August 6, 2020 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Eggplant!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Sierra Blanca OR Zoey Onions: Creamy Garlic & Onion Spaghetti; Potato and Bell Pepper Breakfast Hash

Missouri Garlic: Creamy Garlic & Onion Spaghetti; Zucchini Noodles with Lemon “Ricotta”

Green and/or Italian Zucchini: How To Make Zucchini Noodles by LoveandLemons.com; Zucchini Noodles with Lemon “Ricotta”

Green and Silver Slicer Cucumbers: 50+ Cool As A Cucumber Recipes; Bahn Mi Pizza; Tuna Quinoa Toss; Cucumber Lime Lavender Spritzer; Hoisin Glazed Salmon Burgers with Pickled Cucumbers

Green Beans: Green Beans with Sesame Sauce; Italian Potato Salad with Green Beans

Egyptian Spinach: Egyptian Spinach Vegetable Feature; Egyptian Spinach Soup

Gold Potatoes: Italian Potato Salad with Green Beans

Sweet Corn: Sweet Corn Vegetable Feature; Sweet Corn Pancakes; Grilled Corn & Kale Salad

“Valentine” Red Grape, Chocolate Sprinkles or SunOrange Tomatoes: Zucchini Noodles with Lemon “Ricotta"; Tuna Quinoa Toss; Italian Potato Salad with Green Beans; Grilled Corn & Kale Salad

Sun Jewel Melons OR A Bag of Mixed Variety Tomatoes: Cucumber and Melon Salad with Feta Cheese

Green Bell Pepper: Fried Eggs in Green Pepper Rings; Potato and Bell Pepper Breakfast Hash

Jalapeno Pepper: Roasted Shrimp Enchiladas with Creamy Jalapeno Sauce; Bacon Jalapeno Deviled Eggs

Broccoli: Healthy Broccoli Casserole; One-Pan Wild Rice and Cheesy BroccoliCasserole

Eggplant: Chocolate Eggplant Torte (see below); Salerno-Style Grilled Eggplant (see below)

Hello and welcome to August!  We’ve had a very cool week, which means some things are ripening a bit more slowly.  Nonetheless, we have a lot of delicious summer vegetables in this week’s box!  Lets start with eggplant, this week’s featured vegetable!  In recent years I’ve really come to like and enjoy eggplant much more than when I was first introduced to it.  Last winter, before COVID-19 took over the world, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Italy.  I enjoyed eggplant with several different meals, but one dish in particular lingered in my memory.  We were heading to Rome after visiting the island of Sicily and had spent the night traveling on a ferry.  The boat was delayed coming into dock in Salerno on the Amalfi coast and by the time we got off it was lunch time and we hadn’t had breakfast.  We were starving and our first mission was to find a place to eat lunch.  We managed to find a place to park and from there went to the closest restaurant which happened to be a cafeteria, which I must say is much nicer than cafeteria style restaurants in the US!  We figured it must be good though because it seemed that this is where the working class locals were going for lunch.  We each got a slice of pizza and some vegetable sides including a marinated eggplant served at room temperature.  It was so simple, but so delicious and thus, I’ve attempted to recreate the recipe for you here.  In this recipe for Salerno-Style Grilled Eggplant (see below), the eggplant is grilled, then you slide the pieces into a marinade that you essentially make by putting all the ingredients on the plate/bowl you’ll serve it in.  When the hot eggplant hits the oil laced with garlic, onions and parsley, the flavors and scents start to unfold.  Yes, the eggplant soaks up the olive oil, which adds richness to this otherwise very mild, lean vegetable.  I like to eat this with grilled bread a slice of simple pizza or a simple pasta dish.  You can also use this same application for grilled zucchini.  The other recipe this week is for Chocolate Eggplant Torte (see below).  That’s right—eggplant in a baked dessert!  I had to try it and I must admit—it’s quite good!  In this application, you take full advantage of the silky, smooth texture of the eggplant to add body and texture to the cake.  This recipe is vegan and gluten free.  It is a bit more dense and fudgy in texture, which is quite delicious.  Give it a try and see what you think!

Egyptian Spinach

Before we go too much further into the box I want to talk about this week’s bunched green Egyptian Spinach.  This is a unique green that grows best during the heat of the summer.  It is rich in nutrients and is most often eaten cooked.  It contains a soluble fiber that gives it a viscous texture when cooked and it’s so delicious!  If you’d like to learn more about this vegetable, I encourage you to read the Vegetable Feature article we published in our newsletter back in 2013.  My top recommendation for using this vegetable is to make Egyptian Spinach Soup.  This soup is simple, but it is so delicious.  It’s also such a nourishing soup I guarantee you will feel so good after you eat it!

We’re into our second planting of zucchini right now and this week I’m inspired to talk about Zoodles!  That’s right, zucchini noodles.  Don’t think you have to have a spiralizer to make these, although if you do you can certainly use it!  Visit this blog post at LoveandLemons.com where you can learn about other tools and ways you can make your own Zoodles.  You’ll also find a list of recipes using zoodles including this vegetarian recipe for Zucchini Noodles with Lemon “Ricotta.”  This recipe includes a vegan “ricotta” that is made from nuts and seeds and the dish gets a splash of color and flavor from grape tomatoes.  It’s a simple, light and refreshing alternative to pasta salad!

I decided I need to get more creative with using cucumbers before the season is over and to help achieve that I found this article for 50+ Cool As A Cucumber Recipes!  This collection has some traditional, common versions of cucumber recipes, but it also has a lot of really off-the-beaten path ways to enjoy cucumbers including a Cucumber Lime Lavender Spritzer, Hoisin Glazed Salmon Burgers with Pickled Cucumbers, and Bahn Mi Pizza featuring quick-pickled cucumbers, radish and carrots served on top of a cheesy pizza with all the flavors of a traditional Bahn Mi Sandwich!  There is also a recipe for Tuna Quinoa Toss which is a nice one-bowl, complete protein lunch option.

Creamy Garlic and Onion Spaghetti
photo by *~Lissa~* for allrecipes.com

While onions go in so many dishes as a background flavor, you can also use them as a main feature item as well!  Check out this recipe for Creamy Garlic & Onion Spaghetti.  You could easily add chicken, shrimp and/or broccoli to this recipe as a variation as well.  Jalapenos are seldom the star of the show either, but they can be!  Check out this recipe for Roasted Shrimp Enchiladas with Creamy Jalapeno Sauce or try Bacon Jalapeno Deviled Eggs.  This recipe makes quite a lot so you might want to cut it in half.

If you missed last week’s Sweet Corn Vegetable Feature I’d encourage you to go check it out.  We featured two recipes featuring sweet corn last week.  The first was for Sweet Corn Pancakes, which are served with maple syrup.  The second is for a Grilled Corn & Kale Salad which I think is quite tasty!  After we published the recipe I realized cilantro would also be a good flavor to add to this salad.  Why didn’t I think of that sooner?!  Give it a try!

While Richard always prefers mayonnaise based vegetable salads, I want to try this Italian Potato Salad with Green Beans.   This salad has a red wine vinaigrette with fresh herbs as the dressing and includes green beans and tomatoes.  Very fitting for this time of year!

Fried Eggs in Green Pepper Rings
photo from reluctantentertainer.com

I typically keep it simple when I prepare green beans, and this recipe for Green Beans with Sesame Sauce appears to be quite simple, yet flavorful!  Speaking of simple, we have one simple, humble green bell pepper in this week’s boxes.  If you don’t know what to do with one pepper, consider eating it for breakfast!  Try these Fried Eggs in Green Pepper Rings or Potato and Bell Pepper Breakfast Hash.

The broccoli continues, although it tapered off a bit this week.  I don’t make casseroles very often, but why not make a good old broccoli casserole this week!  I found two interesting recipes, the first is a Healthy Broccoli Casserole that also has a base of mushrooms.  The second one is a  One-Pan Wild Rice and Cheesy Broccoli Casserole.

Last, but not least, the melons and tomatoes are finally starting to ripen and you’ll likely receive one or the other in your box this week.  This week we’re picking Sun Jewel melons which are a unique, early season Korean melon with sweet, crispy white flesh.  If you’re looking for something interesting to do with this melon, try Chef Tory’s recipe for Cucumber and Melon Salad with Feta Cheese.  Chef Tory has several restaurants in Madison, Wisconsin.  We participated in a dinner last year sponsored by The Isthums for a video series they produced entitled “Food for Thought.”  Click the link for the recipe and you’ll also find the video!  Trust me, this salad is so delicious!

Ok, we’ve reached the bottom of the box.  Whoa, that was a haul!  Get ready though, we have a lot more coming up for the next few boxes including edamame, cantaloupe, watermelons, more sweet corn and purple beans!  Have a great week!—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Flashy, Silky, Classy--That's Eggplant

By Chef Andrea

Listada Eggplant

We didn’t eat a lot of eggplant where I grew up in central Indiana.  In fact, the first time I ate eggplant might have been when I was in culinary school.  As beautiful and eye-catching as it was, I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by it because it was unlike any other vegetable I had ever seen.  Eggplant is a unique crop in a class all its own, but I also think it may be one of the most beautiful crops we grow!  Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate eggplant, its characteristics and the traditional ways eggplant shows up in cuisines all around the world.

Eggplant grows on plants that are several feet tall.  There are many varieties of eggplant ranging in size from small round ones the size of a golf ball to large globe eggplant weighing over a pound.  They come in a variety of colors ranging from various shades of purple to black, green, white and orange.  We have narrowed our line-up of eggplant to four including Lilac Bride, Purple Dancer, Listada and the traditional Black eggplant.  Please refer to our previous blog post which includes pictures and profiles of each eggplant and highlights the characteristics of each in further detail.  Each variety is best for different uses, so it’s helpful to visualize which variety you have before you decide how you want to use it.

Black Eggplant

Eggplant is a member of the nightshade family and must be cooked.  Many resources will tell you to salt eggplant before cooking it to remove bitterness.  While some older varieties were bitter, the new varieties we grow have been selected because they are not bitter, thus you can skip the salting step for that reason.  You may still choose to salt eggplant to soften the flesh so it doesn’t absorb too much oil.  Most of our varieties of eggplant have skin that is tender enough to eat, thus depending upon how you are using it, you do not always need to peel them either.

Eggplant has a soft, silky texture when cooked, which is one of its most unique attributes.  While its flavor is very mild, the texture is what allows it to absorb other flavors.  When you cut into eggplant, you might even describe its raw texture as being kind of “spongy,” and in many ways it is kind of like a flavor sponge!  When pairing eggplant with other ingredients in dishes, make sure you’re using good quality ingredients.  For example if a recipe calls for olive oil, make sure you use a good olive oil as the eggplant will absorb that flavor.  Eggplant is often paired with other summer vegetables including tomatoes, onions, garlic and peppers.  It also goes well with flavorful olive oil, tahini, herbs such as basil and parsley and spices including cumin, coriander, sumac, and cinnamon.  Depending on the part of the world a recipe is coming from, you’ll also find eggplant served with dairy products including yogurt, cheese (feta, Parmesan and mozzarella), and cream and fruits including lemons and pomegranate.

Eggplant & Chickpea Patties, HVF Newsletter 
July 28-29, 2017

When cooking eggplant, you definitely want to cook it to the soft and tender point.  This is not a vegetable that you want to be “al dente” or to have any “crunch” left in it.  Soft and smooshy is good, but you can have soft, tender eggplant that also holds its shape.  Some varieties will do this better than others.  Eggplant may be grilled, fried, sautéed, baked, steamed, stewed and roasted.  In addition to the classic dishes mentioned above, I was surprised to learn that eggplant can also be used in baking!  I was so intrigued I had to give it a try, but it also makes sense so why not?!  Eggplant functions in ways similar to applesauce or bananas in baked goods by adding moisture and a silky, smooth texture.

Eggplant does not store terribly well, so it is best to use it soon after getting it.  It is best stored at a temperature of about 45-50°F, but your home refrigerator should be colder than this which can cause chill injury.  Thus, we recommend storing your eggplant on the kitchen counter and use it within 2-4 days.  If it does start to get a little soft, don’t worry, just cook it.  It will get soft with cooking anyway!

Chocolate Eggplant Torte

Yield:  6 servings or 12 cupcakes

1 eggplant, approximately 1 pound

1 cup 70% dark chocolate chips 

1 banana

⅓ cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup good quality raw  cacao powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup almond flour 

Coconut oil, for greasing pan

Optional Ingredients for Garnishing

Dark chocolate

Sliced almonds

Powdered Sugar

1. Grease a loaf pan and line with a sheet of parchment paper or prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a cookie sheet, then slice the eggplant lengthwise. Place on the cookie sheet, cut side down.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked through and very soft. Remove the eggplant and cool enough to handle.  Scrape the flesh away from the skin and puree it in a food processor or blender.  You will need 1 cup of eggplant puree.  If you have extra, reserve it for another use.
3. Melt chocolate chips over boiling water in a double boiler.
4. Once the chocolate is melted, add to a food processor or blender along with the eggplant puree, banana, maple syrup and vanilla. Puree until smooth.  The mixture will look like a thick pudding at this point.
5. In a large mixing bowl, sift the cacao powder, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.  Add the almond flour and salt. Stir to combine the dry ingredients, then add the chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. The batter will be pretty thick at this point.  
6. Spread the batter into the greased loaf pan or portion the batter into muffin cups.  Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes (if using a loaf pan), or 25 minutes if making cupcakes.
7. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the pan, then grasp the parchment paper lining and use it to transfer the cake to a plate.  If you are making cupcakes, carefully remove the cupcakes in their paper liners and allow to fully cool on a cooling rack.
8. Once fully cooled, garnish to your liking.  You may dust the cake/cupcakes with powdered sugar or you may choose to melt some additional chocolate to drizzle on top along with sliced almonds.  Serve at room temperature and store any extras in the refrigerator.

This recipe was adapted from FreshPlanetFlavor.com.

Salerno-Style Marinated Grilled Eggplant

Yield:  3-4 servings (as an appetizer or side dish)

3 Tbsp sunflower oil or other neutral oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound eggplant

¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp finely minced garlic

1 Tbsp finely minced onion

2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

¼-½ tsp red pepper flakes

Flaky salt (such as Maldon), for serving (optional)

1. Prepare the eggplant by slicing it in either direction (your choice), ¼  to ½ inch thick.  Lay the slices out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Using a pastry brush, brush sunflower oil on the eggplant.  Season lightly with salt and pepper, then turn all the slices over.  Repeat on the other side.  Set aside for 10-15 minutes
2. Preheat a grill to medium heat.  Alternatively, you may use a grill pan on the stovetop.  
3. While you are preheating the grill, prepare the marinade.  Select a serving plate or flat, shallow bowl that is 10-11 inches in diameter.  Pour the extra-virgin olive oil on the plate, then add the red wine vinegar by drizzling it on top of the oil.
4. Next, sprinkle the minced garlic & onions, chopped parsley and red pepper flakes over the surface of the oil.  Set aside in a location near where you will be cooking the eggplant.
5. When the grill is ready, add the slices of eggplant.  Grill for several minutes on the first side, or until there are nice grill marks and the eggplant is starting to soften.  Turn all the pieces over and repeat on the other side.  Be careful to monitor the heat.  You need it hot enough to get good grill marks, but you don’t want the eggplant to cook too quickly.  Once you have nice grill marks on both sides, test a piece to see if it’s fully cooked (tender and soft).  If it is not, move the slices of eggplant to a cooler part of the grill and continue to cook for a few more minutes or until it is tender.  Alternatively, you can transfer the slices to a cookie sheet and bake them in a 350°F oven until they are tender (5-15 minutes depending on the degree of doneness and thickness of the slices).
6. When the eggplant is fully cooked, transfer the slices, while still hot, to the platter containing the oil mixture.  Slide the pieces of eggplant into the seasoned oil so that the oil, garlic, etc is on the top and bottom of each piece.  Allow the eggplant to cool in the oil to room temperature.  If desired, or if it needs to be seasoned a little more to your liking, sprinkle with additional salt prior to serving.
7. Serve at room temperature along with crusty bread if you wish.  After all, you need something to sop up the extra olive oil!

Recipe developed by Andrea Yoder.  

Variation: This recipe is also applicable to zucchini.  If you prefer, you could use a mix of zucchini and eggplant.