Too Many Vegetables? Impossible!


(Taken from The Local Harvest 2007.  View this article as a PDF.)

Q: I belong to a CSA – community supported agriculture – and so in the summer can get an overabundance of certain vegetables at various periods. I’m not inclined to preserve them. What else can I do?

Rebecca Martin responds: My best advice is: Eat them! Start thinking of veggies as the main part of your meal rather than a side dish or an accompaniment.

A big pot of soup or vegetable chilli is a great way to use all sorts of vegetables and will also freeze well for another day. One of my favourite things to do with late-summer vegetables is to cut them french-fry style, toss them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and roast them. A good blend is eggplant, peppers, carrots, summer squash, onions and garlic – just be sure to take into account their different cooking times and slice them all accordingly (carrots, for example, should be very thin). This dish is good warm, but is also a delicious salad – I recommend a yogurt and goat cheese dressing.

For vegetables that you have an excess of, such as that giant zucchini, think of ways to disguise it such as cooking and puréeing it as a base for a soup, or baking it into a loaf, muffins or cookies. Beets make a great addition to chocolate cake (be sure they are well puréed) or carrot cake. Don’t be shy about putting all kinds of vegetables in all kinds of dishes – they are glorious, after all!

Rebecca Martin was an apprentice with Root Radical CSA for the growing season. She has also been a cook for a small co-operative café at Trent University.