Wednesday, August 30, 2023

August 31, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Sweet Peppers

 


Cooking With This Week's Box

Basque Piperade
Photo from www.culinaryambition.com
Red and Yellow Onions:  

Musik Garlic:  

Green and/or Italian Zucchini:  

Silver Slicer or Green Slicer Cucumbers:  
Chocolate Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies
Photo from www.crazyforcrust.com
Creamy Cucumber Dill Salad 

Sweet Corn:  

Sweet Peppers:  
Corn & Pepper Pudding (See Below)
Greek Salad (See Below)

Jalapeño Peppers:  

Variety Bag of Tomatoes:  
Jalapeño Popper Bagels
Photo from www.delish.com
10-Minute Fresh Tomato Salsa 

Melons:  

Red Seedless Watermelon:  

Orange Carrots:  

Lacinato Kale:  

I say this every month, but how in the world has another month passed us by!?!  We are just a few weeks away from harvesting winter squash and this week the harvest crews have been bringing in bins of potatoes, carrots, beets, and rutabagas! Late August and early September is a bountiful time of the year as summer and fall collide, and this is the time of the year when sweet peppers are at their peak. Now that we’re seeing some gorgeous colors in the pepper field, it’s time to talk about what to do with sweet peppers.  Trust me, there will be more coming over the next few weeks! This week I chose two featured recipes, one raw and one cooked. With our fresh sweet corn, I thought this recipe for Corn & Pepper Pudding (See Below) was seasonally appropriate. I also like Alice Water’s very simple, but very tasty Greek Salad (See Below) which brings together fresh tomatoes, red onions, and sweet peppers in a refreshing salad. This recipe calls for fresh oregano, but you could also use fresh zaatar from your herb garden in this salad!
5-Ingredient Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup
Photo from www.vanillaandbean.com

Another great dish to make around this time of year is Basque Piperade, a vegetable stew of sorts that originates from the Basque region near France and Spain.  The main ingredients are onions, peppers, and tomatoes. It’s commonly served as an accompaniment to eggs, grilled fish or chicken, or used as a pasta sauce.  Peppers and tomatoes are a natural pairing in this recipe, as well as others such as this 5-Ingredient Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup.  

It's a big melon week!  If you want to try something a little different with your melons this week, aside from just cutting them up and eating them, check out this Chili Lime Melon Salad or Chili Lime Watermelon, which also has fresh cotija cheese on it.  I also found this interesting recipe for Sicilian Watermelon Pudding. I’ve never had anything like this, but I would try anything with Sicilian origins as the Sicilians really know how to enjoy life and food!

I’m going to keep this week’s commentary brief as the harvest crew is going to be bringing in a load of carrots any moment now!  But before I close out, a little glimpse into next week. I’m hoping we’ll have enough poblano peppers ready next week for boxes, along with more tomatillos!  Mini sweet peppers will be coming soon, along with orange Italian frying peppers. Before long we’ll also have jicama and lemongrass!  Have a great week and I’ll see you in September! 

—Chef Andrea 

Vegetable Feature: Sweet Peppers

by Andrea Yoder

Mini Sweet Peppers
before they are ripe
As we continue our progression through the seasons, we are approaching another transition point. Within the season of “Summer,” I feel like there are sub-seasons. Zucchini and cucumbers mark the beginning of summer. Tomatoes take center stage in mid-summer, and peppers close it out. For me, the peak of the pepper season is one of the markers that late summer is upon us and will very soon be colliding with fall. Because of their place in the season, they pair well with all of the summer vegetables we still have available, such as tomatoes and eggplant.  They also play nicely with fall cauliflower, winter squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes and fall greens such as Broccoli Raab and kale. This week we’re focusing on sweet peppers, of which we grow several different types.  Of note, all peppers start out as green peppers when they are immature. While we eat green peppers, peppers are actually fully ripe and at their peak of sweetness and flavor if we let them turn color to be fully red, yellow or orange.  Most people are familiar with the standard bell pepper, which holds an important place in our pepper lineup as an early season green pepper.  Once we start seeing some color in the field as peppers ripen, we move on to more interesting varieties such as Italian Frying Peppers. Italian frying peppers are long, slender peppers that, despite their name, may be eaten either raw or cooked. We have both red and orange varieties, and both have good pepper flavor and sweetness, which we prefer to a red bell pepper.

Fully ripe Mini Sweet Peppers
We also grow mini sweet peppers which are our all-time favorite sweet variety. While there are many snack peppers available in the marketplace today, we believe our peppers are more flavorful than commercial seed varieties. We’ve been saving our own seed for 15-20 years and our variety is not just carefully selected, but also well adapted to our area.  While sweet peppers are delicious eaten raw, they may also be sautéed and roasted. You can roast peppers whole, over an open flame such as on a grill or just on your stovetop if you have gas burners. Otherwise, peppers may be roasted under a broiler in the oven. When roasting peppers, blacken nearly the entire exterior of the pepper.  Once blackened, put them in a bowl and cover them so they steam for about 10 minutes. Remove the cover and once they are cool enough to handle you can peel away the black skin.  Once you have roasted the pepper, it’s ready to use however you’d like.  Slices of roasted red pepper are a nice addition to sandwiches, grain, or lentil salads, or use them to build an antipasto platter. You can also use roasted sweet peppers to make a delicious cream sauce, dressing or soup.

Italian Frying Peppers
While pepper season usually lasts several weeks, peppers are one of the easiest vegetables to preserve and it’s worth putting some away to use throughout the winter.  I use them quite often in winter stir-fries, as a pizza topping, added to soups and stews, and scrambled eggs, etc. Even if I am limited on time, I know I can always successfully freeze peppers as they do not need to be cooked before freezing. At a minimum, freezing peppers requires the time it takes to wash the pepper and put it in a bag. If I have a little extra time, and to save some freezer space, I’ll actually remove the stem and seeds and cut them into smaller pieces.  Really, it’s that simple and you’ll really appreciate having them in the dead of winter!

Peppers are high in vitamins A & C as well as a whole host of other phytonutrients, so munching on a sweet pepper also has nutritive benefits. As far as storage goes, peppers are best held at a warmer temperature of 45-60 degrees. We recognize very few homes have this perfect storage environment, so we recommend you do your best. Personally, I choose to store them at room temperature. If you choose to put them in the refrigerator, I’d encourage you to use them within a few days as they can get cold injury with prolonged time at cold temperatures.  Sometimes my peppers start to dehydrate and get soft and wrinkly. This does not mean the pepper is bad, it may have just lost some moisture. If this happens to you, don’t throw it out, rather use it in a cooked preparation such as soup or if you want to use it raw, do so to make a pepper puree or pepper sauce. 

Corn and Pepper Pudding

Yield:  4 servings

3 eggs
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 Tbsp minced onion
½ cup chopped sweet red pepper
5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup half-and-half
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 1 ½ quart souffle dish or casserole.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy. Stir in the corn, onions, and bell peppers.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, a large pinch of cayenne pepper and a pinch of salt. Add to the corn mixture, stirring to blend. Stir in the butter and half-and-half and mix well. Pour into the prepared dish and place the dish in a baking pan that is larger than the dish containing the pudding. Pour hot water into the baking pan to reach about one-fourth of the way up the sides of the dish.
  4. Carefully transfer the baking dish to the oven. Bake the pudding until the top is golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe borrowed from Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home, by Chuck Williams.

Greek Salad

Yield:  4 servings

2 small, ripe tomatoes
1 medium cucumber
½ small red onion
1 small to medium sweet pepper
¼ cup black olives
4 ounces feta cheese
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
2 tsp fresh oregano or zaatar, chopped or torn 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  1. First prepare the vegetables and combine together in a medium mixing or serving bowl.  Prepare the tomatoes by removing the core at the stem end and cutting them into wedges or bite-sized pieces.  Cut the cucumbers in have lengthwise and remove the seed cavity. Cut into thick, bite-sized slices. Peel and thinly slice the red onion. Remove the stem and seeds from the pepper and slice thinly. Once all the vegetables are in the bowl, season lightly with salt and toss to combine. 
  2. Prepare the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, combine red wine vinegar and lemon juice along with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Drizzle in the olive oil while whisking to combine. Stir in the fresh herbs. 
  3. Add half to ¾ of the vinaigrette to the bowl of vegetables and gently toss to combine.  Taste and add more salt, black pepper and/or vinaigrette as needed. Allow the salad to sit for a few minutes to let the flavors blend together. Just before serving. Gently toss the salad again and garnish with the feta cheese and olives.
Recipe adapted from Alice Waters’ book, The Art of Simple Food.
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