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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Recipe: Corn Relish

Corn relish is a sweet summer treat that captures the fresh taste of some of August's best offerings like corn, sweet peppers, tomatoes and sweet onions. Use it on anything that comes off the barbeque like burgers, hot dogs, steaks and grilled chicken. You can also toss a spoonful of corn relish into a simple chef's salad to liven it up a bit or mix it with rice and beans for added flavor. It's about as versatile a condiment as it gets. It will last for weeks in the fridge (if you don't devour it first), but you can also preserve it via the hot water canning method and enjoy opening up a jar of summer freshness in the deepest, darkest months of winter.

Ingredients (makes about three 500 mL jars):
- 6 ears of corn
- 1 1/2 cups white or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 sweet bell pepper
- 1 tomato
- 1/2 sweet onion
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 11/2 tsp mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin

Steps:
1) Bring a pot of water to boil and cook corn for 3 minutes. Drop the corn in large bowl of cold water after removing from heat.

2) When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off the cob. Any small, sharp knife will do the trick, but my favorite tool for this job is a corn zipper.

3) Dice tomatoes and place in a strainer over a bowl or in the sink. Sprinkle very lightly with salt to pull the water out of the tomatoes and let drain at least 10 minutes.

4) Dice peppers and onions.

5) Add vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard powder and cumin to a large pot and bring to a boil. Add corn, peppers, onions and tomatoes and simmer gently for 5 minutes.

6) Spoon corn relish into jars and make sure the veggies at the top are covered with a thin layer of liquid. There will likely be a bit of leftover liquid in the pot when you're done and you can discard this. Refrigerate relish and serve cold. Will last several weeks in the fridge.

7) For hot water bath canning pack corn relish into hot 250 mL or 500 mL canning jars and process fully submerged in water at a rolling boil for 15 minutes. Remove and allow jars to cool before storing on a shelf at room temperature. Check that the lids have fully sealed once cool. Refrigerate after opening.

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Summertime

Summer is officially here and so is the heat! The garden is soaking up the sunlight on these ultra-long days and growing fast.

In Fields 2 and 3 are potatoes, garlic, onions and various cover crops. Nearby are the two greenhouses. The old greenhouse in front is home to the tomatoes and the new greenhouse behind is still where seedlings mature before moving out to the field as transplants.

Through the roll-up sides of the old greenhouse (put up in the daytime for ventilation and put down at night for warmth) you can see the tomatoes are getting tall.

Inside view of the tomatoes growing up the string trellises.

Tomatoes!

In Field 1 are the peas, broccoli, eggplant, radishes, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, kohlrabi, beans, turnips, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, corn, carrots and beets. Most of the mid-late summer veggies are still small but growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Lettuce is one of the first late spring veggies to appear and we've been eating it for the past couple of weeks. It's so exciting to start digging into fresh garden produce after a long winter of root cellar veggies, preserves and pickles and the few things we buy at the grocery store. I'm never disappointed at the amazing taste of the food our land gives us.

Veggies aren't the only thing growing at the farm this season. Baby #3 is due to arrive in two months with all my late summer favorites like corn, peppers and zucchini.

The kids have started their own little garden in the front near the house. They check daily on the progress of the cherry tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers, peas, carrots and lettuce. There's also a small corn plot nearby.

Stay cool during these sweltering days! Visit our CSA page for info on our local pick-up options.

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Fall Greenhouse

Our greenhouse is getting close to its first birthday. Happily, we've gotten great use out of its first year. It serves multiple purposes depending on the time of the year; right now it's mainly being used to extend the growing season of late summer veggies like tomatoes, sweet peppers and eggplant.

The side vents are open in the day and closed at night in the spring and fall.

It's pretty gratifying to see such healthy looking tomatoes in the greenhouse at a time of year when the field tomatoes are dying off. The next step will be some experimentation over the winter with cold tolerant veggies and possibly another, larger greenhouse in the future.

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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: Roasted Sweet Pepper Salad

Roasting peppers under the broiler brings out a sweet earthiness that pairs wonderfully with summery basil. So that the raw onions wouldn't overtake the more delicate flavours of this salad, I soaked them in balsamic vinegar first, softening their bite and muting their pungency. Onions can be soaked in ice water to achieve a similar effect, but I find that vinegar (or anything acidic) mellows them the best. An acidic soak also seems to lessen the heartburn and other unpleasant reactions that some people have to raw onions. Give it a try!

Ingredients:
- 3 - 4 sweet peppers
- 1/2 - 1 onion
- 1 bunch of basil
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- salt

Steps:

1) Cut peppers in half and place skin side up in a shallow baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Brush with olive oil and put under the broiler.

2) Remove peppers when skins are thoroughly blackened, about 5-15 minutes, depending on how hot your broiler is.

3) Put peppers in a glass bowl and cover with a lid for about 20 minutes. The steam from the peppers will loosen the skins and make them easier to peel.

3) Meanwhile, slice onions thinly and place in a small bowl with balsamic vinegar to soak. You will need just enough vinegar to wet all the onions, about 2-4 tbsp.

5) When the peppers are cool enough to touch, peel the skins with a paring knife. Don't worry about getting every scrap of skin off so long as the blackened parts are removed.

6) Slice peeled peppers and combine with onion and basil. Add a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar from the bowl the onions soaked in. Salt to taste and serve.

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Eva Mae Farm