Local Box Meal Plan: Sept. 21-25

It’s cold and rainy outside, so this meal plan reflects the weather! Lots of soups, stews and stick-to-your ribs food. You know as soon as I get my Local Box on Thursday we’ll be in the 90s again. Oh well.

This week, we’re getting sweet corn, summer squash from Naegelin, southern peas from Animal Farm or Lightsey, purple eggplant, herb from Pure Luck, tomatoes from McCall Creek Farm, lettuce from Bluebonnet Hydroponics, pears from Lightsey, a variety of citrus from G&S Groves, green chiles and serranos from Lundgren, and pickling cucumbers or radish from My Father’s Farm.

So I’m making:

Appetizers:

• Panzanella with cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs (crossing fingers for cucumbers and basil!)
• Eggplant and squash caponata on bruschetta
• Green salad with pears, blue cheese and candied pecans

Dinner:

• White chicken chili with hot peppers and southern peas
• Corn chowder

I use citrus in so many of my dishes that I can’t think of anything I won’t use it in!

Thai Eggplant and Basil Stir-Fry (Pud Makua Yow)

[Printable Recipe]

Greenling brought us a beautiful bunch of basil and some cute little eggplants this week. I was still feeling inspired by the cooking class at Thai Fresh, so I decided to make a Thai dish to go with our lettuce wraps.

From Thai Table

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 chili peppers (I used 2 jalapenos that came in our box of peppers last week)
• 1 lb. eggplant
• 1 c. water
• 10 large basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. fish sauce

Directions:

• Chop the eggplant into chunks so that they are easier to flip in the pan. The skin should be left on. Greenling sent the cutest little mini eggplants, so I just quartered them.

• Heat the canola oil over high heat, then add the garlic and jalapenos to the wok or skillet and saute until the garlic is lightly browned.
• Add the eggplant to the pan and saute for a minute, then add the water. Cover the pan and let simmer for ~6-7 minutes until the water has evaporated and the eggplant is cooked.
• Add the basil, sugar and fish sauce and toss to coat in the eggplant mixture. I left the basil whole so that it wilted in the mixture, but it can be chopped also. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

I squeezed a bit of lime over the eggplant when it was done. Divine!

Verdict:
You all have heard my gripes about the texture of eggplant before, but this was actually really great! The flavors were wonderfully spicy-sweet and the eggplant was soft, yet retained its structure. And the seeds were relatively benign. =)

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.29.2008

Here’s what to look for in this week’s Local Box:

• Bibb lettuce
• red bell peppers
• green beans
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• eggplant
• sweet potatoes
• chili peppers
• red potatoes
• baby greens bouquet
• cherry tomatoes
• garlic chives
• crimini mushrooms
• basil

Chiles for All Seasons

It was great to find roasted chiles in this week’s Local Box. But if you’re like me, you’ve still got some fresh chiles in the fridge from Local Boxes past. What to do with them? Marysol Valle of Hands of the Earth farm dries her chiles, then seasons with them all winter long. Halve them first she says, and seed ‘em or not, depending on how spicy you like them. Then lay them out on screens in a place with good venitilation, and perhaps a little sun (but not too much). After they’re dry, she pulverizes them in a dedicated coffee grinder, then stores in airtight containers. That’s one way to keep warm with the cold weather comes!

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.15.2008

Here’s what to look for in your Local Box this week:

• green beans
• yellow squash
• 1015 yellow onions
• Italian parsley
• cucumbers, Italian and standard
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• lemongrass
• French sorrel
• eggplant
• red burgundy onions or crimini mushrooms
• chile peppers
• red potatoes
• tomatoes, slicing or cherry
• lettuce
• basil

What are you planning out of your Local Box this week?

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.08.2008

Here’s the forecast for Greenling Local Boxes this week:

• onions (yellow 1015’s & red burgundy)
• garlic chives
• cucumber
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• sunburst squash
• okra
• eggplant
• chiles
• jalapeños
• red potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• slicing tomatoes
• lettuce
• basil
• red bell peppers

Weeknight Feasting, Southern-Style

Last night we had a rather eclectic dinner: beer-battered okra, potato salad, and a taste of fresh salsa. The okra was the best we’ve fried yet. To make the batter, I glugged a bit of Shiner Bock into a bowl, added flour until it was about the consistency of pancake batter, and stirred in some salt. Fried in about an inch of a mix of canola and safflower oil at at least 350°, these puffed up beautifully!

For the potato salad, I cooked all of my remaining Local Box red potatoes in boiling water until they were tender, steaming Local Box asparagus over them for the last few minutes. After the potatoes cooled enough, I chopped them and put them in a mixing bowl, sprinkling them with white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper, as I went. We mixed in the asparagus, cucumbers, some red burgundy onion, a few chopped garlic chives, and half a bunch of julienned basil — all from the Local Box. Then we made a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar and tossed it all together. YUM!

And the salsa? We had only a taste because that’s all we could handle! I used my Local Box chiles and tomatoes to make Paula Disbrowe’s “Horse Trader Salsa” from her book, Cowgirl Cuisine.  First ingredient: “20 ounces fresh red, green, and yellow JALAPEÑOS and/or SERRANOS, stemmed but not seeded.” Hot diggity! We’re talking fire, here.

Local Box, 09.03.2008

Here’s some good eats for this week! Look at all that green!!

• Did anyone expect to see asparagus this week?!! It sure surprised me. I look forward to stir-frying it with some sesame seeds and soy sauce.
• I’m happy to see even more chiles: I’ll use them and the tomatoes for a salsa recipe I’ve been wanting to try. (And of course I’ll share the recipe if it turns out well!)
• Seeing Meyer lemons and Key limes together like this makes me wonder if I could combine their juice into a single pie, Key-lime style. Has anyone ever experimented with this? My in-laws will be in town this weekend, so I’d love to make a pie!
• I’m all about frying up that okra after reading Fearless Forager’s mini-essay, “Southern Cooking,” in the Greenling email Friday. (Go back and read it if you didn’t already – especially the part where her son screams, “There’s something green in my okra!” Priceless.)
• And I’ve got so many onions, now, that I’m starting to stash them away in a dark cabinet. I won’t have to shop for onions anytime soon this way!

What are your plans for eating out of the Local Box this week?

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.01.2008

Here’s the outlook for this week’s Local Box:

• onions, yellow & red burgundy
• purple hull peas
• cucumber
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• okra, mixed variety
• eggplant
• chile peppers
• red potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• basil
• crimini mushrooms

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 08.25.2008

Here’s what she’s got planned for our Local Boxes this week:

• edamame
• cucumber
• cantaloupe
  
• zucchini
  
• pattypan squash
  
• mixed variety okra
  
• red, yellow, green & orange bell peppers
  
• eggplant
  
• red burgundy onions
  
• chile peppers
  
• red potatoes
  
• “Caspian Pink” heirloom tomato
  
• lettuce