Recipe of the Day

Linguine with Zucchini

ingredients:

Coarse salt

1 pound linguine - I like the al dente w/flax seed whole wheat linguine from Jansen’s

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, then sliced very thinly crosswise

black olives

whole or cherry tomatoes

fresh basil & parsley

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

method:

Fill a stockpot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add coarse salt. Add pasta, stir until water returns to a boil, and cook pasta, according to package directions, until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add oil and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion and zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add olives, tomatoes, basil, parsley, and red pepper flakes; season with salt to taste.

Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Add pasta to skillet with veggies and toss to combine. Transfer to a large platter, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with parmesan; serve immediately.

(Thank you CSA member Laura Novak for this yummy recipe!)

CSA: Weekly Share

This week we've seen the tomatoes come on in full force. Our regular (field) tomatoes are now the Fabulous variety. We like these because they have the best flavor and gorgeous color, even though they are a bit more delicate that some of our other field tomatoes.
And the Heirlooms! Oh, my, we now have a plethora of heirloom tomatoes. Seems when it rains around here it certainly pours. Not only do we have plenty of our slicing varieties of heirlooms, look for the multi-selection of heirloom cherry tomatoes that we have. They are so sweet it is like eating little sugar bursts.
Don't miss some new products we've added in our cooler. Bobbi's Best Hummus comes in many different varieties. This is absolutely the best hummus we've ever tasted. Goes perfect with the italian crostinis (a cracker) we sell. And we've added a few new sizes of the Claudio Fresh Mozzarella.  We still have the 8oz buffala size which is the large dome shaped size. We also have a 4oz. ovalini size which is two smaller ovals, perfect when you can't use up a whole 8oz dome. And we also added the cherry size, which like it sounds, are small round cherry sized balls. Please note that we can only get the Claudio cheese delivered once a week on Friday afternoon (usually after 5). So we are usually out for the days our CSA's pick up their orders. So sorry about this! Please come see us on the weekend to get some of this delicious cheese.

Here's the share for the week:

8 sweet corn
1 lb. regular tomatoes
1 lb. heirloom tomatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. squash
2 cucumbers
1 garlic
2 onions
2 ea. green peppers
1 jalapeno or banana pepper
1 lb. potatoes
1 cantaloupe
1 razzberries
1 pint blackberries
1 lb. eggplant
1 bunch zinnias or sunflowers
1 sprig basil

CSA: Weekly Share

We are just getting into the "meat" of our growing season. Cantaloupes started to come in last week and now they are coming in like gang-busters! We have 3 kinds, 2 of which are heirloom varieties. The large are a more regular musk melon-type. We also have a "striper" that is delicious and then the "sugar cubes" which are the cute, teeny ones I mentioned last week. You are welcome to take a couple of the sugar cubes for one of the larger ones in your share.
Green beans are taking a break, it will be up to a week before we have them again. Eggplant made the list this week. We have 7-8 kinds, so feel free to try different ones to see what is your favorite. I think mostly it is the shape that is different on eggplants, but if anyone notices a big difference in taste, please let us know so we can tell others the difference.
Our blackberries are producing like mad this year. We put them into the green pint containers (usually we only sell the berries in 1/2 pints) to get folks to take notice and buy a larger portion. Must be time to make a blackberry-peach crisp!
By the way, although the peaches we sell come from Glen Willow Orchards in Avondale, they are outstanding right now! So sweet and juicy.
As always, enjoy your share! We look forward to seeing you at the farm.

8 sweet corn
1 lb. tomatoes
1 ea. heirloom tomato
3# squash
3 large cukes
1 garlic bulb
2 onions
1# potatoes
2 cantaloupe
1 pint blackberries
1/2 pt razzberries
1 lb. eggplant
1 bu zinnias OR
3 sunflowers

Crusty Bread with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella

This is a simple but amazingly delicious recipe passed on from our good customers, Steve and Nicole. It is easy and quick to make. Sort of like a fresh pizza on bread. 


Crusty Bread with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

(Serves 2-3)

ingredients:

5-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (can peel or not, I don't) 

3-4 garlic cloves, rough chop

handful fresh basil, rough chop

DiBruno fresh mozzarella, sliced med-thick

Fresh crusty bread, sliced thick (3/4 in)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

method:
Saute garlic in about 2 T. olive oil for 1-2 minutes on medium heat until fragrant. Add tomatoes and cook for 8-10 minutes until they release their juices and they look kind of "saucy". Add salt and pepper to taste. Top fresh tomato sauce with one layer of mozzarella slices in pan, arranging mozzarella around pan and one in middle. Turn down heat to medium low, put top on pan, and let mozzarella melt down, about 5 minutes. Slice crusty artisan-type fresh bread in thick slices. If using a baguette, slice on a diagonal so they are longer. When cheese is melted, using a spatula, scoop each clump of tomatoes and melted cheese onto a piece of bread. Top with a generous amount of fresh basil. 

(note: you will need about 2 medium or one large tomato per person. If making a larger batch, adjust garlic accordingly.)

CSA: Weekly Share

We are just starting to pick our tomatoes. This first picking was all number two's but by weeks end (or sooner) we will have ALL our own tomatoes. Keep an eye out. Plus we picked a few crates of our heirloom tomatoes which we have put on the CSA list. You all get one for this week. The eggplants have just started to be a bit substantial but we don't have enough yet for everyone to get some. (We have almost 70 members this year so the dribs and drabs are hard to put on the list.) Hopefully by next week we can add them. As I'm writing this our pickers just brought cantaloupe so I'm adding that to the list!  The little ones are extremely tasty, if there are any left I'd suggest trying those. They almost taste like fake cantaloupe flavor they are so good! Oh, if they pick raspberries, we will be adding those, but sometimes the rain is really hard on them.
Enjoy!

6 corn
1lb. or 1 quart (small) #2 tomatoes
1 each heirloom tomato
1 garlic
3 onions
2# squash
3 large cukes (or 6 small or a mix)
1# green beans
2# potatoes
2 blackberries
1 cantaloupe
1 bu. zinnias OR
3 sunflowers

The Glory of Sunflowers!

The drama of a sunflower is unmatched by just about any other bloom. And this year they are LOVING the heat and dry conditions at the farm. I don't know about any one else, but they make me smile. There is something happy about sunflowers!

CSA: Weekly Share

Everything is growing like mad right now. We are quickly rushing into The Season! We even picked 2 boxes of tomatoes on Monday. Probably will have a few every other day and by next week, we hope to have all of ours for sale. Heirlooms won't be ready for quite a few more weeks, for those of you who are waiting with baited breath for them. But the first taste of our field tomatoes yesterday was quite a treat!. The Lancaster and Jersey grown ones we've had have been very delicious, but we all know the ones out of our fields are simply the best!
As far as corn goes, we just finished our first white corn patch yesterday and will be picking plenty of Bi-color this week. We will have some white corn mid-week, it looks like now.

Weekly Share:
6 bi-color corn
2# squash
3 cukes
1 garlic
1 onion
1# green beans
1 lb. potatoes
1 pint razzberries
1 bag lettuce
1 bunch beets
1 bunch carrots
3ea green onions
3 sunflowers
1 Zinnia bunch

Recipe of the Day

Sliced Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella with Basil

ingredients:

2 large tomatoes -sliced about 1/4” thick

One package of Claudio or DiBruno fresh mozzarella -sliced to match tomatoes

Handful of fresh basil - amount to taste, chop rough

Extra virgin olive oil 

Claudio 25 yr. Balsamic (can use regular balsamic vinegar)

Salt and pepper

method:

Layer alternating tomatoes and mozzarella fanning out across a plate. Lightly salt and pepper. Top with basil, tucking some under the slices of tomato and mozzarella. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Then, lightly, to taste, drizzle balsamic across top.  Serve right away. (If you make this ahead of time, wait until you are about to serve to add oil and balsamic.)

Serves 2-3.