Seared Cherry Tomato Spaghettini

As mentioned in the previous post, today I had a surplus of cherry tomatoes.  A week ago, I saw an appealing recipe which used cherry tomatoes and here was an excellent opportunity to try it out.  I made a couple of changes - such as reducing the salt - but it was a definite winner and we'll be having it again.  It's certainly quick and easy - only takes about 15 minutes to make if you have all the ingredients prepared ahead of time.

Yum!  Quick and easy pasta dinner.

Seared Cherry Tomato Spaghettini

12 oz spaghettini
1/2 cup of reserved pasta water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
2 Tbsp dried bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic sliced
pinch of crushed hot pepper flakes
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of oil over medium-high heat.  Saute tomatoes until lightly seared (about 1 minute).  Sprinkle with bread crumbs and salt, toss to coat.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add remaining 1 Tbsp of oil to the pan.  Cook the garlic and hot pepper flakes over medium high heat until fragrant and softened (about 2 minutes).  Add tomato mixture, pasta and reserved pasta water, stirring to combine.  Toss with parmesan cheese and basil.  Serves 4.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

I made this quick, easy salad to go with the leftover pork tenderloin my husband barbecued last night.  All the ingredients were at hand although my little store of home grown quinoa is just about depleted now.  One of my Apache scallions was a colorful addition and I only needed 1 in place of the 4 called for in the recipe I adapted - they are enormous!  Cilantro would be a natural in place of the parsley I used, but my husband and I are among the unfortunates with whom cilantro doesn't agree.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Cook the quinoa in the water for 20 minutes, then cool.  Mix all ingredients together.  If making ahead, add the tomatoes just before serving.  I removed the seeds and gel from the tomatoes and since my scallion was quite large, chopped it fine.

Garlic Scapes, Snow Peas, Kale and Tomatoes

Garlic Scapes

Now that we're into June, the garlic is starting to send out scapes.  These are the "flower" portion of the garlic.  Not really flowers, though.  Once matured, the scapes contain lots of little tiny bulbils, each capable of becoming a garlic plant, although it takes a lot longer than if you grow from cloves.  They're best removed, however, as you will get smaller garlic bulbs if you don't.  They should be snipped off before they curl around twice.  One of the nice things about garlic scapes is that they're deliciously edible.  Taken young, they can be eaten raw in salads.  Allowed to get a little older and they become more fibrous, better for soups, stews, etc.  Mine are still young - they've only gone once around in the loop.  I picked off a couple and chopped the stem portions up fine to go in a quinoa tabouli for today's lunch.

Snow Peas

The rest of the garden is progressing well.  The snow peas are flowering and a few tender little pods are forming.

Zig Zag Snow Pea Fence

The fence is holding up well and I'm wondering just how tall these plants will be!  The lettuces in the zags are maturing and it's probably time to start seeding some new plants.  I'll probably sit them in the zags or in amongst the kale so they can take advantage of the shade.

A variety of kale plants.  The garlic bed is behind.

The kale plants are now providing us with good pickings.  In the picture above, the closer rows are younger plants - Vates and Russian Red.  Behind them is Lacinato with it's tall elegant plumes.  Then at the back are 6 plants of the winter kale - Siberian for one which has quickly become my favorite.  I can't resist picking off a leaf and eating it raw on the spot!

My crazy tomato frame

A couple of days ago, I erected the tomato frame.  My raised beds aren't deep enough to firmly hold stakes for the tomatoes.  The uprights in the picture are plastic-coated metal rods from Lee Valley Tools.  To the uprights, I've lashed bamboo poles using hemp twine.  While it looks pretty "Heath Robinson", it's amazingly sturdy.  Some of the tomatoes will climb to the top and drape themselves over the cross pieces.

Iris Thriller and unknown oriental poppy

June is the best month for flowers.  The oriental poppies briefly flourish, irises and asiatic lilies are at their best and peonies flaunt their frothy blooms.

Pruning Tomatoes

When a friend came over to pick up the tomatoes I'd saved for her, she asked about pruning tomatoes.  Her father had told her to take off all the side shoots on a tomato plant.  I've also heard people say you should pick off the leaves around the tomatoes so they can ripen.

To prune or not - that depends on the kind of tomato plant you are growing.  A determinate, or bush plant, doesn't require pruning.  It's supposed to be compact and if you take off the shoots you are severely cutting your production.

Gold Nugget already flowering

I'm growing 2 determinate cherry tomatoes.  Gold Nugget is a really early one (notice the flower in the photo above!) and as it's a bush tomato, I leave it alone.

Gold Nugget - side shoots and all!

Another cherry tomato in the garden is Principe Borghese.  It's an indeterminate, or vine, tomato.  You would take away the side shoots on it.

Principe Borghese with side shoots removed

That said, however, rules are also made to be broken sometimes.  On a cherry-sized tomato like Principe Borghese, I leave some of the side shoots so I get better production.  I probably would remove all side shoots on the larger tomatoes I'm growing - such as Moneymaker and Bonny Best.  And definitely all of the side shoots on Beth's Big Fat Tomato as it will probably turn out to be a beefsteak variety.

One rule I always follow with tomatoes, though, is as fall approaches, I remove all flowers so that the plant can concentrate on the developing tomatoes.  Oh!  And never remove leaves from a tomato plant. The tomato plant needs the leaves in order to grow and be healthy.  Think about it.  And tomatoes can ripen very nicely without sunshine - like on your kitchen counter.

Lettuces, Mescalun, Kale

Hyacinths coming into bloom

A sunny morning made for another day in the garden and it's time to plant out some of the seedlings in the potting shed.

First on the agenda is preparing the beds.  The bed that was to be planted with a dozen kale seedlings had a barrow load of soil removed which was added to the Three Sisters bed.  Next I sprinkled on some dolomite lime.  Brassicas need the addition of liming to prevent club root which likes an acid soil.  Two barrow loads of SeaSoil went on next and the bed was spaded over and raked.  Six little Winter Blend and six Lacinato seedlings were pressed into the ground.  I'm not sure what varieties are in the Winter Blend and I'm really supposed to plant this mid-summer as it's a blend specifically for growing in the winter, but I'm giving it a try now anyway.  I know the Lacinato will be a tasty kale as well as being a beautiful addition to the garden as the leaves look like ostrich plumes.

Winter Blend kale seedling

The bed that has the zig zag pea fence was targeted for the lettuces and mescalun.  Again, SeaSoil was added and worked into the soil.  I decided to plant some of the lettuces in between the zigs of the fence.  The growing peas will give some shade protection to the lettuces and keep them sweet longer when the warm weather arrives.  Winter Density, a butterhead/romaine cross, was planted there.  West Coast Market Blend mescalun was planted on the other side - I guess you could say in the zags. This blend contains seeds of curly endive, oakleaf lettuce, escarole, chicory, arugula and chervil.  Since I only planted 6 seedlings this time, I have no way of knowing what my plants are! I'll seed some directly in the ground in a few weeks.  Finally Super Gourmet Salad Blend lettuces were planted at the end of the pea bed.  Again, I will seed more in the ground in a few weeks.  Nearly all my seeds come from West Coast Seeds.

Winter Density lettuce seedling

The tomato seedlings are doing well in the potting shed.  So far, all are surviving - and thriving.  I seeded more Principe Borghese as I don't think I have enough.  I also purchased another package of tomato seeds.  Buckerfields didn't have the Stiletz I was looking for so I decided to try Moneymaker.  This may have been a mistake.  When I got home I looked it up in a gorgeous book on tomatoes I have,  "The Heirloom Tomato" as I was sure I'd seen the name in there.  Yup!  Flavour - Fair and under comments, "a commercial favorite much derided by foodies and home growers as being tough enough to bounce off a wall." Oh dear.  Note to self:  research before you buy!

Sweet Baby Girl tomato seedling

Tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting, I'll get the onion bed ready.  There's just so much to do at this time of the year.  There's always, however, time to stop and check out the flowers.  Oh, and the first Rufous Hummingbird appeared today!

Self-seeded Anenome Blanda