Guest Post-Another view of a veggie basket

Thanks to Tiffany for the following post with yummy ideas on how to use your veggies from the baskets.
Typical baskets at this time of year hold a whole lot of food, likely around 15 or more items. What to do with it all ?  Here you go...
And ps. Thanks for the education!  Conserva? I thought it was a typo, but as it kept appearing I sensed not.  Now I know!  (recipe for conserva here .... minus the cheese for Tiffany.)
And to both my fantastic guest bloggers and great cooks, Leslie and Tiffany....I'm open for dinner invites at your convenience!
(I'm starting my planning for next year's CSA- drop me a note if you are interested, information will be on the website in early 2012.)

Conserva on puff pastry, and we have....

pizza! With added tomatoes and garlic.

Most weeks, I look at my basket brimming with Linda’s veggies as a challenge. 

What can I do with them to do her hard work justice? 

Greens are easy. Her hardier collards and kale are usually stir-fried, my favourite way to eat them.

Chard is turned into the filling for the easiest-ever tart. 

Peppers, well, the creative well ran a little dry so it was either salads or stir-fries, too. 

But her tomatoes this year were the recipients of most of my creativity. 

I jarred sauce. I made conserva. I oven-dried some and their salty sweetness makes them as easy to eat as candy. In fact, after 12 hours of dehydrating in my oven, I almost didn’t think I was going to have anything to show for my hydro bill and time because I nearly noshed the entire first batch.

When I finally managed to exercise some restraint, I sealed them in a freezer bag and tucked them behind some local strawberries I froze in time earlier this summer. 

My tomatoes three ways have left me smitten and missing summer already. Fortunately, I have the season saved in mason jars and baggies.

And memories. I made some of the most amazing roasted tomato soup with Linda’s heirlooms. Easiest soup ever. I dressed roughly chopped tomatoes in olive oil and salt, put them in the oven at 450F and after 40 minutes, I had the rough outline of what would be soup. 

A hand blender would make it happen and Linda’s gorgeous basil — a temperamental plant in my world but an herb that clearly does as Linda wants it to when growing on her farm — took the soup from good to summer in a bowl.

One of the simplest meals to make, though, is pizza. It’s rare that I order out for pie, mostly because of my freakish dairy restrictions. If it’s not goat, it’s really no good for me.

With my conserva beckoning me in the fridge, I broke out the last roll of puff pastry in my freezer, thawed and unrolled it; a blank canvas for the night’s meal.

I brushed on my conserva, knowing full well it’s a fancy word for tomato paste and wasn’t really pizza sauce, but I didn’t care. It was packed with summery flavour and that’s really what I was craving as I slathered it on the crust.

I sliced some of Linda’s tomatoes, roughly chopped some of her garlic and blanketed it all with goat’s mozzerella. 

Perfect. 

But one veggie of hers isn’t allowing me to make that claim, no matter how much attention and care I devote to it.

I’m always thrilled with I see tomatillos in my basket. I have visions of salsa verde in my head when I see their husks peeking through the pile of other goodies.

I scrub all their stickiness off their beautiful lime green skins and roast them. Blend them. Add garlic, onion, chilies and cilantro.

But it never fails. It always turns into gelatinous goo. 

I’m convinced the tomatillo hates me. 

Unrequited love bites. 

Oven ready tomatillos

Roasted and yummy!