What We Plan To Grow

Turned soil, waiting for planting

As I mentioned last week, the peas are already in the ground. In addition to planting out the peas, we have planted our tomato and broccoli seeds.  We are growing Tumbling Tom tomato and Santee F1 Purple Sprouting broccoli.  They both need to start off in the greenhouse before they can enter the garden.  The rest of the veggies we plan to grow can't be planted yet.

Next month we will be adding Rainbow Chard (known as "Leaf Beet" here), spinach, kale and arugula (a.k.a. rocket) to the garden.  In May we will plant out our zucchini (a.k.a. courgette) and in July we will plant Claytonia, a waxy leaf that is apparently quite tasty.  We are also planning to grow potatoes in grow bags.  The potatoes are currently at the home of a fellow gardener "chitting".  Chitting is the act of letting the potatoes sprout eyes; these will be the vines once they go in the ground.

I suspect we will also add some other veg to the mix as we hit our stride, but to sum up, these are the vegetables we plan to grow in the WeeKG this year:

Sugar Snap Peas
Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Santee F1)
Tumbling Tom Tomato
Rainbow Chard
Spinach
Lacinato Kale
Arugula
Black Beauty Zucchini
Claytonia
Potatoes

So how about you?  What are you planning to grow in 2012?

Packing and Planning and Slow-roasting Tomatoes

The last ripe San Marzano tomatoes, ready for a slow-roasting.

Things have been quite quiet around here, haven't they?  Since I last reported that chanterelles had arrived (and they were delicious!), we've hosted Thanksgiving for 14 adults and a two-year-old, gone to Scotland and back, found a place to live, and are attempting to pack up our lives in the next few days.  Yeehaw.

Some gardeny events have happened, too.  I slow-roasted the last of the ripe garden tomatoes, made a caramelized red onion relish, and found pineapple guavas growing on the trees!  A grand total of three pineapple guavas but we're calling that a WIN since the trees are less than a year old.  I'll tell you more about them soon.

For now though, I'd like to tell you about a magical food called slow-roasted tomatoes.  They have nothing in common with sun dried tomatoes.  Incidentally,  I hate sun dried tomatoes.  I really do.  I don't know what it is about them that I just cannot stand, but there it is.  The only type of tomato I don't like is a sun dried tomato.  As a result I wasn't very stoked on the idea of slow-roasting tomatoes because I feared they would become rubbery and weird-tasting.  But my fears were unfounded.  Slow-roasted tomatoes are amazing.  They just get really sweet and gooey and rich and delicious.  They are really worth trying.

They are also really easy to make.  You just need to devote a day to them so you can keep an eye on the oven (it would be tragic if you spent 4 hours roasting them and burnt them at the last second. Trust me, I know).  I have used this recipe from Willi at DigginFood with great results.  Basically, you just slice the tomatoes in half, coat them in olive oil, add some salt and pepper and let the oven do the work.  Brilliant.

For serving purposes, I love to just eat them plain.  They are great in sandwiches or gyros, especially a grilled mozzarella and slow-roasted tomato sandwich with basil.  Yum.  You can also blend or chop them up into a sauce or serve them as part of an appetizer platter.  They go very nicely with roasted peppers.  Slow-roasted tomatoes are also a nice way to add a twist to the universal appetizer favorite: bruschetta.  The bottom line here is you just can't go wrong with slow-roasted tomatoes.

p.s. I realize this is a summery kind of topic, but the reality of the MKG is that I made slow-roasted tomatoes, with tomatoes from the garden, in late November.  Part of me feels this post should be saved for next year but that's just silly.  I'm writing it the way I live it.  Also, I won't get this sort of weather in Glasgow (where they are currently enjoying "Hurricane Bawbag" {seriously}) so I might as well live it up while I can.

October 2011 MKG Harvest

October harvest:
Mortgage Lifter, Snow White, Pineapple tomatoes
Tequila peppers
Carbon and San Marzano tomatoes

October was punctuated by tomatoes.  Lots and lots of tomatoes.  Even after a decade in California, it still feels wrong that tomatoes are coming in fresh off the vines when it should be fall already.  In fact, here we are in November and I still have tomatoes ready for harvest.  I have to remind myself that the reason the harvest continues is that it didn't start until the standard season was practically over.  There was opportunity for more harvesting during October, but I got too busy to do the MKG justice.  I hope to remedy that in November while the garden still seems to think it's July.

October 2011 MKG Harvest

2 Tequila peppers @ 4.4 oz
9 Mortgage Lifter tomatoes @ 8 lb 8.9 oz
8 Pineapple tomatoes @ 7 lb 0.1 oz
18 Carbon tomatoes @ 5 lb 14.8 oz
21 San Marzano Roma tomatoes @ 5 lb 5.4 oz
16 Snow White tomatoes @ 1 lb 6.7 oz

...which results in a Grand Total of 28 lbs 3.4 oz of tomatoes.  In October.  This is totally bananas.

Leftover Breakfast of Champions

I do not intend to make this blog a play-by-play of my eating habits.  However, I made the most amazing breakfast of leftovers ever last weekend and I just had to share.  This is what it looked like:

And this is how I made it:

I looked into the fridge and took stock of a motley group of leftovers- tomato salad, corn tortillas, chopped zucchini and summer squash, 2 tablespoons of taco beef.  This clearly had the makings of something good.  I had been planning to just make some scrambled eggs with the leftover zukes.  But when I noticed the corn tortillas I knew I would be making a breakfast taco. 

Upon considering the tomato salad (chopped heirloom tomatoes marinated in olive oil and garlic that was resembling soup in consistency), I decided that I should put them in a pot and cook them down like a tomato jam.  Then I noticed a random Hungarian wax pepper in the fridge that needed to be eaten.  "A ha!," I thought, "a tomato jam salsa!" and into the pot went the chopped hot pepper.  I put this on the back burner over medium to thicken up while I tended to the rest of the components.

The zucchini I tossed with some olive oil and sauteed until they got nice and tender.  I then added in two eggs and just scrambled them with the spatula right in the pan.  I was fancy enough already without getting another bowl dirty.

The microwave took care of heating up my corn tortillas, as well as the scraps of leftover taco meat.  I admit that when I put those small spoonfuls of taco beef into a jar I thought to myself, "Wow, you're never going to eat this, it's ridiculous."  But I put it in the fridge anyway and I am so glad I did.  It was just the spark this meal needed.

Now to the assembly!  I placed the two corn tortillas on a plate, added scrambled eggs with zucchini, topped those with shredded mozzarella, topped that with ground beef, and last but not least, I topped the whole thing with the nicely thickened tomato jam salsa.  It was one of the best breakfasts I have had at home in a good long while.  Hooray for leftovers!

September 2011 MKG Harvest



Sungold and San Marzano tomatoes
Pretty Purple, Tequila, and Hungarian Yellow Wax Peppers, Sunburst patty pan squash
Strawberries, Casper and Diamond eggplants


An odd year in the garden- a very odd year.  September has been the month for tomatoes and they are continuing on into October.  After months of gazing longingly at the green orbs covering the plants, they obliged and turned red, yellow, orange and purple!  The tally for individual varieties will follow, but the grand total of the September tomato harvest is... over 30 pounds of tomatoes!  Um, what?  I have to look back at my records but I don't know if I've ever harvested that many tomatoes before.  What a very odd year.

September 2011 MKG Harvest

1 Tequila pepper
10 Pretty Purple peppers
2 Hungarian yellow wax peppers
~1 pint strawberries
1 Diamond eggplant
5 Casper eggplants
3 Sunburst patty pan squash (2 overgrown)
2 Zephyr squash (overgrown)
1 Cocozelle zucchini (overgrown)
3 Black Spineless zucchini (overgrown)
~7 pints Sungold cherry tomatoes
2 Isis cherry tomatoes
5 Pineapple tomatoes
6 San Marzano  Roma tomatoes
9 Mortgage Lifter tomatoes
13 Black Krim tomatoes
22 Carbon tomatoes
1 Apple

Those items became:

Savory Strawberry Crostini
Sungold Caprese Salad
(a lot of) Gazpacho
Nigella Lawson's Egyptian Tomato Salad
Smitten Kitchen's Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza
Lots of scrambled eggs with mixed veggies
Stovetop Tomato Jam
... and eventually... a LARGE supply of zucchini bread

I hope your garden is still pumping out the produce, too!  If not, now is the time to clean up those beds and get some winter vegetables into the ground.

Before Summer Fades...

MKG Summer Veggie Tart

It's getting late in the season and until last month, I was woefully behind on my tomato harvests.  This was just not the summer for tomatoes around here- it's been the fall for tomatoes.  Therefore, I've gathered enough to make you my summer (fall) vegetable celebration pie from seasons past... before summer fades entirely.

Last summer I was faced with an abundance of lovely different cherry tomatoes (black cherry, sungold, and red currant) and plenty of zukes, and I knew I wanted to turn these into some sort of veggie pie.  I hunted around the interwebs, checking out all my favorite recipe spots, but just couldn't find what I was looking for.  I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I read through about 5 different veggie pie recipes until I had a feel for the proportions and techniques involved, and the timing and oven temperature.  Then I just winged it.

I am happy to report that it turned out very tasty.  So tasty, in fact, that two friends asked for the recipe after I brought it to a baby shower.  Full disclosure: This represented the first time in my life that I had been asked for a recipe for something I invented.  Yippee!!!!

A note about the recipe- I love cheese.  I mean, I really love cheese.  You could easily cut the amount of cheese in half and it would still be good.  Also, you could substitute Gruyere or a mix of cheeses in place of the cheddar.  You do what you want, but I will always be a New English gal who loves her Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar.

So without further ado (and now that I've harvested enough tomatoes to actually make it) here it is!

Assembling the tart...

 

The MKG Summer Veggie Tart

Makes one 9" pie, serves 4-8

1 Trader Joe's frozen pie crust (or similar)

2 small or 1 medium zucchini

1 small onion or shallot

1 clove garlic

1 hot or sweet pepper (optional)

3 eggs

~1.5 - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 pint cherry tomatoes (or a couple regular size tomatoes)

olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Defrost pie crust.

2. Preheat oven to 450°F.

3. Chop zucchini, onion and garlic (and pepper, if using).  Toss with olive oil and a dash salt in a saute pan and cook until tender and a little caramelized (cook covered ~5-10 minutes over medium-low heat, then remove cover and let liquid evaporate and zucchini caramelize, ~5 minutes).  You can add thyme or another fresh herb with the zukes now, if you'd like. 

4. Lightly beat three eggs, add salt and pepper.  Add shredded cheese and mix into the eggs.

5. Slice cherry tomatoes in half or slice regular tomatoes into rounds.

6. Assemble tart.  Place pie crust into a pie pan.  Put cooked zucchini mixture into base of crust and spread evenly.  Pour cheesy egg mixture over the zukes.  Place cherry tomatoes on top of the egg mix, cut side up (alternatively, layer tomato slices around the top of the egg mix).

7. Bake at 450°F for about 25-35 minutes.  Check to make sure a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool a few minutes to allow the cheese and egg to set, then slice and serve.

Enjoy!  Quick, before summer disappears!

Tomato Feast!

I believe it was less than a month ago when I predicted that all the tomatoes would probably ripen at once.  Well, I am pleased to report that I was correct.  The tomatoes are coming in by the basketful now and earlier this week I went out and harvested... 19 pounds of tomatoes!  What?!?!?  And I was only picking the super-ripe ones.  I am sure I could have bumped that up to 25 lbs if I wanted to harvest purely for numbers.  That's just how the garden is- when it rains, it pours.  Not a bad showing for a Tuesday morning.

This harvest was so large that, for the first time, I learned the limit of my little digital scale- 9 pounds.  I had to remove one of the Carbon tomatoes in the photo above and measure it individually to get the total poundage of that variety.  If you look closely, you can see that the scale is reading "EEEE"... not terribly helpful in the quantification department.



The above photo shows the tomatoes separated into individual varieties.  They are (clockwise from top left): Mortgage Lifter, Carbon, 1 purpley-green unripe Carbon that had fallen off the plant, 1 Pineapple, 2 Black Krim, and a bowl of Sungolds.  Holy cow! 

So what to do with all these tomatoes?  There was Sungold Caprese Salad, a tomato-for-jam swap, and gazpacho!  It is unbelievable to me that I made it all the way to September before making gazpacho.  It is one of my favorite summer meals and an excellent use for fresh, homegrown tomatoes.  I've used a variety of different recipes over the years, but for this batch I just modified the good ole Joy of Cooking.  I am pleased with the results and it was such a hit the other night that I got a recipe request for it!  So here it is, a simple and delicious use for those late-season tomatoes.

Gazpacho

Serves 8-10

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

2 bell peppers (I used orange and yellow for a sweeter flavor), seeds and ribs removed
1 English cucumber, peeled
~4-5 lbs tomatoes (I used 2 Mortgage Lifter, 2 Black Krim, and 3 or 4 Carbon)
4 cloves garlic

~1/4-1/2 cup red wine vinegar

~3-4 Tablespoons olive oil

~2 heaping teaspoons Kosher salt

1. Roughly chop peppers, cucumber and tomatoes.  Reserve juices from tomatoes as you are cutting.  In batches, (unless your blender is humongous) "chop" vegetables together in a blender; use tomato juices for liquid to enable blending (or use a little water if more liquid is needed).  Remove each batch to a large bowl as it is finished.

2. On last round of blending, add minced garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt.  Add to large bowl and stir to combine.

3. Let gazpacho sit, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  The longer it sits, the more developed the flavor becomes (though after a few days the garlic may be too strong).

4. Taste for seasoning- it may need more salt, some pepper (crushed red pepper flakes? paprika?), or a drizzle of olive oil.  Serve cold or room temperature.

Enjoy!

Sungold City

Once upon a time I didn't appreciate the variations in vegetable flavor provided by different varieties.  I knew different types of tomato provided different textures, and cherry tomatoes were generally the sweetest.  But over the last few years, as I've tried a variety of tomato plants in the MKG, I've found a whole world of flavor open up to me.  The purple tomatoes have a depth to their taste, sometimes described as smokey.  The big red tomatoes of burger-topping-style tend to be more acidic.  And the yellow and orange tomatoes are just plain sweet.

All of these different flavors have a certain place in cooking and eating, and I appreciate them all.  But nothing compares to the Sungold cherry tomato.  If you read this blog, I assume you have already heard the virtues of the Sungold cherry tomato extolled at length in other blogs and magazines etc.  Suffice it to say that they are stunningly sweet, like tomato-flavored candy, and the most lovely shade of warm orange, the kind of color that looks like summer.  I would recommend anyone interested in growing tomatoes plant a Sungold cherry, and if you don't have one at home, pick them up whenever they appear at the farmer's market.  Seriously.

Sungolds are great for a ton of different recipes.  I often eat them fresh off the vines or as a snack whenever I walk through the kitchen (a bowl of them graces the counter all season).  I also love making this amazing dish from Make Grow Gather.  Roasted sungolds and basil oil, drizzled over burrata.  Mmmmmm.  If it's not too hot to turn the oven on, this recipe is a guaranteed winner.  But if it's still a little warm out, and you want a quick recipe to savor those sungolds in, give this Sungold Caprese Salad a try.  It makes a great snack all summer long and is a perfect salad to mix up in a mason jar and tote to a picnic (along with a batch of zucchini carpaccio).


 
Sungold Caprese Salad
Adapted from everywhere- it's a Caprese salad folks.
Serves 4-8

2 pints Sungold cherry tomatoes
1 10 oz. container bocconcini mozzarella, drained
1 handful basil, sliced into ribbons or torn into chunks
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

1. Put Sungolds, bocconcini, and slivered basil into a salad bowl (or large Mason jar).

2. Assemble vinaigrette: put olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a jar.  Cover and shake until well-mixed.

3. Pour dressing into salad bowl.  Toss and serve.

Enjoy!

If you want, you could always cut the bocconcini in half to make smaller bites, but that just takes longer, doesn't it?
Also, you could marinade the bocconcini in the dressing to impart more of the oil/vinegar flavor, if that's what you're into.

Tomato Time!




Clockwise from top: Isis Candy cherry tomato, Mortgage Lifter, Carbon,
San Marzano, and Black Krim 

 We're three months behind but we're finally hitting tomato season here at the MKG.  I am definitely ready for tomato time.  On Sunday I went out into the garden and harvested just over seven pounds of tomatoes.  What?!?  From nothing to 7 lbs in a few weeks.  Oh, gardening, it's always all or nothing.

Now it's time to figure out what to do with all of them.  For the Sungolds I have my eye on my go-to Sungold Caprese Salad.  The San Marzanos are great in sauce or as slow-roasted tomatoes.  The Black Krim and Carbons will probably find their way into gazpacho, and the Mortgage Lifter will become part of a nice heirloom tomato salad.  Any of the above will work well in the MKG Summer Veggie Tart... the recipe for which will be posted soon!

So how is tomato season where you are?  Is it long gone or just beginning?  And what would you do with this bounty?



And also, a pile of Sungolds



August 2011 MKG Harvest

Zephyr, Sunburst & Black Spineless zukes,
Maxibel & yellow wax beans, Sungolds

The August harvest is usually totally over the top.  So much food!  But this year, what with the cool weather hindering tomato ripening and a bunch of traveling, the August harvest is looking a little sparse.  September though- I can feel it.  There will be tomatoes coming out of my ears.

The main veggies on the plate in August were green beans and zucchini, along with a steady stream of strawberries here and there.  The chard is still out of its mind and pumping out plump leaves (the plants are coming up on a year old!).  And finally, last week, I got a ripe tomato that wasn't a Sungold!  I love Sungolds more than anything else, but I've been looking forward to having some proper big tomatoes and was pleased to harvest a trio of Romas.

August 2011 MKG Harvest

9 Black Spineless zucchini
5 Zephyr squash
2 Sunburst patty pan squash
1 Cocozelle zucchini
~ 2 lbs Maxibel green beans
~1/2 lb yellow wax beans
1 large bunch chard
15 strawberries (about a pint)
2 Meyer lemons
2 pints Sungold cherry tomatoes
3 San Marzano tomatoes
plus whatever the cat-sitters harvested

Those items became:

Zucchini Carpaccio
Zucchini Basil Flatbreads
Sauteed shredded zucchini
Sauteed green beans with butter
Raw green beans snack
Potstickers with garlicky greens
Fresh strawberries
"Lemon ice"
Raw chopped tomatoes with salt

I already know that my September harvest will include more peppers and eggplants.  This year just seems to be a couple months behind schedule.  Baba ganoush as a fall dish?  Apparently.

Mighty Kitchen Garden Update

The garden continues its slow movement into proper summer production.  I am finally harvesting little baby zucchini and a strawberry or two seems to ripen every couple of days.  Before I know it I'll be inundated in squash and drowning in tomatoes.  It doesn't quite feel that way yet, but I know it's coming.  In the quiet before the storm, I thought it would be a good time to show you what's doing what here at the MKG.

The squash and zucchini are looking like the garden monsters they are.  There are lots of blossoms and some baby zukes starting to come in.  In about a week I will have to start on the Daily Zucchini Patrol, lest I miss one and it grows into a vegetable club.  Seriously, you could knock someone out with an overgrown zucchini.  I'm sure I'll have one to show you later in the season.  Also, it's prime time to whip up some stuffed squash blossoms.  Yum!

The eggplants are all sporting their pretty little lavender flowers, but no baby fruits yet.  I think I might need to add some flowers to the garden to attract more bees, they seem less abundant than in years past.



This is a baby Giant Aconcagua pepper.  It's hard to see - look in the center of the picture to the left of the main stem.  There it is!  It should be ready to harvest in about a week.  The only other pepper with fruit so far is the Hungarian yellow wax.  Let's hope the others get their groove on soon.

The strawberries are chugging along one fruit at a time.  I had two for dessert last night and one for a snack this morning.  There's no point in trying to save them up, better to just give them a quick rinse and pop them in my mouth.

Little baby Sungolds!  The all-time tomato favorite in our household.  In fact, I've yet to meet a person familiar with Sungolds who wasn't a huge fan.  This is a stupendously delicious tomato.  Still looking at another week or more until I can eat one- the suspense is killing me!

I won't have to wait long once the tomatoes start coming in though- there are lots of flowers ready to turn into tomatoes.

Last but not least, we have the corn (back) and beans (front).  The corn isn't exactly "knee high by the 4th of July" but I planted them late and they are a dwarf variety that only grows to 3 feet or so anyway.  It's my first year for corn so I'm not holding my breath.  The beans seem to be coming in nicely.  A few more weeks and I will be able to harvest them. 

Come to think of it - I had a dream last night (seriously) that I was picking a purple bean off a plant and realized it had green beans growing below it on the same plant.  And the beans next to it were Borlotti beans.  Hmmm, apparently my subconscious is ready to get this harvest started!

How does your garden grow?