Harvest

It’s harvest time here in the Mabbsonsea garden.

The tomatoes are nearly over (this picture is a couple of weeks old). They haven’t thrived this year, but there’s still nothing like eating a sun-warm tomato.

The courgettes are having a second wind, producing some small fruits on vines that look nearly dead.

This is my first crop of potatoes. They probably cost me a couple of pounds each, but they are really delicious.

My aubergine (eggplant) plants, grown from seed, didn’t fruit. Aubergine is one of my favourite vegetables. I do a cheat’s version of mellanzane alla parmaggiana, by frying slices of aubergine in olive oil, spreading them with sun dried tomato paste and topping with a slice of mozzarella, then grilling them to melt the cheese. As the British aubergine season is nearly over, I ordered a couple of kilos of aubergines from Barcombe Nurseries (who do us a weekly delivery of organic veg, fruit and eggs). I cut them into chunks, salted them, fried them, then added them to a rich tomato and onion sauce, added sugar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice and then popped the sauce into three (sterilised) Kilner jars. I had this sauce in mind, based on a dish I ate on a course years ago, but I couldn’t find a recipe that resembled it. Anyway – I don’t like following someone else’s idea of how to cook the food I have in front of me in my kitchen. I just hope there’s enough vinegar in there for the preserving to work and we don’t die of botulism.