Aug 20 2008
From Garden to Grill
My absolute favorite thing about summer is the garden harvest - whether the fruits and vegetables are from our garden, or a local farmers’ fields. Amazingly fresh and delicious. There is nothing quite as rewarding as picking a vegetable in the backyard and eating it soon afterward.
We are entering the high harvest season right now in Maryland. Each day, we have new things to pick in the garden. Today, we had our first large tomato - an heirloom “Cherokee” variety. Also had a half dozen cherry tomatoes and jalapeños, a zucchini and an okra. I could have picked a few more things, but as you can see, my hands we full! Tomorrow, we should have another tomato, an eggplant or two and a cucumber.
Last week, we harvested our first giant - an heirloom Amish squash, that is about the size of a basketball… maybe even bigger! Much like a pumpkin, this squash is yellow/orange inside and relatively easy to cut into pieces. We found a good recipe for pumpkin curry, and used it as a guideline for seasoning (we can’t get enough Indian in this house) - we wanted to try it on the grill.
Pumpkin Curry - modified for the grill
2/3 c oil
2 medium sized onions
1/2 t cumin seeds
3 1/2 cups diced pumpkin
1 t finely chopped ginger
1 t crushed garlic
1 diced jalapeno (you can sub red pepper)
1/2 t salt
1/4 c water (can spritz more if it is too dry)Combine the seasonings with the oil in a bowl and add to the diced vegetables. If you have a grill skillet, it really adds to the flavor! Depending on the ripeness of your pumpkin, it can take a little while to cook. Check often with a fork until the pumpkin is tender enough to eat. Ours took about 20-25 minutes on the charcoal grill. You could easily adapt this back to indoor stove top cooking by adding more water to the recipe.
Serve over brown rice.
What are you enjoying this season? How is your garden growing?
Lovely photos. Great harvest. It is the best thing about summer, isn’t it?
We’re at the tale end of winter so my broad beans are just starting to flower and the rest is dying off. We’re about to rip out the broccoli and brussels sprout plants to make way for preparing for the spring sewing!
I’m hoping to try some heirloom varieties this year too!
Yum! I can’t wait until I live somewhere long enough to start a veggie garden. It’s been a dream of mine since I was about 10. Perhaps this next year it will work out for me, and I too will be able to post lovely images and recipes from the garden! Thanks for sharing.
Mmmm tomatoooes. What lovely, delicious-looking pictures. Enjoy!
Oh, I dearly miss my community garden I used to belong to. Loved grilling up veggies picked only minutes before. The pumpkin curry sounds absolutely delicious!! Enjoy your bounty from the summer!
hmm I know what you mean! I recently fell in love with tomatoes and cucumbers, particularly with fresh mozzerella. I think I might go eat a salad…
Oh, this pumpkin curry sounds (and looks!) yummy!
Well, as I moved into my new home right in the middle of summer, I didn’t think I would get to grow anything this year, but I have been given several fine herbs plants a few weeks ago, and I’m totally enjoying just going out the door and picking whatever fits my mood and the meal I’m cooking. I have managed to keep them alive until now, which can be considered a major feat for me, and I sure hope I’ll keep doing that good with them for as long as possible!
ooh, that looks yummy. We have been enjoying the garden-overtaking zucchini, plus tomatoes, summer squash, peppers (all kinds), beans and lots of other pleasures from the garden and also from the farmers market.
I love harvest time and the beginnings of fall - now if only our spaghetti squash would ripen (despite already being ginormous).
That looks delicious! I love curry veggies.
Just herbs in my patio pots. But the basil is out of control. Pesto everything, here we come!
We don’t have a garden, but there are mysterious red and black currant bushes in a green area just at the end of our street, they were very popular with the neighborhood kids when we were younger, but I seem to be the only one who remembers them and picks the fruit from them every fall. No one seems to own them or take care of them, but they produce a lot of fruit every fall. I used to pick only the red currants, but I decided not to let the black currants go to waste this fall and made the most awesome black currant and apple jam!
I’ll definitely be doing it again next year.
Oh, and also, me and mum planted some basil in May that’s growing fast. Not big enough to pick the leaves yet, but it’s fun to watch it grow. I have my mind set on living in a house with a garden someday, and then I’ll grow things that can actually flourish in Iceland - potatoes, beets, carrots and cabbages!
No tomatoes this year for practical reasons, but my herbs and salad greens have been excellent. Just last night I picked a few sprigs of tarragon to add to a chicken and ham pie, and it made all the difference! I’m off to the countryside to pick blackberries tomorrow, ready for some jam…!
The recipe sounds great - thanks for that! We have an abundance of tomatoes in our garden at the moment, but a lack of British sunshine is keeping them obstinately green. I forsee much chutney-making in my near future!
My garden has made me so mad this year! I think the grand total tomato harvest - from FOUR tomato plants, mind you - has been 8 grape tomatoes. I’ve always had good luck with tomatoes,a nd the plants grew nice and big just like always, but they never flowered! I know we had some crazy weather earlier this summer - torrential rains for pretty much the entire month of June - but other people have tomatoes in my area so I have to do some research and figure out what went wrong.
I love this time of the season - everything is ripe for the picking! That pumpkin curry looks really interesting. I’m sure Kris did a great job cooking it up!
Your veggies look so good!
Next year, I promise, we will have our own garden!
Yeah for fresh veggies. We have purple tomatoes. They look great in a salad. Thanks for the pumpkin curry.
I’ve really been enjoying my CSA. We’ve had sweet corn every week but last week when we were on vacation I gave the share to my SIl and wouldn’t you know it - they got a canteloupe! I hope there’s another one this week!
Those vegetables look very good!
I just have a few berries in my garden, but last night my lovely (elderly) neighbor invited me to pick all the berries in his garden! He does not want them and his children have enough in their own gardens so later today I going out to pick berries and then there is going to be some serious jam making!
Oh, I’ve been seeing Cherokee’s everywhere! Do yours get purple?
We’ve been enjoying our own garden tomatoes (Romas), green peppers (the first are just starting to turn red), jalepenos and herbs. Monday we chopped up a few lbs of tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market (have you ever had Mexican tomatoes? delish!) with onions, our jalepenos, and loads of cilantro and lime juice - a very tasty salsa!
I am jealous of your Cherokee’s! I think I planted mine too late this year. The plants are alive but the blooms fall off before they fruit.
Your photos remind me of the wonderful summer I spent in Greenbelt, MD. Greenbelt still has the victory gardens from the 1940’s. My next door neighbor had one of gardens. He used to leave a variety of veggies on my doorstep on Fridays.
Ok I gotta find me a pumpkin… ummm pumpkin curry on the grill.
Oh how I love the autumn and the produce fresh every day. I get my fresh vegies and fruit from our local market from local farmers…well except the peaches and plums come from the Niagara area and are delicious.
I so enjoy your photos…all of them…from soup to nuts and produce to knitting and weaving of course.
My “garden” consisted of an old Victorian bathtub filled with lettuce. The lettuce plants are finished, and now I have planted spring-mix seeds for the rest of the season…I hope it works. My cherry tomatoes (in pots) are ready daily for picking and I suspect there would be more if the earwigs would leave them alone! I am happy the earwigs leave my potted herbs alone.
And here in Southern Ontario the mornings are singing “sweater weather” and that makes me happy :>).
Oh, that all looks lovely! You’re giving me grill envy. My garden mostly flooded in the rains in northern CT; we’ve gotten tomatoes and basil from the patio pots, but only a few peppers from the garden. The corn and zucchini haven’t completely died yet, so maybe I can still hope for a September harvest season.
My yard’s too small for a garden, but I visited my parents in NJ this past weekend and came back laden with pears, a loaf of zucchini bread, squash, cucumber, basil, mint, parsley, several different types of tomatoes, and about 10 different types of peppers ranging from very hot to very mild. I used some of the haul in a bento box lunch but otherwise haven’t had a chance to make anything with all that produce.
Thanks for the recipe! My pumpkin seeds just sprouted last week and I’m definitely tucking this away for when they’re ready!
Great recipe! Thanks for the great ideas and inspiration!
What a beautiful harvest! All those great fresh foods will certainly help you on your road to wellness. My 3 little cherry tomatoes are about ready for picking, too - I’ll try not to eat them all at once
Sounds delicious!
Ohmygosh…………… I’ll be right over. I adore Indian as well and that sounds delish!
Yummy! We have so much veggies from our garden I must try your recipe.
oooh, the squash recipe sounds great. i posted about a great way to use fresh tomatoes and green beans on my blog
http://mamieknits.blogspot.com/2008/08/as-summer-rolls-along-and-days-fly-by-i.html
just makes me a little sad when summer veg ends.
I have tomatoes galore right now, so tonight I made myself a easy one-dish meal. A package of parmesan couscous, about 2 cups chopped up red cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, scallions, and a cup of chopped up chicken breast (omit if desired). Prepare the couscous as on box and then mix all the chopped up bits - let sit for a minute to blend, then eat. I’ve also made it before with finely chopped red, yellow, and green peppers before for some extra crunch.
yum! your veggies look delicious!
Well, since you asked… New Mexico is a horrible place to garden! Even if you water constantly, the hot sun constantly wilts the plants’ leaves. Before I left for Montana, I gave my bean and jalapeno plants to a plant-sitter, so I’m hoping that she was able to coax something out of them. I’m thinking of doing a second planting in early September to see if the cooler weather will help.
Have you tried grilling zucchini (although your recipe sounds similar)? I slice them up the long way, brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and they taste so sweet and fresh.
Oh that looks so yummy. Another wonderful grilled treat is tomatoes. (we are averaging 10 a day here so have to be creative) is stuffing tomatoes with good things like olives and garlic, plopping the whole thing in the grill until it just about mushy (that is techincal grill speak) and then putting in top of a pile of pasta and you have instant yummy sauce for your pasta dish.
I have some late blooming squash here, but holding out hope we will see something soon!
Thanks for sharing your recipe.