Tomatoes II

Since last week, the late blight has ravaged our tomato crop so bad that we’re destroying all our plants except a few cherry tomatoes, mostly Sun Gold, which still seem to be doing OK. We’ve enjoyed the shortened harvest, and some fruits are still ripening on our porch, but for the most part a very promising crop has been laid low as so many of our neighbors’ crops have also.

Fortunately, many area farmers cultivate a large part of their plants in hoop or green houses, and these enclosed environments are better able to keep the late blight spores from infecting their crops. There were many heirloom varieties available at the farmers’ market his past weekend, and they should continue to be available for a number of more weeks. So stock up if you’ve had blight problems so you can enjoy some local products this winter when all you’ll see are California or Florida tomatoes in the store.

While China is the largest grower of tomatoes, the US is second in worldwide production, with California growing over 90% of the processed tomatoes, meaning plum or sauce tomatoes, which are available canned year round.

Some tomatoes are determinate, meaning they grow to a specific height and set their fruits, most of which ripen at or about the same time. Indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow until either frost kills them, or the gardener cuts off their top. Indeterminate varieties have their fruits ripen as they grow, so they can produce a continuous crop over a long period of time. At Longwind Farm in East Thetford, David Chapman fills his greenhouses with a single planting, which bears fruit from early March through the middle of November.

Tomatoes are considered a vegetable, a term that is culinary in nature and has no scientific meaning. Botanically tomatoes are a fruit, however they don’t share the common characteristic of most fruits, sweetness, and they are not used in desserts, where most fruits appear in a meal. Rather, the tomato is typically served as part of a salad at the beginning of a repast, or they are included in the main meal itself.

While the tomato is naturally acidic, and this makes it any easy plant to can for home gardeners as a hot water bath is all that needed, not a pressure canner, it was the suspected source of a major salmonella outbreak a couple of years ago. While the FDA and the USDA were never able to pinpoint the source of the contamination, Mexico was a suspect, although Serrano and jalapeno peppers were also identified as a possible source of the infection.

Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful anti-oxidant that has cancer preventing properties. It has been positively identified as beneficial in preventing colorectal, breast, endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancers. In fact, organic ketchup is found to have much more lycopene than non-organic ketchups, so a word to the wise the next time you need this condiment.

In addition, tomatoes have been shown to provide benefits in preventing heart disease, and lowering cholesterol profiles. They are a great source of Vitamins C, A and K as well as manganese and potassium and they are low in calories.

So enjoy the local vine ripened harvest while it’s still available, and put some up for winter if you can. They’re delicious right now!

Tomatoes

You have been able to purchase local tomatoes for quite a while now, despite the tomato crop devastation brought on by the late blight.  This disease struck many farmers hard in August just as their field crops started to bear fruit.  Many heirloom varieties that would normally be crowding farmers’ markets and roadside stands right now, while still available, are found in smaller quantities and with fewer varieties. 

We’ve been pretty lucky so far at our house, for while we lost some plants that Rosemary planted on the periphery of the herb garden, our main crop in the vegetable garden is daily bearing a variety of fruits from sauce tomatoes, to heirlooms like Black Russian and Green Zebra, to red and Sun-gold cherry tomatoes to large lobed Brandywines and oval yellow Lemon Boys.   I love the tomato harvest;  tomato salads with Vermont farmstead blue cheese, tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, fresh Marinara sauce, BLTs on toasted Red Hen bread with pesto, arugula, Hogwash Farm’s pasture raised bacon, and a slab of Big Boy tomato still warm from the sun, oven dried plum tomatoes with garlic and fresh thyme, or noshing down a ripe Cherokee Purple right out in the garden.  Yum!

Solanum lycopersicum is a member of the nightshade family, and long suspected of being poisonous (its leaves and the roots of many of its cousins are poisonous).  It is grown as an annual plant in our clime, producing the ovary of a fruit, which we refer to as a vegetable.  Usually colored red, many varieties are yellow, orange, purple, black, pink, mottled green and yellow, or red and green, and some are almost white.  Their shapes can be large and round, to heavily lobed, to cherries, grapes or currants; from smooth to having pronounced ribs, to elongated and plum shaped to squat and flat.  There even is one called the Ugli Tomato, which was banned in Florida due to its multi-ribbed appearance, in spite of its excellent taste.  

   Penne with fresh tomato sauce and parsley


Heirloom varieties have made a strong come back recently, as their taste and texture are superior to commercial varieties bred more for their shape, size, and color, and mutated to resist natural pests.  This is the time of the year to really enjoy a good local tomato, ripened on the vine.  What is in the supermarket was picked green in California or Florida, “ripened” by ethylene gas which turns it red, but doesn’t really ripen the flesh, and shipped in a refrigerated container across America to your local store.  NEVER, and I mean never, refrigerate a tomato!  It not only dulls and kills its taste and muddies its texture, even when returned to room temperature, it will not improve.

The tomato originated in South America, probably Peru, before migrating to Mexico, where explorers returned to Europe with seed in the 1500s.  Here it was grown as an ornamental plant until its culinary properties were realized, particularly in Italy, Spain and the Middle East.  Today the tomato is central to the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, olive oil, cheese and yoghurt with moderate amounts of seafood and poultry, and modest quantities of red meats and wine.
 

Next week we’ll continue to look at this flavorful “vegetable” that is used so commonly in everyday cuisine.

                                             Peeled fresh tomatoes for sauce

Proteins

I've been writing a lot recently about the local harvest available at farmers' markets, area farm stands and those markets that sell locally raised produce.  Today I want to turn from fresh vegetables to protein sources, as many area farms are beginning to harvest chickens, beef and pork, with the turkeys still fattening for a fall crop.

I personally purchase all of our meats from people I have met and visited their farms to observe their production practices.  I didn't have that luxury when I first switched from supermarket meats to grass fed meats in 2004 while shopping at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan, while attending culinary school.  However, I did talk with the producers to learn their methods, and I wasn't inundated with the plethora of confusing and contradicting terms that our government agencies, which are heavily lobbied by agri-business interests, use to describe protein products sold in large supermarkets.

What is generally sold in supermarkets is confinement raised animals without access to pasture and fed a variety of corn or soy products including various "animal byproducts" which can include any number of questionable ingredients, like chicken guts and blood, amongst other things.  Their feed is laced with antibiotics, otherwise they would become sick and die on their unnatural diet, and growth hormones to speed their weight gain.  They routinely live in close confinement, covered with and standing in their own excrement, and experience higher than normal mortality rates due to these conditions.  Cattle fed corn for too long develop health problems that will lead to their death, so getting to market before that point is paramount to operating a profitable business.

Thse feeding practices have led to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which may pose a public health threat in the future.  Also, confinement raised cattle include higher amounts of E. coli in their guts that pasture raised cattle, and this, combined with the manure on their hides, translates into more contaminated beef being released for sale to the public by slaughter facilities that are more concerned with speed of the kill than public health.

Many area farmers practice not only a more humane, but also a more natural production process.  They allow their animals to forage on grass and other vegetation, which they were born to eat.  The cow has four stomachs for a reason, and that is to process otherwise indigestible grasses into food they can live on.  Grass fed meats are usually less marbled with fat then corn-fed meats, however they contain much higher levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids, both of which have shown positive effects in areas of heart disease, cancer and the immune system.

Seeking out and finding local pasture raised meats is more challenging that strolling into your local mega-mart to pick up a steak or some chicken for the grill on a pleasant evening, but in my mind, the benefits in terms of taste, the environment and our health are worth the effort.  So I encourage you to visit a farmers' market or a store dealing in local meats and try some home grown goodness.  It's a great time to fill up your freezer for winter.

Dry Marinaded Pork Chops

I usually make up this marinade for pork chops or roasts a day or two before planning on serving.  It is a recipe I've adapted over the years from one originally published in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  The major change I made, to make it more Italian, was to add either ground toasted fennel seed, or fellen pollen, which is fairly expensive and difficult to find. 

For each pound of pork, make a mixture of the following ingredients:

1 Tsp Sea salt

1/4 Tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1/2 Clove of garlic, minced

1 Pinch of Allspice

1/2 Bay Leaf, ground

1 Tbl Fennel seed, toasted and ground or substitute 1 Tsp Fennel pollen

1 Sprig fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stem, or use 1 Tsp dried thyme leaf

Combine all the marinade ingredients and rub on the pork.  Cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.  Turn the pork over once or twice, depending on the length of your marinade time.  When ready to cook, scrape the marinade off the pork before proceeding with your recipe.

Zucchini

The wet weather doesn’t seem to have hurt our zucchini crop as it is starting to produce some fine little specimens, many with their bright yellow flowers still attached. Growing zucchini, which almost all home gardeners do, is not difficult, however keeping after the budding fruit is an almost daily chore. You know what happens when you’re away on vacation for week in August…ZONKERS up to three feet long take over your zucchini plant, and they’re no good for anything except the compost heap.

While most squash plants are American in origin, the zucchini, also know in many parts of the world as courgette, seems to have been developed near Milan, Italy, where the Italians cook them in an infinite variety of ways. The plant was brought to America by Italian immigrants and has been readily accepted in the American market. It is a member of the Cucurbita pepo family and closely related to our yellow crooked neck summer squash, which is can be substituted in any zucchini recipe. The Italian word for squash is zucca, so the feminine diminutive zucchine is used in some areas of Italy, however the male diminutive zucchini is most commonly used.

Zucchini, which is actually the fruit of the plant, being the female ovary, needs to be harvested while it is immature. As the fruit grows, so too do its seeds, which become unappetizing as they get larger. The flesh of an overgrown zucchini can become fibrous, making these large marrows undesirable. So pick them when they are small with the flowers still attached. They will range in color from a light green to a luxurious, deep green color, their skin will be taunt and firm and the flesh white with a few immature seeds. While zucchini are available year round, they are best when locally grown when their flavor is at its height. If purchased in the market, they should be glossy and free from blemishes. Any with dark spots or bruised flesh should be avoided.

Zucchini are low in calories and contain beneficial amounts of Vitamin A, folate, potassium and manganese.

When it comes to cooking zucchini, let us count the ways. They are grilled, steamed, sautéd, deep fried, baked, stuffed, steamed, made into a risotto or included in a frittata, or with pasta, or grated, or included in a ratatouille, or a soup…the list goes on and on. They are frequently sliced into rounds or ovals, but can also be cut lengthwise into quarters or matchsticks, depending on the application. They are most commonly eaten with the skin on, so they should be carefully washed before using, especially when purchased in the supermarket.

We particularly enjoy the zucchini flowers. If you pick the male flowers, those that grow on a long stem, you can deep fry them in fritter batter, or stuff them with mozzarella and anchovy and bake them in the oven. They make a distinctive presentation and an interesting side dish.

Pastella for Fried Zucchini Flowers

1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup +/- water

Place the flour in a small bowl. Slowly mix in the water until you have a smooth batter, slightly thicker than cream.

Heat deep frying oil in a cast iron skillet, not allowing the oil to exceed 1/2 way up the side of the pan. Using a deep fry thermometer, heat the oil to 375 degrees. Dredge the zucchini flowers in the pastella and slip into the hot oil. Fry a minute or two and turn the flowers over with thongs. Allow to cook on the other side a couple of minutes. Remove to paper towels to allow to thoroughtly drain. Immediately sprinkle with sea salt and serve while hot.

Carrots

Almost always present in our iceboxes, but often overlooked as an item to be utilized alone, the carrot is now is season at area farm stands and farmers’ markets. At this moment, they are young and sweet, crisp and crunchy when consumed raw, and full of good nutritional elements. It’s true that carrots have beneficial properties relative to your vision, as they are full of beta-carotene, which is metabolized into vitamin A when consumed by humans. Poor vision can be restored by including vitamin A in the diet.

Daucus carota var. sativa is a taproot vegetable consumed by mankind for centuries after the wild carrot was domesticated. It seems to have originated in Afghanistan before traveling westward in an Arab migration to the eastern Mediterranean somewhere in the 8th to 10th century AD. Reportedly when carrots were introduced to America, the otherwise honest natives, who had no flavorful taproots, used to raid the settlers’ gardens for these tasty treats.

While it is a biennial plant, we grow and harvest in its first year when the taproot grows large and stores up sugars for the second season flowering stage. While the common carrot is yellow to orange in color, many varieties today range from red to purple to a pale yellow, almost white carrot, and they can be short and stubby, or long and tapered, or conical or cylindrical, depending on the cultivar.

The first new carrots, usually displayed and sold with their leafy green tops still attached, are tender and full of flavor. They should be enjoyed as a separate dinner item to accompany any roast, steaks, chops or seafood. Be sure to remove the carrot tops promptly or the leaves will draw the carrots’ moisture into themselves, leaving you with limp carrots, which aren’t much good, except for the stockpot. We enjoy them simmered in butter with a little stock, and glazed with a glug of maple syrup and a light dusting of Parmesan cheese.

Later in the season, when the carrots are larger, they lend themselves to roasting in a hot oven, which concentrates their sweetness and carrot flavor. I include finely diced or grated carrots in my Marinara sauce as their sugars counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes. Carrots should not be scraped or peeled as most of their nutrient value lies in the skin. If you purchase carrots in the supermarket, I do suggest peeling them, as pesticide residues from conventional farming may not be able to be just washed off. If purchased from a local organic farmer, unpeeled, but washed with a stiff vegetable brush, is OK. Late season carrots may have a tough core, so it’s not a bad idea to cut them lengthwise to remove it before proceeding.

A pound of carrots will feed 3 to 4 people and will yield about 3 ½ cups when sliced, diced or quartered. They make a delicious soup, are always added to stews and braised dishes, are essential for stocks, casseroles and sauces, and are part of the triumvirate of basic French vegetable cookery combination miropoix, which also includes diced onion and celery.

In America we love our carrot cake, and ribbons of carrot, made with a vegetable peeler, make a nice impromptu salad when combined with vinaigrette and chopped chervil or parsley. Many add it to their coleslaw, and cabbages are coming into season right now, too.

Artichokes

Artichokes are not usually thought of as a New England vegetable as California, due to its temperate climate, is the largest producer of these plants, which are related to the thistle family. However, more and more vegetable farms in Vermont and New Hampshire are producing these tasty little globes, which consist of the flower of the artichoke plant picked before it ripens.

The Globe Artichoke, a member of the Cynara cardunculus family, is a perennial thistle, which came from the Mediterranean area, although it is not clear if it developed in Northern Africa or Sicily first. It is also a biennial plant, which is now grown as an annual by northern growers as it is not frost tolerant, and must be replanted each year. Northern growers trick the plant into thinking it is in its second season by subjecting the young plants to a period of cold temperatures when they are about 6 weeks old. First year plants only make leaves, but when convinced it is in its second season, the plant puts forth its buds.

Artichokes do require a little work to prepare for eating. I usually cut off about 1/3 of the top of the artichoke, removing the thorns that emanate from the leaves. You have to rub the cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discoloration of the leaves, which will quickly oxidize and turn brown if not treated. When preparing a bunch of artichokes, I acidulate a bowl of water with lemon juice and place each prepared artichoke in the water while I’m prepping the rest.

I remove the outer leaves of the choke until I reach the light green inner leaves. If one chooses to, one can take only the first row of outer leaves off and then simmer the entire choke in salted water until tender. Break off each leaf, known as a bract, dip in melted butter, vinaigrette, aioli or mayonnaise and gnaw off the edible base of the leaf. When all the leaves have been eaten, remove the hairy choke, and the base and upper stem of the artichoke are delicious.

Artichoke hearts are used as the base for other vegetable preparations, and constitute a part of the Arabic diet, which favors stuffed vegetables. Filled with baby peas and onions in a light cream sauce they make an appealing side dish to most any meal.

In Italy, where you see them growing in many yards, the artichoke is deep fried to produce the golden Carciofi alla Romano, a dish we make at our house, and in France they are prepared in an infinite variety of ways including Stuffed Artichokes, where they are par cooked, then stuffed with sausage, onion and parsley, wrapped in bacon, and braised in white wine and veal stock with onions and carrots.

Artichoke hearts, sold prepared in grocery stores, are often added to salads or can top a pizza. They make a tea from artichokes in Viet Nam, and it Italy the liqueur Cynar is primarily flavored with artichoke.

So take a little culinary adventure, pick up a few artichokes from the farmers’ market or farm stand and try some Mediterranean cuisine with locally grown artichokes. They’re fun!

The pictures above include artichokes growing in our garden in Fairlee, Vermont, as well as a seasonal dish we concocted on the evening we harvested 3 artichokes. Here's the recipe.

Artichokes with Garlic & Peas

3 small artichokes, trimmed of their outer leaves, cut in half
3 heads of green garlic
6 scallions, red and/or white
1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas
2 Tbl butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt & pepper
1 Tbl fresh mint, minced
1 Tbl fresh flat leaf parsley, minced

The small local artichokes we used did not have a developed choke, so we trimmed off the top of each artichoke, rubbing the cut surfaces with lemon juice, and removed the outer leaves until we reached the yellow-green inner leaves. We peeled the outside of the artichoke heart and stem, and placed the prepped artichokes in a bath of acidulated water to prevent browning.

We prepped the green garlic by removing its light husk and trimming the root end, leaving the heads whole. The green onions were trimmed to just their bulbs.

We sauted the green onions and green garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter for a couple of minutes before adding the artichokes, which we bisected through the stem, and the chicken stock. After simmering for 3 minutes we added the shelled peas, and allowed to simmer 3 minutes. We raised the heat to high to cook off some of the stock, hit it with another pat of butter, and the minced herbs. Season with a little salt and pepper. Delicious.

Beets

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of shopping at farmers’ markets in Bradford, St. Johnsbury, Montpelier and Norwich. The quality and variety of the produce, proteins like chicken, pork, beef and elk, maple and honey products, cheeses, crafts, and prepared foods is wonderful to behold. It’s time to eat the season and enjoy our local bounty brought to us by dedicated stewards of the land who honor their husbandry traditions.

We have been enjoying some fabulous beets, both red and golden, from Your Farm in Fairlee (www.yourfarmonline.com). They grow three varieties, a traditional red beet, a golden one, and Chioggia or candy-strip beet.

The garden beet is a member of the beetroot family, Beta Vulgaris, which includes other vegetables like chard and spinach beet, grown for their leaves and midriffs, sugar beet, a tuber from which sucrose is derived, and mangle-wurzel, a tuber grown as a fodder crop.

Beets have been cultivated for thousands of years, at least since the second millennium BC, and were probably domesticated around the Mediterranean before spreading through Babylonia to China in 850 BC. Originally the beetroot was a long taper, similar to a carrot, and the plant was grown for its leafy greens. The Vuglaris variety with its red, fleshy tubers became popular after the rise of spinach supplanted the beet green as the cooking green of choice. My Larousse Gastronomique claims that some “long-rooted varieties…have more flavour and are sweeter than round varieties…” but I’ve never seem any beets like that around here.

Beets have a lot of health benefits from their consumption and have a long tradition in folk medicine. They have been used as a laxative to treat constipation, as an aphrodisiac, for illnesses related to digestion and the blood. It’s high in antioxidants, boron and oxalic acid, and has been used in cancer treatments, mostly in Europe. Drinking beet juice lowers blood pressure and the pigment molecule betanin seems to provide protective benefits against cancer.

Beets can be cooked in boiling water, roasted in the oven, or grated and eaten raw in salads. I like to roast my beets, unpeeled, with about an inch or so of the beet top still attached. I put them on a sheet of aluminum foil with a couple cloves of crushed garlic, a spring of thyme, a swirl of olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Wrap them up and put in a hot (400-425 degrees) oven for 45 minutes or so, depending on the size of the beets. When a fork pierces them easily, remove and allow to cool somewhat. When you can handle them, peel them and go on with your recipe. Roasting concentrates their flavour more than merely boiling, and I’ve seen older recipes which recommended placing boiled beets in the oven for an hour or more to accomplish the same effect.

Pickled beets are popular with many as a condiment, and borscht is a rightly famous cold soup, indigenous to Eastern Europe.

Here's a recipe for pickled beets that takes a couple of days, but is well worth it. Try it and enjoy.

Pickled Beets

1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon pickling spice
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 onion, halved
1 small bay leaf (not California)
3/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 bunch fresh dill
3 beets (1 pound without tops)

Bring all ingredients except beets to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Cool marinade, then chill, covered, 1 day to allow flavors to develop. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl.

Cook beets in a saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Drain and cool. Slip off skins and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

Stir together beets and marinade, then marinate, covered and chilled, 1 day.

Beet Salad with Almond Butter and Gorgonzola Bombolini

For almond butter:
1/2 cup toasted Marcona almonds
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
Pinch of cayenne
1/2 to 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

For beet salad:
1 1/2 pounds small (2-inch) beets without greens (2 pounds with greens)
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Accompaniments: Gorgonzola bomboloni (recipe follows) ; coarse sea salt such as Maldon or fleur de sel

preparation

Make almond butter:
Grind almonds to a paste with garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cayenne in a food processor. With motor running, add just enough oil to make a silky paste. Season with salt.

Make beet salad:
Simmer beets in 3 inches of water in a large saucepan, covered, until tender, about 30 minutes. Cool in liquid, uncovered, about 30 minutes, then peel and cut into 1/2-inch wedges.

Whisk together vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl, then whisk in oil. Add shallot and chives and toss with beets.

Divide almond butter among 6 plates and top with beet salad. Put a bombolone on each salad and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Serve remaining bomboloni on the side.

Gorgonzola Bombolini

1 teaspoon active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
Scant 1/2 cup warm whole milk (105-115°F)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound chilled Gorgonzola, rind discarded and cheese cut into 16 (3/4-inch) cubes
About 4 cups vegetable oil

Equipment:
a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; a deep-fat thermometer

preparation

Stir together yeast and milk in bowl of mixer and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.) Mix in 3/4 cup flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and bubbly, about 1 hour.

Mix in egg, butter, sugar, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup flour at low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat dough until satiny and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape dough into center of bowl and dust lightly with flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and lightly sprinkle with flour. Punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut into 16 equal pieces. With lightly floured hands, flatten 1 piece of dough and put a cheese cube in center. Pinch closed, then roll into a ball and transfer to baking sheet. Make 15 more balls, arranging 1 inch apart.

Heat 2 inches oil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat to 350°F. Fry bomboloni, 4 at a time, turning frequently, until puffed and golden, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 350°F between batches. Serve hot.