Week of August 26, 2018

Produce for This Last Week of August 2018

Red Leaf Lettuce,  Purple Elite Carrots,  Tomato Mix,  String Beans,  Basil,  Summer Squash

Basil Pesto

1 bunch fresh basil, leaves stripped from stems

1/2-3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 – 1/3 cup pine nuts or 2/3 cup walnuts

1 inch by 2 inch piece Romano or Parmesan cheese

5-6 cloves garlic

sea salt to taste

In a food processor, blender or Vitamix, place basil, garlic, nuts, cheese and 1/2 cup olive oil.  Process.  Add olive oil as needed to achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency.  Blend in sea salt to taste.   Pesto can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for later use.  It’s great spread on toast, mixed in pasta, or as a dip for veggies.

 The basis for organic farming revolves around the creation of healthy soil.  This is accomplished through a holistic farm management plan of livestock rotation, cover cropping, application of compost and manure, and crop rotation;  essentially, feeding the soil.  This can not only increase soil organic matter, thereby improving the soil,  but it actually can create soil.  Soil is the foundation by which all life, both plant and animal, grows.  To hit home how important it is to protect and care for the soil, it takes nature 700 years to manufacture an inch of topsoil.

Penne with Gold Squash and Ricotta

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

 2 lbs summer squash

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

3 Tbsp basil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lb penne

freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Put water on for the pasta.  Spoon ricotta onto a plate so it will warm to room temperature.  Slice squash on a diagonal 1/4 inch thick, then slice into strips.  Heat oil in a wide skillet.  Add squash and saute’ over medium high heat until golden, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and basil, toss with the squash, and turn off the heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  When the water boils. add salt and penne.  Cook until al dente, then drain and add to squash.  Toss, season with salt and pepper, then add ricotta cheese in spoonfuls.  Grate the cheese over the dish and serve.

adapted from Local Flavors

Next Week….More heirlooms,  fennel,  kale,  Thai basil

‘The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and the destination of all.  It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life.  Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”

from The Unsettling of America, by Wendell Berry