June 28th 2022 | goodhumus

June 28th, 2022

What’s in this Week’s VEGGIE BOX: Carrots, Summer Squash, Beets, Potatoes, Collards, Corn and Parsley

Bread this week: Puligese OR Asiago Cheese your choice of one

This week on the farm

We start our Suncrest Peaches today, so you will be the first to taste this year’s crop. In times past, they and the Royal Blenheim apricots were our signature crops. While the Blenheims have kept rolling along, being the long lived trees that they are, the shorter lived Suncrest are just a fraction of what they were when we were picking more than 100 boxes most days during the middle of July. The tides of farming go up and down, but the taste of the heirloom fruit remains unchanged. The volume that we picked has been greatly reduced, and thankfully so, given the difficulty of such a small farm to maintain all our range of crops while carrying out a major fruit pick and packing operation. But the thrill of seeing those first peaches and all they represent still gives us an emotional charge.

The Suncrest is getting to the point where it is considered an heirloom fruit, similar to the Regular and Faye Elberta peaches. All these have faded from the market because they are meant for local consumption. What local consumption really means is that they don’t travel well, which is what the durable peaches of today do so well. Travelling well is important in today’s expanded distribution system and larger farm size which demands larger marketing efforts. To travel well, a fruit must show a strong color prior to being fully ripe and must develop some flavor and sugar while still retaining the firmness that allows it to survive the bumps and grinds of long distance shipping. You can find examples of these crunchy, unripened fruit in any supermarket. What you won’t find is the Suncrest Peach. This peach, and before that the Faye Elberta and the even older Regular Elberta, in their heyday were the recognized flavor and juiciness champions, and well suited to the short distance local marketing systems of their day. What they did change in those long ago times was the color of the fruit, until the yellow skin and flesh of the Regular Elberta gave way to the reddish color of the flesh and skin of a fully ripened Suncrest. What they all have, and what is so special to the Suncrest, is the softness and juiciness of the fruit. On the other hand, that quality means that when they are ready to pick, they are ready to pick and eat now, not this evening or tomorrow morning. We try hard to bring to you the best representatives of this special fruit, but the final step is up to you. If it arrives a little bit durable, let it sit out until it gives a little bit, like a soft fruit should. But if it has a little discoloration and soft spots on it, put it in the refrigerator or even better, eat it immediately. We hope you enjoy these, and for that matter, the rest of today’s box.

The first true summer box is always a treat, because rather than working to find variety for the box, we have so many items coming that we have to choose which ones to leave out. The way that ends up is that we try to put everything in and can’t figure what to leave out, reveling on the excitement of having too much! I hope that excitement passes on to you today in the first box of true summer. We hope it is a long, enjoyable ride. Have a great week ~ Jeff

Shrimp with Collards and Corn

Source: ediblesarasota

1 stick butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced rosemary

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¾ cup fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears corn)

1½ pounds large Gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 packed cup chopped collard greens

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

hot sauce, for serving

toasted bread, for serving

Melt butter in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice; bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Add Worcestershire and bring back to a simmer. Add corn and shrimp and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in collards; cover and cook until shrimp are cooked through and collards have wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with hot sauce and toasted bread.

Zucchini-Corn Fritters

Source: Foodnetwork

2 medium zucchini, coarsely shredded

Kosher salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 ears corn, kernels cut off 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

Vegetable oil, for frying

Toss the zucchini with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes. Wrap the zucchini in a kitchen towel and squeeze dry. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Set aside. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk the buttermilk and egg in a large bowl, then stir in the corn-onion mixture and zucchini. Add the cornmeal mixture and stir until just combined. Wipe out the skillet the corn-onion mixture cooked in. Pour in about 1/8 inch vegetable oil and place over medium heat. Working in batches, scoop scant 1/4 cupfuls of the batter into the oil and use the back of the measuring cup to flatten the scoops. Cook until the fritters are golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Moroccan Beet Salad

Source: NYTcooking

6 to 8 medium beets

Juice of 1 lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin, or to taste

Salt and black pepper

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup diced fresh parsley

Place water in a 3-quart saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add beets, and simmer until beets are tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Cool, peel, and cut beets into bite-size pieces. Place in a serving bowl. Place lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Whisk in olive oil, then toss with beets. Let sit a few hours. Just before serving, sprinkle with parsley.

Beet, Carrot, and Zucchini Bundt Cake with Hazelnuts and Vanilla-Brown Butter Glaze

Source: Greatist

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided, plus more for pan

2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for pan

3/4 cup very finely ground hazelnuts with skins

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup coarsely grated beets

1 cup coarsely grated carrots

1 cup coarsely grated zucchini

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Toasted, husked, chopped hazelnuts to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan. Melt 8 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, then let it cook until it’s golden brown, scraping up the solids so they don’t stick to the bottom or burn. Pour the browned butter in a heatproof mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk the flour, hazelnuts, baking powder and soda, salt, and cardamom in another bowl and set aside. When the browned butter has cooled for a few minutes, whisk in both sugars, then the eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Stir in half the dry ingredients, followed by the buttermilk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Fold in the grated vegetables. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert on a rack and cool completely.

When the cake has cooled, make the glaze. Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and let it cook until golden brown. Whisk the butter, milk, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and a pinch of salt into the powdered sugar. Put the cake on a plate and spoon the glaze over the top. Sprinkle with hazelnuts if you like. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Mango Cashew Collard Wrap

Source:Veeg

1 large bunch collard greens, washed, and trimmed stems

4 cups of red cabbage, sliced long and thin

2 cups of carrots, shredded

handful or two of alfalfa sprouts, approximately 2 cups

1 avocado, peeled, pit removed and sliced

1 mango, peeled, deseeded, and cut into strips

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, rinsed and trimmed

1 batch of homemade Parsley & Thyme Cashew Cheese

1/2 cup of filtered water

1/2 cup of natural peanut butter

1/4 cup of tamari, Bragg's Liquid Aminos

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1-inch nob of fresh ginger, peeled

1/2 tsp of sriracha sauce

1 tsp of tahini

3 tbsp of freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 tsp of pure maple syrup

optional pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt, if needed, to taste

First, make the sauce so that it's ready to go when your Mango Cashew Collard Wraps are finished. In a high-speed blender place the filtered water, peanut butter, tamari, garlic, ginger, sriracha sauce, tahini, lime juice, and maple syrup. Blend until completely smooth, taste and season as needed. If you do not have a blender, finely chop the ginger and garlic and combine with the remaining ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. To trim the collards so that they can easily be rolled, cut the end of the bulky center rib of each collard green leaf while trying not divide the leaf in half. Place the trimmed leaf on a cutting board or another work surface with the broadest part laying horizontally. if you find that your collard leaves are too stiff to roll, soak them in hot water for a few minutes to make them a bit more pliable. Now, arrange about a fist full of the cabbage evenly across the center of the bottom third of the leaf, leaving about 1 1⁄2 inches clear at the bottom and sides. Cabbage should make up the bulk of the filling so be generous. Next, dot a few teaspoon-sized dollops of the cashew cheese over the bed of cabbage. Then, lay a few shreds of carrot, a sliver or so of mango, a few slices of avocado, and top with a generous fist of the crunchy alfalfa sprouts. Add a few leaves of cilantro. Fold the bottom of the leaf up and over the filling, keeping it tight, and then fold the sides of the collard over the ingredients and continue to roll forward. Place the roll seam-side down on a serving dish. Repeat with remaining collard leaves and ingredients. Slice each Mango Cashew Collard Wrap in half on an angle just before eating. Serve with the Thai Inspired Peanutty Dipping Sauce and a delicious side of beans and rice.

Lemon Parsley Cocktail

Source:Magnoliadays

1 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley

Lemonade

Vodka

Club Soda optional

Place the parsley in a blender and add a little water (about 1/2 to 1 cup). Blend on high to liquify. Pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Use a spatula or spoon to press all liquid from the parsley pulp. Discard the pulp. Fill a glass with ice. Add a shot of vodka and fill with lemonade. Float 1 to 2 teaspoons of the parsley juice on top. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a parsley sprig. Stir to combine before drinking. Optional: Add a splash club soda for some fizz.