Chiles, tomatoes, and zucchini round out summer harvest
It’s August. The days are still predictably warm. The nights are
cool and breezy. Fog rolls in almost every day to keep temperatures
liveable.
The second flush of figs is nearly ripe. Apples are looking like
they’ll need picking soon.
Chiles, tomatoes, and zucchini round out summer harvest
It’s August. The days are still predictably warm. The nights are cool and breezy. Fog rolls in almost every day to keep temperatures liveable.
The second flush of figs is nearly ripe. Apples are looking like they’ll need picking soon.
It’s this time of year that the question must be asked: is it possible to have too many home-grown tomatoes?
This is the time of year when the vegetable sprouts that went into the ground last spring repay the time, water and attention lavished upon them with interest.
Our garden, through happenstance, sloth and the presence of many snails, contains no summer squash this year, and that’s a shame.
Zucchini and their brethren are part of most summer gardens around here. Ridiculously easy to grow, they reward the most casual gardener with heavy harvests of fresh produce.
For those of us who live in Tres Pinos and points south, summer squash usually are reliable producers throughout the growing season. But in Hollister and San Juan Bautista, where that fog makes an almost-daily appearance, powdery mildew eventually coats almost every susceptible plant. The crape myrtles outside of our Sixth Street office are coated with it, as are many of the grapes growing outside of town.
That’s not a worry. Given the fecundity of summer squash, it’s easy to plant an early crop, followed by a succession of plantings. When one plant looks a little ragged, out it goes and attention turns to the next generation.
Dealing with tomatoes is easy. Slice them fresh, sprinkled with basil, salt and pepper, and salads or sandwiches are a given. They can be cooked into sauce, dried, abused in any manner of ways and they’re still delicious.
But other vegetables demand a more thoughtful approach. I’ve never met a person who enjoyed munching on a just-picked eggplant. Coated with enough fatty dip, zucchini are edible raw. But a little heat releases their flavor and heightens their color to bright green. A simple treatment described below yields a delicious plateful of vegetables in just a few minutes, one almost guaranteed to turn children into converts to summer squash.
Peppers, too, are at their zenith, and at their best when a little time on the stove is applied. This year, we experimented with an Italian variety of mild pepper. The size and shape of steer’s horns, they are hotter than advertised, with a rich, earthy flavor that captures the essence of the season. We’re enjoying them in a number of ways, both green and ripe, but when the occasion for a celebration arrives splurging on a little cholesterol is worth the guilt.
We occasionally grate squash, wrap it in a towel and wring it dry before adding salt and pepper and frying it in olive oil. This approach is both less time consuming and presents the vegetable at its best.
Fried Zucchini
1 lb. zucchini, smaller is better
2/3 c. flour
Olive oil to come up ¾ in. in a pan.
Wash the zucchini, rubbing the small hairs off the skin as you go. Cut them lengthwise into slices about 1/8 inch thick. Put 1 c. of water in a shallow dish and sift in the flour while stirring with a whisk. The batter should be the thickness of buttermilk or loose sour cream. Heat the oil in the pan over high heat. Dip zucchini in the batter to coat well and fry a few at a time until a golden crust forms. Remove, drain and salt lightly. Serve while they are still crisp and piping hot.
The next recipe is not one for jalapeno or serrano chiles, but if you have a bag of poblanos or other chiles with character and mild heat, it’s a hit every time.
Rajas con Crema
8 large chiles poblanos or other chiles as available
1 ½ medium to large yellow onions
4 tbsp. olive or other cooking oil
Salt to taste
½ c. half-and-half or cream
Remove seeds and the fleshy white veins from the inside of the chiles and cut them into short strips no more than ½ inch wide. Taste the chiles, and if they seem too hot, soak them in salted water for 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile, slice the onions thinly.
Heat the oil and begin to fry the onions. Add the chile strips and salt to taste. Cover the pan and cook until the chiles are limp and cooked through, eight to 10 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the cream, heating until it bubbles before serving.
Please do not write this dish off because it is so simple. A few minutes on the stove develops a rich mosaic of flavors, and this dish, served with simple boiled beans and a stack of fresh corn tortillas, is a feast.
