Renae Writes: No-Noodle Zucchini Lasagna

The picture does not do it justice--I am not a photographer! Notice it is a little watery as I would suggest dabbing the zucchini with a paper towel. As we near September, the bounties of the field are at their peak (hence the scheduling of the annual Taste of Sunshine event this Saturday, August 28!).  This time of year calls for numerous "celebrations of the harvest."  This week, I decided to challenge myself to my own celebration of the harvest by cooking up a new recipe using the veggies that you will be getting in today’s CSA share.

Although I don’t get a formal CSA box each week, I do consume my fair share of veggies.  Sometimes, however, I lack in creativity.  I will grab a couple veggies or a mix of greens and call it a simple meal.  I find it difficult to want to turn the oven on in an already heated house!  Last night the crisp August air accompanied with the full moon felt right.  I turned the oven on after collecting some veggies from the field and some products from the Sunshine Farm Market.  After a little work, I turned this week's box (plus a few more ingredients) into a no-noodle lasagna, a salad, and a strawberry-watermelon freeze.  A field report and a dinner plan in one!  

We challenge any of you brave CSA members to take all the contents of any given week, use every item, and creating a scrumptious meal.  If you attempt or complete this we would love to hear about what you come up with.  Maybe we could even get you toshare it with the rest of the CSA members!  A CSA recipe/meal plan swap.  What more perfect people to share with than others that go home with a grocery bag full of the same veggies.  Send your recipes to veggies@thesunshinefarm.com.

No-Noodle Lasagna

• 1 eggplant
• 4-5 large tomatoes, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 large zucchini
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 lb ground beef (Sunshine Farm Beef available at the Market!)
• ½ t ground black pepper
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 1 cob of corn (sliced off the cob, I know it is hard to justify cutting up that fresh corn and baking it)
• 2 Tbsp chopped basil
• 1 Tbsp chopped oregano
• 1 egg
• 1 container of Sunshine Farm chevre (if we're out, try Sunny Pine's chevre)
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
• ½ bunch of Chard
• .5 lbs of Greenbanks mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a deep 9 X 13 inch baking pan or similar size Corning Ware with glass top.  
2. Put diced tomatoes in a saucepan with the minced garlic and simmer for 45 minutes. 
3. Roast eggplant:  Cut in half, make slits in flesh and sprinkle with salt, let sit for 20 minutes and dab moisture with rag.  Brush with oil, sprinkle with dried/fresh oregano and place with flesh down on cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.  Let cool.
4. Slice zucchini lengthwise into very thin slices.  Sprinkle slices lightly with salt, set aside to drain in a colander.
5. Cook and stir ground beef in large skillet over medium – high heat for 5 minutes.  Add green pepper, carrots and onion.  Cook and stir until meat is no longer pink.  Stir in tomato sauce and basil.  If it gets too thick add a little red cooking wine or water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer sauce for ten minutes. 
6. Scoop eggplant out of peels, chop eggplant and place in a medium size bowl.  Add the egg, chevre, corn and parsley.  Mix together. 
7. Chop chard, place in sauce pan to simply wilt.  
8. To assemble lasagna, spread half of the meat sauce into the bottom of prepared pan.  Then layer half the zucchini slices, half chevre mix, all the chard, then half the mozzarella.  Repeat by layering the meat sauce, zucchini slices, chevre mix, and mozzarella. 
9. Cover with foil or glass cover.  Bake for 45 minutes, increase heat to 350 and bake for 10 more minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes and serve.

I started with a recipe from www.allrecipes.com, then revised itin order to pack in some more veggies and to make use of the products we have here at the market.  I experimented with our own chevre which was a nice touch, not quite the chunkiness that ricotta normally adds but creamy nonetheless.  I used the dill chevre which made this a three herbed lasagna, dill, parsley, and basil.  I must admit it the three complimented each other well but I may suggest using a basil, garlic, or parsley chevre.

This meal would go well accompanied with a mix of salad greens and my seasonal favorite Strawberry-Watermelon freeze.  It sounds fancy, but it's easy to do.  Scoop out the innards of half a watermelon (trying to discard any seeds) and place in a freezer bag for half the day, or longer.  Wash and cut the greens off a pint of strawberries.  Place strawberries and frozen watermelon in a blender and pulse for about a minute and enjoy.  Nice and refreshing after a hot day in the sun.

Market Pizza: Caramelized Onions, Bleu Cheese, and Squash Blossoms

The other day I was working in the market and asked a couple near the cheese cooler if I could help them pick out a cheese.  They said they were looking for cheese for pizza.  I began to explain how we were about to get some mozzarella in, when they interrupted me and told me that no, they weren't intersted in mozzarella but in blue cheese.  They were just trying to choose between the several different varieties we offer.

Blue cheese on a pizza?  I was a bit incredulous.  But they assured me it was delicious:  with caramelized onions and roasted pecans.  I was beginning to see it.  It sounded amazing.

And so that's what we had for dinner that night.  I threw a crust together from the recipe my mom taught me growing up, sliced up a big sweet onion and cooked it slowly over medium heat in lots of good olive oil. Once the onions were all beautifully caramel colored, I spread them liberally over the crust.  I dabbed on big chunks of bleu cheese (I used a mix of different kinds, left over from sampling cheese in the market early in the day).  And then at the last minute, I remembered I still had a bag of squash blossoms in the fridge.  Perfect.  I took off their stems, pulled out their innards (someone warned me they were a bit bitter) and arranged them on the pizza in a starburst shape.  No pecans.  I skipped the nuts since we didn't have any in the house.  (My husband wasn't home from work yet.)

I slid the whole thing onto my preheated pizza stone--which was actually a very inelegant process which ended up smooshing half the pizza.  In the end it didn't matter though.  It was delicious.  The squash blossoms add a delicate flavor that's almost like chantarelles and their texture blends beautifully with the onions.

Local Myth, are you listening?  We have a new pizza recipe for you!

Cooking with Squash Blossoms

SQUASH BLOSSOM QUESADILLAS 
(adpated from Homesick Texan)

12 squash blossoms, stems and stamens removed.
1 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 half an onion, diced
1/8 cup fresh cilantro
1 1/2 cups of Oaxacan, Monterrey Jack or Muenster cheese, grated
6 tortillas (can use either corn or flour)
1 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently wash squash blossoms (there might be bugs inside) and remove stems and stamens. Roughly chop.

Heat skillet to medium and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions and cook for about 10 minutes or until onions are clear.  Add garlic, cilantro, squash blossoms and salt and pepper to taste and sauté for 10 minutes or until all the liquid from the flowers has evaporated.

Remove from heat and set squash-blossom filling aside.

In a skillet heated to medium, melt a tablespoon of butter. Add a tortilla and cook it on one side until it puffs (about 30 seconds).

Flip tortilla over and sprinkle over entire surface 1/4 cup of squash blossom filling and 1/2 cup of grated cheese.  Top with another tortilla, and after cheese has melted and the two tortillas stick together (a couple of minutes), flip quesadilla and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Repeat for the remainder of the filling and tortillas.

Makes three quesadillas.