In Kim's Kitchen

With their beautiful blue skin and green-and-orange flesh, Sweetie Melons provide a great summer treat. No recipe needed here, just slice ‘em and eat ‘em. The flesh ranges from slightly crisp to smooth and silky, but the flavor is always just great. For the second year in a row, this former Rock Spring Farm cornerstone has had some pretty serious disease issues that we are working hard to deal with, so we are grateful for even this limited harvest.

We mudded out the carrots this week, since we didn’t have much choice. What a great crop! I don’t think we’ve ever had such nice, uniformly-large carrots. We’ve switched over to bulk, instead of bunched, because the leaves are looking a little bit ratty now, and it’s much faster to harvest and wash the bulk carrots.

The first of our “fall” Broccoli came in this week, pushed along by the heat and the rain. Personally, I don’t care for raw broccoli, but I love it lightly cooked. I think broccoli gets ruined by overcooking more than any other vegetables. The stems take a little longer to cook than the florets, so start them cooking first, and when they’ve gone crisp-tender, add in the florets. We came up a little bit short on both the Broccoli and the Sweet Red Peppers, so in the CSA, some folks got one and some folks got the other. Next week’s harvest looks much fuller for both of these crops.

The first of our storage Yellow Onions are finally cured and cleaned. These are your standard old yellow onion, and you can use them anywhere you would use any onion. It feels kind of weird to grow a crop that’s just plain normal, but I guess it’s bound to happen sooner or later.

Do I need to say anything about Sungold Cherry Tomatoes? On Sunday, I sliced a pint of these in half, laid them cut side up in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, salt, and thyme, and roasted them away from the heat on the grill until they were shriveled and delicious. Of course, I have a greenhouse full, and most people never even get their Sungolds home with them.

Italian Parsley just makes you a darned good cook. Throw a little bit in everything and you can’t go wrong.

Our seedless, skinless, and better than your average Dutch Greenhouse Cucumbers have been looking a little bit funny lately, but the flavor is still great. On the way to Montana, Kim broke off pieces of these and handed them to the teenagers, who thought they were just fantastic. She figures they wouldn’t have eaten nearly so many if they were neatly sliced and salted.

Like broccoli, French Petite Green Beans are best cooked just very lightly. We bought a grill basket and when you grill these little guys, you’re pretty much eating first class.

Pasta with Charred Green Beans

1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 pound green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths
2 shallots, minced or 1small onion minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pound penne pasta
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Bring water to boil for pasta. In skillet toast walnuts over high heat, about 5 minutes. Cool on a plate. Add one teaspoon of oil to the skillet along with the beans and cook over high heat, stirring, until tender and blackened in spots. About 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and add onion, garlic, summer savory or parsley and cook for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper. Cook pasta until al dente. Add the pasta to the skillet and toss with the green beans, stir in one cup of the pasta water. Add the cheese, walnuts and the remaining oil toss and serve.

Tabouleh by Kim

1 cup bulgur wheat
1-3/4 boiling water
1/4 cup olive oil
14 oz can cooked garbanzo beans
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup green beans in 1-inch pieces
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
1/3 cup chopped parsley

Pour boiling water over bulgur wheat; cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Fluff with a fork, stir in remaining ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.

Salad Mix harvest was a real challenge this week, since the crop spent some time submerged by the heavy rains and emerged covered in plant debris from the overland water flow. But our great pickers and packers worked hard to get them clean, and I think it shows. Still, I would suggest rinsing and drying this mix again, to get the last of the plant debris and little black weed seeds off. By the way, the little black weed seeds come from pigweed, the wild ancestor of amaranth. So you could just add dressing and enjoy the little bit of extra protein.

And, of course, Round Red Tomatoes from our greenhouses continue to produce nicely. I think that sliced tomatoes served with fresh mozzarella is just about as good as it gets.

Roasted Trout on a Bed of Summer Vegetables

We like trout, but any fish fillet can be used here. Or skip the fillet, and just serve the vegetables.

3 zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
3 medium tomatoes, 1/4 inch slices
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cilantro or parsley, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds fresh trout fillets

Preheat oven to 450. Spread on the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan 2 tablespoons olive oil, followed by the onions, eggplant, and tomaotes. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the top 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast, until the tomatoes are beginning to bubble, 10 to 15 minutes. Place the trout on top of the vegetables, brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle the top with the cilantro or parsley. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, or until fish is done.