The calendar still says summer but the weather is saying FALL. How confusing! Some of you will be happy and some will be sad to see more onions and zuchinni. All of you will be happy to see TOMATOES and BASIL. Coming weeks will see leeks, eggplants and peppers. But for now, it’s supper time…

All shares contain:

• Zucchini, Summer Squash and/or Patti-pan Squash
• Cucumbers
• Fresh Onions
• TOMATOES!
• BASIL!
• New Potatoes
• Sage
  

“Full” shares also contain:

• more onions, zucchinis, spuds, basil and tomatoes

Veggie Notes

New Potatoes – Last week, you received mix of different potatoes. This week, however, you all received Carola potatoes. These have a firm (or waxy) texture and excellent, rich flavor.

Forget everything you’ve learned from the supermarket about “red potatoes”, bakers, russets and whatnot. It all comes down to one thing: texture. Potatoes — generally — come in two textures: firm and waxy or floury and dry. The firm, waxy ones (like the Carola’s in this week’s share) tend to hold their shape when cooked, making them great for soups, stews and potato salads. The dry textured spuds (which you’ll see in a couple of weeks) make quintessential baked and fried potatoes. Of course, they can all be used interchangeably, but you’ll get the “best” results when you follow these guidelines.

A quick note on potato storage. These new potatoes will keep just fine on the counter as long as they’re not exposed to light. In response to light, they’ll begin to turn green, meaning that you’ll have to peel them before eating. We just cover ours with a cloth napkin or keep them in a paper bag. If you keep them in the fridge, be sure to keep them in a plastic bag as the dry air in the refrigerator will tend to dry them out. Also, if they’re in the fridge for long, some of the starches will convert to sugars, yielding “sweet” potatoes. If this happens, just leave them out at room temp for a couple of days and they’ll go back to more or less normal.

Tomatoes – Tomato selection this week includes Jet Star, Big Beef, Moskvich, Japanese Black Trifele, Cherokee Purple, Valencia, Black Prince and Green Zebra. Most of them are picked “dead ripe”, but a few may need a few days on the counter to finish fully ripening. Note that some of them will have green shoulders even when fully ripe, so don’t use that as an indicator. Generally, we just gently — VERY gently — squeeze the ‘maters to see if they’re ripe. Unripe fruit will be firm, while ripe fruit will yield — if just a little. Also note that the Green Zebra tomatoes are green when they’re ripe. The trick for these is that the will have green stripes over a yellowish background when they’re ripe; when unripe, the background is still light green.

Basil – Hey, it’s basil! What more can I say? Just this: we don’t wash basil before packing it because basil is very prone to molding when it’s wet for long periods of time. Just rinse it before using. Also, do not store it in the refrigerator as the very cold temperatures of the fridge will speckled the leaves with unsightly brown spots.

Fresh Onions – These are likely to be the last onions we see in the share for a few weeks. Although they’re still great to eat when fresh and green, these should have by now bulked up to be 3-4″ across. As onions mature, the tops naturally die back and — indeed — we’re starting to see that. This signals to us that we should pull the onions and ready them for storage. Until we do this, we’ll keep them out of the share.

Sage – Fresh herbs are a great way to give food flavor without resorting to more salt or fat. Sage tends to be associated with anything that’s roasted and/or sweet: winter squash, potatoes and such. See below for a recipe for sage pesto.

Recipe Ideas

Idea #1:
Basil pesto. There should be enough basil in the share this week for pesto. Recipes abound and should be easy to find. Our only advice would be to add a little bit of butter and to toast the pine nuts.

Idea #2:
Caprese salad. This is the classic tomato/basil/mozerella salad. Slice fresh tomatoes and serve with basil leaves (whole or sliced) and fresh mozerella. Fresh mozerella is not the kind that comes in the block, rather it tends to come in rounded forms and usually in small balls in a brine. If you don’t have mozerella, fresh feta (such as that available from Kennebec Cheesery at the Waterville Farmers Market) works really well. Optionally, you can drizzle the whole thing with a little balsamic vinegar.

Idea #3:
Sage Pesto
I’m cheating a little bit here. I haven’t actually made this recipe, but I’ve heard from a number of people that really enjoy sage pesto. So, give it a shot and let me know what you think. This recipe comes from Epicurious.

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3/4 oz) plus additional for serving
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a medium or large skillet, over low or medium heat, toast walnuts, tossing frequently to avoid scorching, until fragrant. Blend parsley, sage, and garlic with salt in a food processor until finely chopped. Add walnuts and pulse until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a steady stream. Turn off motor, then add 1/3 cup cheese and pepper and pulse to combine.

Reserve 1 cup cooking water from pasta, then drain pasta in a colander. Thin pesto with reserved cooking water in a serving bowl, then add pasta and toss to combine. Sprinkle with cheese before serving.

As always, we welcome your feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or problems.

We hope you enjoy the share!