This week your basket contains: zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beans, carrots, sweet peppers, sweet corn, lettuce, and garlic. 

The tomatoes are coming on strong!  Every year we stop irrigating the tomatoes in the middle of August to shock the plants into ripening all the fruit they have set and to stop them from setting more.  Most years as soon as we do this, it rains, which is not good for the tomatoes.  This year, no rain, so there are many great tomatoes.  This recipe is one of our favorites.  We generally freeze a few batches for use in the winter.  It is a fast and easy way to make a vindaloo-like dish with grilled chicken, lamb or shrimp.  We’ve also used it on pasta for puttanesca.  In other words, it is extremely versatile so experiment and enjoy! 

HYDERABADI TOMATO CHUTNEY

12 peeled garlic cloves

7 cups chopped or pureed tomatoes

2 tsp. grated ginger root

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ cup olive oil

2 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. black mustard seed

½ tsp. fenugreek seeds

4 small dried chili peppers

1 sp. Pickling salt

Mash four of the garlic cloves and combine them in a bowl with the tomatoes, ginger and cayenne.  Heat the ol in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the remaining garlic cloves and fry them, stirring, until they are golden brown.  Add the cumin, fenugreek, and mustard and let them sizzle for a few seconds.  Add the whole dried peppers and stir as the peppers swell and darken.  Add the tomato mixture taking care to avoid splattering.  Cook for 15-20 minutes stirring consistently until the chutney is thick.  At this point the chutney is ready for use or storage.  It will keep well in your refrigerator for a week or more and much longer in the freezer.  Adapted from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

ROASTED GREEN BEANS WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES, GOAT CHEESE AND OLIVES

For the beans:

1 lb. green beans,

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 c. drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes  (rinsed, patted dry, coarsely chopped)

1/2 c. kalamata olives, chopped

2 tsp. minced fresh oregano

For topping:

1/2 c. crumbled goat cheese

An aluminum foil liner prevents burning on dark nonstick baking sheets and facilitates cleanup. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread beans on lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil; using hands, toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt, toss to coat, and distribute in an even layer. Roast 10 minutes.  Remove baking sheet from oven. Using tongs, redistribute beans. Continue roasting until beans are dark golden brown in spots and have started to shrivel, 10 to 12 minutes longer.  While beans roast, combine sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Add beans; toss well to combine, and adjust seasonings. Transfer to serving dish, top with goat cheese and serve. From Cook’s Illustrated.

The pumpkins and winter squash have responded to the recent cooler nights by starting to die back which means that we are starting to see what we have in store for us harvest-wise.  From what we’ve seen so far the size of our pumpkins is great!  The quantity is a little harder to asses, but I am already getting excited about our PUMPKIN PICK UP WEEKEND which we have planned for October 20^th & 21^st.  This is the time we set aside for you all to come out to the farm, choose a carving pumpkin (and gourds and odd squash) and enjoy the farm.  We will have farm tours, apple cider pressing, and a pot luck lunch that includes pizza from our wood-fired oven.  I will, of course, be making pumpkin pie pizza, which is amazing (if I do say so myself).  Make plans now to come out one of those days anytime from 11:00 to 4:00.