August 13th Market

It is my favorite time of the year, tomato time! Our tomatoes are full on and I love them all! I love making Bacon, Arugula, and Tomato sandwiches! I eat one every day for lunch in tomato season. I also love to slice our Hanover tomatoes about an inch thick sprinkle them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, top them with mozzarella and fresh grated parmesan cheese and roast them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. I garnish with our basil micro greens and it is the easiest side ever! I use our cherry tomatoes in everything! I slice them in half and use them in stir fries. I slice them in half and make fresh tomato salads. Everyone loves Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes and Red Onions at my house and boy, it is so easy! When the cherry tomatoes are rolling full throttle and we have more than we can sell, I make my famous Fresh Roasted Sun Peach Tomato Sauce and can it for the upcoming winter.

This is so easy! No pealing the skin, no messing with seeds, we use the whole cherry tomato! Pre-heat your oven to 400. On a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, I spread the tomatoes in one layer and sprinkle olive oil and salt and pepper on top of them. Roast them in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Pull them out of the oven and put them in your blender throw in a handful of basil leaves and blend them up! You can either can the sauce on the spot or put it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Don’t be scared of canning, it is easy, trust me. I use the water bath method found here. I usually can a ton and give them as Christmas presents and use the sauce throughout the year. There are so many ways to use the sauce.

A a cup or so of milk or half and half and warm it up for an awesome tomato soup.
Use it as a sauce for spaghetti or lasagna.
Use it as a dipping sauce.
Use it for a fresh pizza sauce.
Use it to make parmesan chicken.
Use it to make egg plant parmesan.
Use it to top polenta, gnocchi and ravioli.

A few hours in the kitchen makes for a wonderful winter when you can savor the flavor of fresh summer food. Another bonus, you are done making homemade tomato sauce for the rest of the year!

Egg Plant is in abundance now and I am so excited! Our egg plant are so beautiful and there are so many wonderful healthy ways to eat these!

Martha Stewart is one of my all time favorite recipe writers. Her breaded eggplant with arugula and parmesan is out of this world! It is so simple and the addition of the our arugula makes this dish outstanding. When summer vegetables are in abundance, one of my favorite dishes is ratatouille, this one is topped with smoked havarti cheese, one of Matt’s favorite cheeses. It includes egg plant, zucchini, squash, and whatever else you have. You can’t go wrong and it is a super healthy way to eat the best of summer!

One of my favorites is Eggplant Lasagna! It is very easy. Rather than the sauce in the recipe, I use my roasted sun peach tomato sauce above. Fresh ingredients are key, I recently found out that Goats R Us (across from us at market) also makes ricotta cheese! Her cheeses are the highest quality and are awesome in this dish! The trick is to pre-roast the egg plant so the dish isn’t too watery. I found this recipe on YouTube and tried it out. It is great! Matt loves his meat so I added sausage from Black Boar Farm. They have a great product and they are right at the South of the James Farmer’s Market (click on the link to find the map) down from us. Tell Dennis we said, “Hi!”.