We’re beginning to despair for the tomatoes here at Circle M. We’ve got early blight blackening the bottom leaves, and though our tomatoes always catch this fungus from the soil, the fruits generally ripen up before the plants give up. But we need more heat if we’re going to win that race this year. Nevertheless, we’ve given you the first few ripe tomatoes, and tomatillos, which are thankfully growing like weeds. Salsa Verde is a great first taste of summer.

New Potatoes – Tiny Red Pontiacs, All Reds, All Blues and delicate French Fingerlings. Use these as un-embellished as possible to take full advantage of their flavors and textures.
Mini Red Purplette Onions with Fresh Yellow Onions – So pretty and mild.
Circle M Summer Salad Mix – We’re back in salad! Unless we have a heat wave, the rest of the summer should be great for greens. We’ve brightened this mix of lettuces up with a cheery confetti of edible flowers – calendula and batchelor’s buttons petals.
Sweet Peppers – You could have purple or green sweet peppers in your box – both the typical bell shape. Our fruits are slowly ripening up in the cool temperatures, and by the end of the summer you should have recieved many different colors of sweet peppers!
Hot Peppers – We find it odd that our hot peppers have been ripening faster than our sweet ones. Here you have two yellow hot peppers – long Hungarian hot wax are great for frying and the little Ho Chi Minhs from Southeast Asia are nice for salsa verde.
Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck Squash – We’ve given you a few big zucchinis to shred and use in bread or the great chocolate cake recipe we’ve included. If you won’t bake right away, simply shred the zucchini and freeze in 2-cup amounts in plastic containers. The rest are the perfect size to slice and sauté in olive oil.
Cauliflower and Broccoli – We honestly can’t believe these plants are still producing so well!
Cucumbers – Both the yellow Poona Keera cukes and the green Marketmores are perfectly ripe.
Carrots – Some more tasty colored carrots, but we’ve also included our “Kissing Carrots.” These crazy little twisted roots look bonkers but taste great. This is what happens to carrots when they are planted in soil that is not tilled deeply enough. We thought they were funny and made a great gardening object lesson. Till a carrot bed at least a foot deep!
Herb Bouquet: Chives, Parsley, Chocolate Mint, Celery, Sage
Cilantro – We put this in a bag by itself because it will wilt quickly. The leaves are small, but will taste great in salsa, guacamole or out Salsa Verde recipe below.
Thyme and Rosemary Sprigs – A little bit of rosemary goes a long way, and we’ve given you just enough here to make something fabulous with fresh new potatoes. Try the Potato Galette recipe we’ve included below.
Basil and Lemon Basil
Baby Swiss Chard – These are so young and tender, you can either use them as a cooking green, or chop them into your salad and enjoy raw. The stems are very pretty and tasty at this age, so don’t toss them without giving them a try, too!
Kohlrabi – If you didn’t try the Baked Kohlrabi recipe we sent along with the last box – do it now! These are the last kohlrabi of spring, and though we’ll have more later in fall, these are sooo delicious baked.
Tomatoes and Tomatillos – These little yellow Romas are the first to ripen in our garden, and you can combine them with the Green Tomatillos in a fabulous Salsa Verde. Tomatillos can be left in their husks until you want to use them, then just remove the husks and rinse the slimy coating off the fruits. These are sweeter and firmer than tomatoes, and best used in recipes rather than eaten raw. See below!
Flower Bouquet – Cheery Zinnia and Cosmos are backed by ferny asparagus, striped grass and the blue-green leaves of Prairie False Indigo.

Dorothy’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake ½ cup butter ½ cup oil 1 ¾ cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla ½ cup sour milk (buttermilk, yogurt) ½ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp cloves 2 ½ cups flour ¼ cup cocao ½ tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups shredded or finely chopped zucchini ½ cup chocolate chips Cream the butter, oil, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, and add vanilla and sour milk. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients in small amounts. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips by hand. Pour into a bundt pan that’s been lightly greased and bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes.

Roasted Salsa Verde
4 Tomatillos
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 small hot peppers stemmed, seeded and chopped
salt to taste
Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin. Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes.

Here’s another great pictorial recipe for Salsa Verde.

And a fabulous Potato Galette at epicurious.com.