Mountain Bounty CSA
Today is the kick off day for the summer veggie share for Mountain Bounty Farm. The hard working farmers are exciting to share another season full of amazing locally grown fruits and veggies. To sign up for the veggie, fruit or flower share click here. Nevada County is full of amazing farms, so whether you’re getting a CSA or shopping at one of the local farmers market, there are lots of opportunities to support the local farmers, click here for a link to the Nevada County Grown Farm Guide. The Mountain Bounty CSA is available outside of Nevada City, click here for a list of their pickup locations. Our friends at the Mountain Bounty have offered up a week’s veggie share to one lucky Outside Inn blog reader (see conditions below), please post a comment on this blog post on your favorite summer recipe and I’ll draw the winner on Monday, June 3rd.
*Veggie Box must be picked up in Nevada City before September 1st, only eligible for new subscribers.
© 2013 InnSide Nevada City
We love veggies!! Summer recipe? This is so embarrassingly simple, but this is what is in our fridge all summer long. Honey mustard dressing for salads, steamed veggies, dip (the kids LOVE it. Measurements are a bit arbitrary, tweak to taste – and higher quality ingredients yield a better dressing, but whatever is in your pantry will fly:
1/4 c Olive Oil
1/4 c Vinegar (we use white balsamic)
2 T Mustard
2 T Honey
Pinch of salt
Put it all in a little mason jar and shake it up. Stores well for several days. Also great with a little garlic, squeeze of lemon, or thyme.
Oh that sounds so simple, yet so delicious.
I am learning all kinds of new ways to get my veggies in. Trying to live a healthier life for me and my special needs son. All new info appreciated!!
Thank you!!
Grilled with lemon juice, olive oil and garlic or just cut up and put through my new juicer!
Yum….
Well we just made the decision to get a CSA tonight! Sure could use a starter box!! Hint hint nudge nudge….
I like your subtle hints… if you want to come visit next week and help me draw the winner I’d be happy to see you….
Roasted veggies in the oven with just olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Yum…can’t go wrong. Have you tried the new olive oil shop in Grass Valley?
I just noticed the shop. Haven’t had a chance to visit yet. I will very soon.
I always love dropping off and picking up veggies and fruits to share at “the cart” at The Outside Inn. I’ve had some wonderful local grown veggies and fruits from that cart over the past few years.
My favorite summer recipe is:
Fresh picked cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers sliced and tossed together in balsamic vinaigrette dressing topped with some blue cheese crumbles, yum!
Can’t wait to pick up some fresh veggies, my favorite time of year!
Blue cheese, my fav!!!!
I like roasting veggies in olive oil, salt and pepper. Add a whole roasted garlic head, toss and serve with herbed risotto. Yum!!!
I love the simplicity of this idea… yum.
thanks for the gorgeous photos and sweet information you provide in your blog posts.
always looking forward to the next one.
keep up the great work!
Thanks Kelly… Our town is just ripe with amazing people, places and things to do, I feel like I’m the lucky one to live here.
Man those veggies look SO scrumptious. I want some. Favorite recipe?? Summer is for CORN & Watermelon! I love homemade corn on the cob. Nothing fancy. But a home grown tomato with some salt and pepper & avocado is also delicious.
I agree that homegrown tomoates are really in a league of their own.
My favorite summer treat is caprese salad, fresh tomatoes, basil, mozzarella cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper and a garnish of balsamic glaze! Yummy!
Ohhhhh I would LOVE to try a box of these veggies! My favorite summer recipe is anything grilled, but I also love making handmade pizza dough – but leaving the pizza blank. Then making a salad and placing the salad on top of the pizza slices – its a refreshing summer pizza! So easy and DELICIOUS!
Love that idea!
For summertime, I adore making this super easy, fool-proof ratatouille.
2 large eggplants
2 yellow onions
3 bell peppers
6-8 medium zucchini
4 large tomatoes
1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
3-4 sprigs thyme
1/4 cup loosely packed basil, sliced into ribbons
Extra basil for garnishing
Salt and pepper
Peel the eggplants, if desired, and chop them into bite-sized cubes. Transfer them to a strainer set over a bowl and toss with a tablespoon of salt. Let the eggplant sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Dice the onions and roughly chop the peppers, zucchinis, and tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Mince the garlic. The vegetables will be cooked in batches, so keep each one in a separate bowl.
Warm a teaspoon of olive oil in a large (at least 5 1/2 quart) Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until the onions have softened and are just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the peppers and continue cooking until the peppers have also softened, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the onions and peppers to a clean bowl.
Add another teaspoon of oil to the pot and sauté the zucchini with a generous pinch of salt until the zucchini has softened and is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the zucchini to the bowl with the onions and peppers.
Rinse the eggplant under running water and squeeze the cubes gently with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible. Warm two teaspoons of oil in the pan and sauté the eggplant until it has softened and has begun to turn translucent, about 10 minutes. Transfer the eggplant to the bowl with the other vegetables.
During cooking, a brown glaze will gradually build on the bottom of the pan. If it looks like this glaze is beginning to turn black and burn, turn down the heat to medium. You can also dissolve the glaze between batches by pouring 1/4 cup of water or wine into the pan and scraping up the glaze. Pour the deglazing liquid into the bowl with the vegetables.
Warm another teaspoon of olive oil in the pan and sauté the garlic until it is fragrant and just starting to turn golden, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, whole sprigs of thyme. As the tomato juices begin to bubble, scrape up the brown glaze on the bottom of the pan.
Add all of the vegetables back into the pan and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Bring the stew to a simmer, then turn down the heat to low. Stirring occasionally, simmer for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 1/2 hours. Shorter cooking time will leave the vegetables in larger, more distinct pieces; longer cooking times will break the vegetables down into a silky stew.
Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Just before taking the ratatouille off the heat, stir in the basil. Sprinkle the extra basil and a glug of good olive oil over each bowl as you serve.
Leftovers can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for up to three months. Ratatouille is often better the second day, and it can be eaten cold, room temperature, or warmed.
Caprese
Local fresh ripe Tomatoes
Fresh Thai Basil
Fresh Buffala Mozzerella
Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Imported Balsamic
Fresh Ground Pepper
Sea salt
Chopped beets salad
This is the best way to eat! I love all of the recipes! And I also love “the cart” at The Outside Inn…and I miss its owner:)
The cart is a community wide supported agenda, no “owner”, but I get the subtle hint my friend!
We love veggies, and one of our favorite snacks are Kale chips:
Toss the kale with a mixture of cashew butter and olive oil, then sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. We prefer cajun seasoning and garlic. We bake them at 175* until crispy. They disappear fast around here!
I love that my son loves kale chips, always a great healthy snack option.
Love going to Outside Inn to pick up our Mountain Bounty yummy CSA box. I just mentioned Outside Inn in an email and recommended it as a place to stay for our Southern California friends. Among other things, I said it was a very ‘community-oriented’ place. It was thru your blog I found out about ‘Treats”. My husband and I have been there 3 times since. We love being able to go out and get a good-tasting,gluten,dairy free ice cream cone-especially with it being so hot. Thanks for letting me know.
I love hearing these sorts of things!! Treats is indeed a dangerous place, although the new treatsicles are a great cool treat for these warm summer days. Thanks for sharing about the Inn, community oriented is true… we love Nevada City and want to support our community as a whole.
Veggies get put into every meal, sometimes I have to snick them in. When we need a special crunchy treat we make kale, beet, and/or carrot chips.
One of my summer time faves is Gazpacho. I like the traditional style recipe most of all, but making it with watermelon is a wonderful addition. It is such a refreshing recipe to make when using up a surplus of summer’s harvest. Combined with a salad, it’s divinity. On that note, my favorite salad is arugula, hearts of palm, olive oil, italian herbs, lemon juice, and pecorino cheese.
Watermellon, hadn’t ever thought of that, and now you’re making me hungry!!!
Fresh tomato cucumber salad! One of our summer staples 🙂
You might laugh at this one! Truly one of my fave summertime eats is watermelon topped with salt. Yup, that’s it! Slice up a watermelon and add salt to taste. It’s the perfect combo of sweet and salty!
Gotta love summertime. Yum!
I’m not laughing, I’m thinking, “what a great idea.”
Kale chips for sure!!!
One of my favorite summer recipes I picked up while living in Italy is a pear and gorgonzola risotto.
good italian olive oil
shallots
arborio rice
cubed pear
plenty of good gorgonzola and parmigiana
Next to a nice salad, heavy on the arugula, I am one happy girl!
tomato/basil/nectarine salad
sun gold tomatoes (halved)
black cherry tomatoes (halved)
sliced nectarines/peaches
chopped thai basil (any type of basil will work)
olive oil drizzle
toss, serve room temperature. delicious!
So many wonderful recipes!!! Early spring/summer is such an inspiring time to eat locally! Starting the season out right with a fresh salad of tender butter crunch lettuce topped with thinly sliced Japanese radishes, crunchy, sweet carrot, tender, freshly picked grilled asparagus, goat feta and topped with a lemon garlic scape vinaigrette.
Moving on to the season of solanaceae crops and our favorite heirloom tomatoes! Of course a plate of rainbow colored sliced heirlooms topped with fresh olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper does the trick! However who can resist fresh from the garden salsa?
Heirloom Tomato Salsa
1 small onion
1/2 green pepper
small bunch cilantro
3 minced garlic cloves
chili pepper to taste
1 T. Nevada County honey
salt to taste
1 lb. heirloom tomatoes, chopped (ie. Black Krim, Valencia..)
1/4 lb. sun gold cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 lb. paste tomatoes, diced
Then here is the harvest of the fall…I love Delicata Squash simply thrown in the oven and baked until brown and easily pierced with a fork. So sweet! No butter required! Or how about a Butternut Coconut Curried Soup? Yum! I’ve also done an amazing squash soup with Kabocha Squash and Butternut, baked and blended. Mixed with Sauteed chopped walnuts, red pepper, and watercress. So simple and so good! That’s a winner! (Not to be presumptuous!) And for dessert…when you are up to your ears in zucchini, break down and bake a chocolate zucchini cake! Your kids will suddenly LOVE zucchini!!!
Sorry, it’s just impossible to choose a single favorite when we are blessed with such bounty! Thank you for bringing the community and good food together in such a fun way!
I love greek salad in the summer!
romaine lettuce
kalamata olives
cucumber
avocado
red pepper
salt
pepper
fresh squeezed lemon juice
olive oil
vinegar
Bummer, so upset I missed this giveaway!!!!
Sad I missed the giveaway, too!