Our farm share encourages us to take what we will use.  I do that.  In fact, this week’s crops came in such astounding abundance, that we didn’t even take our full share, and I still found the amount of food in my kitchen overwhelming.  In an oh-so-exciting way!  But I did turn down a few items because I don’t want to waste.  However, even when I use up everything I take, there are food scraps.  So before you take those scraps to the compost, I’d like to encourage you to use them.  Yes, those garlic and onion skins, tough asparagus stalk ends, tomato peels, basil stalks, bell pepper stems, carrot and beet greens – yes, all those things you don’t use in everything else…they make incredible vegetable stock.

I’ve found that the key is not to boil them forever.  While soups often get better with a long, slow simmer, stock tends to weaken over time.  And in the middle of summer, who wants all that steam in the kitchen?  So start with your standard mirapoux – olive oil, garlic, carrot and celery. Saute for a few minutes, and then toss everything else in with water, salt and pepper.  In about 45 minutes, you’ll have a deep brown, very flavorful vegetable stock.  I drained mine through cheesecloth to weed out the little bits.   Then I froze some in small quantities, gave some away and used some almost immediately.  And after all is said and done, you can put the boiled veggies in the compost.  And feel great about having gotten the most out of them.

I often find beets to be boring and repetitive.  They are one of those foods that have such an overwhelming flavor that it seems to me that no matter how they are prepared, they just taste like beets.  They dominate almost anything you cook with them.  That being said, I love beets, and they do have a lot of great accompaniments.  I, however, have found a preparation that tames them a touch, and I am happy to share it here:

2-3 beets: I had 3 small golden beets, but any kind will do
red wine vinegar
minced garlic
olive oil

Bake beets until reasonably soft, firm but tender when pierced with a fork.  For larger beets, this may be up to an hour, but for smaller ones, start poking them with a fork at 30-35 minutes.  Once cooled, peel and then grate – the large holes of a standard box grater is fine.  Mix with vinegar, garlic and olive oil, all to taste.  Personally, I think adding some fresh parsley might be a nice addition to this recipe, so I’ll try that next time.

When I pick up my farm share each week, I often have the opportunity to buy local honey, cheese, maple syrup, wine and other locally-produced goodies.  I haven’t taken advantage of this option until recently, when I bought a couple cheeses.  They are different from the usual products I buy, but very delicious.  One of the cheeses I purchased is a goat cheese, and that’s what I used as an accompaniment to the beet salad.  I cut some chunks of goat cheese and rolled them into little balls (purely for presentation), froze them briefly so they would maintain their form while the rest of dinner (pork tenderloin and local corn) was on the grill.

Recently, after a long drive, Chuck and I arrived home and really didn’t feel like cooking. I happened to have most of the ingredients for a great antipasto on hand, so this is what I threw together. Granted, all together, this looks like a lot of work to start from scratch, but the components can all be used in a variety of combinations.

From bottom left, in clockwise order:

• Anchovies – just plain old canned flat fillets in oil
• Canellini bean paste: I make a couple variations of this, but it’s essentially, cannelini beans (fresh or canned), garlic or a garlic scape, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, herbs to taste. I recommend thyme or an Italian mix. You can cook the garlic and beans together first or just mix everything together in the food processor.
• Pesto: made with homegrown basil and garlic from my garden
• Roasted garlic and stuffed cherry peppers (storebought)
• Breaded, sauteed artichoke hearts
• Grilled, marinated asparagus: olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt, pepper
• Roasted red peppers
• Caponata – my dad’s recipe is a great balance of sweet and savory (see below for details)

All served on a bed of farm-grown arugula.  Throughout, there is also shaved parmigiano regiano cheese and sliced sourdough bread.  How else would you scoop up all those delicious goodies?

Caponata:
1 small eggplant
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 yellow onion
1 t. sugar
1-2 T. red wine vinegar
salt, pepper to taste
1/8 c. golden raisins, modify to avoid making it too sweet for your taste
1-2 T. capers
2 T. toasted pine nuts
3 T. balsamic vinegar
1-2 T. olive oil

Thickly slice an eggplant, salt and drain in a colander lined with paper towel. (2-3 hours)Chop into cubes.Sauté, garlic, celery, onions and eggplant in olive oil for 10 minutes. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Add golden raisins and capers.  Cook 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat; add toasted pine nuts and some balsamic vinegar. Cool and refrigerate for a day.