Harvest Monday - August 30, 2010

The harvests were good this week, particularly tomatoes and green beans. I've been blanching and freezing some beans and it looks like I'll have to do something with tomatoes in the next few days as well.

Here's some highlights from the harvests this week:

Chocolate Stripes tomatoes.

These are the best tasting variety so far.

Perhaps the prettiest tomato in the garden this year.

Gigantesque has produced the ugliest tomato so far.

The yellow tomato is Lennie and Gracie's Kentucky Heirloom.

We ate the first one the other night and it is delicious.

Yellow tomatoes are usually blah tasting to me, but not L & G.

Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce.

We need to eat more salads this week, the heat is pushing these babies to bolt.

They are still sweet in spite of their lengthening cores.

Strawberries! Enough to freeze some for future smoothies.

I made pizzas the other night and instead of using tomato sauce I baked a pizza crust topped with strips of prosciutto, sliced mozzarella and capers,  then I topped the baked pizza with a mixture of chopped fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and basil. Mmm, I really liked the contrast of the fresh tomatoes on the hot pizza. I also made a Meyer Lemon and Smoked Trout pizza which is always a favorite around here and since it is fig season I topped another pizza with sliced figs, shredded duck confit and pine nuts - yum. I also experimented with a dessert pizza topped with creme fraiche, honey, sliced peaches, and sliced almonds and it came out pretty darned good also.

Earlier last week when we had a surprisingly delightful heatwave (it got over 100 one day) I made good use of the tomatoes and cucumbers that had finally become plentiful and made a large batch of gazpacho. A perfect treat for a warm summer evening.

Here's my harvest totals for the week:

Garafal Oro romano beans - 4 lb., 6.5 oz.
Piracicaba Broccoli - 1 lb., 8.5 oz.
Chamomile - 1 oz.
Suyo Long cucumbers - 2 lb., 8.5 oz.
Diamond eggplant - 9.75 oz.
Malaysian Dark Red eggplant - 13.75 oz
Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce - 1 lb., 13.75 oz.
Cuerno de Cabra peppers - 5 oz.
Donkey Ears peppers - 6 oz.
Padron peppers - 9.5 oz.
Mara des Bois strawberries - 8.25 oz.
Seascape strawberries - 2 lb., 14.5 oz.
Ananas Noir tomatoes - 7 lb., 3.25 oz.
Andine Cornue tomatoes - 3 lb., 12.5 oz.
Aunt Ruby's cherry tomatoes - 1 lb., 10.25 oz.
Chocolate Stripes tomaotes - 2 lb., 11 oz.
Galinas cherry tomatoes - 15 oz.
Gigantesque tomatoes - 7 lb.
Katja tomaotes - 13 oz.
Lennie and Gracie's Kentucky Heirloom tomaotes - 9.75 oz.
Zucchini - 5 lb., 9 oz.

Total this week - 46 lb., 13.25 oz.
Total this year - 434 lb. 14.75 oz.

If you have a harvest that you would like to show off then head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and join in the fun or just go to ogle other garden bloggers' goodies.