Everyone loves luscious Big Lick Plums! Even Vegas the umbrella cockatoo whose favorite place is hanging out in the tree.. testing the plums to see which one tastes the best! Also you can see above Asinete decked out in his knee pads planting some fall cauliflower seedlings. And the other photo I had to document the arsenal of horsepower employed by Big Lick Farm.. what is that saying "he/she who dies with the most toys wins?" we might qualify yet!
Hopefully you have all received the invitation to the farm potluck/tour on Sunday September 6th. We hope you can all come!
In other farm news we are trying to stay afloat among the rising tide of ripe tomatoes, basil bonanza, and foot long cucumbers which seem to materialize overnight. Asinete keeps saying that we need to employ someone who can prepare meals for us while we are out working in the fields. The ugly, shameful truth is that each of you eat more of the produce we grow then we do. We cannot find the extra energy to do any food preparation when we get in... "mono meals" become the norm at our house about now... lunches and dinners of quesadillas!
Today we also wanted to include a list of local businesses that buy directly from Big Lick Farm to support us and to support our community. We wanted to tell them thank you! Please remember them as you are doing your shopping!
1. Meadowlark Welding- Cindy and Scott Phillips are our "farm angels" coming to our rescue with everything from tractor repair, pump repair to roof repair! Scott is a "jack of all trades" so if you have a special project that involves some form of welding you can give them a call. Look for them under Meadowlark Welding in the phone book.
2. The Maui Vegetarian~ Brian, Crystal and Skye serve beautiful, tasty vegan food. You can find their prepared food at the following health food stores:New Day (Roseburg), Harvest Market (Winston) and Promise in Canyonville.
3. Harvest Market~ owner Steve always buys our tomatoes for preparing food in their kitchen. Gazpacho time!
** Also we have noticed that Kathy of Harrison's Hardware (in Winston) as well as Mystic Earth (Roseburg) owner Michelle always seek us out at farmers market to buy directly from us.
We wish the list was longer..but realize more accounts will come with time.
In your CSA share this week we wanted to get the rest of the plums to you before Vegas eats them all. We hope you are loving the tomatoes! The Sungold cherry tomatoes are impossible to keep up with. At the start of the season I am desperate to find enough to fill all the baskets and now even between CSA and the market we cannot keep up! Please bring containers to pick into if you are coming to the farm potluck! Also as you may have noticed the heirloom tomatoes do not store well. They needed to be left at room temp (like all tomatoes) and eaten asap! Soft spots can be cut off if need be. We highly recommend you enjoy the heirloom tomatoes first and save the round, red hybrid (sweet cluster) ones for later as they will keep a lot longer!
Harvest This Week Will Include:
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
Mystery Variety Plums
Eggplant Mix
Heirloom Tomatoes (Cherokee Purple,Black Krim and Brandywine)
Sweet Cluster Red Tomatoes
Scallions (Green Onions)
Arugula
Radishes
French Fingerling Potatoes
Basil (surprise!)
Luscious Sweet Corn
Squash Mix (sick of summer squash yet?)
Cucumber Mix (Marketmore, Boothby Blonde, Lemon, Armenian) Most of the Armenian cukes are too long to fit in the basket so we had to cut them and wrap. If you see a long, ribbed green fruit in your basket it is the Armenian.. my favorite!
Peppers (mix of sweet Gypsy and hotter varieties)
Sugar Baby Watermelon (in full share only this week) Next week we should have enough for all the half shares! Sorry we had to cut some up and wrap to be able to fit all the other goodies into the baskets!
Recipe Ideas:
Spaghetti with arugula and cherry tomatoes~ Thank you CSA member Lily for passing this on. Lily made this dish from her arugula and cherry tomatoes last week!
(Beatrice Peltre for The Boston Globe)
July 15, 2009
Serves 4
Most people eat arugula greens (also known as rocket), which have a lemon-pepper flavor, in a salad. But this leafy vegetable is also wonderful in a pesto or to dress up a pizza or pasta. Buy it by the bunch, remove the stems, and thoroughly rinse the leaves, which can be quite sandy, in cool water. To make this pasta, cook spaghetti, and while it bubbles, saute red onion, garlic, and lime rind in olive oil, then add the spaghetti to the pan. Toss with lime juice, a dash of cayenne, chopped basil, and a few cups of arugula. The heat of the spaghetti cooks the vegetable. To serve, add sweet cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta, and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan. The peppery greens, succulent tomatoes, and slightly salty Parmesan and feta transform ordinary spaghetti into a fine summer meal.
Salt, to taste
12 ounces spaghetti
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
Grated rind and juice of 1 lime
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch of cayenne pepper
4 packed cups arugula
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped basil
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Extra Parmesan (for serving)
Extra feta (for serving)
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until it is tender but still has some bite.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, lime rind, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, 4 minutes, or until onions soften. Add cayenne pepper.
3. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and toss gently. Tip the spaghetti into the skillet. Toss again.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the arugula, lime juice, and salt. Toss gently and cover the pan for a few minutes. The heat of the spaghetti will cook the arugula. Add the tomatoes, basil, feta, and Parmesan. Toss again. Serve with more Parmesan and feta.
Beatrice Peltre
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Arugula Pesto- recipe from simplerecipes.com
Arugula Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
* 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed
* 1/2 cup of walnuts
* 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
* 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced
Method
1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.
2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.
3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
3b Mortar and pestle method (photo pictures pesto produced this way): Combine the nuts and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.
Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.
4 Mix with freshly prepared pasta of your choice. You may need to add a little bit of water or more olive oil to mix the pesto more evenly with the pasta.
Makes enough pesto sauce for an ample serving of pasta for four people.
Grilled Eggplant
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1 large eggplant
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
* 1 pinch each thyme, basil, dill, and oregano
* salt and freshly grated black pepper
Preparation:
Heat grill.
When grill is hot, slice eggplant about 1/2-inch thick. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with the oil and vinegar mixture.
Place eggplant on the hot preheated grill. Grill about 15 to 20 minutes, turning once.
While the grill is on put your scallions on there and grill them too... the best scallions i ever tasted were south of the border somewhere outside of Hermosillo.. so delicious!
Grilled Scallions
yield: Makes 4 (side dish) servings
active time: 10 min
total time: 25 min
Scallions are often treated more like a garnish than a vegetable, but they make an excellent side dish when grilled and tossed with a simple vinaigrette.
Ingredients
* 3 bunches large scallions, trimmed
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
* 1 teaspoon grainy mustard
* 1/4 teaspoon sugar
* 1 hard-boiled large egg, peeled and chopped
Preparation
Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium heat; see Grilling Procedure .
Toss scallions with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
Grill scallions, covered, turning occasionally, until wilted and tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
Whisk together remaining tablespoon oil, vinegar, mustard, and sugar in a large bowl.
Toss scallions with vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with egg.
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