In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
Apricots and a day lily—one of many gift plates delivered to neighbors and friends last week. We’re sharing the bounty of 80 pounds of apricots and estimate there’s another 5-10 pounds on the tree.
So many luscious things to do with apricots. Our favorite is compote which freezes well with ascorbic acid added when cooled. We’ve had several desserts, including cobbler and we made apricot ice cream for the first time. I still have plans for an apricot crostata.
Huge thanks to my daughter-in-law, Sarah who asked if I had ever made apricot applesauce. She had recently purchased some. Truly, I had never thought of the combination, though applesauce is combined with rhubarb and strawberry guava puree in my kitchen.
The ‘Dorsett Golden’ apple crop began last week with about seven pounds so it was the moment to try apricot applesauce. The refrigerator and counter were full of ripe apricots.
Because of different textures and cooking times, I prepared the apples and apricots separately. An immersion blender made quick work of the puree. Apricots are shown before I pureed them.
The proportions worked out to about 60% applesauce and 40% apricots, which I decided was a perfect balance of flavors and acidity. Apricots provided the gorgeous color. The yield was 9 quarts, most of which went in the freezer.
The first of the apple crop usually has more smalls and the drops may have a little disease in the center. No matter—it brings back fond memories of making applesauce with friends in the evenings after kids were in bed. From our three huge apple trees in New England we’d make about 100 gallons of applesauce through the fall. A Squeezo-Strainer made quick work of it. Frozen goodness for the winter. This year I’ll be canning most of the applesauce as the chest freezer is nearly full.
More summer fruit for a salad. Marionberries, my favorite are just ripening.
A whimsical salad came together for lunch. It’s a “this and that beet salad.” I used the last of my favorite ‘Pomegranate Crunch’ with some ‘Lollo Rossa’ lettuce along with winter crop beets, kumquats, toasted pepitas, shaved Cachego cheese and fresh dill; all from the garden save the cheese and pepitas.
The ‘Raven’ zucchini evaded photo capture this week. Most of it went out the door to friends and neighbors without gardens. Here I pan-grilled some rosemary sourdough bread in olive oil and topped with leftover diced zucchini. Cachego cheese and toasted pepitas stepped it up a notch.
I struggled to hold and photograph this huge head of ‘Jericho’ romaine lettuce. I was dashing it off to my neighbor for her dinner. ‘Jericho’, developed in Israel is clearly my best performing summer lettuce—very large heads that resist bolting and retain a crisp texture. They’ve been hiding behind a trellis of climbing butternut squash and protected by a billowing row cover.
And then there’s ‘Moolight’ grevillea, an Australian native that takes well to our coastal climate.
You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
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