Fall Deliciousness and Member Idea

This adult swallowtail was an eater of dill, fennel, and parsley leaves in its larvae stage that we graciously tolerated due to it's inherent beauty (and because the defoliation doesn't amount to much).

Nancy Wasch, a long time farm member and frequent contributor of recipes and ideas sent me the following email this week. "Missy and I made jam on Saturday. Even saving all of our ground cherries, there's never enough for a batch of ground cherry jam, so we mixed it with (local) peaches for a micro batch. The ground cherry flavor really came through nicely, and the high pectin in the ground cherries yielded a firmer gel than the straight peaches." This is an awesome idea. I have made peach jam and it is always too liquidy - having a higher pectin item to mix in will solve that problem. Thanks so much Nancy and Missy!

These chilly nights have me thinking about soups and stews, but I haven't gotten into that - yet. I did try a couple of new things this week:

Potatoes - I had seen a recipe a little while ago while reading a website and decided to try it. Boil potatoes in salted water until cooked through but not falling apart. Drain on a towel. When cool enough to touch press down on potato with the palm of your hand until flattened to around a third of an inch. If it falls apart a little, that is ok. Allow to cool completely. Place on a cookie sheet that has been covered with foil and parchment paper. Drizzle a little olive oil on them, making sure to get a little oil on the bottoms. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on how big the potatoes are. Remove when nicely browned. Sprinkle with a little flaked salt and enjoy. These are really great - a combo of mashed, home fry potatoes!

Tomatoes - I had a lot of small tomatoes - not quite enough to make sauce with, but didn't want to go bad. I cut them in half, placed on cookie sheet, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt and ground coriander. Baked them for about 6 hours in a 200 degree oven. The intense tomato flavor that is left after much of the water evaporates out is amazing! They aren't completely dried like sundried. We ate them on little crostini with a bit of mozzarella and a tiny amount of pesto and they are delicious.

Peppers, onions, garlic, carrots, okra, Swiss chard and dandelion greens, herbs - roasted a big pile of veggies until nice and carmelized. While they were roasting, I sauteed the greens with more garlic. Added it to a bowl of hot pasta, mixed it all up and then added fresh chopped herbs. It was really tasty!