I have been living a ridiculously tomatoey life, and love it.

I probably eat about 3 tomatoes a day. I cant help it. They are SO good. Between my plants, the CSA and my dads garden, I just really dont have a choice. Darn. Here is what Ive been doing with them. Mostly sammies, but some salads and stir fries as well.

Perfect makins for a perfect sammie: Fried sprouted bread (in BUTTER), counrty dijon, raw cheddar and a tomato.

Tomatoes with EVOO, pepper, basil.

Green zebras and yellow tomatoes on goat cheese.

More sammie awesome.

I think the goldies are my fave. A close second: striped german. YUMMY!!!

Fresh tomato tart and CSA picnic.

For black pepper parmesan pastry (adapted from epicurious)

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons VERY cold unsalted butter, grated
• 2 tablespoons cold lard
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

1. Blend all ingredients except water.

2. Add water very slowly until it holds form.

3. Press into tart shell and bake at 375F for about 30 min.

For filling

6 oz goat cheese, blended with 2 T chopped tarragon and 2 t country dijon.

About 4 sliced tomatoes (I used lillians yellow and red slicers)

Tarragon, pepper and parmesan for garnish.

1. Slice tomatoes and set in strainer so extra juice flows out.

2. Spread goat cheese mix in bottom of tart shell, gently!

3. Top with tomatoes.

4. Garnish... done!

Pics of the farm:

Rows of cabbages.

Onion curing area.

Me being vain. :)

Pretty flowers everywhere.

Little sisters Bday cake.

Sarah turned 8. I made her cake.

It consisted of chocolate cake, raspberry cake, chocolate buttercream, raspberry buttercream, royal icing decorations and all kinds of fresh, pink flowers from Emily and Ben at Mile Creek Farm (CSA providers).

I made the cake and buttercream ahead and assembled it the night before, then did the tiers and decorations before the party. I also made the royal icing decorations (with sparkle powder) the night before so they had time to harden.

Check it out!

I made it onto the Kitchn's website! Woot.

Cherry brandy and brandied cherries?

Brandied cherries:
1 cup H2O
cinnamon stick
cloves
maple syup
1. Boil for about 5 min, then add 1/2 cup brandy!
2. Place cherries in a jar and cover with mixture.
3. Let sit for 2 days, or a few months...

Cherry brandy: sqish cherries into a jar and cover with brandy. Hide for a few months.

Hopefully these will both be ready by Xmas...

Peach, berry and bacon "clafoutis"...

Crust is made from ground almonds and butter.

Layered with cmbly bacon (just a little), sliced fresh peaches and black raspberries.

Sort of a deep clafouti/tart. Batter is egg whites, butter and some coco flour.

Oh and the middle pic I put the crust on top... that was better b/c it got crispy.

Gazpacho with roasted tomatillos and basil cream.

3 tomatillos, roasted at 400 for about 20 min.

3 med tomatoes

half a bell pepper

half a cucumber

half an onion

1 garlic clove

dash tabasco
1. Add everything to blender... blend!

Basil Cream

1 cup cream

1 cup basil

1. I used a stick blender but you can use a food processor.

Serve: Spoon gazpacho into bowl, drizzle with basil cream and mix in some avocado chunks! YUM.

Pesce spada alla Norma.

Pasta alla Norma, but with swordfish. YUM.

Pesce Spada alla Norma

1 4 or 5oz swordfish steak, cooked however you want (I broiled mine with some lemon).

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, salted, drained and pat dry.

1 small red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

4 celery tops, minced

1 cup basil leaves, cut in chiffonade

2 T tomato paste

Sprinkle of oregano

Goat cheese

1. Het some lard in a nonstick pan over medhigh heat. Fry eggplant in lard until soft and golden. Make sure the lard is good and hot so the eggplant wont just sop it all up. Having the eggplant WELL drained and pat VERY dry also helps. I used about 2 T lard and had some left when the eggplant was done. Trust me, if you do it right, you wont have oil sponge eggplant yuck.

2. At the last few seconds, sprinkle oregano onto eggplant so it wakes up a little. Remove eggplant from pan.

3. Turn heat to med. Add onion to pan, cook for about 2 min. Add tomato, garlic and celery tops to pan. Let cook about 10 min until tomato is soft and breaking up.

4. Add tomato paste and a little water to dissolve. Heat for a couple mins.

5. Add basil leaves at the last minute and serve. I put in on top of swordfish steaks but you can do whatever sounds yummy! Sprinkle goat cheese on top (supposed to be ricotta salata but I really like goat cheese).

CSA Week 10