Is it Autumn?

Just when summer should be ending it has finally gotten under way. We have been having summer all September. Today the temperature is well over ninety degrees. This wonderful growing weather has been interrupted by spots of cool weather Next week is one of those times; we are expecting a few days of below normal temperatures. It has been a very confusing growing season, but now everything is growing exceptionally well. Even some onions which should have been pulled months ago have finally taken hold and look like they might actually become real onions. I wonder how this extra long growing season will affect the taste.

The beans that Bobbie and I planted late July have started to produce. Here is the very beginning of that crop. Several weeks after those were planted I planted another few rows of beans and those are already beginning to blossom. I guess the crops will overlap. I may end up freezing some.

The winter broccoli has been planted, as have the Walla Walla onions, Sugar Snap peas, spinach, lettuce and something a little different. I got a package of seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds for Seedling Peas. These are not grown for peas, or pods, but are grown to "cut ... when they are a few inches tall and add to a salad or eat fresh". This, apparently, is from whence the restaurants get all those pea sprouts to put in their salads. So, from one pot I will get the sprouts and from the garden proper I will get the pea pods. This year those will be bush peas, not vines. This is the first time for seedling peas.

Recipe

As the garden transitions from summer to winter so does our cooking. Here we can grill most of the year, if we persevere, but the end of October is certainly the end of most of the outdoor grilling. The rains should be coming. So this is when I start thinking of this salad. It is a great accompaniment to grilled beef.

Normally when I see a new recipe that calls for two items that seem to be grown in entirely different seasons I just pass it by. Odd as this one sounds, these items are all in season. There is still broccoli in some of the gardens, tomatoes will be there until the first frost, onions of one kind or another are around and the Gravenstein apples start the season here in late August. For this recipe I recommend a sweet/tart apple like Sierra Beauty or Fuji.

Autumn Salad

3/4 cup diced red onions

3 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups diced apple (about one)

1 1/2 cups diced tomato ( one or two)

1 1/2 cups broccoli buds

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt to taste

Cut the onions into quarter inch dice, place in a bowl and mix with the milk. Cut the apple and tomato the same size. It isn't easy to cut a ripe tomato like that but good intentions count here so do your best. Add apple, tomato and all the juices from the tomato to the bowl.

The broccoli buds should be cut from the stalks so they are like tiny confetti. If you look closely at the picture you will note I missed a few of them; they are still in very small clusters. Sometimes I don't catch my mistakes until I see the photo. So, as Sara Moulton says when something like that happens, "You'll do better than I did."

Fold in the mayonnaise. At first it won't seem to be enough but if you continue folding gently it will cover all the vegetables. Fold in the lemon juice and salt. Taste for seasoning, adding more of whatever ingredient you prefer.

Tips

If you are working with broccoli on stalks do not discard the stalks. They are actually the sweetest part of the Broccoli. Peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler, cut into discs about the size of a quarter and toss them in heated oil or butter add a small amount of water, cover, let steam a moment and serve.The whole process shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

The irregular shaped branches can be cut into bite size pieces and then added to any stir fry you might be making.

And of course you could always use these pieces for a nice broccoli soup.