Harvest Monday - October 25, 2010

The stars from the garden this week were the chile peppers. Here's a mix of Chorizero (top), Aji Pineapple (yellow), and PI593480 Morocco (bottom). The Chorizero peppers are a mild seasoning pepper from Spain, I'm drying those in my dehydrator since the weather is not at all conducive to sun drying at the moment. I used half of the Aji Pineapples in a batch of Spicy Meyer Lemon Marmalade. Some of the Morocco peppers, which are completely sweet but have spicy flavor, were starting to wrinkle and dry on the plants so those went into the dehydrator. I think the Morocco peppers will make a very good flavored sweet paprika. I'm going to experiment with stuffing and baking the rest of the Morocco peppers.

The next bunch of peppers are Espelette and Topepo Rosso (center). The Espelettes are a Basque pepper that makes a mild ground pepper, those are in the dehydrator. I've not yet decided what I'm going to do with the Topepo Rosso peppers, they are somewhat spicy, so far I've roasted them and incorporated them into salsa. I think they might make a good roasted pepper paste that I can freeze.

This is all Iberian Cayenne peppers. Hmm, I don't think I've sampled one of these yet, so I don't know how spicy they are....  Most of these are in the dehydrator also.

And another shot of the Marina di Chioggia squash that is shown in my previous post about how I plan to use it. So far I've made the risotto, lentil salad, and panzanella from this one squash and there's still half of it in the fridge. There are lots of great ideas for preparing winter squash in the comments to that post, along with some links that I've included for some of my favorite recipes. This particular specimen is not true to type, it should be more flattened with a turban shape, but the flavor and texture have been good so I'm not really complaining. I've still got three more good sized squash in the garden waiting to be harvested, so keep those great ideas coming!

Here's what is probably the final harvest of Diamond eggplants. I sliced these lengthwise about 1/4-inch thick and grilled them on my stovetop ridged griddle, rolled the slices up with a bit of fresh goat cheese and served them just warmed through in a freshly made sauce of grated tomatoes (Andine Cornue paste) seasoned with a chopped salted anchovy, chopped salted capers, garlic, and parsley that was all sizzled in olive oil. Oh boy, was that good. I've got frozen grilled eggplant slices in the freezer that I think I'll use to make that again.

I also shelled the dried Turkey Craw beans and the last of the Petaluma Gold Rush beans.

Here's the harvest totals for the week:

Petaluma Gold Rush beans - 1 lb., 15.25 oz.
Turkey Craw dried beans - 1 lb., 10 oz.
Diamond eggplant - 1 lb., 2.75 oz.
Portuguese Dairyman's kale - 5 oz.
Aji Pineapple peppers - 4 oz.
Chorizero peppers - 7.25 oz.
Espelette peppers - 2 lb., 1.25 oz.
Iberian Cayenne peppers - 1 lb., 7 oz.
PI593480 Morocco peppers - 14.5 oz.
Topepo Rosso peppers - 1 lb., 9 oz.
Marina di Chioggia winter squash - 10 lb. 12.25 oz.

The total for the week was - 22 lb., 11.25 oz.
The totals for the year are - 601 lb., 7 oz.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.