Dear WCM Shopper,

Long beans by Linda E. Nelson

Life is betta with bruschetta made from Market ingredients – or any recipe made with Market goodies. Bruschetta is the perfect summer appetizer to have with a glass of wine on the patio, deck or wherever you unwind. And with a Madison Sourdough baguette and basil, tomatoes and garlic also from Market vendors, you have a simple to assemble and delicious appetizer.

Slice the bread, brush with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet for toasting under the broiler until lightly browned. Top with chopped tomatoes (remove seeds first), minced garlic (use lots!), chopped basil, pine nuts and finely grated mozzarella, and then return to the broiler until the cheese melts and browns a bit. Serve at once since it’s best straight from the broiler.

Tomatoes and basil are among the plentiful goodies at the Market these days, along with zucchini. Pick up some extra zucchini for Sunday, which is National Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. Add a copy of this newsletter with shopper Jean Tews’ Summer Sauté recipe, which can be made with Tomato Mountain salsa and fresh produce from a range of vendors. As a thank-you, Jean will find a $5 Market gift certificate waiting for her at the Information Tent. Anyone else who has a recipe using Market vendors’ products is invited to send it to kalliosandra@yahoo.com or drop it off at the Information Tent with your contact info.

Anybody have a great dessert recipe using Door County Fruit Market apricots, plums or peaches? Last week, Jim and Crystal Barnard of Egg Harbor had yellow plums and those extremely sweet “Doughnut” peaches that look like their name.

Other fun fruit includes the oblong yellow Asian melons from Mike and Cassie Noltnerwyss’ Primrose Community Farm  of Cross Plains, which tastes like a cantaloupe but with a little crunch and not quite as sweet, and – from Vang Yang of Madison — ground cherries to pop in your mouth as a snack.

Among the colorful produce last week was the purple basil from Abraham Bauman’s Real Foods of Athens and purple bell peppers from Bill and Cathy Mayr’s Countyline Plants and Produce of DeForest.

Shoppers this week also likely will find more apples, beans, beets, blueberries, bread and other bakery, broccoli, butter, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cauliflower, cheese, cherries, chicken, crackers, cucumbers, dry beans, eggplant, eggs, fish, flowers, fresh-cut herbs, garlic, green onions, greens, honey, ice cream, kohlrabi, leeks, meats, milk, muskmelons, onions of all sorts, pasta, pattypan squash, peas, plants, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, summer squash, sweet peppers, tomatoes, turnips, watermelons, yogurt, zucchini and specialty products.

Among the specialty products to check out this week will be the focaccia from Sandy Hunter’s Dolci Italian-American Sweets, who’s on an every-other-week schedule at the Market. She’s best known for her flavorful biscotti but the Italian flat bread sounds great, too.

Recipe Corner

Summer Sauté

Shopper Jean Tews says this is a favorite summer vegetable recipe she makes several times a summer and adds, “This is a very flexible recipe and amounts of ingredients can be varied as one prefers.”

• 2-3 small 6-8 inch zucchini cut in ½ inch pieces
• 2 ears of corn, kernels cut off (or 1 cup frozen corn)
• 1 small red or green pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½-1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 to 2/3 cup salsa, mild, medium or hot 

Cook all vegetables plus garlic in large skillet over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add seasonings and salsa and continue to cook 2-3 more minutes until vegetables are tender crisp.  Serves 6.

Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash

This is a combo I love as a side dish or topping risotto.

•  Olive oil
• Zucchini, sliced
• Yellow summer squash, sliced
• Marjoram
• Sage

Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté zucchini and yellow summer squash until done as desired, sprinkling with a generous amount of fresh or dried marjoram and sage.

Invite your friends and neighbors to the Market: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at Hill Farms State Department of Transportation parking lot at the corner of Segoe Road and Sheboygan Avenue, one block south of University Avenue and one block west of Hilldale Shopping Center.

Tell them to bring the kids to play along with Moldy Jam, the Market house band that plays in fair weather at reasonable times (not before  9:30 a.m.).

WCM offers free coffee for shoppers and invites all to stop in at the WCM Information Tent to fill out a chance to win the raffle for a $5 WCM gift certificate.

Until next week,
Sandy Kallio
for the Westside Community Market

Send recipes to: kalliosandra@yahoo.com