This past weekend I found myself on a 4 hour mission to get to town, buy paint, recycle several months of accumulated cardboard and, hopefully, hit a few farmstands for peaches, corn, tomatoes and peppers…my summertime desires absent from this cool mountain farm.
Since half of the time would be wrapped up in driving too and from town I wasn’t thrilled to find the paint store closed 30 min before I got there. Serves me right for not checking the hours first. But really, closing at noon on Saturday!
On the bright side, I had plenty of time to check out the goodies at 3 farmstands and buy tomatoes, fresh corn, jalapeños, cucumbers and peaches.
We used zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell pepper, corn and jalapeños in our version of Calabacitas
Since then Mark and I have been doing our best to use these veggie treats and last night we whipped up a double batch of Calabacitas. I say we, but really I left him with a pile of veggies to chop while I went down to the farm to do watering chores. I’m so lucky he’s so great in the kitchen!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve made this but it’s one of those really fresh, fast and versatile sides that can easily become a main dish. Feel free to add a little heat with peppers or some spices. Cooking is all about playing in the kitchen.
Of course, we didn’t have the right cheese but a little melted cheddar and cilantro topped it off just fine.
Tonight we’ll be using it as a topping for nachos and if I can get my act together to make some polenta we’ve served it over that before and it’s been delicious.
This is just one more idea for using some of the delicious zucchini from the farm. Let me know if you try it by leaving a comment below.
