- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes (hey, try those pink ones, oh so sweet)
- Hot peppers
- Sweet peppers
- Stuffing peppers
- Eggplant
- Zucchini
- Cucumbers
- Beans
- Parsley or cilantro
- Tomatillos
- Onions
- Garlic
- Basil
- Pears (they may look a little ugly on the outside, but they ripen and are so sweet)
- Apples (time to make sauce)
- Carrots or beets
The production from our little farm right now is dizzying. We get the feeling many of you feel the same. It is hard to get through the vegetables from one week before the next week is upon you. That is why it is important to put some food by for the winter. Make a pan of eggplant parmesan and freeze it for later, make an extra ratatouille and freeze it for a winter night. Turn your veggies into minestrone soup and freeze half for later, make pesto from basil, or parsley or zucchini.
During these times of plenty we often get overwhelmed and wish for smaller portions of seemingly never ending veggies, but once the days get cooler as well as the nights the production of summer favorites will dwindle. I turned the cherry tomatoes into tomato paste and the excess tomatoes into sauce. We have been eating eggplant every night, grilled, roasted, tucked in pasta sauce. Zucchini is also great on the grill with garlic infused olive oil and a tiny dash of salt and pepper applied just as it goes on the grill. Onions go in every dish from chicken to soup to just plain roasted.
We are here to help you deal with all those veggies. The annual canning party is September 13 from 9 -5. Please do sign up in the barn so we know how many to expect. We look forward to a great day of putting it up for winter. Here is the list of what to bring to the party:
- a sharp knife, labeled with your name
- a cutting board
- an apron if you want it
- a potluck dish to pass (a plate and utensils for each family member)
- 1 box of half pint jars with lids and rings, preferably run through your dishwasher and replaced in the box. Lids and rings should be brought separately and do not need to be run through the machine
- 3 quart jars or 9 more pints brought the same way as the jars above. (or a box of either type prepared)
- If you have an outside gas or electric burner we could use a few extra, please let me know and bring it. Please bring your gas canister full.
- If you have canning supplies, like tongs, large pots with canning baskets etc. please bring and label.
- Sign up in barn, just so we have an idea how many will come, you can still just show up
- A box to take your canned goods home labeled with your name
- $20 cash to contribute to additional items purchased for the event
- If you have backyard fruit that needs to be put up please bring it
- Come with ready hands to harvest, cut, can and most of all HAVE FUN!!
I just wanted to let you know that Caylor Roling from the Portland Area CSA Coalition (PACSAC) will be at our Canning Party to take pictures and talk to you about your experiences as CSA members. She’s using the pictures and members’ stories to educate more people in our community about CSA. Our farm is a member of PACSAC, and we work with other CSA farms to educate consumers and to help CSA farmers reach more members and be more successful. If you have questions, you can contact Caylor at caylor@portlandcsa.org.
No more time to chat, it is time to harvest! Please sign-up or just show up to help harvest. We have 18 more harvests to go until the end of the season and they are all big. Show up at 0700 and join us for the fun!
Steve’s Cold Beet Borsht
1 bunch beets with tops
6 C water
1/3 C sugar (a little less)
½ t salt
Juice of 1 1/2 to 2 lemons
1 C fat free plain yogurt
Dill weed
Remove top of beets, cut up and boil separately. Cover beets with water
and boil having 6 cups of water remaining, boil till tender. Pour hot beet
water into bowl leaving the last table spoon or so in pot to avoid dirt.
Add sugar, lemon juice and salt to beet water mix and taste. It should have
a fairly strong taste of sweet and sour. Thoroughly mix yogurt with one
cup of beet water and then mix this with the remainder of the water. Grate
beets and add with the cooked tops to the beet water. Chill and serve with
additional yogurt in each bowl (2 table spoons or so) to taste. A sprinkle of dried dill weed is also nice
Beet Salad
Lebanese Mountain Cooking, Mary Laird Hamady
2 cups fresh beets
½ cup finely chopped onion
¾ cup chopped parsley
2 T crushed dried spearmint (we used fresh)
1 t salt or to taste
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon
1-2 T pomegranate juice (optional)
1 small clove crushed garlic (optional)
Steam or boil the beets, then peel and dice into small pieces. Toss with onion and parsley
. Dress with mint, salt, oil, lemon juice and optional ingredients. Toss the salad well and serve chilled.
Chocolate Beet Brownies
from: http://www.plantea.com/chocolatebeetbrownies.htm
these brownies are rich, chewy and secretly nutritious!
1/2 cup butter (or 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup applesauce)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup cooked beets or 15 oz. can beets packed in water, drained and mashed;
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
Melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until light in color and foamy. Add sugar and vanilla and continue beating until well creamed. Stir in chocolate mixture, followed by applesauce and beets. Sift together flour, salt, spices and baking powder and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in wheat germ and almonds. Turn into greased 9×13-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool before cutting into squares.
While I had fun developing the chocolate beet recipe, it’s a treat to see the expression on people’s faces when I tell them what’s in the recipe. – a note from the author of this recipe.
Julia’s beet idea for brownies: confession: usually when I bake it’s 100% from scratch, and it’s not necessarily low fat. But I confess I tried the ‘no fudge’ brownie mix from Trader Joe’s (just add vanilla yogurt, mix, and bake. Really). It was fudgy and a bit hit in my house. So I tried it again and this time added a whole cup of golden beet puree. It was too beety, even for me. So: I tried *again* with 2/3 cup beet puree. Success!
Julia’s Cheating Brownies
1 box “No Fudge Brownie Mix” available at Trader Joe’s and possibly other retailers.
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt, as instructed on their box. (ok, I used plain lowfat because it’s what I had: it was fine!)
2/3 cup beet puree (boiled beets, pureed in a food processor)
Mix altogether, and bake as instructed on the brownie package mix.
Eggplant and Tomato Gratin
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
This is a delicious, low-fat version of eggplant Parmesan. Instead of breaded, fried eggplant, though, the eggplant in this dish is roasted and sliced, layered with a rich tomato sauce and freshly grated Parmesan, and baked in a hot oven until bubbly.
For the tomato sauce:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 2 to 4 garlic cloves (to taste)
- 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, quartered if you have a food mill or else peeled, seeded and chopped; or 1 1/2 (28-ounce) cans chopped tomatoes, with juice
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh basil
- For the gratin:
- 2 pounds eggplant, roasted
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons slivered fresh basil leaves
- 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2. Meanwhile, to make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy, preferably nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Stir until tender, about five to eight minutes, then add the garlic. Stir until fragrant, about a minute, and add the tomatoes, salt (1/2 to 1 teaspoon), pepper, sugar and basil sprigs. Turn the heat up to medium-high. When the tomatoes are bubbling, stir well and then turn the heat back to medium. Stir often, until the tomatoes have cooked down and are beginning to stick to the pan, about 25 minutes. Remove the basil sprigs.
3. If you did not peel the tomatoes, put the sauce through the fine blade of a food mill. If the tomatoes were peeled, pulse the sauce in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until coarsely pureed. Taste and adjust seasoning.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Set aside 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and mix with the bread crumbs. Oil the inside of a two-quart gratin or baking dish with olive oil. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of the dish. Slice the roasted eggplant about 1/4 inch thick, and set an even layer of slices over the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon a layer of sauce over the eggplant, and sprinkle with basil and Parmesan. Repeat the layers one or two more times, depending on the shape of your dish and the size of your eggplant slices, ending with a layer of sauce topped with the Parmesan and bread crumb mixture you set aside. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until bubbling and browned on the top and edges. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.
Yield: Serves six
Advance preparation: The tomato sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The casserole can be assembled a day ahead, covered and refrigerated, then baked when you wish to serve it. Don’t add the last layer of bread crumbs and Parmesan, with the drizzle of olive oil, until right before you bake it.
Our “easy” stuffed peppers
Poblanos or Anaheim peppers charred and peeled
Corn (fresh shaved off the cob or canned)
Onions (chopped)
Zucchini (cut into small chunks)
Garlic (diced)
Eggs separated
2 teaspoons flour
salt and pepper
canola oil
Shredded Jack, cheddar, Gruyer or a combination
Roast the peppers over open flame or in the oven. Place in a paper bag for 10 minutes to let them steam and loosen their skins then peel. To make stuffing put olive oil in pan, add onion and garlic, cook for a few minutes then add the zucchini and corn. Add slat and pepper to taste. Carefully make a slit in the pepper and remove the seeds (we leave the veins as it keeps the pepper in tact), stuff with filling and some cheese. To make the pepper coating, beat the egg whites until make nice peaks then add the flour. It depends on how many peppers you make the number of eggs you’ll need, for 4 peppers you need approx. 2 eggs. Then add the egg yolks. Heat some canola oil in a frying pan, when hot dip the stuffed pepper in the coating keeping the stuffed side facing up, put the pepper in the pan and repeat until the pan is full. Cook 2-4 minutes per side but don’t burn, turn gently and most of the stuffing will remain inside if you cook the closed side first. Enjoy! It is worth the effort.
Roasted Red Onions with Tomatoes and Red Wine
Cipolle al Forno
September 12, 2009
Copyright Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Serves 4 as a main dish; 6 to 8 as a side dish.
These generous sized wedges of red onion roast with wine, tomatoes, olive oil and herbs to become almost a meal unto themselves. I always make enough for leftovers because the onions are such a good lunch the next day with bread and cheese.
Every country cook has a collection of favorite onion recipes, onions grow easily in kitchen gardens and keep well through the winter in root cellars. Pair the onions with grilled and roasted meats, or simple seafood dishes.
At one farmhouse lunch my hostess served sections of onions roasted like these along with their pan juices atop a simple risotto — an even better reason to make extra.
- 6 medium red onions (3-1/2 to 4 pounds) cut in 4 wedges each
- 3 branches of fresh thyme leaves
- 2 4-inch sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves, broken
- generous 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
- 3 canned tomatoes, drained
- about 1/3 cup dry red wine
- about 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- water
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange onion pieces wedge side up in a large shallow pan (half sheet pan or broiler pan). Tear up thyme branches and scatter over the onions along with the rosemary leaves. Tuck broken bay leaves here and there. Sprinkle with fennel and crush the tomatoes over the onions, too. Moisten wedges with the wine and olive oil, and season liberally with salt and pepper.
2. Roast about an hour basting with pan juices several times. After about 20 minutes, add the garlic. If pan juices threaten to burn, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup water and scrape up any brown glaze with a spatula. Baste it over the onions. They’re done with they still hold their shape, but are tender when pierced with a knife. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature, basted with their pan juices.