Autumn is a lovely season for a home cook, because all the local onions, potatoes, and carrots are finally ready. And those salads with fresh green onions and dill are simply exquisite! Just this past weekend I stopped by the Balti Jaama Market and came home with a big bunch of dill, green onions, delightfully earthy local carrots, and large, thick tomatoes with an incredible flavor. Pure joy! That evening I chopped up some yellow and red tomatoes for dinner, added dill and green onion on top, a pinch of salt, and oh wow—so good! Enjoy these autumn vegetables – they’re truly delicious and full of vitamins.
Besides visiting the Balti Jaama Turg, I also tried my hand at growing root vegetables this year. It turned out to be quite an amusing project. In spring we planted a whole bunch of things: radishes, cucumber, zucchini, large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, chilies, carrots, six different kinds of lettuce, green onions, dill, thyme, basil, oregano, lemon balm, sage, and stevia. But the harvest turned out to be considerably smaller than the effort!
The radishes turned out nice, although part of the crop ended up in the birds’ stomachs. The cucumber decided it simply wouldn’t grow in our garden bed. Unfortunately, the zucchini followed the cucumber’s example and, after great effort, produced just one tiny little thing – so small it was only good for making baby purée. When two influencers so firmly declared there was no point growing here, the dill and lettuces trotted right along behind them. Of the three chili plants, two left us far too early in their youth, while the third managed to produce several properly fiery pods. The tomatoes did slightly better – out of four plants only two followed the bad example of the influencers, but the other two produced some nice fruits. The larger tomato plant wasn’t as diligent – we got about five tasteless red specimens from it. But the cherry tomato plant was a real star – it took over our entire mini greenhouse and from the beginning of August until the end of September we happily devoured wonderfully sweet red beauties. At least that project was a success! The carrots and I got along reasonably well too. I planted two varieties – an early and a late one. From both I got lovely crunchy carrots that weren’t particularly big, but the joy of my first home-grown carrots ever was enormous.
With the other herbs, aside from the picky Mr. Dill, we had a very successful partnership – for several months now I’ve been picking herbs only from my own garden bed. Next I plan to cut what’s left, dry them indoors, and then continue using them in dried form. I’m especially excited about the stevia leaf drying project – I can’t wait to try flavoring desserts with real leaves.
All in all, I’ve never read as much gardening literature as I did this spring and summer. I learned how to care for tomatoes, thin carrots, and all sorts of other useful skills. Experience also made it clear that the soil in our garden is a bit too poor and that we probably crammed too many things into too small an area. Next year we’ll be wiser, and hopefully Mrs. Cucumber won’t set such a bad example for the others and will behave a bit more politely.
But in the meantime, cooperate with local fishermen and make yourself a delicious smoked fish salad!
Smoked Fish Salad
Ingredients
Preparation
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Wash and boil the potatoes. Remove the bones and skin from the smoked hake, chop finely, and place in a bowl. Drain the boiled potatoes, let them cool slightly, then cut into wedges and add to the fish. Finely chop the cucumber, dill, and green onions and add them to the bowl.
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In a small bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, and seasonings to make the dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and gently fold everything together.
Note
- You can happily use new potatoes with their skins in the salad. Just make sure to wash off the soil first, otherwise it will crunch unpleasantly between your teeth.
