Sweet Oranos peppers are on the staff list of All Time Best Vegetables. Photo by Clay Dunn and Zach Patton.

│ Announcements │ This Week’s Share │ U-Pick │ Recipe │ Coming Soon │

Announcements:

Based on the recent evidence of the transmissibility of the COVID-19 Delta variant, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation asks that all customers and staff, including those who have been vaccinated, wear masks to the CSA pickup sites. We appreciate everyone’s patience as guidelines shift with the changing circumstances. Our top priority is keeping the most vulnerable among us healthy.
Note that U-Pick is available all week now. It’s no longer restricted to Wednesdays and Saturdays.
We’re now selling garlic! CSA shareholders pay only $8/pound. Non-CSA shareholders pay $12/pound. We’re not ready yet to sell in wholesale quantities (over 10 pounds in one purchase). You can purchase online or pay cash when you get here.

Purchase Garlic

Wondering what Hurricane Ida means to the health of the Chesapeake Bay? Beth McGee loves to help us throw hay bales, but her day job is as a CBF scientist. She gives us the skinny in this blog post.

This Week’s Share:

Acorn squash
Tomatoes — cherries and full-size
Asian pears or potatoes
Radishes
Eggplant
Garlic
Peppers — green bells and ripe, sweet peppers
Optional chili peppers and okra

U-Pick:

U-Pick is now available all week for all crops, including tomatoes and chilies. The tomatoes and chilies are across from the washing station, below the high tunnel.

Ground cherries, beside the sunflowers
Basil (Genovese, Greek, Thai, Round Midnight, Lemon, and Tulsi)
Garlic chives
Lemon balm
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Sage
Shiso
Sorrel
Thyme
Flowers (Sunflowers, Zinnias, Gomphrena, Tithonia and others)

Recipes:

I asked Chef Matt Finarelli for a recipe that uses our sweet and bell peppers, and he offered these delightful grilled fajitas. If you’re not a meat-eater, consider marinating super firm tofu in place of the beef.

Tequila-Marinated Skirt Steak Fajitas

The flavors of tequila, lime, and chilies come through so large and deliciously in these amazing fajitas. They grill up great, or use your oven’s broiler to make them any time!

Serves 4-6

½ cup blanco tequila
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 fresh cayenne chilies
~3 lbs skirt steak, in 3-6 pieces ideally (hanger steak is also great but needs extra marinating and cooking time)
4 cups peppers – a mix of green, orange and red – cut into strips
1 large red onion, julienned
2 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Warmed flour or corn tortillas
Guacamole, hot sauce, crema, shredded cheese for serving (as desired)

Combine tequila, lime juice, salt, sugar, and chilies in a large sealable plastic bag. Add the steaks, take out the excess air, and seal the bag. Rub marinade all over the steaks.
Let steaks marinate for 1–2 hours at room temperature (or 3–6 hours in the fridge) turning over occasionally.
Heat grill for two-zone grilling, one side medium-high, the other medium-low.
In a large bowl, toss peppers and onion with olive oil; season with salt and pepper.
Place a vegetable roasting basket (or cooling rack) across the grates of the hot side and grill the peppers and onions on the hot side. (You’ll want to close the top of your grill for most of this to let the peppers soften nicely.)
Move the vegetable basket over to the cooler side of the grill to keep them cooking lightly and finish up while you’re cooking the steaks.
Remove the steaks from the marinade, shake dry, and season with black pepper.
Place steaks on hot side and grill all over to place a nice sear on the outside of the steaks. A thin steak like skirt will likely only need a lovely sear on the outside to be finished perfectly. If you want it a little more done, move it over to the cooler side with the vegetables to finish cooking through without burning.
Let steaks rest for 2–5 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain of the meat.
Serve as fajitas with the grilled peppers and onions in tortillas.

Feel free to add other toppings you like as well. I’ve listed some of my favorites above in the recipe.

Eggplant, tomato, mozzerella stacks

CSA shareholder Maureen Clapper shared this missive:

“OMG - the Annina eggplant (the speckled one), with the Marmalade (yellow-orange) tomatoes and fresh mozzarella...HEAVEN. Sauté eggplant slices in skillet at medium-low heat; cook 7–10 minutes; flip; add salt, black pepper and Aleppo pepper. Cook the other side for 7 minutes. At 4 minutes to zero, add tomato slices and salt. At 3 minutes to zero, add mozzarella slices and shake with black and red peppers.”

Thank you, Maureen!

Roasted Okra and Potatoes with Pecans

This dish really is just three ingredients, but when it comes together, the balance of colors, flavors and textures is pure magic!

by Chef Matt Finarelli

Serves 4

1 lb small red potatoes, quartered
1 lb okra, stemmed and halved lengthwise
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp ground sumac
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 450° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.
Place potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once water boils, let boil for one minute, then drain completely and place in a large bowl.
Place okra in the bowl with the potatoes, toss with oil and season with sumac, salt, and pepper.
Spread mixture on prepared baking sheets and roast in the oven until potatoes are browned, about 20–25 minutes.
While vegetables are cooking, toast pecans in a sauté pan over medium heat until nicely browned.
When vegetables are done, remove from oven, season with salt and pepper, top with pecans and serve.

Coming Soon:

Salad greens might begin next week!
We might have a pause in winter squash after we give out the acorn squash while we wait for the butternuts to finish ripening.
The small, red radishes will continue for another week, followed by hakurei turnips.
We have some beautiful ginger this year. We hope to give it out several times, possibly beginning week 19.
These are the last few weeks of tomatoes.
We think peppers, eggplant and okra will continue producing until the end of the month.
Garlic, BFF.
The sweet potato outlook is good, but still distant.

Week 17 of 26: The Mingling of Summer and Fall