Heirloom Harvest

Roasted Vegetables

Celeriac, carrots, potatoes, turnips if they're good (mine went pithy), and parsnips, peeled, cut in 1-inch dice, and tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and dried rosemary, then roasted until tender.

I am thankful for the farm's good food.

The First Bite Is With The Eye

Your editor recently returned from a cooking course in France, where this post's title was a bit of significant wisdom about the importance of careful and creative presentation in cooking. The first day at the school, while jet lag was still intense and vivid, Chef Robert Ash made a tomato salad that is an excellent way to tear through some of the summer produce. Here's what he did, and what I did yesterday.

Take plenty of ripe tomatoes and cut them into thinnish slices -- say, a quarter inch. Lay them on a plate or tray, and salt them liberally. "Liberally" means to taste, of course, and for some people salt is a natural seasoning -- and for others, steeped in our wise culture of care around healthy food, it's kind of scary to actually USE salt on PURPOSE. Ash emphasized the value of salt used carefully in this case to aid the tomatoes in giving up their liquid and concentrating their flavor.

Over the next few hours, I poured off liquid every 15 minutes or so. Then I cut up some cherry tomatoes, more for color and contrast than any other reason. I took some of the farm's basil and shredded it with my fingers (lots of cooks feel that cutting basil with a knife damages its flavor) and scattered it on the tomatoes. I also happen to have fresh oregano on the back deck, so I put on some of that, and also snipped on some of the chives I have on the back deck as well. Don't get hung up on this; if you have the herbs, great, and if not, it's not the end of the world. The basil is the most important of all of them.

Then, I cut some mozzarella into stars with cookie cutters (my wife Carol's idea) and put the shapes on the salad. Finally I sprinkled on some olive oil and poured balsamic vinegar into a spray bottle, then sprayed a few shots over the salad. Done. Vegans will of course choose to omit the mozzarella.

Farmer John’s Mom’s Tomato Salsa

4 medium ripe tomatoes, cut in half, remove most seeds
2 large Jalapeno chili peppers (use plastic gloves to handle)
3 green onions, sliced
¼ cup chopped red onion
1/3 green sweet pepper, chopped
1/3 red sweet pepper, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped

Combine in bowl, draining ‘excess’ juice to avoid soupy mixture. Add 1 large chopped fresh garlic clove.

Season, to taste, with those of the following that appeal:

• Tabasco sauce
• Ground chili powders
• Cayenne pepper
• Worcestershire sauce
• Paprika
• Beau monde Seasoning
• Black pepper
• Ground Kosher salt

Tastes best the day it is made.

Tasty Turnip Recipe From CSA Shareholder in Plainville

A bunch of turnips with their greens
1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil (optional)
1/4-1/3 C dry white wine, such as Chardonnay
1/4 C chicken or vegetable stock OR water
1-2 tsp low-sodium Tamari, Soy Sauce or Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids.

Cut the greens off your bunch of turnips, wash & drain both really well in a colander, making sure you get any dirt off the leaves.  (Your blog editor submerges such leaves for a bit, then comes back to them later.) Chop up the greens. Slice the turnips in half or leave them whole.
Next, if you choose to use olive oil, add it to the saucepan and heat on medium heat. Add the greens and turnips to pan, sauté for about a minute, add all liquids to saucepan.  Simmer, about 10 minutes on medium heat.  Liquid will reduce to about ¼ cup.

(First published in our excellent new newsletter. Don't forget to pick one up! You can always find some of the content here, but not all of it -- and not always as conveniently.)

One Less Googling (In which the newsletter suggests how to eat Kohlrabi)

Sautéed Kohlrabi:   
2 Kohlrabies
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp butter or oil
1 Tbsp fresh herbs of your choice (thyme, chives, sage, etc.)
Grate Kohlrabi, place in a colander and sprinkle with a little salt.  Let stand about 30 minutes to drain.  Heat butter over medium heat, add onions and sauté a few minutes.  Rinse Kohlrabi a little. 

Stir in butter, reduce heat to low, cover and cook 10 minutes.  Increase heat and cook another 2 minutes.  Serve.  

ALSO, try:

• Raw K, thinly sliced, alone or with a dip.
• Peel K and eat raw like an apple.
• All raw vegetables should be chewed well.

Viva Los Tomatillos! Viva!

Whit’s Recipe for Smoky, Spicy & Sweet Tomatillo Salsa

12 ounces fresh tomatillos
½ cup fresh cilantro
1 colorful bell pepper or ethnic sweet pepper (red, orange or yellow)
¼ cup fresh chopped chives
Freshly squeezed juice from ½ lime
½ teaspoon smoky chipotle powder
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 clove of garlic peeled and smashed
1. Pull off the tomatillos' husks and rinse the fruit to get the stickiness off. Set aside.
2. Place all the ingredients, EXCEPT the tomatillos, in a blender or food processor, fitted with a chopping blade. Whit uses a food processor.
3. Pulse at high speed until ingredients are coarsely chopped.
4. Now, add the tomatillos to the blender and pulse until all the ingredients are blended to desired consistency. Whit recommends blending to the consistency of course sand, say, pinhead size. It is OK if there are few tomatillos that are chunks, as it adds character and flavor to the salsa. Also, the bell or ethnic peppers are mainly for color and crunch, less for flavor, so no big deal if they're missing.
5. Lift the salsa from the food process or blender container with a slotted spoon to reduce wateriness. Serve either at room temperature or chilled with tortilla or pita chips.

Squashed

There is ample summer squash. Your editor, who has been known fervently to pray for the dreaded squash vine borer when he is managing his own vegetable garden, has risen to the challenge this year. I recommend (yes, this is an Editor's note) the use of the Baby Squash Saute Szwarc recipe, which allows you also to use up some of that vermouth that's been gathering dust since your uncle who like martinis visited in 1975 and then never came back. (As for the chrome shaker and the jar of little plastic swords, that's your lookout.) Vegans who would prefer to omit the butter might try margarine or just plenty of olive oil.

Ratatouille Soup

1 TB olive or veg oil
¼ c chopped (small) onion         
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 c ½ -in slices zucchini ( about 1 med)
½ c chopped green bell pepper
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 small eggplant cut into ½ in cubes
1 can (10 ½ oz) condensed chicken broth   (or use straight broth and skip the water)
1 broth can water

Heat oil in Dutch oven over med-high heat. Cook onion and garlic in oil about 3 mins., stirring occasionally, until onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 mins or until veggies are crisp tender.

(Thanks, again, to the Matthews family!)

Tomatillo Chili

1 ½ TB canola oil
1 med onion chopped
2 garlic cloves – chopped
1 jalapeno (optional)
1 ¼ lbs tomatilloes- coarsely chopped
10 oz spinach –chopped
30 oz can white beans- rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup cilantro leaves- whole to measure, then chopped
Heat oil in dutch oven. 4 mins 1st 3 ingredients. Add everything else. Simmer until soft- 10- 15 mins. Add salt and pepper.

Variations – You can add cooked diced chicken. You can also substitute the spinach with a green provided that week, such as tatsoi.

(via the Matthews family)   

Classic Green Bean Casserole

Editor's note: We get this recipe for using frozen green beans from Gwen E, who advises us she's no canned food junkie, and that this soup label classic works with fresh beans as well.

My college roommate once made this with four times the amount of black pepper by accident - and the flavor stuck with me forever. Since then I've been imagining making it with fresher and healthier ingredients.

I started with the Original Green Bean Casserole recipe which one finds on the back of the French's Fried Onion can, but I used 2 cups of previously blanched, trimmed and uncut frozen green beans. The long beans gave a very different look then the traditional frenched canned beans. I also added a carrot peeled and cut into coins- steam or blanch before adding to the rest of the ingredients. (I added the carrot solely for color. )

Then I cooked the casserole as described in the original recipe. If you do not want to use cream of mushroom soup or fried onions, I've seen (but not tried yet) recipes with sautéed mushrooms and cream instead of cream of mushroom soup and sautéed shallots instead of fried onions.

We're grateful to Gwen. Let's keep those recipes coming!