My Cooking and My Garden: Beautiful Harvests

Salads and Seasonal Dishes.

Tomatoes, zucchini, new herbs and lettuces, are growing in my vegetable patch. Harvested zucchini and tomato, I am so proud. In a hot day, fresh tomato is perfect for eating, and the zucchini can be cooked in a pan quickly in olive oil. Cabbages were picked from last year planting, we love these beautiful harvests.

Harvests from My Garden

Zucchini, Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs

The last of Iceberg Lettuce, it's getting lanky, and it did not want to firm up as iceberg lettuce should be. These greens will make delicious vegetable fritters

Washing the lettuce and the herbs

Lettuce leaves and Basil

Zucchini salad, wash it and cut into a small stick. Sautee in oil, add crushed garlic, toss and stir, cook for two minutes. Transfer on a bed of sauteed cabbages.

Fresh Zucchini

Garnished with Parmesan Cheese

A platter sauteed Zucchini on a bed of cabbage

Delightful Dishes for Spring and Summer

Stuffed Zucchini and Zucchini cups

Stuffed Baked Zucchini

Baking the stuffed Zucchini

Using zucchini to hold cooked meatball topped with cheese, to poach in tomato sauce.

Zucchini and Ricotta Dumplings

So you could see, we could do so much with zucchini, I did at least five dishes, and you can make sweet dishes from it too such as chocolate zucchini cake, moist zucchini loaf with almond etcetera. Even better, we can cook the flowers as well.

When edible flowers are in season.

Nasturtium, Sorrels, and Parsley, from the garden

Washing nasturtium, sorrel and parsley for a salad

Cabbage Salad and Nasturtium, dressed in olive oil, lemon juice

To complement the salads is double-cooked potato-braised then pan-fried. Now and then we love our red meat, the braised slow-cooked meat was tender and tasty to go with all these salads. A feast on a hot day.

Double Cooked Potatoes

Braised Meat in its Own Juice

Braised Meat served with Cabbage and
Nasturtium Salad

Zucchini Flowers

Fried stuffed zucchini flowers are one of the best cooking from my harvests. Both flowers, female and male, can be cooked, stuffed with ricotta cheese and egg. Have meat filling if you wish instead of cheese also steamed instead of fried.

The Zucchini Plant

Male and Female Zucchini Flower

Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta Cheese

The Batter-Egg, Self-Rising Flour

Frying the Stuffed Zucchini Flower

Freshly Fried Zucchini Flower

Greens and Mung Beans for Fritters

Lettuce green, mung bean and spiced with grated ginger, salt and white pepper to taste, add in flour and egg, mix together. Spoon and fry in hot deep oil until it is cooked.

Add caption

Fried Zucchini Flowers and Green Fritters

Cherry Tomatoes, are delicious to eat fresh, treat them as ordinary fruit that is what I do. But they are good to mix with fresh lettuces and served as a salad. From the harvest this time, I will make a sauce to dress delicate cut meat.

Healthy, Lean Red Meat-Eye Fillet Steak

Eye Fillet 137 gr

Pink to Serve

Cooked Pan Fried

Healthy living is the way to go, for people over 50-60 and 70 have to have their red meat occasionally, maybe once a week. The best red meat would be the eye fillet, it is quick to cook and easy to eat. We don't need bearnaise sauce but dress it in herbs pesto, or only mustard sauce. But recently I found this sauce which is very simple to make, and it can be prepared the day before, refrigerated. It is Boise Boudran Sauce. And what is in It. These are what you need, cherry tomato, shallot, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard grain, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, oil, and lots of tarragon leaves finely chop. Look at the ingredients, I am for it, mainly I could make the best of the cherry tomato from my harvest. I don't have fresh tarragon, I have been trying to plant this herb a few times, but I have failed. I use flat parsley instead.
Bois Boudran-Adapted Recipe

Fresh Cherry Tomato
of my garden

One small shallot, finely chopped
10 fresh cherry tomato, halved
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1/4 lemon, juice only
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon parsley leaves, finely chopped.
To make the sauce, simply mix everything together.
Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Fruit Harvest

Our nectarine is not ready to be harvested, and there are not many, but it has a lot of leaves instead. It is not doing very well. I love to make the best of the season, while I was on the market I saw beautiful apricots, the harvest of a good farmer somewhere. I took some home and poached them to preserve. It keeps well in the refrigerator, and we will have it during the winter month.