CSA Week 10

Happy Thursday, Misfit Members! We're just over the halfway point in the season, which means we're right in the middle of all the mid-summer goodies! Here's what's in the box this week:

-Tomatoes: -Sun Gold and Chocolate Cherry

-Red Slicer

-Carbon and Black Krim

-Roma

-Orange Jubilee

-Peppers: -Bell

-Sweet Gypsy

-Jalapeno

-Poblano or Banana (bi-weekly only)

-Sweet Corn

-Eggplant

-Green Beans

-Yardlong Beans

-Squash: -Patty pan

-Yellow Squash, Cocozelle Zucchini, or Delicata

The orange Jubilee tomatoes were actually a surprise this week. I thought I lost all of my Jubilee transplants back in the early spring, but some of them must have gotten mixed in with my Tigerella transplants. I was pretty surprised when I walked down that row and mixed in with the small striped Tigerellas were these large bright yellow tomatoes! I made sure everyone received at least one this week.

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Chinese Yardlong Beans

Ingredients:

-1 small bunch yardlong beans

-2 tbsp soy sauce

-1tablespoon water

-1 tbsp sherry

-1 tsp sugar

-1/2 tsp cornstarch

-Pinch teaspoon ground red pepper (or red chili flakes)

-1 tsp ginger, minced

-1⁄2 teaspoon garlic, minced

-2 tbsp vegetable oil

-sesame oil

Directions:

-Wash beans, trim ends, and remove strings. If the beans are very large in diameter, you may want to slice them in half lengthwise. Chop into approximately 2-inch size pieces and set aside.

-Combine soy sauce, water, sherry, sugar, cornstarch, and red pepper- stirring until smooth. Set aside.

-Cook ginger and garlic in hot vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add beans and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir soy sauce mixture, and add to beans; cook stirring constantly, 1 minute or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with a few drops of sesame oil. Serve immediately.

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Honestly, my go-to for yardlong beans is just frying up with some bacon and garlic, but I wanted to provide an alternative since I know not everyone is as bacon-obsessed as I am! I also thought I'd show y'all how these things grow. They look so weird to me- 2-3 foot long squiggly-looking things just hanging off the vine. They seem to out of place, mostly because a lot of them hang pretty far off the trellis so if you walk by too close they brush your shoulder and it's just a little.. weird. Probably because they remind me of a certain slithery critter! It's definitely worth the slight creepiness factor though!

That's all for this week, folks! Have a great week and don't forget to wash your produce!