Our Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA bag was full of ripe summer tomatoes last week, after a slow and soggy start to tomato season here in Virginia. Unfortunately, we were leaving town the day after our pick-up. Of course, that was also the day we got the notice that the boxes of surplus canning tomatoes were available, and I was feeling panicked at the thought of not putting up tomatoes this year and faced with a pile of tomatoes we certainly wouldn’t be able to finish before leaving. I had recently seen a recipe for tomato jam and decided that was the perfect project for the night as it mainly involves simmering on the stove for a couple hours, giving me time to pack. A huge thunderstorm kept the boy awake so I put him to work slicing up the excess cherry tomatoes we also needed to use up. (Using a kid-safe knife, of course.)

I made slight alterations, using turbinado sugar and a touch of honey and a splash of Virginia’s North Gate Petit Verdot that was also in need of using up. (Not that I couldn’t have used a glass or two, but it would’ve made it even less likely that I would get all our luggage packed that night.)

For the recipe, see: Tomato Onion Jam by Jennifer Perillo/Tasty Kitchen. My alterations: 1 1/2 cup raw (turbinado sugar) and 1/4 cup raw honey, omit the brown sugar. Add 2 tablespoons red wine in lieu of lemon juice.

This weekend was the Canvolution kick-off — a nationwide effort to restore the art of preserving food, launched by former Washington Post blogger Kim O’Donnel and a host of other food writers and bloggers. Visit the Canning Across America website for a host of canning resources and advice, particularly this great article on canning with kids.

The highlight of my first mother-son canning experiment was seeing the pride in my son’s eyes as he handed his aunt and grandma their jar of jam, declaring, “I made this myself!”

What have you canned lately?

We’re already more than a third of the way through our CSA season, and we’ve finally left the abundant leafy greens behind and moved on to the baby vegetable phase. Well, there were some full size sweet onions this week, but everything else seemed perfectly sized for the toddler — baby beets, baby yellow squash, baby potatoes (white and blue), and even a few small tomatoes. One of the things that surprised me our first year with our CSA farm was the lag in the bags behind what’s at the market. Something about quality over quantity, yada yada yada. (Seriously, the farm’s vine-ripened tomatoes are worth the wait, but some weeks can be a little frustrating.) Faced with a shortage of fridge supplies after a week away, the hodge podge of veggies, cheddar from our “emergency” stop at the Wednesday King Street Market for some of Mr. Tom’s cheese, and some random pieces of meat unearthed from the freezer, I came up with this summer veggie nacho supper.

Recipe: Mid-Summer Nachos with Squash and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag tortilla chips*
• 1/2 cup tomatillo salsa*
• assorted chicken pieces, diced
• 1 sausage, preferably chorizo but I had Italian
• 1 large or 2 small yellow squash, halved length-wise and sliced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions: Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and crumbled sausage, cover with salsa and cook until meat is cooked through. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, spread tortilla chips on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with half of the shredded cheese and arrange squash, tomato and onion over top. Spread meat over and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Place under broiler and cook 4-5 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Cool slightly and enjoy! Makes 4 servings.

*Chips and salsa from Las Glorias at the Crystal City/Crystal Farms Market.

One Local Summer is an annual challenge in which people around the world join together for 13 weeks of seasonal eating, supporting local farmers and exploring their local foodsheds. Visit FarmtoPhilly on Tuesdays for the weekly round-up; here’s what my neighbors in the Southern region cooked up this week.

spring onions, originally uploaded by foodietots.

The market was in full swing this past weekend. A warm, sunny Saturday morning brought out summer-like crowds. The first strawberries were available from Virginia’s Three Way Farms, where I also picked up asparagus, spring onions and white radishes. Maryland’s Toigo Orchards was back with hot house tomatoes and baby cukes, plus ever-popular apple and cranberry cider samples. (One of the few times we allow the toddler to have juice.) I got a bag of arugula from another Maryland farm, and wood ear mushrooms from the mushroom lady.

For our (local) Sunday dinner, I made a spring onion potato gratin to accompany our grilled NY strip steaks (first grilling of the season!), and roasted asparagus. Friends brought a Barboursville Cab Franc (2005 Reserve) that was excellent. Dessert was the strawberries, macerated in lemon thyme, lemon zest, a pinch of sugar and balsamic vinegar, alongside creamy cambozola cheese and Ficoco (fig and cocoa spread).

The gratin was adapted from an Epicurious recipe. It is a lighter version that doesn’t have the usual cream and cheese, but was still wonderfully creamy and rich. (It does have a lot of butter, so not entirely low fat by any stretch.)

Recipe: Spring Onion Potato Gratin

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 bunch spring onions, bulb and bottom inch of green stems, thinly sliced (tops of stems reserved for later use)
2 T fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme)
10 T butter
2/3 c dry white wine
2/3 c water
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400* and lightly oil a large shallow (13×9) baking dish. In saute pan, melt 6 T butter over medium heat. Add shallot, spring onions, thyme and a pinch of salt and cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; saute until onions are tender and begin to brown. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, water and wine to skillet; bring to boil then remove from heat.

Toss potatoes with onion mixture and another pinch of salt, making sure potato slices are coated with liquid. Spread evenly in baking dish. Cover with parchment paper (press down on top of potatoes) and then foil. Bake 50 minutes, then remove foil and cook another 15-20 minutes, until top is golden.