Usually when we do a Food Snob, we go to some restaurant and have the staff prepare something for us. It’s a tried and true formula that’s been working out for years, and it’s nice and easy for us.
But we’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to spice things up, so we decided to try something a little different this time. Instead of having someone make us a meal, we decided to make one for ourselves.
We also didn’t want to just go to Shaw’s and get some stuff to whip up – where’s the fun in that? – so we went to Lewis Farm on Silk Farm Road to see what we could find.
The farm just changed ownership a couple of weeks ago, so it seemed like a good time to check it out.
We had never been there before, so it was a good thing owner James Meinecke was there to show us around and pick some nice stuff for us.
The farm grows all kinds of crops – there are about 10 different kinds of tomatoes, a dozen or so varieties of peppers, plus cabbage, squash, pumpkins, eggplant, cucumbers and plenty more.
The farmstand, which is right on the same property as the farm, is only lightly stocked – the majority of the picking takes place right before CSA pickups on Tuesdays and Thursdays – so Meinecke walked me around the property as he picked stuff for me right off the vine.
I ended up getting some mini eggplants, a kohlrabi, a giant golden zucchini, an acorn squash, two mini green bell peppers, a couple jalapenos and one other pepper somewhere between the bell and the jalapenos on the spicy scale.
It was an impressive haul, and my next challenge would be finding a way to prepare everything to eat.
The golden zucchini had my attention from the start – the thing was huge, and very golden. I never knew there was such thing as golden zucchini, so I really wanted to try it.
Since this thing was so big – the length of my forearm – I had to cut it in quarters. I was already planning on cooking some sausage on the grill, so I threw two quarters of the zucchini on there too.
It took a long time to cook since the pieces were so thick. I let the fleshy side cook for about 20 minutes before flipping and charring the skin side for about 15 minutes.
The end result was a delicious, juicy, slightly charred zucchini steak. I added some butter, salt and pepper and it made for a really awesome meal all by itself. The best part is, I still have half of the thing left to eat again tonight!
We’ll definitely have to revisit Lewis Farm some time in the future.
