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Tag: Tomatoes-Tomatillos

  • CSA Newsletter: Week 20 (October 1st, 2012)

    Hello CSA members!

    This week we hope to bring you spaghetti squash, cabbage OR sunchokes, cauliflower OR baby chard, roasted chilies OR roasted sweet peppers, and Red Russian kale OR broccoli raab. Large share members will get cauliflower AND baby chard as well as spinach. Fruit share members will be getting pears and apples.

    In this week’s newsletter:


    Spaghetti Squash
    Posted by Mo

    Week 20, is that right? Whoosh, there went Summer.

    This week you are getting spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash will store for a long, long time. They are very bland so you need to add some good flavors and textures to any dish using spaghetti squash.

    I hear some people say that they are intimidated by cutting winter squash in half in order to bake them. I have read that you can microwave winter squash for 5 to 10 minutes, making them easier to cut, then proceed with baking. I had never tried that, so I did.
    I poked some holes in the spaghetti squash so it wouldn’t blow up in the microwave.

    I microwaved it for a total of 10 minutes. After 5 minutes I turned it over and cooked it another 5 minutes. This is what it looked like after 10 minutes of microwaving. You can see how it is partially cooked, but very raw in the middle. While I was microwaving it I preheated the oven to 400°F. After doing this I am positive it will work with any winter squash.

    I scooped out the seeds and added some onions, herbs, salt and pepper. I rubbed all that with olive oil and put it in the 400°F oven for about 35 minutes.

    Spaghetti squash are the ultimate in stringy squash. To optimize the stringy ‘spaghettiness’ of the squash you want to dry it out a bit so bake it uncovered, cut side up the whole cooking time.

    See the meat of the squash pulling away from the squash shell? That is how you know it’s done.

    Discard the herbs if you used them and use a fork to fluff up the squash to make it look like spaghetti. Don’t stir it or smash it. Try to keep it fluffed up.

    My very favorite thing to do with spaghetti squash is to cut up one of my last very ripe tomatoes and add a little olive oil, parsley and Parmesan cheese. This dish tells me that summer is well and truly over. What a great goodbye.


    Jerusalem Artichokes
    We have been offering Jerusalem artichokes in our CSA for years now, so many of you love them and look forward to getting them. This is some information for those of you who may be less familiar with them.

    Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes) are tubers belonging to the daisy family. The plant looks like an enormous sunflower plant. We dig up the roots to eat, much like potatoes. I don’t want to get into a health discussion here, but if you are interested you should look up the health factors of this tuber, especially if you eat it raw. It has some very unique health benefits.

    You can use Jerusalem artichokes in pretty much the same way you would use a potato. Specifically, use it like you would a new potato because you don’t need to peel these. They are washed and ready to use.

    They look a little like ginger root don’t they?

    You can roast these, bake them, incorporate them in a root vegetable mash-up, or make a soup or a salad. Anything that you would make with a potato, you can make with these. I think they are fun to cook with because your brain thinks it is going to taste like a potato but you get a unique flavor and texture.

    I pan roasted some with onions, mushrooms and a little garlic.

    They have a very interesting nutty taste and a pleasant crunch that potatoes lose when cooked. Because they are so flavorful with such a nice texture, they work well to compliment a less flavorful, unique textured counterpart…like spaghetti squash.

    Have a great week and I hope you try something new.

    – Mo

    Guest Recipes

    Posted by Maddie

    We have a very food-filled newsletter for you this week! Thanks Mo for your great ideas, as always. Today I thought I would also share some recipes with you that I’ve collected from CSA members in the last week or so. Unfortunately the timing on two of these is a little off, since they contain mostly summer veggies like tomatoes and zucchini. However, if you happen to still have any of these ingredients hanging around, either from your CSA share or from your garden, I highly recommend trying out one or all of these recipes.

    I’m off tomorrow on a short trip back to Vermont so I won’t be seeing all of you at pick-up this week, but I hope everyone has a wonderful first week of October! Enjoy those veggies.

    – Maddie


    Summer Vegetable Caponata

    Submitted by Jessica Hersh

    • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 Tbs brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
    • 3 lbs summer vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, peppers, yellow squash, green beans)
    • 1 medium or 2 small onions
    • 3-5 cloves of garlic
    • 1 large can small diced tomatoes in juice or 2 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
    • 2-3 Tbs capers
    • black pepper
    • salt

    Prepare the eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash as follows: wash, trim, and cut into small bite-sized pieces. Peel the onion and dice it. Peel the garlic and cut into thin slices. Put the oil, sugar, and balsamic vinegar into a heavy-bottomed pot and heat over medium high until bubbly. Add the eggplant and onion and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. Add the rest of the vegetables (including tomatoes and garlic.) Add capers. Stir well, turn heat down to low and cover the pot.

    If the mix seems very dry add half a cup of water – you want to allow this dish to stew for hours without drying out. Cook over low heat for at least 2 hours, checking water content and stirring every 10 minutes or so. When the dish is fully cooked, all the vegetables should be very soft and falling apart and it should be thick, not soupy. At this point, remove it from the heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot or allow to cool and serve cold. You can eat this as a salad, a side dish, an omelet filling, tossed with pasta, topping a frittata, as a dip for chips or bread, as a crostini topping, a sandwich filling, or just a dip-the-spoon in snack.
    Enjoy!


    Curried Apple and Potato Kugel

    Submitted by Jessica Hersh

    • 3 lbs potatoes (either red or yellow)
    • 2 lbs apples (something with nice flavor and crisp texture (like honeycrisp or granny smith)
    • 2 medium onions
    • 2 Tbs curry powder
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 1 cup flour
    • 6 eggs
    • 1/4 cup neutral oil (safflower or sunflower)

    Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash the potatoes and apples well and peel the onions. Grate them all, starting with onions and rotating (this will keep the potatoes from oxidizing and turning brown.) Mix the shredded vegetables and fruit together with the flour, eggs, curry powder, and salt. Put the oil in a baking dish (Pyrex works great for this) and put in the hot oven for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and put the kugel mix in the hot oil in the pan. Spread evenly then bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the edges and top are nicely browned. Cut into pieces and serve hot. This is great plain or topped with plain yogurt.


    Tomato Soup

    Submitted by Kate Martin

    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 1 1/2 Tbs butter
    • 1 Tbs olive oil
    • 2 tsp. each dried thyme and dried basil
    • 3 Tbs tomato paste
    • 3 lbs. fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
    • salt and pepper to taste
    • 4 cups chicken broth

    Saute onion and garlic in butter and olive oil. Add spices, tomato paste, salt, pepper and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes. Add broth. Cover slightly and simmer 30 minutes more. Puree in a blender, food processor, or using an immersion blender. This recipe freezes great and is a perfect dish to pull out on a cool fall evening.

  • CSA Newsletter: Week 16 (September 3rd, 2012)

    Hello CSA members!

    This week we hope to bring you garlic, potatoes OR green beans, eggplant, cucumbers, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes OR red tomatoes OR 5 pounds red tomato seconds, and arugula. Large share members will also be getting beets, zucchini OR tromboncino squash, and spicy salad mix. Fruit share members will be getting peaches and (we think, we hope!) pears.

    In this week’s newsletter:


    Farm Tour THIS SUNDAY

    Posted by Maddie

    Let me just start by telling you how strange it was to write “September 3rd” in the heading of this week’s newsletter. It seems as if the entire farm season so far has been a rehearsal for the month of August…and now it’s over!? August and September are generally the busiest and most productive months on the farm. Wyatt says that when people think of “The Harvest,” now is the time of year they are imagining. As Mo explains in her posts this week, every year some crops grow and produce beautifully and others just sort of poke along. Despite this, I have to say that we have been growing an incredible amount of food on the farm and for the most part things are looking great.

    A lot of people have been asking how many weeks are left in the CSA season. This is week 16 out of 22, meaning that after this week, there will be 6 weeks remaining. The last week of the CSA season is the week of October 14th. And speaking of October 14th, be sure to mark your calendars for our end-of-season CSA party which will take place that Sunday! More details to come.

    For now, I want to remind you all that our second farm tour of the season is coming up THIS SUNDAY, September 9th. This time the tour will take place at the Teller Farm on Valmont Road. Take a look at last week’s newsletter for directions. We will have hay rides (super fun for the kids) and walking tours of the farm. There are no goats, llamas or alpacas at the Teller Farm, but you may get a chance to meet Eva’s pigs! Be sure to bring a hat and sunscreen and dress for the weather. We will have a couple of tents set up but otherwise there is not a whole lot of shade on the farm.

    I hope to see everyone there!


    Fruit Share Update

    Posted by Maddie

    I’ll start with the sad news. This week will be the 12th week for the fruit share this season, meaning it will be the final “regular season” week for members to receive fruit. The great news is this: western slope farmers are continuing to have an incredible fruit season and we will be re-opening the fruit share for 6 more weeks!

    The fall fruit share will start next week and will primarily include apples and pears. You can log in to your account to sign up for the fall fruit share.

    Happy September and I’ll see everyone at pick-up!

    -Maddie


    Tomato Seconds

    Posted by Mo

    Every year some crops do really well and some struggle or fail completely. That is just the nature of farming. This year our tomatoes started out like gangbusters. A few weeks ago we started to see some signs of disease and alas: we, like most of the farms on the Front Range have been hit with either a tomato blight or virus.  We have some nice tomatoes, but most of the plants have some sort of problem. They are producing some tomatoes, but not lots of perfect ones we usually have. The ‘not perfect’ tomatoes we pick for ‘seconds’.
    The good news is the seconds tomatoes taste fine. You can eat them raw, cook with them or freeze them.

    You have a choice this week of 5 pounds of tomato seconds. I thought I would show you how I make one of my favorite tomato sauces.


    Roasted Tomato Sauce

    Posted by Mo

    Here are 5 pounds of tomato seconds.

    I think I’ll use the garlic and pepper from this week’s share in my sauce. You can do that too or just use tomatoes. I added an onion from last week’s share in my sauce too.

    Core and roughly cut everything up and put it on a baking sheet that will hold it all. You might use 2 9X13 baking pans.

    Now pour olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the whole thing.

    And mix it all up with salt and pepper and any herbs you have in your garden and put that in the a 350°F oven to roast for a half an hour or so.

    It should look something like this when it is done roasting. There is a lot of liquid so be careful removing it from you oven.

    Roasting caramelizes sugars and condenses flavors, you can almost see that here.

    I dump everything into a bowl and fish out the woody and too charred herbs and throw them away. Then I hit the roasted tomato mixture with an immersion blender.

    I got just over two quarts of sauce out of my 5 pounds of ‘seconds’ tomatoes.

    When life gives you seconds, make something second to none.

    Have a great week.

    -Mo

  • CSA Newsletter: Week 14 (August 20th, 2012)

    Hello CSA members!

    This week we hope to bring you leeks, potatoes OR green kale, zucchini OR cucumbers, fennel OR kohlrabi OR eggplant, shishito peppers OR bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. Large share members will get potatoes AND kale, zebra tomatoes, and carrots. Fruit share members will get peaches AND plums.

    In this week’s newsletter:


    Where Are the Tomatoes?

    This week everyone is getting cherry tomatoes. Large share members are also getting zebra tomatoes. On the farm, our cherry tomatoes are thriving and we have multiple plantings that are producing all at once. The zebras, pictured below, are coming on a little ahead of most of our other heirlooms and slicing varieties but are not quite as abundant as the cherries.

    Everyone should have gotten at least some cherry tomatoes so far this season, but a lot of folks seem to be wondering where the big reds are hiding.

    I have harvested tomatoes a lot in the last several weeks and I can assure you, we are not holding out on you. Our red slicing tomato plants are heavy, some to the point of tipping over, with light green or slightly pink-ish fruit. And yet, every time I walk the rows searching for big red beauties, I seem to come up short. It feels like any day now, all of the tomatoes will decide to ripen and we will be pulling bucket loads from the fields. This, Wyatt says, is certainly a possibility.

    Earlier today, I picked Wyatt’s brain a bit about the tomato situation. Wyatt and Amy have both reminded me that although we all think of tomatoes as the quintessential summer crop, the growing season in Colorado is just not that long. The earliest we can start tomatoes out in the field is March 15th. We can only start a limited number as early as March in our hoop houses and in walls-of-water in the ground. Any earlier and we risk a killing frost which will mean literally no tomatoes later in the season. Wyatt says in past years, they have had frosts as late as June 9th and 11th, which is bad news for tomatoes and other heat-loving crops.

    Generally the height of tomato season on the Front Range is between August 15th and September 15th, sometimes extending into October. At this point in the year, it becomes a waiting game. The colder nights may trigger all of the tomatoes to ripen at once, Wyatt says, or they will come on gradually and be around for a couple of weeks or so. Only time will tell.

    In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your cherry tomatoes this week and know that we are doing our best to get you those big red beauties.

    Make sure you check out Mo’s posts on some of the more unusual veggies you are getting this week. I hope you take her advice and try something new! I know I will be.

    Have a great week,

    -Maddie

    Shishito Peppers

    Posted by Mo

    This week you have a choice of a new pepper variety we are growing, Shishito. One of the restaurants we sell to asked Wyatt to grow these peppers and boy am I glad he did. This is probably my favorite new crop this year. These are mild and so flavorful. The seeds of most peppers are bitter and you almost always discard them. But the seeds of the Shishito pepper are almost a caviar texture, creamy and succulent and very juicy. They are a thin-walled pepper, sort of like a Jimmy Nardelo if you are familiar with those. I prefer the Shishito pepper to the Jimmy.

    You can grill the Shishito or just pan sear them. I have done both and both are equally delicious.

    Just heat a pan with some olive oil in it and put your washed peppers in the hot pan.

    Sear the peppers on all sides. The peppers will puff up and some even pop open, that’s ok.

    Now you can just eat them as a side dish or snack. Eat the whole pepper, but not the stem!

    Or you can cut them up and add them to a dish like you would any roasted pepper. I made some eggs and added these to the eggs.


    Kohlrabi

    Posted by Mo

    We have some unusual vegetables this week. Next in line is kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is a member of the brassica family like cabbage, collards, and broccoli. You can eat the leaves like you would kale or collards. They are a little tough so they take a while to cook, kind of like collards. The bulb of the kohlrabi has a tough outer skin you need to peel off.

    The bulb of the kohlrabi after it’s peeled is tender and tastes like the stem of broccoli or the heart of cabbage, except it is usually sweeter than both, and almost the texture of an apple. I like to cut it up and keep it raw in the fridge to snack on. Kohlrabi is great stir fried because it keeps really crunchy even when it’s cooked.


    Leeks

    Posted by Mo

    Another choice this week are leeks. Leeks are alliums, related to onions and garlic. They are sweeter and more mild than either. You can store leeks for at least two weeks in the refrigerator. I usually cut off the green tops so they take up less room and just wrap the white bulb in plastic. Keep the root on until you use them.

    To clean the leeks cut off the green top and cut the leek in half.

    Leeks almost always have soil inside of the layers beneath the green tops because we hill up soil around the leek to make the leek develop larger bulbs.

    Just run tap water over the cut leek and rinse out the dirt. This is what you have left that is usable.

    Use your leeks like you would onions or scallions. Restaurants use leeks in tandem with other alliums to layer flavors. Maybe try that at home? People always ask if you can use the green tops for anything. You can use them in a stock, but really all the flavor is in the bulb and the tops don’t really have much flavor so I just put them in the compost.

    Fennel

    Posted by Mo


    This is one of those love/hate vegetables. Fennel has a anise/licorice flavor and texture that is sort of like celery. You can eat every part of the plant, even the seed. You can eat the bulb and fronds raw and use it like you would use celery in a salad.

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    Here is my bunch. Cleaned, broken down and ready to use.

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    The bulb is tender, as are the fronds. I wouldn’t use the stems raw, I would saute them. If you cook your fennel bulb or fronds, don’t overcook them or they will get mushy and lost in a dish.
    Fennel is very good friends with leeks. Both of those lightly sauteed make a great side dish.

    I sauteed fennel and leeks for just a couple of minutes and added some pecans and a squeeze of lemon. Boy was this good. I like food that looks the same but tastes very different, like the leeks and fennel. It sort of makes for a game in your mouth when you eat them.

    I hope you try something different this week. We have a great variety for you.

    – Mo

  • CSA Newsletter: Week 12 (August 6th, 2012)

    Hello CSA members!

    This week we hope to bring you cantaloupe, green beans, chiles OR potatoes, zucchini OR cucumbers, tomatoes OR cherry tomatoes, and basil. Large share members will also get chiles AND potatoes, kohlrabi, and a large share “grab bag” choice. Fruit share members will be getting peaches!

    In this week’s newsletter:


    Farm Stand Now Open!

    Posted by Maddie

    As you may have already heard (or seen), Red Wagon’s farm stand opened last week! Look for the big red and white striped tent in the shopping center at the corner of 95th and Arapahoe in Lafayette.

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    The stand is open from 10-7 on weekdays and 9-7 on weekends. We have some amazing goodies at the farm stand, including fresh roasted chilies, peaches and other fruit from the Western Slope, sweet corn, and lots and lots of organic Red Wagon veggies! I stopped by on Saturday and got some great stuff. I hope you check it out.

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    Fresh Tomato Salsa

    Posted by Maddie

    I had a great time sharing my farm bounty with friends this weekend. Saturday night we made Chiles Rellenos for a vegetarian visitor (more on Chiles to come from Mo), along with some fresh tomato salsa and homemade tortilla chips. I made a trip to our farmstand for a few items (jalapenos, garlic etc.) that I didn’t have in my veggie collection. It was well worth it and I definitely recommend checking out our farmstand if you haven’t already.

    *Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

    • 1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes, diced
    • 1/2 cup red onion (or any onion), diced
    • 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (removing the seeds and veins will get rid of a lot of the heat, keep them if you like it spicy)
    • 1 clove garlic, minced
    • 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
    • 2-6 teaspoons lime juice
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
    • Pinch black pepper

    Start by dicing your tomatoes. I had some beautiful heirlooms, including a Green Giant from the Friday harvest.

    Put your diced tomatoes in a colander set over a medium-sized bowl, so the juices can drain while you chop everything else. You can either leave your salsa chunky or run it through your blender for a smooth version. If you are planning on blending your salsa (which I did), don’t worry about chopping things too perfectly.

    Next, chop your garlic, jalapeno, cilantro and onion and layer on top of your tomatoes in the colander.

    I used about half of a Red Wagon jalapeno with the seeds and veins. You can either remove the seeds and veins for a little less heat, or leave them in to turn it up a notch. Either way, be forewarned, our jalapenos definitely pack a punch.

    Once you think enough juice has drained from your tomatoes (15 minutes was fine for me), you can empty the bowl and add your chunky vegetables. Next add your lime juice, salt, cumin, and pepper and blend until smooth or leave it chunky. This is what mine looked like when it was finished.

    Homemade Tortilla Chips

    Just for fun, we made our own tortilla chips to go with the salsa. I realize this doesn’t involve any of your CSA veggies, but it’s really fun and tasty!

    Heat some oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. The exact temperature isn’t that important, just make sure it isn’t going to burn your chips. While your oil is heating up, take some nice corn tortillas and cut them into quarters.

    Fry them in oil, flipping a few times, until they are bubbly and a nice golden brown. Don’t overcrowd your skillet.

    Remove the chips from the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with a little salt, and voila! Happy munching.



    Tomatoes Being Planted

    Posted by Mo

    You are getting either cherry tomatoes or slicing tomatoes in your share this week. Cherry tomatoes mature a week or so sooner than the slicers so we mostly have cherries right now.

    I took this picture on May 15th. Javier, Sylvester and I think that is Robert are planting the tomatoes that were harvested for you today.

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    We start our tomatoes in a greenhouse and plant them out very young.

    We use a nifty machine called a ‘waterwheel’ to transplant our greenhouse starts.

    Two people sit on the back of the waterwheel and the tractor pulls them along the row to be planted. The tractor has already been down that row and put down red or black plastic mulch and drip tape.

    This is the back of the waterwheel. Two people sit next to each other and the plants are in trays in easy reach. See the wheel between the two seats? That is the part of the machine that punches the holes in the plastic. As the tractor moves down the row pulling the water wheel, it punches holes in the plastic and waters at the same time.

    This is the part of the machine that punches the hole in the plastic.

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    There they go.

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    Roasted Chilies

    Posted by Mo

    You are getting roasted chilies as a choice today. These will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. If you can’t use them right away they freeze beautifully. We will offer roasted chilies a few more times so make sure you save some in your freezer for winter. Also, if you are a real chili head our Farm Stand is open at 95th and Arapahoe. You can get more chilies there, or anything else you are getting in your CSA share if you need more of something.
    Red Wagon is licensed to sell roasted chilies by Boulder County Health Department, so rest assured, the chilies you are getting are handled safely for you.

    CSA members often ask how and where we roast our chilies. I thought it might be easier to show you than tell you so I went to the Farm Stand this morning and took a picture. They weren’t roasting when I was there but I think you can figure out how it happens buy seeing a picture of the roaster.

    Pretty fancy huh? Amy, did you just laugh out loud seeing a picture of our chili roaster? There it is, in all its glory.
    Ta-dah.

    Preparing a roasted chili 101.

    Here is a before roasting and after roasting picture of a chili.

    You will want to remove the charred skin because it tastes like cellophane.

    Then remove the veins and seeds. Use the back of your knife to scrape the seeds and veins out.

    Now go make yourself a quesadilla with all the good vegetables we grew for you.

    Have a great week,
    – Mo