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| Romanesco Zucchini and Green Fingers Cucumber |
The first cucumber, at last. The other first, one Orion fennel bulb, didn't get photographed. And below is a freshly picked zucchini in hand to give some perspective on the size of them at 2 days old.
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| Romanesco Zucchini |
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| Batavia Broccoli Side Shoots |
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| Italian Mountain Basil |
I used a good portion of a harvest of Corsican Basil to make a basil oil using a recipe from Patricia Wells book Vegetable Harvest. Her method briefly blanches the basil first and then it is pureed with olive oil and a little salt. That's it, it's not strained or filtered. It was so delicious I wanted to eat it by the spoonful but I resisted and instead dribbled it generously over some burrata cheese and accompanying cast iron skillet roasted Fioretto Stick cauliflower and Aspabroc. I will definitely be making more basil oil and will experiment with freezing it.
I also harvested but didn't photograph another small bunch of Aspabroc, the last two pots of Yellow Finn potatoes which brought the total potato harvest to 8.5 pounds, and more runty onions.
The annual harvests totals are up to a respectable 355 pounds, the details of which you can find here.
Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
The Romanesco sure is a mighty zucchini! I had no idea it grew that quickly. Basil oil sounds wonderful. How much basil did you need for it?
ReplyDeleteIt was 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves to 1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
DeleteThe Romanesco zucchini never ceases to amaze me and I've been growing it for a number of years now.
The basil oil sounds absolutely delicious - I'll have to try that. My tromboncino is up and running which means I'll at least get some kind of squash out of the garden this year - my bales are slow to get going (a common theme this year, it seems) and my butternuts were toast early in the season.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a bit of basil, so basil oil will be on my list now... thanks, Michelle!
ReplyDeleteCount me in on the basil oil too! It will be a bit before I have enough basil for it though. I can see it being great with a lot of other things, like tomatoes or zucchini, or even bread.
ReplyDeleteI need to sow more basil. We have two pots of it so far. One ready for picking and one just pricked out. I know need another to follow on.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try that basil oil idea and look up the Romanesco, nice looking squash.
ReplyDeleteAh admiring your funky zucchini. I can never seem to grow basil :(
ReplyDeleteMy basil is happily growing after it's second cuttings. Same with the tulsi. Smells are amazing and I love basil oil.
ReplyDeleteLovely, especially the zucchini
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