Blue Gate Farm News – Volume VII, Number 7 – July 15, 2008

In this week’s box:

Beans: Mixed- Carson (yellow) and Empress (green)

Garlic: Northern White hardneck

Baby Turnips: Hakurei (white) and Purple Top (white and purple)

Broccoli: Pac Man florets

Calendula Bouquet

Cucumber: Lemon (round, yellow)

Peas: Sugar Snap (round pod), Snow (flat pod) or Shell (inedible pod, bag is labeled)

Zucchini: Eight Ball (green, round), Sebring (yellow) or Patty Pan

For those with the Egg option: one dozen free-range eggs (assorted colors)

For those with the Cheese option: basil feta and cracked black pepper chevre

For those with the Herb option: Dill, Thyme, Lemon Balm

Featured Recipe(s) (see below): Garlic Roasted Green Beans

Roasted Garlic Hummus

Rain this week: 05. ” (from 7/8 - 7/14)

What’s up on the farm?

It was such a relief to put a “normal” weekly rain total in the newsletter today! The gardens are starting to dry out and we were able to walk through areas that have been untouchable for the past few weeks. Mainly this translated to weeding, weeding, and weeding! The crops that have survived the recent excesses are starting to green up a bit and look like they are thinking producing something. We continue to lose cucumbers and winter squash at an alarming rate. We will set out the new cucumber transplants later this week, but unfortunately it is too late to start more squash. We harvested our very first okra pod this week and are hopeful that many more are to follow. They are a beautiful deep burgundy color and look absolutely delicious.

The garlic harvest started yesterday. The garlic grew very well early in the season, but the continued heavy rains were starting to cause stress (for us and the garlic) and the plants were starting to die back earlier than normal. This shouldn’t effect the quality or flavor of the garlic, it just means smaller than normal sized heads. The garlic in your boxes this week looks a little rough because it hasn’t been cured, cleaned or given its final trim. We recommend that you leave the long stem and roots attached until ready to use, this will help the bulb to dry. The garlic is ready to use at any time, but please store them in a cool, well ventilated place (not the refrigerator). We like to tie our garlic stems together in a bunch and hang them to dry in our kitchen, away from the stove and a/c ducts.

The turnip crop is simply refusing to grow this summer, se we are harvesting off the remaining plants and sending them to you to enjoy. We will re-seed the crop on July 25 (the traditional fall-turnip planting day) and hope to get bigger results from that sowing. Look for turnips to return in early September. If you didn’t try the turnip and pasta recipe from June 17, we recommend that one, or just gently roast them whole with other root vegetables.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean

Garlic Roasted Beans

1 lb Haricot Vertes (or other fresh beans), washed and dried

4 tbs olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp sea salt

2 tbs seasoned rice vinegar

¼ c. sesame seeds, roasted

¼ c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss beans with 1 tbs. olive oil. Spread in single layer on baking sheet and roast 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Stir garlic and salt together, add vinegar and remaining oil. When beans are roasted, toss with dressing and top with sesame seeds and Parmesan. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Recipe Source: based on a recipe from Angela Tedesco, Turtle Farm

Roasted Garlic Hummus

2 cans garbanzo beans, or 4 cups cooked garbanzos (I use a pressure cooker, and cook them for at least 45 minutes under high pressure, with a split onion and a bay leaf....)
2 HEADS roasted garlic (wrap in foil two heads of garlic and roast when you're baking something else, then they will be ready to use!)
1/4 cup tahini (sometimes I use 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil instead)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil, or less if on fat-restricted diet
2 lemons, juiced, zest removed and chopped from one of the lemons
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
water

In food processor* add cooked or canned beans, the pulp from the roasted garlic cloves, tahini, salt, olive oil, zest from one lemon, all lemon juice, and parsley. Whirl for quite a long time, until it's very smooth. WHILE WHIRLING, add water a tablespoon at a time until it looks perfect, I often use about 3-4 tablespoons, but it depends on whether the beans were canned or cooked at home...

Recipe Source: Mariquita Farms