Honey Glazed Rolls, Roasted Brussels, and the Rotten Tomato Experiment

So no rolls last night, but I am making them for tonight. We’re having a(nother) beautiful day today, sunny and mid sixties, so it felt like time for a last hoorah on the grill. Cheeseburgers it is, and of course, a cheeseburger isn’t complete without it’s bun, so that’s what I’m making as we speak. Well, okay, not that exactly making it; the rolls themselves are doing that; in the way of puffing out a bit.

Once they’ve gotten to be the proper shape and size, I’ll bake them for a bit in a hot oven and call it a day. I tend to like my rolls with flecks of wheat and a bit of sweetness, so I add honey both in the dough and as a baking glaze. The recipe for the rolls is the same as for my honey wheat bread that I’ve posted here, so I won’t bother you with that again. Instead, I want to tell you about a wonderful surprise I found yesterday in the garden. There I was, cleaning out the debris and setting the beds to sleep in the way of laying down compost and covering all with crisply fallen leaves when I saw them. The brussels sprouts. Yes, I know I had planted them, but not once, not all Summer long, or even into this Fall did I see anything in the way of production from them. I marked them up as a failed experiment. And then, yesterday as I was pulling out the overgrown fennel, long gone to seed, there it was, four beautiful stalks of brussels standing tall and showing off their wares.

You can imagine my surprise. I’d been certain the garden was done giving it’s gifts. Well, I grabbed those sprouts and cleaned them, throwing the extra leaves to Piggly and Wiggly, who quickly gobbled them up (they were as happy about the discovery as I was). And tonight I’m roasting them tossed in a bit of butter and honey, salt and pepper to go along with our burgers. Oh. And maybe some fries. I have a few russet potatoes that need using up, so I’ll probably wedge them, toss them in a bit of olive oil and Old Bay, throw them in the air fryer until crisp, and call it good.

Another discovery I made in the garden was a few rotten tomatoes. No. I’m not serving them with the burgers (even I’m not that extreme). But I still hate waste, so I found a way to use them up. Now, normally I’d throw them to the chickens (they especially love the rotten ones). But, instead I went with a little experiment. I took two of each kind: the Amish Paste, the Rosso Sicilian, and the Whittmore Heirloom, and placed the whole tomato under the compost and leaves, marking where each was placed. You see, I’ve never had a ton of luck saving tomato seeds–something always goes wrong–and I got to thinking about how the garden is filled with rogue tomato plants that I have to yank up each Spring. Well, those tomato plants had to come from somewhere–I’m guessing the birds had a hand in it. So, I bypassed those middle-men and planted them myself. We’ll see how it turns out–if it works, this will be the way I’ll be doing it from now on (one less tray of plants to keep track of in the greenhouse come March and April). I’ll keep you posted.