Hi Tom

That is funny! But the tomato season for me is over, now I am working on dishes for the almost 30 pound Cinderella pumpkin, daily ton of eggplants, avocados, yard long beans, collards, okra and soon butterbeans and callaloo.

Last saturday night we took a big dish of winter squash risotto to a party, it was a big hit!
And in the morning I had the people from the Oakland community garden at the house and everyone got an avocado after I showed them what is planted in the summer.

So Tom, we have to let others shine with the recipes in the tomato forum. When I get the fall tomatoes I am going to make different mini pizzas in the BBQ, that will be different and tasty!

Here is to remind you the winter squash

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Daily harvest of eggplants and yard long beans

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Avocados

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As you can see, I am busy gathering new dishes for all the crops that are producing now in the garden.:)

Silvia

I love Bread Salad.

You MUST use a very good Italian style boule. The stuff from Publix will not work although the one from SweetBay in their specialty bread section would. I get mine from either Castellano and Pizzo or Cacciatores on Hanley Rd.

The bread can be a little old and it still works. A lot of recipes for this will tell you to soak the old bread in water till soft then squeeze out the water as much as you can. I say why bother... Let the bread soak in the juices of the tomatoes.

Make a salad of your very best tomatoes. Cube the tomatoes, press in some fresh garlic add a little parsley and/or your favorite herbs, really great vinegar to taste and some very good olive oil.

Stir that all together and make sure it is seasoned to your taste. Then add some of the bread which you have cubed. Stir and let sit to allow the bread to absorb all the juices. Serve at room temp or chill for later.

I would think about one slice of bread per large tomato. Leave the crusts! Those are the best parts.

You can salt the cubed tomatoes first to draw more juices out of them.

Olives are very good in this, too. If you are not big on garlic you can add some minced onion or shallots.

Hi Veronica

I love bread salad too! And your recipe sounds delicious and it will be easy to make it for a crowd.

When the Italian chef was at my house at the height of the tomato season, he also made panzanella and that dish flew so I had not the chance to tried it, lol.

In the recipe list that he asked was to get ciabatta bread at least one day old and he used the roasted cherry tomatoes, capers, red onions, garlic and a lot of fresh herbs.

Here it is when he is preparing the tomatoes

Silvia

Hey, Silvia why don't you share some of those avocados LOL
I'm just around the corner from ya, jejeje

My fav summer lunch:
Open plain bagel. Spread some mayo, add basil leaves, sliced tomato, slice of mozzarella. 10 minutes in toaster oven. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a few drops of hot pepper sauce, too.

Hi Carmen

Can you come today? send me an email if you can make it and I will give you directions to the house.

Silvia

Hi Purpleinopp - Your favorite lunch sound very delicious! I will try it with my fall beefsteak tomatoes. I will probably make it panini style, same ingredients.

Silvia

That is funny! But the tomato season for me is over, now I am working on dishes for the almost 30 pound Cinderella pumpkin....

Wow, that's one amazing pumpkin, have fun with it ;-)

My point about the mater recipes there is that what I've seen at that post doesn't even come close to some of the amazing pictures and recipes you've posted...you need to dust off some of your old posts and at least link several to that post. If you want me to do it and you've saved them send them to me and I'll post them for you.

Tom

Thank you Tom for liking my pictures and food recipes. And anything that you ever want to post about me is okay. My problem is that I try so many recipes on the daily basis and I don't save anything like in the computer. I am always thinking of new ways to use what I have in the garden and I get recipes from people, books, magazines, the internet.
I just saw in the magazine pork tamales with banana leaves, oh I want to try that! Pork I will get it, spices I have, banana leaves I have and the missing ingredient the best masa harina from the farm and is already ordered.
And Tom you know I am not that computer savvy, I only do the basics.:) the pictures of the food are all in photobucket. Thank you for thinking of me in such a positive way.
And today I made the best yard long beans ever, cooked in a different style that I was using, I only made a pound to try them, since it came out so good, I will make more next time, like with the bunch that I picked today. I thought that I just planted a few.-(

Silvia

Silvia, I tried so hard to like my yard long beans this early summer but just couldn't. They were not purple as yours are though and I wonder if there could be that much of a difference. Have you ever grown green and if so do they taste different?

Jo

Hi Jo

What variety of yard long beans did you plant? I have tried the green variety from the oriental market, the mossaic which has two colors, the red noodle and orient wonder which is also a green. I found the taste similar but like pole beans would be similar but not the same. I have my favorite pole beans and in the yard long I like the red noodle.
Some people like them and others don't. I think Tom does not like them and I do. Also depends on how you cook them and your expectations. If you want to compare them to regular beans, they are not. To me they are sort of earthy and crunchy.
A chef that lived in Asia for a long time told me that he loves them and the best way to prepare them is in high heat for just a few minutes, you can add garlic, onions, chili peppers.
I just made mine yesterday prepared in a different way, cook in boiling water for 3 minutes and sauteed in high wok for 3 minutes and I added oriental flavorings, soy sauce, black bean sauce, oriental wine, garlic, ginger and cornstarch, delicious!

Here is the dish and I served it with Japanese sticky rice

Silvia

Silvia,

Sounds like you've just gotten the latest issue of Food & Wine, too.

I'm a big fan of pickling beans, great way to use the ones you can't get into a meal right away.

Evan

That is funny! and yes those tamales sound very good but I probably change them a little bit, make them more Arizona style pork. I miss the tamales on Christmas when I lived there. I got the masaharina from Purcell mountain farms today and dried beans and grains for my dishes.

After visiting my friend the other day and she made a delicious dessert with black rice in banana leaves I decided that my banana leaves were not used so in the future I see fish and pork wrapped in the leaves and put on the grill.

I like dilly beans but I don't think you can make it with the yardlongs, today I will be picking more...

Silvia

I've got a small banana tree in a container that my girlfriend's dad gave me. It has purple and green leaves so I'm unsure yet which variety it is.

Since I'm renting, I don't want to put it into the ground and have to lose it when I move in January.

I'm a big fan of steamed rice and fish in banana leaves. Definitely adds a nice flavor and gives you an instant placemat/plate.

We're those aji amarillo Peruvian peppers in your picture above?

Yardlong beans, :-P (translation - YUCK!)

I've tried folks, they just don't work for me....

Tom

I steam my green yard long beans in garlic water while saut�ing and caramelizing a Vidalia onion in olive oil. I drain the beans and place them in with the onions, some cayenne pepper, curry, cumin, touch of cardamom and jalapeno peppers. I cook then for about two minutes to blend the flavors and then serve with grilled chicken and corn on the cob.

Evan - You surprise me! you are a real connoisseur. I have a collection of dried peppers some are powder and always have aji amarillo also have seeds for those. The ones in the picture are very prolific! they are the yellow hungarian wax, they are good.
Why are you leaving and so soon, it is for work? and where are you going?

Tom - That is not too nice, lol. Yardlong beans are good for you, you tried the purple variety, right?

Linda - That sounds like a winner recipe.

Silvia

...you tried the purple variety, right?

Started with them, like eating black eye peas in shoe leather with a moldy taste ;-)

Tom, did you see the new postings on the tomato dishes?

And this is probably one that you would like, people who don't like winter squash like this one.

Lasagna with winter squash, sausage and my own homemade tomato sauce. It is on the list to make it again and since I have the frozen winter squash and tomato sauce, I can make it anytime.

Silvia

Silvia - You're too nice :) I've got a lease on the place that I live that ends in January. My goal is to stay in the same general area of downtown or one of the Parks.

I'm gathering different kinds of hot peppers to grow for powdering. Even jalapenos I've grown and powdered were way hotter than fresh and gave a huge kick to that dish. I'm also doing some Hungarian Wax from a plant at the Leu Gardens sale. First try I got only one pepper and some pests ate the majority of the plant.

Evan - I am glad to know that you are going to stay locally, then you can garden with us. Great!

I found that the best return for your money are the whole dried chilis, when I travel that is what I get. Then I toast them in the skillet or soak them in water. I usually get them with their descriptions so I know where to use them. My father used to make a fresh hot chili sauce when ever he cooked and it was always different using herbs, tomatoes or even lupini beans.

I grew some other different hungarian peppers but this one is the best so far they are yellow, don't turn red. I will probably start some more for the fall season.

I am also growing this season Piccante Calabrese from Italy and Chapeau De France, this one is shaped like a bell or flower really pretty and the expert said the heat is on the seeds not on the pepper itself, we will see.:)

Evan, I have some scotch peppers that I bought in Jamaica, if you are interested I can send you those and some others for you to try. Send me your address to my email.

Silvia

Marvelous darling, simply marvelous! What variety winter squash is it?

Tom

Thank you Tom, when I make savory dishes I use the winter squash that is not too sweet. Last year I used the Delicata and this year I will be using the Cinderella.

On another news I got the book from seed to skillet by Jimmy Williams and when I was reading it, he said that his great-great-great grandmother brought the goose creek seeds to America.:) It has some good recipes that I am going to try and I will let you know how they come out like burnt-onion collard greens - Gullah cornbread with sweet potatoes - winter squash bread - and blueberry slump that I will make with my own frozen blueberries.

One of my favorite winter squash delicata

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And stuffed with sausage, you would like this one too.

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Silvia

Ooooooohhhhhhh...Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh ;-)