The O-Zone

Picked a bunch of different things today.

It's like going to the grocery store, only a lot more convenient since it's just down the hill instead of 35 miles away.

Butterhead and Romain lettuce.  Quite a few green beans.   A small bowl of strawberries, the last of the year we think.  A couple of small Walla Walla onions.  A Roma tomato.  A couple of small Anaheim peppers.  Around seven pounds of beets.  Lemon Basil, and normal Basil.  Six stalks of rainbow colored Swiss Chard, and the first potatoes of the year, mostly Yukon Golds, but one Gold Rush (a russet potato.)

So I have my work cut out for me.  I’ve washed a lot of things I picked, and will get it into the fridge.  I haven’t washed the lettuce yet.  The potatoes are going to be roasted.  The chard, peppers, onions and tomato will be part of breakfast tomorrow.  I’m going to make pickled beets today, and also pickled green beans.  Once I figure out how many jars I need I’ll go pick some dill flower heads for flavoring the beans.  I’ll clean the strawberries and put a little sugar on them; those will be dessert today.  And I’m going to puree the basils with olive oil and freeze the two varieties in ice cube trays.

It sounds like a lot of work but it won’t really take all that long to get most of this preserved for the coming winter.  This is exactly what makes the garden such a hoot.

I pulled all the leaves off the lemon basil plants, after I washed them, and spread them on a small dish towel to dry.

That was tedious.  The potatoes are done roasting and cooling in a dish.  That wasn’t tedious as the oven did all the work!

Then I put the dry fresh leaves into a blender and added some olive oil. And started blending.

I actually think a food processor would be easier.  So I’ll use that appliance when I do this same thing with the rest of the basil I picked today.  But not today.  The kitchen is a disaster area and I have to fix that before I make another mess.

Then I filled the ice cube maker with the basil/olive oil mixture.

Messy but it smells good.  I put the container in the freezer and ostensibly, when they are frozen, I’ll be able to remove them and put them in a freezer bag as little green cubes which can be added as is to anything that needs some basil for seasoning.  Like roast potatoes, or make some pesto for a pasta dish, or on toasted bread, or….  I hope there isn’t too much oil or this isn’t going to freeze very well.  Stay tuned.