Farm updates and CSA Week 12

The cooler weather forecast for this week is very welcome after what has been a particularly hot and humid summer. It's not only a pleasant time weather-wise, but vegetable-wise too, with tomatoes in abundance and some fall crops on the horizon. There is one aspect of this time of year that we don't like: schools start up again, meaning we have to say goodbye to our employees who are teachers and college students. Molly and Dave had their last days this past week, and soon we will say goodbye to Emma as well. Both Jacob and Rebecca will soon be cutting back hours as they return to school and teaching, but we are grateful that we will still get to see them on the farm (albeit a little less regularly) through the fall. We will miss the spark they all bring to conversations in the fields, as well as the immense amount of work they help us get done!

School departures mean that the rest of the crew will have plenty to keep us busy in spite of the fact that there is very little left to plant and weeding pressure is diminishing. Harvesting will take up a lot of our time - not only summer crops like tomatoes, melons, zucchini and cucumbers, but also fall storage crops like onions and winter squash. We harvested all of our shallots and half of our storage onions in the past week and half. They are now curing in our greenhouse and we are looking forward to harvesting the rest of the onions, as well as spaghetti squash and pumpkins this week! There are also still fall carrots, beets and brassicas to be weeded, garlic and strawberries to be planted, plastic mulch and drip tape to be pulled, new ground to be broken for next season, cover crops to be seeded and hoop houses to be built. Fortunately, our Assistant Growers Janel, Katherine and Zach are still here to help us accomplish all that! We are so lucky to have such a great crew - all these things would be physically (and psychologically!) impossible on our own.

This week in the CSA:

• Colored sweet peppers - Mostly Carmen (a sweet red frying pepper, also known as a "bull's horn" type due to it's pointy shape) and Flavorburst (yellow bell pepper). Colored peppers are slow to ripen in our climate. We've picked many of them this week while they are still partly green (if you wait until they turn fully colored they unfortunately often have pepper maggot damage and rotten spots).
• Green and purple bell peppers
• Slicing tomatoes - Mountain Merit (red), Damsel (pink) and Chef's Choice Orange (orange of course!).
• Heirloom tomatoes - Pruden's Purple, Striped German, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Green and Carbon. These have been sprayed with organic copper to prevent late blight, so be sure to wash them before eating.
• Eggplant
• Watermelon - Starlight (striped skin) and Blacktail Mountain (solid dark green with a yellow spot on the skin). Both varieties have red flesh and seeds.
• Summer squash - Transitional.
• Zucchini - Transitional.
• Cucumbers - slicing and pickling. Transitional.
• Fresh onions - We are now cutting the tops off, but you should still refrigerate these onions as they are uncured. Transitional.
• Potatoes - Carola (yellow skin and flesh). Transitional
• Beets
• Chard
• Arugula

CSA Pick-your-own

• Cherry tomatoes - all are ripe. Also the cocktail size tomatoes (Mountain Magic and Wapsipinicon Peach) are ripe.
• Husk cherries
• Edamame - steam them, shell them and season them with a little salt for a delicious snack.
• Basil
• Cilantro, sage, mint, oregano or thyme.

In the farm store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available, as well as bulk paste tomatoes for making sauce. We'll also still have corn from Verrill, honey from Double B honey (produced by bees right here on the property!), and eggs from Pete and Jen. 

PYO Flowers:

You don't have to be a Flower CSA member to pick  - just talk to a shopkeeper about purchasing a bouquet a la carte. Flowers in bloom right now include zinnias, snapdragons bachelors button, celosia, statice, scabiosa, verbena, cosmos, strawflower, craspedia, gomphrena, orlaya, calendula, ammi and more.

Tomato and Squash Gratin

by Sara Kate Gillingham, from thekitchn.com Jul 20, 2015

Serves 4

• 5 to 6 medium yellow squash, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 3 to 4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
• 15 to 20 whole basil leaves
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Place one layer of sliced squash in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Top with a layer of sliced tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and a few basil leaves. Generously drizzle olive oil over everything and sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top. Repeat in the same order until you run out of vegetables. The top layer should be tomatoes.

Add a final toss of Parmesan and a generous coating of breadcrumbs and more olive oil. Bake until everything is soft, bubbly and brown on top (about 30 to 40 minutes). Serve as a side dish with whatever you’re grilling or with a bean salad or pasta dish for a complete meal.

Zucchini Grilled Cheese

from smittenkitchen.com

SERVINGS: MAKES 4 SANDWICHES
TIME: 45 MINUTES

You can use a mix of any cheeses — although a couple that melt well is ideal for sandwich adherence — you like with zucchini, I’ve suggested three here. All gruyere (2 cups) works well too.

• 1 pound (about 2 large) zucchini or other summer squash, trimmed
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea or table salt, plus more if needed
• 1 cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) coarsely grated gruyere cheese
• 3/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces or 70 grams) coarsely grated fontina or provolone cheese
• 1/4 cup (20 grams) finely grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 8 thin slices bread of your choice, I used a country-style white bread
• A couple tablespoons softened butter or olive oil for brushing bread

Prepare zucchini: Use a food processor with a grater attachment or the large holes of a box grater to grate the zucchini. In a large colander, toss together the zucchini and salt. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, until the zucchini has wilted and begun to release liquid. Drain the zucchini in a colander and then use your hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, a fistful at a time. Place wrung-out zucchini on paper towels to drain further.

Make filling and assemble sandwiches: Mix zucchini with grated cheese, a lot of freshly ground black pepper, and more salt if needed. 

Brush or spread the bread sides that will form the outsides of the sandwiches with olive oil or softened butter. Spread zucchini-cheese on insides and close the sandwiches. 

Cook the sandwiches: Place sandwiches on a large griddle or frying pan over low-medium heat. I like to cook grilled cheese slowly to give the centers a chance to really melt before the outsides get too brown. When the undersides are a deep golden brown, flip the sandwiches and cook until the color underneath matches the lid. Cut sandwiches in half and dig in. Perhaps some pickled vegetable sandwich slaw on the side?

Farm Updates and CSA Week 11

It's hard to believe we are halfway through the Main Season CSA! There are signs of a turning point; the summer harvest is in full swing with many crops like summer squash and zucchini being picked every day to keep up with their growth and we have finished up most of our planting for fall so the only boxes left unchecked on our field schedule are the last of the spinach, greens and lettuce plantings! The big greenhouse is emptying out just in time for us to bring in our onion harvest for curing. While the onions we are currently enjoying in the farm store and CSA are fresh onions that must be kept in the fridge and used within a week or two, the storage onions we will be harvesting will be kept in the greenhouse with a shade cloth on it to dry out the skin, preserving them for fall and winter storage without the need for refrigeration. Our least favorite sign of a changing season is the departure of summer staff that begins at the end of this week with Molly leaving to head back to college in Pennsylvania. It has been fantastic to have her back for her second season at the farm!

This week in the CSA:

• Watermelon! The variety we are picking now is called Starlight. We pick them ripe so they are ready to eat. 
• Red Ace Beets - The greens are very nice on this planting so cut off and store separately for later cooking with some olive oil and garlic. 
• Heirloom tomatoes 
• Slicing tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Potatoes - Transitional.
• Fresh onions - Transitional.
• Summer squash - Transitional.
• Zucchini - Transitional.
• Cucumbers - Transitional.
• Peppers - green and purple.
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Arugula or Red Russian Kale
• Swiss chard

CSA Pick-your-own:

• Husk Cherries - These sweet fruit are hard to describe but worth a taste! They are ripe when the husk is brown and has fallen to the ground so to pick look under the plants. 
• Cherry tomatoes - All varieties are ready now, including Sungold (orange - a farm favorite, incredibly flavorful), Cherry Bomb (red), Jasper (red), Yellow Mini (yellow and pink striped), Sunpeach (pink), Mountain Magic (red cocktail size), and Grape (red), and Lucky Tiger (green with pink stripes).
• Edamame
• Dragon's Tongue Beans (pale yellow flat pods with purple speckles).
• Basil 
• Tomatillos - We grow a purple variety that is great for salsa!

In the farm store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available. We'll also still have corn from Verrill, honey from Double B honey (produced by bees right here on the property!), and eggs from Pete and Jen. 

PYO Flowers:

You don't have to be a Flower CSA member to pick  - just talk to a shopkeeper about purchasing a bouquet a la carte. Flowers in bloom right now include zinnias, snapdragons bachelors button, celosia, statice, scabiosa, verbena, cosmos, strawflower, craspedia, gomphrena, ammi and more.

Surprise Tatin

From “Plenty,” by Yotam Ottolenghi

printed on the Denver Post

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 pound new potatoes (skins on)
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 oregano sprigs
• 5 ounces aged goat cheese, sliced
• 1 puff pastry sheet, rolled thin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Halve the tomatoes and place them skin-side down on a baking sheet. Drizzle over some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven to dry for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook potatoes in boiling salted water for 25 minutes. Drain and let cool. Trim off a bit of the top and bottom of each potato, then cut into 1-inch-thick discs.

Saute the onion with the oil and some salt for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Once you’ve prepared all the vegetables, brush a 9-inch cake pan with oil and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. In a small pan cook the sugar and butter over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, to get a semi-dark caramel. Pour the caramel carefully into the cake pan and tilt it to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom. Pick the oregano leaves, tear and scatter onto the caramel.

Lay the potato slices close together, cut-side down, on the bottom of the pan. Gently press onion and tomatoes into the gaps and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Spread the slices of goat cheese evenly over the potatoes. Cut a puff pastry disc that is 1-inch larger in diameter than the pan. Lay the pastry lid over the tart filling and gently tuck the edges down around the potatoes inside the pan. (At this stage you can chill the tart for up to 24 hours.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the tart for 25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until pastry is thoroughly cooked. Remove from oven and let settle for 2 minutes only. Hold an inverted plate firmly on top of the pan and carefully but briskly turn them over together, then lift off the pan. Serve hot or warm.

Farm updates and CSA Week 10

Many summer crops are taking off right now - cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes especially seemed to have a burst of ripening at the end of last week. The predicted heat this week should translate to some nice tomato harvests, and will also hopefully help our watermelon and colored peppers along so that we can be harvesting them soon as well. The hot and dry conditions are also good weed killing weather - we'll have our cultivating tractors and stirrup hoes out this week for sure! Another plus to this weather is that it creates unfavorable conditions for the spread of many plant diseases. Of course, hot weather isn't always great for every plant. Extreme heat can cause the blossoms to drop off of eggplant, which leads to gaps in the harvest later on. We think this is what's going on with our eggplant harvest right now - hot conditions several weeks ago caused blossoms to drop, hence not much fruit right now. The plants look healthy, though, so the prognosis is good for future harvests! Another downside to the heat is that it creates tough working conditions for the crew. However, we've got some lighter duty afternoon tasks and frequent water (and maybe popsicle breaks) planned.

This week in the CSA:

• Heirloom tomatoes - The varieties we grow are Pruden's Purple (pink and sweet), Striped German (yellow and pink, juicy and sweet), Cherokee Purple (brownish with green shoulders, slightly more acidic flavor), Cherokee Green (yellowish green, slightly tart) and Carbon (similar to Cherokee Purple) We have been spraying the heirlooms regularly with copper (an organic fungicide) to prevent late blight. Please be sure to wash your tomatoes before eating.
• Slicing tomatoes - Defiant (red), Damsel (pink) and Chef's Choice (orange). The Defiant and Damsel are naturally late blight resistant, so we do not spray them. We do however, spray the Chef's Choice, so those should be washed.
• Potatoes - We're now harvesting Carola, a buttery flavored potato with golden skin and flesh. Transitional.
• Fresh onions - Transitional.
• Summer squash - Transitional.
• Zucchini - Transitional.
• Cucumbers - Transitional.
• Peppers - green and purple.
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Swiss chard

CSA Pick-your-own:

• Cherry tomatoes - so many varieties are ready now, including Sungold (orange - a farm favorite, incredibly flavorful), Cherry Bomb (red), Jasper (red), Yellow Mini (yellow and pink striped), Sunpeach (pink), Mountain Magic (red cocktail size), and Grape (red).
• Beans - we still have green beans as well as some Dragon's Tongue (pale yellow flat pods with purple speckles).
• Basil - we've got 2 plantings that are going strong. It's a good week to make pesto!

In the farm store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available, as well as a small amount of eggplant, husk cherries and colored peppers. We'll also still have corn from Verrill, honey from Double B honey (produced by bees right here on the property!), and eggs from Pete and Jen. 

PYO Flowers:

You don't have to be a Flower CSA member to pick  - just talk to a shopkeeper about purchasing a bouquet a la carte. Flowers in bloom right now include zinnias, snapdragons bachelors button, celosia, statice, scabiosa, verbena, cosmos, strawflower, craspedia, gomphrena, ammi and more.

 

Blistered Beans With Tomato-Almond Pesto

The tomato pesto is delicious, but if you are trying to minimize time in the kitchen during this hot week, we also recommend sautéing your beans, for a couple of minutes, slicing a pint of cherry tomatoes in half, and tossing them in the pan for a minute or two with the green beans!

By Chris Morocco, Bon AppétitNovember 2015

• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup unsalted, roasted almonds
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 pounds green or Dragon’s Tongue beans, trimmed

Preheat oven to 450°F. Roast tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, turning once, until blistered and lightly charred, 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Finely chop almonds in a food processor. Add garlic, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, cayenne, and half of tomatoes; pulse to a coarse pesto consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add half of beans; cook, undisturbed, until beginning to blister, about 2 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, tossing occasionally, until tender, 7–9 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Spread beans out on a platter; let cool. Repeat with remaining vegetable oil and beans. Toss beans with pesto; season with salt and pepper if needed. Add remaining tomatoes and transfer to a platter.

ZUCCHINI GRIDDLECAKES (and variation with corn)

By Adam Ried, Boston Globe August 19, 2007

• 2 1/2 pounds small to medium zucchini
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
• 1/2 cup milk or half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, or to taste
• 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons flour
• Corn, vegetable, or canola oil (for cooking)

Using the shredding disk in a food processor or the large holes on a box grater, shred or grate the zucchini (you should have about 8 cups) and the onion. Place the vegetables in a colander, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt, and mix. Place the colander over a bowl and let stand 30 minutes until mixture exudes about 1 cup of liquid. Rinse under cold water. Spread a clean dish towel on a work surface, place the mixture in the center, gather the corners of the towel, and twist to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a large bowl, and break up clumps with a wooden spoon.Stir parsley, eggs, milk or half-and-half, baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper into the zucchini and blend. Add the flour, and, using a rubber spatula, fold it into the zucchini mixture.

Set the oven rack to the center position and heat to 250 degrees. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Measure 2 or 3 tablespoons zucchini batter and pour into the pan to form a disk 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. Repeat until the pan is filled, leaving about 1 inch between cakes. Cook cakes without moving (adjusting heat if pan becomes too hot) until the bottoms are golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes. Using a spatula, flip the cakes and cook until the second side is golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes more. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels and set in the warm oven. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm.

VARIATION:

Thyme and corn Remove kernels from 2 ears of corn, about 2 cups. Follow the Zucchini Griddlecakes recipe using 4 zucchini instead of 8. Add the corn and 3/4 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme to the squeezed zucchini along with the parsley, eggs, milk or half-and-half, baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper

Farm updates and CSA Week 9

Our watermelons have too many fans! At the first signs of coyotes finding and eating our (unripe!) watermelon we got to work protecting them with woven fence. In anticipation of the crows also finding the melon patch we covered the entire thing with netting. We closed it up so tight we might have to cut our way in for the first harvest! Across the street you will also now see an electric deer fence as well. Deer have been nibbling on our cucumber, summer squash and zucchini plants (they went after sweet potatoes vines pretty aggressively a few weeks earlier, but we covered the plants with row cover to keep them out). It was a fencing themed week here at the farm but we made sure to fit in our usual weekly tasks: seeding, transplanting, cultivating weeds, hand weeding, and of course the harvest! This week we are excited to have added tomatoes to the harvest list! We will also be planting our fall broccoli, scallions, and fennel, weedwacking fence lines, as well as weeding fall beets, carrots, and celeriac. With thunderstorms in the forecast we are continuing to spray some of our field tomatoes (no pick-your-own plants will be sprayed) with an organic copper fungicide to prevent late blight so as with all of your produce please wash your tomatoes at home before eating. 

This week in the CSA:

• Tomatoes! Just the first taste of the field tomatoes for the season. 
• Fresh garlic - while we cure most of our garlic to improve its storage quality and intensify the garlicky flavor, we are setting aside some of the freshly harvested garlic for everyone to enjoy this week!
• Peppers - Green and purple! The two colors taste similar but we don't usually pass up the opportunity to grow purple vegetables! The color does fade when cooked. 
• Eggplant - Nadia, Beatrice and Japanese varieties. Many of our plants dropped their blossoms during the recent heat wave so quantities are still limited but the plants are healthy so future harvests are promising. 
• Fresh Onions - Transitional.
• Potatoes - Transitional.
• Cucumbers- Transitional.
• Zucchini - Transitional
• Summer Squash - Transitional.
• Carrots
• Lettuce - We are harvesting mainly our heat tolerant "summer crisp" varieties for the next few weeks.
• Kale - Curly or Red Russian

CSA pick-your-own:

• Cherry tomatoes! - Sungolds, grape, jasper, cherry bomb, yellow mini and bumblebee are all beginning to ripen. Look low on the plants for the first fruit. As you will see there are many green ones higher up that will be ready soon!
• Green and purple snap beans
• Herbs - basil, cilantro, sage, and thyme.
• Sunflowers

This week in the Farm Store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available, as well as corn from Verrill Farm. We're also excited to now carry Double B Honey! Beekeeper Ken Anderson has several hives in the area, but this batch we're getting is all honey produced by the hives on Barrett's Mill Farm! We have eggs from Pete and Jen's and may also have more mushrooms from Fat Moon later this week. 

PYO Flower CSA: 

The field is now in it's peak! Flowers ready this week include zinnias, snapdragons bachelors button, celosia, statice, scabiosa, verbena, cosmos, strawflower, craspedia, gomphrena, ammi and more. If you are not a PYO Flower CSA member and would like to pick a bouquet, you can purchase a jar for picking in the store! 

Seared Summer Squash and Egg Tacos

MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced across the grain
• 1 ½ pounds summer squash, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 serrano chilies, minced
•  Salt to taste
•  Freshly ground pepper
• 8 eggs, beaten
• 2 to 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 10 warm corn tortillas

PREPARATION

1. Heat a heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and the onion and cook, stirring, until the onion begins to color, about 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring, until it is lightly colored and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili and salt to taste and stir together for about 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant. Reduce the heat to low.
2. Beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Add to the zucchini mixture along with the cilantro. Cook, stirring, until the eggs are set. Fill the warm tortillas and serve.

Farm updates and CSA Week 8

Overall we've received a decent amount of rain in the past week, and it looks like we are about to get some more in the near future! After the recent dry spell, it has been a relief to take a break from irrigation, but excessive rain also poses its own set of challenges. Many of the rain events we've had this summer have been torrential downpours. While the 2 1/2" of rain we received last Tuesday helped to make up for the week of hot dry conditions prior to that, it can also wash out new seedings, which can negatively impact germination. Stormy conditions also tend to bring plant diseases with them on the wind, and lingering wet conditions can help those diseases to spread around the farm. We've begun to take precautionary measures on our tomatoes by spraying copper, an organically approved fungicide, on a few beds of heirloom and slicing tomatoes (we do not spray cherry tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, or any of the late blight-resistant varieties we grow in the field). Some of our PYO fields are closer to the the regular fields than they have been in the past, and the spraying of copper is an important reason to pay attention to roped off areas and signage (the farm equipment in operation in the regular fields is another good reason not to wander outside of PYO areas!). As always, if you are bringing children with you to the farm, they need to be supervised at all times, especially when out in the PYO fields.

The rain we've been getting is also often accompanied by thunderstorms. Lightning makes field work unsafe for our workers, and as you might imagine, we don't have nearly as many pressing indoor projects in July as we do outdoors! These storms also make field conditions unsafe for CSA members, and force us to close pick-your-own fields. Though we usually strongly encourage members to do their picking on the same day they pick up their CSA, in this instance we make an exception! When we've closed the PYO fields this year on Tuesdays or Thursdays due to the weather, we have  given members the option to do the PYO portion on a non-CSA day like Wednesday or Friday. This is often preferable to coming back on a Saturday, which tends to be our busiest day with the most limited parking.

This week in the CSA:

• Fresh garlic - while we cure most of our garlic to improve its storage quality and intensify the garlicky flavor, we are setting aside some of the freshly harvested garlic for everyone to enjoy this week!
• Celery - Our celery usually has an intense flavor and is best used for cooking. Transitional.
• Peppers - The green and purple peppers are just starting, so there's limited quantities. You'll have a choice between peppers or eggplant.
• Eggplant - Usually we harvest Asian eggplant and Beatrice eggplant first, but because we covered some of the larger Italian eggplant rows this year to protect from potato beetles, they are the first ones producing! Because it's still early in the season and quantities are limited, you'll have a choice between eggplant or peppers.
• Fresh Onions - Red Long of Tropea or Ailsa Craigs. Transitional.
• Potatoes - We will be harvesting Chieftain, a red potato with white flesh. Transitional.
• Cucumbers- Transitional.
• Zucchini - Transitional
• Summer Squash - Transitional.
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Greens - chard, kale or cabbage.

CSA pick-your-own:

• Cherry tomatoes! - Sungolds are the main variety that is ripening. Look low on the plants and pick bright orange
• Green and purple snap beans
• Herbs - basil, cilantro, sage, and thyme.

This week in the Farm Store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available, as well as corn from Verrill Farm. We're also excited to now carry Double B Honey! Beekeeper Ken Anderson has several hives in the area, but this batch we're getting is all honey produced by the hives on Barrett's Mill Farm! We have eggs from Pete and Jen's and may also have more mushrooms from Fat Moon later this week. 

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers ready this week include zinnias, snapdragons bachelors button, celosia, statice, scabiosa, verbena, cosmos, strawflower, craspedia, gomphrena, and more. If you are not a PYO Flower CSA member and would like to pick a bouquet, you can purchase a jar for picking in the store! 

 

It's a nice week to make pesto - below is a pesto recipe and 2 more recipes that incorporate pesto in them!

Bright Green Pesto

by Martha Rose Schulman, NY Times Cooking

• 2 cups tightly packed, fresh basil leaves
•  Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted pine nuts or untoasted chopped walnuts
• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, halved, green shoots removed
• ⅓ to ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a medium-size saucepan full of water to a boil while you rinse basil leaves. Fill a bowl with ice water and place it next to the saucepan with a skimmer close by (a Chinese skimmer is good for this). When water comes to a boil, salt generously and add basil leaves. Push them down into the water with the back of a skimmer to submerge, count to five, then remove immediately with skimmer and transfer to ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water.

Place pine nuts or walnuts in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add blanched basil and kosher salt to taste (I use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) and process until finely chopped. With machine running, slowly add olive oil and continue to process for a full minute, or until the mix is reduced to a fine purée. Transfer to a bowl. You should have about 1/2 cup of purée .

When you are ready to use the pesto, purée garlic in a mortar and pestle, or put through a garlic press, and stir into the pesto (or if using a mortar and pestle, add the puréed basil to the mashed garlic in mortar and work garlic and pesto together with pestle). Add Parmesan and stir in. The pesto will condense when you add the cheese, so even though you’ve added a half-cup of cheese to the purée, you will end up with about 2/3 cup of pesto. Follow the instructions in recipes for thinning out with water.

Orzo with Summer Squash and Pesto

MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 ½ pounds summer squash or zucchini, cut in 1/4-inch dice (about 4 cups)
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram or mint
•  Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 10 ounces (1 1/3 cups) orzo
• ⅓ cup basil pesto (1/2 batch see recipe above)
•  Additional grated Parmesan or pecorino for serving

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the orzo and salt generously. Meanwhile, heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat and add olive oil and garlic. Cook, stirring, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds, and add summer squash. Turn heat up to medium high and cook, stirring often, until squash is tender and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in marjoram or mint and season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

When water in pot comes to a boil, salt generously and add orzo. Cook 9 minutes, until al dente. Stir 3 to 4 tablespoons of the cooking water into the pesto, then drain orzo and toss with squash. Heat through, add pesto, toss again and serve, passing more Parmesan or pecorino in a bowl.

Pesto-Filled Deviled Eggs

by Martha Rose Shulman, NY Times Cooking

• 6 eggs
• ⅓ cup pesto (1/2 recipe - see above)
•  Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (optional)

To hard-cook eggs, place in a saucepan, fill with water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. As soon as water is at a roll, cover tightly and turn off heat. Let stand for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice water. Transfer hard-cooked eggs to ice water and leave until completely cooled. Peel off shells and cut eggs in half lengthwise.

Remove yolks from eggs. Set aside 3 of them for another use (or discard) and mash the other 3 together with the pesto, either in a mortar and pestle or in a food processor. Pipe, scoop or spoon into the egg whites.

If desired, season exposed egg whites with salt and pepper. Arrange on a plate or small platter and serve.