Harvest Improvisations
The pleasure of the successful garden harvest invariably comes with a
challenge. Now that you have all this beautiful produce making your kitchen
counters look like a veritable farmer’s market – what next? Your daily meals
become the envy of every health dietitian in the country, but bountiful
harvests are just that, bountiful.
While
the onions, potatoes, carrots, winter squash and beets will keep in a cool
place, there are other more perishable items that require some ingenuity and
creativeness to use them in a timely manner before they spoil. Sharing with
friends who do not garden is a solution, tomatoes can be made in a delicious
sauce and some vegetables can be easily frozen.
Real
challenges come with cucumbers, zucchini and eggplant that do not freeze well.
Hence my recent improvisations with these vegetables. The first challenge came
a couple of weeks ago, when our neighbor Connie, having heard of my sparse
cucumber crop, arrived with a dishpan of cucumbers to share in case I wanted to
make more pickles. Some went to the pickle jar, but some of the larger ones led
to the creation of this delicious cucumber soup.
White cucumber gazpacho
Peel
3 large cucumbers in strips, leaving some of the rind intact, halve in
lengthwise, remove the seeds if cucumbers are mature and cut in large chunks.
In a 3 qt. pot sauté 1 roughly chopped medium onion and 1 stalk celery in 1
tblsp. olive oil for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 minced garlic cloves and after 1
minute add 3 cups chicken broth. Bring to boil; add 1 peeled diced potato and
the cucumber pieces. Continue to cook for 15 minutes, adding ¼ cup each chopped
Italian parsley and celery tops during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Allow to
cool and purée the mixture in a blender with 2 tblsp. white vinegar and 1 -2
cups plain yoghurt. Remove to a bowl and stir in 1 diced medium red or orange
seeded pepper, 1 cup diced tomato, 1 unpeeled small young cucumber diced and 3
thinly sliced scallions with their green tops. Adjust seasonings with salt and
pepper to taste. Serve cold or room temperature. It will keep refrigerated for
a couple of days.
Zucchini
tends to be the yearly but of gardener’s jokes, but it is really quite
versatile and can be included in many dishes, since like grits, it tends to
adopt the taste of the surrounding food. Here is a zucchini-eggplant parmesan
bake, where zucchini provides some of the texture of the dish, often absent in
eggplant parmesan.
Zucchini-eggplant parmesan
In a
shallow bowl mix 1 beaten egg with 1 tblsp. water, ½ tsp salt and 2 tblsp.
flour. (Use rice flour for a gluten free meal) Peel and slice two small
eggplants in ½ inch slices. Dip the slices on both sides in the mixture and fry
in 2 tbsp, olive oil a few minutes to a side until slightly browned. Set aside.
Slice 1 medium zucchini in 1/3 inch slices, dip in egg batter on each side and
fry in 1 tblsp. oil as the eggplant. Have ready: 1 ½ cups flavorful spaghetti
sauce, ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1 cup grated mozzarella and 4-5
oz. sliced Provolone. To assemble: spray an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with
cooking spray, spread 2 tblsp. of sauce on the bottom, layer half of the
eggplant, sprinkle with 1/3 of Parmesan and Mozzarella; spread a little sauce
and follow with a layer of zucchini, and the two cheeses and sauce. Top with
the remaining eggplant, cheeses, sauce and spread a single layer of sliced
Provolone on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes until bubbly and the
top layer is slightly browned. Serve warm and can be easily reheated.
Our
peach tree, as predicted from the pink cloud of blossoms in the spring,
overproduced. Peach crumble, pie, conserves, pancakes and scores of friends
made some inroads on this fragrant bounty, but there was more. Freezing peaches
leaves them rather unappetizing. But it is easy to preserve this delicious
fruit in the form of Refrigerator ‘Canned’ Peaches.
Spiced refrigerator ‘canned’ peaches
For
this you need on hand: pint sized canning jars with new lids, whole cloves,
allspice, fresh ginger (optional), freestone peaches and light syrup. Light
syrup: 2 cups water, 1 cup sugar, 1 inch piece of ginger sliced thin and 1
Tblsp. lemon juice, heated until sugar is dissolved. Most peaches need to be
blanched, immersed in boiling water for 5-10 seconds, for the skin to easily
peel. Blanch peaches, remove with a slotted spoon from water, halve, slip off
the skin and drop in 2 cups water with 2 tblsp. lemon juice to prevent
discoloration. Heat light syrup to boiling and drop peeled peaches in small
batches in syrup to cook for 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and pack in
clean jars. To each full jar add:4 whole cloves, 4 allspice and pour boiling
syrup on top within ¼ inch of the rim. Seal tightly with dome lid, which will
pull a vacuum when cool. Store in refrigerator, where it will keep for several
months. This makes a wonderful ready made desert with blueberry jam, whipped
cream or ice cream.
Thinking
‘out of the box’ can apply to food as well as other matters. But, challenges
and improvisations that lead to delicious results can be doubly appreciated.
Ilga
Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy
and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website:
www.winicov-harrington.com)
