Autumn Is Here – A (Wet) Year in Review

Well, this is it, folks: the end of another great growing season. As a wrap-up, I wanted to do a quick review of this year’s conditions and experiences, and, if you have any stories you’d like to add about your gardens this year, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Rain, rain, rain… The wet weather was the big story in my neck of the woods this year. We had over five more inches of rain this season than average, resulting in some boons and some busts. On the good side, I did not have to water the garden even once (aside from transplanting). The wet conditions yielded the best-tasting potato crop I have ever grown. The peppers also loved the wet soil.

On the downside, there was far too much water for most crops. Soggy conditions proved great for fungal growth and the tomatoes succumbed early to blight. Watermelons produced abysmally, as well. It was a terrible year for squash. Both summer and winter squash performed poorly, with a high incidence of fruit abortion and ripe rot. Zucchini, a notorious producer, did not even do well. I harvested ten pumpkins from 20 hills, and all of them rotted within a week of harvest. Cushaws did not fare much better. I am glad that I do not have to depend upon winter squash for survival this winter.

Let’s just say that I am hoping for a more favorable year next year. Keep your fingers crossed for me and for each other. If you have any year-in-review stories you’d like to share, feel free to share with us in the comments. Have a great winter, and I will see you again this coming spring.

First Eggplant Harvest of the Season

I thought I would follow yesterday’s article with a surprise: eggplants!  These four beauties came from the garden this morning, and will be finding their way to the table tonight, stuffed with bread crumbs, tomatoes, and basil.

quatre aubergines.

These are the season’s first four eggplants. These are of an old, heirloom variety, the name of which I do not know. These range from about 6-8″ long, and are quite shiny. Their gorgeous dark purple coloring appears almost black, creating an interesting visual paradox between the skin’s ability to reflect and absorb light at the same time. They are delicious, no frills eggplants, but I happen to think that they are the most beautiful foodstuffs the Earth can provide.  Their beauty, of course, is rivaled only by their flavor and nutrition.

risque vert.

For all the smoothness of the fruit, the eggplant cap and stem are a force to be reckoned with: just look at the spines!  (It is hard to tell here, but all of that fuzz is made up of tiny spines, too) A mail glove would come in handy come harvest time.  When you harvest your own, just make sure to hold it by the fruit end, and slice cleanly through the stem with a sharp knife.

through a glass, darkly.

These eggplants are so striking.  I am mesmerized by them every time I see them, and it never fails: year after year.  The beauty of the world reflected in the skin: the blue sky, the green grass and trees, and even my own body are there, distorted.  Eggplants look dangerous, as if they were some acrimonious tiding of Eden’s serpent.  Herein lies yet another paradoxical dichotomy, the shade of death outside, and inside, flesh most nutritive.

aubergine taxon.

I almost expect this one to follow me around, cursing me, or maybe give me a big point bonus.  (Fans of Hudson’s Adventure Island or Nintendo’s Ice Climber catch my drift.)  Eggplants like this one, with it’s textbook shape, often appeared in video games from the 1980’s.  Some other infamous eggplant appearances in video games are the eggplant welders from 1985’s Wrecking Crew and the cruel Eggplant Wizard of 1987’s Kid Icarus.  Whenever I see a taxonomical eggplant, like the one above, childhood memories of those games come immediately to mind.  It makes me hungry, too.

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A Note to Local Folk

These four are just the beginning.  I have twelve plants, which will likely produce 5-6 eggplants each with the way the weather has been lately: maybe even more.  If you are local and would like to have a couple, let me know as I’m always glad to share.

Solanum melongena, the lovely eggplant

What greater beauty is there than the shiny, porphurous orb that is the fruit of Solanum melongena, the eggplant?  This velvety nightshade with its purple flowers gives rise to the most royal of garden fruits: Tyrian giants of delicious and mysterious beauty.  Many varieties exist in colors of green, white, and variegated, but none is so magnificent as the purple eggplant.  It is a source of great nutrition, and it is an object of fascination and, in some, disdain.  Children hate them, vegetarians love them, and I adore them.

The plant S. melongena is an herbaceous shrub of the nightshade family.  It is native to India and Sri Lanka, but it is now cultivated all over the world, not arriving in Western culture until after A.D. 1500.  The fruit is most correctly classified as a berry, having many soft seeds.  The seeds are known by aubergineophiles to be bitter.  That is because they contain small amounts of nicotinoids, which are there because of the eggplant’s close relation to Nicotiana tabacum, or common tobacco.  The plants grow to a heights between 40 and 150 centimeters, with lobed leaves 10 to 20 centimeters long and five to 10 centimeters wide.  The stems and leaves are velvety and sometimes have spines.  Eggplants usually have purple flowers, but sometimes they are white or a light lilac color.  The flowers are greatly similar to those of tomatoes and potatoes, which are other relatives in the nightshade family.  When the fruits begin to set on, they start as small blackish orbs, growing gradually into longer and longer jet purple ovoids.  They look dangerous, having a dark mystery to them, and seeming like some ancient lurker to the garden, a relic from a time of alchemy and magic.

Despite the fact that purple is the color most commonly associated with eggplants, the first eggplants in the New World were of a white variety, and had all the appearance of goose eggs.  The name “eggplant” stuck.  They do very much resemble eggs, with their subtle texture and off-white color.  In fact, a basket of varietal eggplants summons all the feelings of a joyful Easter in July.

They are quite the enigma here in the Appalachian mountains, where they are not a traditional staple.  They are, without a doubt, the most common garden vegetable that has found nearly no traditional place on Appalachian table.  In a land of pork fat, soup beans, and cornbread, the eggplant just does not seem to fit.  Of course, a side of fried eggplant makes the aforementioned traditional dish quite delicious, and adds a flare that breaks well the monotony.

Though many do not grow them, eggplants can add a lot of beauty and fun to your gardening experience.  Next year, why not give them a whirl?  Here is the low down on growing your own purple gems.

Cultivation

Eggplants do not tolerate cold.  Do not plant them until the soil temperature is 60°F or warmer.  A couple of weeks after the last frost is a good rule of thumb.

Eggplants do best when started as seedlings.  You can grow your own seedlings in much the same manner used with other nightshades, such as tomatoes.  You can, of course, buy seedlings from your local garden supply stores.  Depending on your location, these seedlings are available, and should be transplanted, in late May to early June.  Plant seedlings in well-tiled ground up to the top of the root structure, or just above, and about 18-24″ apart.  To avoid cutworm damage, wrap each seedling’s stem with newspaper strips cut to about 2″ in width.  As with any transplanting, water the seedlings thoroughly before and after transplantation.

Care

As eggplants grow, they will be targeted many times by a multitude of garden pests (flea bugs, cutworms, Japanese beetles, and others).  Use nicotine spray derived from cured tobacco leaves to repel many bugs.  Moth balls work fairly well, too.  If you are not averse to a non-organic solution, Sevin dust works perfectly to repel all insect invaders.  If you have bug problems, keep using your insecticide until the plants start to bloom, which can be able one month to six weeks after transplanting.  Once the plants are mature enough to bloom, and they will generally be okay against the few insects that continue to feed on them.  If need be, try to pick the bugs off by hand from that point forward.

The first eggplant flowers are often not pollenated.  If you feel that they are not receiving enough attention from bees, you can always manually pollenate them.  Use cotton swabs to transfer pollen from flower to flower between plants.  After the first flowering, the bees will usually have found them, and you will no longer need to manually pollenate.

Once the fruit sets on, there is usually no more care involved outside of regularly checking for insects.

Harvesting

Harvest eggplants when they are 6-8″ long and still shiny.  Be careful!  Eggplants often have spines, sometimes too tiny to be seen.  Use gloves and a good sharp knife to cut them free of the plant.  Dull eggplants are overripe and should be cut and discarded.  Check regularly to avoid loss due to over-ripening.  Eggplants do not keep well, and they should be eaten within days of harvesting; eating them the same day is always best.

Eating

There are a myriad ways to prepare eggplants: all of them delicious.  For more on cooking with eggplant, check back soon.  I will be doing an “Eggplant Week,” similar to the Zucchini Week I did earlier in July.

Enjoy this garden jewel.  They are fun to grow and beautiful to see.  Your garden will definitely stand out with these beautiful plants.

Woodgrows Tomato Paste – By Popular Request

"Red Apples from the New World" 1593.

Here’s  a bonus recipe from my kitchen vault.  Lots of my friends ask me about making tomato paste, like the kind we used in last Tuesday’s recipe for ratatouille.  You can use canned tomato paste, but I think that if you have the time, and you are going to all the effort to make homemade ratatouille, why not make your own tomato paste?  It’s really easy, and once you learn to make it, you’ll find yourself making it all the time.  Hmm… tomatoes are ripening now, maybe a Tomato Week should be in the works…

Woodgrows Tomato Paste, in easy steps

This is a recipe for home canned tomato paste.  Like I said, you’re going to want this all the time, so there’s no harm in canning a few quarts of the good stuff to keep it on hand.  If you are not an experienced canner, and you don’t want to be, just reduce the recipe to a size appropriate for your purposes.  If you have always been interested in home canning, but have never tried it, this recipe makes a great place to start.

What You’ll Need

about 4 dozen large, ripe tomatoes of your favorite variety

1½ c. red bell peppers (optional)

2 bay leaves

1 T. salt

1 clove of garlic

about 9 half-pint mason jars

flats and bands for mason jars

1 water bath canner setup

1 fine sieve

Cut and Paste – Preparing Tomato Paste

1. Peel, core, and chop the tomatoes.  You can use a food processor for this, but I prefer just a good old chef’s knife.  It is of the utmost importance to keep your knife sharp.  (I’ll do a special on knife care a little later.)
2. Combine all the ingredients into a large pot and cook slowly over low heat for about an hour.
3. Remove from heat and press the mixture through the sieve.
4. Crush and chop the garlic and add it to the sieved mixture.
5. Put the mixture back onto the heat and cook it slowly over low heat for about 2 to 3 hours.  When it is ready, it will have a familiar paste-like consistency.  If it holds its shape on a tablespoon, it’s ready.
6. Taste the paste. If you think it needs more salt, now is the time to add it.

Water Bath Canner Kit, including jar funnel, jar tongs, canner pot, and jar rack.

Tomato Life Masonic

If you’ve never canned at home before, there are some simple things to keep in mind.  First of all, everything has to be clean: immaculately clean.  The jars, the flats, the bands, the canner: everything.  Cleanliness helps to cut down the risk of spoilage, which, of course, is the whole point of canning.

For detailed information about home canning, see my upcoming article entitled “Woodgrows Garden Canning Handbook.”

Apart from being clean, everything has to be hot, so be careful.

1. Fill a large saucepan about one-quarter the way full with water, and bring to a simmer.
2. Place your flats and bands into the water.
3. While they are simmering away, put your water bath canner onto the stove, fill about one-quarter the way full with water, and start bringing it to a boil.  Make sure that you put your jar rack into the canner, so that it will be appropriately sterile, too.
4. Wash your mason jars in hot water and soap.  Rinse them, and keep them submerged in a sink full of hot water.
5. Pour the tomato paste into the hot jars, leaving about  ¼” of head space.
6. Use tongs to put a flat and band on each jar, and tighten them as much as possible using a dish towel to protect your hands.
7. Once the jars have been capped, use jar tongs to place them into the water bath canner.
   

   Jars being processed in water bath canner.

8. Process the jars for  45 minutes with the canner lid closed.
9. After the time has passed, remove the jars from the canner with the jar tongs, and place them on a towel on the countertop.  Gently wipe away any residue that may have collected on the jars and lids, and give the bands a second tightening.  These jars will be HOT, so use dish towels to handle them.  You’ll know that they are sealed when you hear the distinctive “flink.”  Sealing is important, if the jars don’t seal, your paste will ruin.  Sometimes if can take up to 20 minutes for all of them to seal, so don’t panic if they don’t all “flink” at the same time.

Congratulations!  You are now the proud owner of about nine cups of canned tomato paste.  It really is amazing how much the paste reduces over the cooking time: from about eight quarts to nine cups, about a 72% reduction!  You should feel proud, too, because not only is this paste delicious and useful for a myriad things, you also canned it yourself.  Keep it on hand and share it with your friends.

Enjoy!

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We’d love to hear your stories about making and using this tomato paste.  Have you tried it in ratatouille?  How about on chicken or as part of a spaghetti sauce or in lasagna?  Comment on this post and let us know all about it.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Friday – Zucchini Kebabs Marocain

Kebabs are great for parties.  They are great for holidays, particularly those of summer, which is why I think that kebabs are the perfect Fourth of July cookout dish.  I’ve put together a great little Moroccan-style kebab recipe, based upon one I found in an old Mediterranean cook book.  I had it before: it’s great!  It uses zucchini, is a great outdoor food, and has that exotic, not-your-everyday appear to it, and with it being Zucchini Week, and the Fourth of July upon us, I thought it was perfect.  I think that you will enjoy it, particularly if you are into Mediterranean flavors.

There are three parts to make, a spice rub, red pepper purée, and the kebab components.

Ingredients – Kebabs, makes about 15

1 – 1½ lbs. leg of lamb, de-boned and diced

3 shallots

1 lemon, quartered length-wise and sliced

3 small zucchini

olive oil for cooking

skewers, if you use bamboo skewers, don’t forget to soak them in water and cover the ends with tinfoil to prevent burning

Ingredients – Rub

½ t. cumin

½ t. coriander

¼ t. cardamom, ground

½ t. black pepper, coarsely milled

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 T. olive oil

1 t. lemon zest

Ingredients – Red Pepper Purée

2 red bell peppers, cut in half, seeds removed

1 T. red wine vinegar

1 T. olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

“Sticking” it all together

1. Simmer the shallots for about 2-3 minutes, cool, and cut them into quarters
2. To make the rub, mix all the run ingredients together in a small bowl and rub them into the meat.  Cover the meat and sit it aside for about half an hour to let the spices permeate the meat.
3. To make the pepper purée, put the pepper halves onto the grill and roast them until the skins start to turn blistery black.  Sit them aside, covered, until cool enough to handle.  Once they cool, remove the flesh from the skins, which are discarded, and pop them into a blender, along with the vinegar and olive oil.  Process it all into a purée and season to taste.  Sit the resulting purée aside.
4. On the skewer, alternate between lamb, lemon, shallot, and zucchini pieces.
5. Grill the kebabs, brushing occasionally with oil, until the meat is brown (about medium rare is what we’re looking for).  The cooking should take anywhere from 3-5 minutes.
6. Eat, but not the lemons, those are just for flavor.  Try them with the red pepper purée and an ice cold beer to hit the summertime spot.

بالهنا والشفا  (bil-hanā’ wa ash-shifā’)

… or bon appétit, in Arabic.  I hope that you enjoy the kebabs as much as I’ve enjoyed digging through my recipe book.  So, this Fourth, take a trip across the Atlantic, culinarily speaking, with my Zucchini Kebabs Marocain: a delicious way to bring the flavors of Morocco to your table.  Happy Independence Day, everybody!

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Kebabs are a fun way to cook outside with family and friends.  If you have any fun kebab stories, feel free to share them with us.  We love hearing from you!

Thursday – Steamed Zucchini & Yellow Squash

Chocolate and peanut butter.

Apes and bananas.

Lucy and Desi.

Some things are just meant to be together.  Well, maybe not Lucy and Desi, maybe more like Ralph and Alice, but I digress.  Zucchini and yellow summer squash (sometimes called crookneck squash) are just such a probable pair.  Thursday’s Zucchini Week recipe has us preparing these two garden goodies together in a classic way.

Daisy Bell

Collapsible steamer.

This one’s easy folks.  All you need is a saucepan with about an inch of water inside, one of those collapsible steamer doohickeys, and some medallions of succulent summer squashes.  This time around we’ll be using – you guessed it – zucchini and yellow summer squash; it is zucchini week, after all.  As far as amounts go, I’ll leave that one up to you; you know how hungry you are better than I do, and you can’t really mess this one up as far as amounts go.  You will also likely want a touch of added fat for flavor, so a little bit of butter or margarine should do nicely.  Oh yes, you will also need a stove, of course.

Itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow squash and zucchini

1. Slice the squash into ⅜” – ¼” thick medallions (sort of like in Monday’s fried zucchini recipe).
2. Put the steamer into the pot of water, making sure it is opened up as much as it can be in that size pot.  Lid it up and turn up the heat to HI.
3. When the water starts to boil, carefully pop open the lid and drop in some squash medallions: not too many, or you’ll overcrowd the pot they won’t cook evenly.  A good rule of thumb is to fill the pot to about half the capacity of the steamer, or about halfway up the steamer’s central stem.
4. Cover and let them steam for a few minutes.  Yes, I said a few minutes: terribly exact.  You see, the problem is that it’s difficult to estimate how long it will take, because it depends on the density of your particular squash; the denser the fruit, the longer it takes to cook.  Factors like ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity can affect the cooking time, too.  So, the best thing to do is to let it steam with the cover on for a couple or three minutes, then open the cover and poke a piece with a fork.  If the flesh yields to gentle pressure, they are ready.  If not, then re-cover and let them steam another minute or so before checking again.
5. Once your squash mixture is tenderly steamed, carefully remove the steamer from the pot with tongs.  Be careful, it’s hot! It might be a good idea to cover that free hand with a kitchen mitt, so that, when the urge to guide the steamer out of the pot with your off hand hits, you will be prepared.
6. Transfer the squash to a serving bowl and toss in a little bit of butter or oleo to taste.  Also, be sure to add a coarse salt, like kosher, and a liberal dose of freshly milled black pepper.
7. Toss gently to homogenate the mixture.

Et violà!

The results of this recipe.

That was easy enough, right?  So easy that all you veggie-philes out there might just make it a household staple.

You might also be thinking that this recipe sounds an awful lot like some of those awful standard side dishes you’ve had at mainstream restaurant chains, like Pearhornet’s and others.  You know the ones.  They come in a small white bowl and usually include a soggy baby carrot.  Before you pass judgement, know that there’s more to this dish when you make it yourself, with fresh, high-quality ingredients and use freshly milled black pepper and coarse salt.  And, of course you are not going to steam your veggies for three hours.  (Hmm… maybe that line would look good on a piece of flair?)  I assure you that, following this recipe, your version will be delicious.  It also compliments just about any main course perfectly.  Serve it with fish, chicken, pork chops, or steak; it’s great.  Also, if you like pasta, try it with spaghetti; I like to plate my pasta, added steamed squash, and then top it all off with homemade marinara sauce and a few grates of parmesan cheese.  In all, this dish’s beauty lies in its pure tastiness, making it an agreeable, healthy choice for my supper table and yours.

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What’s the wildest way (culinarily speaking) to use steamed zucchini and yellow squash?  Comment on this post and tell us about it!

Wednesday – Greek Salad, Zucchini-style

Young Zucchini

It’s the middle of the week, the proverbial “hump” day.  What are you going to fix for supper?  How about some zucchini?  Summer Wednesdays are good days to come home, relax, and take it easy with a light meal.  I’ve put together a healthy and quick Greek salad, made special by this week’s favorite green fruit: the zucchini.  The great part of this recipe is that it can be made and enjoyed outside, where you can enjoy the warm evening air, the lightning bugs, and family and friends.

A Taste of Hellas

Greek salad is a favorite summertime dish in many parts of the world.  A true Greek salad is a tomato salad with slices of cucumbers, olives, red onion, and feta cheese, all seasoned with black pepper, salt, oregano, and basil, with olive oil drizzled on to taste.  Greeks love these salads, especially in Attica and Cyprus, and they are a popular part of meals all over Hellas.  Our version is much the same, only we are going to add roasted zucchini to give it all a fresh summer garden twist.

Ingredients – serves 4

4 medium zucchini, sliced length-wise and cut cross-wise into ¾” – 1″ pieces

3-4 cups cherry or grape tomatoes

1 large red onion, sliced into rings

¼ c. olives, traditionally Kalamata

1 T. fresh dill, chopped finely

1-2 sprigs fresh basil, chopped

2 T. olive oil

2 T. red wine vinegar

2 hearts romaine lettuce

1 package of feta cheese, 4 oz.

kosher salt, to taste

black pepper, freshly ground to taste

Easy peasy zucchineasy

This recipe is easy, but it requires a little bit of cooking.  Good news, though: you can do the cooking outside on the grill.

1. Brush the zucchini with olive oil, and grill them on medium-high heat until they are well-roasted and have nice, black grill marks.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half and place them into a large salad bowl.
3. Pit the olives and slice them in half, if you wish.  Some folk like them whole.
4. Add the zucchini, olives, salt and herbs to the bowl, tossing gently with the red wine vinegar and up to 2 T. of extra virgin olive oil.  Feel free to adjust the oil amount to your taste.
5. Cut up the romaine and put a few leaves into serving bowls.
6. Add the zucchini/tomato mixture to the serving bowls, top with a couple of onion rings, and table.
7. Crumble the feta cheese and have it on the table with a serving spoon; this way everyone gets as much – or as little – as they want.
8. Have a pepper grinder handy, too, so that diners may accommodate their own tastes.

Καλή όρεξη!  … or bon appétit in Greek

You’ve done it!  You just crafted another easy supper from the wonderful zucchini.  If the salad alone isn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, warm up some pitas on the grill and stuff them with the salad for a great meal with a touch more rib-stickedness.  Either way, this recipe is a great way to have a healthy supper and to enjoy a summer evening out on the deck with family or friends.

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If you have your own salad recipes that you’d like to share, feel free to comment on this post and let us know about them.  We’d love to hear from you!

Tuesday – Ratatouille niçoise

Ratatouille niçoise, image credit: Tomas Zeleninsky

Tuesday can be boring.  Two days into the week and you are already tired, and the milestone of Wednesday is still one day away.  You need something zesty, hardy, and easy for supper.  If you have a kitchen garden, you might just have an overabundance of zucchini.  What solution satisfies both needs?  Ratatouille niçoise, of course!

the Art of French Cooking

Do not be intimidated by French cooking.  In fact, many of you obliviously know many French cooking techniques.  Take pot roast, for example.  You can do pot roast, right?  You put in the meat, potatoes, carrots, celery and onions.  The stand-by combination of onions, carrots, and celery is known in French cooking as mirepoix, and it is the base for just about any stock, stew, soup, or sauce in French cuisine.  There’s even a creole equivalent, the trinity: a combination of onions, celery, and green bell peppers.

Ratatouille niçoise, most commonly known as simply “ratatouille,” is a great thing to have around the house.  It is a loosely integrated vegetable stew virtually without broth.  You can eat it in a bowl by itself, or on pasta, or even on meat baked in the oven.  It is versatile, and you will want to keep some of it on hand always once you discover just how easy it is to make.

… beaucoup…

There are two ways to make rataouille – well, there are probably countless ways to make it, but there are two ways in my mind to make it.  There is the traditional way of stewing the ingredients together in a pot over the stove for hours or of baking it in the oven.  The drawback is that you must be at home and not far from the kitchen.  For a mid-week meal, it might not work too well to do it that way.  Fortunately, there is the savior of wholesome meals everywhere: the slow cooker!

Yes, ratatouille can be made in a slow cooker, as can many other French dishes, such as french onion soup and bouillabaisse.  You can even prepare the veggies in the pot the night before cooking, so that you just get up in the morning, turn on the heat, and go.  It may not be traditional, and the results may taste slightly different, but I think you’ll find the trade-offs worth it for the easy, hot, and healthy meal awaiting you when you get home after a long day.

Ingredients – mostly from the garden

2 large onions, sliced (white or Vidallia variety)

1 large eggplant, sliced

4 small zucchini, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 large green bell peppers, cut into strips

2 large tomatoes, sliced into ½” wedges

¾ cup tomato paste, homemade or canned

2 sprigs fresh basil, chopped (about 1 t. dried)

1 sprig oregano, chopped (about ½ t. dried)

1 t. herbes de Provence (if available)

1 t. sugar

2 t. salt

½ t. black pepper, freshly milled is best

2 T. fresh parsley, chopped

¼ c. olive oil

- le travail -

1. Layer the vegetables, with onion on the bottom, followed by eggplant, zucchini, garlic, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
2. Add about half of the fresh herbs on top of the layered veggies.
3. Pour on about half of the tomato paste.
4. Repeat the layering process to fill the pot.
5. Cover and cook on LOW for about 7 hours or so.  If you put it on before you leave in the morning, it will be ready by the time you get home.

Bon appétit!

Serve ratatouille in a large bowl with fresh croûtes or french bread.  Cheese is great with ratatouille.  Grate a mix of parmesan and Swiss cheese on top for a tasty finish.

There are a bunch of other ways to serve ratatouille.  It freezes well, so you can keep it on hand for a myriad healthy recipes.  Try it in lasagna, on pizza, or on top of baked meat.  It works awesomely with rabbit and chicken, but try it with any meat you like: it’s unforgettable!  Just put your meat of choice in a glass baking dish and cover liberally with ratatouille.  Bake it at around 350°F until done, and serve the result on top of rice or with fresh croûtes.

I think that once you try ratatouille niçoise, you will find it a staple during summer months.  It is easy, healthy, and a great way to enter the world of French cooking and to spice up the flavor quotient of your fresh garden bounty.

Let us know what you think of this recipe, and share your own by commenting on this post.  We’re eager to hear from you!

Monday – Fried Zucchini, a Southern Favorite

Fried Zucchini

If you are at all aware of Southern cuisine, you know that there is a lot of frying involved.  Many garden veggies find their way into a frying pan over the course of the season, and just about all of them get the same, delicious treatment.  It involves a simple cornmeal batter made with egg and milk.  Once you learn this method, you will be ready to fry such other delights as crookneck squash, okra, eggplant, green tomatoes, and, yes, even cucumbers.  Here’s how to fry up a mess of zucchini just like grandmaw.

1.     Heat about ¼ inch of olive or rapeseed oil in a large iron skillet over medium heat.

2.     Wash the zucchini and cut them into cross sections, yielding disks about ¼ inch thick.

3.     Mix about ¼ cup of milk with 1 large, beaten egg.  I like brown eggs, preferably from a Rhode Island Red hen that has spent most of its time eating bugs in the barnyard.  If you have fresh eggs, all the better.

4.     Put a small amount of plain corn meal in a medium sized bowl.

5.     Dip the zucchini slices, one by one, into the egg mixture.  Let the excess drip off and drop them into the corn meal, covering them fully.

6.     When the oil is hot (around 350°-375°F), carefully drop the zucchini into the oil: fry until golden brown.

This dish is best served hot.

Reply to this week’s posts if you have favorite zucchini recipes of your own to share.  We’d love to hear from you!

Squashed! – Zucchini

I am squashed.  My garden brings forth amazing quantities of squash.  You know the kinds.  The little yellow ones; crooknecks, they are called.  Pattypans are there, too.  There’s also the king of summer squash: zucchini.  I always have the sneaking suspicion that at least two zucchini grow back in the place of each one harvested.  They go all summer, even until frost sometimes.  Zucchini are truly amazing.  It’s a good thing that I like them, otherwise, a Zucchini Phantom would ever visit my neighbors: a caped crusader of all things long, green, and spineless, who leaves a bounty of the verdant squashes on doorsteps.  Why spineless you ask?  We don’t want to get confused with Cucumber Phantom, do we?

Yes, it is a good thing that I like zucchini.  I love them baked.  I adore them fried.  I enjoy them steamed.  I dig them stewed.  Just about the only zucchini related item of which I am not fond is zucchini bread.  I suppose making it is better than wasting good food, but it is a tragedy to all things zucchini, as the nature of the fruit is therein completely lost.  To keep my love for zucchini from growing stale, I constantly look for new ways to prepare it.  This week, Woodgrows Garden Almanack features five recipes I use to keep zucchini from ever growing dull.