Keeping Up With All the Produce

My son was sick for more than a week, I’m completely behind on my work, and it’s GORGEOUS outside (built little hoop houses for my winter greens this weekend instead of catching up on inside work). All of this means that the fruit and vegetables, already abundant this time of year, are overwhelming my small refrigerator, counter, fruit bowl, etc. The fruit flies are feasting and time is a wasting on all this beautiful stuff. So I just did a whirlwind catch up job on some of it:

Roasted peppers

Roasted Tomatoes

Cut the rotten parts out of a few quince and am plotting what to do with them all. Compote, paste, apple/quince crisp, jam. . . .

And alas, threw away some rotting lettuce.

I think tonight’s dinner will be a frittata with some of the roasted peppers or a Savory Bread Pudding with some of the peppers and roasted tomatoes and the rest of the basil I just salvaged from the garden.

I feel a bit better about the state of my fridge and counters and am ready for tomorrow’s CSA and all the shopping I’ll be doing for this weekend’s classes. And I do love this season and the bounty and beauty of it, but I won’t pretend that it’s not a lot of work. I enjoy the work and like the creativity of figuring out what to with it all. If I didn’t work at home though, and have a job (have given myself a job:) that involved food, I wouldn’t be able to manage all of it and still have fun with it. I also know it’s a privilege as well as a choice. I’ve been musing about this a lot lately and will devote more time to it in the future, but in the meantime, I wish you the time to preserve and use this bounty if you’re so  inclined. And I’m happy to share my techniques and ideas if you’re interested. And I’d love to know what you’re doing with the odds and ends in your kitchen, whether it’s just tonight’s dinner or some favorite way of preserving.

Happy cooking and eating!