Week 13: Thinking inside the farmbox

Labor Day has come and gone, and the march toward fall has shifted into a higher gear. This week’s update from Nichols Farm indicated many of the fall crops are ready. I love my summer CSA, but I think I’m equally as fond of the fall one, which is filled with Brussels sprouts, pie pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, and other root vegetables.

In the last post, I provided a sneak peek at this week’s orange Turkish eggplant. The small, round globes easily could be mistaken for tomatoes or persimmons, but when sliced open, it’s pretty clear they’re eggplants. Inside, they have more seeds than the large oval purple eggplants commonly available in grocery stores, but, to me, they have a similar taste. Previously, I have used Turkish eggplant in recipes that specify other types of eggplant, but this time, I wanted to see if I could find something that used it specifically. I found this recipe on NPR’s The Salt, which roasted the eggplant with onions and then combined it with fennel and white peaches.

The finished Turkish eggplant dish

The finished Turkish eggplant dish

The share still is filled with big bags of assorted tomatoes, and I’ll be sad when their season is over. I mixed this week’s tomatoes with olive oil, sherry vinegar, and assorted herbs before heaping them on top of grilled bread slathered with ricotta.

Grilled bread with tomatoes and ricotta

Grilled bread with tomatoes and ricotta

I also received yellow bell peppers, red onions, potatoes, cauliflower, and sweet corn. Looking back on the week, its theme was loads of fresh herbs. The corn became part of a raw corn salad, dressed with olive oil, sherry vinegar, and herbs. I used dill, mint, and chives, as the recipe suggested, although I think many herbs would work.

Corn salad

Corn salad

For Sunday dinner, I sprinkled a boneless leg of lamb with herb salt, and then it headed out to the grill for 20 to 30 minutes. The sides were the aforementioned grilled bread with ricotta and tomatoes and a bell pepper and onion salad.

Although my brother-in-law often joins us on Sundays, there’s only so much damage three people can do on a 4-pound leg of lamb, especially with such delicious vegetables. The leftovers made a great dinner with sides of roasted cauliflower and roasted potatoes. I got a head start on next week’s box, chopping the leeks and adding them to the cauliflower and potatoes. In addition to the leek, I seasoned the cauliflower with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme and sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese during the last 10 minutes of roasting. The potatoes got tossed with a spicy seasoning salt and olive oil.

I also baked, using last week’s carrots in muffins. And I made another batch of refrigerator dill pickles. This time, I thinly sliced a jalapeño and put it in with the sliced cucumbers, dill, smashed garlic cloves, salt, and white vinegar. It added just the right amount of spice.

Onion, garlic, dill, pickling spice, jalapeños? What’s your go-to combo for refrigerator pickles?