Farm Updates and CSA Week 15

It took most of our time and every bin we have to harvest and pack the cooler last week in preparation for the Ag Day Farmers' Market as well as our regular Farm Store and CSA pick-up on Saturday!  It turned out to be beautiful fall weather, perfect for a busy market and for our members out in the pick-your-own fields enjoying the cherry tomatoes and sunflowers.  By the end of the day on Saturday it was like the flurry of activity had never happened - the cooler was close to empty and the bins were clean and stacked in the wash area ready for the regular harvest this week! Much of our week will be devoted to keeping up with the farm store and CSA harvest list which still includes summer crops like eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. We will also bring in the remaining winter squash from the field for later this fall. Lise's dad made us some new bulk bins so now we have somewhere to store it all! While we wish we had more red kuri and buttercup squash this year, the quantity of pie pumpkins, acorn, delicata, gourds and butternut squash is looking good. Two of our few remaining planting projects will also take place this week- the last of the lettuce as well as our fall planted strawberries which arrived today from Illinois. 

In the CSA:

• Garlic- we will continue to distribute cured garlic. They are ready to eat now but will also keep well if stored in a dry, dark place. 
• Tendersweet Cabbage - This cabbage is aptly named as it is very sweet and tender making it great for shredding raw in coleslaws and other salads. 
• Salanova Lettuce mix
• Nicola Potatoes- yellow outside and inside. Great for roasting!
• Leeks
• Mustard Greens- These spicy greens are more mild after cooking. 
• Baby bok choi
• Peppers - green, purple, red, yellow and orange
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes - mostly red and orange slicers but there may be a few heirlooms. 
• Carrots
• Celery
• Lettuce
• Curly Kale
• Toscano Kale - also called dinosaur kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flamme, pink boar, bumblebee, and Wapsipinicon peach!
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño and ancho. Some cayenne are also starting to turn red!
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Green and Yellow Beans 
• Herbs: Basil, parsley, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, chives

In the store:

In addition to the items also available in the CSA, we will have radishes, escarole, yukina savoy, paste tomatoes, spaghetti squash, some zucchini, and beets in the store. We will also continue to have Verrill Farm corn, Fat Moon mushrooms, and Pete and Jen's eggs.

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers available for picking this week include zinnias, bachelors button, celosia, scabiosa, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, sunflowers and more.  

Kale, Cabbage & Carrot Salad With Creamy Caper Dressing

•  1 egg yolk

•  1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

•  ¼ cup grapeseed oil

•  ¼ cup olive oil

•  2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped

•  1 tablespoon caper pickling liquid

•  1 large clove garlic, smashed to a paste

•  ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

•  Salt, to taste

•  2 tablespoons snipped chives (optional)

•  ¼ head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced

•  1½ large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced into bite-size pieces

•  1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves thinly sliced or torn into bite-size pieces

•  ½ yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced

•  2 tablespoons chopped mixed herbs, such as parsley, basil, chives or dill (optional)

In medium bowl, whisk egg yolk with mustard. While whisking constantly, slowly dribble in oils. Continue whisking until oil is fully incorporated and mixture is thick and pale in color. Whisk in capers, pickling liquid, garlic and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste and snipped chives, if using. In a large bowl, combine all vegetables and herbs, if using. Add dressing and toss, using both hands to mix until dressing coats all ingredients. Allow salad to marinate until vegetables soften, at least 10 minutes.

Ag Day and Farm Tour this weekend, plus CSA Week 14

This week is a busy one as we prepare for the events surrounding this year's Farm and Garden Fair. As usual, we'll have a stall at the annual Ag Day Farmers' Market on Main Street in Concord Center on Saturday September 9th, 10am - 2pm (the farm stand and CSA will also still be open regular hours). We'll also host a Meet the Machines tour at the farm on Sunday September 10th at 10am! Drop by for one or both events to say hi!

The Farm and Garden Fair weekend marks an important turning point in the season for a number of reasons. By this time of year, our crew has dwindled to a few core members (this year: Rebecca, Dave, Shaun and Alexis!). The Fair weekend also signals to us that it's time to begin planning for next year! Because we like to be able to try to recruit new CSA and Barrett's Bucks members for the following season at Ag Day, we have been busy preparing our brochure and sign-up forms for 2018. In order to do that, we write a draft budget to figure out the prices for the vegetable, late fall and flower CSAs. We also take the time to figure out our store and CSA hours, the number of members we need for our CSA and Bucks programs, and the staffing needs to make it all happen!  

While we're getting ready for Ag Day and the farm tour, we've also got a number of regular farm tasks to keep up with. We still have some butternut squash, acorn squash, delicata and gourds to bring into the barn for curing. We also need to top our Brussels sprouts (clip the tops of the plants to encourage sprout growth), pull up landscape fabric and plastic mulch from our earlier cucumber, melon and squash plantings, seed cover crop, and transplant our fall-planted strawberries (which should arrive later this week from Illinois). Of course, there's also still the daily harvest!

In the CSA:

• Garlic - after curing for about 6 weeks hanging in the farm stand, they are now ready to eat (and should be good for storage longer-term as well). We will continue to dole out garlic through the fall, and we will also set aside about 20% of it as seed for next year's garlic!
• Swiss chard
• Baby bok choi
• Spaghetti squash- Ripe when bright yellow
• Peppers - green, purple, red, yellow and orange
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes- heirloom and slicing 
• Carrots - we are now into the fall planting of carrots! The variety this week is Bolero, which is one of our favorites.
• Celery
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Radishes
• Curly Kale
• Toscano Kale - also called dinosaur kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flamme, pink boar, bumblebee, and Wapsipinicon peach!
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño and ancho. Some cayenne are also starting to turn red!
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Beans - Dragon's tongue are still going strong, and we may have some green beans as well at the end of the week.
• Herbs: Basil, parsley, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, chives

In the store:

We will have the last of the summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers in the store, as well as green beans and edamame. We will also continue to have Verrill Farm corn, Fat Moon mushrooms, and Pete and Jen's eggs.

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers available for picking this week include zinnias, bachelors button, celosia, scabiosa, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, sunflowers and more.  

Eggplant Tricolore

adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggplants
• Minimum 4 Tablespoons of Olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1 yellow pepper, cored and finely diced
• 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 TB of Red Wine Vinegar
• 3½ TB capers plus 1 TB of the brine
• 5 oz buffalo mozzarella
• 1 cup basil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Slice the eggplants widthwise into ¾ inch-thick pieces, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brush generously on both sides with plenty of olive oil.
3. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, then roast for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden-brown. Allow to cool down.
4. Mix together the pepper, tomato,vinegar, capers and brine, and add two tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside for a minimum of 30 min (can actually be refrigerated for several days).
5. To serve, arrange the cooked eggplant slices, slightly overlapping, on a big serving platter. Break the mozzarella into chunks and scatter on top, spoon over the salsa and garnish with basil.

Farm updates and CSA Week 13

The departure of many of the summer field crew members last week made it feel like the season was winding down. However, we still have 8 weeks left of Main Season CSA veggies to enjoy! We will continue to have tomatoes, peppers and eggplant until our first frost (usually mid September) but now is the time to start the fall harvest. We have begun hauling in storage crops from the field including shallots, onions and winter squash to cure and store for later CSA distribution and farm store sales. Both the onions and the winter squash need certain conditions to cure them for winter storage.  As each winter squash variety ripens in the field we will harvest it into large bulk crates and store them in the barn where they stay warm and dry. Winter squash requires a couple of weeks at warm temperatures to harden the skin for storage and increase sugar levels for better flavor. The greenhouse with a shade cloth is a great dry, warm, and well ventilated space for onion and shallot curing now that only a few lettuce seedlings are left to water! We will keep the onions spread out in the greenhouse for a few weeks to dry the outer skins for improved storage life before we bag them up and move them to a cooler spot for longer term storage. 

We are looking forward to the annual Ag Day Farmers Market September 9th 10am-2pm in Concord Center. We will be open regular hours here at the farm for CSA pick-up and the farm store in addition to our farm stand set-up in town. We will also be hosting a Meet the Machines Farm Tour on Sunday, September 10th at 10am. Meet us at the farm stand and we will walk to check out the tractors and implements that we use to grow vegetables and maintain the farm!

In the CSA:

• Spaghetti squash- Ripe when bright yellow
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Radishes
• Red, yellow and orange peppers
• Eggplant
• Beets
• Tomatoes- heirloom and slicing 
• Arugula 
• Green and purple peppers
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini 
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Curly Kale 

CSA PYO:

• Edamame - these soybeans have a rich buttery flavor. Steam them for a few minutes in the pod, let them cool, and then shell them and snack on them with a pinch of salt.
• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flamme, pink boar, bumblebee, and Wapsipinicon peach!
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño and ancho. Some cayenne are also starting to turn red!
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Dragon's tongue beans - these beans are yellow with purple spots.
• Herbs: Basil, parsley, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, chives

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We will also have leeks, toscano kale and yukina savoy along with Verrill Farm sweet corn, Pete and Jen's eggs, and Fat Moon Farm mushrooms.

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers ready this week include bachelors button, celosia, scabiosa, zinnias, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, tithonia, sunflowers and more.  

Spaghetti Squash With Garlic, Parsley and Breadcrumbs

 MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

INGREDIENTS

• 1 spaghetti squash, about 3 pounds
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 to 4 large garlic cloves, green shoots removed, minced
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
•  Salt
•  freshly ground pepper to taste
•  Freshly grated Parmesan

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pierce the squash in several places with a sharp knife. Cover a baking sheet with foil, and place the squash on top. Bake for one hour, until the squash is soft and easy to cut with a knife. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool until you can handle it. Cut in half lengthwise, and allow to cool some more. Remove the seeds and discard. Scoop out the flesh from half of the squash, and place in a bowl. Run a fork through the flesh to separate the spaghettilike strands. You should have about 4 cups of squash. (Use some squash from the other half if necessary). Set aside the other half for another dish.
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add the garlic and bread crumbs. When they begin to sizzle and smell fragrant and the breadcrumbs are crisp — that is, after about a minute — stir in the squash and parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss together over medium heat until the squash is infused with the garlic and oil and heated through, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove to a warm serving dish, top with freshly grated Parmesan and serve.

Variation: Toss the spaghetti squash with 1 cup fresh tomato sauce or simple marinara sauce. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan. 

Farm updates and CSA Week 12

After spending the morning harvesting summer squash, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes we took a break to check out the solar eclipse!  The mid-day eclipse came at a good time in the farm season, as weeding and planting duties are beginning to subside and and we were able to check out the eclipse without our usual Monday stress! 

This past week we seeded our first cover crop of triticale (a type of wheat) and Austrian Winter peas in areas where we are no longer planting or harvesting this season.  We also spent time protecting fall crops by putting up an additional fence to keep the turkeys out of our fall cabbage and kale plantings, covering radishes and greens to keep out beetles, and set up irrigation on newly planted spinach to ensure that it makes it through the hot weather. In addition, we  began the infamous fall project of pulling up landscape fabric and black plastic mulch from areas where it is no longer needed. It is a messy project involving weeds, old plant debris and the occasional rotted vegetable! 

Next on the list is our winter squash and onion harvest, weeding perennial crops for next season, and setting up any irrigation needed to keep our fall crops healthy.  We will also plant a few more crops for fall including scallions, golden beets, and lettuce. Of course, with tomatoes in their prime and the sweet peppers starting to come in our main project will be bringing in the summer bounty! 

Store hours:

*Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm*

Wednesday and Friday 2pm - 6pm

*Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

 

In the CSA:

• Red, yellow and orange peppers- We have a variety of sweet peppers starting to ripen including the varieties Carmen (red bullshorn), Oranos (orange bullshorn), Flavorburst (orange/yellow bell), and Milena (orange bell)
• Eggplant 
• Beets 
• Leeks
• Tomatoes- heirloom and slicing 
• Arugula 
• Yukina Savoy
• Green and purple peppers
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini 
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Curly Kale - This is the first of our fall kale. It will be labeled "transitional" because like some of our fall beets, it is grown in our new field across the street using organic methods but on land that is not yet certified organic. 

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flamme, pink boar and bumblebee, Wapsipinicon peach!
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño and ancho.
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Dragon's tongue beans - these beans are yellow with purple spots.
• Herbs: Basil, cilantro, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, oregano

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We will also have golden beets and watermelon in the store along with Verrill Farm sweet corn and Pete and Jen's eggs.

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers ready this week include bachelors button, celosia, calendula, scabiosa, zinnias, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, orlaya, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, calendula, tithonia, sunflowers and more.  

Tomato and Zucchini Casserole With Crisp Cheddar Topping

By Melissa Clark, NY Times Cooking

• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter 
• 1 ½ cups whole milk ricotta
• ½ cup fresh basil or mint leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
• 2 ½ pounds tomatoes, cut into 1 ½ inch wedges
• 1 pound slim zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, more as needed
• ½ cup pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 ½ teaspoons fresh chopped oregano 
• ¾ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed

Heat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish or 2-quart gratin dish. In a food processor or blender, purée the ricotta, basil and garlic. Toss tomatoes, zucchini and 1 teaspoon salt in casserole to combine, then spread into an even layer. Dollop with ricotta mixture and scatter olives evenly across the top. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, cheese, oregano or marjoram, lemon zest, cayenne and a large pinch of salt. Use your fingertips to work in the 5 tablespoons butter; you should end up with small clumps. Scatter clumps over vegetables, then drizzle liberally with olive oil. Bake until golden and bubbly, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Farm update and CSA Week 11

We're still in the midst of summer, but it is already that time of year when many of our crew are on the verge of going back to school, some as students and some as teachers. We thought we'd try to squeeze in a photo of as many of our crew as possible before that happens (though we still didn't get everyone!). While we'll soon say goodbye to many of these wonderful folks, we'll fortunately still have lots of help from Dave P., Shaun, Rebecca and Alexis through the end of the regular season. Good thing, because there's still lots to do!

Many of you have noted how nice it is to have decent rainfall this summer. We are happy for the general health of our local ecosystem to be out of a drought, and on a more personal level, it has been wonderful to not have to spend our day off on Sunday running irrigation! However, one negative side effect of all this rain (plus cooler temperatures) is that plant diseases are a much bigger problem this year. Anthracnose has dramatically reduced cucumber, watermelon and cantaloupe yields, and late blight has already been reported in the area. While the fungal diseases in our cukes and melons caught us off-guard, leaving us unable to do anything about them, we decided to take some extra precautions with late blight.

As many of you may know, late blight is a fast-spreading, destructive disease that affects tomatoes and potatoes (it is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine). Up until this year, we have opted not to spray organic copper fungicide to prevent late blight, managing the risk for the disease instead by planting some resistant cultivars and maximizing air flow in the tomato fields to prevent favorable conditions for fungal diseases. There's also been a degree of luck, as the drought conditions of the past two seasons are not favorable for the spread of late blight.

Late last week, though, we decided that given the low yields in our popular cucumber and melon crops, it was important for us to improve our chances for a good tomato season. Tomatoes are popular in the CSA and an important source of income in the store, and we wanted to avoid a poor tomato year on top of a short cucumber and melon season. We decided to spray an organic copper fungicide called Badge X2 on our heirloom tomatoes and our orange slicing tomatoes because those varieties are not resistant to late blight. The risk of exposure to the copper is greatest for the person doing the mixing and spraying (we of course observe all the recommended precautions!), and is far less for the consumers of those tomatoes. We sprayed the lowest possible concentration of copper to minimize potential residues on the crop. None of the cherry tomatoes, or red and pink slicing tomatoes have been sprayed (the pink and red slicing tomatoes we grow are naturally disease resistant, and even though not all the cherry tomatoes are disease resistant, we do not spray in our PYO fields). While we always recommend washing any produce from the farm, it bears special noting that all tomatoes should now be washed at home before consuming.

And while tomatoes are on our mind, we thought now would be a good time to describe the different heirloom and specialty varieties we grow, as this week, the harvest looks plentiful!

Left to right: Striped German, Pruden's Purple, Pink Berkeley Tie-dyre, Cherokee Purple, and Cherokee Green.

Pruden’s Purple - Dark pink

Related to Brandywine, this heirloom is sweet, juicy and only mildly acidic.

Cherokee Purple - Purple and brown, with purple, brown and green interior

Complex and rich flavor with excellent texture.

Cherokee Green - Greenish-yellow shoulders with yellowish-orange bottoms

On the more acidic end of the spectrum. Great complex flavor and adds unique color to tomato salads.

Striped German - Yellow and pink striped with marbled interior

One of the sweetest, least acidic heirlooms we grow. Beautiful and delicious!

Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye - Dark pink with green striping, pink interior

This specialty tomato is sweet with heirloom-quality flavor.

Left to right: Damsel, Chef's Choice Orange, Defiant

Damsel - Pink slicing tomato

Similar to the flavor of pink heirloom tomatoes – sweet and rich!

Chef’s Choice Orange - Orange slicing tomato

Low acidity with good flavor and texture.

In the CSA:

• Eggplant - these have been really slow to produce this year, in part because of the cool temperatures, and in part because of Colorado potato beetle pressure. After many hours picking bugs over the past 2 months, though, the plants look great and we are finally starting to see greater quantities of fruit!
• Beets - in addition to some golden beets, we'll also have red ace and chioggia. The red ace and chioggia are grown across the street in a field that is "transitional". We have been managing the field organically since we got the lease on it last year, but it can not be certified organic until after it has been managed organically for 3 seasons.
• Leeks
• Tomatoes- heirloom and slicing 
• Watermelon - mostly Blacktail mountain. This is probably the last week, as disease has overtaken the plants and damaged most of the fruit. We did manage to keep the crows and coyotes out for most of the season, though!
• Peppers - green and purple
• Cucumbers- our last succession planting is finally starting to produce, but the plants already look like they have the same disease that prematurely took down our earlier plantings. This will likely be the last week for cucumbers this season. 
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Celery 
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Greens - we'll have either, chard, kale or red Russian kale available.

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flame, pink boar and bumblebee! Look low on the plants for ripe fruit. 
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño and ancho.
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- A sweet relative of the tomato with a taste we haven't quite figured out how to describe! Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Dragon's tongue beans - these beans are yellow with purple spots.
• Basil - make pesto while you still can - this time of year downy mildew usually starts to take down our basil plantings!
• Cilantro 
• Dill

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We will also have some red, and orange peppers and flowers.  In addition, we'll have Verrill Farm sweet corn and Pete and Jen's eggs.

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers ready this week include bachelors button, celosia, calendula, scabiosa, zinnias, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, orlaya, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, calendula, tithonia, and more.  

Zucchini "Noodles" With Eggplant and Tomatoes

By Katherine Sacks, from Epicurious August 2016

·       2 medium zucchini (about 1 1/4 pounds), spiralized or cut into matchsticks

·       2 medium yellow squash (about 1 1/4 pounds), spiralized or cut into matchsticks

·       2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

·       1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

·       1 teaspoon honey

·       1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

·       3/4 cup (packed) basil leaves, chopped, divided

·       5 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling

·       2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

·       1 1/2 large long Chinese eggplants (about 3/4 pound), cut into 1/4" slices on the bias

·       2 cups cherry tomatoes, divided

·       1/4 cup pitted cured black olives, halved, divided

·       1 (8-ounce) ball fresh buffalo mozzarella, thinly sliced

Place zucchini and squash in a strainer set over a bowl. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. salt and toss to combine. Let sit 10 minutes, then shake in strainer, pressing gently, to remove any excess liquid. Meanwhile, whisk lemon juice, honey, pepper, 1/2 cup basil, 3 Tbsp. oil, and 1/4 tsp. salt in a large bowl.

Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium. Cook garlic until it begins to sizzle and turn golden brown, 5–7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to bowl with dressing. Increase heat to medium-high, add eggplant and 1 cup tomatoes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is browned and cooked through and tomatoes begin to burst, about 6–8 minutes. Season with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and transfer to bowl with dressing.

Cut remaining 1 cup tomatoes in half lengthwise and add to bowl with dressing. Add zucchini and squash; gently toss to combine. Add 3 Tbsp. olives and 2 Tbsp. basil, then transfer with tongs to a platter, letting extra liquid drain and remain in bowl. Lay mozzarella on 1 end of platter and drizzle with oil. Top dish with remaining 2 Tbsp. basil and 1 Tbsp. olives.