Our Participation Garden has entered its wild, overgrown stage.
Sure, it’s not drawing global admiration like the Obama Victory Garden, but we did manage to negotiate a hard-won truce with rabbit insurgents. It’s shaky, but holding, thanks to a new fence.
A few dead-enders are sniffing around, but they’re in their last throws.
The endless flow of zucchini has started. Cucumbers are next. Followed by roughly 3 metric tons of tomatoes.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zucchini fight it out for supremacy.
Meanwhile, out on the east 40, tomatoes take over. The marigolds don’t stand a chance.
If you have favorite ideas/recipes for using all this bounty, send them along.
3 Comments
July 14, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Your garden looks nice! Our 6 tomato plants are down to 5 and we only have 1 tomato forming. Would you come over and talk to them about the need to get producing?
July 14, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Okay, I’m totally jealous. I live in an apartment and only have a north-facing deck. Pick the zuchinni blossoms and stuff them with a light blend of cheese. Here’s my recipe of choice:
Stuffed Squash Blossoms
12 squash blossoms
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup crumbled feta, or about 4 ounces
1/4 finely chopped parsley, or about 2 large handfuls of leaves
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
Blossom cleaning tips: Before using the squash blossoms, gently open them up (which means you may need to rip a small tear down one side)and pry out the stamen using your fingers or a small knife. Then submerge the flowers in cool water while you prepare the filling so any dirt will rinse off.
Mix together ricotta, feta, parsley, and lemon zest until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Gently place a spoonful of filling in each blossom, closing the flower around the filling and lightly pressing closed. Fill all the blossoms before beginning to fry.
Add olive oil to a large pan, about enough to cover the bottom, and heat over medium heat. Once oil is heated through, dunk the blossoms in egg, and then in the flour mixture. Shake off any excess flour before adding to the pan. Flip flowers over after they have browned. These cook quickly, so pay close attention! Serve immediately.
It’s absolutely wonderful and you’ve eating a flower that would otherwise turn into a zuchinni.
July 15, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Zucchini bread or muffins are my favorite way to use excess zucchini. Lots of cookbooks have versions of this.
You can also add shredded summer squash to other quickbreads (such as corn bread) in place of some of the liquid.
I shred zucchini and summer squash and add it to risotto during the cooking, which slightly reduces the amount of stock you need to add. It disappears–you can’t see it or taste the summer squash in the risotto once it’s done.