Life on the Farm (Week 38)

Well, I’m on my way to California…and frost descended upon the Midwest. Is it payback for escaping? Will there be sriracha peppers when I get home? How about winter squash? Did the fennel survive? And the cilantro? Average first frost is 29 Sept in our little hollow. Now I know what average means, truly. Mayhap this harkens a rough winter ahead? Or rather, a nice, long further-frost-free-Fall?

There’s frosting on the window pane and sorrow in your eyes" Name that tune…

The Market is now open for a herbs, tomatoes and just a little bit more.

Ordering will be open from Sunday morning until Monday 8pm. Get your orders in now so harvesting can begin specific to your requests.

Deliveries will be made Wednesday per usual to your chosen Dropsite Location .

Recipes for your consideration

Time for some tangy tomatoes served up in southern style.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Horseradish Dip

4-5 green slicer-type tomatoes
1 cup white cornmeal
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup soymilk w/ 1 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup Sour Supreme, (Tofutti brand)

1 cup sour Supreme (Tofutti brand)
¼ cup Veganaise or Nayonaise
1/4 cup horseradish (Go crazy, and grate some fresh, but watch out; fumes will knock you over…seriously! Otherwise, use the plain jar stuff.)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 tsp sea salt

1 quart corn oil, for frying

Wash, dry and slice the tomatoes into 3/8-inch thick. Transfer the tomatoes to a paper towel to drain.

Combine the cornmeal, panko bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and cayenne in a shallow bowl.

In a second shallow bowl, combine the soymilk/vinegar and ½ cup Sour Supreme.

Meanwhile, combine 1 cup Sour Supreme, Veganaise, horseradish, lemon zest, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to make the horseradish dip. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Heat the oil in a cast iron pan to 365 degrees F, medium-high heat until a sample of crumbs really sizzles.

Dip the sliced tomatoes in the buttermilk mixture and shake off any excess. Press them into the panko mixture and repeat until all the tomato slices have been coated.

Carefully lower the battered slices, in batches, into the hot oil. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on both sides, then move them to a wire rack to drain. Sprinkle them with salt while they are still hot. Arrange them on a serving platter and serve immediately with the horseradish cream.

Adapted from: Guy Fieri— Food Network

Cayenne pepper provides the “fire” and cooling cucumbers provide the “ice” in this simple but well-seasoned Southern (meets Northern) side dish.

Fire and Ice Tomatoes

5 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 medium onion, sliced
3/4 cup white vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large cucumber, sliced

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes and onion; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, water, mustard seed and cayenne. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute.

Pour over tomatoes and onion; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Add cucumber; toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with a slotted spoon.

From: Cooking.com

A little bit of chopping and then toss it in the crockpot for a slow cook overnight. Lunch for a week!

Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onions
2# tomatoes (~5-6 slicers)
1 tsp fresh thyme, stripped from stems
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or cilantro (for different taste experiences)
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/3 cup grated parmesan-flavor vegan topping (Galaxy Foods)
1 3/4 cups soymilk (unflavored) warmed
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, then add the oil, celery, carrots and onions; cook 5 to 6 minutes, or until golden. Add to slow cooker.

You can blanch to skin the tomatoes if you’d like (or not; we blend it at the end of cooking, so skins just add good fiber in my mind.) To do so, boil a pot of water, drop the whole tomato in, push it around for 30-60 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon and dunk in cold water. The skin will split and peel off easily with your hands.)

Core and chop the tomatoes, making sure to reserve the juices. Add tomatoes and juice to slow cooker. Then add vegetable broth, thyme, basil/cilantro, and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours, until the vegetables get soft and the flavors blend. Remove bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth (or you can carefully do this in small batches in a regular blender).

Melt the margarine over low heat in a large skillet and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 4 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup, then add the 1 3/4 cups of warmed soymilk and stir until smooth. Pour back into the slow cooker and stir, add the Parmesan-style topping and adjust salt and pepper, to taste.

Adapted from: Skinnytaste.com

If anyone has some good recipes for this week’s ingredients, pop on over to the website and enter them there for everyone’s benefit!.

Did You Know…

Lycopersicon
(ly-koh-PER-see-kon)
The tomato has a long history, starting with the Aztecs, who called it xitomatl (pronounced shee-TOH-mahtl or zee-toh-ma-tel). Botanists originally named it Solanum because of its close resemblance to its botanical cousin, the deadly nightshade. French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort attempted to distance it from that reputation by providing a new Latin botanical name, Lycopersicon esculentum. Linnaeus rejected the taxonomic split and new name, and moved it back to to the Solanum genus.

More recent botanical shuffling has placed it back in the Lycopersicon genus. Whether you say “to-may-to” or “to-mah-to,” once Americans were convinced tomatoes were safe to eat, they quickly rose in popularity with American gardeners and cooks. Joseph Campbell helped things along by introducing condensed tomato soup in the late 1800s; Campbell’s tomato soup remains a popular American food staple today. (But we FarmWLIGers know we can do better, don’t we!?)

The fruit (or vegetable according to an 1893 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on taxation of tomatoes) have been found to contain lycopene, a powerful natural antioxidant. Cooked tomatoes have more lycopene than raw, and are potentially valuable in preventing certain cancers and improving the skin’s ability to protect against harmful UV rays.

Subscription Box Highlights

Anticipated this week for the CSA/Subscription Boxes:

Tomatoes
Summer squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Sweet peppers
Potatoes
Onions
Celery
Cabbage
Cilantro
Parsley

Start your meal planning now!

We hope to feed you soon!

Roger and Lara

**If you’d like to stop receiving emails, just jump into your account on the website (farmwlig.locallygrown.net, My Account) and scroll to bottom; check appropriate box.