Some delicious recipes this week for our abundance of summer squash and more healthy greens! Recipes include Spicy, Sweet and Sour Cucumbers; Summer Squash and bacon Quiche; and how to make the perfect salad.

Newsletter Week 6

With many thanks to Rose for her lovely design and Christine for her delicious recipes, East 88th Street presents our Week #5 Newsletter. 

Other CSA locations, take note: these recipes are good for everyone!  We still welcome your feedback and recipes; you can send your thoughts and pictures to me at info88csa@gmail.com

Black currants are very rich in many phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, essential fatty acids and minerals

In particular, black currants are renowned for their high content in Vitamin C (a powerful antioxidant), GLA (Gamma-Linoleic Acid, a very rare Omega-6 essential fatty acid) and potassium. They have been shown to have twice the potassium of bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries.

Black currants contain anthocyanins, which are compounds naturally found in berries. They are very potent antioxidants and are responsible for the color of black currants. Around 300 different types of anthocyanins have been discovered.

The taste of black currants is very tart and sharp, and they’re used to make black currant jellies, jams, added to desserts or as a part of sauces and dippings. Black currants are commonly used to make cordial, liqueur, ice-cream and they can also be found in juice form.  The taste of cooked and sweetened black currants is intense.

Black Currant Sauce
Wash currants and measure. Place currants in a heavy, non-aluminum sauce pan. For the basket of currants , mix in 1 TBS. Stoneledge Farm honey or other good honey and 1 TBS. sugar.   Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally to mash berries and make sure they don’t stick. When the mixture becomes a thickened sauce remove from heat and let cool. If mixture is not sweet enough, add more sugar or honey and reheat until sugar is dissolved.   I didn’t take all of the stems from the Black Currants before cooking so I put the finished sauce from above through a fine sieve or food mill.

Use sauce over vanilla ice cream and serve with chocolate brownies.  You can mix this sauce into your favorite barbecue sauce and add some chili pepper for a spicy, sweet sauce that is great on poultry and beef. You may also add a pinch of cinnamon, a dash of cloves, and/or a few gratings of whole nutmeg to this sauce.

Black Currant Juice
The juice/syrup can be added to soda water to create something that resembles an Italian soda.  It is also delicious in tea.  Store the syrup in a sterilized glass bottle in your refrigerator as you would fruit pancake syrups.

• 6 cups watermelon
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• 1 handful of pine nuts
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (or whatever vinegar you like)
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small shallots
• Salt and pepper to taste

Use a vegetable peeler lengthwise on the zucchini and the carrot to make long broad strips.  Then cut them into long, thin strips.  Steam lightly, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat immediately and put in a mixing bowl with the vinegar.

Add the olive oil to to a hot skillet.  Slice the shallots into thin strips and add to the pan, cooking for about 2-3 minutes.  Add to the zucchini/carrot mixture.  Add ginger, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix.  Put the mixture in the refrigerator to cool or just leave it out to reach room temperature.

Cut the watermelon enough so that it will fit in the blender.  Blend at a slow setting, it does not need to be a puree.  Once all the melon is blended, add the lime juice.  Chill the melon soup.

Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes in a dry pan for a couple of minutes.  Watch over them so they do not burn.

Add the soup to the bowl, add the vegetables in the middle, ring the mixture with the pine nuts.  After the fact I thought parsley would be a nice touch.

Steven Waxman

One of our members has taken up the responsibility for putting together our weekly newsletter.  Thank you, Rose!

To other Stoneledge CSA members, please note: this newsletter has been tailored to East 88th Street’s deliveries and partnerships, but all should be able to use the recipes on Page 2!  We will also work in future weeks to apply the newsletter to all CSA’s in the area, and welcome your feedback and recipes; you can send your thoughts and pictures to info88csa@gmail.com.

Newsletter Week 4