After a muggy, hazy day yesterday, there was a distinct chill in the air last night. We fell asleep with the window wide open and crickets serenading us, quite loudly. There’s one poor fellow who is stuck in the garage and we can’t seem to find him, three days he’s been calling out and yesterday we left the doors all open so he could escape. He didn’t. This morning, he was still singing. It’s amazing how much noise a single cricket can make, so you can imagine how the fields around my house sound just about now after twilight. I do love sitting out on the back porch and listening to the absolute cacophony, rivaling the spring peepers’ serenade. But this morning, it felt good to stay snuggled under the blanket surrounded by crisp air, all signs of what’s to come, these, and of course the noticeably shorter days.
The abundance
We are in the late summer Season of Way Too Much. When I head out to my little kitchen garden beds, I come in most days with a large basket of tomatoes, and more kale that I can possibly use. If you have a garden of any size, you know what I mean. You might have zucchini in abundance, cucumbers getting a little too big, eggplant of all sizes, and suddenly the peppers for which you waited all season. These things don’t keep a long time like the hardy roots of autumn, so we have to use them up, or pickle them, dry, freeze or can. We have also been known to drop a lot off with neighbors and friends, to the food pantry for sure, or maybe even the side of the road with a Free sign. Time to make that salsa and dilly beans. Basil by the armloads instead of the tiny bunch? Pesto is already parked in my freezer, and soon there will be more to keep it company. No matter how much pesto I put up, it’s never enough, I always run out way too soon.
To can or freeze?
Canning has much been out of fashion especially for low-acid veggies like green beans. I remember my sister toiling for hours to can her harvest of green beans and I don’t think she was enjoying herself very much, August heat and mugginess being what it is. It doesn’t take as long to process tomatoes, but it is much easier just to make a sauce and freeze it, or even just freeze the whole tomatoes for use in soups and stews all winter long. That’s my method now.
Vegetables rule the kitchen right now
No question about what our meals will involve this time of year, something with a lot of veggies, more so than just a stir-fried or roasted. My two favorite go-to recipes this time of year are gazpacho and ratatouille. Last week, I made a large batch of gazpacho, probably my favorite to make when it is really hot because there is no cooking, you can just cut the veggies any which way to fit in the blender, and everything gets mixed for you in seconds. No recipe, no measuring, no fuss. We ate many meals of it last week, garnishing it with everything from avocados to tofu, and even used it as a sauce over pasta. Ten minutes work, lots of meals, and lots of surplus veggies used up. And everyone in the family can eat it whether gluten free, nut free, meat free, or dairy free.
A late summer staple
This week, I was reminded it was time to make ratatouille when I saw Terrie’s post at Comfort du Jour where they grilled the vegetables before making the stew. Grilling adds a beautiful smokiness and different dimension to the vegetables and it’s one of my favorite ways to transform this peasant dish that originated in France, always as a way to use up the surplus of the summer. A mixture of tomatoes, squash, eggplant, onions, and other veggies in surplus, seasoned with herbes de Provence, and cooked to a beautiful stew that can also be used in many ways as leftovers. You can also roast the vegetables, sauté them on the stove, or bake them in a casserole, it’s quite forgiving.
So many options
Once made, eat it straight up as a stew, hot, room temperature, or cold, or top rice or pasta, polenta or grits. You can also simmer it with eggs for a little protein, a shakshuka with a French touch.
This time around, I added mussels because my husband had a hankering. I took half the batch and placed it in a stew pot with a glass of white wine and let this simmer for a while. A added a pound of well-scrubbed mussels and after about five minutes, dinner was ready.
Now, about all that kale…
Oven Roasted Ratatouille with Mussels
You can also cook the veggies on the grill, or even stovetop as a traditional stew.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, or a big fat leek, sliced into rings
- I head garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
- 1 sweet red pepper, sliced
- 1 sweet green pepper, sliced
- 1 medium to large yellow summer squash, sliced
- 1 medium to large zucchini, sliced
- 4 medium to large meaty, ripe tomatoes, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp. herbes de Provence
- ½ tsp. lavender flowers, crushed
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
- ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Brush two baking trays liberally with the olive oil. Place veggies in a single layer on each, grouping them together. Mix together the herbes de Provence, lavender flowers, and fennel seeds with a few tablespoons of the oil. Brush over the vegetables, and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for 20 minutes and check. They will need to be turned and the garlic will probably need to be removed. If any of the other vegetables look done, take them out, the tomatoes will soften quickly. I place them right on the cutting board and chop into desired size, then put them in a large bowl. Don’t forget the juices! If the garlic is ready, just squeeze each clove into the bowl. Continue adding the veggies to the bowl as they finish roasting, chopping up any that are a bit too large for the stew.
That’s it. You can add or subtract any vegetables you like, change up the ratio. I don’t use eggplant because I’m allergic to it, even though I love it. Don’t have enough tomatoes? Use a good quality canned instead, it will be just as good. Want more protein? Add some cooked white beans, or some pasta, even rice. It’s all up to you, and what your gardening or farm stand is offering today.
Enjoy the remains of the season!
“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumour of sadness and change.” ~ E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
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Wow! It does sound like a lot of work preserving all those gorgeous vegetables but how wonderful to have them. I nearly always roast my ratatouille now for its more intense flavour and I love your addition of mussels. What a great idea.
I definitely agree with you about the more intense flavor. The roasting is so easy too, put everything on a sheet plan, let it tend itself in the oven. Done!
The sounds of the season! What a delightful quote by E.B. 🦗 I absolutely love gazpacho and ratatouille; your mussels dish looks amazing, sis. I’m drooling! 😋
I’ll save you some babe!
What a bounty you have there! That’s a wonderful problem to have. I don’t have a garden these days but years ago I did have one and I made soups with my vegetables and tomatoes to put up in the freezer. Your Mussels Ratatouille looks very tasty!
Thank you Jan! Making a soup and freezing it is a wonderful plan, so tasty in the middle of winter and hardly any work to get supper on the table!
Beautiful outdoor patio!
I love our back porch/patio. We eat every meal there except if it is a driving rain, and we’ve had a few of those recently too!
These days I always bake/roast my ratatouille which seems to enhance the flavour more. With mussels on top, icing on the cake!! :))
Thanks Mary! Theres so much you can do with it, and it’s all good.
Tis the harvest season! And the crickets have taken the lead in the nature choir.
Love them! They sing me to sleep.
Your post has travelled super-well all across the world and the equator to our mild end of winter to provide the biggest smile and a desire to make ratatouille and gazpacho NOW 🙂 ! Love both! Thank you for adding the music to the imagined meal . . . wonderful send !!!
Thank you so much my friend! It’s a delight to share this bounty to all the corners of the globe.
Thank you for another excellent recipe, Dorothy. Yes, so many vegetables to eat, share, or preserve. I used to can but am now in the process of freezing sweet corn and tomato puree. All good unless we lose electricity.
Oh, there is that Mary. Where we live, it was imperative to have a generator!
I enjoyed it all: the stories, the beautiful veggies, the finished foods, and thanks for the link to Terrie–that was a great read, too. I love the idea of ratatouille with pasta! I shall have to try that, even if I will likely have to grill my own veggies…not sure if Randy will cook outside again until the first freeze.
I like to go out in the backyard with my little chimney of coals and start a little grill on my Webber. Once the coals are ready, I’ll use that little surface for just about everything so as not to waste them. My Sunday ritual while husbands naps. 😌
The season of too much, and not enough hours in the day to manage it! A very good problem to have 😊
Yes, the best kind of problem! Any of these things would seem so much more precious in the dead of winter.
Mixing ratatouille with mussels is such a great tasty idea!
Another great idea is freezing the tomatoes whole. I plan on buying a lot more summer tomatoes at the farm stand, and do just that! Thanks! 🙂
It was all made and my husband wanted his mussels!
Hi Dorothy, I am always a bit scared of cooking mussels – I am not confident of preparing and cooking them right, but I do really like to eat them. And in ratatouille – yum yum!
Your garden is really producing a harvest feast! Here I noticed the weather turn yesterday too. It was like we skipped Spring, not that we ever have much of one anyway and headed into summer. Suddenly I had gone from wearing jumpers to wearing T Shirts!
Guide to cleaning, preparing and cooking mussels https://viewfromtheback.com/2017/05/20/the-musette-mussels-many-ways/
Thanks Sheree. I remember that post. Your instructions are clear but I am still a bit hesitant. What if I suffocated them? What if they were older than the days when I got them? What if I overcook them?
I may decide to try cooking them one day, thanks to you and Dorothy.
Do you have a local fish market? If so, make a friend of your fish monger, they will guide.
I don’t have a local fish market, but there is a friendly fish vendor at the Sunday markets. I could ask him. Thanks for the tip.
Let me know if you take the plunge
Dorothy’s suggestion to chat with the fish vendor has given me more confidence to try. I will definitely let you know if I do …take the plunge. Thanks for all your helpful suggestions.
Pleasure
I cooked them and didn’t die! I was surprised how simple and fast they were to make! Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions.
My pleasure
Yeah! I knew you could do it! Opens up new doors of possibilities!
Thank you, once again, for extending my cooking repertoire. Whenever I read your blog posts, I never fail to be inspired!
Oh thank you! That’s such a sweet thing to say! I’ve met so many wonderful people doing this blog, and learned so much, and sharing what I know, and think, is part of the enjoyment of it all. I follow all kinds of blogs, and I never know where my mind is going to wander to!
Yes, blogging interactions can provide wonderful benefits. I think it is far more satisfying than other social media.
It’s especially wonderful when we get to meet other bloggers in person; there’s already a connection there, so it’s immediately like being with old friends.
P.S. the fish vendor’s suggestion was to cook them for longer. I think they were a tad underdone. They were large New Zealand Green lipped mussels so he suggested a curry ( which the moth doesn’t eat ) and 8- 10 minutes. I erred on the shorter side time-wise. The mussels came frozen (need to come on the plane from New Zealand) and I defrosted them in the fridge overnight, so some of the shells had begun to open. I think I would try to cook them from frozen next time. What do you think?
I think your instincts are right, to go straight from the freezer to the pot. Now that you have this method under your belt, you’ll be able to compare!
That’s a good guide Sheree. My mom used to use cornmeal instead of the flour, and that works well for wild mussels.
Thanks for that Dorothy
It does change quickly sometimes. We’ve had a couple of springs that happened all of a sudden like that, but this year it was a rather drizzly and chilly one.
Mussels are quite good at telling you if they are fresh. First, they should just smell of the sea. If they are cracked, discard. If they are open even in the slightest, give them a little tap. If alive and good, it will close. If it doesn’t close, discard. Conversely, if, after cooking, all the other mussels open and one doesn’t, discard that one.
Good tips. Thanks ever so much. The one that doesn’t open after cooking, I never eat!
And the one that is open before and doesn’t close is also a discard.
Do you freeze the kale? Good for smoothies & stews, soups. It can even be sauteed. Love the garden produce. Brought in a huge spaghetti squash yesterday & some zucchini on the plants I thought weren’t going to produce. Unfortunately, the 12 tomato plants have produced only 12 tomatoes. Just too wet this spring. Happy gardening & eating.
I’ll save you some of my tomatoes! I accidentally ended up with four plants this year which is at least two too many. But I’ll tuck them in the freezer.
I might blanche and freeze some of the kale., it really is good in smoothies where it disappears!
This Oven Roasted Ratatouille sounds so good–love all those delicious-looking veggies! 🙂
They are so flavorful this time of year!
So many veggies – so much love! I keep forgetting about baking whole knobs of garlic; they are a wonderful addition to so many meals – if only I remembered. Your cricket musical was so special. Of course, cricket musicals are Christmas treats for us. Other side of the world, but so many similarities!
Oh, that would be wonderful to be serenaded by crickets at Christmastime!
This looks so very tasty!
Thant you so much!
Beautiful photo of your wonderful feast! I have been roasting and pureeing my goodies and freezing the sauce oh it is so yummy. I will soon get my garlic into the raised beds and gather a bunch of green beans myself. I have squash and pumpkin as well as corn growing(for the wildlife) those squash I end up eating all by myself with eggs, cottage cheese and or chicken and steak trying to get the good stuff into me. Wait I forgot Brady he loves my squash and meat. We need our muscles maybe I will try them in your yummy recipe. Looks so good.
Thanks so much Eunice! It really is the season of way too much for many, and we love it! I might plant some garlic this fall, haven’t in a few years. Any tips?
I add aged compost and mix it with my soil in the raised boxes did down 6 inches in the loose soil and add garlic cloves points up cover and water in and then see them next year when the bottom leaves turn brown but before that when the scapes make a couple of circles I cut those to get garlic flavor while I wait for the bulbs to finish and leaves to brown. All winter long they sit under snow. 🙂
Lovely! I’ll report back!
Thanks so much.
Love that video at the end with the sounds of crickets!
Such beautiful music!
Yuuuum!!! Don’t you inspire …
I blush!☺️