After the previous week’s monster-sized haul, last week’s share was practically tiny. We got: four ears corn, four carrots, one bag potatoes, two bunches chard, one bunch green onions, one bunch parsley, two bunches lettuce, six tomatoes and several banana peppers. Our share also included two kohlrabi, but we accidently left those in the trade box. (Jesse picked up our share and got confused about the fact that I wanted to leave the parsley but was willing to try the dreaded kohlrabi. ) No matter, though—I’m sure that there will be more kohlrabi this coming week.
After my rant last week I actually haven’t been doing too badly with the chard. I’ve been eating a lot of pasta sauce with meatballs from the freezer, but I got tired of making zucchini noodles so I decided to try eating it on top of sautéed chard with a little bit of bacon. It’s quite good like that! Not quite as tasty as zucchini noodles but less work AND it uses up two or three chard leaves at a time.
I decided to try fermenting some of the carrots. Taking inspiration from this recipe, I packed a jar with sliced carrots, sliced ginger, orange peel, and some brine. I’m really curious to see how it turns out. Isn’t it pretty right now?
Fermenting carrots
I was really surprised to see that last week’s tomatoes all needed to be ripened on the counter, especially since the week before all of our tomatoes were overripe. I hope this doesn’t mean that tomato season is nearly over. If I can get up the motivation this week, I’d really like to make some fermented salsa. I need to go buy some lemons and/or limes, but other than that I think I finally have all the necessary ingredients on hand.
I’ve been falling behind on the lettuce, although taking a big salad to a potluck last weekend did put a dent in our supply. In general, though, we haven’t been eating as much salad lately. I guess I need to wash and rip everything that’s still in the fridge. That always makes us eat more salad because nearly all of the work is already done.
Jesse has really been enjoying all of the non-bell peppers we’ve been getting. He cooks them in the morning to add to his omelets or has them with tacos for lunch. I don’t eat spicy food so he always enjoys having little things like this to spice up his meals.
Jesse has also been taking care of the potatoes. So far, though, my idea of making a double batch of crispy roasted potatoes and then reheating the leftovers has been a failure. The crispiness just doesn’t hold during the store and/or reheating (I’m not sure which). If you have any bright ideas on this front, I’d love to hear them. We generate enough dirty dishes every day that I’m always interested in seeing where I can cut corners without sacrificing taste (or hygiene).
This post is shared at Living Green Tuesdays, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Scratch Cookin’ Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Fresh Foods Link Up, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, the Morristribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival, and Monday Mania.
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Have you tried sauteing the chard in some butter or ghee with garlic? It is pure deliciousness.
You can ferment green tomatoes too with some peppers and onions and lemon. They are really tasty! My tomatoes never ripened this year so I got fed up and fermented them all. Not too bad! I also love my carrot/ginger ferment. It is my favorite!
Amanda @Natural Living Mamma recently posted..Eucalyptus: An Herbal Primer
Ooh, fermenting green tomatoes is a great idea! We still have a bunch of tomatoes on our two tomato plants that I doubt will ripen before it freezes, so I will have to give that a try! Thanks, Amanda.
Last year a friend (Erin) said green tomato pickles were the best pickles she made. I think I’ll try it in a few weeks.
Fermented carrots…I need to try this! Thanks for sharing
Come and link up to this week’s CSA Link party when you get a chance…http://inherchucks.com/2012/09/27/whats-in-the-box-45/. Looking forward to seeing you there!
you’re so brave! i want to try fermenting but for some reason it intimidates the crap out of me.
…seasonal food i’m stoked about: berlotti beans! i am posting on them tomorrow and i am in l-o-v-e.
thanks for sharing with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link-up! I hope to see you again this week with more seasonal & whole/real food posts! xo, kristy.
kristy @ gastronomical sovereignty recently posted..Apple Walnut Bacon ‘Rizzo