October is my favorite month for cooking.  The days are getting shorter, so it feels ok to start sooner on dinner.  And of course it’s finally not as hot here.  I have a makeshift outdoor kitchen on the deck and never use the stove or the oven in the summer, but by this time of year it’s actually chilly enough by 6 p.m. that heating up the real kitchen feels nice and cozy.

The real reason I love October cooking is the overlap between summer and winter vegetables that occurs for a brief time between now and whenever the rainy season starts.  We never know when this transition from summer to fall in your CSA boxes will end.  We harvested the last of our Gypsy Peppers yesterday, which have been abundant for months.  And we are working our way through our final planting of Green Beans for the year, although they may hold on until next week.

But the tomatoes keep surprising us:   We almost never remove our tomato fields before the first real rain — or Halloween, whichever comes first.  So despite pronouncing tomato season finished last week, this week I found a planting that has miraculously produced a late flush of ripe fruit: an older planting of San Marzano Romas that hadn’t been picked in over a month. We also are watching the last planting of Sweet Corn, planted on August 15th, to see if it will actually mature.  We’ve never had corn this late in the year, so we don’t even know what to expect.

Meanwhile, the Fall/Winter crops are coming into their own just as the temperatures here are starting to feel appropriate for them.  You’ll see the number of Leafy Greens increasing now:  Arugula, Spinach, Kale and Chard trading places or teaming up each week.  We’re still a few weeks away from our first Lettuce as we had to delay planting due to the extreme heat in September.

Brassicas get rolling now as well, with the first Cabbage in your boxes today.  In my house, we eat store-bought cabbage all summer because slaws are such perfect summer side dishes.  But our winter cabbage is usually milder and crunchier than the stuff we buy during the summer.  And in addition to the slaws, we start to add cabbage to stir-fries and soups, where it soaks up flavors and infuses them throughout the dish.

To celebrate this overlap season, try pairing Cabbage with Green Beans and Gypsy peppers in a stir fry.  Make a quick pasta with roasted tomatoes and big piles of Arugula. Or how about a curry (Thai or Indian) with sweet Corn and spinach.  In another week or two, summer’s flavors will be gone until next year.

Thanks,