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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Quiche

CSA member Sarah made this fantastic looking vegan quiche with zucchini, sweet peppers, onions and basil. We're always excited to see what tasty goodies our farm members create from the bounty of our garden. Not only is it great to share in the yumminess, but it's inspiration for me personally when I'm wondering what to make for dinner. Quiche is definitely on the menu this week. Thanks, Sarah!

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Fall Cover Crops

Late summer is the time to get fall cover crops planted. Cover crops are planted not for a harvest that will be taken away from the field, but to provide some benefit to the soil. There are many reasons to plant a cover crop: to increase organic matter in the soil, to prevent erosion over the winter, to soak up excess nutrients from the previous crop, to bring subsoil nutrients up to the surface, to break up compaction, to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere or to smother weeds and reduce weed germination. It's impossible to do all of the above at the same time, so cover cropping is usually a matter of juggling some of those objectives with the available time, weather and cover crop species.

Here I've planted a combination of white clover and tillage radish. The tillage radish is a specialized cover crop that has been selected for extremely deep taproots. It will send the taproot down through hard layers of subsoil, breaking up compaction. The plant dies when the temperature reaches -10 C, leaving a deposit of organic matter deep in the soil. As the plant decays, it will also provide a channel for surface water to better infiltrate the soil, adding to the deep water table and reducing flooding on the surface. The clover, by contrast, has a shallow, fibrous root structure that primarily adds organic matter near the surface and reduces erosion. Its main ability is to fix atmospheric nitrogen (take nitrogen gas out of the air and turn it into nitrate for the soil), which reduces the need for fertilizer inputs next year. It fits well in this spot because it can be established in the shade of the radishes, and then do most of it's growing next spring, when the weather would be too cold and wet to plant something new.

The other combination I use for fallow beds is oats and peas. Oats are in the grass family, and like so many other grasses, do their best growing in cool weather. They will add a large amount of organic matter and reduce soil erosion. They also die around -10 C, so as long as the temperature reaches that point before they set seed, they will leave the organic matter behind with no actively growing plant to incorporate in the spring. I've found that the best point to establish them is around September 1st in this climate. Too much before that and they may set seed (which is a potential weed problem, but also diverts nutrients from the plant tissue to the seeds) and too much after means that they will not be large enough by the time the real cold hits to grow well. Peas fill the nitrogen fixing niche in this combination, but unlike the clover they are killed by cold weather and use their tendrils to climb the oats so they are not growing in shade in the fall.

Finally, where I can I have interseeded clover in beds that will not be finished in time to squeeze in a full bed cover crop. The example above is crimson clover starting to come up in the cabbage bed. The clover establishes under the shade of the main crop and continues to grow after the crop is harvested. I have generally used white clover for this purpose but this year I am also trying crimson clover, which grows a little taller and fixes a bit more nitrogen.

It's tough during a busy harvest season to put aside time for cover cropping. Ultimately, the payoff in terms of building soil health from year to year and reducing the need for fertilizer make it well worth the effort.

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Recipe: Mustard Potatoes

A twist on the classic oven roasted potatoes, this recipe uses a lemony-mustard glaze to add flavor to an old standby. Pre-boiling the potatoes cubes in water with a splash of vinegar shortens the overall cooking time and produces evenly crisped potatoes with tender, fluffy insides, in other words, the perfect roasted potato. I now use this pre-boil method every time I roast potatoes - the extra step is well worth it for the delicious final results as well as the slightly faster prep time.

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs potatoes
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 L water
- 2 tbsp. vinegar

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 450 F. Bring a pot of water with vinegar to boil while you cut potatoes into roughly 1 inch cubes. Add potatoes to boiling water and vinegar and set timer for 10 minutes once the pot has started boiling again.

2) Combine mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and whisk until well mixed.

3) After 10 minutes of boiling, drain potatoes and pour mustard glaze into pot, stirring until potatoes are well coated. Lightly grease a roasting pan and place potatoes in it.

4) Roast potatoes until crisp, about 20 minutes. Don't worry if the glaze sticks to the roasting pan a little bit, just scrape it up. 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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Garden in Transition

Despite the continuing heat wave that is making September feel more like July, the garden has noticed the shorter days and the hot weather crops are slowing down. Fortunately, fall crops are stepping in. While still baby sized and immature, fall veggies are lying in wait for their chance to take over once summer has ceded control of the garden.

Filling buckets with excess tomatoes for canning.

Some summer veggies are on their last legs. Tomato vines are dying back, even as the fruit is still ripening, but we're hoping for another month of tomatoes.

Peppers and eggplants are thriving in this late summer heat, and may stick around until the frost.

Summer squash are nearly done. They continue putting out bright orange blossoms right up until the end.

Meanwhile, the fall crops are moving in and starting to come up.

Butternut squash, still tiny and attached to its flower.

It's hard to imagine when the temperature is hovering around 30 and the humidity is thick in the air, but fall is just around the corner. Are you ready?

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Eva Mae Farm