Eggplant and more recipe ideas

12. August 2011 by admin.

Fresh ideas from United Harvest: 

 

Quick Tips!

 

Blend berries in with your favorite vinaigrette!

Tear basil and add to pasta salads!

 

Add herbs to a green salad for a tasty surprise!

 

Add sliced cucumbers to pure, clean drinking water; enjoy!

 

Cut peach in half, place in bowl and overfill with your favorite frozen yogurt!

 

Blanch green beans and freeze for Thanksgiving!

 

Sizzling eggplant salad—when it’s too hot to light the oven!

 

Olive oil

2 large eggplants, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 c. fresh salsa** recipe below

12 oz. black beans

2 T lime juice

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Preheat gas grill or prepare charcoal fire.  Brush oil onto one side of eggplant slices, place on grill, oiled side down.  Cook 6 to 8 minutes until tender.  Brush oil on tops and turn and grill until tender another 6 to 8 minutes.  Cool slightly and then chop on cutting board. Combine eggplant, fresh salsa, black beans and lime juice in a large salad bowl; toss to mix.  Add salt and pepper a needed.

 

Fresh salsa is delicious mixed in any salad, but it is especially delicious paired with grilled eggplant. 

 

 

**with tomato salsa

 

3 ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped

2 small cucumbers, sliced, seeds removed, and chopped

½ cup red onion, minced

¼ jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

 

Stir ingredients gently and refrigerate.

 

 

Ginger Sesame Eggplant

 

1 medium eggplant

olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon peeled, grated ginger

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

 

Coat one medium eggplant with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees until soft.  Allow to cool, then peel, chunk into 1/2 inch dice and mix with any juices that have accumulated.  Combine garlic, ginger and sesame oil.  Saute together until translucent.  Toss with eggplant chunks and season with hot sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and chopped cilantro.  Serve warm or cold.

 

This works well as a tortilla chip dip or a sauce for soba noodles!

 

Kristi Hood

Quail Hill Farm

Amagansett, NY

 

 

Beautiful flower and fruit salad

Purchase certified edible flowers at a farmer’s market.

 

1 melon cut into cubes

2 cups of fresh pineapple cubes

1 pint of fresh raspberries

1 pint of fresh blueberries

1 pint of fresh strawberries

1 cup of seedless grapes

2 mangos, peeled and cubed

 

Lime Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup of lime juice

1/3 cup of maple syrup

1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes

 

1-1/2 cups of edible flowers

 

Combine all fruit in a large bowl.  Toss carefully with lime vinaigrette. Garnish with flowers.

 

This salad wins the award for most beautiful salad! 

 

Ratatouille—Two ways

 

Whether you simmer your luscious veggies in a crock pot or for a twist, grill them outdoors, when you make ratatouille, it’s summer!

 

When you plan an afternoon in the garden, yet long to come inside for a hot meal, ratatouille is a perfect choice.  Create your perfect mixture of veggies based on what you harvested that week.

 

¼ c. olive oil

2 c. cubed, peeled eggplant

1 c. chopped zucchini

1/ 2 c. chopped tomatoes

1 red or yellow pepper, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 t. thyme

2 t. oregano

½ c. veggie broth

sea salt and fresh black cracked pepper to taste

2 T fresh basil

 

Saute eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, pepper, and onion until soft.  Stir in remaining ingredients except basil.  Transfer vegetable mixture to a crock pot and cook on low-heat for 4-1/2 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-1/2 hours, or simmer for an additional 25 minutes. Stir basil into mixture when ready to serve.  Freezes well!

 

Or try……….

 

Grilled Ratatouille

 

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 yellow pepper, stemmed, seeded and halved

1 red pepper, stemmed, seeded and halved

2 Vidalia onions, peeled and sliced in rounds

1 large zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch slices

1 small eggplant unpeeled, sliced into 1/4 rounds

2 dozen cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

½ cup fresh basil, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Preheat grill to medium-high. Place olive oil, lemon juice, peppers, onions, zucchini and eggplant in a large bowl.  Gently turn to coat veggies.  Grill veggies until tender, turning once.  Cool slightly and chop grilled veggies into bite-size pieces.  Toss in a large bowl with remaining ingredients.  Serve warm.

 

 

Preserving the Harvest! roasted eggplant and garlic caviar

 

1 large eggplant

4 large cloves garlic

3 T lemon juice

2 scallions, chopped

1 small handful of flat leaf parsley

3 T olive oil

Sea salt

 

Preheat over to 400 degrees.  Pierce eggplant about five times with a fork and place it on a baking sheet.  Pour a slight amount of water on baking sheet and place in oven.  Place garlic cloves in wrapped tin foil and place in oven.  Turn eggplant once and roast eggplant and garlic for about 40 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool.  Once eggplant is cool, slice it in half removing and spooning the flesh into a blender.  Squeeze the garlic out of its skin into the blender also.  Add remaining ingredients and season with sea salt.  Serve at room temperature.  The caviar can be refrigerated for several days and it freezes well.

 

 

 

Tomato, Basil, and Arugula Pasta Salad

 

4 large tomatoes , cut into 1/2–inch dice

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 cup (packed) arugula leaves (or substitute with other greens)

3 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves

2–1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 pound penne

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional

 

Toss the tomatoes, garlic, arugula, basil, crushed pepper, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper to taste in a large serving bowl.  Set aside to marinade at room temperature for at least one hour or up to three hours.  

 

Cook the penne al dente, drain briefly, and add to the tomato mixture.  Add the cheese, toss and serve without chilling.

 

 

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Heirloom Tomato Tasting this Saturday

20. July 2011 by admin.

Heirloom Tomato Tasting at The Common Market

This Saturday July 23, 11:30am-2:00pm at The Common Market in Frederick. See their website for directions. Meet me there and sample some great local food! Heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, ice cream, sauces, juices and jams. All local items at The Common Market will be 10% off!~

Here is the flyer with more information about the different tastings happening in the store on Saturday:

July 23 CM demo

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Harvest List for week 3–June 10

9. June 2011 by ilene.

Anticipated Harvest List for Friday June 10–CSA members will select 8 from the following:

1) A new batch of lettuce, either romaine or a new variety of red leaf lettuce

2) A second type of lettuce to choose from, another leaf lettuce

3) bok choi

4) kohlrabi

5) turnips

6) scallions (the spring onions are done, these are delicate scallions)

7) garlic scapes (get them while they are here!)

 kale

9) chard, Red Russian or maybe Perpetual Spinach (a spinach-y variety of chard)

10) cabbage

plus U-Pick Herb Garden (ready now: sorrel, sage, chives, a little oregano, some chamomile flowers, what else..)

Coming Soon: zucchini are starting! Definitely next week, maybe a taste this week.

U-Pick Zinnias are beginning to blossom! A beautiful row. They will be U-Pick when there are enough of them.

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Happy Mothers Day

9. May 2011 by admin.

This is my Mothers Day omelette. Babies were fun, but big kids make great omelettes.

Pottery by Suzi Hanson of Catoctin Pottery

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Garlic

19. July 2010 by admin.

 Aaaah, the garlic is curing. Its all bundled and hanging in the barn to air and dry.

Here’s Donna helping to hang the garlic. I like that she wore overalls for the occasion.

Here’s what its like to eat your lunch in the garlic barn:

Sneak preview

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What’s for dinner?

17. October 2009 by ilene.

One of my greatest pleasures on the farm is witnessing my children’s experience of the garden. They inhabit the garden with confidence and comfort, as they snack on sorrel leaves, Long Tom tomatoes, and red peppers. Jonah eats cabbages and peppers like apples. Noah has an eye for what’s ready to harvest, some exciting new vegetable to pull from the ground. They are endlessly entertained during CSA harvests, by helping harvesters collect the goods or playing with visiting children or by themselves, filling toy dump trucks with dirt in the open-sided barn. They love CSA pickup days, when members bring their children to experience the farm. Noah takes kids into the garden to snack on cherry tomatoes together and pick flowers. Jonah offers peppers, with a confidence that makes even skeptical children feel more adventurous with garden snacking.

One quiet evening we ventured out to the garden with the mission of “What’s for dinner?” They ran here and there collecting garden prizes–a mix of sorrel, chard and sweet potato greens, bok choi, green beans, and red peppers, and herbs. Phil and I love the sweet potato greens sauteed, the kids prefer raw sorrel. Bok choi is a raw edible spoon for rice (or dip) with the green part as a wrap. Green beans go fast raw or absolutely gobbled down sauteed with garlic and soy sauce. That was a daily sautee for my kids during the season, and they loved when these were not rationed, but “all you want to eat”. I would say “I’m making them until you say stop.” I wish it were that easy to feed my kids vegetables during the off-season. This is a truth with my kids, and likely with many of the kids who are CSA members–When it comes straight from the garden, especially if they help harvest it, and even more especially if they helped grow it, it is a completely different eating experience for them.

 

The boys, trekking home with their garden prizes, to make dinner

 

So busy with this, I haven’t posted in months, but the farm is wrapping up for the season, and I am digging up collected photos to share with you. All summer, I wrote blog posts “in my head” with visual snapshots and all (do other bloggers do this??), but sometimes I actually did document them with a real camera. And its not too late, so the written blog entries may happen as well, coming to you during the cold months as a taste of the summer gone by.

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Another turnip recipe

22. July 2009 by ilene.

It was the last week our CSA members are receiving turnips for this season, but I had forgotten to include a recipe by CSA member, Tracy. So if you still have some in your frig, here’s something to do with them (even if they are getting a little soft in the frig, because, face it, turnips are not likely the first vegetable we gobble up). Maybe you will this way though–

Turnip Browns recipe:

1. Cut it into small pieces and place in cold water and bring to the boil (just like boiling potatoes). When tender (stabs easily with fork), remove from heat and drain well.

2. Meanwhile, chop finely 2 cloves garlic. Combine with 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, pinch of dried chili flakes, and 1/5 teaspoon ground ginger (or freshly grated) (or just salt and pepper; or, cumin and dried chili flakes).

3. After turnips are cooked, heat non-stick skillet on medium-high. Add oil-garlic mixture and a pat of butter to hot pan. Cook until garlic aroma begins. Add turnips and cook until browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spices can be adjusted to fit you preferences. These are good for breakfast, lunch (leftovers), and dinner.

We’ll see you later today,

Tracey

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Chick Update

3. May 2009 by ilene.

The chicks are three weeks old, so its time for an update. In their first week, they had visitors come to admire the new hatches. Here are CSA members, Heather and Kelsey of the Schwartz family.

 

Then, with chicks one week old, Noah selected out six chicks for Hannah, put them carefully in a shoebox and we drove to Philadelphia. Here’s Hannah and Noah, on Hannah’s visit to our place in March:

Just shy of Phili, we made covert arrangements to meet on the side of the highway and deliver the contraband to Hannah and her sister Nora and father Chris. We rushed off to a family party in Phili and then met up that evening at Hannah’s house for an overnight visit with Hannah and her family.

Here’s Hannah with her new chicks:

 

Here’s Jonah and Norah, assistant chick keepers, visiting Norah’s bunny:

Five chicks went to another customer, Phil’s friend nearby. Four chicks were designated “Not for sale” by Jonah and Noah. They include two Naked Necks named Naked and Peckeron, and two yellow chicks named Max and George.  Here they are at three weeks old:

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