Landisdale Farm CSA, week 13. Sort of.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Last week Landisdale Farm canceled the delivery of CSA shares due to the tropical storm deluge. And that was really good timing for me: I was leaving for a business trip to San Francisco on Tuesday morning (more on my local food hunting, San Francisco-style, another time). Share deliveries resumed today, and this is what was in the share:
- Two small watermelons
- 8 green apples
- 2 small heads of Napa cabbage
- 2 half pint boxes of basil
- 5 sweet potatoes
- 2 bags of spinach
- 6 tomatoes
Cat not included (that’s Mayor McCheese, one of my cats - he seemed very interested in the spinach).
Sadly, the tomatoes are not particularly firm and will need to be dealt with immediately. I’m thinking maybe catsup. The cabbage will get chopped and frozen.
It’s the fruit that continually leaves me scratching my head. I did make watermelon barbecue sauce and watermelon rind relish with the last batch of watermelons. There are still lots of options for watermelon, since neither one of us particularly love watermelon just plain.
And the apples...they’re a bit too hard and tart to use for fresh eating. I could make applesauce or apple butter, but I’m looking for something more interesting. There’s always the option of making apple pie filling and canning it, but I rarely bake pies. While I’m not hot on making jam or jelly (because we’re not really jelly people), I am intrigued by the idea of four pepper apple jelly, and spiced apple rings are always sort of comforting. Ideas? Suggestions?
Posted by Nicole on 09/13 at 05:09 PM
Apple-maple or apple-caramel jam? Apple crisp? Apple/carrot/squash soup (I use butternut, but I’m sure acorn or pumpkin or similar would also be good)?
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I’ve been getting a lot of (different) apples from my csa as well. My solution HAS been pies, but I make then from the various apples and the blackberries and blueberries we’ve got. I make the pie crust, the cut the apples into smallish (an inch or so) chunks and then put them in a bowl with the blackberries and blueberries and whatever random frozen fruit I find in the freezer. Then I mix about a cup of sugar with 2/3 cup flour (I’m not really a measure-er) and a little cinnamon and coat all the fruit with it. I throw that directly into the shell(s) and then mix up a streusel-y combo of brown sugar, butter and oats (um, cup of oats and a stick of butter and 6-7 tbsp of the sugar) and kind of mash that on top and cook for a good hour or more. The result is super good, tastes way yummier then the five minutes it takes to make and freezers well, makes good office surprises, etc. The apples on their own were getting a little overwhelming here too, but adding berries helps the tart and adds a nice flavor/crunch to boring apple pies (and I’m not a fan of pies as a rule either) but now I look forward to getting apples.