Week 7
You MAY have these things: lettuce, summer squash of some variety or color, beans or cucumbers, chard or beets, blueberries, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes? I realized mid-week that some people had Bok Choi in their box, yet no one emailed me, so it must be recognizable, even if it has red leaves. Looks like the kale is taking a break this week; it is not growing at all. I have observed that everything is just “surviving” so things seem to wilt almost immediately.
I am woefully behind getting the letters up on the blog, but hoping to catch up soon!!! (It’s happening now…week 10:))
We have heard the sad news from some of our fellow farmers that they have had to suspend their CSA pickups for a week or two, or more. This is devastating news. We also have many friends who do not have any irrigation and have already lost a crop or are in extreme danger of doing so. It seems so unfair after everyone losing their entire peach crops to face losing anything else. Also, consider the investment a farmer has, crop or not: buying seed, soil, growing in a greenhouse, heat, pots, fertilizer, labor, transplanting…. Imagine all that and then imagine not harvesting anything, or a very reduced crop. Analogy? You worked hard at your job, shopped for just the right gifts for your family, and then someone stole them all (and you watched helplessly while they did it).
OK, enough doom and gloom. WE are harvesting tomatoes – and that ROCKS!!!
What we have is great produce and we are so happy to keep filling your box! AND how nice is it to have more blueberries, that you didn’t have to pick?!
Recipes
Green Bean Succotash ~ the Boston Globe
The classic succotash is made from corn and beans. You can also stir in diced bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, cubed zucchini, or carrot slices. Freshly harvested red onions are wonderfully sweet and give this sauté a perfect aromatic base.
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 pound Romano beans or green beans, ends trimmed, beans cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ears corn, shucked, kernels sliced off with a paring knife
1 large red onion, cut in 1/2-inch dice
3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (keep white and green parts separate)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and cook for 2 minutes or until they are bright green and just tender. Drain and cool under running water. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the corn and onion, sprinkle generously with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until the corn turns opaque and the onion starts to soften.
Add the beans and white scallions. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until they start to brown. Stir in the parsley, green scallions, butter, and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss until the butter melts. © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
Zucchini and Summer Squash Lasagna
link to separate post with lots of pictures
There’s really no mystery behind making lasagna. Though I realize it is the actual name of the pasta used, the name lasagna (for me) encompasses the whole idea of a rectangular layered casserole – yes? In the past years I have pretty much experimented with all sorts of food-stuffs to serve as the separating layer, depending on who I am feeding: eggroll wrappers, spaghetti squash, kale or chard leaves and today, assorted summer squashes. it was delicious! If you already have your own favorite lasagna recipe, then all you need to do is substitute thinly sliced squashes for the pasta.
• 4 decent size squashes
• 1lb ground beef
• 1 1/2 Jars favorite tomato sauce
• Large container of Ricotta Cheese
• 1 egg
• 3+ cups of cheese (I used combo of provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan)
• fresh oregano and parsley if you have it
• S&P to taste
Trim your squash and slice 1/8″-3/16″ thick the long way – time break out the mandolin. I very lightly salted and then spread on paper toweling to drain a little while I continued cooking.
Start to brown the ground beef and then add your sauce, cooking until beef is completely cooked. Beat the egg into the ricotta, seasoning with S&P and any herbs you may have. Blend in 2 1/2 cups cheese. Let the layering begin!
Grease your pan, spread a little tomato sauce mixture in the bottom, line up your squash slices – mine worked out almost exactly as it would it I was using lasagna! I ended up overlapping them the long way for a more substantial layer and to fit the pan. Then spread 1/3 cheese mixture over your squash, cover that with a layer of sauce, repeat. I had three layers of squash and finished with the cheese and sauce layer. You could easily add another layer of squash (if you the room) and cover with more sauce to finish. Top with more cheese and bake at 350 degrees until bubbling and done (about 40 minutes for mine). The squash should be cooked. Knowing what a moist vegetable squash is, I did not cover the pan with foil, as I typically do for half the cooking time if I used pasta. That worked out well because no one wants a runny lasagna 😉
Farm Dust
The past week has been extremely stressful as we watched and waited for rain that never came. Several possibilities fizzled out or dropped their rain in New Hampshire or Connecticut. Keeping up morale when it is so dry and so hot it tough – but I could hear the guys singing out in the fields today and Glenn and I spotted some of the tiniest deer footprints we have ever seen. That put a smile on!
tThe deer must have walked up through the field moments after the men had picked up the irrigation pipe and left. I bet they were after a little water themselves, as all the little water holes and brooks in the woods are long dry. Even the little hoof prints punched through the rows or plastic were adorable
If you follow us on anything, you probably have seen the pictures I have been posting of our honey bees getting water, rainbows, sunsets, irrigation…
Other great news that I have been too preoccupied to post about is Egbert and his family moved into the little house down the road a few weeks ago. Yippeee!
Eat well, Geneviève Stillman