This was the bulk of my harvests for the past week. Zucchini, broccoli, cucumbers, scallions, capers, green coriander...
And the first Manzano chile pepper. I used this pepper in a peach and cucumber salsa with scallions and green coriander that I served with some local California Halibut that came from the CSF that I subscribe to. I prepared the halibut by wrapping it in fig leaves and grilling it on the barbeque. When the fish was finished I then plopped my trusty grill basket on the barbeque and "stir fried" a mix of snap peas, beans, zucchini and red onions which was tossed with chopped fresh basil just before I served it. Yum, summer dining at its best!
The filet beans that graced my harvest basket from June 14 through July 27 are finished and I will take out the plants today and replace them with some Fagiolo del Purgatorio beans that I sowed in paper pots on July 30. The Purgatorio beans are a bush type that produce small white dry beans that are great for making bean salads. I acquired my original seeds years ago through the Seed Savers Exchange annual yearbook. The last time I grew them out and saved seeds was in 2006 so I am very pleasantly surprised to find that most of my seeds have germinated. It's pushing it a bit to be planting a dry bean variety at this time of year, but last year I sowed Stregonta pole borlotti beans on July 25 and successfully brought in a good crop, and last year was quite a bit cooler than this year.
I've been harvesting a lot of green coriander seeds but I've not been using them right away. I found that the flavor of dried coriander is far superior when I harvest the seeds when fat and still green and then dry them indoors on a tray rather than letting them dry on the plants. This was something of a doh! moment, I've used this technique for harvesting fennel seeds for a long time, I should have figured out long ago that it would work for coriander seeds as well. doh!
Here's the harvest totals for the past week:
Apollo broccoli - 14.4 oz.
Capers - 1.6 oz.
Green Fingers Persian cucumbers - 3.6 oz.
Tasty Green Japanese cucumbers - 13.1 oz.
Parade Scallions - 1.8 oz.
Yellow Manzano chile peppers - 1.3 oz.
Da Fiore zucchini - 3 lb., .3 oz.
Zucchini blossoms - 1.2 oz.
The total harvests for the week came out to - 5 lb., 5.3 oz.
Which brings the total harvests for the year to - 88 lb., 13.9 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.
What a wonderful idea to use fig leaves to wrap fish on the barbecue! I've used vine leaves, but must try fig leaves now!
ReplyDeleteDinner sounds wonderful. I just bought a couple of mangoes so mango-cucumber salsa sounds like an ideal use for some of the cukes piling up in the fridge. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteLovely harvest. Love that pepper!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvest! And a great way to use all of the bounty that your garden is producing!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to find someone as crazy about beans as myself! I was actually contemplating making another sowing of Dwarf French Beans...
ReplyDeleteYour BBQ meal sounds great. Here in the UK this year we have had precious few opportunities for outdoor dining though, so I probably won't be emulating you! :(
Interesting. I've never tried to dry green coriander. Next year I'll have to try that.
ReplyDeleteWow! That halibut and grilled veggie dinner sounds like it was a real treat. I hope the dried beans race to maturity for you and that the weather holds for it to do so. I could never do that in my growing climate but would have tried it when I lived on the dry and hot side of the state (rather than the coastal cool and wet area I am currently in). Are you loving your new growing beds?
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest! Good luck with those dry beans too :)
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