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News from Farm:
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The afternoon thunder storms bring out the jungle side of Western North Carolina and our farm is no exception. Weeds that were 3 inches tall last week are now a foot high and as wide. Even though this make me hyperventilate a little, I have learned not to be envious of the super neat vegetable farms and patches I see from the road as I drive around. I always wondered how they did it and thought I was failing somehow. But now I know, round up! I do love those gardens any way but I won't be trading my living soil ecosystem, full of worms, beetles, centipedes, nemetodes and untold billions of microbes for that sterile neatness.
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Below: Storm almost here.
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What's available this week??
We have plenty of delicious summer tomatoes! Heirlooms, red slicers, cherries and cocktails. We are also offering a few 10lb box of the red slicers if you want to put up some tomatoes or sauce for the winter. Other summer delights include green beans, eggplant, summer squash and cucumbers. For salad greens we have green oak leaf , romaine and red leaf lettuce as well as our lettuce mix. We have some lovely bunches of beets, bags of basil and bunches of parsley. More cilantro next week. Rainbow Swiss chard for braising greens. Sweet red onions are back great raw in salad or sauteed. We have yellow onions as well. For potatoes we have pinto gold, red and yellow spuds. For flowers we have mixed bouquets, zinnias bunches and sunflower bunches. The dahlias are just starting after their traumatic spring but I think we will have bunches of those beauties next week. When the weather is hot like this, remember to change your flower water daily if you can. It will really help them to last longer.
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John's Recipe of the Week
| John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful cooking observations and delicious recipe offerings appear here each week. |
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“The perfect lover is one who turns into a pizza at 4 AM.”
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SMOKY SPANISH TOMATO SOUP – From a May 2009 Gourmet. This one’s good when our peppers are in as well as the tomatoes. The smoked paprika is the key and note, this is for 8 servings, so you might want to cut it in half.
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This one is more complex than the usual recipes, but worth it.
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Look up other fresh tomato soups on your own. Fresh tomatoes are a real treat to cook with, even if they are a bit of work.
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1 red bell pepper, chopped
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1 green bell pepper, chopped
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½ cup coarse bread crumbs, from day old bread like a baguette.
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2 cups fresh figs or seedless green grapes, halved.
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Blanch and skin the tomatoes by cutting an x in the bottoms and dropping them in boiling water for 30 seconds or so. Peel and seed the tomatoes and chop. You can leave the seeds in as well.
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Cook onion and peppers in oil with salt in a large skillet, over medium heat, until soft, about 15 minutes and then put in the tomatoes, smoked paprika, and ½ tsp salt and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, the tomatoes are tender and falling apart, about 20 minutes.
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Mash the garlic and cumin into a paste. Then stir with the crumbs, into the tomatoes.
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At this point you can adjust how thick you want the soup and if you want to puree in your processor.
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Season with salt and pepper and top with the figs or grapes.
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You can make this a day ahead in advance.
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Thanks for reading and best wishes.
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Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
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- Cheri Huber and Ashwini Narayanan
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