Obtaining fresh, wholesome, local food is a goal of most Americans. People want to know how things are grown. They enjoy having a grower answer questions about the best use of a squash blossom, a fingerling potato, or a nasturtium blossom.
Crestwood Farms, a local grower, believes in providing customers the day-to-day produce like lettuce, tomatoes, and squash. Many more alluring vegetables such as haricot verts, zephyr squash, edible flowers are also available,
Honest, fresh local foods are in abundance this time of year and I like to share cooking ideas with customers. Here are some of my tips on how to fix Crestwood's great vegetables.
Italian flat green beans:
- Wash, remove stem ends
- Blanch in boiling water and then drain
- In a solid skillet (old cast iron is my choice) pour olive oil, press garlic
- Place green beans in skillet briefly
The hot olive oil and garlic will give the beans texture, richness. This is like eating a solid piece of red meat, (without hot red meat's harmful effects).
Tomato/arugula sauce: to make use of battered, older vegetables, I make a great sauce.
- Take any variety of tomato seconds (heirlooms, cherry, hybrid)
- Place in pot with red onion, arugula, olive oil, salt, oregano
- Simmer until the sauce becomes solid
This can be frozen, or used immediately. You can add meats to the sauce (sausage, ground beef) and use with pasta.
It's Friday before another downtown Wooster farmers market, and it's raining again. Farmers do like rain, we are thankful for it. But we sometimes find it inconvenient.
This growing season has been unusual, difficult. It was a slow season to start for most farmers because of the rain. Then we hoped for more sun. Things planted can't grow without sunshine. We have to explain to customers why we don't have things just yet. The weather governs our lives, quite simply.
A recent New Yorker article said we all must live with decisions made in a number of areas: reliance on automobiles, use of air conditioning, willingness to live the modern, convenient way. All these things tax the ability of the environment to cope. Weather patterns have changed all over the world, with tsunamis, flooding.
For farmers, it means we must plant and harvest differently. Things customers expect in July might not appear as soon. But the good news is the greens are good. So please enjoy Crestwood Farm's great lettuce, Swiss chard, Red Russian Kale. Tomatoes and squash are on the way.