Harvest: Options for Bounty

Dear Folks,

I have had a real bounty of things from the garden this past month, and it is continuing.

While I do compost, and "chop and drop" extra foliage while working through the various areas, I really needed to capture the freshness of these great meal options.

Because it is just the 2 of us (although I do share), if I make something like the "sauce" or roasted veggies I freeze in small jars for later use in soups, stews, and pastas - Or Tortilla Pizza! See recipe here.

The picture above is my sweet peppers turned into a roasted sauce I can use later.  The roasting made this even sweeter than the raw peppers. See the collage of process below.

I have a lot of greens and herbs that I harvest to add to anything from salad to soups to pizza or pasta.  Look closely as the collage top left and you will see green, pink and white! celery.  This was a fun surprise when I was harvesting.  I added some pink celery seeds to this celery pot and while I was cutting for this harvest day, I discovered the white. WOW, fun garden find.  This mass of greens (and some nasturtium petals) has herbs, kale and i'itoi onion tops. I also use the bulb, not not this time.

I decided to make some "salad in a jar" for having on hand.  I add tomatoes later when I am ready to dress the salad. Tomatoes can lose their real flavor when refrigerated.

Typically, salad in a jar has a dressing on the bottom, sturdy chopped next and greens on top so they do not get soggy.  I like to add dressing later when I actually am ready to use the salad, so all veggies stay fresh.  I also put a small piece of paper towel on top before capping to control excess moisture.

On another harvest day, I brought in more celery and parsley because I decided I needed to have 'pesto' on hand (and in the freezer)

I did use some of this pesto when I made another tortilla pizza the other day with some of my homemade pasta source, some of those chopped veggies shown in salad-in-jar picture and a LOT of cheese :)  I know you may say "pesto"? but really any combination of herbs, greens, oil, garlic (my limequat juice and garlic in the left of center picture), walnuts and some salt makes a great pesto. If you want to call it a paste or sauce, that works too.

I have been harvesting a lot of sugar peas and asparagus (we are now in what should be the final week of our asparagus bed harvest, I sometimes push that time frame :).  Here I decided to roast some of each - I did not have a lot that day so I just used the same pan.  I warm a little oil in a pot.  Add chopped veggie, and swirl to coat.  Lay out on a tray, add salt and pepper and roast . I use my toaster oven a lot, saving the big oven for bigger meal prep.  I may add herbs, I did not this time.  About 15 minutes at 425 usually works for a nice roast and slight char.

Back to my sweet pepper sauce.  Here is the process I follow.

Seed and chop the peppers, roast, cook down a bit more, then puree in my bullet blender.  I used the "left over" sauce in the blender swirled with some stock in a pasta dish later.  Froze the sauce.  All those peppers cooked down into two 4 oz jars :)  Sounds like a lot of work, but I consider it worth it to have garden deliciousness later! 

With the peppers and all of these continuing to produce, I still have fresh whenever I want to go out and pick.

I hope these give you some ideas for preserving your own bounty and using creatively.

Have a best day,

Be patient, be safe and be kind to yourself and each other.

 

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady If you enjoyed this post, please share and subscribe below by entering your email, to get all my posts!

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