It's peak season for summer veggies in the PNW where I live. That means some long days in the garden, followed by many hours in the kitchen cooking with and preserving all our fresh produce. It makes me happy!
This morning I made zucchini-carrot-apple muffins for breakfast (posted about it on the What Are You Baking thread). These were served along with home-made yogurt and home-grown strawberries.
After breakfast I made 3 quarts of gazpacho for the freezer, and I'm experimenting with dehydrating some excess kale for future use in soups.
What are you growing? What are you harvesting? What are you cooking and/or preserving?
Thanks to the pandemic, our vegetable garden is larger than ever. We are in the Central Valley of California, and are blessed with really good growing conditions and a long season. Five different kinds of tomatoes (all three of the larger varieties are a bust this year, with cat facing that has gone crazy), three different peppers, a couple of eggplants that were supposed to be Japanese but are some kind of variegated globe, three Kirby cucumbers, some bush green beans, two kabocha, three spaghetti squash, three mystery squashes that sprouted in the compost pile that we transplanted, and about 10 purple okra plants. We had planted napa cabbage but they rotted in the ground, and we learned that it's too hot in the middle of the summer here for globe radishes, so we'll try some more as the weather cools. We had modest success, at best, with carrots. We also planted some winter melons but have yet to harvest any.
So far we've harvested over 200 pounds of produce, almost half of it cucumbers. I've put up a lot of pickles and given away more. Mrs. ricepad has been making easy salads with the grape tomatoes (sliced in half and mixed with some basil chiffonades, diced red onion, small chunks of mozz, and dressed with balsamic and olive oil), and I'm trying all kinds of things with the okra (tempura three times, ohitashi a couple of times, curry with some eggplant and a can of garbanzo beans, gumbo, and frittatas/omelets, among others).
We are planning to store a lot of the squashes as a hedge against produce shortages this fall and winter. I'm canning (pressure) some green beans for the same reason, even though we typically don't eat a lot of canned green beans. And in the last couple of weeks we've been trying to decide what to start for a fall/winter garden.
I have to say that your crop looks beautiful!
@ricepad
Your garden sounds awesome! I'm no fan of canned green beans either, and currently am in the throws of pickling or freezing our bean pick. Green beans also make tasty tempura.
I screwed up and forgot to plant grape tomatoes this year; they would have been nice to have. But we have a lot of slicing tomatoes, and it'll be canning season any day now. Lunch was tomato-basil sandwiches on homemade sourdough.
I have lots of tomatoes (plum, big beef type, cherry); eggplant; okra; squash; and coming later, tomatillos and potatoes.
Tomatoes I generally dice and can for use in soups and stews. Cherry tomatoes often get dried with some herbs. Eggplant, sliced, blanched and frozen for parm or something else. Squash, usually eaten or given away. Okra, usually eaten or sliced, blanched, and frozen.
@tcamp
Any good ideas for the potatoes? We've harvested over 60 lbs. so far, with more coming this fall. We gave some away, but have the bulk stored in cardboard boxes, under brown paper, in the garage. I'm thinking of using up some of them to make broccolini soup for the freezer (have too much broccolini, too). Good problems to have, I guess, but I've never had a creative solution for preserving spuds other than storage.
I've only harvested some red thumb fingerlings that were somehow volunteers this year. I must have some last year. I'm leaving potatoes in the ground as long as possible. One variety still has decent looking plants. I heard on a tv garden show that leaving them in the ground after the vegetation dies back helps skin cure for better storage. Here in NH our attached garage is a pretty good storage place since it rarely gets below 45 or 50. I have not tried dehydrating potatoes but would consider making potato flakes. There's a good recipe for zucchini and potato gratin so you might find you can sub broccoli.
Today might be get off my duff day and I can't get back to garden work until tomorrow. Planning to make a crustless zucchini and tomato pie (I think it might be a Bisquick Impossible pie recipe). The freezers still have things from last year so tomatoes will get canned and I will possibly can tomato sauce. A friend doesn't think it's worth the bother. One variety of paste tomatoes has weird vertical splits. I've never seen that happen before and better note the variety as never grow again.
I should try dehydrating some kale for soups. I have an over abundance of self sown kale in my high tunnel. I have already promised to donate most to a friend's goat herd. I just have to cut it and drive it over. Wonder where my husband puts the brush cutters. Some of the kale is about 4 feet tall with sturdy stalks.
I'm very glad that I put in a third planting of sugar snaps because they are ready now. First planting was dinner for some furry varmints. Second planting was too sparse. This one looks good. I suspect I didn't water #2 planting often enough. Will also try a version of Lebanese green beans and tomatoes due to too many Romano type green beans that got a little large. A stir fry of ground pork and green beans last week was delicious.
There are some things that are a must do each year and one is Sweet Red Pepper Relish that is water bath canned. My husband doesn't care for pickles unfortunately but likes the relish. Our daughter-in-law makes excellent zucchini relish. Might make some salsa that can be waterbath canned.
@dfrostnh
Ditto the call for ground pork and green beans! Sichuan Green Beans are on my meal plan this week.
Also a WaPo recipe for Lemon Potatoes With Beans and Feta: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipe...
I love potatoes so I prefer to store in the coolest spot I can find, then use in various ways. But I have watched some youtube videos on canning them. Maybe some day.....
Spicy pickled green beans are an excellent use of beans and make excellent presents for fellow pickle lovers.
Another idea for an abundance of potatoes: I make a (blended not chunky) vichyssoise that freezes well and makes a welcome (hot) soup in the winter.
By the way, I could hardly bear to read this thread because I have zero garden and I miss growing and eating my own vegetables :-(
Perogies.
There's also a make ahead mashed potato that can be frozen that contains cream cheese.
My cabbages were doing great until something started eating them. I made this recipe a couple of times this summer because it is so good. http://www.forloveofthetable.com/2011...
As usual I have more cherry tomatoes that anyone could eat so tried this recipe which also used some of our cukes and green beans. https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/g...
This recipe uses a lot of squash and peppers www.aspicyperspective.com/sizzling-ca...
I have canned almost two cases of marinara sauce with our tomatoes supplemented with seconds from the nursery where my husband works. He brought home 20 lbs on Friday so first up is a batch of tomato porcini sauce and with the rest another batch of marinara sauce.
I make dilly beans with the French filet beans and plant a small cucumber variety to make cornichons. I have one watermelon on a long vine. Enough flowers to get another but despite being pollinated no action :( I will use the watermelon to make pickled watermelon rind.
We're buying dairy, grains and protein at the store these days, but otherwise trying to rely on the garden for produce as much as possible.
Breakfast today was a tomato-cheddar scramble, alongside fried potatoes with crispy onion bits. Sometimes I'll swap out the tomato in the scramble for grated zucchini or finely chopped broccolini.
Mid-Atlantic gardener here. Our garden is also larger due to the pandemic and food distribution issues earlier this year. We had a super hot July and a strange rain pattern so some things are doing great and others not so much.
The not so great: lost most of our eggplant (last year was fantastic); our basil died in the heat, our second corn planting got knocked over in a storm, and our melons did not produce.
The rest of the garden is great. Tons of peppers both hot (5 types) and sweet (4 types). Summer and winter squash going strong. Cucumbers both Japanese long and Marketmore are producing. Green beans and tomatillos are good too. We also have a LOT of grape, cherry. plum and regular sized tomatoes. Earlier we had fennel, lettuce, kale, broccoli, leeks, onions, and collards. Hoping to do a fall planting of greens next week after the newest heatwave breaks.
We have about 100 jars, so far, of pickles, cucumber relish, salsas - tomato and tomatillo, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup, eggplant pickle, pickled hot peppers and corn relish. We froze corn, roasted hot peppers and whole tomatillos. Creole sauce is today's canning project. Dehydrated leeks and small plum tomatoes. I'm tired of canning so the rest of the tomatoes will go into jars crushed or whole. Can't complain too much though the saddest day of the year is the day we no longer have fresh garden tomatoes to eat.
"... the saddest day of the year is the day we no longer have fresh garden tomatoes to eat."
True dat.
@rosepoint
OMG! It's fantastic!! Kudos to you! So much work, so much satisfaction! We live in town, and grow in raised beds and/or behind deer fences. We grow veggies and berries for two people with plenty to share, and this year planted a young orchard. I thought we had our plates full - your household is swimming in produce! Lovely!
Our tomatoes are just coming in to full swing.
And YES to fall planting. We're on our second wave of leafy greens in the green house for transplanting soon: lettuce, spinach, kale. We'll be wintering over some of that, along with broccolini, peas and potatoes. Looking forward to brussel sprouts this fall, as well.
Today I made a small batch of broccoli & leek soup for the freezer, and a carrot salad.
Thank you for starting this thread! I have attempted converting my yard into an edible garden numerous times over the past 15 years. I've planted herbs, tended trees, and attempted at vine or two, all with varying levels of success. Each time, I was overwhelmed, the upkeep too challenging.
This year, prior to the Covid lockdown, I ripped up my front yard, planned then planted a beginner's herb and vegetable garden. I cut it into 12x12 plots. What is the saying, timing is everything? It worked! We have been eating out of our yard for the past 6 months.
Black kale, chives, garlic chives, spring onions and leeks, striped beets, Easter egg radishes, tomatoes, berries, collards, Swiss chard, mint, bays, bok choy, Japanese eggplant, parsley, cilantro, geraniums, thyme, sage, rosemary, squash, cucumbers, snap peas, passion fruit, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, lemon verbena, lemongrass, basil, wild fennel, lavender, apples, lettuces, arugula, artichokes, peppers, edible flowers, figs and strawberries.
My most successful crops have been cucumbers, tomatoes, Serranos, and kale. I am learning as I go. Before next season, I will mulch and mulch and mulch again. And hope to have an even more successful harvest.
Noting that there's also a Gardening "community" on CH where you all might find interesting posts. https://www.chowhound.com/gardening
I have zero veggies, tomatoes or greens this year since I was healing from a hand-injury just during best (container) planting time. My perennial rhubarb, chives and mint have been enjoyed fresh, and I've got just one 4 c. frozen portion of rhubarb remaining that will become an end-of-summer / early-fall upside down cake.
I've got tons of green beans and zucchinis, and a good steady supply of grape tomatoes, swiss chard, turnip greens and peppers, and an occasional eggplant.
I plan to make lobio satsivi with green beans and walnuts.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/beakersa...
I also plan to make lubia polo/ loobia polow soon.
https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes...
I'm a mid-Atlantic gardener too, but my summer crops were largely a bust for various reasons. I do much better with fall and even winter (sometimes employing row cover or plastic covering). I do have a lot of shiso/perilla, and I really need to cut it before it seeds. I'm thinking I might try shiso kimchi again, but I have yet to master it, and it does not last long like a traditional kimchi.
I've also tried this Japanese preparation, but i have doubts about its lasting power as well. How much shiso can two people consume, really, but I hate for it to go to waste. It is really best fresh.
https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/go...
I've never grown shiso. I guess it does ok in our humid swamp?
Absolutely--it is all over Great Falls, hence my attempt to grow it responsibly. I love the flavor, but it is definitely invasive. I have a Korean and Japanese variety. Using it as a wrap for something grilled and meaty (even if not meat--mushrooms for me) is my favorite use of it. I planted it once and it has come back since, because I always miss some seed.
Reading all these posts makes me wonder if anybody has ever planted something without having any idea what they were going to do with it? We kind of had that situation with the okra we planted this year. Mrs. ricepad planted it because it was supposed to have really pretty flowers (pale yellow with burgundy centers), but for me it was kind of an "Iron Chef" moment. The pods themselves are purple, but turn green during cooking. I had never cooked okra before - I've only EATEN it twice before! - so when she planted it I wasn't sure what to do with it.
Over the past couple of months I've managed quite a few hits with the okra, and even better yet, no misses.
These days 90% of what I plant are vegetables I would be buying.
I stopped growing the things I don't end up using (barely grow any radishes or turnips the last few years).
I still grow 3 or 4 new vegetables, herbs or new to me varietials. This year, the new things were a wasabi arugula, a wild arugula, mustard greens, and mini kabocha squash.
I don't grow onions anymore because they are cheap at the market and take up to much space.
I am happy my 2 poblano plants are giving me over a dozen peppers a week, since poblanos are costing $4.99 Cdn / lb.
I stopped giving sage any space in my garden.
Thanks!
My Wasabi Arugula hasn't been doing that well, unfortunately! Haven't used any yet.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bona...
My mustard greens are doing well!
I'm pretty sure I have wild arugula which is self seeding in my NH garden. This summer I let one plant go to see. Thanks to the long stem flower stalks it is probably 4' in diameter and much loved by what I think are honey bees.
Have you tried haurkei turnips which look like white radishes? Last winter I bought a very expensive watermelon radish at a December farmers market. I got some seed but didn't plant. One of my neglected tasks this year. But it seems to be a good storage variety.
I planted too many tomatoes and now quite a few are going to waste.
My dad never grew potatoes because he said harvesting them was backbreaking and a sack from the farmer was practically free. He did grow onions and garlic though, and I have fond memories of plaiting/braiding them and hanging them in the shed for a winter's supply. No peppers though, partly climate (though we did have a greenhouse for tomatoes), and partly, no doubt, because my dad had no idea what a pepper of any sort was!
ricepad - Would you be willing to click on over to the Weekly Menu Planning discussion and list your okra successes / recipes? There are a few folks struggling with CSA bounty. https://www.chowhound.com/post/weekly...
A few years back, spouse planted sorrel (the red veined type) as sort of an ornamental border thing. Once I figured out what it was, I was thrilled. It literally grows year round in the mid-Atlantic and great in salads.
We're still getting green beans, and had a good potato harvest earlier this year. Last night I made an Ellie Krieger recipe for Lemon Potatoes With Beans And Feta. Yummy. I put the recipe in my "keeper" file.
Last night's dinner from the garden included the Sichuan Green Beans and an Asian influenced cucumber salad. Served with rice and sticky chicken thighs.
Here's today's breakfast from the garden: sourdough scallion pancakes with a broccoli-rice scramble.
Those pancakes look beautifully lacey! Would you please share your recipe?
Sure! From the Serious Eats website:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...
My sourdough starter is 50% flour and 50% water. If you don't keep one, you could probably sub the 185 grams of discard called for with half flour and half water.
Thank you! I do keep a starter, although a small one (50gms). How assertive/essential is the dashi flavor? I don't keep that ingredient around. I'm definitely going to try these without in any case.
I didn't find it too assertive, but it's there. A few drops of sesame oil and soy sauce would work bring out the Asian flavor profile, and could easily be used instead.
I forgot also to mention sometimes I add an egg to the batter, just depending on how I feel. The ones in the picture had the egg added.
If you're feeding your starter regularly, it wouldn't take long to accumulate enough discard.
We're swimming in scallions, and having these again tomorrow for breakfast.
Post you're feedback (and a photo?) once you've made them! :)
Garden veggies for tonight's Thai Beef Salad.
I tried an chicken & rice filling in my zucchini last night. The filling was based on the filling for the stuffed tomatoes in this article. https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/pos...
I have lots of green beans. These are the Lebanese -style green beans, with tomato, cumin and cinnamon, that I made Friday.
My third planting of sugar snap peas is a winner and at peak right now. First planting was eaten by a critter. Second planting was too skimpy and probably not watered enough. Last night I made a chicken stir fry with sugar snaps and a single patty pan squash from the cookbook Wisdom of a Chinese Kitchen. Very good. Some bell peppers are turning red. Arugula sylvetta which has self seeded around should make a nice salad with some lettuce. I also have hakurei turnips and I'm trying to decide the best way to use the last of Honey Drop yellow cherry tomatoes. I'm thinking of a shredded snap pea and pasta dish from Six Seasons and throwing in the cherry tomatoes. I have some lemon flavored linguini I brought home from Italy and I'm really not sure how to use it. I hope our daughter-in-law is using all the zucchinis I let her take because suddenly the squash bugs invaded and production practically stopped. I had just made a wonderful zucchini lemon quick bread that my husband loves and had planned on trying a zucchini chocolate cupcake recipe. Poona Keara cucumbers are now over producing.
For those nearing hysteria with the annual zucchini glut, here are a few ideas from Nigel Slater:
And just think - since you have probably given lots away already to neighbors and family, you can give them more if you call them "courgettes" rather than zucchini! Nobody will want them if you call them "vegetable marrows."
Here's my way of dealing with the zucchini deluge: pick them while they're young.
Every once in a while one will get away from me, and I'll make and freeze zucchini bread from the over-sized bugger, but for the most part, I pick them while they're the size of a shoe-horn, with the blossom still on.
Our favorite way to eat them is grilled - we can eat a whole stack of the little ones at one sitting.
We eat a lot of veggie scrambles during the summer. Today's version was broccolini and brie. Served with seasoned, roasted spuds and shot of gazpacho. Six different veggies from the garden in all (seven if you count the garlic in the gazpacho). I feel supercharged with veggie power this morning!
Very nice! Are the potatoes home grown too?
Yes. :) We accidentally went overboard on the spuds this year and have a ton already harvested, more in the ground to harvest late fall, and more going in the ground next month to winter over for an early spring harvest. Have any good potato recipes?
Do you have an Instant Pot? Amy & Jacky's website has a great recipe for roasted potatoes that we like better than oven roasted because the insides are still moist. Around here a traditional family meal is "Chinese Pie" which is ground beef sauteed with onions layered with a can of corn and topped with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. The story is the name came to NH with Canadian immigrants who worked on the railroads where Chinese cooks served this kind of meal.
Let me know if you want a recipe for zucchini and potato gratin. It requires fresh oregano.
Microwave potato torte is colorful and tasty. Previously posted here on CH
https://www.chowhound.com/post/dinner...
Greek Roasted Potatoes - many of us tried and liked the version from COTM Food of the Greek Isles - recipe described here
https://www.chowhound.com/post/july-2...
and ingredients for a half recipe (8 x 8 pan, or larger if prefer to spread them out)
1.5 pounds potatoes - if using new potatoes half/quarter. If using regular potatoes, peel & cut in 1.5 inch cubes
1/4 C. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tsp.)
3/4 tsp. dried Greek oregano
1/2 tsp. salt (and ground pepper, too, if you want)
1/4 C. chicken broth (or beef broth or chicken stock)
2 1/2 T.Fresh lemon juice
Garnish – 1- 1/2 T. chopped fresh oregano
A nice pandemic lunch (no shopping required). Green salad from the garden with onion and herbs. Home-made vinaigrette. A tin of Alaskan smoked salmon from the pantry.
Another garden veggie laden dinner: Bon Apetite's Fish Pie. I was able to use up zucchini, tomatoes, leeks and potatoes. The fish (halibut) was caught by my husband last summer - we had it filleted and vacuum-packed - this is some of the last of it. The dill in the recipe was gleaned. So, in my quest for self-sufficient eating, this one ticked all the boxes.
I still have a lot of green beans.
I plan to make Georgian lobio satsivi, which calls for green beans, garlic , vinegar, walnuts and cilantro, tonight.
Wow, cool. I often find myself in a green bean rut. This looks like a nice change of pace.
I make the Greek fasolakia a lot, and I'm tired of it, so I've been experimenting this year.
I plan to make a Hungary green bean soup soon. Something like this.
https://culinaryimmigration.com/recip...
Or maybe a Transylvanian green bean soup with bacon
https://www.thebossykitchen.com/trans...
One more green bean soup, a Hungarian cream of green bean soup
https://www.thespruceeats.com/hungari...
Prima:
I made (loosely) thebossykitchen's Transylvanian Green Bean soup today for lunch – delicious! I was able to use up some of our green beans (from the freezer), tomatoes, onion, carrots and scallions. I used chicken stock as the base, and finished it off with sherry vinegar and a good dose of paprika.
Thanks for the lead – I’ll be making this part of regular soup rotation.
I like to make/water-bath can a roasted tomato puree out of our tomatoes. Then, in the summer, when I have fresh kale and basil, I like to make ricotta-stuffed shells with cheese and greens. Cukes, marinated in vinaigrette, on the side.
MunchkinRedux "more going in the ground next month to winter over for an early spring harvest." Never thought about doing that. Wonder if it would work here on the Cape.
The Sun Gold have been very (EXTREMELY!!) prolific and I have a few volunteer cherry tomatoes as does my neighbor so I have been making this burst tomato spread. https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/5-ingre... It is very good. I have about 2 quart of tomatoes picked already so am thinking of doing 4 oz jars in the pressure canner since I don't think it is acidic enough for the water bath.
AGM:
We're in a maritime climate. We winter-over the potatoes in a cold frame. I'm going to the co-op for seed potatoes today, which means we'll plant them in about 4 weeks.
Our cold frame has 3 seasons:
In early spring, we keep it closed and use it to house our larger starts and any over-flow from our green house.
By late spring, we'll start clearing out the early starts, and seed corn starts in pots there. Eventually we'll transplant the corn starts directly into the ground in the cold frame. When the corn starts hitting the lid, we take the lid off for the season (the front panels come off, too, when we need the access).
Once the corn is finished (mid-August, usually), we have a bit of a lull until fall, when the potatoes will go directly into the ground with the lid back on.
And so it goes...
Also the raspberries have been producing decently without too much loss to the spotted wing dosphilia so my DH has been making raspberry vodka.
I like a meal I can put together using pantry staples and whatever is fresh in the garden. Fried rice is often just that.
This Bon Appetit recipe calls for charring the broccoli, scallions and rice. I made a half recipe as breakfast for two today, throwing in a can of tiny Oregon shrimp at the very end.
Today's scramble was broccolini, dill and feta. Served it with homemade sourdough toast, an assortment of jams, and gazpacho.
This was my first year growing broccolini, and I planted too much. It's been a struggle to keep up with eating it fresh (not a fan of frozen). This morning I small-diced up an entire half-sheet pan's worth and roasted it with olive oil, salt and pepper until crisp-tender. It reduced to a little over 2 cups, is pretty tasty, and I can see easily using it as filler in all kinds of dishes.
sorry, I haven't looked up the zucchini potato gratin recipe yet and here's another Instant Pot recipe. https://lexiscleankitchen.com/instant... I used Red thumb potatoes and kale from the garden. Although the chicken was a little dry (I used boneless thighs), the kale and red onion cooked in the balsamic vinegar broth was wonderful. Even my kale hating husband thought it wasn't bad. I have a massive amount of kale that volunteered in part of my small high tunnel. It's a very ordinary common variety that I promised to donate to a neighbor's goats. I need to borrow my husband's brush cutters to cut the stalks of the biggest plants.
Fall is here!
Yukon Gold spuds, butternut squash puree, green beans, applesauce, carrots, ham. Everything but the ham came from this year's garden.
I made an inauthentic spaghetti all'amatriciana with black forest bacon, homegrown grape and roma tomatoes, a homegrown zucchini and some garlic and red onion from the farmer's market.
Fall salad greens for a chicken dinner: lettuce, cukes, shallots, carrots, peas.
Expecting our first frost last night, I dragged my lazy butt outside to pick all the sweet peppers. I only had one plant of jalapenos and something ate all the peppers! I've had some critter damage to some of the other peppers but not every single pepper taken. Anyway, I also picked probably the last of the zucchini and poona khera cukes, sugar snaps (just a final handful) etc. Anything made from bell peppers will be on the menu although I will probably cut up most of them for the freezer. Popular options are: unstuffed pepper casserole, steak and pepper subs for lunch, sweet red pepper risotto. Not excited about making pepper jelly this year but come to think about it, I better check to see if I have sweet red pepper relish left over from last year.
More shredded zucchini muffins, cupcakes or bread needs to be made. Favorite recipe this year is lemon zucchini bread. Most recent was chocolate chip cupcakes but if I make the recipe again, my husband asked that I use peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips. I have a recipe for zucchini pancakes that taste like carrot cake that I haven't made in awhile. Lots of options just not lots of energy but I'll regret not doing something when November rears its dreary head.
LOL! This time of year can be exhausting! :) Stuff is winding down, but there's still plenty coming in, and work to do: sorting, putting by, figuring out how best to deal with it. On the one hand I'm ready for a break, but agree that come winter I'll be so sad when most of it is over, and I'm scrounging in the yard for rogue onions and leafy greens. Still getting zuccs, peas, peppers, broccolini, shelling beans, tomatoes and onions. The cukes and green beans are breathing their last breathe. We have carrots, scallions, brussel sprouts, lettuce, and spinach planned for late fall harvesting. Picking raspberries and apples, and the grapes and pears will be ripe soon. We'll have to clean up all the beds by late fall. In December we'll get a break, and be back at it in the greenhouse in January.
Salmon-zucchini-scallion cakes for breakfast. This was a pantry-friendly version using canned salmon, but it could easily be made with fresh. Served with lemon-dill mayo, garden spuds with scorched shallots, and home-made ketchup on the side.
In honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, yesterday's harvest became her beloved husband's ratatouille.
Food project weekend for me since I was solo without spouse around to grouse about a totally messy kitchen. We didn't quite get to frost temperatures but I harvested the last of my basil, peppers, tomatillos, and tomatoes. Peppers (poblanos and Jimmy Nardellos) mostly got roasted for the freezer. Tomatillos and a few serranos got roasted for green salsa. Basil was made into pesto for the freezer. Still pondering what to do with the 5 giant crook neck squash that I was not expecting (I planted asian pumpkin seeds which were clearly mislabeled or mixed up).
You might have lucked out with the squash. It looks like this hard to find variety https://www.rareseeds.com/store/veget... Baker Creek says it's a good keeper. I grew something like these one year and agree with the butternut description. It was nice to have the long seedless necks. Should work well in any recipe calling for butternut squash.
I ran across the exact same squash at an Amish Farmers Market yesterday. They were labelled "Neck Pie" squash. The proprietress said they make fabulous pumpkin type pies. One of the squash I gave away via FB Buy Nothing went to someone who made pie of it and likewise raved about "the best pie she'd ever made." So, making puree out of one today.
Today's scramble: leek and broccolini with havarti, alongside homemade sourdough toast.
We have 3 Asian pear trees. Two of them - a Korean and a Shinseiki - are young and not yet producing. Then we have a 4-way, which is a little older. This is the 2nd year that one has produced, although production hasn't been consistent enough for me to say what's-what yet. I'm thinking we got 3 of the 4 varieties this year, one of which is a Mishirasu. These are HUGE, but not my favorite for eating out of hand. I'm experimenting today with drying them. So far, pretty tasty - like candy. :) If it works out, I'll dehydrate the rest of the pick, and then maybe try baking with the dried pears. Waste not - want not!
I dehydrate small pieces of apples which are great added to my morning microwaved oatmeal with raisins and a drizzle of maple syrup or honey. Pears should be great, too. I would suggest doing a batch of diced pieces rather than slices so you can add to things like muffins. King Arthur Flour used to sell dehydrated apple bits.
Good idea on the dicing. The dried pears came out nicely - very sweet, and I like dried texture texture better than fresh. I was thinking I would snip up the slices with scissors for baking, but dicing before drying is probably the better way to go. I've half-a-dozen of those giant pears to process, and hope to get them into the dehydrator in the next day or so.
Our fall fruit is ready for harvest! Little golden Asian pears, Honey Crisp apples, Himrod grapes. Also (not shown) some Pristine apples. What we don't eat out of hand, we'll either juice or dry.
Harvest day for the grapes. 64 lbs, including stems. I used a steam juicer and made a little over 22 quarts of juice. We like it unfiltered.
Ultimately I ran out of canning jars (anything over 1/2-pint, that is), so the last few quarts will go in the freezer.
Fulfilled a craving for chips (fries) today. Dug up a good bowlful of potatoes from the garden, cooked them into chips and served with homemade ketchup from the ridiculously prolific tomato plants. Garden to table in under an hour. So good.
Another 7 litres of ketchup in the freezer. This is an oddly fulfilling condiment to make.
How do you make your ketchup? I bet it is a trillion times better than store bought overly sweetened stuff.
It's very similar, but you can adjust the sugar to your taste. Much will depend on how sweet the tomatoes are.
Here's the link to the recipe:
https://www.chowhound.com/post/jam-ca...
Makes 1.4 litres
Things are winding down fast here. I used the last of our fresh cukes yesterday to make a final batch of gazpacho, and put what is most likely the last tray of shelled peas in the freezer. The beans and squash are picked. The fruit and berries are picked, with the exception of a few stragglers (although we might see some citrus this winter ... we're experimenting with dwarf mandarin orange and Mayer lemon trees). We have Brussels sprouts to come yet, and are still are getting plenty of broccolini, tomatoes, peppers and onions, which should continue as long as the weather stays dry and in the 60's. We've a lot of leafy green starts which we'll be wintering over, and can often scrounge out a salad from these. Once the temperatures drop significantly, the lettuces and spinach will go under cloche. Soon we'll be planting spuds and peas under cover to winter over, also. And we have a few olives coming! Our first from a tree we planted last year. I'm looking forward to learning how to brine these.
My cat dug up our fall carrot bed. My fault, I forgot to put the wire cover back on after thinning. Took him all of 5 minutes to find it and tear into it. No sweet, tender fall carrots for us this year. :(
Garden fixings for leek & potato soup. This is the last of our leeks for this year.
Also, had an excess of scallion tops. These I dried and then ran through the mini chopper to make flakes. I like to use these in vinaigrettes, as well as in pilaf or couscous and the like.
We picked the last of our summer tomatoes earlier this week. I gave a couple of boxes to a friend, and today took all the other ripe ones and ran them through the steam juicer - about 10-12 pounds worth. Made and canned 4 quarts of tomato broth which will make a good soup base. Left a few green tomatoes in the greenhouse to (hopefully) ripen.
Lunch was from the garden: roasted broccolini salad with walnuts and feta, and potato soup.
I'm done canning and preserving for the season!
Broccolini! That's definitely going to be part of next year's garden. Is it difficult to grow?
It's been really easy to grow - I planted way too much of it. This has been my first full 12 months growing it, and I'm still not sure I'm harvesting it correctly. We pick the florets (every couple of days) when they're young, and the stems about 1/4" thick. They're sweet and tender that way - love 'em. I'm not sure what would happen if I let the florets get bigger - would they bolt, or grow tall and big? I suspect it depends on the time of the year, and how the plant is being pruned (I just do it willy-nilly). I planted 4 plants late last summer, and 6 this past spring. We've had broc to eat for most of the year (sometimes more and sometimes less). The late-summer plantings wintered over in the PNW without cover, despite a heavy cold snap early in the year. Those have since died off, and our spring plantings have been producing well for months. I planted a few late this summer, and they're muddling along and just starting to produce, and should winter over if last year was typical. I cull out the bigger leaves now and then, and pick off caterpillars now and then. Anything spindly with blossoms on it, I cut and toss.
My bike ride was cancelled on account of rain so I spent the day turning tomatoes into sauce for the freezer, various squash into purées, and roasting a ton of squash seeds with harissa. Also dried pears and herbs in the dehydrator. Fun day!
Pickled Beets. Boil beets with skins on. Cool. Peel. Slice them and fill a jar with slices. In a saucepan put vinegar, sugar, and pickling splice (cloves, peppercorns, mustard seed, hot chili, bay leaf). Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes then pour over sliced beets in jar. Put on lid (no need to seal because you are going to put it in the REFRIGERATOR in some out-of-the-way spot and forget it for two or three weeks). Then: enjoy.
This is a typical fall/winter pick of leafy greens at our place: a few varieties of hardy lettuce, and some spinach. The spinach went under cloche today for the winter, lettuces to follow soon. We'll eat whatever we can get in this department from now 'til spring!
Could you post a photo of your cloche? I might give it a try. I'm undecided whether to enclose the whole bed with a sheet of plastic, buy plastic cloches for individual plants, or use old plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out.
See below - we use row covers from Gardener's Supply. They're pretty durable, and ours have held up for several seasons. We stake them down and they stay put through all but the wildest of our winter winds. I've had them crushed by heavy snow, and they've popped right back without damage (and my greens survived!). They store flat. I like that I can get in them to harvest or provide more air circulation without having to remove the entire cover (the side panel unzips and you can lift it up). Several of our beds we built to fit exactly under the cover, as you see in the catalog photo. They're about 25% more expensive now than when we bought them a few years ago. All that said, you could probably make (or buy) a hoop house which gives you more square footage per dollar spent.
https://www.gardeners.com/buy/garden-...
We also use their accelerators for tomatoes and peppers in the early spring - they work to give a nice head start to things. These also store flat:
Another veggie-heavy breakfast with produce from our garden: peppers, onions, peas and parsley.
This was based on a Washington Post recipe for Arroz con Chorizo. I didn't have jalapeno, so subbed a whole red-and-green pepper. Didn't have corn, so subbed some of our peas from the freezer (as per their recommendation). Didn't have cilantro, so used fresh parsley.
It was yumm-o. DH had his with fried egg, I had mine with scrambled. I made half a recipe, which easily would have fed 3-4 people with the eggs.
Pumpkin bread from Holiday Pumpkins by Georgeanne Brennan. From the first pick off the vine. Two more pie pumpkins left.
Our first Brussels Sprouts pick of the season - just enough for two persons. Had them for breakfast sauteed with onion, mustard, cider vinegar and bacon crumbles. Herb-and-cheese eggs on the side. Everything green on the plate + the onions came fresh from the garden.
I love being in our garden during the shoulder season. The pressure of culling and preserving the harvest is over, yet there are plenty of bits and bobs about - either in the ground or in storage - to make our meals more enjoyable. The gleaning is satisfying.
Today's lunch included salad with fresh greens, bell peppers, pepperoncini, shallot and carrot.
I am a lazy gardener and the end of the spring arugula went to seed. I left it there and now I have arugula again (and in a few nearby pots as well : )
We came close to freezing last night, but not quite. I found these two little guys this morning, and will work them into dinner.
I did the same thing. My arugula is the wild variety. I think the seed came from Johnny's. Bees loved the flowers. In fact, I had so many bees I suspect a neighbor has a hive. I might have one more mixed greens salad left if some lettuce has also survived. I have far too much kale which I have promised to a friend with goats and chickens.
I wish I had too much kale! Ours was decimated by caterpillars. I've been fighting them for weeks, and picked two more fat ones out of the bed just yesterday. Not much kale left. I have new starts in the green house I'm going to plant in a different bed this week, and see if we can glean off of them over the winter.
I'm in NH zone 5 so somehow the kale ended up in my small high tunnel where it self seeds. Unfortunately I think there are two different kinds and neither are the lacinato type. Without extra protection they will freeze in a few weeks probably. The local farmers put blankets of Agribon fabric over theirs. I have two bunches in the fridge since I expected to try a kale slaw and a warm kale and quinoa salad. Maybe this week.
The anticipated freeze still has not yet come. Topped off the crisper with some fresh veg.
Beautiful veggies. Another zone 5 here and the garden looks very sad and brown. The upside is that I have probably another 200 lb of potatoes out there. The downside is I need to dig them up. Uff, my back.
Oh, but good job on the spuds! We have some out there, but the plants are showing blight. We're going to dig them up soon, and hope it hasn't moved down into the potatoes.
Potatoes almost all dug. 5 moles had their lunch of fingerlings crashed. I didn't have the heart to "deal with them", so I scooped them up and relocated them to another part of the yard. Tomorrow will finish the harvest, which has been pretty disappointing considering how lush the top part of the plants looked. On the upside, I received a free truckload of pumpkins (not the good eating kind) to work into the soil.
Had rösti for lunch. It would have been cheaper for me to buy spuds (they were on sale for $1 per ten pound bag last week) but the flavour of the homegrown ones is outstanding.
I posted this on the WFD thread, but felt it was so garden centric, I’d post here, also.
Shepard’s pie. Potatoes, onions, carrots (from storage) and peas (frozen) and fresh herbs all came from the garden.
Grilled outdoors last night under a full moon. Took the last two zucchini from the garden, our peppers are holding up well in the fridge (for now), and the brussels sprouts are starting to come in steady.
November 6: today's pick.
The brussels sprouts will get grilled or roasted. The sweet pepperoncini will get eaten in salads, on pizza, in stir fry or with eggs. We're kind of swimming in broccolini at the moment, and I'm leaning towards making a big batch of soup (with potatoes and onions) for the freezer, as I don't think we can eat through it all fresh (we're a bit tired of broccolini at the moment).
Finally got my garlic planted during unusual November warm spell. According to Facebook, area market gardeners are planting now, too. I skipped growing garlic and that was a big mistake but last summer found a clump that was possibly a missed bulb from a prior year also a clump that was probably due to small size of bulbs, seed grown. I ordered Music this year thinking it might be my original variety with large cloves. Although larger than other varieties it's still not as big as Mystery Garlic. Planting a small amount of Mystery to keep that strain going. Withheld at least one bulb of each new variety to taste test. Wisely keeping them in separate brown paper lunch bags.
Pulled a large daikon. I can probably scavenge some Chinese cabbage and arugula. Doing garden cleanup I was going to pull the tall flowering stalks of broccoli that deer have browsed but I saw a few flowers and a single honeybee hunting for nectar so left them. There's a few blossoms left on the arugula I let go to see, too. Plenty of kale in the high tunnel. I might have some beets to pull if voles haven't gotten them. Planted Gilfeather turnips late and just a few feet of row but there might be enough for one stew. From the looks of it, somebody pawing in the straw covering what used to be a potato patch we might have a coyote looking for voles. Hope so. Treating my self to a new book on No Till farming. My husband did a final mowing of our yard area so now I have nice piles of combined maple leaves and grass clippings.
Two of our butternuts each developed a small soft spot, so it was use them or lose them. I roasted them with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and pureed them in the food processor. 3.5 lbs cooked squash yielded just over 6 c. of puree for the freezer.
I learned of the following quick-bread recipe from another ChowHounder, which incorporates pumpkin or butternut puree, along with sourdough discard:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/reci...
We loved the recipe, and I will be making it again. A great way to use up a plethora of both butternut squash and sourdough discard.
Now I just have to come up with some sour dough starter ... which will be a test of how long King Arthur sour dough starter can survive being ignored in the fridge. Looks like a great recipe. When I've had starter in the past I ran out of unfed starter ideas.
I bought my first sugar pumpkin to try but it's still on the to do list. Found a farmstand selling the new small Honeynut variety of butternuts. Actually found them again much closer to home where they offered a sale on winter squashes - $20 for a shallow basket (maybe a half bushel?) but Honeynuts excluded. I hope to grow this variety next year if I can break my three year curse on winter squash growing.
Defrosting and reorganizing the upright freezer resulted in making a turkey chili with some kidney beans I had cooked in the Instant Pot and frozen, two pint jars of canned tomatoes plus a large handful of chopped semi dehydrated paste tomatoes, yellow and orange peppers from the first bag I grabbed. I'm saving the frozen corn for corn chowder where the taste will be appreciated but the flavor of the turkey chili greatly improved with a can of corn.
Thanksgiving cookies, some of which I'll drop off for our son and his family will be apple cookies made with dehydrated shredded apples. I made a final visit to the orchard to buy this year's mixed 1/2 bushel bag of utility apples: Caville Blanc (I like for dehydrating), Honeycrisp for fresh eating, and I can't remember what else.
The results of your defrosting and reorganizing sound delicious! And I'm reminded I have 2 Honeycrisp left in the crisper which I should look into soon.
Envious of your corn. We had pollination issues this last year and while we got some to eat off the cob, none of it was beautiful and there was none left over for soups or the freezer.
Already dreaming of next year's garden! :)
PS: I bet your sourdough is just fine after a couple of feedings.
Oh, it wasn't "my" corn, it was from the local farmstand which in summer is usually a project for the teenagers in the extended family. We had some good corn when I first started gardening but the raccoons soon outwitted us. My in-laws used to grow a lot of it, sold some to neighbors and saved up the money so at the end of summer they whole family could go out for a lobster dinner. It was not a good year around here for some corn farmers due to the drought and late planting.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Garden to table on Thanksgiving Day.
The lot in the basket came from our stores. The greens are growing under cloche. We'll have garden peas from the freezer tonight, as well.
Truly thankful for the bounty - Happy Thanksgiving to all!
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