Harvest Monday - September 4, 2017

One new item hit the harvest basket this week, a big bunch of Ethiopian Blue Mustard , aka Ethiopian Highland Kale. A planting can be harvested 2 or 3 times but I grew it for a quick single cutting.

Ethiopian Blue Mustard

Ethiopian Blue Mustard, Baby Tuscan Kale, Baby Leaf Chard

The mustard greens were threatening to overpower the neighboring greens so they had to be cut, plus they were also the greens that were suffering the most in the intense heat that we endured the last few days so I figured they would do better in the fridge than in the garden.

Next I'll harvest either the Baby Tuscan kale or the Special Baby Leaf chard (both from Renee's Garden Seeds) and in the meantime I'll sow some baby spinach where the mustard was growing. I like the idea of having a cutting now and then of some baby greens. It adds some variety to the harvests and at this time of year they grow quickly and it doesn't require a big space commitment.

I'm harvesting enough cherry tomatoes that both Dave and I can snack as much as we want and I can use them in salads and other preparations. I just wish the "bumblebee" varieties were more productive, the plants don't seem to be very vigorous.

Romanesco Zucchini, Batavia Broccoli, Gagon Cucumber
Mavritanskite and Jaune Flamme Tomatoes

Just a few larger fruited tomatoes are ripening. Mavritanskite and Jaune Flamme have been reliable early producers and both are delicious so I keep growing them. Every year I try a new variety or two. This year it is Jazz which is turning out to be a big disappointment, it has hardly any tomatoes on the vine and doesn't seem inclined to set many more. Jazz won't be returning next year. There's a Gagon cucumber in the basket also, which I'm not sure I'm going to grow again. It's tasty enough but it seems to produce about 1 female blossom per 50 male blossoms. The vines are growing all over the place, blooming like crazy, and there's hardly a cucumber to be found.

Romanesco zucchini is another veggie that has proven it's worth in my garden so I haven't even tried growing another variety of zucchini for a few years. No other zucchini has compared, absolutely nothing except for Tromba D'Albenga which is different enough that it stays on the grow list year after year also.

Tromba D'Albenga Squash

When the bulb ends of the Tromba squash get to be large I like to use them to make stuffed zucchini, or I guess it would be more accurate to say stuffed squash. Last night I had three big ones that came to a total of 2 1/2 pounds. So I cut each bulb in half and scooped them out, reserving the guts. Then salted the gutted squash halves and laid them cut side down on paper towels to draw out some moisture to firm them up. Then for the filling I soaked 1/2 cup of quinoa in 1/2 cup of water. As the quinoa soaked I browned 1/2 pound of ground beef, and then sautéed some onion and the chopped squash guts together in some olive oil with a couple of fresh bay leaves. Then I drained the quinoa and mixed it with the beef, onion, and squash along with some chopped dried sweet peppers from last year and seasoned the mix with some dried fennel seed, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. (I forgot to mention that while the squash halves sat on the towels giving up some moisture I was slicing up the long necks into thin slices to dry in the dehydrator.) All the filling went into the squash halves which I simply wiped dry before stuffing. The stuffed squash halves fit quite snugly into my Chamba roasting pan. Then I topped the squash with 2 cups of crushed canned tomatoes and drizzled some olive oil over all and then covered the pan with some parchment paper, tucking the edges of the paper in around the contents.  It was too damned hot to heat up the house by turning on the oven so I fired up the Big Green Egg and baked the stuffed squash in the BGE set to about 350 to 400ºF for an hour.

Beef & Quinoa Stuffed Squash 

My comment to my Dave as we enjoyed the stuffed squash was that it is not a dish that you'll see in a restaurant - it's too homely looking. Ugly but oh so good!

Roasted Broccoli

I had some blanched broccoli in the fridge so I tossed that with a mixture of garlic smashed in a mortar with salt, anchovy, meyer lemon juice, and olive oil. The broccoli took about 30 minutes to roast in the BGE in a preheated cast iron skillet.

As I mentioned, it was hot this weekend. I can't remember the last time it got to be this hot. Saturday it topped out at 109ºF (42.8ºC) here (hotter elsewhere) and it didn't cool off at night which makes it so much worse because that's how we cool off because we don't have air conditioning. Most homes around here don't have A/C because we don't generally need it. We open the windows at night and perhaps set a fan by the window to suck in the cool marine air and we're happy. That doesn't work so well when the nighttime temperature don't drop much below 80ºF...

Wilting Squash Vines

Most of the garden got through the heat wave in good condition. I set up some agribon to cover most of the veggies in one bed (brassicas, carrots, greens, lettuce, etc.) and the light shade seemed to help. The winter squash vines suffered though (both C. maxima) and at one point I had to give them a misting and turn on the irrigation to give them some extra water. Some of the leaves came out crispy but the plants revived and I think the immature squash will be ok.

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.