TOMTEN FARM

Heirloom Salad Tomatoes
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Shishitos or Mild Green Peppers
Long Beans or Asian Eggplant
Jalapeno or Thai Chilies
German White Garlic
Thai Basil

August on our farm is a very crazy time. We have still not figured out how to keep up and fit everything into the days we have.  We focus on having a large diversity of crops from Fall through Winter and often are adding things we want to grow to that part of the season (for example we are growing more radicchio, lacinato kale, collard greens, & overwintered broccoli & cauliflower this year), meaning more seeding of trays, more transplanting, more field prep & coordination. As I’ve stated before we plant more in August than any other month besides May; but in addition we are harvesting much more food plus managing our early storage crops. For example we cure onions and garlic in our barn; but have to move them into a climate-controlled space pretty quickly in order to keep them in good shape. These tasks can take many hours, as we are clipping necks and roots , packing into bins, and moving into tight spaces, shared with many other crops. So late July and August are always a balance of harvesting, managing storage crops, and getting new crops in the ground; which includes properly irrigating, weeding, and overall management.
This year all of this has been magnified due to the particular weather patterns we have had, making for an insanely good tomato year (this crop takes a huge chunk of our time), as well as for many other crops. We harvested over half our Winter Squash last week (a month earlier than we expected) and we are seeing 5-6 times the yield as in previous years. Some of this is due to changes on our end with timing, method of planting and managing; but a majority is because this is a great summer crop season. I cannot state that enough, this is probably one of two great summer growing seasons in the 9 seasons we have had. So at the end of the day we are so happy to have all the yields we do; but recognize that our system cannot always handle the abundance. So for now we put our heads down, seed and transplant as much as we can as quickly as possible, and look forward to 4 weeks from now when we can breath a little. Every other farmer we know is in the same place we are right now, maybe not planting as much for Winter as we do, but inundated with so much food. So please do what you can to get those you know out to markets not just now but through the Fall, as markets tend to slow down in early September and there is really no reason as it can be the best time of year to shop in Virginia. With this cool weather this past week you can bet on seeing a return of salad greens and early fall crops coming in early September. Pair these with the Summer bounty and you have the best in cooking.
This week’s share includes the first of our long beans (a wonderfully versatile bean) and has a few of our favorite recipes, ones which we list every year; because they are so so good. This week has a number of things which lend themselves towards thai cooking. Find some cucumbers and you will be all set for a spicy long bean cucumber salad or pair tomatoes with watermelon and thai basil for a fabulous herbaceous and sweet salad. Grill or blister peppers and eat alongside the spicy eggplant with thai basil recipe(you’ve got to use all the thai basil for this recipe, don’t hold back). All of these recipes go well eaten while its hot and steamy, perfect for this upcoming week. Enjoy the share….Autumn & Brian

Spicy Corn and Shishito Salad

Sichuan Style Stir-Fried Chinese Long Beans

Long Bean, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad

Marinated Chinese Long Beans with Peppers

Watermelon, Feta and Charred Pepper Salad

Watermelon Tomato Salad

Eggplant with Thai Basil
1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
4-5 cloves garlic
1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek
1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 bunch Thai basil
Slice the eggplant into ½ inch rounds and fry them over medium high in a wide skillet with ¼ inch of canola or other frying oil. When things get going, the eggplant slices will absorb the oil and you will gradually see it penetrate through to the top.  Make sure that they don’t get too brown on the bottom before this happens.  If the eggplant slices absorb all the oil and still don’t look wet, you must add more—but don’t worry, because they will release much of it as they cook.  When they look like they have absorbed enough oil and they start to get nice and brown on the bottom, flip them over and brown them on the other side.  If the pan is dry at this point, don’t add more oil because the slices have absorbed enough to fry themselves.  When they’re done, drain the slices on paper towels
Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)

Tomatillos
Bolero Carrots
Red Candy Onion
Round & Teardrop Eggplant
Shishito or Mild Green Peppers
Sungold Cherry or Heirloom Tomatoes
Italian Sauce Tomatoes
Parsley

Easy Eggplant Poblano Pepper Curry

Lebanese Baked Eggplant With Beef And Pine Nuts

Late-summer tomato & carrot salad

Scallions
Nicola Potatoes
Green Peppers (mild & hot)
Asian Long, Thai Round, & Dancer Eggplant
Mix Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Thai Basil
Shiso

Hot, hot, hot that sums up our feelings these days. The watermelon are beginning to ripen, the potatoes need to be out of the fields immediately, and any day now the okra will start popping off (and then it never stops).  We harvested over 400# of tomatoes last week and this week seems poised to be even more. Everything just feels really heavy this time of year and the days are long. We drink more water than you could imagine and its still never enough. As with every season, as long as we make it through July we are golden and this year is no different.
This week’s share includes all the nightshades: tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, potatoes, and a few peppers (mostly mild cubanelles; but also maybe a jalapeno or thai chile). This family of crops thrives when paired with aromatics, such as thai basil, scallion, garlic, and shiso, so get to making some deliciousness happen in the kitchen. In case you are unfamiliar, Shiso is used throughout Asia both medicinally and as an herb, especially popular in Japanese, Korean, and southeast Asian cuisines. In Virginia it is known as Perilla and is a native plant that is common throughout the Piedmont. On our farm we have the green variety and it grows on the edges of wood lines and in other slightly shaded areas. The wild variety is not as pungent as some cultivated types, but it is still amazing used in herb salads, spring rolls, and even granita; check out the recipe below

Eggplant Caponata

Tomatillo And Tomato Salad

Charred Tomatillo and Scallion Salsa

Japanese Eggplant with Chicken & Thai Basil

Miso-Glazed Eggplant Grain Bowls with Basil

Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Gỏi cuốn)
When we make these we let everyone prepare their own, as it makes for a really fun meal activity. As the recipe states, you can substitute various herbs’ we particularly like thai basil, shiso, and mint together. We always add julienned slivers of scallions and sometimes substitute shredded pork or shrimp for tofu. For dipping sauces we use a traditional Nuoc Cham and peanut sauce (recipes below).

Dai Mint and Tomato Salad – Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffery Alford and Naomi Duguid
The Dai, like the Chinese, prefer their tomatoes a little green, just before their fullest sweet ripeness. Perhaps it’s an aesthetic question: The mix of green and red is more interesting to the eye than the uniform red of ripe tomatoes. Or perhaps it’s beacuase tomatoes enter the regional cuisine as a slightly sour vegetable, rather than with the sweetness and ripeness as their prime characteristic. All of which is to say that you should, as we do, use the tomatoes that please you. This salad is simple to make and delicious. It’s like a half-pounded Mexican salsa, ideal for scooping up with Thai-Lao Crispy rice crackers or sticky rice or pork cracklings.
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
a little minced chile, jalapeno (optional)
1 cup tender mint leaves or Thai basil, coarsely torn
2-3 scallion, trimmed, sliced lengthwise into ribbons and then cut crosswise into 1-inch lengths
5 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced1 Tbls hot chile oil
Place the garlic and salt in a large mortar and pound together. Or place them in a large bowl and use the back of a flat spoon to mash them against the side of the bowl. Add the fresh chile, the mint, and the scallions and continue to pound or mash to soften and blend. Add the tomatoes and gently pound or mash until broken up a little. Add the chile oil and toss well. Serve the salad mounded in a shallow bowl, with the juices poured over.
Note: If the mint is coarse or rough, finely chop the leaves; or substitute Asian basil leaves.

Shiso Granita – Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
15 green shiso leaves
¼ cup granulated sugar
Place the shiso leaves in a medium-sized bowl or 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Heat the sugar and 3 cups water to boiling in a medium saucepan, stirring the sugar to dissolve. Pour the boiling sugar water over the leaves and steep until cool. Set a strainer over a plastic container large enough to hold 3 cups and strain out the leaves. Cover and transfer the shiso-flavored sugar water to a freezer shelf. Let sit, undisturbed, in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove to the countertop, open the lid, and gently stir in the crystals that have formed on the perimeter.  Repeat this operation every 30 minutes, breaking up any larger crystals as you go. The finished granita should be flaky.  Serve alone in a glass bowl or goblet. This is also wonderful served alongside Fig Ice Cream and Plum Sorbet. Keeps frozen for several weeks.

Yaya Carrots
Tendersweet Cabbage
Pickling or Marketmore Cucumbers
Sungold Cherry or Early Tomatoes
Romano Beans or Shishito Peppers
Candy or Red Candy Onions
Summer Crisp Lettuce
Cilantro or Dill

Sesame Carrot and Cucumber Slaw

Summer Grain Salad With Rainbow Carrots, Heirloom Tomatoes And Herbs

Braised Romano Beans

Anjula’s Cabbage, Carrot and Green Bean Thoran

Cowtown Coleslaw – adapted from A Cowboy in the Kitchen by Grady Spears & Robb Walsh
serves 4 – This peppery slaw is colorful and has a zing to it.
4 cups julienned Green Cabbage (can mix in about ¼ red cabbage too)
1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and julienned
3 jalapenos peppers, stemmed, seeded, and julienned
1 Tbls fresh chopped dill
3/4 cups mayonnaise (preferably Dukes)
1/3 cup malt vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbls freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
Place all of the vegetables in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and lime juice. Pour the dressing over the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Set aside in the refrigerator until serving time. Its best made and served on the same day.

Salata Horiatiki (Greek Country Salad) –The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
1 head summer crisp lettuce, cut into ribbons
2 large firm ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 cucumber, peeled, split in half through its length, and cut into thick slices
1 green pepper, cut into thin rings
1 large mild onion, thinly slices, the rings separated
8 oz feta cheese, cut into small squares or broken into coarse pieces
1 dozen or more black Kalamata olives
For the dressing
A good bunch flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
6 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper
Put all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Just before serving, mix the dressing, pour over the salad, and toss.

Sungold Cherry or Early Tomatoes
Summer Squash Mix
Romano Beans or Shishito Peppers
German White Garlic
Eggplant Mix
Basil

Well this week’s share shows a total transformation from Spring into Summer. We have never seen the eggplant and early peppers come on so quickly. Not that you cannot have them in late June or early July but we do not push for these crops to come on early, instead opting for a more balanced transition; but this year due to some of the weather patterns they came on quick once they flowered. The tomatoes on the other hand, we make effort to get in early and have by mid June and this year (likely due to weather, the swings of cooler weather with low nighttime temps) they have been coming on very slow. The plants are big and bountiful with a lot of green fruit; but ripening has been slow. The tomatoes that have ripened though are very large, dense, and tasty. It is amazing how each season offers a little something different and from communication with fellow farmers we are able to determine what is from broad weather patterns versus soil or management practices on our individual farm. Anyhow we are happy about the unseasonably temperate weather over this past weekend, the break in humidity and cool nights can be rejuvenating and entirely unexpected. We hope you all are enjoying this holiday weekend spending as much time outdoors as possible. So even if it means the tomato deluge is a little late this year, we are sure it will still happen and this week you finally get a little taste.  We have a load of recipes below; but most of these items are also great simply roasted or grilled with a little pesto drizzled on top to keep it simple. We hope you enjoy this jump into summer …..Brian and Autumn 

Cheesy Zucchini-Eggplant Bake

Summer Squash and Basil Pasta

Marcella Hazan’s Pesto

Tomato & Shishito Stir-Fry

Charred Romano Bean Salad With Zucchini, Aioli And Pecans

Zaalouk (Spicy Eggplant Salad) The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
1 ½ lb eggplant, peeled and cubed
5 cloves garlic, peeled
salt
3 large tomatoes (about 1 ½ lbs)
4 Tbls argan oil or mild extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbls wine vinegar
½ tsp harissa or a mixture paprika &ground chili pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Boil the eggplants with the garlic in plenty of salted water, in a pan covered with a lid, for about 30 minutes or until they are very soft. Drain and chop the eggplants and garlic in a colander, then mash them with a fork, pressing all the water out.
Put the tomatoes in the emptied pan and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until reduced to a thick sauce, stirring occasionally. Mix with the mashed eggplants and the rest of the ingredients and add salt.
Variation: Add the juice of 1 lemon (instead of the vinegar) and 1 tsp ground caraway or coriander.

Eggplant in a Spicy Honey Sauce –The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
The sauce is a splendid example of the hot, spicy, and sweet combinations; which are a thrilling feature of North African cooking. Serve it cold with bread.
2 medium-large eggplants
olive oil
salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 inches fresh gingerroot, grated, or cut into pieces
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
large pinch cayenne or ground chili pepper, to taste
4-6 Tbls honey
juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup water
Cut the eggplants into rounds about 1/3” thick. Do not peel them. Dip them in olive oil, turning them over, and cook on a griddle or under a broiler, turning them over once, until they are lightly browned. They do not need to be soft, as they will cook further in the sauce. In a wide saucepan or skillet, fry the garlic in 2 Tbls of the oil for seconds only, stirring, then take off the heat. Add the ginger, cumin, and cayenne or gorund chili pepper, honey, lemon juice, and water. Put in the eggplant slices and cook over low heat –either in batches, so they are in one layer, or together, rearranging them so that each slice gets some time in the sauce –for about 10 minutes, or until the slices are soft and have absorbed the sauce. Add a little water if necessary.

Fennel
Cucumber
Red or Chioggia Beets
Nicola or Red Gold New Potatoes
Misc Greens
Scallion
Parsley

Creamy Cucumber and Grilled Potato Salad

Braised Fennel and Potatoes

Fennel and Cucumber Salad

Raw Beet Salad With Fennel

Beet, Cucumber, and Feta Salad with Dill Vinaigrette

Salata Arabieh (Arab Salad) – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
Serves 4 – In this most common of Arab salads, all the ingredients are cut very small. Do not prepare it too long before serving, and dress it just before serving.
1 small head romaine lettuce
1 small red Italian or mild white onion or 5 scallions
1 small-med cucumber
2 tomatoes
4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 Tbls chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp chopped fresh dill or chervil
1 Tbls chopped fresh mint
3 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/3 lemon
salt and pepper
1 small clove garlic, crushed
Shred the lettuce, chop the onions finely, and cut the vegetables into tiny dice, using a sharp knife. Put them in a bowl with the radishes and herbs. Make a dressing with oil and lemon juice, slat and pepper, and garlic if you like. Pour over the salad and mix well.

Roasted Beets, Avocado, and Sunflower Seeds from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
1 lb beets
kosher salt & black pepper
extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbls red wine vinegar
¼ cup salted roasted sunflower seeds
½ cup lightly packed roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 scallions, trimmed, (including ½” off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
½ cup lightly packed, seeded, chopped pickled peppers
2 firm-ripe avocadoes
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Trim the tops and bottoms of the beets. Wash the greens and spin dry in a salad spinner. Rinse and scrub the beets to remove any mud and grit. Cut up any larger beets so that they are all about the same size.
Put the beets in a baking dish that’s large enough to accommodate all of them in a single layer. Season with salt, then pour ¼ cup water into the dish. Cover tightly with foil and steam roast until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife. Depending on the size, density, and age of the beets, this could take between 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Meanwhile, if you have beet greens to cook, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil, add the beet greens, and toss them until they are wilted and a bit stewed, about 5 minutes. Set aside until cool, then chop through them a few times.
When the beets are tender, let them cool until you can handle them, then rub or pare away the skins. Cut into ½-inch wedges or chunks and pile into a bowl. Add the greens.
While the beets are still warm, sprinkle with the vinegar, ½ tsp salt, and many twists of pepper. Toss to distribute the seasonings and let the beets absorb the vinegar for a few minutes. Add a healthy glug of olive oil and toss again. Let the beets sit at room temperature until you are ready to serve.
To assemble for serving, add the sunflower seeds, parsley, scallions, and pickled peppers and toss gently. Peel the avocadoes and cut them into neat chunks that are about the same size as the beet wedges, and add them to the beets too. Toss thoroughly but very gently, so you don’t mash the avocado too much. Taste and adjust with more salt, black pepper, vinegar, or oil. Serve right away.

Salad Mix
Spring Carrots
Daikon Radish
Napa Cabbage or Russian Kale
Suyo Long & Slicer Cucumbers
Cousa & Zephyr Squash
Tropea Spring Onion

Grilled Steak with Cucumber-and-Daikon Salad

Cucumber & Carrot Noodle Thai Salad

Kale and Cucumber Salad with Roasted Ginger Dressing

Chinese-style kale

Cabbage & Zucchini Okonomiyaki

Chinese Restaurant Style Stir Fried Napa Cabbage

Halibut with Spring Onion and Summer Squash Sauté

Fennel
Swiss Chard
Tendersweet Cabbage
New Golden Potatoes
Iceburg or Butterhead Lettuce
Frisee Heart
Scallion
Dill

Our workdays are steadily getting longer, as we head towards the longest day of the year. It seems like this time of year, we are always wrestling to keep up with all the tomato management (trellising, suckering, and feeding)  along with the other nightshade crops, while also tending to the weed and pest pressure in maturing spring crops. Over the past few years we have moved more towards using biodegradable plastic with landscape fabric in the pathways for our larger blocks of crops, such as our Winter squash & watermelon area or our large brassica plantings in both the spring and the fall. This has at least helped minimize the weed pressure because no matter how much we weed, come mid-May through June, the weeds can grow 6”-12” per week and when we are getting towards the end of a crop we cannot seem to manage late stage weeding, it is just too time consuming. So far this year both the indoor and outdoor tomato plantings look strong, as do the peppers and eggplant. Much can change though between the green leaf growth stage and ripening fruit stage. Point is there is a lot going on around the farm, sometimes more than one can focus on in a single walk through.  Every June we are getting ready to plant our latter summer crop successions of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and beans even as we wait to harvest some of our first successions. Our greenhouse is more or less empty and yet at the end of the month we will begin succession seeding for our fall crops and before we know it the greenhouse is full to the brim. June like October is when we have the most seasonal cross over. Right now we are still harvesting many spring crops (cabbage, greens, root, herb, fennel, lettuce, and chicory) while adding in new summer crops every week, potatoes this week, tomatoes and beans in a week or so, and soon after eggplant, followed by peppers.  Plus we are scheduling out large bulk harvests. Garlic was started last week and will get finished this Wednesday; soon we will store away cabbages, daikon, beets, and carrots so we have some for later in the summer. In a few weeks our storing onions will be harvested and cured in the barn and then right after that we will harvest the potato crop.  So with all this to do, we are lucky the days are long even if it gets a bit tiring.  This is the time of year to support all the farmers you know, because if it is a good growing season, we all have a lot of food to move. Shop often, bring friends and family who do not regularly shop through local outlets, and buy a lot. Have picnics, potlucks, and garden parties, and take huge dishes of vegetables or fruit to whatever social occasion. Think about freezing, canning, pickling, and preserving to enhance your options during the lean months. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and fruit are not the only crops to put up.
This week you get a nice mix of greens: swiss chard, cabbage, lettuce, and frisee, enjoy them while they last, as tthere is likely only a few more weeks in store then they are gone till September. Finally we have some fennel coming to you all. This was not a good spring for our fennel crop, as it got planted very late and it hates erratic shifts in temperature, especially with lots of heat; which is what we get here. It is on the small side, so not super succulent. It will be a great addition to a salad, especially a cabbage slaw or frisee and potato salad. We are also excited to be getting some of you the iceburg lettuce. Unlike California iceburg this will be flavorful yet have that fabulous crisp texture. We have a few recipes below for some delicious salads. Enjoy the share Autumn & Brian

Cracked New Potatoes with Fennel Raita

Egg Salad Sandwich With Dill

Iceberg Salad with Italian Dressing

Fennel, Orange, and Cabbage Slaw

New Cabbage with Scallions – The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis
The first time we would cook and serve our newly grown garden cabbage was on a wheat-threshing day. We would cut up many heads and cook them in a large iron pot with liquid from the pork shoulder and a small amount of fat for seasoning. Cabbage cooked that way was a hearty fare, good sustenance for hardworking men. We children usually had the food that was left over from the midday meal that night for supper and thought it was just great. No other food in the world seemed to have quite the good flavor of what was left over from a wheat-threshing dinner.
1 2-pound head new cabbage
1/3 cup tender green scallion tops, cut into ¼” slices
2 cups boiling water, or preferably stock from boiled pork shoulder
3 Tbls freshly rendered fat from bacon or ham
salt and freshly ground pepper
To prepare the cabbage, trim away the outside leaves and cut the head into quarters. Cut away the core, leaving just enough to hold the leaves intact. Place the pieces of cabbage in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes or so to wash out any dust or bugs, particularly if it has come straight out of the garden. Remove, drain in a colander, then place in a 3-quart saucepan and add the scallion tops to give added flavor and color. Pour the boiling water or stock over and toss the cabbage with two spoons to make sure that each piece is scalded. Add the fat so that it coats the cabbage, then turn the burner low so that the cabbage boils briskly but not too rapidly for 25-30 minutes –any longer and the cabbage will become too soft and its taste will change. Drain. Toss the salt to taste and a good grating of freshly ground pepper to heighten the flavor. Serve hot.

Boiled Swiss Chard Salad – The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan
1 bunch Swiss chard leaves
Salt
Olive Oil
1 or more Tbls lemon juice
Pull the leaves from the stalks (reserving the stems for another use, such as Swiss Chard stalks with Parmesan Cheese) and wash in a basin of cold water, changing the water frequently until it shows no trace of soil.
Put the chard in a pan with whatever water clings to the leaves. Add 1/2 tsp salt, cover, and cook over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes from the time the liquid starts to bubble.
Drain in a pasta colander and gently press some of the water out of the chard with the back of a fork. Place in a salad bowl.
Serve cool (not refrigerated) or lukewarm, seasoning with salt, oil, and lemon only when ready to serve.

Escarole
Broccoli
Salad Mix
Russian Kale
Summer Squash Mix
Beets or Carrots
Genovese Basil
Fresh Garlic

Polenta Bowl With Garlicky Summer Squash & Kale

Escarole and Roasted Broccoli Salad with Anchovy Dressing

2Amys’ Escarole Salad, My Way

Moroccan Carrot-Zucchini Salad

Yogurt and Spice Roasted Broccoli

Sheet-Pan Chicken Meatballs and Charred Broccoli

Zucchini Salad With Raisins and Pine Nuts – The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
The combination of raisins and pine nuts was brought by the Arabs all the way to Spain and Sicily.
1 lb Zucchini
4 Tbls Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbls Pine Nuts
2 Tbls Black or Gold Raisins or Currants
1 clove Garlic, crushed and chopped
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp dried mint (optional)
Juice of ½ Lemon, or more
Saute the Zucchini quickly in the oil with the pine nuts, raisins, and garlic. Add salt and pepper and dried mint, if using, and cook, stirring, over moderate heat until the zucchini slices are just tender. Serve hot or cold with lemon juice squeezed over the salad.

Sauteed Greens with Olives (Misticanza) from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
The key to this dish is to cook it quickly at high heat so that you can taste each green in your mix.
extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ tsp dried chiles flakes
10 cups lightly packed torn mixed greens (such as kale, escarole, turnip greens, beet greens, chard)
kosher salt & black pepper
¼ cup Kalamata olives, pitted & halved
2 Tbls lemon juice
Heat a glug of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes – don’t let it burn! Add the chile flakes and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the greens a handful at a time, tossing until wilted between additions (if you can, start with the tougher greens such as kale or escarole). Season generously with salt and black pepper and cook until all greens are wilted and softened, about 3 minutes more after your last addition.
add the olives and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and toss to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more chile flakes, salt or lemon juice. Finish with a nice drizzle of olive oil.

Roasted Beets, Avocado, and Sunflower Seeds from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
1 lb beets
kosher salt & black pepper
extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbls red wine vinegar
¼ cup salted roasted sunflower seeds
½ cup lightly packed roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 scallions, trimmed, (including ½” off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
½ cup lightly packed, seeded, chopped pickled peppers
2 firm-ripe avocadoes
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Trim the tops and bottoms of the beets. Wash the greens and spin dry in a salad spinner. Rinse and scrub the beets to remove any mud and grit. Cut up any larger beets so that they are all about the same size.
Put the beets in a baking dish that’s large enough to accommodate all of them in a single layer. Season with salt, then pour ¼ cup water into the dish. Cover tightly with foil and steam roast until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife. Depending on the size, density, and age of the beets, this could take between 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Meanwhile, if you have beet greens to cook, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil, add the beet greens, and toss them until they are wilted and a bit stewed, about 5 minutes. Set aside until cool, then chop through them a few times.
When the beets are tender, let them cool until you can handle them, then rub or pare away the skins. Cut into ½-inch wedges or chunks and pile into a bowl. Add the greens.
While the beets are still warm, sprinkle with the vinegar, ½ tsp salt, and many twists of pepper. Toss to distribute the seasonings and let the beets absorb the vinegar for a few minutes. Add a healthy glug of olive oil and toss again. Let the beets sit at room temperature until you are ready to serve.
To assemble for serving, add the sunflower seeds, parsley, scallions, and pickled peppers and toss gently. Peel the avocados and cut them into neat chunks that are about the same size as the beet wedges, and add them to the beets too. Toss thoroughly but very gently, so you don’t mash the avocado too much. Taste and adjust with more salt, black pepper, vinegar, or oil. Serve right away.