This share’s colors are purple and red!
Like Monday’s share, this share has quite a bit of eggplant. The long skinny ones are Japanese eggplant, which have very tender skins when cooked. The Japanese eggplant are good for any sort of Asian dish or stir fry which calls for eggplant. Check out the last post for some eggplant ideas. As well as at the bottom of this post…
There are no beets or carrots today because they both need another tiny bit for the new plantings to size up. The fall/winter carrots are looking very abundant, though not all of them have been thinned. The fall/winter beets have all been thinned and also look good. Instead of a root veggie today you have a bunch of basil for pesto or to add to a fresh tomato dish or perhaps tomato sauce.
By the way, my mom showed my an easy way to freeze extra tomatoes in sauce form (and peppers as well). Wash and halve them, put them in a roasting dish with some onions and garlic and any peppers you have (you could any herbs you want as well). Add salt and pepper and a healthy few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix thoroughly so everything gets coated with oil. Roast in the oven at 400F for maybe 30-40 minutes until everything’s nice and tender. Remove and let cool. Then blend everything together (skins included) on high until fully blended. Then put in a freezing container of your choice, label, and stick in the freezer. Instant tomato sauce base for winter!
Well, it looks like rain is on its way, so that means lots of changes on the farm this time of year. It’s time to plant lots and lots of crimson clover cover crop in every available space. It’s time to harvest the cippolinis and shallots that have dried in the field and cure them for storage. It’s time to harvest potatoes for storage. It’s soon time to clip winter squash and let them cure in the field for a few days or a week during a dry spell and then harvest them for storage. Yep, it’s never ending! Busy busy busy late summer and early fall work.
Within 3-4 weeks you will start to see changes in the crop mix in your shares as the rains and drops in temperature affect the summer crops and some of the fall crops come on. This fall, expect to see turnips, parsnips, mustard greens, cabbage, winter squash, potatoes, radishes, collard greens, garlic, shallots/cippolinis, leeks, escaroles and chicories….
But for now, here’s something for your eggplant… cheers – Matt.
Chinese-Style Eggplant (Eggplant in the Yangshuo Style)
Adapted from The Yangshuo Cooking School
INGREDIENTS
1 pound eggplant, sliced into 1-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
4 tablespoons ginger, crushed and minced
4 green onions, sliced
4 tablespoons peanut oil
2 teaspoons black bean sauce
2 teaspoons chili paste (use less if you’re averse to spice, more if you like to turn up the heat)
2 teaspoons oyster sauce (sub in hoison sauce or a vegetarian stir-fry sauce if you want to make this dish vegetarian)
1/2 cup water
DIRECTIONS
Heat wok or a wide skillet over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the oil and turn the heat to medium. Add the eggplant to the pan, frying over medium until browned and soft. If the oil smokes, turn down the heat to low.
Reduce the heat, and move the eggplant out of the center of the pan or wok. Add the garlic, ginger, chili paste and black bean sauce to the center of the pan, and continue cooking for two to three minutes more, until the ingredients are very fragrant.
Return the eggplant to the middle of the pan, add the water and oyster sauce, and turn the heat to high. Cook the mixture until the water is mostly evaporated. Add green onions, mix together and serve.
source: http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2012/08/chinese-style-eggplant.html
Cully Neighborhood Farm 