Basil Harvest

Zemora and Sarah harvest basil.

Bartering veggies for ice cream

Mid-Summer Has Arrived

August is here! August is a confusing, exciting, hard month on the farm. The end of the season is in sight; we are planting out our first fall greens (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, and radishes have all gone in!) and nearing the end of our successions of lettuce and carrots. Days grow shorter, and I start to think of fall. Such thinking, however, is premature. This is the hard part of August. Harvests are long, and have been for quite some time, days continue to be stiflingly hot, and the season is not even halfway over.
Despite the challenges of will, though, August is a lot of fun. Tomatoes are going strong, and everyone loves tomatoes. Our crew has reached a high level of familiarity and rapport with each other by now, and we can help and support each other through the mid-summer exhaustion. A return to planting is refreshing after several months spent mostly weeding and harvesting.
And, before we know it, the students will be heading back to school, cooler mornings will move in, and that kale that looks so tiny now will be full-sized and sweet. So we enjoy summer while it lasts.

Crispy Zucchini Chips

Recipe by Christina Pirello

avocado or light olive oil
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 (one quarter) cup yellow corn meal
sea salt
4-5 firm zucchini, sliced into paper thin oblongs
2 fresh lemons, sliced into paper thin rounds
4-5 sprigs fresh parsley, finely minced
8-10 sprigs watercress, stems trimmed to create 3-inch sprigs.

Put about 3 inches oil in a deep saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Line a baking sheet with parchment and preheat the oven to warm.

Mix flour, corn meal and a generous pinch of salt in a bowl. Add about a third of the zucchini slices to the flour and toss gently with your hands to coat. When the oil is hot, fry floured zucchini until crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain and arrange on lined baking sheet and place in a warm oven. Repeat with the balance of zucchini slices.

Dredge the lemon slices in flour mixture and fry until golden, about 2 minutes.
Drain and combine with zucchini in the oven, keeping oil over heat.
Just before serving, toss fried zucchini and lemon with parsley and transfer to a serving platter. Quickly fry watercress sprigs until crisp and mound them on the zucchini and lemon as garnish. Makes 6-8 servings.

Minted Green Beans with Red Onion

• 2 pounds green beans, trimmed
• 1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
• 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
In a kettle of boiling water cook the beans for 2 to 4 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender, transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking, and drain them well. Pat the beans dry with paper towels and chill them, covered, for at least 3 hours or overnight.
In a large bowl whisk together the mustard, the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste, add the oil in a stream, whisking, and whisk the dressing until it is emulsified. Add the beans, the mint, and the onion and toss the mixture until it is combined well.

From: Gourmet Magazine
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Minted-Green-Beans-with-Red-Onion-12549#ixzz0vVqMzJPm

Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil Mayonnaise

• 6 hard green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• Dash hot sauce
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups Japanese panko bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 recipe Basil Mayonnaise (recipe follows)
Basil Mayonnaise:
• 2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Creole mustard
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Making the Basil Mayonnaise:

Pulse the basil, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and mustard in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until smooth, then transfer to small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. The Basil Mayonnaise can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Making the Green Tomatoes:

Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper. Place the flour on a plate. Whisk together the buttermilk and hot sauce in a shallow bowl or a pie tin. Whisk together the cornmeal and panko bread crumbs in a separate pie tin.
Working with one green-tomato slice at a time, coat the tomato first in flour (knocking off excess), then in the buttermilk, then finally in the cornmeal— bread crumb mixture. Transfer the breaded slice to a baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining slices. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a second baking sheet with paper towels. Heat 3/4 inch of vegetable oil in a medium skillet to 350°F.
Working in batches, fry the tomato slices until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked tomatoes to the prepared baking sheet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep the cooked tomatoes in the warm oven while you fry the remaining slices. Serve the tomatoes warm, with a generous dollop of Basil Mayonnaise.

From: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fried-Green-Tomatoes-with-Basil-Mayonnaise-355938#ixzz0vVpOuFPU

Different Ways to Preserve Tomatoes

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t feel like eating any more gazpacho, or salsa, or tomato sauce. And I don’t know about you, but I have trouble buying tomatoes in the off season, knowing they aren’t as fresh and have little flavor (I know, I’m spoiled from being a vegetable farmer. . . ) So, I often try to preserve some of my tomato harvest for later use. Canning is a classic way to preserve your tomatoes, but it takes a great deal of both time and attention to detail. So, here are a few other interesting ways to save your tomatoes.

Freezing

I was skeptical of this tomato preservation method, but apprentice Danielle tried it last season with great success. She would just cut her tomatoes into quarters, stick them in a freezer bag, and freeze—later, when making tomato sauce or other recipes that call for cooked tomatoes, she would just dethaw and use the frozen tomatoes. This is not recommended for dethawing and trying to eat the tomatoes fresh- the consistency is a little off. However, it works really well for cooked tomatoes in recipes.

Fermentation
The following recipes all come from Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning, one of my favorite books. The next recipe is for fermented tomatoes. Some of you know that fermenting foods is a slight obsession of mine.
Tomato Balls

Ripe tomatoes
Salt
Oil
Herbs
A fine strainer
A finely woven cloth
A screen
Canning jars and lids

Pick a good amount of tomatoes that have ripened well in the sun. Cut them in half, squeezing lightly to release any water, and put them in a jar. Set the jar outside in the sun (bring them in at night) until they begin to foam and smell a bit fermented.
Pass the tomatoes through a very fine strainer, rubbing it through with your fingers. Collect the strained portion; place it in a clean, finely woven cloth; hang it ouside in the sin until you get a paste dry enough to be shaped into balls. Let the balls dry on a screen in the sun. Then add salt, and put them in a canning jar. Cover them with oil, season with herbs to your taste, and close the jar.
-Jennifer Rocchia, Beaurecueil

Preserving with salt

Whole tomatoes preserved in brine

Tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
A saucepan
Glass jars and lids

Make a brine (one-quarter cup salt to one quart of water), and bring it to a boil. Allow to cool. Choose firm tomatoes, preferably (Editor’s note: paste tomatoes are great for this), wash and dry them carefully, and put them in glass jars. Pour in the cooled brine, up to one and a quarter inches below the rim, and fill in the remaining space with olive oil to cover. Close the jars airtight and store them in a cool place.
These tomatoes will keep for nine to ten months; use them for sauces.
-Jean-Yves Cousseau, Millau.

Tomato Chutney

2 lbs. tomatoes, scalded, peeled, and chopped
2 medium-sized onions, thinly slices
3 apples, peeled and diced
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup raisins
2 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cayenne peppers, dried and finely chopped
6 cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
An enamel or stainless steel saucepan
Canning jars and lids

Prepare all the ingredients and put them in an enamel or stainless steel pan. Slowly bring to a boil and continue simmering over low heat, uncovered. Stir from time to time. The mixture will gradually thicken; when done, it should resemble a thick jam. This could take up to three hours or more.
Put the chutney into jars. Close and store in a cool, dry, place.
-Jeannette Busiaux, L’Etang-la-Ville

Guidelines For Successful U-Pick

Harvesting Tomatillos
•Harvest the ones that completely fill their husks
•To tell, touch the husk- if you can feel the tomatillo pressing against the husk, it is ready!
•Ripe tomatillos can have brown or green husks
•Do not eat the husk- peel before eating

Harvesting Ground Cherries
•You can harvest them right off the ground (it’s why they are called ‘ground’ cherries!)
•They are ripe when the husks are brown or yellow, and the fruit inside is yellow
•To eat, peel back the husk and eat the fruit

Harvesting Cherry Tomatoes
•We grow yellowish-orange and red cherry tomatoes
•To tell if they are ripe, see how squishy they are—not how red!
•Look near the bottom of the plant- there are more ripe ones near the ground.

Harvesting Paste Tomatoes
•Look for red tomatoes- might be close to the ground or a little deeper inside row
•If you want to use them later in the week, harvest them half red and half green- tomatoes ripen very well off the vine.

Harvesting Basil
•Harvest whole stems, rather than leaves, at growing nodes—at the junction in between two branches or leaves. This will allow the plant to put energy into productive stems rather than dead-end stems with no leaves on the top.