Week Seven: Summer's bounty

We're looking at another great week here at the CFK with amazing vegetables simply pouring in from the farm. This is Blair's last week cooking with us, and we'll certainly be missing her and wishing her luck as she begins to work full time at the Greening of Detroit. We hope she'll be back as a pickling consultant later in the summer, though.

It's been a good week out at the Farm. We had a busy day on Tuesday harvesting green beans and parsley, weeding Brussels sprouts and carrots, and transplanting baby lettuce. The carrot weeding was tough because it's important not to disturb the plants too much in this hot, dry weather, so we had to leave some weeds in place--not very rewarding, actually! The Brussels sprouts job was much more satisfying. Wednesday was a very relaxed harvest day. We arrived early, but worked efficiently and finished all the harvesting quite early. But don't think this means we didn't get much food, because on the contrary it's a huge harvest.

Here we go:
Green beans - 1 lb
Carrots - 1 bunch
Radishes - 2
Basil - 2 tips
Tomatoes - the first two!
Swiss chard - 1/2 lb
Kale - 1/2 lb
Beets - 1 bunch
Garlic - 1 bulb
Cabbage - 1 head
Summer squash - 4 (!)
Arugula -1 bunch
Parsley - 1 bunch

I'm really excited about this week's menu:
Italian Zucchini Pie from Simply in Season p. 134. The cookbook claims that this is one of the best zucchini recipes ever, and after making it for dinner last night, I had to put it on the menu. Yum!
Sweet and Sour Cabbage with Beet Greens, Apples, and Raisins from Greens, Glorious Greens p. 69. This beautiful dish was a hit last year and I've been waiting to get some cabbage in this year to make it again.
Grated Raw Beet Salad from Farmer John's Cookbook p. 59 Another favorite from last year--tasty and unusual.
Pure July Soup from Greens, Glorious Greens p. 86 This soup recipe basically called for everything we have this week, so I have to make it, right? It looks really tasty, so I hope you'll enjoy it.
Spicy Crunchy Salad with Arugula and radishes and some grated carrots
We'll also be sending home the first taste of summer in the form of tomatoes and green beans for you to enjoy fresh. Mmmm.

See you Friday! Don't get stuck in Art Fair traffic!
peace
Mary

Photo explanations: 1. Beautiful radishes at distribution time in the barn. 2. Colorful beets, carrots, and parsley ready to be made into last week's beet-and-carrot burgers 3. My dinner table with Italian Zucchini Pie 4. Blair grating carrots in the trusty food processor.