Recipe: Roasted Salsa

Dry roasting all the ingredients in this salsa gives it a lovely deep and smoky flavor. The hot peppers in this week's box are a medium heat cayenne pepper, so you can add as much or as little as you'd like depending on your preferred level of spiciness. The seeds and ribs of the hot pepper have the most heat so you can leave these out if you would rather make a very mild salsa. Always make sure you wear gloves of some kind when handling hot peppers in the kitchen or you will live to regret it.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb tomatoes (preferably paste tomatoes such as Roma or plum)
- 3 large sweet peppers
- 1-3 hot peppers (depending on spiciness preference)
- 1 medium onion
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 1-2 tsp lemon juice
- salt to taste

Steps:
1) Slice tomatoes in half and destem. Slice sweet peppers in half and clean out seeds. Peel and slice onions in half. Lay tomatoes and sweet peppers skin side up and onions cut side up on a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan. Don't cut the hot peppers, just place on the pan. Place garlic bulb unpeeled and uncut on pan.

2) Roast veggies under broiler until peppers and tomatoes have blackened, blistered skins.

3) Put sweet and hot peppers in a bowl and cover with a pot lid or plate for at least 10 minutes. Leave onions, garlic and tomatoes on the pan until cool enough to handle.

4) Peel and discard tomato skins. Peel and discard sweet pepper skins. Peel garlic (or you may be able to squeeze softened garlic directly out of peel if well roasted). Separate onion rings and toss into a food processor. Add tomatoes, sweet peppers and garlic to food processor as well. Save the hot peppers for last and WEAR GLOVES while you peel the skins.

5) Pulse food processor until salsa is chunky but well combined.

6) Add 1 tsp of lemon juice and taste. Add another tsp is more acidity is needed. Salt to taste. Refrigerate and serve cold.

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Root Cellar Soup

On this frigid Saturday evening deep into February, I'm warming us up with a soup made from some of our stored fall harvest veggies. Into chicken stock seasoned with tamari, sesame oil and kombu seaweed I tossed some lentils, potatoes, beets, carrots, winter radishes and garlic. I could have added some onions too, but the kids always pick them out with wrinkled noses, so I decided to pass for tonight and challenge them with onions another time. All but the lentils came from our basement storage and all were fresh and ready to be used.

Yum! I hope everyone out there is staying warm and dreaming of spring!

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Recipe: Delicata Squash with Red Sauce

Delicata is the delightfully named winter squash known for it's thin, edible skin and small size. It has a mildly nutty taste and pairs well with just about anything. It's texture resembles one of the drier winter squashes like Kabocha or acorn, so I like to make a sauce to go with it and add some extra moisture and flavor.

Ingredients:
- 2 delicata squash
- 1 sweet pepper
- 1 medium size tomato
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- olive oil

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 450F. Slice delicata squash lengthwise. Scoop out seeds with a spoon and discard. If you like, you can roast and eat them like pumpkin seeds.

2) Cut squash into 1/2 inch, "C" shaped slices.

3) Arrange squash slices on an oiled cookie sheet. Drizzle more oil over top. Don't skimp on the oil as that will help keep the squash from drying out as it roasts. Turn slices over once or twice until evenly browned, about 30 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, coarsely chop sweet peppers and tomatoes and toss into a blender. Puree along with garlic and salt. You may need to add a splash of water to the blender to get it going smoothly.

5) Put puree in a small pot and bring to boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer until it's reduced to the the consistency of a thin tomato sauce, about 20 minutes.

6) Place fully roasted squash slices in a wide, shallow serving bowl and pour finished red sauce over top. Serve immediately.

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Recipe: Tomato Lentil Curry

Heirloom tomatoes in-season are incredibly juicy, having a much higher water content than the kind of tomatoes available off-season that have traveled long distances and were picked when still green. That juiciness certainly makes them a joy to eat raw, but it can also be an element of cooking with heirloom varieties. In this recipe I used the water in my tomatoes to cook lentils, but I've also cooked beans, stews and pasta this way. The tomatoes add an amazing flavour of high summer to any slow cooking one pot meal. It also a good way of using tomatoes when you have an abundance and a few have split skins or look like they need to be used right away.

Ingredients:

- 3-4 large or 6-8 small tomatoes
- 1 cup green lentils
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp cinammon
- 3 tbsp butter or coconut oil
- 1 cup beans, chopped
- 2-4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

Steps:

1) Put tomatoes in a pot with a splash of water and cook on on high until tomatoes are sweating and bursting, about 3-5 minutes.