Summer Farm Share Week 12 brought us many favorites including Patty Pan squash. Yum! It’s not only fun to say but it’s delicious, too. I couldn’t resist buying a couple more since I enjoyed these so much last year. I love all types of squash but I’m particularly fond of the soft-skinned varieties for a quick simmer in the pan. This time I combined the Patty Pan squash with a Leek for a simple simmer that’s super easy to make. Recipe below…
Week 12 of our small summer farm share included (featured photo at the top of this post is a full vegetarian share)…
Sweet Corn – 4 ears
Watermelon – 1 Seedless and delicious!
Green Beans – 1 lb.
Eggplant – 2
Leeks – 2
Patty Pan Squash – 2
Tomatoes – 3 lbs
Onion – 1
Carrots – 6
Blackberries – 1 pint
Peppers – 2
Tomatoes – grape
Cheese – Flat Rock 6 oz
Blueberries – 1 pint
Pizza dough – 2 balls (damaged and will replace next week)
Heirloom Tomatoes (missing)
My half of our small Vegetarian summer farm share (above photo) and what’s left since Wednesday, August 17…
Sweet Corn – 2 ears
Watermelon – 1/2 Seedless and delicious! – partially eaten – wow, so sweet!
Green Beans – 1/2 lb.
Eggplant – 1
Leeks – 1 -we used the one from last week with the Patty Pan from this week in the recipe below.
Patty Pan Squash – 1 – plus 2 more that I bought because they looked so good – ate 1 so far.
Tomatoes – 1.5 lbs of plum tomatoes – I want to roast these this weekend.
Onion – 1 – I think I’ll use this or this week’s leek in the roasted tomatoes.
Carrots – 3 – I bought some potatoes and would love to add to these carrots for some beef soup if it ever cools down enough to eat it.
Blackberries – 1/2 pint – Mr. Carnivore is devouring these.
Peppers – 1 – I have another pepper leftover from last week, plus some from the garden, so I’m thinking stuffed peppers.
Tomatoes – grape – 1/2 pint – holy cow! Between these and the garden bounty, we’re overflowing with bite size tomatoes!
Cheese – Flat Rock 3 oz – this will be great on pizza or pasta.
Blueberries – 1/2 pint – haven’t touched these, still eating plums/peaches from last week.
Heirloom Tomatoes (missing).
Extra…
Yes, I had to have 2 more Patty pan and a jar of Maple Syrup. There’s nothing quite like fresh Ohio Maple Syrup on pancakes or french toast. We lost ours in the great refrigerator incident so I had to replace it. The next day, I stopped at our local fresh market for some potatoes and couldn’t resist broccoli and green beans. What can I say, even when we have so much, I can’t stop my mood eating/buying when available fresh.
RESULTS…
The first thing I made from our farm share was the Patty Pan squash. This is a super easy recipe. I used one of the Leeks we got in Week 11, but you can use any type of onion.
Ingredients
- 1 Patty Pan Squash - cut into similar sized chunks
- 1 Leek sliced in bite sized pieces
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Broth - Vegetable or Chicken - optional
Instructions
- Simmer the chopped Leek in a drizzle of olive oil in a ceramic fry pan. I used the higher walled, 3 Quart Saute pan that would hold a whole leek and a whole Patty Pan Squash without overflowing.
- Simmer the Leek/Onion until they become almost translucent and a few pieces carmelize.
- Add the chunks of the Patty Pan Squash with the Leeks in the pan to simmer with another drizzle of olive oil. Ceramic pans cook hot and don't stick like most pans without using oil, so if you're using something else, be sure to add a bit of vegetable or chicken broth in with the Patty Pan so it doesn't burn. Ceramic pans seem to create liquid from the food, so if the heat is set correctly, very little oil is needed. I use it mostly for flavor.
- Add salt and pepper for your taste -- I happen to love a lot of pepper, so I'm heavy handed with the fresh ground pepper, using a mixture of several types of peppercorns.
- Simmer for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, until the squash is as tender as you prefer. I like my Patty Pan a little crunchy, so I stick closer to 20 minutes, but Patty Pan doesn't get mushy like Zucchini so you can cook it a bit longer. It's also fabulous in soups.
- Enjoy from Dorine at The Zest Quest!
No matter how many different ways I check off what we’re getting in our bag when I pick it up, I always miss something. This time I didn’t even realize I was missing the Heirloom tomatoes until I went to write this post. That’s because the shares are so enormous at this time of year that you don’t feel you’re missing anything even if you are. If it’s blinding for me to sort, I can only imagine what it’s like for the guys packing the bags. Not to mention the high heat and humidity we’ve been having — it’s a wonder any of us keep things straight. I don’t know about anyone else, but that heat affects my brain and eyesight, usually ending with a migraine at some point during the week, and this week it landed on share day.
I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to forge through the photos and cleaning and sorting, then sending mom on her way with her half while fighting the migraine. Thanks to Mr. Carnivore for picking up some soup to go for our supper that night because I couldn’t budge off the couch once I sat down.
We had a mishap with our pizza dough so we got a credit. Things happen and Fresh Fork Market is always so nice about their customer service. I don’t expect anyone to be perfect, but when they’re friendly and helpful, it makes everything so much more fun. I look forward to picking up my share every week, even when I know I have several hours of photography, cleaning and sorting ahead of me. I get cranky on farm share night, so I’m far from perfect, but I still bliss out when the photos are done and we’ve enjoyed some of the wonderful produce. If you’re not being an avid tracker like me and taking photos, the cleaning and sorting goes much faster.
I sometimes forget to mention that the reason I’m getting a one half share is that we divide this with my parents. It works out well that way since the four of us eat out a lot, as well as have active vegetable gardens. We also live close to farm markets and roadside stands so the farm share is never the only food we live on. Although we try to stick to living on the farm share, we’re still mood eaters and stop to pick up something we’re in the mood for here and there.
So far, this week has been hectic. We had some help in the perennial garden, so we took advantage of it and spent a day doing maintenance. Digging up volunteer trees, edging, weeding, mulching, trimming is exhausting, especially in these 90 degrees days we’re having. The only way I survived is I did it in the morning when the area I was working on had some shade and a bit of a breeze. So much more to do but I’m waiting for a cooler day.
Our own Garden Harvest is coming along. We’re now getting a pint full of tomatoes per day from 5 plants. We have 2 Yellow fig, 2 Juliet and 1 Black Cherry tomato plants, which is plenty for 2 people to eat, share and put up for winter. We have about 6 Gypsy pepper plants that are producing much slower but they’re really crammed into a small space with Kale, Parsley and Basil. All of this is in approximately a 4×8 feet sized garden.
We had all kinds of appointments this week and it looks like next week will be more of the same. We spent some time with our grandchildren who proceeded to beat us in softball. Lots of laughter and playing more games was a nice way to end the week.
Needless to say, there wasn’t much cooking going on. We’re eating lots of the fruit for breakfast, lunch and snacks, but the veggies aren’t getting the attention they deserve. I have to squeeze them into my schedule somewhere, but three days after pick up day I’m still trying to figure out how.
I’ll get there and report on it next week, but I wanted you to get the Patty Pan recipe while it’s fresh picking! Let me know if you try it. 🙂
