Box #10: Wow!

Here we go: mixed heirloom, red and Roma tomatoes; cured white onions; a chocolate pepper; a gypsy pepper; Yukon gold potatoes; a pint of mini colored peppers; grape tomatoes; lacinato kale; sweet corn; zucchini; summer squash; cucumbers; carrots; and cured garlic!



Look at this beautiful little tomato:



And these peppers like a string of Christmas lights:



Moon Salad
I was craving a cold salad Friday and wanted to include as many fresh veggies as possible into a massive bowl of goodness that we could just graze from over the hot weekend to come. I put a pot of black beans on to cook.

While the beans did their thing, I microwaved our two corn cobs, husks and all, for six minutes, turning once. (This is my favorite quick, low-energy way to cook corn.) Then I set them out to cool a bit.

I washed and sliced the summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers. Since the beans would take a while to cook, I got ambitious with presentation and decided to preserve the round shape of the cute little peppers by cutting them into rings. To seed them, I cut off their tops and dug in with a little spoon. Slicing those hollow little peppers takes a sharp knife and I almost ended up with fingertip salad.



I shucked the warm corn and shaved the kernels off of the cob. I added half a head of garlic, minced, and the onion, sliced into half-moons. I rinsed and drained the beans and added them to the mix, then created a dressing of about two tablespoons each olive oil and hot sauce. I squeezed the juice of one lime over everything, added salt and pepper and tossed it. Then I chilled it for a couple hours.

I call it moon salad, because everything is a circle or half-circle. Zowie! It has kick.



Saturday night, a treat from my childhood: fried zucchini! Slice it, dip it in egg, dredge it in cornmeal and fry it in hot oil, turning once to brown both sides.



I must admit, I wasn't really looking forward to another round of roasted carrots. So I used butter and olive oil this time. This combined with the flavorful Yukon golds and a few halved garlic cloves, roasted in a cast-iron skillet in a hot oven for 45 min, was enough of a change to make the carrots crustier, creamier and tastier than I expected. Dang, those potatoes were good. I ate the leftover veggies for breakfast the next morning.