Week 16

Happy Autumn

 A couple of you have asked about winter squash. Next week will be the first week of winter squash.   We will probably start with acorn.  They came out of the field last week looking good and should be cured properly by next week.  

This past week was the week of the pepper for us.  We have been roasting, drying, hot saucing and freezing like crazy.  We have a nice pile of peppers for you today as well.  Most or all of the peppers in your box are a variety called Antohi Romanian.  In my opinion they are the most beautiful pepper we grow.  They start off a creamy yellow color and gradually turn red.  They are named after a Romanian acrobat, Jan Antohi, who brought the seed to the U.S.

Leeks
Peppers
Potatoes
Carrots 
Cukes
Arugula
Slicing Tomato
Cherry Tomatoes - Large Share Only
Swiss Chard - Large Share Only


Carrot Quinoa

This recipe is adapted from The Grains Cookbook by Bert Greene.  It introduced me to quinoa many moons ago and is my favorite way to eat quinoa.  

2 tbsp  butter
1/2 cup or so chopped orange carrots 
1/4 cup chopped onion, shallot or leek
1 2/3 cup chicken stock
2/3 cup quinoa
1/4 tsp cumin

Rinse quinoa and set aside to drain.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add your onion/shallot/leek and cook for a minute.  Add carrots and cook for another couple minutes.

Add 2/3 cup broth, stir and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes or until carrots are soft.

Transfer carrot mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Rinse your saucepan and then return carrot mixture to pan with the rest of the stock. Heat until boiling and add the quinoa.  Lower the heat and cook covered for about 15 minutes until quinoa is tender.  

Feta Stuffed Peppers

This recipe is from Saveur magazine.  I made a couple minor changes to the recipe.  The recipe called for Fresno chiles but we made this using the sweet peppers you have in your box today and it was fantastic.  While everyone gets the same amount of peppers in weight there is quite a bit of size variation among the peppers.  As a result you will have to use your own judgement of how many peppers to use. 

5 - 10  sweet peppers
9 oz feta, cumbled
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 egg yolks
ground pepper

Set oven to broil.  Put peppers on a baking sheet under the broiler (not too close).  Turning once or twice cook about 5 minutes until peppers have softened.  You don't want the skin the char.  Let the peppers cool until ready to use.

Mix everything but the peppers in a bowl with a hand mixer.

Carefully cut each pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.  Stuff each pepper with some of the feta filling and put in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up a little. Broil peppers until cheese is golden brown and bubbly, about 6 minutes. Transfer peppers to a platter and serve hot.  

Other recipes call for the top to be cut off the pepper, the pepper stuffed and then the tops tooth picked back on the pepper before cooking.  I opted for the easy way out but even the easy way requires you keep the shape of the pepper so you have a little boat for your filling. 

Hope you all have a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather.