Summer Tabbouleh

1/2 cup fine bulgur or 1 cup dried (2 cups cooked) chickpeas 
1 tsp salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup boiling-hot water
2 cucumbers, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1-3 bunches parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint (opt.)
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
½ onion, thinly sliced (opt.)
1 Tbs. toasted cumin seeds (opt.)

Mix the bulgur with the salt and oil and pour the boiling water over. Cover and let sit for 10 min. If using chickpeas, soak dry beans for 2 hours to overnight and boil until soft (up to 3 hours depending on soak time). Run under cold water and remove skins as desired. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill.

Fennel Bean Salad

1 fennel bulb, finely diced
4-6 tomatoes, seeded, juiced drained, and diced
3 cups cooked white beans or cooked fresh shell beans
1/2 cup crumbled feta (or tofu ricotta)
5 kale or chard leaves finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine first 5 ingredients. Toss to mix. Add remaining ingredients and toss again.

Sliced Tomato and Basil Salad

From Sarah Voiland, 2014: “This is how we made our tomato salads growing up. I wanted to clean up dinner those evenings just to sip the juice on the empty salad plate.”

3 ripe tomatoes sliced in big slabs – more colors, more fun 
1 bunch basil or a little less – chopped into ribbons
Olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Optional ingredients or variations: 1-2 cloves diced raw garlic, slivers of pearl onions or sweet onion, fresh mozzarella slices, crumbled feta or blue cheese, a dash of balsamic vinegar, or drizzles of balsamic vinegar reduction, halved cherry tomatoes

You slice the tomatoes in slices like you would put on a sandwich and then lay them out on a plate or platter. Sprinkle with basil. Add any additional ingredients like garlic. Drizzle with olive oil so each tomato gets some. Evenly salt and pepper the surfaces. Serve.

Gazpacho

1 red onion 
3 Red Fire Farm tomatoes
½ medium cucumber
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 ½ cups tomato juice
½ teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine vinegar

Garlic Croutons
6 slices bread
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

Finely chop the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and peppers. Place in a large bowl with garlic.

Stir in the juice, sugar, salt and pepper, and combined oil and vinegar and mix well. Refrigerate. Serve soup cold, with a bowl of garlic croutons.

To make Garlic Croutons: Preheat the oven to moderate. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into cubes. Drizzle with combined oil and garlic and mix well. Spread on baking tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning twice, or until golden brown.

Dekal’s Tomato Bean Soup

Here’s a recipe and notes from a Granby CSA member: “Since tomatoes are here and soon to be more abundant, I thought I’d share a simple recipe…this soup can be made with all seasonal RFF ingredients. We LOVE it. I’ve only approximate measurements, you really can’t go wrong.”

approx. 3-4 lbs tomatoes (seconds come in handy here / also can add a can of crushed/diced) quartered 
1 large chopped sweet onion
approx. 2 quarts of yellow beans – trimmed and cut into 1 inch size pieces
handful of chopped dill
2-4 TBS olive oil
salt & pepper
water (as needed)
grated parmesean cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Heat a large saucepan with olive oil over medium heat. Sautee sweet onion until soft and translucent.
Add beans and sautee a few minutes more.

Blanch tomatoes to remove skins prior to quartering. Add tomatoes to the sautee and let cook for 30-45 minutes over medium heat until tomatoes completely break down.

Add water, if necessary, for desired consistency. add dill, salt & pepper and simmer for 5 more minutes. top each serving w/parmesean cheese and/or a dollop of sour cream if desired. Reheats very well.

Bean and Swiss Chard Soup

From Chelle, a CSA member. She says: “We made this the other night in our crock pot with our most recent CSA pick up and it turned out great so we wanted to share it.”

4-5 cups Swiss chard leaves chopped (stems and veins removed) 
1 zucchini, chopped
1 squash, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (low-sodium works well)
1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

If cooking on a stove top, heat some olive oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic and saute until onions are tender. Add all other ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until chard is tender.

Husk Cherry and Cherry Tomato Salsa

These two star ingredients are often available together in our Pick Your Own fields, so here’s a recipe that shows them off together! You can also add halved husk cherries (aka ground cherries) to your favorite salsa recipe. Thank you to one of our members, Linda, for suggesting this.

2 cups of ripe husk cherries (aka ground cherries) with paper husks removed, chopped in half
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved (or 1-3 regular tomatoes diced)
½ to 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, and diced super small
½ cup diced red onion (can be any type of onion)
chopped leaves from 1 bunch cilantro
1 small clove garlic minced
2-6 tsp lime juice, fresh is nice
½ t salt, or to taste
Ground pepper to taste

Drain tomatoes for a bit if you want a less juicy salsa. Otherwise mix all ingredients in a bowl and tweak flavors as desired. You can hold back on some of the jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper and lime and mix them in to your preference.
Serve fresh with your favorite chips!

Makes about 4 cups. Adapted from a recipe on StraightFromTheFarm.net.

Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Tomato Sauce

1 large spaghetti squash 
2 onions, chopped
5 tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch of basil
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese

Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place face down on a pan with ¼ inch of water and bake for 40 minutes at 350˚.

While baking start the sauce. Sauté onions and garlic and peppers for 5 min on medium heat. Add tomatoes salt and pepper to taste and simmer for the remainder of the squash prep time. Remove squash from the oven and stick a fork into the cut side. The fork should go in easily, but it should not be mushy.

Cool for 5 minutes and using the fork, scrape the strands of squash from the skin, trying to keep them intact. Serve immediately topped with the sauce, the fresh chopped basil and cheese.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

You can stuff peppers with whatever you like: leftover fried rice,  polenta and roasted eggplant, couscous and raisins, etc. Here is a basic recipe with beef and rice. Melting cheese over the top is always delicious. Serves 4.

4 green or red bell peppers 
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
5 Tbs olive oil
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cup of cooked rice
1 lb of lean ground beef *
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbs chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano
Dash of Tabasco sauce or hot sauce of choice
* for a vegetarian option try the equivalent quantity of TVP or lentils

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to boiling water, then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until brilliant green (or red if red peppers) and their flesh slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 ̊F. Heat 4 Tbs of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add meat, rice, tomatoes, and oregano, and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well. Drizzle remaining 1 Tbs oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl, then spoon over filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish.

Place in oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or longer for larger peppers.