CSA Basket 10

This week's basket contained Cucumber, Basil, Lemon Cucumber, Ambrosia Melon, Carrots, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Summer Squash, Grapefruit, White Nectarines, Cabbage, Corn, Lettuce, Pluots, Grapes, Valencia Oranges, and Peaches. There's a trade in basket at our pickup location so if you've got something you don't want you can switch it for something in the trade in basket. Usually the trade in basket is full of chard. But this week there were lots of tomatoes. So I traded in two cucumbers (we're kinda tzatziki-d out around here) and the cabbage (ditto for coleslaw) for three more tomatoes.

Mom was in town last week and she was on a mission to use up every last item from the last basket. We juiced all the citrus I'd accumulated. The Valencia oranges have a lot of seeds, so they're not great for eating, but they make fabulous juice. And the grapefruit juice was much more sweet than I ever recall grapefruit juice being. She was not game for Barbara Kingsolver's Eggs in a Nest because she's not a fan of poached eggs. But she sauteed all the kale she could find with some onion and garlic and it makes a wonderful side dish to pretty much anything. She also read Animal, Vegetable, Mineral while she was here. She's on board with everything short of livestock. I did make about a 1/4 batch of Kingsolver's Family Secret Tomato Sauce. I chickened out of canning it and just froze it since it was only like two and half jars. We just had some over pasta and spicy Italian sausage and my independent taste tester LOVED it.

I used my trusty KitchenAid FVSFGA Fruit/Vegetable Strainer and Food Grinder for Stand Mixers to strain steamed peaches, carrots, green beans, and summer squash for baby food. This week the carrots, peaches, green beans, and white nectarines will meet that same end.

The summer squash (some of which is really zucchini this time) and some tomatoes are headed for Tomato, Zucchini, and Leek Galette with Roasted Garlic Goat Cheese from Emeril Lagasse's new book Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh which I found over at Serious Eats. I didn't make this galette from the last basket as I had planned because there were actually only two summer squash in the basket and they were the yellow kind, not zucchini. So those got turned into baby food (of which said baby is not a fan . . . winter squash, yes, summer squash, no). Meanwhile, I did make something akin to mozzarella using Guinevere's raw milk and half a rennet tablet from Bridget. It is really awesome and going on top of this week's galette if I don't melt it on toast first. [Updated 8/12/2010 to add: This Galette is AWESOME! I substituted grilled onions for sauteed leeks and dried thyme for fresh thyme. My independent taste tester LOVED it, too.]

In addition to the tomatoes in the CSA basket, my friend Bridget brought me a bunch of tomatoes and some hot peppers from her garden, so I'm going to make a vat of salsa. I cannot envision us ever being salsa-d out around here.

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