The Garden Chronicles

It has been a terrific year for tomatoes; half the number of plants and just about the same yield at harvest.  I have a couple of San Marzano tomato plants that are not growing in rich volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  The are thriving in crappy, Door County clay soil and are absolute tomato factories.  Consequently, our diet features tomatoes at virtually every opportunity.

Tomato tart, tomato seafood stew, venison bolognese, caprese salad, you name it.  

Just the other day I found myself with about 5+ pounds of ripe, San Marzano tomatoes so I whipped-together eight pints of homemade salsa and canned it for winter use.

We all know the uncomfortable truth; that our lover affair with fresh garden tomatoes is a brief and fleeting dalliance.  Incredibly sensuous; and short-lived.  By the time January rolls-around and Ma Nature is hurling freezing sleet against the windows and temperatures hover in the single digits we all would consider felonious behavior to get our hands tomatoes such as these.  

Can 'em while you got 'em.......

The Garden Chronicles

As tough as gardening has been this year there have been several standouts.  Raspberries, asparagus and tomatoes.  Plenty of berries to pick and eat with the surplus frozen for the future.  You've likely been bored to tears with the spargel story.  And the tomatoes are doing terrific with red and yellow cherry varieties for snacking, San Marzanos for pizza and these beauties; all acquired from Sully's Greenhouse this spring.  

First time purchaser from this garden center and I guess I'll have to go back; namely because the heirloom beefsteak variety above can no longer be ID'd.  The name on the tag faded!  These are absolutely fantastic.

Anyway, my tomato plants are about half of prior years but the yield is good enough for some canning in my future.

Meanwhile there are BLTs to eat.

 Pretty good chow if you can get it.... 

You Say Tomato; I Say Tomato

Recent travel to visit with family found us in Mobile Alabama for a week with an opportunity to become temporary Mobilians and soak-up family time, history, food and ambiance of this coastal city.

From the neighborhood Farm Market there were fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes. Big ones too. 

 

Daughter fried-up some of her homemade smoked bacon to fashion toasted sourdough BLTs.

 

 

My own tomato plants are looking good but we're nowhere close to sandwiches....

The Garden Chronicles

If you are a San Marzano tomato snob you likely already know that a purebred San Marzano tomato is grown in the rich, volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

This year I’ve sourced my San Marzanos from a mutant plant that has overgrown the composter.  

A very robust volunteer from 2023 garden waste.

I collected enough fruits to can and foolishly imagined a dozen half pints.

Here is my harvest.

Four half pints.

Tomatoes and cracked Spanish sea salt. That’s it.

On a foundation of my sourdough crust this is the foundation of a real Neapolitan pie….
 

The Garden Chronicles

The tomato avalanche has possibly begun to peter-out.  The nights are incredibly cooler and even the days not so hot any longer.

Nevertheless, we're eating these delectable fruits daily and canning them while I go.

Obtained from the Pioneer Pantry in Brussels This is my first year raising San Marzano tomatoes.  Tasty and plentiful!  I'll do these again.  Maybe even exclusively.

Come February ordinarily normal individual would commit high crimes and misdemeanors for fresh, homegrown tomatoes.

Seven pints of San Marzano sunshine!

Recipe Of The Day

Tomato Risotto

 

Time 30 minutes

 

If you’re like me you likely have an abundance of tomatoes from your garden or the farmers market this time of year.

 

This is a David Tanis recipe courtesy of New York Times Cooking. 

 

A basic risotto recipe that you can build-upon for various versions throughout the year. This iteration is built-upon red, ripe tomatoes from the garden, but if you want to ramp-up the tomato quotient, garnish the finished dish with cherry tomatoes or slices of multicolored heirloom varieties. 

 

Best as a first course or vegetarian main course.   It also pairs nicely with a main course — chicken or fish, for instance.   I roasted a four pound chicken as the main.

 

I’ve adapted it slightly as follows:

 

Ingredients

 

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ garden onion, diced (about ½ cup)

• Salt and pepper

• 1 cup arborio or carnaroli rice

• Pinch of red-pepper flakes

• 2 garlic cloves, minced fine

• ½ cup white wine

• 2 cups ripe red garden tomatoes, diced

• 3 – 4 cups boiling vegetable broth

• ½ cup grated pecorino (or Parmesan) plus more for serving

• Additional tomatoes for garnish

• Chopped parsley and/or snipped basil, for garnish

 

Preparation

 

1. Pour olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the onion and season generously with fresh-cracked sea salt and pepper. Cook until softened.

2. Add the rice, continuing cooking and stirring, until the onions and rice are barely brown. Add red-pepper flakes, garlic, white wine and diced tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

3. Ladle boiling broth and adjust the heat to a brisk simmer stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.

4. As the liquid is absorbed continue to ladle boiling broth until the rice is creamy yet firm (al dente). Taste and adjust with salt and pepper, adding additional broth as necessary to loosen the mixture. Turn off the heat, stir in the pecorino and 2 more tablespoons olive oil.

5. Transfer to a low, wide serving bowl. Surround the rice with tomato slices and season them with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley and basil. Pass more grated cheese at the table.

 

Fruit Of The Vine

Tomato Avalanche!

Considering the crappy condition of the 2023 garden this is the second picking of tomatoes in 8 days.  These are beauties.

When you have real tomatoes you indulge your tomato itch.  In this case there was tomato pie. 

 

Homemade (sort of) crust, a layer of chopped sweet onions, with a layer of chopped San Marzano tomatoes, a layer of my fresh basil (chiffonade) topped with shredded Gruyère mixed with Duke’s mayonnaise. Three dashes of Tapatío for zing. 

 

Good chow.

 

Normal people would commit high crimes and misdemeanors for tomatoes like these by the time March 2024 rolls-around and Ma Nature is slinging sleet and snow at your windows.....

 

The Garden Chronicles

The year started with plenty of precipitation and then a drought settled-over the land for more than a month.  What managed to germinate at the second and third sowing withered and died for lack of a drink.  Let's face it, well water from my aquifer is a poor substitute for the stuff God distributes from the sky.  Things were looking grim until regular rains returned by the end of July.  We're still behind in the the seasonal growing period with a net shortfall but we've harvested green beans, cukes, sweet peppers and plenty of basil for brick oven pizzas.

Just the other day there was this:  Real San Marzano tomatoes along with big beefy beefsteak fruit and sweet yellow cherry-size tomatoes for daily snacking.  I'll likely have sufficient tomatoes to can for both pizza sauce and juice.

And sweet Northstar peppers too.

Check out this melon

It's been a rough year; nevertheless, sometimes you can delightfully turn the corner.  There are Kakai seed pumpkins growing on the vine along with a couple of rows of yummy-looking leeks.  Cukes are still producing.

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

Autumn Shrimp, Sausage and Tomato Stew

This is a recipe that I have prepared before and will tell you that it is a "keeper."  

The first time I prepared it I was swimming in vine-ripened tomatoes and with an abundance of cherry tomatoes from your garden, your local farm market or CSA this is a terrific recipe that incorporates all of those delectable fruits.

This  is an easy-peasy meal to enjoy in a bowl by the wood stove accompanied by a chewy baguette. A perfect dinner or lunch for that time when the frost is on the pumpkin.

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic – finely chopped

2 cups smoked sausage of your choice (andouille, venison, chorizo, etc.)  I found a package of Bryant's Smoked Pork Sausage in a chest freezer (Bryant's Meats - Taylorsville, MS) that was not too sweet and not too hot.

Olive oil

½ t fennel seeds

15 oz can of garbanzos – drained and rinsed

3 C of cherry tomatoes (I added three of my precious remaining garden tomatoes)

1/3 C dry white wine

24 jumbo shrimp (peeled and deveined).  I used Argentinean-sourced. wild-caught, frozen south-Atlantic colossal shrimp.

½ cup torn fresh basil leaves.  I moved my basil indoors a month ago.

Fresh-cracked sea salt and black pepper to taste

Crusty baguette.  We generally have homemade French boule - toast a couple of thick slices

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Instructions

Mix yourself a martini with two colossal green olives. Rocks or Up – you pick. This is an important step. Take a sip.

In a stock pot brown your sausage in olive oil until it is brown and beginning to crisp. Add the garlic and fennel seeds and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant.

Sip your martini

Add the garbanzo beans, tomatoes, wine and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook (covered) until the tomatoes begin to break-down.Thirty minutes or thereabouts.

Sip your martini

Uncover and break-up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Add ½ C of water.

Sip you martini

Add the shrimp to the pot and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Finish the martini and share one of the anointed olives with your sweetie.

Remove from heat and stir-in the basil.

Serve with bread. Fireside is best - paired with a dry white wine.

It’s acceptable to dunk your bread in the stew.

Cheers!

The Garden Chronicles

I don’t know about you but there is a big whiff of autumn in the air lately. With football beginning the wood box is filled to the brim. 

The garden is nearing the end too. 

There was a Hail Mary sowing of lettuce, radishes and spinach a couple of weeks ago yet everything else is about done. 

Even the tomato avalanche is waning. 

Once, again, I’m reminded that when you live equidistant from the equator and the pole every waking day of our short growing season is precious.

Big beefsteaks are heading for the canner.

Kitchen counter snacking tomatoes.

Vine-ripened plum tomatoes will be converted into pizza sauce.

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

 

Mutant

I picked this today from my cherry tomato plant.

 

A conjoined (Siamese) tomato.  Remarkably a threesome with a single common stem.

The interweb tells me that this can be caused by any number of things - mutation of developing cells, a viral or bacterial infection, or mite or insect attacks.

I ate it and it was delicious.

If I grow a third arm I'll report-back.....

Recipe of the Day

We've been experiencing an avalanche of tomatoes in the last ten days.  Three kinds of cherry tomatoes started a couple of weeks ago and recently the beefsteak, heirloom and plum tomatoes have come on-line.

To be clear, tomatoes have figured significantly in our diet lately.

Today I puttered in the garden, weeding, pruning, picking and planting.  There are radishes and spinach planted for a late harvest.  Lettuces to follow.  Picked tomatoes by the box-full.  

So I put-up four quarts of fresh from the vine tomatoes and baked a yummy tomato pie.

Recipe here.....

Tomato Pie

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch pie shell (see pie crust recipe for homemade version)

• 1/2 cup chopped yellow or red onion (about 1/3 onion)

• 3 to 4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 cup sliced basil (see recipe note)

• 2 cups (8 ounces/225 g) grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozzarella)

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) Frank's Hot Sauce or Tabasco

• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Pre-bake the crust:

Preheat your oven to 425°F.

If you are like me and are using a store-bought pie shell, follow the directions on the package for pre-baking, or pre-bake it in the oven for about 12 minutes (a little longer for a frozen pie shell), until lightly browned.

If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then press a sheet of aluminum foil into the crust to keep the sides of the pie crust from falling down as it cooks. Fill the pie with pie weights such as dry beans or rice to help hold the foil in place.

1. Salt and drain the tomatoes:

2. Lightly salt the chopped tomatoes and set them in a colander over a bowl to drain while you are pre-baking the crust. Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel, or a potato ricer. 

    

   

3. Layer pre-baked pie shell with onions, tomatoes, basil:

4. Sprinkle a layer of chopped onion over the bottom of your pre-baked pie crust shell.

Spread the drained chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.

5. Make cheese mixture, spread over tomatoes:

6. In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.

The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snowball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes. 

 

7. Bake:

8. Place in oven and bake at 350°F (175°C) until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

    
    
   Pro Tip - If you want to take this recipe up a notch, you can caramelize the onions while prepping the other ingredients. If you do that, double the amount of onion.

*This recipe calls for slicing fresh basil using a technique called chiffonade. To do this, stack the basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, starting at one end slice the "cigar" crosswise in thin slices.

 

The Garden Chronicles

Ten days ago I pulled-up my tomato plants and relegated them to the composter.  I did pick a flat of unripened fruit and they're in the garage to ripen under a south-facing window.

And wonder of wonders - a tomato plant that has been growing in the composter has now grown to the ginormous size of taking it over.

It is the tomato vine that ate Toledo.

And not only is it large it is producing nice-sized red cherry tomatoes.  Same for a volunteer plant that showed-up on the north side of the house.  We have no clue as to how a cherry tomato plant finds itself into the flower bed on the north side of the house.  But I digress.  We're getting fruit and that's all that matters.

So in the mean time we're reveling in the decadence of BLTs constructed from homemade rustic French bread...

And this cardiologist's nightmare - the notorious grilled cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich constructed from rustic rye bread...

Come January I'll probably be in a frame of mind to commit high crimes and misdemeanors to get my hands on a real, homegrown, vine-ripened tomato.  Alas, there will be none to be had.  Nevertheless, there are canned garden tomatoes in the cellar bunker so there remains hope of bolognese, pizza sauce, tomato juice and more. 

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

 

What To Do With Garden Tomatoes

Dining-upon garden produce regular-like. Including tomatoes!

 

With the addition of the Forno this year I planted Italian herbs and plum tomatoes. Fresh-sliced plum tomatoes from the garden on a New York thin crust pie are delectable. Add some fresh basil when served and it’s the bomb. 

 

 

With the current surplus I canned six pints of plum and a couple of quarts of ordinary tomatoes today.And there is more in the pipeline too.

 

I have a vision of venison bolognese in my future…..

 

The Garden Chronicles

Up early this morning to beat the heat and tidy-up the garden. 

Three days ago I picked cukes and made a giant batch of cucumber salad for Lions Club. Today there was this.  I swear they materialize overnight. 

 

I suspect I’ll be canning tomatoes soon and the broccoli is the gift that keeps on giving. 

 

Anecdotally there seems to be more than the usual number of aggrieved individuals on social media.  It must suck big time to rise every damn day and be burdened by grievances that you have to crow them on Face Book for all the interweb to suffer-thru. My sole grievance worth any valuable bandwidth is the resident whitetails have eaten all my delicious lettuce. 

 

All four rows!  Same for the green beans.

Nevertheless, there is justice for this affront to my delicate sensibilities.

Nocturnal garden theft is a capital offense.

 

Vive le jardin magnifique!

 

 

 

Garden Tomatoes Hold the High Ground

Yesterday a garden tomato was featured in our fish tacos. 

 

In October I speculated that there was a high probability of garden tomatoes making an end of November finish line. It would be close - yet there was a chance.

 

A FB friend suggested I feature them in a pizza.

 

Here it is - end of the first week of December - garden tomatoes, chicken, Marchant’s bacon, mozzarella and basil pizza pie. Red sauce too. 

 

Believe it or not there are tomatoes (small buggers) remaining.

 

Absolutely unbelievable.........

 

Behold the Tomato

In October I speculated that there was a high probability of garden tomatoes making an end of November finish line. It would be close. 

 

 

 

 Here it is - end of the first week of December.

 

Tacos tonight and there is this.

 

2020 has certainly been a year of ‘Firsts’.

 

This is a bright spot given all the pissing and moaning filling my bandwidth.

 

Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

 

The Garden Chronicles

Here it is - almost the middle of November and we’re continuing to indulge in garden tomatoes from the plants I pulled the first week of October.

With additional fruit ripening in the garage there is an outside chance of reaching the end of November with homegrown tomatoes. This would smash the the previous end of October record.

After those are gone begins the long and desolate wandering through the vast wasteland of crappy supermarket tomatoes grown in greenhouses located in Canada of all places.

Not a knock on our friendly neighbors to the north - hydro and natural gas are dirt cheap there. Hence the indoor tomatoes.

And they happen to be our largest trading partner....... 

The Last Tomato

If you are a regular reader you would know that at the beginning of October I picked all of the salvageable tomatoes from the garden and pulled my tomato plants up to be composted.  Many dozen semi-ripened and green tomatoes were moved to the countertop of the attached garage to finish ripening.

While technically not THE LAST tomato - one of the very last tomatoes found itself to a pizza pie as possibly one of the longest lasting garden tomatoes of the season.  Now commences nine months of wandering thru the desert of crappy supermarket tomatoes until the first arrivals of next year are picked for our dining pleasure.

If you have the opportunity look for these nifty, imported from Austria and Hungary, ready to bake Wewalka pizza crusts.  You might be able to locate a grocery that carries them here.

Fast and easy and particularly delicious when you add fresh shopped garden tomatoes to the topping.

Bake at 450F. for fifteen minutes. 

Boom!