Week 14: Chunky Sauce

 This weather stirs up cravings of a steaming bowl of penne topped with a quick fresh pasta sauce-rustically chopped onions and summer squash, flecked with garlic and simmered briefly with sliced tomatoes. Here I go again, talking about weather and food...
Daily harvesting has become routine on the farm as the green beans, cucumbers, summer squash and tomatoes have come on in waves full of force. And as I haul over 20 plus pounds of squash and zucchini from the beds at the lower end of the field up to the wash shed, I realize that this is a problem I feel fortunate for having-more food than one knows what to do with. That said, if anyone would like to ever have summer squash or zucchini for freezing or preserving purposes, please let us know and we'd be happy to set some aside for you on your pick up day, or any other day for that matter.

And the abundance continues! The blackberries are stretching their branches over our fences wishing to wrap their thorny limbs all over our sun tunnel and greenhouse, so it seems more adventures of canning are in the near future. 

Here's to fresh jam and thoughts of sun atop my toast on one of those gloomy Oregon winter days.

In your shares this week:

• Fresh Onions
• Beans
• Tomatoes
• Squash and Zucchini
• Beets
• Kale
• Cucumbers
• Scallions
• Peppers
• Salad Greens
• Storage Garlic
• Tomatillos
• Turnips

Also, there have been recent thoughts brewing on the LVEF having a fall party to celebrate the season, food and community in which we've all been able to share...more details will follow soon.

 Happy Eating!

"A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves."

-Wendell Berry

Feeling boastful about our beautiful garlic

Youth Grow camper Owen posing amidst the harvest and washing

Another zucchini recipe, and a nod to Martha Stewart and her website for providing over 60 recipe ideas for summer squash and zucchini...

Zucchini Tomato Frittata

• 1tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 medium zucchini, (1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup shredded shredded white cheddar
• 3 medium (1 pound) vine ripe tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced crosswise

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, warm oil. Add onion, zucchini, and thyme; cook, covered, stirring often, until tender but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, and cook until all the liquid in the pan evaporates. Season with salt and pepper; remove skillet from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and cheese, salt, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over zucchini, gently lifting zucchini to allow eggs to coat bottom of pan. Arrange tomatoes in an overlapping pattern on top.

Return skillet to medium-low heat, and cook until sides are set yet still slightly runny on top, 15 to 20 minutes. Place in oven, and cook until the center is cooked through when tested with a wooden skewer, and the tomatoes are browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven; gently slide a heatproof spatula around the edges and underneath to loosen from skillet. Serve immediately.

from marthastewart.com