CSA Week 8: July 20th

Week 8:

Half Share:

Romaine Lettuce

Kale

Shishitos

Cherry tomatoes

Eggplant

Basil

Green Coriander

Beets

Fresh Garlic

Full Share:

Summer Squash

Chard

Cucumbers

Slicer Tomatoes

Fresh garlic and green coriander

This week we harvested our garlic crop! After harvesting those delicious bulbs they have to “cure” by drying in our greenhouse for a few weeks. Curing garlic helps to lengthen their shelf life by drying the outer layer. But in this week’s shares you get “fresh” garlic that is uncured. It’s nice and sticky and has a delicious potent flavor.

Another interesting item in your shares this week is green coriander. Many people don’t realize that coriander is just the seed of cilantro. So the cilantro you were receiving earlier on in the season started flowering and is not forming seed pods. They are currently green and have a nice almost citrus flavor mixed with that pungent cilantro deliciousness. Eventually they will dry and turn brown, which is the stage when it is ground up into coriander powder. Cilantro/coriander is such an amazing plant, delicious in all stages!

Recipe time!

This week’s recipe was kindly shared by Logan Robb, fellow CSA member and chef de cuisine at Casa Pernoi in Birmingham. It’s a very simple and delicious charred shishito pepper recipe that’s also vegan friendly! Be sure to check out Casa Pernoi, they’ve been huge supporters of Fisheye Farms this season and Logan is doing great work with our produce.

Charred Shishito Peppers

● 8 ounces shishito peppers

● 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

● Lemon wedge

● Dried Aleppo chilli, or any mild smokey chilli

● Salt, preferably flaky sea salt or kosher salt, to taste

Directions

In a large cast iron pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat.

When the oil starts to smoke add the peppers.

Using another pan, press on the peppers to get an even char.

Turn the peppers once and repeat Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with salt, aleppo chilli peppers, and high quality extra virgin olive oil.

Serve with a lemon wedge.

A word on shishito’s: Shisitos are typically a mild pepper but every once in a while you get a hot one. If you like spice, like me, then it's a win. Shishitos are great because of their versatility. This recipe demonstrates a great technique for cooking them. But it can be adapted and you can pretty much put any seasoning spice on them and they will be delicious. Just make sure to get a nice char on them. This is how we serve them at Casa Pernoi.

Cheers

Logan Robb

Chef De Cuisine

Casa Pernoi

Field notes

This week finally felt like we were as caught up as farming can ever feel! Planting and seeding got done, weeds felt somewhat managed, and some much needed rain let us sleep in this morning. We have some spicy mix that germinated really well, so that will return to shares in the next couple of weeks! We’ve started harvesting our first batches of big tomatoes and some summer squash too. Everything looks so colorful, from our rain garden full of perennial flowers to our dinner plates at the end of the day. This week’s field note is short and sweet, sometimes an uneventful week is the most peaceful. Enjoy your share of summer everyone!