It’s finally here. Hints of fall are officially in the air and the plants in my garden know it. I always love how the garden can tell that fall has started before I can. Fruits and veggies work extra hard to ripen before the frost hits and that means everything I’ve worked so hard for over the summer is about to migrate into my kitchen.
The summer harvest is about gratitude. No matter what succeeded in your garden this year, you grew something! And that means you learned something as well. Only got one pepper to ripen? Treasure that beautiful pepper and make it the star of your next meal! Grew about 8 million tomatoes but no squash survived? Oh well, better make some tomato sauce and grab some spaghetti squash at the farmers market for dinner tonight. Only grew weeds but found out that the purslane and dandelion that cover your yard are both edible and nutritious? Look at that bountiful harvest! Now is the time to learn new recipes, find out how to preserve the harvest, and relish in everything or anything you got from your harvest this year.
Ratatouille
Ratatouille seems to be the ultimate garden harvest recipe. There are so many fresh vegetables and herbs that go into this one dish, and all of them are at their tastiest. Ratatouille is a french dish that historically is made as more of a stew. Eggplants, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes are chopped up and simmered with a light tomato sauce. You can make it quickly, or let it simmer over a stove for many hours to build those flavors. However, since Thomas Keller of the French Laundry elevated it in his 1990’s cookbook and then was brought on as a food consultant on the classic Pixar movie with the same name, Ratatouille has had a slightly different look in the last couple of decades. Moral of the story, make it quick and simple, or classy and elegant, but always make it with fresh veggies and some crusty bread. The recipe below was made by the famous rat Remy:
Ingredients
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small bunch of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup warm milk
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a baking sheet, casserole dish, or large cast-iron pan, spread the tomato sauce over the bottom. Chop the onion and garlic and spread those over the sauce. Strip the leaves from the thyme sprigs and sprinkle half over the sauce.
Make the béchamel sauce by melting the butter over medium heat in a small pot. When melted, add the flour and allow to cook for a minute or two until browned. Slowly whisk in the milk. When smooth, allow it to come to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Remove from the heat and season with the nutmeg, a few grinds of black pepper, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir the béchamel sauce into the tomato sauce in the bottom of your pan or dish.
Thinly slice the zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash, and tomato. A mandolin works well for all but the tomato, for which you may want to carefully use a sharp knife. Slice the eggplant last, as it will quickly turn brown.
Arrange several slices of the vegetables in your hand, then place them into your pan over the sauce. Repeat this process with the same order of vegetables until they’re tightly packed and the pan is full. You can go in rows or try a circular pattern.
Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of salt and the remaining thyme over the vegetables. Drizzle over the olive oil. Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper and bake in the oven for 50 – 60 minutes. Serve warm, topped with Parmesan.
Quick Pickles
I think quick pickles are a great way to dip your toe into the world of preserving. This pickle recipe can start simple, but you can add all of your favorite pickle flavors. The best part? Use it to pickle more than just cucumbers! I absolutely love pickled red onions, pickled jalapeños, pickled radishes and more, as Portlandia once said, “you can pickle anything!”
The best part about these quick pickles? You don’t have to worry about canning and making sure everything is shelf stable. The bad part about these pickles? If you are making a lot of them then you might need a big fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- Enough sliced veggies to fill one pint jar
- Any herbs and spices you might want (not limited to)
- Cloves
- Dill
- Peppers
- Peppercorns
- Mustard Seed
- Garlic
1. Pick your pickling vegetables For most desirable results, cut the veggies into equal sized pieces. For more dense veggies such as beets, you need to cook until fork tender or slice very thinly before pickling for best results.
2. Prep your pickling brine. This is where the magic happens! To make a 1 pint jar of pickles, combine 1-cup white vinegar and ½ cup of water with 1-tablespoon sugar and ½ tablespoon of salt. Bring brining vegetable mixture to a boil and cook 3 minutes or until dry ingredients have dissolved.
3. Pack for pickling. Package the vegetables in a warm canning jar of your choice. Pour freshly prepared pickling brine over veggies and cover. Let rest at room temperature for 1 hour before refrigerating. Make sure the brine completely covers the vegetables.
Drying Herbs
Have any herbs in your garden? Then you can keep your own dried herbs and spices for winter recipes. I don’t know why people don’t dry their own herbs more. I typically grow rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage that I will pick, tie into a little bunch, and hang from my curtain rods, towel rods, random hooks, anywhere I can find a spot. When the leaves are all dried up, I take them down and use a coffee grinder or mortar and pistol to grind them up and put them in little spice jars. And now I haven’t bought these spices in years. A special hack? I’ll grow chamomile, mint, lavender and more, dry it up and make my own herbal teas in the winter.
Like these recipes and tips? Make sure to keep following our blog and stay up to date on future events here at The Workbench.
*This is the fourth part of a series The Workbench will be releasing regularly throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2024 on our trials, successes, and failures of an amateur urban garden. To check out our previous articles, click here.
