The good news is that the tomatoes and tomatillos produced after all! I took the advice offered and just waited to see if I´d get a crop, and while a number were brown and blotchy from the blight, there are quite a few perfectly acceptable tomatoes. There is also, for the first time, some blossom end rot.
Mostly it´s obvious, as in the upper case here. But, I have also found rot inside some that were apparently perfect on the outside, just as a word to the wise. One of the benefits of quartering and roasting the tomatoes before saucing, I guess.
The tomatillos finally sized up on the ones I planted earliest. Also roasted for salsa. If only there were some cilantro left, but it all bolted weeks ago. Hoping for at least one more picking and will try mixing in some golden tomatoes to the pan.
The potatoes were small and not very numerous and a number were nibbled. As were these, so I pulled them all. No sense encouraging the varmints.
And it´s a great apple year. So I tried another apple pie recipe from Smitten Kitchen - Dutch Apple Pie, and I´m glad to report that it´s delish, and our apples didn´t turn to mush in the oven!
The crust is interesting on this one, more like cookie dough and not as elastic as short crust, and I´m afraid I rolled it out too thin, it wanted to collapse in the latticing. And I had no raisins on hand, so I threw in a handful of walnuts. But tasty, nonetheless, and I may be enjoying it for breakfast.
Hope your harvests are plentiful!
Hi Coco,
ReplyDeleteAll this talk about blossom end rot has left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. Thanks for the photos as I'd never seen such a tomato disease before. The apple pie looks beautiful! Yum!
Chris
That apple pie looks delish, much more inviting to eat for breakfast than the bowl of porridge I have in front of me!
ReplyDeleteWhen we have troubles with our tomatoes, we just carry on and let the tomatoes get on with it, cutting away the 'bad' bits when I come to process them for storage. No crop this year though, and miss not having the numerous jars of canned tomato sauce sitting on my larder shelves!
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI´m sure your blossom end is just fine.
Hi Vera,
In terms of pie, I have to confess I´m all about the filling, not so much the crust. Curiously, I don´t think the Spanish add cinnamon to apple pie etc., which I thought was traditional, they were surprised when I used it. Must come from the German/English heritage.
I only wish the jars were more numerous! I can´t imagine how much I´d need to plant to have a winter´s worth stored.
Hi, Coco!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the relatives have been hosted and safely packed off again - once more.
I NEVER have cilantro growing at the same time that the tomatillos and tomatoes are ripe. I bought one bunch this season and then said "Oh, forget it" and just left it out thereafter.
You are so lucky to have apples and you certainly know how to use them to advantage - what a perfect pie. I am afraid that I like the crust almost as much as the filling though . . .
Pam
Hi Pam,
ReplyDeleteThe Madrid family have been packed off again. The locals, not so much...
If it didn´t take forever to germinate, I´d plant some more cilantro. Must get on top of this succession planting thing. But the taste of fresh cilantro/tomato/lime or fresh basil/tomato is the taste of summer for me. Fortunately, basil we´ve got!
The old apple tree was enormous and half dead, so we pruned it pretty severely. The fruit still tends to be a little wormy, but this year the apples are pretty good sized and sweet, and stand up to cooking. At least half are still way up in the treetops, though. I may look into canning some pie filling to have on hand.