Two months ago, I joined Mariquita Farm's CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture) program. Community Sustainable Agriculture is a direct partnership between the consumer and the farmer. The consumer buys a 'share' of the farm at the beginning of a growing season. The farmer or collaboration of farmers grows organic vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs-whatever they grow on their farm. You can pick up your produce every week from local pickup points, which are central to various neighborhoods, reducing the long-distance trucking involved in produce delivery. Here's what my haul looked like last week:
Aren't these veggies just so beautiful???? I wish I had taken pictures of my earlier baskets! I'm planning making a mean butternut squash soup or mash as the weather gets cooler. By the way, that weird looking pink vegetable on the right hand side of the basket is a watermelon radish. I didn't really want to cook it, so we just shredded it, added a little salt and black pepper, and added it to salad. Delicious!
Notice the tomatoes? They're actually the last of my tomato-picking frenzy in September. I dragged DK out at 8am on Saturday morning to go pick tomatoes at a U-Pick Day at Mariquita Farms in Morgan Hill. Yes, he thought I was crazy. But I think he had a pretty good time, as proved by the full baskets, one huge tub, and dirty fingernails for at least a day afterwards. I wish I had taken pictures, but suffice to say, 15 pounds of beefsteak, Early Girl, and San Marzano tomatoes came back to San Jose.
At first, it was a case of...how are we going to eat all of these tomatoes before they go bad? Luckily there are 4 tomato lovers in our current household, so it wasn't too much of a problem! Here's how we ate 15 lbs of tomatoes in one month:
1) giving bags to friends! "Come here, little girl...you want some nice, firm, juicy tomatoes???"
2) Eating them like apples.................
3)Making a simple caprese salad by slicing up the beefsteaks or Early Girls, drizzling with good quality olive oil, slapping on some mozzarella and fresh basil and liberally sprinkling the whole shebang with sea salt and black pepper.......it's to die for!!
3) Making tomato soup- Slice up a few tomatoes and cook them down until they are soft. Saute a few onions and garlic, add the tomatoes and a cup or so of vegetable broth or water. When merrily bubbling away, add whipping cream (I use fat free half and half) and use an immersion blender to whiz it all together. Season with salt, pepper, cilantro, what have you. Float a lil bit of olive oil on top or seasoned croutons. (Overachiever that I am, I like making my own from sour dough bread sprinkled with rosemary).
4) Slice them up for salads.
5) Slice them up over cooked pasta with a whole mess of Parmesan cheese and olive oil.
6) Using them for the gravy when making chole.
My CSA deliveries are finished for the year (boo!), but I'm totally looking forward to starting up again in the spring. In the meantime, I've got the new fall issues of Gourmet and Bon Appetit to plunder for vegetable ideas!!
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