This week your basket contains: zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, onions, eggplant, RED CABBAGE, RAINBOW CARROTS, lettuce, parsley, and sweet peppers.Just as the weather has turned more fall-like, the contents of your baskets has turned as well.  The beans have pretty much stopped (though there is a chance they will have another flush later) and today’s corn is the last of the year.  On the other hand, new crops are coming on to fill in.  The red cabbage is always a welcome and versatile component of many dished. The slaw below, which came to us froma friend and subscriber, is the first thing we think of when we have red cabbage.  The rainbow carrots would not only be a tasty addition, but a beautiful one as well.

Julianne’s  Coleslaw 

A simple red cabbage salad can be made by shredding red cabbage and carrots, mixing with thinly-sliced sweet peppers and scallions (or grated summer squash), and covering with the following dressing.  Whisk together 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1-3 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 Tbsp. honey, ½ tsp. pepper, salt to taste.

Another way to use the carrots is this tasty dish.

BRAISED CARROTS

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. carrots (about 5-6)

6 cloves garlic

2 c. drained, seeded, chopped canned tomatoes

¼ c. fresh mint

3 slices lemon, plus juice from the rest of the lemon

1 Tbsp. sugar

¾ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. anise seed

¼ tsp. ground cumin

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and chop carrots lengthwise into 5×1/2×1/2-inch sticks.  Put oil and carrots in a heavy skillet.  Cook over high heat, stirring often and scraping the browned bits with a wooden spoon, until the carrots have browned nicely, about 10 minutes.  Add garlic, tomatoes, mint, lemon slices, sugar, salt, anise and cumin; mix well.  Cook until bubbling vigorously, then reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Stir, turning the carrots.  Cover and cook until the carrots are very soft, 20 minutes more.  Add lemon juice and season with pepper.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Serves 4. From Eating Well Feb./Mar. 2006.

This easy technique, also passed along to us by a subscriber, is our go-to method for handling tomatoes.  Without the onions and garlic, this is also the basic way we prep our home canned tomato sauce.  After roasting we pour the tomatoes into a large stock pot and use an immersion blender to whiz it all up.  Then all we have to do is prepare the jars, bring the sauce to a boil and process in the water bath canner.

VERY EASY TOMATO SAUCE 

I just quarter the tomatoes (any that don’t get eaten within four or five days), cherry and sungold tomatoes I leave whole, quarter an onion or two and place these in a baking dish. Then I peel and add four or five garlic cloves, fresh basil, rosemary, etc. and drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil all over everything. Then I roast it all in allow oven – 300 to 325 degrees, for three or four hours or until everything is mushy. Once it’s cooled, I dump it all in the food processor and voila! thick rich roasted tomato sauce. The most recent batch included a smallish fennel bulb and a coarsely chopped eggplant. The roasting seems to bring out the natural sweetness of those delicious tomatoes.

SAVE THE DATE:  The weekend of October 21^st and 22^nd  are set aside for our PUMPKIN PICK-UP WEEKEND.  As we can not deliver carving pumpkins with your basket (and the perfect carving pumpkin is a very personal choice anyway) we set aside this weekend for you to come out to the farm, choose your pumpkin (and other seasonal decorations) and share a pot luck lunch with other subscribers.  We will press fresh apple cider, make pizza (you have to try pumpkin pie pizza!) and in general have a great time.  We can’t wait to see you then.

POLLY can make you a beautiful bouquet for only $7 with 20+ stems and will come with your veggie basket whenever you want them.  Just email to order!