The frost last Saturday morning was hard on our tender crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, zucchini and flowers. However, we still have lettuce growing, along with arugula, red and golden beets, green onions, and even raspberries.
The crops really coming into their own, though, are the cole crops—kale, broccoli and cabbage. Yes, we have some large cabbage heads available this week, a few broccoli heads, and lots of kale. Did you know that frost and colder weather make kale sweeter? We used to have a farmers market customer who always froze her kale before eating it!
Besides the items already mentioned, we have a very few tomatoes this week and lots of peppers, summer squash and zucchini picked before the hard frost. See a recipe below that features sweet peppers.
Roasted Peppers with Garlic and Herbs
4–6 sweet peppers, halved and seeded
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried basil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place peppers, cut side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Divide the garlic cloves among the peppers. Sprinkle with oregano and basil and season with salt and pepper. Roast peppers until the flesh is tender and the skin is blistered in spots, about 35 minutes. Transfer peppers to a platter and serve.
