Zucchini Gaucamole

This is Kim O'Donnell's from the Washington Post

Ingredients:
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3 pounds summer squash
Approximately 1/2 head garlic
1 large onion (sweet varieties preferred, i.e. Vidalia, Walla Walla)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
1/2 cup basil and/or mint leaves
1/2 cup parsley, stemmed
2 tablespoons juice of lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 375.
Slice zucchini in half, lengthwise. Separate garlic cloves but keep skins on. Quarter onion. Place vegetables in roasting pan and slather with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the teaspoon of salt. Roast until extremely tender, at least 1 hour and up to 90 minutes.
While vegetables are roasting, prepare herbs; pull leaves off stems and tear or chop coarsely. Let vegetables cool slightly and squeeze garlic from skins. Place all vegetables into bowl of food processor and pulse. Add herbs. Puree until smooth and combined. Add lemon juice and salt. Drizzle in remaining olive oil. Taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly.
Chill and serve with crackers, pita crisps, crudite or make as part of a sandwich. Makes about 1 quart.

Share List for July 25, 2007

from the farm, Sankanac CSA:

1 lettuce
1 squash
1 zucchini or summer squash
1 cucumber
4 carrots
1 pepper
1 tomato
1 garlic
parsley
basil
4 little summer apples ! (known to be sour )

and supplements:
1 lb green beans, organic
1 European cucumber, biodynamic * (seedless and can eat the peel)
1 loaf Mountain Brown bread, biodynamic
1 maple yogurt
1 lb raisins, biodynamic

Share for July 18, 2006

1 head lettuce
1 Savoy cabbage
1/2 lb Swiss chard
4 carrots
4 beets* -- see below
3 cucumbers
1 either pepper or tomato - beginning of the harvest
1 garlic bulb
1 bunch chives
basil
parsley

and supplements:
1 sourdough bread from Atwater's bakery
1 yogurt
6 plums, red
3 pears, packham

Quick Chard Ideas

• Alternative to stuffed cabbage: Wrap Swiss chard leaves around your favorite vegetable and grain salad and roll it up. Bake in a medium-heat oven. Toss penne pasta with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and cooked chard.
• Add steamed chard to omelets and fritatas.
• Use chard in place of or in addition to spinach when preparing vegetarian lasagna.
• Cook some garlic in olive oil, crisp the garlic and set aside to drain. Stirfry the chopped chard in the pan with the olive oil. Start with the stems as they take longer, add the leaves a minute or two later. Put the garlic cloves back on the chard and serve. (You can do this with any green)

Chard Facts

Swiss chard is not native to Switzerland but was discovered by a Swiss botanist who gave the plant its scientific name. Chard is a vitamin packed super food, offering among its nutrients over 300% of the RDA of vitamin K, more than 100% of vitamin A and just over 50%of vitamin C.

To store the chard place it unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. It should keep fresh for several days. You can also blanch the leaves and freeze them.

Do not cook chard in an aluminum pot. Chard contains oxalates and will react with the metal discoloring your pot.

To make a sweeter chard boil it rather than sauté or steam, boiling reduces the oxalic and should make the chard less bitter.

Our Share List for July 11, 2007

1 Cabbage
1 broccoli or cauliflower
3 carrots
4 beets
1 zucchini or summer squash
1 cucumber
4 oz lettuce mix
5 oz chard
7 oz kale
1 fennel
2.5 oz basil
handful parsley
1 cantaloupe
1 yogurt, plain
1.5 lb bag Rolled Oats, biodynamic
1 lb Figs, organic