This week your basket contains:  GREEN TOMATOES, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, elephant garlic, potatoes, Swiss chard, eggplant, and Florence fennel

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT FOR OUR PUMPKIN PICK UP WEEKEND!  We loved seeing old friends and meeting new people.  We now have more faces to go with the names we see on your basket each week.

PEAR UPDATE: OUR NEXT PEAR DELIVERY WILL BE WITH THE  BASKET BEFORE THANKSGIVING.  At that time, we will also have the 5# PEAR SAMPLE BAGS. These will have several varieties of pears and Asian pears for $12.  She’ll also have Comice and Bosc pears available. The cost for these  is  2 lbs $4: 4 lbs $7.50 25 lbs $30.  As always, please email to order.

With frost very likely in the next week, this is the week for the last hurrah for many summer veggies, including  tomatoes.  Knowing that they will never fully ripen, it was time to use the green tomatoes that had been set on the plants.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Fried green tomatoes are extremely easy to make.  On a plate or in a shallow bowl, beat 1-2 eggs.  Cut green tomatoes approx. ¼ to ½ inch thick, dip in egg, coat with bread crumbs and fry in a small amount of butter.  Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the fried slices and serve.

The recipe below is a great way to extend the time you can utilize the green tomatoes.

CREAM OF GREEN TOMATO SOUP

Base:

3 onions

10 green tomatoes

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

4 Tbs butter

For each 2 cups of base, add:

1 ½ cups half-and-half

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Cut onions and cook slowly in butter in a large heavy pot.  When they are soft, add cut, cored but not peeled tomatoes.  Cook slowly for 30 minutes, cover pot and cook an additional 30 minutes.  Add broth and pass the soup through a strainer or food mill to remove the seeds and skin.  This is the base of the soup, which can be frozen for later use.  When ready to use, stir in half-and-half, sugar and salt.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Serve hot or chilled topped with a Tbs of sour cream.  From Classic American Food Without Fuss by McCullough and Witt.

ROASTED RADISH AND CARROT

2 daikon radishes

2 carrots

1 clove elephant garlic

1 to 2Tbs olive oil

1Tbs balsamic vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 400⁰. Slice the daikons and carrots into1/4-inch-thick rounds.  Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and crushed garlic.  Place on a baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes or until tender, stirring once or twice to ensure even browning.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and return to oven for 5 minutes.  Can be served warm or cold.

As part of our never ending quest to expand our veggie repertoire, we’ve been working to learn how to best grow Red King Daikon radish.  We’re homing in on the best timing and are getting better results.  We’ve kept the greens on the roots, in part because the look better, but also because they can also be used in a recipe like the Radish Top Soup which can be found on our web site recipe page (see the password below).  The greens can also be used in soup or even pesto!  Speaking of pesto, a subscriber sent us a FENNEL FROND PESTO recipe that we will be passing along soon.