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What to do with all that U-pick produce?

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You may head out to a U-pick farm with the intention of getting only enough fruit or vegetables for dinner, but odds are you’ll come back with more. Maybe a lot more. My kids couldn’t resist the rows of tiny tomatoes, yellow pearls and tiny red cherry tomatoes like Christmas decorations, and kept filling their bags and hats and baskets with them. (And raspberries, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, red peppers and eggplants...) What to do with it all? I made a quick pasta (at left) with at least a pound of the halved tomatoes, torn basil (bought at the farm stand for this purpose) and spaghetti, simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black pepper and a little grated Parmesan. More ideas after the jump.

Red cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, $1.99 per pound U-pick at Underwood Family Farms, 3370 Sunset Valley Road, Moorpark. (805) 529-3690; www.underwoodfamilyfarms.com.

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Eating your produce out-of-hand is probably the best and easiest idea; there are also the options of canning, preserving and freezing, as well as making soups and conserves. Here are some other ideas for a surfeit of four favorites:

Too many apples? Slice them and sprinkle with a little lemon juice (to prevent discoloration) and a bit of cinnamon; load a pastry crust with a pound of apples and bake a pie, fragrant with brown sugar and cinnamon; make applesauce, with a little clove and Calvados; slice a crisp apple and pair it with frisee, toasted walnuts, duck confit if you have it, a sherry-walnut oil vinaigrette; roast a pork loin on a bed of sliced apples, sprinkled with sea salt, cracked pepper and a bit of apple cider; caramelize apples, butter and sugar in a saute pan, then fill crepes or spoon over ice cream.

A surfeit of pears? Add caramelized pears to a frangipane tart; thinly slice wedges of pear and add to a salad of endive, toasted pecans, goat cheese and a simple vinaigrette; roast quartered pears with Cornish game hens, thyme and lots of garlic; poach whole peeled pears in red wine, simple syrup and spices.

Pecks of peppers? Roast peppers over a flame, then add to harissa or romesco sauce; roast peppers for a tomato-herb panzanella; stuff peppers with caper-studded tuna salad; pickle sliced peppers in vinegar, white wine and Schezuan peppercorns; add peppers to spaghetti sauce; thread quartered peppers onto lamb or duck kebabs; make rouille, the Provencal red pepper sauce, to serve with bouillabaisse.

A carload of pumpkins? Quarter small pumpkins and roast with butter and sea salt; bake them whole, then puree the cooked pumpkins and add to pies, cheesecakes, custards; fry thin slices of pumpkin for tempura; make pumpkin soup and serve it in the hollowed-out pumpkin; candy slices of pumpkin in simple syrup, then serve with walnuts and whipped cream; practice Halloween carving.

-- Amy Scattergood

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