WILD HARE WEEKLY, SUMMER #9

Did you know that we grow more than 40 varieties of tomatoes at Wild Hare? Well, you do now. This afternoon, we kicked off this week's harvest with a preponderance of really gorgeous Roma Tomatoes, aka Paste or Sauce Tomatoes. We'll pick colorful cherries, meaty slicers, a handful of heirlooms, and surely have some seconds and splits at the farmstand this week. But, seeing these beauties laid out on our tables ahead of tomorrow's CSA distribution, I wanted to take a moment to bust a myth, clear the air, and spread the good word about Romas. Even though they're considered sauce tomatoes, you can use Roma Tomatoes for more than just sauce. Yep. They're are actually perfectly tasty for fresh eating. They lend themselves toward saucing, because they tend to have a higher ratio of flesh to juice than other tomatoes, meaning that you don't have to spend the extra time boiling out and reducing down extra liquid. Our Romas tend to be firmer and almost gummier than our slicers, but they're plenty sweet and flavorful. Griddlers Gourmet Grilled Cheeses like to use them for their magical tomato soup for this reason, but meanwhile, I watch my friend Christie, owner and purveyor of green goodness at Green Heart Smoothie chow down handfuls of them totally raw just about every week. So go ahead, snack away, cut them into your salads, slice them onto sandwiches, make fresh salsa or make sauce. Whatever floats your boat on a given day. Conversely, you can make fine sauces with any sort of beefsteak or heirloom tomato if you cook it down, and Cherry Tomatoes (when we don't sell them out from under ourselves) are one of our favorites to toss with a simple bit of olive oil, garlic and angel hair. My point? Don't get hung up on the names or types too much. Just enjoy them any which way you like. This week, we're living on Cucumber and Tomato salads of all kinds in our house, including Samin Nosrat's super satisfying Summer Panzanella, linked in the recipes below this week.

If you're one of the folks who bought plants from us earlier in the season and you find yourself overwhelmed with your bounty in the coming weeks, you can set aside time to can. We don't have time to bust out the water bath canner every week anymore (oh sick irony of ironies), so more often than not, we'll pick the stems off and toss the tomatoes into a freezer bag or container for winter soups and sauce. No peeling, no seeding, no cooking ahead of time--just lazy and blissful deferral that brings about major joy right about February. That's self-preservation as much as anything.

Cheers,
Katie

PS: If you're one of our share members who selected the two or three payment option, keep an eye out in your inbox this week for a reminder invoice from us. I hope to have them all sent out by the end of the weekend. Thank you!

Tomatoes
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Zucchini and/or Summer Squash
Carrots
Plums
Blueberries

SEASONAL RECIPES & TIPS

SUMMER PANZANELLA
Samin Nosrat, Salt Fat Acid Heat

• ½ medium red onion, sliced thinly

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• torn croutons (recipe linked)

• double batch of tomato vinaigrette (recipe also linked)

• cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved

• small tomatoes (about 8), cored and wedged into bite-sized pieces

• 4 persian/lebanese cucumbers, stripey peeled** and cut into 1 cm slices

• 16 basil leaves

• Flaky sea salt

CONTINUE TO RECIPE

CHILLED CUCUMBER SOUP WITH AVOCADO TOAST
Melissa Clark, NYT Food

• 1 pound cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise and seeded

• 2 cups buttermilk (or use 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt plus 1/4 cup water)

• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and smashed

• 2 anchovy fillets (optional)

• 2 small whole scallions, trimmed

• ½ jalapeño, seeded, deveined and chopped

• ½ cup packed mixed fresh herbs (like mint, parsley, dill, tarragon, basil and cilantro)

• ½ teaspoon sherry or white wine vinegar, more to taste

• ¾ teaspoon kosher sea salt, plus more to taste

• 4 slices baguette or other bread, toasted

• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced

• ½ lemon

• 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

• Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 ear of corn, shucked, kernels sliced off

• Fresh dill, for serving

CONTINUE TO RECIPE


BLUEBERRY CAKE WITH ALMOND & CINNAMON
Alison Roman, Dining In

• Nonstick spray, for the pan

• 1 cup almond flour

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon

• ¾ tsp kosher salt

• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• ½ cup light brown sugar

• ¼ cup plus 3 tbsp granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 ½ cups blueberries

CONTINUE TO RECIPE

SUMMER SQUASH PIZZA
Smitten Kitchen

• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for fingertips

• 1 recipe pizza dough (linked)

• 2 1/2 pounds (about 5 small-medium or 3 large) zucchini or other summer squash, trimmed

• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

• 2 cups (8 ounces) coarsely grated gruyere cheese

• 2 to 3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs

CONTINUE TO RECIPES