When Summer and Fall Collide

Salad-and-pasta

This week, I’ve harvested cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplant in plentiful numbers. And I also plucked a late planting of radishes and cut my first salad for the fall. The window when summer and autumn collide is small, but the bounty is intoxicating.

As simple as it sounds, I couldn’t resist just making a minimally dressed garden salad with arugula, tat soi, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and basil. The radishes were still a bit spicy, but sliced thin they had just enough kick to play well with the tomatoes and cucumbers. A drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice was superfluous.

I think of Bolognese as hearty autumnal cooking. But with the plethora of summer tomato sauce this seemed like the perfect accompaniment to my salad. I added ground meat, carrots, celery, onions and garlic to the tomato sauce and let it simmer for an hour. And for my facebook friends — yes, I did make my own pasta even though the humidity was crushing.
Pasta-bolognese
Here's the link to the Bolognese Sauce, previously posted.

Here's the link to the pasta recipe, also previously posted.  And step by step photos to make your own pasta.

 

High Summer (Recipe: Homemade Mozzarella)

Caprese-salad
At the peak of summer, local tomatoes burst with juicy, sweetness. Their bright acidity calls out for the rich, creamy taste of fresh mozzarella. Now-a-days, you can find so many varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes at the local farmers’ markets and kitchen gardens – and when they are truly vine-ripened, they have a wonderful texture and chin-dripping juiciness. It almost doesn’t matter what variety you pick – they are all delicious! Taste around and pick your favorite. I prefer lower acidity and sweeter flavor.

Why can’t you get a good tomato in February, even if they’re labeled “vine ripened”? Tomatoes go through several phases of development and ripening. Once the fruit has formed behind the flower they go through the green stage, when the tomatoes have a matte sheen and the ripening state when the skin has a more shiny gloss. Tomatoes picked in the green stage will never ripen. On a commercial level, these green tomatoes are treated with ethylene gas to commence the ripening process. Unfortunately, the USDA does not regulate the definition of “vine-ripe” and many commercial producers of tomatoes use the term at their marketing convenience. Because tomatoes are shipped across the country and around the world, producers rely on these tricks to stabilize tomatoes for shipment and increase overall shelf-life. And this is why a February tomato is sometimes referred to as No-mato and can be used in a game of baseball (see video on this page – it’s funny and sad!)

Now that we’re in peak tomato season, I’m savoring them in all sorts of preparations… sauces, pasta and a quintessential summer caprese salad. To do justice to these fine summer jewels, I made my own mozzarella cheese. Sort of. I purchase the curd and then pull it by hand.

Mozzarella curd can be purchased at Armenian markets or through a restaurant wholesale distributor. If purchasing in bulk, I recommend cutting the curd down into 1 pound blocks, wrapping it tightly in plastic and freezing it. The curd will last for 2 years this way.

Mozzarella

mozzarella curd

milk

salt

1. Bring large pot of heavily salted water to a boil

2. Break curd apart into small pieces in a stainless steel bowl.

Mozz-curd-1
3. When water is just below a boil (about 190-200F), pour water over curd to cover.

Mozz-curd-2

Stir just a little, and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Keep remaining water hot.

Mozz-curd-3

4. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice, milk and water. The milk bath will be the final storage place for the freshly made mozzarella. The ice will quickly cool the cheese so that it will hold its shape. The milk will keep a balance of flavor in the cheese so that the flavor doesn’t leach out into the storing liquid. The ice bath is all crucial for your hands – to help cool them before stretching the hot curds.

5. Drain water off mozzarella curd. Cover a second time with hot water.

6. Using wooden spoons to grab the curd, pull it out of the water and let it stretch back in… this will smooth out the curds.

Mozz-pulling-1
Mozz-pulling-2

7. When there are just a few lumps left in the cheese, grab about a ¼ pound lump and stretch it into a ball. As you’ll be using your hands at this point, it helps to briefly cool your hands in the ice water before grabbing the cheese.

Mozz-cooling-hands
Mozz-ball-1
Mozz-ball-2
Mozz-ball-3

8. When the balls are smooth and round put them in the ice bath to cool and store. Slice and serve.

Thanks to Wes for taking the action shots.

Berry, Berry, Quite Contrary

Strawberries

When I perused the aisles at the local nursery last year for ideas on what to plant, I picked up a six pack of strawberry plants. They looked healthy, with tiny white flowers showing promise to produce berries. I planted them under the still leaf-less dogwood with hopes they would generate more flowers and subsequent berries. I got a total of 6.

This year, the plants crept past the dogwood into the garlic patch; from the beets to the kale bed. And the plants produced more fruit than I anticipated. I didn’t like how they cramped my other vegetables, but I decided wait and see how they tasted before I uproot them. 

Creepy-crawlies2

My first harvest was enough to actually make something, but opted for savoring their flavor, not masking it with too much sugar or cream. I also wanted to make sure they were worth the space. The berries were soft and juicy, as opposed to the hard and crunchy “berries” sold at the supermarket. They had a bright acidity with a little sweetness. (Though, right after brushing my teeth, I would have given them a different, less favorable description.) 

Strawberry-salad-1

I could have made strawberry shortcakes or a pie. Instead I decided to toss them with arugula and scallions from the garden, and season simply with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and black pepper. The salad was a perfect foil for Vanilla Scented Duck Breast (same marinade as used here). And the duck skin played the role of croutons. 

Strawberry-salad-2

The big question remains – will the plants live to see another season? The berries were good, and the yield was better than the raspberry plant. But I don’t like they way the plants creep around. I will probably cut back what has crept too much and leave the rest.

Hello? Hello? Is Anybody Out There? (Recipe Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crabs)

About 6 weeks ago, I started a transition from Blogger to TypePad.

It’s been a rough ride, but I think I’ve finally landed. In case you didn’t notice, I’ve had a whole host of web-hosting issues – from having no template, just plain text to having a lone post from 2 years ago as the only content on the site. But now, after countless hours of calls and emails to tech-support, I think (*finally*) everything is fixed. If you used to subscribe to my blog-feed in reader or through RSS, please re-subscribed. If you didn’t already subscribe, now would be a fine time to start.

Though the blog has been an unhappy place, my garden continues to offer a respite.

With the unusually warm spring, the lettuces developed thick stems and spicy leaves. I like the flavors better now, but it requires a little more cleaning. The stems, though edible, are not palatable. So I trim them.

Destemmed-lettuce-1
Lettuce-stems

The garden yields about a gallon of leaves every other day. I realized this is far more lettuce than I can really eat on my own – I’ve been sharing with friends and neighbors, and bringing lettuce to client meetings. As I was strategizing where to plant tomatoes, I realized I could part with some lettuce. Out it went and in went the tomatoes.

Tomato-plant
I planted scallions several years ago. And when I harvest them, I only cut off the green stems and leave the white bulbs so they will continue to grow. By now, the scallions are quite thick and hardy – still pleasant as a raw garnish, but bordering on tough and fibrous. I planted a replacement crop of scallions, and as soon as those are ready to harvest, I will pull out the older ones completely.

Salt-and-pepper-softies
Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crabs

In Chinese restaurants in Boston, they serve dried-fried shrimp on a
bed of shredded lettuce. I adapted the traditional dish to use soft
shell crabs on a bed of spicy lettuce greens. 
Serve with steamed white rice for a main meal.

2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. Sichuan peppercorns, ground
pinch Chinese Five-spice
1/4 cup corn starch
2 soft shell crabs, cleaned
1/4 cup plain oil
3 scallions cut into rings
1 red jalapeno cut into rings
salad leaves for garden

  1. Mix salt, sugar, Sichuan peppercorns and five spice.
  2. Dredge soft shell crabs in corn starch
  3. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat.  When oil shimmers, gently place crabs in oil, smooth side down.  Cook for 3 minutes or until they start to get crispy.  Flip them over and cook fro 3 minutes more.
  4. Remove soft shell crabs from pan, and drain the oil.   Return the crabs to the pan over high heat.  Sprinkle about 1 tsp. of the seasoned salt on top, and stir to coat.  Toss in scallions and jalapenos and cook for 1 minute more.
  5. Remove from heat.  Serve crabs with salad greens. 

Day 60 (Recipe: Pan Fried Artichokes with Arugula)

Arugula-artichoke 
I planted my first lettuce seeds 60 days ago, and today I had my first significant harvest – a full gallon of arugula, mizuna and tatsoi. The smaller, earlier cuttings made for lovely garnishes on pizzas and flatbreads.

Some of the plants have already started to bolt. Temperatures have soared into the 80’s for the last week or so, and the plants are not happy. They’ve developed thick stalks and have begun the process of going to seed. While I love this unseasonably warm spring, the lettuce production will taper quickly. On the bright side, the leaves are spicier than usual.

Arugula does not need much flavor enhancement, just a simple dressing of olive oil and garlic. With a garnish of baby artichokes and fava beans, this is a quintessentially spring salad.

Arugula-artichoke-2 
Pan Fried Artichokes with Arugula

2 artichokes, or 4 baby artichokes
1 bunch arugula, trimmed and washed
6 slices prosciutto
6 tbs. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
4 tbs. shaved Parmesan cheese
1 tbs. lemon juice
Fava beans, blanched
salt and pepper to taste

Clean artichokes: Trim the stem by ½ inch. Cut away the tough outer green skin. Trim away tough out leaves, until left with the white hearts. If using large artichokes, cut in half, and cut out fuzzy choke.

Slice the hearts as thin as possible.

Heat 2 tbs. olive oil in a pan. Add the artichokes, season with salt and pepper and stir fry for a few minutes until they start to brown. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for 2 minutes more, or until the garlic is lightly browned. Add lemon juice.

Toss the artichokes with the arugula. Sprinkle with prosciutto, favas and Parmesan.

Spring’s First Harvest

Scallion-salad2
Like last year, the first thing to emerge in my garden is the scallions. Because they are perennials, they come back to life the minute the temperatures rise about freezing. And after a week of warm-ish temperatures, I have enough to harvest some.

First-scallions
Scallions are a staple in my cooking. I love the fresh oniony flavor that is mild enough that I can still have an intimate conversation without offending anyone (including myself). I always have a bunch in the fridge (when I don’t have them in the garden), along with onions, garlic and lemons. And when I cook Asian-style, I usually make a garnish salad or relish with a heavy dose.

The first cutting of the season is more tender than later cuttings. They haven’t been wind-blown and rained on enough to make them hardy. Not a big deal, but I need to be careful not to add them to a dish until the very last minute as they wilt quickly.

Last week, some friends gathered for a pot-luck dinner. I brought Korean marinated chicken thighs, and garnished it with a salad of carrots, cucumbers, Asian pears, and lots and lots of scallions.

Cool Crunchy Salad

1 rib celery, julienne

1 pear, julienne

3 carrot, peeled and julienne

1 cucumber, peeled and julienne

6 scallions, julienne

1 ½ tsp. vinegar

1 ½ tsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. Sugar

1 tbs. sesame oil

½ tsp. salt

Mix everything together.

The Other Pantry (Recipe: Celery Caesar)

I planted celery this summer, not because I love celery as a side vegetable or even eaten as a snack with peanut butter (I’m allergic to nuts), but because it’s a staple in so many recipes. Celery is a key component in the French “mirepoix”, the mix of aromatic vegetables that give flavor to soups, broths and stews. The Chinese also add celery to stir-fries. And I regularly use a stalk or two in chicken or tuna salad.  I always have celery in the pantry — whether it's the crisper drawer of the fridge or the garden outside.

But for all of celery’s uses, I never need more than a stalk or two at a time. With celery in the garden, I can cut off what I need without harming the plant. Instead of a buying whole head at the supermarket, and watching it wilt in the vegetable draw, I can preserve the plant through the entire summer. I bought 6 plants for about $2.50. And I still have 3 full heads.

Growing Celery
This is the third year I’ve grown celery, and by far this was the most successful. As an experiment, I planted 3 seedlings in the garden and 3 in a planter box on the deck. Neither reached “supermarket” size, but the plants on the deck were decidedly smaller and slightly anemic despite the extra sun in its location.

The celery in the garden had proper spacing… at least 18 inches between plants. They grew larger than any other year… and height-wise, they looked good. The ribs were thin with brown streaks. I attribute the brown stalks to the excess rain we had this summer. Also the celery was not in a particularly sunny spot, which probably contributed to its stunted growth.

When I harvested a plant this morning it looked like 10 small heads had sprouted from the one plant. I wonder if I should have harvested a “mini-head” at a time instead of a stalk at a time. I’ll have to experiment with that next year.

In the meantime, winter is looming. We’ve already had our first snow-fall, and who knows when we’ll get the next. I’ve become more aggressive about using celery, not just as an aromatic in cooking but as a featured ingredient.

Buried deep in my files of recipes, I found a recipe for “Celery Caesar” from Daniele Baliani, a chef I knew in Boston a long time ago…

A Very Celery Caesar… Shavings of Pecorino and Celery Dressing
adapted from Daniele Baliani

Salad
4 large stalks of celery, sliced thin
2 cups of mixed lettuce leaves – including romaine, arugula and/or mesclun mix
1 small bulb of celeriac, peeled, julienned and blanched
¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
2 stalks celery
½ bunch parsley
½ bunch basil
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
¼ cup warm water
1 tbs. fresh chopped garlic
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
6 inner hearts of celery with the leaves
2 oz. Pecorino shavings
4 slices white bread for croutons

1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt. While waiting for the water to boil, set aside an ice bath. When the water boils, Add from the dressing ingredient list the celery, parsley and basil. Cook for 30 seconds, remove from heat, and soak in an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain well.

2. To make the dressing: place the blanched celery, parsley, basil, olive oil, water garlic, mustard and lemon juice in a blender. Over medium speed, puree until smooth and bright green.

3. In a large salad bowl, combine the thin slices of celery, lettuces and julienne of celeriac. Add the grated Pecorino and toss the dressing. Adjust seasoning.

4. Cut the white bread into triangles and brush with a little oil and Pecorino and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until crispy and nutty brown.

5. To assemble: Divide the salad onto small plates and garnish with croutons. Top it all off with dressed celery leaves and drizzle more of the green dressing for a dramatic finish

The Staples of Life (Recipes: Panzanella and Strata)

By some strange miracle, the blight never struck my tiny patch of soil. In fact, I have more tomatoes than in any other year before. This year, when I transplanted the tomatoes in the spring, I recalled a friend's advice: Prune the bottom two leaves and bury the root mound deeper than usual to allow for extra root growth and stability. Could this have made the difference? Thankfully, friends are quite enthusiastic about relieving me of my bounty.

Every meal this week has a variation of tomatoes, basil, bread and mozzarella. Who knew you could make so many different variations with the same four ingredients.

Panzanella…

Bruschetta…

Strata…

Panzanella
Recipes abound for panzanella. Most suggest that stale bread needs to be soaked in water and then squeezed out. I don't fully understand the purpose of this step — obviously, the bread needs to soften up. But why not soften it in tomato juice?

2 cups cubed bread — stale or toasted
1 large cucumber
1 tsp. salt
2 tomatoes
8 oz. fresh mozzarella
fresh basil, chopped
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice cucumbers. Toss with salt and let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cube tomatoes and set aside in a small bowl. Cube mozzarella.
3. Drain excess water off of the cucumbers.
4. The tomatoes should start to give off water after 15 minutes of sitting. Take this liquid and toss with bread cubes.
5. Mix the remaining ingredients together just before serving. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato Mozzarella Strata
Strata is a breakfast dish, similar to a quiche or frittata.

3 tbs. butter
4 slices bread
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs. fresh herbs: basil, scallions, tarragon and/or parsley
1 tbs. finely diced celery
2 tomatoes, sliced
8 oz. ball fresh mozzarella, sliced

1. Melt butter in a 9" x 9" pyrex dish. Lay bread slices on top of melted butter.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, herbs and celery. Season salt.
3. Pour egg mix over the bread.
4. Layer tomatoes and basil on top. Sprinkle with a little extra salt and pepper for seasoning.
5. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until eggs are set. Serving immediately.

The First Tomato (Recipe: Israeli Salad)

Some people mark the start of summer at Memorial Day, others on June 21st. For me, summer officially begins with the first tomato from the garden.

Though the first tomato appeared in early June, the miserable rains and cool weather that followed thwarted any chance of an early July first harvest. A few weeks off “schedule,” I’m picking the first tomato.

Of course, one tomato does not make a salad, much less a meal. Thankfully, on the same day the first cucumber is large enough to pick also.

With a few scallions and fresh dill, I have all the fixings for a favorite summertime salad, and enough to serve as a side for dinner.

Israeli Salad
In Israel, this salad of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers is usually served at breakfast with smoked, cured or pickled fish. It’s also a great condiment for falafel, or tossed with Israeli Cous Cous for a refreshing side salad. This recipe is also featured in Even’ Star Organic Farm’s Summer Cookbook.

2 of your favorite heirloom tomatoes
1 small cucumbers
3 scallions
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoon fresh dill or lemon basil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Coarsely chop tomatoes. Toss with salt and pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes

2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop cucumbers (unpeeled).

3. Drain excess liquid from tomatoes. Toss with remaining ingredients.

4. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, lemon and/or olive oil.

Garden to Table: 10 minutes

Harvesting Lettuce

Salad

I planted lettuce seeds on March 5th (or so) and harvested my first salad less than 60 days later. The lettuce patch is now in full production, and I’m cutting about a gallon of lettuce every other day – a mix of arugula, mizuna, tatsoi and green leaf.

I grow lettuces for many reasons, but the big one is the yield I get for the square footage. Lettuce falls into the category of “cut and come again.” Meaning, after I harvest a salad, the lettuce will sprout new leaves. By contrast, plants like broccoli yield one head per plant. Better still, I can plant 6 – 12 “heads” of lettuce in the same area that a single head of broccoli would require. To harvest: cut about 1 ½ inches above the root base, leaving the smallest leaves intact. Immediately put the lettuce in water to keep it from wilting irreparably. I usually take a large bowl with some water out to the garden — as I cut the lettuce, I toss it with the water.

A friend made an interesting commentary about growing lettuce – it’s one of the few crops that can’t be preserved for the colder months. With so much lettuce, I’ve been able to share with my neighbors – for Tommy and Paul, and for the neighbors that snow-blow my driveway in the winter.

Despite the profusion of lettuce, I’m not ready to drown out the flavors with an intense dressing. I simply season with olive oil and lemon juice, and perhaps freshly shaved Parmigiano-reggiano and prosciutto.