Last weekend it hit us that it had been many days since we checked the rain gauge. 22 days to be exact. And then Hurricane Bill came. Luckily are farm was not hit with the seven inches experienced by our neighbors in Newburyport, we had just enough for everything to get a satisfying drink, around 1.5 inches.
    I hope everyone has been enjoying these last few weeks of hot weather, it was about time we got some good beach days!

Just watched this video on Gourmet.com and it has some really cool recipes for eggplant(unfortunately don't seem simple) but still worth watching.

Chicken Burrito With Carrots, Zucchini And Cilantro
Courtesy of Cookthink

I love burrito nights. If I were to make this recipe I would add in anything that needed to leave the fridge. Everything tastes great wrapped in a tortilla and baked with cheese.

Prep: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Serves: 2-4

1 whole boneless chicken breast
salt and pepper
3 large carrots, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 cup water
4 large flour tortillas
1/3 cup coarsely grated Monterey Jack
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
hot sauce, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F and put a baking dish on the middle rack. Heat 1 cup of water and a splash of olive oil in a medium saucepan over high heat.

2. Season the chicken with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. When the water boils, add the chicken to the saucepan, loosely cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Keep an eye on the temperature: you should see steam coming out of the pan constantly, but not aggressively. Simmer the chicken for 10 minutes then turn it and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 155F, another 10-12 minutes. Remove it from the pan and let it rest on a plate for 5 minutes. Then, shred the chicken with a fork.

3. Meanwhile, prep the rest of the ingredients. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot and shimmering, add the carrots and zucchini and leave them alone to brown on one side, 2-4 minutes. Sprinkle in the cumin and coriander and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spices are toasted and the vegetables soften, 3-5 minutes. Add the water and simmer the vegetables until the water is almost gone, another 3-5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Put the tortillas directly on the oven rack for 30 seconds or so, until they're soft and easy to work with. Remove the baking dish from the oven and drizzle a little olive oil into it. Use a paper towel to coat the bottom and sides.

5. Spoon equal amounts of the shredded chicken and vegetable filling onto each tortilla, then top with cheese and cilantro, reserving half of the cheese for later. Fold one side of the tortilla over the filling, then tuck in the two sides. Fold the tortilla over the rest of the way to close it and seal in the ingredients.

6. Put the burritos side by side in the baking dish. Cook them until the tortillas toast and the filling gets hot, 10-12 minutes. Remove the burritos from the oven and sprinkle the remaining cheese over them. Put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so, until the cheese melts.

This is a leek flower. They are one of the most gorgeous things on the farm right now. I would encourage everyone to grow vegetables in order to experience the beautiful flowers that are rarely seen.

After two weeks of hot, dry weather it seems like we are finally getting a real taste of summer. The First Light crew has been busy recreating our irrigation system which we had barely touched since May, and harvesting everything as fast as we can.

It was a beautiful drive to the farm this morning. But it got hot quick. Make sure to cool your veggies off once you get them home as they will probably be a bit stressed from the heat.

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

This salad is so versatile. I make it all the time and find that it is delicious with any ingredient substitution I make. Like in the winter I tend to fill it with root vegetables but being summer this is my current preferred version.

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant
1 Red or Yellow Onion
2 cloves of Garlic
4 small to medium Beets(optional, will turn orzo red)
1 or 2 small to medium Summer Squash
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 cup of toasted Pine Nuts
1/4 cup of sliced Basil(keep a few leaves whole)
1/4 cup of Feta(I prefer block feta because it holds its shape better)
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
2 Cups of Orzo(flexible)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut all veggies into small chunks. Mince Garlic. Place veggies and garlic on roasting pan or baking sheet. Amount should cover a regular size cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven. Should roast for at least 25 minutes. I usually turn the veggies once. Boil 6 cups of water. Cook Orzo. Toast Pine Nuts in dry pan over medium heat, and while still warm toss with Basil, Feta and Lemon Juice in large bowl. Drain Orzo and toss with previous ingredients. Add roasted vegetables. Garnish with feta and whole leaves of basil. Enjoy!

 

Starting this week I'll be putting the recipe of the week on the blog so that people can respond with their own recipes. I can't wait to see what everyone is cooking.

Last night I made pizza with the large green round summer squash that has been sitting in my fridge for over a week. And it was great. I used to think summer squash was boring but there are so many things you can do with it.
Like: Chocolate Zucchini Cake( a family favorite)

Other recipes I made this week:
Grilled Herbed Potatoes
Cold Curried Carrot Soup

Here is the pizza recipe:
Pizza with Zucchini, Eggplant and Ricotta

Ingredients:
1 cup of ricotta(or enough to cover your dough)
zest of 1 lemon
salt
pepper
1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan
any variety of summer squash or zucchini
any variety of eggplant
2 cloves of garlic
pizza dough(can make yourself, or my version (bought at the grocery store))

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix in small bowl ricotta, lemon zest, salt, pepper, slight squeeze of lemon, and parmesan. Stretch out dough over pizza stone or baking sheet. In pan, saute zucchini, eggplant, and garlic until browned. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over dough, top with zucchini, eggplant, salt, pepper, and a little bit of parmesan. And bake until dough is browned to your liking, probably somewhere around ten minutes.