Such a delightful and delicious week we’ve had here on the farm. The cooler temperatures we enjoyed early in the week gave us all a new lease on life in the fields. After months of sweltery heat it was hard to imagine finding the energy to clear the gardens of summer’s debris and to fill them up with fresh seedlings. But clear we did, like crazy while the days were easy. And now we’ve got tiny little plants lined up in dark brown dirt to give us something tidy and inspiring to look at while we continue to pick the hot season crops. Of course the thing that always inspires us the most around here is eating. And we had a great week for that – many thanks to the members and neighbors who stopped by to bring us dishes and recipes to try. We’ve passed a number of those on to you below. Here’s what’s in the box:

Tomatoes – Oh, we have never had such a crop as this. To help you make the best of the different varieties, we’ve packed them up in thematic groups. The oval tomatoes are all paste varieties – with less juice and more meat. These are what you want to use to make sauces, because you’ll have to cook them down less. The little round minis are best for eating whole or halving in a salad. The large round varieties are slicers – great to put on burgers.
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Potatoes – These new potatoes are washed and not cured – keep in the fridge and eat within a few weeks. These Adirondack Reds and All Blues are colored all the way through and are nice firm waxy varieties perfect for salads.
Baby Kale – Such yummy flavor and such tender leaves! I’ve been munching on these in the field raw, which is usually pretty tough with kale. Use for kale chips, a salad, instead of lettuce on your burger, or saute lightly.
Garlic
Okra
String Beans – Mostly purples, these beans will turn green when you cook them. Disappointing, we agree.
Basil – Yippee yippee yippee! Some great recipes below.
Herbs Bouquet: Oregano, Parsley, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Balm, Garlic Chive Blossoms
Flower Bouquet: This bouquet looks like fall! Broom Corn with Sunflowers.

Blender Gazpacho
from Martha Stewart Living, Aug 2005

1 C small pieces of day-old bread, rustic is best, crust removed
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into 1-in pieces plus eight thin rounds for garnish
1 1/2 C coarsely chopped jarred roasted red bell peppers
2 lbs beefsteak tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tsp coarse salt, pepper

Stir together bread, garlic and vinegar and 3/4 cup cold water in a medium bowl. Process cucumber, peppers and bread mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree half the tomatoes in the blender, and transfer to the bowl with cucumbers. Puree remaining tomatoes, slowly adding oil while blender is running. Transfer to the bowl, whisk to combine, season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, then divide among 4 bowls and garnish each with 2 cucumber rounds.

Cucumber-Potato Soup
This is a version of vishyssoise that substitutes cukes for leeks, which is perfect for us since this year the leeks succumbed to weed pressure in early spring. Plus, cucumbers are much better in a cold soup. From Martha Stewart Living this month.

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
1 russet potato (but your Red Pontiac will do!), peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and coarsely chopped
coarse salt and fresh pepper
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
3/4 C buttermilk
3 TBSP chopped fresh dill (sorry, ours is finished!)

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until soft, add potato and cook until almost tender. Add cucumbers and season with pepper, cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add stock, cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until ingredients are all tender, about 12 minutes. Working in batches, puree mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. Add buttermilk, dill and 3/4 tsp salt. Chill and serve in 4 glasses, each garnished with a cucumber spear.

Zucchini Chips
Our dehydrator runs non-stop this time of year, full of plum tomatoes and summer squash. But a neighbor friend gave me the great idea this week to season zucchini rounds with salt, pepper and garlic before dehydrating – creating awesome chips to eat on the go! Thanks, Sheela “Party in an Apron” Robertson!

Basil Ice Cream
This unusual treat is a bit of work, but soooo worth it if you like basil. From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Farm Members Emily and Francis made this and brought some out to the farm last weekend – I LOVED it! Been thinking of it ever since. Let me know what you think…

1 C packed basil leaves
3/4 C sugar
2 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1 lemon

Using a blender or food processor, grind the basil leaves with the sugar and 1 c of the cream until the leaves are ground as fine as possible. Pour about half the basil mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining cream. Set a mesh strainer on top. Warm the other half of the basil mixture in a medium saucepan along with the milk and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream Zest the lemon directly into the custard, then stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in an ice cream maker. Goes great with strawberry shortcake or strawberries in lemon syrup.

Strawberries in Lemon Syrup
Combine 1 C water with 1/4 C sugar with the grated zest of 1 lemon in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl, and chill. Hull and quarter 1 lb strawberries (or use frozen). Add them to the lemon syrup and let macerate in the fridge for 1 to 4 hours. To serve, spoon the strawberries and some lemon syrup into shallow bowls and float a scoop of basil ice cream in the center.

Basil Chocolate Cake
Thanks for Farm Member Pat for passing along this intriguing recipe. From forkfulofnews.com.

1 C sugar
1 C packed fresh basil leaves
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 C flour
1/2 C hot water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Place the sugar and basil in a food processor and chop until fine and moist-looking. In a large bowl whisk the melted butter, cocoa powder and basil until well-blended. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until blended and smooth. Stir in the baking soda, vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour to the bowl, stirring just until blended (don’t over-stir). Add hot water to the mixture, stirring just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons sour cream
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl whisk the powdered sugar and cocoa powder, set aside. In a separate medium bowl beat the sour cream and melted chocolate with an electric mixer on low until blended. Gradually add sugar mixture to sour cream mixture, beating at low speed until well-blended. Add vanilla and beat well for 1 minute until very smooth. Spread over cooled cake and garnish with extra basil leaves.

Thanks for Farm Member Fritz for turning us on to the website for Edible Madison. There are tons of good recipes there, and lots of great timely info about our local food. She recommends the Ratatouille recipe.