week 11

Cooking in Season

week 11

These are the glory days of gardening, when buckets are over flowing with fresh picked goodies from the garden and after picking barefoot in the morning dew with the sunrise warming my back, I ran inside to throw a chicken in the slow cooker nestled in among juicy fresh tomatoes and fresh parsley and spices. The pickles from a couple of weeks are ready and disappearing fast. The winter squash are growing and growing and climbing all over their neighboring weeds. The sweet corn at work is among ragweed as tall as me and so picking ended up being allergy hell as the subtle pollen drifted in the wind… right into my nose. The sweet corn here is on it’s second wave, a new variety we’ve never tried that was supposed to be a super sweet red but it cross pollinated with the super sweet incredible corn next to it and is a weirdly tinted combo of the two.

The tomatoes are ripening on the vine, taking their good sweet time. I just submitted a bunch of veggies to the Randolph fair up by my work and I giggled when I saw that many of the “red tomato” entries were not yet red, but blushing greens. Then I didn’t feel so bad for my sun kissed entries. We also entered a giant version of a CSA basket along with some shelled beans and two sugar baby melons, which grandma contends are still not ripe yet.
I love tomato season. I had tomatoes with my eggs this morning. My slow cooker is filled with my chicken, tomato and lentil dish and my mom is working on onions, peppers, tomato, and sausage for Wed night dinner. I have tomatoes in my lunch, on every sandwich, and Travis admitted to picking one and eating it right there in the middle of the garden. The sauce tomatoes are coming on well and I look forward to canning pasta sauce and salsa, though my cilantro never really cooperates.

We were talking at work about how supermarkets have made everything be by the pound and made to look pretty, which leaves the consumer with pretty produce with empty taste. Wine grape growers are having a similar dilemma – if the suppliers sell by the ton, it is to their benefit to grow a lot of over fertilized, over irrigated grapes of lower quality because no one wants to pay for a product done right. That makes me sad, but I know often in the supermarket I am looking only for a good deal too, but usually it’s at the cost of taste. Enter our pears. (Make sure to wash them!!!!) They are not much to look at to be sure. You’d probably pass them over at the supermarket, but they are completely delicious. The skin is so thin it’s like cutting through butter and they are so sweet and delicious it makes me swear off those hard green pear-rocks at the store. It takes a long time to make sure they are just right and we do not get the yield that commercial growers get –same thing with our tomatoes, corn, beans, pigs, turkeys… pretty much everything around here! It takes a long time and a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it.

… maybe I’m just getting nostalgic with autumn coming and school back in session. We’re already saving seeds for next year, taking about what we’re planting where. Only 5 weeks left in CSA including today. It sure is flying by!

Anyway, I love America’s Test Kitchen. Here’s a great salsa recipe that they tested to be a sure fire winner.

Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 ½ pounds firm, ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 3/8 inch dice - about 3 cups (I throw in tomatillos as well for some zip)
1 large jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed and set aside, minced (option in my opinion)
½ cup minced red onion
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (sorry, mine all went to seed)
½ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground pepper
2 – 6 teaspoons juice from 1 to 2 limes
Sugar to taste (up to 1 teaspoon)
1. set a large colander in a large bowl. Place the tomatoes in the colander and let them drain for 30 minutes. As the tomatoes drain, layer the jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro on top. Shake the colander to drain off the excess tomato juice. Discard the juice and wipe out the bowl.
2. transfer the contents of the colander to the now empty bowl. Add the salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons of the lime juice; toss to combine. Taste and add the minced jalapeno ribs and seeds, sugar and additional lime juice to taste.

See you next week,
Janee

week 10

Cooking in Season

week 10

The middle of August is the perfect time for sweet tea and I have to remind myself to do all those summertime things that I’d been too busy to do during the crazy early days of summer. The cicadas are out and the nights sound a bit more eerie now as the dusk is sneaking up closer and closer each night. The pumpkins at work are flowering, but with all the fungus that’s hit the cucumbers, I’m worried it’s going to jump over to the winter squash and pumpkins.
Welcome the tomatoes to the scene and I am about ready to walk down to the orchard to taste test to see if the pears are ready. Travis found a cool caterpillar in the carrots. Turns out it’s going to be a black swallowtail. Good thing he didn’t smash it!

The okra is coming along well, the beets are at all different stages of getting ripe, and we’re testing melons weekly to see if they are ready. I am sure it looks very scientific – all of us out in the melon patch, holding each one up to an ear and knocking on it to hear a thud. I am not sure what a thud sounds like, but I hope they are ready soon.

Also, if anyone is a home bread maker, I have organic wheat from a local farmer that I’d like to share. I think its soft winter wheat and I got it to put some in the ground for next year and use some for beer making. Let me know if you’d like some. Also, if anyone would like to buy in to a pig share, let me know. We have their date set in mid September and if you’d prefer different cuts, we can do that as well. Also just ordered second batch of meat birds, which should be ready in October if you’re interested.

Our recipe was submitted by our member Tracy Weiner for a dense casserole that uses everything in season right now. It’s completely delicious and very easy to make, and a great way to use corn off the cob if you so desire.
CORN, ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO PIE
3 cups fresh or frozen defrosted corn kernels
5 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks 5-6 cups
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP fresh dill weed
2 TBSP melted butter
3-4 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into ½ inch thick slices
½ cup freshly grated parmesan 2-3 cups
½ cup dry bread crumbs 3 cups
2 TBSP olive oil
I also added some sautéed onions, green peppers and mushrooms
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In 13” x 9” baking dish, combine the corn, zucchini, 1 tsp salt ½ tsp. pepper, dill and melted butter, tossing to coat the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper.
In small bowl, combine the cheese and the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Remove it from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
See you next week,
Janee

week 9

Cooking in Season
week 9

Every single window is open, screened or unscreened. The ceiling fans are on. The dogs are swimming. Even the turkeys took a wade through the creek to cool off. It is August.

As with every season in Ohio, this one has been an unpredictable roller coaster ride. Every year we break records and every year we fight a different problem. Last year, we had a hot, dry July, which made the peppers go crazy and the kale weep. This year we are having trouble with all the rain and humidity. The vineyard has mildew that spreads like wildfire and a fungus wiped out our peach trees early this wet spring. The potatoes are really disheartening as there are types that have just rotted in the ground while others are holding up pretty well. Our tomatoes look weepy. The garlic is puzzling me as to what’s going wrong. Our cucumbers are getting hit with all different cucumber diseases, but they keep growing through it. And I am holding back a green tomato recipe.
But the good thing about a CSA vs. a regular farm that only grows two crops is… well, the potatoes are struggling, but man, the turnips and melons are happy. I am walking through, picking the few ripe tomatoes and cursing that the zucchini are still producing… but the recipe this week will bring everything in your basket together in total delicious bliss. I am going to try to freeze some batches to see how it does because this casserole really tastes like summer.

A quick walk around the orchard makes me happy as the Liberty apple tree has a triple crop this year and they are the most delicious apples! The early Lodi tree is a bust this year, but the pears are looking good… if we can only keep the blights off of them with this warm weather.

The wait is over and to pick or not to pick the sweet corn has been decided. Fire up the grill! First round of butter and sugar corn is in the baskets this week along with some of whatever they planted at work. The corn we grow here is organic and being that corn is so delicious, lots of other things might have found it first, so I apologize for any uninvited guests. But then again, I’d take an occasional worm over dousing it with Sevin or any other harsh chemical. My favorite way to cook corn I think I learned from Martha Stewart – remove the silk and shuck the corn down, leaving a couple of husks left to cover the cob – then grill adding a little bit of water and butter just to keep it from drying out. I haven’t tried it again yet this year so I might be forgetting a step and I think she tied her corn husks in a perfect little bow, using the stem as a handle, but I’m not that fancy.

Anyway, here is a delicious and easy recipe from my mom’s friend Kim that will throw all the veggies in your basket together for a great meal. Leftovers are great too and it goes great with eggs. Simple and delicious!

Squash-Rice Casserole
8 T rice
4 small squash, sliced
6 tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 green peppers, diced
3 t salt
1 t pepper
4 T butter, sliced
5 T brown sugar
9x13 baking dish

Throw the rice in the bottom of the pan, uncooked. Layer everything in order listed on top of rice. Cover tightly with foil. Cook at 300 degrees for 2 hours.

The rice cooks itself and everything melds together amazingly If you have a recipe, email it to me. Now I am going to get back to waiting for the tomatoes to turn red… and gold, and purple, and striped orange. My sandwiches just seem dull until then.
Janee

week 8

Cooking in Season week 8



Week 8 is upon us and we are halfway through the season. It is at this point in the season where the back garden is really starting to make an appearance along with a great contribution this week from gardens around where I work. My boss who lives with just his wife planted about 10 crookneck squash plants and has only eaten squash once this season! His plants are huge and producing perfectly warty summer squash that are begging for a home. The black raspberries in his woods are a bit smaller than the ones up around here, but delicious all the same.

The great debate today is whether or not the sweet corn is ready. I like it young and tender but Jason is saying it is still too small to pick. Our first batch is Butter and Sugar, which a neighbor at the vineyard proclaims to be the best. Our second planting is That’s Delicious S2, a super sweet type, which my boss says will make you swear off all other sweet corn. I am not a great connoisseur of sweet corn. What I do know is once it is picked, the sugars start to change into a different carbohydrate and it looses its deliciously sweet flavor. The sooner you eat it the better. I just got another laboriously long story from an old farmer about how disgusted and outraged he was at this one local market when he saw the sweet corn being packed up at the end of the day only to be refrigerated and sold the next day. Sweet corn doesn’t send me into a rage or anything, but I know the fresher the better.

Oh, and the pickles are here! Now is the time to start thinking about putting some veggies back for the long (and boring) months of winter. We have been freezing beans and zucchini bread like crazy around here. Now we are about ready to jump into canning and inviting anyone who would like to join. I got some bulk cucumbers that are begging to be pickled and a recipe to die for. (email if you’d like it.) I highly suggest refrigerator pickles if you are not into the whole hot water bath canning thing. Anyway, we are taking helping hands in our canning kitchen. Come if you’re a canning master or would like to learn. $20 for all the supplies and you take home a portion of whatever we make. Jars, lids, vinegar or any contributions are welcome. Probably will be Wed or Thursday night… might be Sunday if the cukes will keep that long. Just email me if you’re interested. janeehouston@gmail.com

Appearing in this week’s basket and probably popping up in the ones to come are tomatillos. This cousin of tomatoes is used in South American cooking and is loved for its tart, tomato-like flavor. They keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks, husked. If you didn’t catch some in your basket this week, don’t worry. There are plenty more on the way….

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
• 5 or 6 fresh tomatillos
• 1 fresh pepper
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
• 1t fresh cilantro
• 1/4 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
Remove husks and rinse under warm water to remove stickiness. Broil peppers, garlic, and fresh tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.
Peel garlic and pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender.
See you all next week,
Janee