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