Harmony Valley Farm: August 24, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Tomatoes

We are in the peak of summer, and it doesn’t get much better than a box full of sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, melons and watermelons! This week our focus is on tomatoes and let’s face it—there are so many different ways to enjoy tomatoes! Our feature recipe this week is one of my favorites and it’s simple, Roasted Ratatouille (See Below). I like to double this recipe and freeze it in portions. It’s a great way to preserve all of these summer flavors and it makes winter meal prep very easy. I add this into scrambled eggs, use it as the base for pizza, toss it with pasta, or serve it over steak. And in the spirit of inspiration for how to use tomatoes, I found this article entitled 80 Fresh Tomato Recipes to Make All Summer Long!

Greek Potato Salad
Photo from www.thehealthfulideas.com

Potatoes are back in the box this week, but I’m leaning towards more cool fare which is why my mind went to a cold potato salad. This Greek Potato Salad with Feta looks very tasty. Along the lines of summer salads, check out this Green Bean Salad with Toasted Almonds and Feta or this Italian Green Bean Salad.

And what are you going to do with this week’s tasty, sweet corn? Well if anyone is up for an adventure, I hope you’ll try this recipe for Mini Coconut Corn Cakes with Corn Cob Jelly. If you do try this, please post in our Facebook group, and let us know how it turns out!

Alright, I’m signing off so I can go check on things in the packing shed. I hope you have a great week, enjoy some tasty summer fare, and get ready for more summer goodness next week including colored peppers and possibly some tasty canary melons!

—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Tomatoes

by Andrea Yoder

While this isn’t the first week you’re receiving tomatoes, we thought it would be an appropriate week to bring this summer favorite to the forefront! This week we started picking tomatoes from our second field, but the first is still in strong production! While we are in the peak of tomato season, we hope to have several more weeks of tomato harvest, fingers crossed. Tomatoes are a staple crop that we rely on, not only during the height of the summer, but also as a vegetable to preserve for use throughout the winter as well. If you’re interested in putting some up for the winter, we encourage you to take a look at our Produce Plus offerings for next week. Don’t wait too long to place your order as we never know for sure how long tomato season will be!

Roma Tomatoes

We grow a variety of tomatoes but have tried to strike a balance between tomatoes that are interesting, delicious, and able to travel in a CSA box, but also ones that have good yields and disease resistance. We do our best to keep our fields healthy and productive, but in hot, humid, and rainy years disease can quickly take hold of a crop and result in a rapid end to the season. So, with these attributes in mind, we sift through the seed catalogs and narrow our selections to just a few possibilities. This year we grew four varieties of small tomatoes, two Roma varieties, twelve other varieties including gold and red slicers, Japanese pink, and a few heritage heirloom tomatoes.

Heritage Heirloom Tomatoes

Let’s take a moment to talk about these heritage heirloom varieties. Many people look to heirloom varieties for the best flavor. Unfortunately, many lack the disease resistance and yields we need. In more recent year’s seed breeders have developed a class of tomatoes they are calling “hybrid heirlooms,” or “heritage” heirloom tomatoes. These varieties have an heirloom parent that brings the look and flavor of heirloom tomatoes, but they were combined with a more reliable hybrid variety that brings a more comprehensive disease package. This is perfect for our growing conditions as we can offer you a variety of interesting colors, shapes, etc. while still growing a tomato that has excellent flavor and actually has decent production!

Marsalato Tomatoes on the vine!

Tomatoes are delicious eaten both raw and cooked. Variety can be a factor in deciding which tomatoes are better eaten raw versus those whose flavor and characteristics may be enhanced with cooking. Some varieties are more “fleshy,” meaning there is more flesh and less juice (e.g., Roma tomatoes and the ruffled red Marsalato tomatoes). These tomatoes are often better choices for cooking down to make sauce and soup as they result in a thicker finished product. If you’re serving tomatoes raw, aesthetics may come into play as well, so you’ll want to choose a mix of those pretty heritage heirlooms.

Canned Tomatoes

Tomatoes are also a popular selection to preserve for use year-round and there are a variety of ways you can preserve them. You could do something such as tomato jam or make salsa and can it. Of course, you can also can tomato juice, diced tomatoes or make tomato sauce to can or freeze. I often don’t have a lot of time during tomato season for complicated preservation, so I tend to go the route of either freezing tomatoes whole or freezing tomato puree. If you want to freeze tomatoes whole, simply wash them and cut out the core. Pop them into a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. When you thaw them, they will collapse and be juicy, but that makes them perfect for using in soups, chili, sauces, etc. You can choose to either pull the skins off before you use them, or I usually just blend them into the sauce. For my quick method frozen sauce, I just chop up any extra tomatoes I have, skins and all, and cook them down on the stovetop in a wide pan. Once they have cooked down, I cool them and puree them in the blender. Pour the puree into freezer bags and lay them flat to freeze into “pillows.” In the winter, when I have more time, I pull out the puree and turn it into spaghetti sauce, etc. If you’re interested in preserving tomatoes for use during the season, don’t think you need to have any experience or special equipment. You can start simply with the basic method I described and build up to canning or more involved methods if you wish.

Drying tomatoes is another great way to preserve tomatoes. You can do this in a dehydrator or a low heat oven. Slice the tomatoes into even thickness and lay them out in a single layer to dry. Once dried, you can store them as slices or grind them into a powder. This is a great preservation option if you are short on space.

The ideal storage temperature for tomatoes is about 50-55°F. If held at temperatures less than this for extended periods of time, tomatoes will suffer chill injury that affects the texture of the skin and flesh as well as robbing the tomato of its flavor. You may receive some tomatoes that are still a little on the green side. It’s best to ripen these on your kitchen counter at room temperature and eat them or preserve them as soon as they are ready. When you get your box home and unpack your tomatoes, we encourage you to wipe them dry of any excess moisture or condensation and then place them at room temperature where you can keep your eye on them. When they start to get soft, it’s time to prioritize eating that one!

Roasted Ratatouille

Photo from www.alexandracooks.com

Yield: 1 to 3 quarts

12 ounces eggplant, chopped into 1-inch pieces

20 ounces tomatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces

12 ounces zucchini, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 bell or Italian frying peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 medium to onion, large dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ to ½ cups olive oil

2 to 4 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large roasting pan, combine the tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, and garlic.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and 1 tsp of kosher salt. Pour over the vegetables. Toss to coat. Season with pepper.
Bake for 30 minutes, then stir well. Bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, or longer if needed until the vegetables are all very tender and the released juices are beginning to thicken. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper as desired.
Once cooked, you may either serve right away or freeze it for later use. This dish may stand alone or serve it with pasta, polenta or spooned over bread. It is also a great base layer for pizza or spooned on top of focaccia bread.

Recipe borrowed from www.alexandracooks.com.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

August 24, 2023 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Tomatoes

Cooking With This Week's Box

Vegetable Feature: Tomatoes

Roasted Ratatouille

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