On a recent trip to Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch’s Four Season Farm in Harborside (Cape Rosier), I over-bought, as usual, bringing home quantities of slender eggplants, multi-hued and shaped squash, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, baby artichokes, cucumbers, herbs, etc.

I went with a foodie friend, and on the way home we brainstormed dinner: A stop at the market for sweet Italian sausage, some Parmesan and feta cheeses and a loaf of Tinder Hearth bread, along with a couple of bottles of chilled Greek rose. The resulting menu started with some Hahn’s End Cheddar and Italian olives and moved on to sausage-stuffed vegetables, braised artichokes, sliced cucumbers with crumbled feta and warmed bread. Heaven.

The farm is worth a field trip from anywhere. Four Season’s farm stand is open in the afternoons, but check out the website, fourseasonfarm.com, before heading over.

SAUSAGE-STUFFED VEGGIES

This is a rather free-form recipe that you can personalize to your taste. Serves 4.

2 skinny eggplants

2 yellow summer squash

2 zucchini

2 bell peppers

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 pounds sweet or hot Italian sausage, bulk or removed from casings

3 tablespoons rosemary leaves

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Panko or fresh crumbs from Italian bread

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the vegetables in half lengthwise. Use a teaspoon to scoop out some of the eggplant and squash flesh; chop it and reserve. Remove pepper seeds and ribs. Arrange vegetables cut-sides up in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes while preparing the filling.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and garlic, and cook over medium heat until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add sausage and rosemary and the chopped vegetable flesh. Cook, stirring frequently, until browned, 10 to 15 minutes.

Break up clumps of meat with a metal spoon or spatula, or cut with kitchen shears. Spoon off any excess fat. Fill vegetables with meat mixture, and pour water in bottom of pan. Combine crumbs and cheese, and sprinkle over vegetables.

Roast in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until vegetables soften and the topping is tinged with brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

BRAISED BABY ARTICHOKES WITH TOMATOES AND GARLIC

Eliot Coleman grows baby artichokes “partly to show those Californians that they don’t have the monopoly,” he says. He harvests them in the spring and summer months. The globes are not more than 2 to 3 inches long – so small that they have hardly any prickly thorny leaves and no fuzzy choke. Serves 4.

6 small artichokes

4 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)

3 anchovy fillets

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons chopped basil

1 lemon, cut in quarters

Use a serrated knife to cut top 1/2-inch off artichokes; pull off any loose bottom leaves and trim any sharp leaf tips. Trim stems to about 1 inch. Cut in half lengthwise. If there is any fuzzy choke, scoop it out with a small spoon.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Place artichokes in skillet, cut-sides down, and cook over medium-high heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and brown about 5 minutes on second side.

Add tomatoes, anchovies and garlic to the pan. Use the back of a spoon to mash anchovies. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the water and basil, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook, covered, until artichoke stems are tender when pierced with a small knife, 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Brooke Dojny is author or co-author of more than a dozen cookbooks, most recently “The New England Clam Shack Cookbook” (Storey 2008). She lives on the Blue Hill peninsula.