Week 8

What a beautiful day!  While you can't get ahead when watering you can at least go into the heat spell feeling like you are not behind and we spent the last couple days making sure everything, particularly the fall brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, kale, broccoli) that were transplanted on Thursday were well watered.  The heat will be stressful for some plants but much less so if they go into it healthy.  You are all getting cherry tomatoes but before pump your fists in the air with excitement let me say that what we pick will be divided between everyone if it is only five tomatoes per person (I hope not, that would be sad) then you can enjoy them on the way home and look forward to next week.  They didn't pick as well as I thought they would on Friday (about five tomatoes per person if pick-up had been that day) but I am hoping, desperately,  for a better yield tomorrow.  Even without a bounty of tomatoes you have a nice summer box.  We have had a lot of nice meals in the past week.  It is the season of good eating.  Hope you have a chance to enjoy the warm evenings and some good food.

Carrots - Purple Haze, great raw or roasted
Zucchini- We marinated some slices in a lot of garlic, lime juice, olive oil, salt and cumin and grilled them along with some onions and green pepper.  We then chopped it all up with some cherry tomatoes and tossed it in a bowl with some steamed potatoes and the left over marinade.  We used it in some veggie burritos and it was so good.
Green Beans
Onions - The Italian Tropea are ahead of the Walla Walla Sweets this year, as they are suppose to be, but often aren't. They are on the mild end of the onion spectrum and are great grilled or in salads.
Cherry Tomatoes
Bell Pepper - purple(tastes like green) or green
Broccoli - We roasted some of this the other night and it was extra tasty.  I sliced slender pieces with just a bit of floret and a long stem, tossed them in oil with some salt and roasted at 400 degrees.
Herb - most likely a choice of mint, basil or parsley
Kale - Large Only - From a new planting and pretty tender - good raw or cooked.
Winter Squash Leaves/Tips - Veggie Add On Only

Squash Leaves - 
There are a lot of things in the garden that other cultures eat that many people don't even consider when gathering food from a garden.  I saw a blog post several years ago about Hmong farmers market vendors in Seattle selling squash leaves.  That post was my inspiration for including these in your box.  You can find the recipe here at the original post written by a Thai chef, Pranee, who is based in Seattle and teaches cooking classes in the Seattle area and occasionally in Olympia.  The recipe given is great.  It is fast and easy - greens, coconut milk, water and salt.  The broth is very salty.   I thought it was too salty on its own but enjoyed the saltiness of the leaves.  You should trim off the bottom part of your stem but save the lower leaf.  The upper stem, the little squash buds and the all the leaves are edible as is.  Some of the lower stems on mine where fine and some where really tough and stringy so to be on the safe side I am just telling you to get rid of the lower stem.  I could tell as I was harvesting them that some where more tender but I couldn't figure out why.

After doing a bit more research I discovered that winter squash leaves are popular in African dishes and are often used interchangeably with collards, sweet potato leaves or cabbage (hmm, do you still have one in your fridge?).  I started looking at recipes from Malwai but then found several others from other countries.  They all contained similar ingredients:  greens, onions and tomatoes.  Many also included ground peanuts or a bit of raw peanut butter (I got the impression that was cheating a bit but contributes a similar flavor and is easier).  It appears the squash leaves used in most African dishes are larger, full sized leaves that are peeled.  I assume that the flavor is the same and your tips would do the trick.  Heifer International has an easy recipe on their website.   I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I only had a handful of leaves left so I made a mini version.  I liked it a lot and think it would be great with rice or you could do a little research and serve it with the traditional corn mush it is often eaten with in Malwai.

Finally, it appears there is an Scillian dish that uses the leaves/tips of a zucchini/gourd looking thing called a cucuzza.  I didn't try preparing the squash leaves in this way but if you want to check it out you can google tenerumi.  You can find a recipe from Saveur magazine here.

Squash leaves can be scratchy.  I didn't find them to be bothersome after being harvested and washed but you all have seen my hands!  I suspect yours might be a little more sensitive.

Happy Cooking.