A Minestrone for Fall

While it is foggy in Ventura, you might enjoy a Minestrone. You might not think you like minestrone. This soup can evoke memories of trying to choke down soggy tomatoes and zucchini. Who would do that to a vegetable?
I've had a Minestrone Renaissance- I cook everything al dente, garnish it with plenty of fresh basil and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano from my great grandmother's Italian wooden cheese grater, and pair it with a hunk of Kate Pepper's delicious bread. Minestrone uses the vast majority of the ingredients in the summer harvest, and with some technique- it is a perfect light summer dinner. Give it another try.

I've been doing my minestrone research; minestrone means "the big soup" and comes from a style of cooking the Italians call "cucina povera"- the poor kitchen. Like most provincial food, it is based on what is abundant- so use what you got.

Start with a base of sauteéd onions and garlic cooked in butter and olive oil until they are translucent. Add your herbs (rosemary, thyme, fresh oregano or marjoram). Add stock and water in ratio with the amount of soup you want. While the stock is coming to a boil, prepare your ingredients.

Potatoes- cubed

Zucchini- cut in thick rounds, half moon, or quarters

Tomatoes- quartered

Peppers- sliced

Chard- cut into strips

Basil- cut into thin strips

Cannellini Beans- cooked, rinsed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Add the potatoes to the stock and boil until tender. Add the beans.

Meanwhile, sauté the chard with salt and butter. In a separate pan, sauté the zucchini and sweet peppers just until al dente with more fresh herbs and salt and pepper.

When the potatoes are ready, combine the zucchini, peppers, chard, fresh tomatoes, and 1/2 the basil . Let simmer for a minute. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in a large flat bowl and garnish with fresh tomatoes, basil, fresh shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, and a dash of cream. (You may like to add pasta shells at the end)

Rio Gozo Garlic Mojo- Bueno Para Gozar

When you have this much garlic you make Mojo.

At garlic harvest we start roasting, braiding, and piling it up all over the kitchen table. Garlic is best stored in a dark place, but the beauty of garlic is even if you leave it on the front porch, not a critter will touch it.

Fresh garlic is a stronger than garlic from the shelf at a grocery store. My first real garlic experience was at the outdoor Mercado in Granada, Spain. A little homesick and determined to make Mexican food (if you've ever had mexican food in Spain you can bet it's better in Mexico or at the Farmer and the Cook), I made a guacamole. I added the usual bit of chopped raw garlic and holy mole!, my mouth was on fire, the guacamole was ruined. My back up plan- Tortilla Español for dinner.

Garlic is perfect for roasting. You can use up your garlic in one dinner by baking it whole, un-peeled in oil and serving it with crostini as an appetizer. Or save it up and make this jar of garlic goodness to serve all week. Stores in the refrigerator for 3 months.

This recipe belongs to Chef Rick Bayless from PBS show One Plate at a Time.

Slow Roasted Garlic Mojo

Mojo de Ajo

Makes about 3 cups mojo de ajo (made with 2 cups of oil)

Recipe from Season 7 Mexico - One Plate at a Time

INGREDIENTS

4 large heads garlic
OR 10 ounces (about 1 3/4 cups) peeled garlic cloves
2 or 3 cups fruity olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Break the heads of garlic apart, then mash each clove (a fist against the side of a knife is what I do) to release the clove from its papery skin; if using already-peeled garlic, scoop the cloves into a heavy plastic bag and use a rolling pin to mash them slightly.

Stir together the garlic, oil and salt in an 8x8-inch baking pan (make sure all the garlic is submerged), slide it into the oven and bake until the garlic is soft and lightly brown, about 45 to 55 minutes.

Add the lime juice and return to the oven for 20 minutes for the garlic to absorb the lime and turn golden brown. (If you’re using the larger quantity of oil, ladle off 1 cup—no garlic cloves—and store it in a cool dry place for use in salad dressing or sautéing.)

Using an old-fashioned potato masher or large fork, mash the garlic into a coarse puree. Pour the mixture into a wide-mouth storage container and refrigerate it until you’re ready to enjoy some deliciousness. The mojo will last for up to three months as long as the garlic stays submerged under the oil.

Guacamole

Does it need to be said that Guacamole would be a great way to use up some of the tomatoes and garlic, and even peppers that we are getting? Probably you've thought of this by now. In case you haven't? The fresh guac that we just made was absolutely delicious.

Here's a recipe to try, but you hardly need it. Gather the flavors you love and mash them all together.

• 3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Farm Magic

A trip to the farm is always better than I imagine it will be. It's not that I imagine it will be dull, exactly. It's just that I never anticipate getting as much incredible knowledge and brilliant ideas as I invariably do, and yesterday was no exception.

I was at the farm yesterday when Liz shared her ketchup with me. Homemade ketchup is a revelation. It tastes so much more fresh and the individual flavors are much more distinct than in the store-bought varieties. Liz had made two varieties, and they were both fabulous - deep intense flavors that would have been luscious with a burger, or just about anything else you could cook up.

Lucky for me, I had a tip that Jamie Oliver has a great ketchup recipe in Jamie at Home, so I looked it up. The good news here is that we are getting many of the ingredients in our CSA boxes, so there isn't much to add to make it all come together. Ketchup is also easy to can (with all the vinegar, you don't have to worry so much), so you can make up a big batch and shelve it for your next barbecue party!

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 a fennel bulb, chopped (or, presumably, one small bulb)

1 stick of celery, chopped

olive oil

a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/2 a fresh red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

a handful fresh basil, stalks separated from leaves

1 Tbs coriander seeds

2 cloves

1 tsp black pepper

sea salt

2 lbs tomatoes, chopped

3/4 C + 2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/3 C brown sugar

Put all ingredients, onion through sea salt, into a large pan and saute on low for 10 - 15 mins.

Add tomatoes and 1 1/2 C water and bring to a boil. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half.

Add basil leaves then blend the sauce in a food processor. Force the pulp through a fine mesh sieve twice. Place sauce into a clean pan and add vinegar and sugar. Simmer over medium heat until the sauce becomes the consistency of ketchup.

- Christiana Thomas

Focus on technique - Garlic

Garlic is pretty much always a welcome sight in the CSA share, right? It goes into everything, is endlessly adaptable, and tastes wonderful. For a delicious change from the routine though, you can roast garlic and use the spread on everything from sandwiches to roast vegetables to fish. I believe that there was a restaurant fad to serve roast garlic with the bread course in the late 80's/early 90's, just before olive oil became the new bread dipping craze. Since then, people have largely forgotten about this treatment, and that's too bad, because roasting mellows and deepens the garlic, and makes for a surprising flavor addition to a healthy meal.

To roast the garlic, cut the tops off so that you can see the cloves peeking through the outer layers. Wrap in tinfoil, and bake at 350 for about an hour. When the garlic has cooled, squeeze the cloves out through the holes you created on the top, by starting with the bottom and working your way up. I like to mix mine in equal proportions with butter and mash it all together.

FWIW, I find that this works just as well with green as it does dried garlic.

Garlic Basil Shrimp

Ellie Krieger is one of my favorite Food Network folks. She's a nutritionist, so she gets how to keep things healthy, and she's a mom, so she gets how to make healthy food easy. These factors make her recipes an indispensable part of my library. Also, the results taste great.

How much do garlic and basil want to be together? It's like they grew up together in the fields and now are dying to get together on your plate. Krieger's recipe calls for grape tomatoes, but I don't see why you wouldn't use zucchini instead.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds large shrimp (20 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 1/2 cups zucchini, cut into rounds
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute shrimp, turning over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

Add garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil remaining in skillet and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add wine and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in basil and zucchini and season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Return the shrimp to pan and cook just until heated through.