Welcome back readers!  Sorry Serving Suggestions had a brief hiatus this Summer but we are back with some great recipes for you today.

Shana has been pairing her Wrong Direction Farm orders with her CSA veggies:

I’ve been having a lot of fun cooking ground pork (or sausage) from Wrong Direction Farm with onions, cabbage and peppers from our share for a comforting meal that makes great leftovers. The cabbage cooks down a lot, is low- calorie and adds a nice crunch to the meal to oppose the soft ground pork. I even toss in tomatoes sometimes for more acid.

For hotter days (not to be found this summer!) I love a crunchy cabbage salad, but sometimes feel unsatisfied with a typical vinegar dressing. This recipe uses a yummy Thai peanut dressing that nicely compliments the cabbage!

Need a new salad recipe?  Try this one for a Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeno Cilantro Dressing.

Speaking of jalapenos, Bob has been making use of some from the CSA “extras” box as well as a prolific pepper plant on his front porch.  The number of peppers was a bit overwhelming so he decided to try something new:

I have purchased jars of pepper jelly in the past and found it to be a versatile condiment.  It’s good with some cream cheese and crackers as an easy appetizer (and was a hit at a recent family party).  Or for an easy one pot meal, brown some boneless cubed chicken breast, add in some sliced bell pepper near the end, add in a hefty tablespoon of pepper jelly and a heavy squeeze of dijon, stir to combine and let heat through, serve over leftover rice or with a salad.  The recipes I found for pepper jelly varied widely but this one seemed to be the easiest.

Since it’s a cool and rainy Summer night, you might also want to try a soup, here’s a suggestion from Bob:

Whenever I get leeks in my CSA share, I like to cut, clean and freeze them right away.  I slice them in half, keeping the root end on so it’s easier to handle, and cut them into inch wide semi-circles.  Then, I rinse and soak them repeatedly, at least three different changes of the soaking water, and then dry in my salad spinner.  I bag the cut leeks and put in the freezer so I have a quick base for my favorite Potato and Leek Soup. Bonus points if you use CSA potatoes too!

If you’re looking for an interesting way to use your corn, Shana has two ideas:

I’ve been making salad with raw corn since I first started doing CSA’s many years ago. Fresh, organic corn is sweet and has a delicate texture and adds something special to salads. I tossed it this week with kale, tomatoes, peppers and carrots.

I also did a “grill pie” with the corn which came out beautifully. I love using a bechamel garlic sauce on a pizza- it’s different and lighter in flavor so the csa veggies get to shine. Grilled dough has a certain crispness that I don’t find with oven cooked pizza. This weeks’ pie included grilled eggplant, peppers, corn, Wrong Direction’s fuet, and mushrooms- it was yummy!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

Another great mid-Summer share this week with tomatoes and peppers taking center stage.  Shana decided to use some of her peppers on a grilled pizza:

If you haven’t tried it yet, grilling a pizza is the closest I think to real brick oven taste and texture and it takes literally a few minutes to cook (so be careful and on top of it when grilling!!). I used our peppers, onions, garlic and herbs for this pie, but eggplant on pizza is also absolutely delicious (I know it sounds weird but trust me- cook it first- grilled or roasted). Enjoy!

Bob was going away on vacation shortly after the CSA pickup so he decided to do some Tuesday prep work that would pay off after vacation when nobody wants to go grocery shopping:

The tomatoes and lettuce were easy to use up before vacation but I knew the peppers, zucchini and beans would be tough.  Luckily the potatoes, garlic, beets and cabbage would keep just fine until we were home.  I chopped the peppers and zucchini into bite-size pieces and froze them; same with the beans, I snipped off the ends and cut in half.  I plan on using the frozen veggies, some broth from the pantry, tomato paste and leftover pasta to make a quick soup the night after we come home from vacation.  There’s nothing worse than that first day back home when nothing is in the fridge and you don’t want to go grocery shopping – hopefully this solves that problem!

Serving Suggestions is a recurring article that will be posted weekly during the CSA season featuring photos, tips and recipes.  Content is provided by Jessica, Shana and Bob.  If you would like to submit your own photos or recipes, please email Bob at robertfcowper@gmail.com.  To read through previous Serving Suggestions articles, click here for an archive.  You can also use the handy search feature at the top of the right hand menu bar to search for the name of a particular ingredient you need help using.

The tomatoes are here, the tomatoes are here!  Shana decided to use some of hers for a ratatouille:

I’m sure many of you will agree that there’s not much better than the beginning of CSA tomato season! And this week’s tomatoes were delicious. Whenever I get eggplant, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and onions, I just have to make ratatouille. There are many different ways to make ratatouille and I think they’re all pretty good but nothing comes close to Julia Child’s ratatouille recipe. Like everything else, she instructs you to have patience and take time to sauté each ingredient separately. Her recipe excels in the way that they stew together at the end so that instead of individual vegetables they all come together into a pot of deliciousness.  Happy cooking!

Bob, whose half share did not have a pick up this week, wasn’t lucky enough to take part in the tomatoes but still put some leftover beets from last week to good use:

I wanted to try something new with beets.  Whenever I am looking for something different, I check the NY Times Cooking section first.  They always seem to have some interesting takes on ingredients and their recipe search feature is very functional (I love being able to filter by cuisine type).  I decided to try this recipe for a Garlicky Beet Spread with Yogurt, Dill and Horseradish.  I modified the recipe by peeling and cutting the beets before roasting to make them easier to handle.  I was able to make it on Sunday when I had time to roast and cool the beets and hold it until midweek to serve aside latkes.  After a few days in the fridge I felt it needed a hit of some extra horseradish, a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt.  It was very earthy and unlike anything I’ve really had before.  A little goes along way so plan to use it with a few meals during the week or you’ll end up wasting some of the leftovers.

Welcome back readers!  Another week and another great share.  If you haven’t checked out the “extras” box when picking up your share, you should!  Both Bob and Shana have suggestions this week for what you can do with those “extras” if you picked any up.  First up, Shana and jalapenos: