In My Garden: Fall veggies!
Above: My basil crop. The leaves are as big as my tomatoes! Right now our freezer is full of pesto, made with raw pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts, and no cheese. Laura's vegan version is extremely flavorful and light. Without the cheese, the basil is the prominent flavor, the aroma alone fills the kitchen.
It's fall and those people living in colder climates are putting away their gardening equipment. But not here in San Diego. In some ways, this is an even better time for gardening than summer. Here in Southern California we are lucky enough to be able to grow our crops all year long. You can be planting lettuce varieties, spinach, kale, cabbage and celery to start with. I like to plant cilantro and parsley for a chimichurri sauce that Laura makes. We toss the chimichurri with soba noodles, and add it to other dishes, especially Mexican food. I also plant a large bed of broccoli raab, a crop we look forward to every fall. See my February, 2014, blog for our pasta with broccoli raab recipe.
No garden is complete without snow peas for stir-fry dishes. I have a large bed planted now and will plant one more large bed before spring, so that we will have an abundance of snow peas, one of our favorite garden vegetables. I have enough room in my garden to plant 100 or so garlic bulbs, and once harvested and dried, this garlic will last close to a year if stored in a cool, dark, dry place. I also planted a bed of scallions and carrots to grow over the winter for a spring harvest. Right now I have cucumbers, tomatoes, and basil that I planted in the late summer for our normal warm and dry Santa Ana weather in the winter, and the new starts will be planted in the greenhouse when ready.
I have been experimenting with tomatoes, not the easiest crop to grow on the Southern California coast. Tomatoes and foggy beach weather do not mix. But I have found winter tomatoe varieties that are doing quite well this year, so that 2017 may be the year of the tomato for me. Only time will tell. Our weather is typically mid-60's at this time of year, but our temps are hovering into the mid-70's, and all that California sunshine is helping my garden to flourish.
Above: My lettuce crop this year.
Above: Winter lettuce and spinach for big garden salads with dinner every night.
Above: Scallions
Above: Good-for-you kale. Chopped up and sauted in olive oil with lots of garlic and red pepper flakes, it's one of the most flavorful side dishes on the menu. Toss it with rice pasta and white beans, and it becomes a delicious and healthy main course.
Above: Fresh cilantro and parsley from the garden for making chimichurri sauce to toss with soba noodles. The sauce is a lighter and thinner version of pesto, but packed with the vibrant flavors of parsley, cilantro, garlic, raw pumpkin seeds, salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes. Tossed with noodles or rice, topped on a baked potato or a bowl of black beans, it's a compliment to many grain and vegetable dishes.
Above: Winter tomatoes
