What’s in this week’s box?

Veggies:

Cherry Tomatoes

Beets

Corn

Scallions

String Beans

Slicing Cucumbers

Pickling Cucumbers

Head Lettuce–Red Romaine

Greenhouse Tomatoes

 

Fruit:

Yellow Peaches

 

Storage, handling and general cooking tips…

Peaches & Nectarines

Driving down rt. 88  past the Applecrest orchards one thing is for sure, the peach trees are chock full of these tasty gems, and are ripening as we speak! Our peaches are packed with major nutrients including vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium. They are an excellent source of fiber and the juice of peaches is considered a magnificent moisturizer. Eaten fresh, baked in a pie, or grilled to bring out more sweetness this versatile treat won’t last long on your kitchen counter

Storage and Handling

Peaches bruise easily, so when testing for ripe-ness use your whole hand, not just one finger. Leave peaches out, on the counter. If they need to ripen more, place in a closed paper bag. Once ripe, store in the crisper bin of your refrigerator where they’ll keep for up to five  days. Peaches can also be frozen. Peel and slice them, lay them on a baking tray and stick in the freezer for a few hours until they’re frozen through. Transfer the peach wedges to a resealable plastic bag and freeze until ready to use. They’ll keep at least 6 months (longer in a free-standing freezer) and are perfect to use in baking.

Cook tips

Eat these guys fresh, rinsed and wiped to remove fuzz. Or bake into a crumble. Or put in your morning cereal. Or serve with almond essence infused whipped cream, as almonds are a close cousin to peaches. Delicious in savory dishes as well, you can grill them and put in a salad, can be made into a chutney alongside your pork or beef, or preserve them to be enjoyed mid-winter. There are endless options.

Scallions

Store in a jar filled with inch or two of water. Stand scallions in jar, cover whole thing with a plastic bag and keep in fridge-last about a week.

 

Cucumbers

Storage-Most supermarket cucumbers are usually waxed to keep them from drying out during the trip from wherever they were grown.  Our cucumbers will dehydrate faster than a waxy cucumber so be sure to get them into the refrigerator right away.  If you store unwashed cucumbers in a sealed plastic bag in the vegetable crisper bin, they’ll hold for at least a week.  Cucumbers store best at around 45 degrees F, but refrigerators are usually set cooler than this.  Keep cucumbers tucked far away from tomatoes, apples, and citrus fruits, as these give off ethylene gas that accelerates cucumber deterioration.

Handling- You can do a lot of fancy things to the skin of a cucumber, and when it is young, fresh, and unwaxed, it really only needs to be thoroughly washed.  However, if the skin seems touch or bitter you can remove it; if they seeds are bulky, slice the cucumber lengthwise and scoop them out.  Scoring the skin of a cucumber with a fork or citrus zester gives it attractive stripes and may help release any bitterness.  Slice, dice, or cut a cucumber into chunks according to specifications given in your recipe.

 Corn

Corn is quintessential Americana, synonymous with BBQs, Summertime, and Grilling. There isn’t a red-checkered tablecloth on a picnic table that won’t see a bowl of these steaming ears. Sweet corn is not only tasty it also contains fiber, protein, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium and phosphorous. Fun fact: there is one silk for every kernel of corn, on average there are 800 kernels in 16 rows on each ear of corn. Here at Applecrest we grow about 5 acres of corn, which at the height of the season will remove about 40 tons of carbon dioxide from the air, talk about goin’ green!

Storage and Handling 

Corn can be stored in its husk up to four days in the refrigerator but it will be at its sweetest the closer it is to the day it was picked. Corn can also be frozen. Boil your ears of corn for 4-6 minutes, cool in an ice bath, cut kernels off the cob, store in air tight container (bag or tupperware works), and stick in freezer. You’ll thank yourself on a cold February night, when you can taste these sun kissed kernels alongside your meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Cook tips

Corn can be grilled, boiled, or roasted. Easily eaten directly off the cob, added to a salad, or frozen for later use.

 

Lettuce, Salad Greens and Mesclun:

Storage- Store unwashed lettuce, greens or mesclun in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. To store lettuce or greens that you have already washed and dried, roll the leaves loosely in a kitchen towel, put the towel in a plastic bag, and place the package in the vegetable crisper bin. Wet greens will wilt quickly, so make sure they are good and dry before refrigerating them. If you have a salad spinner, wash and spin the greens before refrigerating them. Eat mesclun mix within three or four days, and use lettuce within a week.

Handling- Salad greens are fragile, so make sure to be gentle with them.  For lettuce, slice the head at the base to allow the leaves to separate from each other.  Tear your leaves into smaller more manageable pieces for use.  Lettuce, greens and mesclun mix can be washed by swishing them around in a basin of cold water.  If you see a lot of dirt settling in the water, wash them again, until they’re nice and clean.  The best way to dry your greens is in a salad spinner if you’ve got one, or if not, you can always pat them dry with a towel.

Cook Tips- Salad greens taste great lightly braised or stir-fried, but keep an eye on them, as they cook very quickly.

Try adding salad greens into sandwiches, tacos, burritos, omelets, or whatever else you can think of!

Salad greens are a great addition to quiches, lasagna, and other baked dishes, wanna green up your pizza? It’s great on top, right after you pull it out of the oven.

Our mesclun mix isn’t that spicy: a combination of peppery arugula, mustards, mizuna and some tat soy. These greens are great as a pizza topping, on top of an egg and toast, or simply added to your daily salad.

 

Beets 

 Storage – If your beets still have greens attached, cut them off, leaving an inch of stem.  Keep these greens unwashed and refrigerated in a closed plastic bag, beet greens are delicious in sautees.  Store the beet roots, with the rootlets (or “tails”) attached, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator.  They will keep for several weeks, but their sweetness diminishes with time; so try to use them within a week.

 

Handling – Just before cooking, scrub beets well and remove any scraggly leaves and rootlets.  If your recipe calls for raw beets, peel them with a knife or vegetable peeler, then grate or cut them according to your needs.

 

Tomatoes

The sun-loving tomato’s arrival could mean only one thing—Summer is definitely here! This delectable, heart healthy summer fruit, beyond being a palate pleaser is fantastic in so many ways. Tomatoes can be eaten raw, stewed, sun dried, in soup, as a snack, with balsamic vinegar and fresh mozzarella, chopped into salsa, on sandwiches and burgers. The possibilities are endless.

FYI-Tomato paste will remove chlorine from hair, especially if you have blond hair and the recent heat wave has turned you into a pool diving mermaid and your locks are now greenish.

Did you know that tomatoes are thought to originate in Peru where their Aztec name “xitomatl’ means “plump thing with a navel”.

Storage

Tomatoes bruise easily, so handle them with care. Wash and dry your tomatoes before storing. Unless you’re planning to store your tomatoes for over a week, a windowsill, counter-top or bowl, stem side down, works fine. If you know you won’t use them in the next few days, then lower temperatures (a cool entryway) will help to preserve the fruit. Contrary to our common practice in the US, storing in a refrigerator is not otherwise recommended, as the cooler temperatures can reduce flavor and cause mushiness and mealyness. Your fresh-picked tomatoes will last longer on the kitchen counter than store-bought ones anyways, which are probably a few days old when you get them.

Recipes of the Week!

Take a fancy foodie picture with your Applecrest fruit and veggies? Let us know and post it on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter with #applecrest !

• Tomato, Corn and Cucumber Salad
• Tomato, Scallion and Cheddar Breakfast Melts
• Grilled Beets and Dilled Cucumbers
• Sweet Corn Flans with Tomato-Corn Relish
• Warm Green Beans and Lettuce in Anchovy Butter
• Fresh Peach Buckle

 Tomato Corn and Cucumber Salad

From NYTimes Cooking

• 1 to 1 ¼ pounds ripe tomatoes, cut in small dice
• ½ European cucumber, 2 Persian cucumbers or 1 regular cucumber, peeled if waxy, seeded if the seeds are large, and cut in small dice
• 2 ears corn, steamed for 4 minutes and kernels removed from the cob
• 1 to 2 serranos or jalapeño pepper, minced (seeded for a milder salad), or 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
•  Salt to taste
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice or lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
•  Optional: 1 ounce feta, crumbled (about 1/4 cup)

1. Mix together all of the ingredients. Let sit in or out of the refrigerator for 15 minutes before serving, then toss again.

 

Tomato, Scallion and Cheddar Breakfast Melt

From Savoring the Thyme

• 6 cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 scallion, chopped
• 1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 whole wheat English muffins, sliced and toasted

Directions

1. Preheat broiler to high. Meanwhile, in a toasted english muffin while preparing other ingredients. This is what I did, you can always toast the muffin under the broiler and then remove and assemble.

2. Place about half of the cheese on the English muffin, then the tomatoes and scallions and top with remaining cheese.

3. Broil abut 1-2 minutes depending how close you place the rack to the coils – be careful!

 

Grilled Beets with Dilled Cucumbers

From Martha Stewart

• 2 pounds beets, trimmed
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1. Heat grill to high. In heavy-duty foil, wrap beets, in one layer, with ice. Cover grill; cook until beets are tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 40 to 45 minutes, turning once.

2. Rub off skins with paper towel. Cut beets into wedges. Toss in bowl with oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar; season with salt and pepper.

3. In another bowl, toss cucumber slices with sour cream, dill, and remaining 2 teaspoons vinegar; season with salt and pepper.

4. Place beets on platter; top with cucumbers.

 

Sweet Corn Flan with Tomato-Corn Relish

from Epicurious

For flans

• 3 ears fresh corn, shucked
• 2/3 cup 1% milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne

For relish

• 3/4 cup corn reserved from flans
• 6 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, cut into small dice (3/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar

Special equipment:

• 4 (4- to 6-ounce) ramekins

Make flans:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cook corn in a pot of boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and cool.

Cut off kernels with a sharp knife into a bowl, scraping ears. Reserve 3/4 cup for relish and purée remainder in a blender with milk until smooth. Force corn purée through a fine sieve into a bowl, discarding skins.

Whisk together eggs, salt, and cayenne until blended and whisk in corn purée.

Pour flan mixture into lightly oiled ramekins and bake in a hot-water bath just until set, about 40 minutes.

Remove ramekins from water bath and cool on a rack. Chill until cold, about 2 hours.

Make relish:
Stir together corn, tomatoes, onion, and basil. Stir in oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Run a thin knife around edge of each flan, then invert flans onto plates. Spoon relish over them.

cooks’ notes:·Flans and reserved corn for relish may be chilled, covered, up to 1 day.

 

Warm Green Beans and Lettuce in Anchovy Butter Sauce

From Food & Wine

Fresh Peach Buckle

from This Gal Cooks

• 1½ C all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 C unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3-4 large peaches, peeled, pitted and each cut into 8 slices. See this tutorial for peach peeling tips.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350
2. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper and the sides of the pan with cooking spray and wipe away any excess.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and granulated sugar, until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until smooth.
4. Scrape the batter into the springform pan and carefully distribute evenly. Poke the peach slices into the batter.I went around the edges in a circular pattern and continued this until the entire top of the buckle had peaches.
5. Whisk together the cinnamon and brown sugar. Sprinkle over top of the buckle.
6. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. If the top starts to brown too much during the baking process, cover with aluminum foil. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

As a reminder, part of the fun of being a member of a CSA is collaborating with your community, so always feel free to post cooking suggestions or feedback on recipes that we post, or favorite recipes of your own that you’d like to share.