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This Week With Jody Fritz...
Hi all!
We hope your Monday is going exceptionally well. Coming up this week in your bags will be personal watermelons supplied to you from Johnson Farms. This time of year always elicits excitement both in the store and from our previous year CSA members. Why, you might ask? Well...Johnson Farms near Northbend, Nebraska has been growing watermelons for over twenty-six years. In fact, it was the watermelons that first brought them to local farmer's markets and eventually to Tomato, Tomato. Ruth and Bob Johnson have managed to get watermelons down to a science and we are very, very excited to have them as a supporting farmer in our CSA program.
Again this week, and not to belabor the point, we are still missing some CSA payments for the second half of the program. If you are not planning on participating in the second half of the season, please let us know as soon as possible, as this will assist us and our participating farmers in providing adequate numbers of produce. Thank you for your due diligence and consideration on this matter. We really do appreciate it.
As far as the CSA itself goes, if you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to let us know. We always enjoy hearing from our members and look forward to improving upon this concept to better serve you. Remember, this program is about you as much as it is about us.
I'm certain there are a few of you wondering "what happened to our zucchini" last week and just waiting to try that wonderful zucchini soup recipe that we provided to you. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us and the farm in question was not able to provide enough zucchini for all CSA bags. Hopefully, with summer coming to an end and harvest season fast approaching, we will not run into an issue like this again.
Once again...we encourage each of you to share your experiences with the CSA with us. We would love to share your stories, recipes or ideas with the rest of the group. Who knows...you may end up as a person of the week.
Thanks again for all your support. We appreciate seeing everyone of you each week and look forward to serving you throughout the next seven weeks...and remember to always "buy local and buy often".
Best regards until next week,
Jody Fritz
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What's In Your Bag?
Week Thirteen August 23-25
Farm Fresh Eggs or Cheese
Old Fashioned White Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company, Omaha, NE
Okra from Clear Creek Organic Farms, Spalding, NE
Summer Squash from Clear Creek Organic Farms, Spalding, NE
Basil from Honey Creek Farms, Hancock, IA
Personal Watermelons from Johnson Farms, Northbend, NE
Garlic from Henshaw Farms, Lincoln, NE
Please note that produce is subject to change due to weather or unavoidable events. |
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Scott's Culinary Corner
Okra...what can I say about this little vegetable? To be perfectly honest, this was an acquired taste for me. As a kid I would go out of my way to avoid what I called "the slime factor" of Okra. You see, I'm a very visual person, so if food doesn't look exactly right, I won't eat it. I would also attribute my lack of interest in Okra to my grandmother. My grandmother was of the old southern school that anything she prepared and set on the table for dinner...well...you were required to eat it. If you didn't you didn't go anywhere for the next three days (you think I'm kidding, but trust me...my grandmother was old school rules and stringent regulations).
My grandmother was also a master at Southern Fried Everything. She was of the mindset that if you disguised vegetables with enough egg and cornmeal...every kid would eat it because it was fried, and in real butter, I might add (though olive oil does make a good substitute I have found). Naturally, I wasn't fooled by her culinary tricks of fryery and being the enterprising fellow that I was at the time, I relegated my portion of Southern Fried Okra to the family dog, when my grandmother wasn't looking of course. Because the dog wouldn't eat it, and we all are very aware of the disgusting items that dogs sometimes eat, I assumed at that point that Okra certainly couldn't be good for a person.
Hard as it is to believe, given my long history with food, I did not establish a love affair with Okra until well after I had met my wife. The trauma I had experienced at the dinner table, as a child, had chased me away from this little guy. My wife, the culinary adventurer that she is, reintroduced me to Okra with a nice recipe she had acquired while in college; a recipe called Bamya Alich'a, or Ethiopian Okra (given to her by a room mate of Ethiopian descent). I prepared this recipe (included below) all the while somewhat dubiously recalling the horrors of the childhood dinner table and looking for a nonexistent pooch as I whipped this recipe up. But then I realized "hey...if you can't trust your spouse...who can you trust..."? I settled in and did my thing just waiting to taste the tangy treat with no small amount of reservation.
How did it end? Well...all I can say is...WOW...with this recipe...my wife had actually reversed years of Okra trauma and made me a fan of Okra for life. I guess as my grandmother used to say on my third day of sitting at the table waiting for reprieve..."try it...you'll like it". Bon apetite
(And for the southern fried taste...I have also included below my grandmother's recipe for Southern Fried Okra as well. This one is for you Grandma...)
Did You Know...
Okra is a pretty interesting vegetable with a pretty interesting history.
Okra probably originated somewhere around Ethiopia, and was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians by the 12th century B.C. Its cultivation spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East. The seed pods were eaten cooked, and the seeds were toasted and ground, used as a coffee substitute (and still is).
Okra came to the Caribbean and the U.S. in the 1700s, probably brought by slaves from West Africa, and was introduced to Western Europe soon after. In Louisiana, the Créoles learned from slaves the use of okra (gumbo) to thicken soups and it is now an essential in Créole Gumbo.
Today okra is popular in Africa, the Middle East, Greece, Turkey, India, the Caribbean, South America and the Southern U.S. It is not a very common vegetable in most European countries, except for Greece and parts of Turkey.
Due to increased interest in American regional foods, these bright green, tender pods have gained more respect as a vegetable in the U.S., aside from its use as a thickener.
A half-cup cooked okra contains:
* Calories = 25
* Dietary Fiber = 2 grams
* Protein = 1.5 grams
* Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams
* Vitamin A = 460 IU
* Vitamin C = 13.04 mg
* Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms
* Calcium = 50.4 mg
* Iron = 0.4 mg
* Potassium = 256.6 mg
* Magnesium = 46 mg
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Related Recipes
Southern Fried Okra ('Cause you just knew we couldn't have Okra without a Southern recipe)
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh okra
2 large eggs
4 to 6 dashes hot pepper sauce
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional
4 Tbsp Olive Oil for frying
Wash okra and drain thoroughly. Cut off ends of the okra then cut okra crosswise into 1/2-inch rounds. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and hot sauce; add okra and stir to coat all pieces well. In a shallow dish, combine cornmeal, salt and cayenne pepper, if using. Dip okra pieces into cornmeal mixture to coat well. Heat oil in frying pan over medium high heat. Fry okra in batches until browned, about 4 to 6 minutes for each batch. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
Bamya Alich'a (Ethiopian Style Okra)
Ingredients:
4 cups okra, split and trimmed lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups red onions, minced
2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp cardamom ground
2 jalapenos, minced
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Cook onions until light brown. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Lower heat, and stir in garlic, ginger, and cardamon. Add the okra and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Add chiles and cook five more minutes.
Watermelon Gazpacho (From mom)
Ingredients:
8 cups finely diced watermelon, seeds removed
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Mix watermelon, cucumber, bell pepper, basil, parsley, vinegar, shallot, oil and salt in a large bowl. Puree 3 cups of the mixture in a blender or food processor to the desired smoothness; transfer to another large bowl. Puree another 3 cups and add to the bowl. Stir in the remaining diced mixture. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Macadamia Tomato Pesto (A yummy Australian treat)
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups raw macadamias
1 cup semi-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and reserve oil
1/2 cup fresh basil, or more to taste
1/4 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
Except for the oil, put everything in the food processor. Add 1 tablespoon or more of the reserved oil in order to get the desired consistency. (If you want a stronger flavor you can add in some more oil from the tomato jar. You can thin this out even more for a fantastic pasta sauce.) Garnish with some fresh fresh basil leaves and devour. YUMMO!
Simple Summer Squash Soup (A southern delight from the kitchen of a delightful Southern Belle)
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds summer squash, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3-4 cups vegetable broth (depending on desired thickness)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook, stirring often, until just fragrant. Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add sliced squash and cook until just softened, about 10 minutes. Add curry powder and vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and, using a hand-blender or traditional blender and allow to cool before seasoning with salt and pepper. Ladle into soup bowls to serve and garnish with flat parsley or cilantro if you'd like.
For further recipe information to assist you in preparing meals, a couple sites that I highly recommend are the Taste of Home healthy living site and All Recipes. These have always been wonderful standbys for me. See ya next week!
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