Twenty Bag | Aug 3

In the August 3 Twenty Bag: Sugar Cube cantaloupe, fingerling potato mix, Campari cocktail tomatoes, basil, lunchbox peppers (sweet), Japanese eggplant, grape tomatoes, scallions.

Thank you Harleston Towles and Rooting Down Farm!

With the temps below 90 due to all the precipitation, I’m firing up the oven today to roast a couple of handfuls of grape tomatoes along with my sheet pan potatoes. The gooey tomatoes are perfect for smearing on garlic toast.

Tomato idea No.2: try this super easy pasta sauce that’s zhushed up with briny capers and ready in minutes. Feeling frisky? Try this more complex recipe for Kay Chun’s Smoky Tomato Carbonara.

Another baking idea if you’re game and have some zucchini left from last week’s Bag, is this best-ever recipe for zucchini bread. It’s a classic, and you’ll thank yourself the next few days when you have a ready-to-go breakfast.

Or, maybe Food Network tv host Guy Fieri’s smashed potato recipe—a cheesy, garlicky treat that, after 35-40 minutes in the oven, is a meal in itself.

I had a bit of a health challenge this past week and while researching how to best restore my upset stomach’s microbiome—the friendly organisms in your gut that make everything work better— I found this awesome article in Forbes Health. It starts with the obvious probiotics like yogurt, kefir and other fermented foods like sauerkraut, and continues with a detailed report on other factors that play into the health of your gut, and what you can eat to support it.

For more ideas, a quick search of sweetgrass + grits will take you to plenty more recipes—all curated with an eye toward the weekly Twenty Bag harvest.

Harleston’s storage tips: If greens of any kind begin to wilt at any point or at pick up, put them in a big bowl of ice water for 20-30 minutes.  Almost all produce is washed and should go in the refrigerator. Melon, peppers, eggplant, and scallions can all go in the fridge. Tomatoes if they appear fully ripe and dark red, put them in the fridge as well. Otherwise on the counter is fine. Potatoes in a cool dark place or they will turn green from the light. Basil in a mini vase of water, or well protected in the fridge.