The colors of summer

My colorful haul for the week: wax
peppers, cucumbers, summer squash,
tomatoes, eggplant, onions,
herbs & spaghetti squash

Today was my first time back at the farm myself in over two months.  What a treat to see the bins of veggies and pick out my produce.  As I moved around the room from cooler to cooler, I noticed a trend in my bags: one was full of greens & yellows, and the other was full of reds, purples, and oranges.  When I make a salad or think about what to serve for dinner, I often try to eat a variety of colors.  I guess I've gleaned information from the FDA over the years that different colors of fruits and vegetables indicate different kinds of vitamins and minerals, so you get more of a balance by eating different plants.  But it was a real treat to see the variety in one week's worth of produce.

"Rainbow ratatouille" with
spaghetti squash

With hurricane Irene on its way, I wanted to be sure to have enough food prepared in the fridge in case I can't cook for a while.  It helps to have something that doesn't need to be heated up, too, but I'm not really big on sandwiches.  So, I went for another batch of ratatouille, but this time I added some of the banana peppers that have been piling up in the crisper of the fridge.  I also picked up a spaghetti squash at the farm today (I'm trying to avoid simple carbohydrates after a summer of Russian dumplings & pastries).  The result was amazing, particularly because of the fresh herbs.  In honor of the colorful bounty this week, I'm calling it "rainbow ratatouille".

1 large Griggstown eggplant, cubed
1 Griggstown zucchini, quartered and cut into 3/4" slices
1 Griggstown summer squash, quartered and cut into 3/4" slices
1 large Griggstown onion, roughly chopped
3-4 Griggstown tomatoes, roughly chopped
3-4 mild or sweet Griggstown peppers, any variety (the more colors, the better!), chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh Griggstown thyme & oregano
Olive oil, salt & pepper

• Salt the eggplant and let drain in a colander for 30-60 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350F.
• Place all vegetables & herbs in a casserole or dutch oven.  Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste.  Mix well.  Bake for about an hour, stirring occasionally.  
• Serve hot or cold, with bread, pasta, or spaghetti squash!  Depending on how large your vegetables are, this could easily serve 8.

For the spaghetti squash (and this recipe works for any other winter squash!)

• Preheat oven to 350-375. Poke a few holes near the stem.
• Place whole squash in ovenproof dish. Bake until soft, turning every 30 minutes or so.
• Remove squash, and let cool until you can handle it. Slice open, remove seeds, and enjoy!

Roasted squash (flattened!)

Even tough squashes are easy to slice
open and seed after roasting

P.S. The farm staff were kind enough to give me a T-shirt for my blogging efforts, so I'm highlighting the produce from the farm that go into my recipes.  As you can see, you can get a very large meal from your CSA farmshare with just the staples you have around the house!