Tanaka: Preserving Produce
I am happy to report that the new produce containers work just as well as any other containers — they preserved our fruits and veggies well, but not every item was perfect. My summer squash this week was held in the fridge for six days, with the squash pieces stacked on top of each other. When I finally opened the container, the bottom layer of squash were slightly slimey and got tossed out. This week we bought a couple pounds of strawberries since there weren’t any in this week’s box. We get a discount as CSA subscribers!
Here’s what we made and how it all went down.
PEACHES
These arrived rock hard and needed a couple days in the fruit bowl to reach perfect ripeness. Once ready, these gorgeous, juicy peaches were a hit.
SUMMER SQUASH
These small, slender, thin-skinned yellow squashes were prepared following an online recipe that isn’t worth trying: sliced thin, sprinkled with Trader Joe’s onion salt, and topped with parmesan cheese before roasting. The kids refused to try them. They were okay but not amazing. I grabbed some to snack on in the car the next day and they were awful: bitter and mushy. Perhaps if I’d bothered reheating first, I’d have a different story to tell.
PATTY PAN SQUASH
I was at my squash limit after the summer squash so we will see if the produce containers can keep our patty pan squash fresh. Hopefully we will use them next week.
ONIONS
We used two this week. One was sliced and added raw (ew!) to my husband’s hamburger. I am vehemently anti raw onions and did not approve. The second was chopped up and used in a delicious make-ahead brunch dish (24-Hour Omelet) for Father’s Day.
CABBAGE
Tanaka cabbage makes the best coleslaw
We used this week’s and last week’s heads of cabbage in a mere four days. How’d we do it? My mother’s amazing coleslaw recipe.
My mother’s coleslaw recipe
CORN
This meal used Tanaka's cabbage, corn, and beets!
My amazing husband created a Tanaka meal of BBQ’d corn and burgers with a side of coleslaw. I added this week’s gorgeous beets to the meal.
BEETS
I once again followed vegetable patron saint Cara Magini’s advice and poached my beets before roasting them. I doubled the amount of poaching liquid since these beets were larger than last week’s, and once again invited bay leaves and crushed garlic cloves to the party. I was impatient about letting them cool peeling the beets (no surgical gloves needed as these beets are golden/blush hued and won’t stain). It was, once again, kind of a pain. I then sliced them into fat rounds, slicked them with avocado oil and kosher salt, and roasted them at 425. They had an incredibly delicious almost burnt crisp edge that tasted French fry-esque. The middle, for better or worse, tasted like beets.
A TREAT
The world’s best chocolate chip cookie.
I already bragged about my amazing husband, but since it’s Father’s Day, I’ll do it again. My husband made these outstanding chocolate chip cookies (“Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies”) and you should too. As I’ve said before, regardless of what I’m eating, I’d rather be eating cookies.
Tune in next week to see what vegetable adventures await!
The contents of the Tanaka Farms CSA box change from week to week. You can see what’s in Tanaka’s CSA boxes each week online. Interested in enjoying some local organic produce? Sign up to join.