creamy sweet potato & peanut curry
+ thoughts about next season...
It’s fall cleanup season on the farm, and *we’ve been busy clearing out the last of the summer tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant this week (see below for a before / after we pulled out one of our tomato tunnels). Side note – if you’ve never had the pleasure of clearing out a tunnel full of rotten, disgustingly squishy, spider infested, 12 foot tall tomato plants… well, consider yourself lucky. ;)
*I say “we” but really, at 9 months pregnant I’m pretty useless around here, so the “we” doing all this work is really the fabulous crew of humans who swoop in each week to whip this place into shape… so a massive shout out to Ivy, Ginger, Hannah, and Beth for ALL you do.
I’ve also been using this relatively quiet + calm final few weeks before baby #2 arrives to think critically about the farm, my business, and what it will all look like next year. I know that I’m a better mom/human when I can get outside and farm, teach classes, test and share recipes, etc – but I also know that my family is my #1 priority, and I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on precious seasons of my kids’ lives because I was too busy stressing about carrot germination and perfecting a butternut squash risotto recipe.
So the truth is… I’m building this plane as I’m flying it! For now, the plan for next year is to keep growing good food + teaching hands-on classes at the farm – though I do plan on scaling back a bit, so that it’s (hopefully) more manageable. I DO know that I am excited to pour even more time + energy into this newsletter community, and I’m especially grateful for all the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to continue this work. Just taking it one day at a time over here, and I’m happy to bring y’all along for the ride as it unfolds. :)
In other news! I’m excited to announce a *shiny new feature* inside these weekly newsletters… in addition to my own new recipe each week, I’m adding a section with 4-5 MORE seasonal recipe suggestions to help you eat like a farmer. There’s no shortage of great recipes floating around the internet (tbh, there are TOO many recipes and the overwhelm is real), and I want this newsletter to be a place where you can go for helpful culinary inspiration each week.
So see below for a quick list of hyper-seasonal recipes from trusted sources that utilize all the late summer / early fall goodness that’s abundant in gardens and farmers’ markets right now (think eggplant, peppers, kale, collards, broccoli, winter squash, etc)…
Broccoli Cheddar Soup from Smitten Kitchen (
)Eggplant Parm from Alison Roman (
)Easy Skillet Butternut Squash Lasagna from Half Baked Harvest
Warm Collard Green Salad with Burst Tomatoes from Dishing Up the Dirt
It’s sweet potato harvesting season here in North Carolina (where, fun fact, more sweet potatoes are grown than any other state), so I figured an excellent way to eat like farmers this week is to embrace this fabulous fall root veggie.
It’s been a (blissful) cool and drizzly week here in NC, and I’d been craving a warming, cozy veggie curry… which is how this recipe for Creamy Sweet Potato & Peanut Curry was born.
One key ingredient that you might not have stocked is red curry paste – so a quick note that while recipe testing, I wanted to use a brand that would be super accessible for folks, so I used the Thai Kitchen brand. I find their red curry paste to be very flavorful, though be aware it is *not* spicy (which for me, a total wimp when it comes to heat, is a plus)! But if you’re looking for a red curry paste with more heat, I recommend using Mae Ploy brand (though you may want to reduce the amount of curry paste used in the recipe by half).
I highly recommend giving this hearty veggie curry a try ASAP… she’s creamy, she’s vibrant, she’s packed with gorgeous flavor, and she’s destined to play on repeat in your kitchen all fall / winter. :)
A reminder that access to my weekly recipe is only available to paid subscribers (free subscribers get access to the full recipes once a month, on the 1st Friday).
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Creamy Sweet Potato & Peanut Curry
Serves 4-6