Archive for Tomato
Ratatouille
This week, because we literally had our hands full with eggplant, the challenge to creatively utilize this purple bounty continues. We walked away from the farm with not only a sizable Rosa Bianca, but also a few Long Purples (depicted above) and a Casper, which is a small, white eggplant with a very sweet flavor. None of the recipes in the weekly CSA newsletter called for such a massive amount of eggplant in one dish. And since eggplant loses its texture and firmness with each passing day, we needed to use them all up quickly.
Our saving grace was a French dish called ratatouille, originally a poor farmer’s solution to excess summer produce. Ironically, the original recipe didn’t include eggplant, but today, ratatouille is almost unrecognizable without it . Zucchini, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, and garlic were used to make the first manifestations of this dish, and luckily for us, we had all these ingredients in stock as well.
There are a variety of ways to make ratatouille but all agree on one thing: the ingredients are cooked in stages, then combined and left to stew. Slow cooking allows the flavors to interact, and the final product makes a unique contribution to any dinner table (as well as fantastic leftovers!).
Rolled Eggplant Tapas
Eggplant are practically coming out of our ears at the farm. A minor miscalculation resulted in way too many transplants this year, and recently the CSA members have been receiving more eggplant than they ever bargained for. Well, the prolific production has finally caught up to us, and we’re now faced with the same challenge as the members: what to do with so much eggplant!
Luckily, though, the weekly CSA newsletter contains several recipes. Our eyes immediately gravitated to the rolled eggplant tapas, an appetizer served in Spain. Not only did it seem like a great way to use our eggplant, but it also called for tomatoes and basil (both of which are bountiful at the farm as well). And since we both love goat cheese, how could we resist?
The variety of eggplant we had on hand is called Rosa Bianca, which you can see in the photo above. Its flavor is milder than the darker variety you’re probably used to, but it’s also sweeter and, in our opinions, tastier. We’ve been told these eggplant don’t do well at the farmers’ market because people are hesitant to cook with a lighter colored eggplant. Well, they’re missing out.
Chiles Rellenos
With how well the chiles are doing, we’ve got a constant supply of these red and green beauties in our refrigerator. It’s a good thing we love peppers and appreciate the subtle heat, because we’ve been putting chiles in just about everything we can think of (except for our morning cereal).
Our dilemma isn’t new. Latin Americans have been finding creative ways to eat their chiles for thousands of years. One of the classic ways to eat a chile is to stuff it. “Chiles rellenos,” Spanish for “stuffed chiles,” is a localized twist on what many people are familiar with as stuffed bell peppers. The biggest difference between the two is the method of preparation and, of course, the resulting flavor. We adapted a Mexican recipe that uses poblano chiles and substituted with our distinctly New Mexican Joe E. Parkers instead.
Penne and Swiss Chard with Gorgonzola Sauce
Another influx of chard challenged us to come up with not only one dish, but two: one using the actual greens, and the other using the stems. We like to separate them because of their different textures, flavors, and cooking requirements.
Our bounty of chard was accompanied by the arrival of our potted tomato plant’s harvest, so we hoped to make something that could incorporate the sharp flavor of a homegrown tomato.
Lately, our cravings have leaned towards pasta dishes, so we adapted a linguine, spinach and gorgonzola recipe from Cooking Light 2004 to suit our circumstances.
It’s been too hot to grow spinach here in the Mesilla Valley for over a month now, but Swiss chard is holding on. Not for long, though. The summer heat’s getting to be too much for the chard as well, so we might be making our last Swiss chard dishes until the fall. Let’s make the most of it while it’s here!
“Mysterious” Salsa
You can’t fully experience living in New Mexico without ever making your own salsa. Throw in some green chile, and you’re really in business!
We decided it was time to try our hand at making salsa from fresh ingredients that thrive right here in New Mexico, the chile capital of the world. The name of this salsa was inspired by the farm from which we got the main ingredient (tomatoes): Mysterious Horizons Farm. We also got our hands on some leftover tomatillos, so we decided to make a hybrid salsa–a combination of salsa verde (“green sauce”) and salsa roja (“red sauce”).
Since we both enjoy a little heat, we couldn’t resist throwing in a Serrano pepper to liven things up a bit (not for the faint of tongue!). What we got was a fresh medley of colors and flavors that reflects our landscape and captures a little heat of the New Mexico sun.
