In Your Share (Oct 19th edition)

So many beautiful shades of brassicas! The fall is when these crops really shine – black lacinato kale, waxy grey green collard leaves, deep purple cabbage, & bright green broccoli! We have collards in the share this week and a few more brassicas in the share next week. After that, to enjoy the ongoing bounty you’ll need to join us for the WINTER SHARE!! It starts the first week of November and if you haven’t signed up already it’s only a click away…

• SE Portland Winter CSA Share Sign Up
• Luscher Farm Winter CSA Share Sign Up

You’ll find recipes for everything we grow on the farm at Cook With What You Have. CSA members will find the password to the site in your email – enjoy your 24/7 access to recipe inspiration!

This week your share may include…

• Arugula: So nice to have these greens to spice up my salads!
• Celery: This is not the watery flavorless celery that they grow in down south! The blanched inner leaves are tender enough to eat raw, but it may have a stronger flavor that what you are used to. Definietly use the outer leaves for cooking – sautéed and/or added to soup they’ll contribute a nice depth of flavor to your next dish!
• Collard Greens: The tender grey-green leaves love this cool fall weather.
• Dill: Beautiful sprigs of fragrant dill go great with steamed potatoes or sprinkle them fresh onto salad.
• Eggplant: Love these long skinny japanese eggplant! If you haven’t tried my favorite roasted eggplant salad you definitely should do it soon. Eggplant in the Moorish Style makes a great side dish – the flavors are subtle, but wonderful – cumin, mint, red onion and a little vinegar combine to make this an unusual but wonderful salad. The Calabrian Spicy Eggplant salad would also be a great choice this week.
• Lettuce Heads: Several different ruffled head lettuce varieties make for lovely salad.
• Jimmy Nardello Peppers: The sweet gift that keeps on giving.
• Italian Sweet Peppers: Thank you Frank Morton  at Wild Garden Seeds for these lovely, sweet, thick walled, productive peppers. The open pollinated Stocky Red Roaster and Gatherer’s Gold were “born” in Philomath when Frank began to de-hybridize various lines of italian sweet peppers. We are luck to live in a place that not only has lots of great farmers, but amazing seed breeders as well.
• Red Potatoes: Sangre makes a lovely simple steamed or boiled potato. top with a bit of butter or sour cream, and sprinkle with dill – yum!
• Green Tomatoes: Just a few to sample but then make a nice addition to salsa, a quick chutney or of course fried. Check out some international ideas from The Kitchn.

Coming soon… Winter Share!