Marta's Garden Marinera/RBB

Hi all,

In boxes, this week: tomatoes, squash (summer and butternut), green beans, bell peppers, hot peppers, onions.

Recipe of the week?

Marta's Garden Marinera

15-18 medium tomatoes, blanched, skinned and roughly chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1-2 Summer squash or zucchini, chopped
4-6 Bell peppers, chopped
3 onions, chopped
5-7 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon+ medium grade safflower oil

2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon oregano

salt and pepper, to taste

2 lbs. ground beef, lightly salted, cooked and crumbled (optional)

Place the tomatoes in a large sauce pot, heat over medium-low heat until they begin breaking down. Blend to smooth texture with a stick blender or by putting them in batches in a regular blender. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and continue to simmer gently as you prep other ingredients.

In a large skillet, saute chopped squash, peppers, onion, and garlic in safflower oil. As things soften and become translucent, add basil, granulated garlic, and oregano. Salt and pepper to taste. When the herbs and the granulated garlic seem to have absorbed a sufficient amount of oil (the kitchen will smell fantastic at this point), scrape the entire contents of the skillet into the sauce pot with the tomato base.

Add ground beef if using.

Simmer for 30-60 minutes to allow flavors to blend and sauce to thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4-5 quarts of sauce.

As for food world news? Columbia's Second Annual Roots, Blues & BBQ Festival seems to have been a smashing success. See the website below for more details:

http://www.rootsnbluesnbbq.com

See you next week!
;-)M

News from the Farm

Hi all,

Food World news straight from Dan at the farm this week:

"We have been transplanting strawberry beds, garlic and sowing buckwheat to start putting the gardens to bed of the fall. Lots of peppers, few tomatoes, winter squash, yellow squash and zucchini maybe some small pumpkins soon. Daikon radishes and some cabbages are creeping up and should be ready soon! Lots of toads and crickets appearing as one likes the other lots! You can guess which one! Ribett, ribett!!"

As for a recipe? One of my favorite cookbook sources now has a delicious website as well. Check out this week's recipe (Spicy Mexican Squash Stew--works with any hard squash) at The Moosewood Restaurant online:

http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes.html

See you next week!
;-)M

Forgotten Summer Classic

Hi all,

I'm all out of time and ideas this week, so I went spelunking around online to find a recipe to share. Did not imagine I would find something so resonant out there in cyberspace, but finding this gem took me immediately back to my childhood: fried zucchini. Can't believe I'd forgotten how magical the combination of crispy breading and tender squash can be. Can't believe I've never attempted to make it myself. I think I'll be remedying that oversight this week.

Here's the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Fried-Summer-Squash/Detail.aspx

In boxes this week, lots more squash, hot peppers, wax peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers.

In Food World news, Slow Food Katy Trail will hold a Harvest meal at Chert Hollow Farm on Wednesday, September 16. The all-vegetarian meal will feature foods grown and prepared on the premises, including Hoppin' John, corn bread, greens, tomatoes and okra. Suggested donation of $15/diner. Limited seating. Contact Bernadette Dryden for more information: slowfoodkatytrail@yahoo.com.

Another Squash Idea (really!)

Hi all,

While we have stored a fair amount of the squash that's come rolling in this summer, it's nice to enjoy it fresh as well. Here's one of my favorite squash sides. Add cheese, tofu or more nuts for a quick vegetarian entree.

Nutty Squash Pasta

Two small to medium zucchinis or yellow summer squashes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup+ cashews, roasted and salted to taste
1/4 cup+ High-quality extra virgin olive oil
8+ ounces of dry pasta (gluten free if desired), cooked per package directions
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Saute the chopped squash in the olive oil until tender. Add the red pepper flakes, if using, for the last minute of cooking time. Turn off the heat and toss with cashews. Serve over pasta. Serves two as an entree, four as a side dish.

In food-world news, the local Slow Food Time for Lunch Eat-In will happen here in Columbia at 4pm on Monday, September 7th at the Ragtag Cinema. Contact Bernadette Dryden for more information: buonappetito@centurytel.net.

See you next week!
;-)M

Blanching!

Hi all,

Sorry for the hiccup in service last week. Technology issues.

But we're back this week with new box contents: peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and sweet corn this week, with a possible acorn or spaghetti squash, too.

Food World News? Time for Lunch is approaching rapidly! Here's the map with links to Missouri Eat-Ins:

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch-eat_ins_by_state/Missouri/

In lieu of a recipe, I thought I would share a strategy we use every year about this time, when we're too busy to properly cook up all the goodness from the CSA and Farmer's Market. We blanch most of our produce and freeze it. This strategy does NOT work with squash, cucumbers, peppers, onions, potatoes, or eggplants, but it's great for just about everything else, including some of those big tough root veggies, as my freezer can attest.

Last week alone, we blanched beans, tomatoes, and corn. Here's the procedure:

1. Boil water in the biggest pot you own.

2. Prepare the vegetables to be blanched (wash them, husk them, tail them, and so on, as necessary). For really big veggies like celeriac or beets, peel them and then cut them into chunks.

3. Add the vegetables (only one kind at a time) to the pot. The trick here is not to overfill the pot. Be sure to leave room for the water to circulate amongst all the veggies.

4. Wait, in most cases, for a color change to take place. With tomatoes, watch for the skin to start splitting. It should take 2-4 minutes, maybe a bit more for corn or beets.

5. Once the color has changed uniformly, pull the veggies and let them cool.

6. Prepare the veggies for freezing by cutting corn from the cob, skinning and coring tomatoes, and portioning out everything into freezer-safe containers.

7. Repeat with the next batch of veggies.

You are, of course, welcome to change the water between vegetable types, but we generally find if we start with the least messy stuff (corn or beans) and move to the more messy stuff (beets or tomatoes), we can use the same water.

See you next week!
;-)M

The Southern Foodways Alliance

Hi all,

If you don't know yet about the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi, now's a great time to check it out. The SFA studies Southern food as culture and history. Registrations for their fall symposium are still available. The topic? Music and Food: Exploring Interdependent Cultural Expressions. Here's the link:
http://www.southernfoodways.com/events/symposium/index.html

As far as recipes go? Here's a great side dish to help you use up any sweet corn that didn't get devoured in the hour after you arrived home from the CSA pickup: Sweet Corn Bread Pudding. Here's the link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/sweet-corn-bread-pudding-recipe/index.html

See you next week!
;-)M

Down Home Salsa

Hi all,

This recipe was one of my favorites last year and I just made a fresh batch yesterday. It tastes great after a few hours of letting the flavors blend and it freezes well, too. We really enjoyed digging out a little taste of August in January.

Down Home Salsa

6 medium tomatoes, blanched and roughly chopped
3-4 ears of sweet corn, blanched, cut from the cob
3-5 sweet or low-heat peppers (bell, Hungarian wax, Anaheim, etc.), chopped fine
3-5 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1-3 crushed dried hot peppers (cayenne, poblano, etc.) or red pepper flakes to taste
1-2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped fine
2+ tablespoons of fresh cilantro
1+ tablespoon of lime juice

Combine all ingredients in large non-reactive bowl, pour off excess liquid, and allow to blend for at least two hours. Reserve liquid as desired for spicy cocktail mixer. Serve salsa with chips, avocado and cheese or use as topping for any Mexican dish. Serves 8-12 adult diners.

For Food World news? The Slow Food Katy Trail Eat-In to support the national Time for Lunch program happens on September 7, 2009. Here's the link for more info:

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch-detail/slow_food_katy_trail_eat_in/

In boxes this week: Sweet corn, tomatoes, muskmelon, green beans, cukes, zukes, peppers.

See you next week!
;-)M