Local Food, Tastes of Israel

In the last week or two, I fell in love (again) with experience of local, seasonal eating. With the rise in temperature, the delicious and tender lettuces that otherwise fill our produce bags have bolted and are no longer in season. Instead we have cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and the largest zucchini I have ever seen. We’ve also been enjoying gorgeous carrots – yellow, orange and “cosmic purple” in color – as well as tropical leafy greens and sweet, sweet blueberries that I enjoy by the handful.

With this mix of veggies, Israeli-inspired meals nearly plan themselves:

I’m enjoying the refreshing and nostalgic sensations of Israeli salad – it is a twofold pleasure really. The mixture of cucumber and tomato is the essence of summer. The flavors burst forth and the cucumber cools the body down. But then of course there’s the flood of memories that Israeli salad can bring up – for me, I’m 16 and traveling around Israel on a teen tour and eating Israeli salad at all hours of the day – every day. The memories are as delicious as the actual flavors.

I roasted my eggplants and blended them with garlic, lemon juice, tahini and some seasoning and fresh herbs for an easy and tasty baba ganoush. Since I already had my cuisinart out, I emptied the bowl and filled it again with similar ingredients – this time replacing the roasted eggplant with chickpeas. I love having bowls filled with homemade and healthy hummus and baba ganoush in the fridge – along with raw carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers and some pita or crackers. What a tasty and convenient snack or appetizer to munch on, especially when it is this hot outside.

I’ve roasted tons of zucchini with some yellow squash, eggplant and onions and served that over couscous. I’ve made a big batch of zucchini bread. But! I still have 2 gigantic zucchinis on my kitchen counter – it might be time to share my veggies with a friend.

As for the blueberries – I can’t get enough!

I hope you’re enjoying the fresh taste of summer. Bete’avon (Bon Appetit)!

Sweet Potato Shofar

This is fantastic! Check out the shofar-shaped sweet potato that arrived in the Cohen family's CSA bag!

It's Cold! Here's What's Fresh in Our Winter CSA Bags

For those curious about what shows up in our CSA bags, here's a look at what we found last week:

Carrots - tendersweet, cosmic purple, yellowstone

Sweet Potatoes— beauregard, vardamon

Turnip roots and greens - tokyo market

Oriental Greens - tatsoi

Salad Greens - mixed lettuces, arugula, baby mustard, radicchio

Braising/Cooking Greens - georgia collards or red russian kale

Fresh arugula pesto (add grated parmesan or romano cheese, if desired)

Lactofermentation - Sauerkraut

Fresh Florida Citrus - grapefruit, orange, tangerine, calamandon, kumquat