, but I am intrigued enough to try it sometime.
• Balti Seasoning: this blend comes from Pakistan and Persia, and is “sweeping the world”. I’m not really exactly sure what it tastes like, but the accompanying recipe is for “Balti sauce”, which you can serve over beef or chicken. More on this later, once I know what it’s like.
• Tandoori Seasoning: this blend is used to “replicate the rich flavour, if not the cooking technique” of Tandoori dishes. A Tandoori oven is a clay oven that gets ridiculously hot, and cooks meat so fast that Maillard reactions (which cause browning) don’t take place. Apparently the red color of Tandoori chicken that you get in most Indian restaurants is caused by food coloring.
• Garam Masala: this blend is supposedly the only one of the four that is actively used in India. It’s a hot, spicy, musky blend that is used to increase flavour in curry dishes. This is what I used for last week’s experiment

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We only have two more weeks in the season for the CSA, so they’re really packing the shares to ensure that we get lots and lots of veggies.  New this week – acorn squash!  (The real acorn squash.  =]  )

Cucumber:  I guess we’re nearing the end of the cucumber season.  I still have all of last week’s cucumbers, so maybe I’ll make a cucumber salad?  Otherwise, everything will get frozen and eaten eventually.

Summer Squash and Zucchini:  Last week we made a salsa with all of our squash.  This week – well, I’m worried that we’re running out of ideas.

Green bell peppers:  Yum!  So many tasty options

Potatoes:  The weather is turning cold, and it’s time for roasted potatoes.

Cantaloupe:  I’m hoping for a sweet breakfast treat.

Eggplant:  Eggplant Parmesan, tonight.  It’s going to be yummy!

Acorn Squash:  Mmm, soup.  Or at least, that’s the current plan.

Green leaf lettuce:  It’s been a while since we’ve had traditional greens, and I was just thinking yesterday that I wanted a salad.  I guess the timing worked out perfectly!

Green beans:  We’re starting to get backlogged with these, so I’m planning to make most of these into a side dish tonight.

We’ve been getting a lot of vegetables recently, and with the weather turning slightly colder, it seemed appropriate to have our first soup of the season!

This was really easy – fresh corn, green beans, black-eyed peas, diced potatoes, diced tomatoes, chopped peppers, and chicken broth.  After boiling for about 15 minutes to get the potatoes fully cooked, add spices and enjoy!

The best part?  One pot to cook, and a single cutting board to prep all of the veggies.  Easy cooking, easy cleanup, tasty eating!

The weather has finally cooled off, and it’s starting to feel like fall!  This is pretty exciting, especially because it means that we can start having soup again, and I love soup.  Plus, we’re transitioning away from summer squash and cucumbers.  While those have been wonderful, we’re starting to feel inundated, so the change is nice.  I even swapped out the cucumber in our share for an additional eggplant.

This week’s haul:

Green Beans:  I enjoy munching on vegetables at work, so these will probably come into campus with me!

Eggplant:  I’d like to try baba ghanoush again.  The last time we made it, something didn’t go quite right, so this may be the perfect opportunity for a take 2.

Cantaloupe:  Mmmmmmm, fruit.  The last time we had cantaloupe, it was delicious, and I expect the same this week.

Pattypan Squash:  We think that the last time we used these, we might have undercooked them, leaving them bitter.  Since my mom swears by them, I figured that we owed them another chance.  This week’s plan – pan sauteed.

Potatoes:  Since fall is upon us, it’s time for soup!  These are going into the corn soup.

Corn:  We got six ears of corn this week.  “But where are they?” you ask.  They’ve already been husked, boiled, and soaked in an ice bath.  Now, all of my lovely corn kernels are ready for soup.  Need a tip for slicing off the kernels?  Try this:

Green Pepper:  Only one this week.  Sad, sad day.  And no onions, to add insult to injury!  =]

Pickling Cucumbers:  What on earth do I do with eight of these??  I don’t like pickles, so I’m a bit stumped.  Suggestions?  Favorite recipes?  Anyone in town want me to cook for them using these?

We made this recipe several weeks ago for some friends who came over. K spiced the pork, and I don’t know what all she used for it, but then we grilled the pork and made a beet reduction sauce.

The beet reduction sauce was pretty easy; I made a standard reduction with finely-diced onion, red wine, chicken stock, salt, and pepper, while the beets were boiling (they take about 45 minutes). Then I poured some of the beet liquid into the reduction, peeled and sliced the beets, and dropped them in as well. The flavor was just a little bit sweet, and went extremely well with the pork. Worth trying out, in my book.

This was a quick thing we whipped up a couple weekends ago when K’s mom was out:

It’s really easy to make: dice some eggplant and sweet red pepper, slice some good French bread, and sprinkle the veggies over the top. Then brush lightly with olive oil and bake for 10-15 minutes until crunchy but not burnt. Yum!

This week I’m going to be pretty brief on our plans for our produce, but the highlight is the tomatoes! (And lots of them!) As always, creative ideas, especially for the squash and cucumbers that we see a lot, are welcome.