Today was cool enough to spend an hour with my voice recorder really looking at how things are doing. In general, it is shaping up to be a good year. Considering how many tomato plants I have, and how humid and hot it has been, very few plants look to be in trouble.
The eggplant and peppers will be spectacular this year, and we will have enough tomatoes to get a good amount of seed saved and conclusions drawn from my various projects. We've really enjoyed the recent explosion of summer squash, and the bush beans should start really coming in once the most recently planted rows get a few weeks under their foliage.
So here is a quickie recipe for something easy to make when the squash start coming in!
Early Summer Pasta
We used our own squash, canned tomatoes from last year, garlic and basil, and red pepper flakes we made from all of our hots last year that we dried and coarsely ground up.
It takes about 15-20 minutes from thinking about it until serving, so is a perfect, light and tasty dish for early summer evenings. Of course, once our own pepper, tomatoes and eggplant come along, it will only get better!
The eggplant and peppers will be spectacular this year, and we will have enough tomatoes to get a good amount of seed saved and conclusions drawn from my various projects. We've really enjoyed the recent explosion of summer squash, and the bush beans should start really coming in once the most recently planted rows get a few weeks under their foliage.
So here is a quickie recipe for something easy to make when the squash start coming in!
Early Summer Pasta
- Put 4 tbsp of olive oil into a large deep non-stick pan and heat over medium-high.
- Chop the following: 1 large sweet onion, 2 sweet peppers (red, yellow or orange), and 4 cloves of garlic. Place into the hot oil - add 2 tsp salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and 1 tsp of red pepper flakes. Stir for 5-10 minutes, or until the veggies are softening and getting limp.
- Get some water boiling in a medium pot and cook some pasta (we use linguine or spaghetti) until al dente, about 8-10 min.
- Thinly slice 4 medium summer squash into slices. Place into the onion/pepper mix and continue to saute over medium high heat, stirring frequently.
- Tear the leaves off of a few sprigs of basil, and drain a 22 ounce jar of tomatoes.
- About 3 min before the squash and pasta are done, add the basil and tomatoes and stir well.
- Drain the pasta and combine with the veggies -stir well until mixed - serve with grated Parmesan Reggiano.
We used our own squash, canned tomatoes from last year, garlic and basil, and red pepper flakes we made from all of our hots last year that we dried and coarsely ground up.
It takes about 15-20 minutes from thinking about it until serving, so is a perfect, light and tasty dish for early summer evenings. Of course, once our own pepper, tomatoes and eggplant come along, it will only get better!
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