Tomatoes!

The 2010 growing season has seen an avalanche of tomatoes. I no longer take August for granted after last year's late blight disaster. Late blight is an infectious disease worstened by cool, wet weather. Last year it devastated many tomato and potato crops across the northeastern United States. UMassAmherst has some helpful info and updates if you'd like to learn more about late blight.

But after a wet spring, New
England has experienced lots
of dry heat this year, perfect
for ripening a bumper crop
of delicious juicy fruits. We
have been fortunate to
receive many pounds of
tomatoes every week from
Stearns Farm CSA, and are
currently enjoying picking
4 quarts per week of a variety
of cherry tomatoes!

It is no secret that tomatoes
are my favourite food. Eaten
raw, transformed into sauce,
or added to a plethora of
dishes, tomatoes add flavour
in any season. I have been
busy making different types
of sauce, and freezing chopped
tomatoes to use in soups and
over pastas during the
autumn and winter.

I think my all-time fave
recipe is my tomato salad.
But I'll add tomatoes to just
about anything...sliced or
chopped on pizza, baked atop
a tofu quiche, covering a
corn thin slathered with
homemade hummus, baked
with breadcrumbs, stuffed
with tiny pasta & onions, on
a tart, sun-dried and added
to pesto...the list goes on.

And sauce! Even if you just
cook down a basic red sauce,
you can add to it later. Some
of my favourite additions are
MORE chopped fresh heirloom
tomatoes, fresh herbs, sauteed
onions, roasted garlic, red
wine & portobello mushrooms.
Oh the possibilities!

So check out your local farm,
farmer's market, or grocer. Get yourself a variety of different ripe tomatoes. And get cooking! There are so many flavours, shapes & colours of tomatoes to enjoy. Check out other blogger posts about local flavours during the Loving Local blogathon! Or become a fan of their Facebook page here. Another great resource is the Mass Farmer's Markets Facebook page, or their website here, which can help you find your closest farmer's market, in addition to local product information and recipes!

Here are some of the tomato plants around Stearns Farm as I picked a couple of quarts two days ago...

Pasta Quattro

Winter is when we eat the most pasta. Probably too much! But here are a few tasty dishes we enjoy again and again...

Pasta w/Squash & Sage
Mushrooms

mushrooms:
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine
8-10 medium mushrooms
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
4-5 dried sage leaves,
crumbled
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 kosher salt

squash sauce:
2 cups steamed squash
1/2 cup water or veg broth
1 T. olive oil
2 T. margarine
1/2 a bouillon cube
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar

Pasta or ravioli of your
choice.

This is a delicious way to
use fresh or frozen squash.
Steamed butternut squash
is fantastic for this dish!

First, peel, cube & steam
the squash. Or use frozen
thawed squash.

Next, wash the mushrooms.
Slice fairly thin. Heat olive oil & margarine over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Stir occasionally. After about 2-3 minutes, add the garlic and sage. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so, allowing enough space in between mushrooms for any liquid to evaporate. As mushrooms begin to brown and dry out, add cayenne pepper and lemon juice. You want the mushrooms brown, but not burned. Remove from heat and sprinkle with kosher salt. Set aside.

Start the pasta cooking while you prepare the squash sauce. Puree the squash in a food processor with 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth. You may add a bit more water if necessary to process. Heat olive oil & margarine over medium-low heat. Add the 1/2 bouillon cube and mash with fork and stir briskly to dissolve (do not allow to burn). Add squash puree. Stir. Add salt and sugar. Stir and heat through.

Drain pasta. Toss with a little margarine or olive oil. Pour squash sauce over pasta. Top with sage mushrooms.

Tomato Bac-un Pasta

1/2 box of pasta
1/2 package Smart Bacon
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine
2 cups chopped, peeled
tomatoes, drained
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Here is a super quick dinner fix.
While pasta is cooking, peel apart half a package of Lightlife Smart Bacon strips. Slice or tear into bite-sized pieces. Heat olive oil & margarine over medium-low heat. Add Smart Bacon. Cook 2-3 minutes, flipping over pieces until lightly browned and slightly crisp. Add tomatoes (canned diced tomatoes or whole peeled tomato work well here, and I save the liquid for soups). Add a sprinkle of salt and a touch of cayenne pepper. Stir and heat through. Toss with drained hot pasta.

Ratatouille Couscous

2 T. olive oil
1 eggplant, peeled, sliced
1 T. water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 zucchini or summer
squash, halved & sliced
1 onion, quartered &
sliced
8-10 mushrooms,
quartered
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 jar pasta sauce
1 box couscous (cooked according to directions)

This dish is pretty easy, but the vegetables do take a bit of time to cook properly.

Peel an eggplant, slice, and cut into strips. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add eggplant and salt, stir, and cover. Halve and slice a zucchini. Add one tablespoon of water to eggplant, stir again, cover. Quarter and slice a medium yellow or white onion. Add zucchini & onion to pot, stir, cover. Quarter the mushrooms, add to pot, cover. Chop a bell pepper into bite-sized chunks. Add bell pepper and 1/2 a jar of your favourite (or homemade) pasta sauce, cover. Cook for 5 minutes, stir, cover. Check every few minutes until vegetables are tender.
Once everything is in the pot, cook couscous in a separate small covered pot (takes only 5 minutes). Fluff couscous. Serve couscous and ladle ratatouille sauce over the top.

Lemon Spinach Pasta

1/2 box pasta
1 tsp. salt
8 oz. frozen leaf spinach
2 T. margarine
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. capers, drained
plenty of fresh black
pepper

Another easy peasy pasta dish for when you're in a hurry or don't feel like doing much cooking...

Cook 1/2 a box of pasta with 1 teaspoon salt added to the cooking water.
3 minutes before pasta is done (we like our pasta well-cooked, usually 12-14 minutes for standard shaped dry pasta, so around 10 minutes) add frozen spinach to pot and return to a boil. Drain. Toss with margarine. Add lemon juice, capers, & black pepper. Toss. Top with extra black pepper.

Chickpeas & Tomatoes

Tomatoes are my
absolute favourite
food, and they go
great with chickpeas
(garbanzo beans). So
without further ado,
my tomato salad
recipe:

Heirloom Tomato Salad

3-5 heirloom tomatoes
1 cup grapes, halved
1/2 cup peas, fresh is preferred, frozen okay
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. snipped chives

Cut tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.
Add grapes.
Add shelled peas. (If using frozen peas, rinse with warm water to thaw.)
Add lemon juice & chives. Toss gently & serve.

Tuesday:

Every lunch of Ryan's this week contained chickpeas. They are a healthy, tasty protein source plus many vitamins & minerals. I use chickpeas in lots of meals: bean salads, chili, chickpea curry, and many permutations of hummus.

Ryan's lunch: hummus & cucumber sandwich squares; carrot sticks; blanched spinach; yellow watermelon; onigiri "dice".

Meanwhile at home,
AJ & Nate had: udon
noodles; baked flax
tempeh; steamed
broccoli; yellow
watermelon.















At the farm in the afternoon, the boys had a great time playing in the Children's Garden while we picked up our share. The bean teepee is really high this year!

CSA farm share: 4 lbs heirloom tomatoes, 1 1/2 quarts cherry & Juliet tomatoes, 1 bunch fennel, 3 leeks, 1/2 peck apples, small bag of plums, 1 head lettuce, 1/3 lb arugula, bell peppers, pattypan squash, eggplant, 1/2 pint golden raspberries, 1 melon, 2 lbs potatoes. Not shown: 2 dozen stems of kale/collards/chard, herbs, flowers.

Wednesday:

Ryan's lunch: red gel cup; onigiri "web"; pasta salad; purple grapes; green beans w/soy cheese cubes and a tomato "Spiderman".

Husband's lunch: apple; cucumber slices; lettuce; chickpea croquette; bell pepper slices; cherry tomatoes; pasta salad.

Thursday:

Ryan's lunch: a cherry (pre-pitted); golden raspberries; green grapes; chickpea croquette; cucumber flowers; english muffin with "Pikachu" tofu omelette.

Husband's lunch:
hummus, lettuce &
tomato sandwich;
cherry tomatoes;
grapes; pasta
salad.






Friday:

Today is National Cheese Pizza Day (yes, I keep track of all those obscure holidays for bento theming purposes--check out various holiday websites like this one). I make an exception for hydrogenated oils on rare occasions, like birthday pizza parties, and day's like today, by keeping a Tofutti Pizza Pizzaz in the freezer; it is the best imitation cheese pizza that exists in my opinion.

Ryan's lunch: broccoli; cauliflower; baby corn; roasted chick peas; an orange slice; a Lake Champlain dark chocolate with almonds; Tofutti Pizza Pizzaz.

Ryan requested that I
include a napkin to
wipe his hands "in
case they get chocolate
on them". So I put an
oshibori (wet towel) in
his lunchbox today.