Harvesting Gardens that Feed

Learning Lab Garden Notes: October 24, 2017

Harvest time! What a season for tomatoes! It is hard to say goodbye, but it’s time. This past weekend I pulled out all my tomato plants and cleaned out my Vegetable garden. What a difference! I would say it was a successful tomato season with a great harvest. Happy to report that we made tomato sauce and many tomatoes with basil sandwiches. This is my favorite lunchtime treat! Yum. The zucchini harvest was fun too. They went crazy. I made zucchini bread, gave many zucchinis away and ended up adding a few of the oversized zucchini’s back into the compost. I am not sure I will grow them next year. Meanwhile, the herb garden was beautiful and added so much zest to the cooking.

It was fun to harvest the green tomatoes. This will be a first. We will be making a Salsa Verde using a recipe from NYTimes Cooking. Yum!

Green Tomato Salsa Verde

(from NYTimes Cooking)

Yield: About 1 3/4 cups

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 pound of green tomatoes
• 2-3 Jalapeno or Serrano Peppers (more to taste)
• 1/2 Medium onion, preferably a white onion, chopped soaked for five minutes in cold water, drained, rinsed and drained again with paper towel
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 Cup roughly chopped cilantro
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, as needed (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the green tomatoes on the baking sheet, stem side down, and place under the broiler about 2 inches from the heat. Broil two to five minutes, until charred. Using tongs, turn the tomatoes over, and grill on the other side for two to five minutes, until blackened. Remove from the heat. When cool enough to handle, core the tomatoes and remove the charred skin. Quarter and place in the blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients, except the water, to the blender or food processor and blend to a course or smooth puree (to your taste) Transfer to a bowl, taste and adjust seasoning and thin out with water if desired. Allow standing for 30minutes or longer before serving to allow the flavors to develop. You may wish to thin out after it stands

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I am ready to do an overhaul in my Edible Garden. I am so excited at the possibilities so stay tuned. Meanwhile, I am exploring and planning the garden transition into Winter. Garlic here we come!

Now I want to hear from you. Do you have a Garden that Feeds? What did you harvest this year? What will you do differently next year? Share in the comments below.

Enjoy,

Victoria

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