Each morning, while savouring my first cup of coffee, I inspect the garden for what’s ready or near ready to harvest.It’s been an exciting week: 3 Chinese eggplants, 2 Italian eggplants, 5 cucumbers, 4 tomatoes, 3 kohlrabi and lots of herbs.I had wanted to take a photo of the bounty, but I’ve been eating everything just as quickly as I harvest.
The cucumbers are surprisingly sweet.Cut in half or sticks, they make a great snack. I’ve sliced tomatoes with the intention of making a sandwich, but with a little sprinkle of salt, I can’t get them from the cutting board to a plate without “tasting” them first.Needless to say, I have yet to make a sandwich or collect enough cucumbers to make pickles.
The eggplant is too bountiful to consume on my own.On Thursday evening, my neighbors (who have since returned from vacation and reclaimed their CSA subscription) and I combined the corn from their farm share with my eggplant for a Japanese-inspired vegetable feast: Miso-Rubbed Grilled Eggplant and Chile Glazed (think Spicy Tuna Roll sauce) Corn on the Cob.
3 Japanese Eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise 3 cloves garlic 3 tablespoons olive or canola oil 1 cup white miso ½ cup sugar ¼ cup mirin (sweet rice wine) ¼ cup sake
1. Finely chop garlic. Toss eggplant with garlic and oil to marinate.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until completely combined and sugar has dissolved.
3. Prepare a charcoal grill. Grill Eggplant, cut side down, for 3 minutes or until lightly charred. Flip over and brush with miso paste. Cook for 2 minutes more. If you’d like, flip again to char the miso paste onto eggplant.
On a regular basis, I browse the supermarket aisles looking for inspiration for dinner. I’m hoping the mix of unrealized cravings and fresh produce will elicit a creative flash. More often than not, my plan fails and I usually fall back on a few standby’s: Clay-pot Chicken with Chinese Sausage and Mushrooms, Fish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw or Chicken Piccata with Spicy, Garlic Broccoli (yes, I cook this way on an idle Tuesday night). If you’re like me, the produce aisle (and the fish and meat counters, too) tends to look the same after a while… and I glaze over the unfamiliar or uninteresting like kohlrabi or jicama.
I only recently tried kohlrabi for the first time… at a Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica.I waxed on about its virtues here, so I won’t repeat myself now. I decided to grow some in my garden this year. Because Kohlrabi is so little known, though, it’s hard to find a recipe for it.And with my kohlrabi finally ready for harvest, my research has reached fever pitch.My two vegetarian cookbooks, The Greens Cookbook
and Vegetarian Planet, have nary a reference. The old standby: Time-Life Cookbooks had a few.
I like to think of myself as a creative chef, but it’s hard to come up with ideas without a frame of reference. For example, I know tomatoes and basil work well, so I can season a ricotta filling for squash blossoms or cannolonis with basil and serve with a tomato ragout, toss pasta with fresh tomatoes and pesto, or serve beef with a tomato sauce dotted with basil. You get the idea: the same two ingredients in various configurations. This summer, I’ve eaten kohlrabi twice in restaurants: at Oleana in a cucumber slaw served with fried oysters and at No. 9 Park, pureed and served with beef and chanterelles.Though the texture is different than zucchini (with no seeds in the middle) the flavor profiles seem to marry well as they are paired together in many recipes, or kohlrabi is used in a recipe where I might expect zucchini:
Zucchini – Kohlrabi Gratin
Kohlrabi Apple Slaw
Kohlrabi and Carrots
Kohlrabi Squash Empanadas
Kohlrabi stuffed with Dill and Sour Cream
Bear with me in this train of thought…. Kohlrabi and zucchini seem to substitute well for each other… my stuffing recipe for stuffed zucchini also works well as moussaka filling… kohlrabi works well in gratin…. So I’ve come up with these ideas:
Kohlrabi Moussaka
Parmesan Breaded Kohlrabi with Tomato Sauce (think: eggplant parmesan, or zucchini fries)
There are three big reasons why Even’ Star Farm’s produce is superior to its competitors. Since it’s organic, we know that it has not been grown with synthetic pesticides or artificial fertilizers. This does not necessarily enhance the flavor, but it protects the environment and our natural resources. More importantly, because they sell only to local markets, the produce is able to ripen on the vine instead of in the back of a truck. The produce develops sweeter flavors and better texture. Most importantly, though, is how farmer Brett protects his gene line of seeds.
When I start my garden in the summer, I purchase seeds and seedlings from random suppliers. I still have the advantage of growing all-natural and fully ripening on the vine, but am beholden to their quality control.
Seed management is a rather straightforward process. For every crop, you save the most flavorful, hearty plants and harvest the seeds for the following year’s crop. The sheer volume of seeds necessary for production farm like Even’ Star means that one person could work solely on this project, and work full time. Further, the seeds are harvested when the farm is in peak production – essentially doubling an already full workload. In the midst of harvesting tomatoes, okra, eggplant and watermelon, the crew generates hundreds of pounds of seed!
Each crop has different criteria for ideal. For the ancho chilies, it’s the size, shape (perfect conical) and color (evenly red ripe). Meredith, who was charged this week with harvesting the breeders, had to taste each pepper to make sure the heat level was appropriate. Brett wanted just the slightest hint of spice. For the arugula, the seeds are saved from the hardiest plants that survive cold, frost and wind. The peachy mama’s which have an obscenely long maturation time, are bred to shorten that span. The tomato seeds are selected from the healthiest, disease-resistant plants. After several years of picking the best seeds, the gene lines get better and better. So good in fact, that Brett sells his seeds to Fedco in Waterville, ME – a national, highly regarded seed supplier. Even’ Star seeds sell for 4 times more than the equivalent “generic” variety.
You may recall that earlier this season, I harvested some of my broccoli raab seed for Brett. Because the raab had “wintered-over”, that is, it re-grew after being buried for 5 months under a blanket of snow and ice. Should Brett be able to grow raab from this seed, the plants will be more tolerant of cold weather.
To keep the workers/crew happy through all this work, I usually make them special lunches when I visit. One of their perennial favorites is arepas. The corn comes from Alan Sivak, whose farm is just 2 miles down the road.
Arepaswith Tomatillo Salsa
1 – 1 lb. bag hominy 4 ears corn 1 tbs. chopped garlic 4 scallions, chopped 2 tbs. chopped cilantro *or more 1 – 2 cups grated jack cheese 3 tbs. butter salt and pepper plain oil
3 green tomatoes or tomatillos, finely diced 1 red pepper, finely diced 1 onion, finely diced 1 tsp. Tabasco (or more to taste) 1 smoked tomatoes, chopped 1 tbs. lime juice 3 scallions, thinly sliced 2 tbs. chopped cilantro salt and pepper to taste
1. Cook hominy according to package directions. 2. Heat a large skillet. Melt butter. Add the corn, then the garlic. Cook over medium heat until the corn begins to roast and brown. 3. Drain hominy. Grind with a medium hole. Grind corn and garlic mixture as well. 4. Mix in by hand the jack cheese, scallion and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 5. Form patties with dough. Pan fry in plain oil until crispy on both sides.
My summer crops have just come into full swing and I’m thinking about the fall plantings. I’ve made the same mistakes in years past – planting the lettuces and cooking greens after Labor Day. I’ve barely made a salad before the first snow comes and ends my growing season. This year will be different!
Gardeners and farmers must think about the next season in the middle of the current. Most plants have at least a 60 day cycle from seed to harvest. While farmers have the luxury of acres of land (and therefore, can appropriately rotate crops through different fields), urban gardeners must carefully plan for the entire year, not just each season, in order to maximize the space. Before the spring crops bolt, the summer crops have gone in the ground. And when the summer crops are in full force, fall seeds are planted.
So my first challenge is to determine where to plant. The spring crops were very tidy. I planted a row of lettuce, and they pretty much confined themselves within a few inches on either side of the row – leaving ample room for the coveted summer vegetables. And let’s be honest, when it comes time to plant the summer tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and squashes, I get a bit zealous, planting as much as my yard can manage. I’m always surprised by how much they grow, and the boscage leaves little room for the fall crops.
Gardeners and farmers must think about the
next season in the middle of the current. Most plants have at least a 60 day
cycle from seed to harvest. While farmers have the luxury of acres of land (and
therefore, can appropriately rotate crops through different fields), urban
gardeners must carefully plan for the entire year, not just each season, in
order to maximize the space. Before the spring crops bolt, the summer crops
have gone in the ground. And when the summer crops are in full force, fall
seeds are planted.
So my first challenge is to determine where
to plant. The spring crops were very tidy. I planted a row of lettuce, and they
pretty much confined themselves within a few inches on either side of the row –
leaving ample room for the coveted summer vegetables. And let’s be honest, when
it comes time to plant the summer tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and squashes,
I get a bit zealous, planting as much as my yard can manage. I’m always
surprised by how much they grow, and the boscage leaves little room for the
fall crops.
Suffice it to say, I need to clear away something
to make room for the lettuces. First out: the zucchini. I sowed about 20 seeds,
hoping to get a few zucchini. So far, I’ve had nothing… though plenty of squash
blossoms. And I’ve had my fill out squash blossoms. Next out: kohlrabi. I had
planted 20 of those, too. As hard as I tried, spraying organic pesticide once a
week, the aphids decimated at least half the plants. Of the remaining, only two
plants showed promise of reaching maturity. The “mid-season” peas came out,
too… the first batch were stringy, so it seems silly to take up precious space
for a vegetable that will likely end up in the compost bin.
What's been spared: The tomatoes and eggplant
continue to proliferate. And the Brussels sprouts, happily growing in the back
corner, won’t be ready until Thanksgiving. The cucumber sprawl produced its
first 3 this week, and I expect many more in the coming weeks. I will likely
have enough to make pickles – an exciting prospect! And the chilies
inconspicuously grow in the front.
On the docket for fall: arugula, mizuna,
tatsoi and broccoli raab.
On the docket for fall: arugula, mizuna, tatsoi and broccoli raab.
My neighbors were on vacation this week, and they offered me their weekly CSA subscription box. The vegetables come from Parker Farm. I knew Steve Parker back when he used to deliver to restaurants. He also used to be a fixture at the Central Square Farmer’s Market, but this year he’s only at the Saturday’s Market in Union Square, Somerville. I especially like to support the farmers I know.
In the spirit of Farm Share Tuesday, I invited a few friends over to enjoy a dinner in the garden eating farm fresh food.In my box this week: yellow carrots, cucumbers, corn, sweet onions, radishes and arugula. To add to the bounty, I still had a few things left from my visit to the farm: Cherokee purple and turtle gold tomatoes, eggs and new potatoes. And to round out the offerings: fresh herbs and celery in the garden.
With Dina in the house, I had to make my now famous Smoked Chicken Salad¸ tossed with celery, carrots, and onion tops, mixed with mayonnaise. I canned peachy mamas at the farm, which made a lovely hors d’œuvreto accompany the chicken, served with crackers.Or if someone has celiac disease, you can use cucumber slices instead of crackers.
The main meal, which coincidentally was gluten-free, manifested itself into: Arugula, Tomatoes and Cucumber, Simply Dressed with Basil, Lemon and Olive Oil
Creamed Corn – the surprise hit of the night
Tortilla Espangola with Smoked Tomato Ketchup
Vietnamese Crepes
(Makes 16 8” crepes)
1/2 Pound Rice Flour 2 Ounces Corn Starch 2 Eggs 1 ½ Cups Coconut Milk 1 Cup Water 2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Teaspoons Turmeric 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil 1 Pound Carrots, Peel, Julienned Or Shredded 6 Red Radishes, Julienned Or Shredded ½ Cup Mint Leaves, Julienned 2 Teaspoons Salt 1 Cup Vinegar 1 Cup Sugar
Pinch Chili Flakes 1 Garlic Clove, Minced 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
Combine corn starch, rice flour, salt and turmeric in a bowl. Stir in eggs, coconut milk and water. Add more water if the batter is too thick, more rice flour if too thin.
Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high flame. Add 1 tbs. of oil, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add 1/3 cup batter to pan, swirl around to create a thin layer.
Cook crepe until crepe is crispy and brown on the bottom. Fold crepe in half. Repeat process with remaining batter.
Mix carrots and radish with salt and let rest for ½ hour, or until carrots are soft. Add mint.
Combine remaining ingredients for sauce in a stainless steel sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
Combine carrots/radish with sauce.
Serve crepes with salad.
All year, I wait with anticipation for the August tomato – firm and sweet, and slightly acidic, with juice that drips down your chin with the first bite. The varieties of heirlooms available at a “commercial” level are astonishing – satisfying every palate and culinary need. For the sandwiches, there’s Brandywine or Pruden’s purple, for salads, Cherokee or cherry tomatoes. If you prefer an acidic tomato there’s black krim and a sweet tomato, gold turtle egg.
After that first bite, I swear I will never eat a mealy, bland, rock-hard winter tomato again. Of course, come winter, I’m craving a rich osso buco to take the chill off winter. My favorite recipe calls for… you guessed it… tomatoes. It’s a vicious cycle.
The only solution is to preserve the peak summer tomatoes and then store them for winter. It’s a win-win situation – the tomatoes are the most flavorful and cheapest in August. And as a bonus, I can sneak in a visit to Even’ Star Organic Farm in Southern Maryland, where farmer Brett grows an abundance of heirloom, organic, truly vine-ripe tomatoes.
There are two basic options for preserving: freezing or canning. Freezing has one obvious (and big) advantage: it’s a hassle-free process. The primary disadvantage is that you need excess freezer space. And if there’s a power outage, you risk losing your entire stash.
Canning has an obvious disadvantage in that it’s a hot, laborious, time-consuming process. But in the end, you don’t need to worry about storage space – the jars can be buried in the basement or in the back of a closet. Climate control is unimportant.
Either way, you need to first process the tomatoes. Plum tomatoes are the classic stewing tomatoes because they have a drier, firmer texture. Alas, their flavor doesn’t compete with other varieties such as Brandywine or Pineapple. Optimally, you can use a 50-50 mix of the two to get the right balance of flavor and texture.
When I can tomatoes for the winter, I usually process 50 pounds or more. For this reason, I take short-cuts on skinning and seeding the tomatoes. I would rather remove the skins as I use the tomatoes (one jar at a time) if at all.
Stewed Tomatoes
This can be as basic or complex as you like. Either way, start with cleaned tomatoes. Take out the core, cut out any bruises or blemishes and cut into chunks. If you’d like, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. When the onions are soft, add the tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. You can also add basil sprigs, and season with salt and pepper. When the tomatoes are cooked you can freeze them in one pint containers or can them (see below).
Smoked Tomatoes
This is a personal favorite. A little smoked tomato adds an unexpected depth to almost any recipe. You don’t need a smoker – a regular ole charcoal grill works fine. Wood chips are available at Whole Foods or at a hardware store.
For a Charcoal Grill:
You will need 2 cups wood chips (hickory or apple is great, mesquite is okay) soaked in 4 cups of water or cheap white wine. Drain just before smoking. And, of course, plenty of San Marzano Plum tomatoes, cut in half.
Prepare a fire as you normally would. When the fire is on its last legs (there are still some red embers) get ready to move quickly. Toss the wood chips on the fire. Put the grate on top, and place the tomatoes on the grate, ideally skin side down (should the skins burn, you can remove them, if the flesh burns…). Cover the grill with the lid, open the vents only ½ way.
Let the tomatoes smoke for 1 hour.
Puree them for a sauce for lamb or steak, or add them to your favorite recipe for a little zip.
For a gas grill:
Follow the directions as above. Except: Put the drained wood chips in a disposable aluminum tray, and place it directly on top of the gas flame.
Canning Tomatoes
The one thing to remember when canning tomatoes is that you need to boil everything. Boil the jars, boil the tomatoes, boil the tomatoes in the jar. The first two boil are necessary to sterilize the jars and the tomatoes, the third boil is to create a vacuum seal in the jar.
So to be clear, the process goes like this:
1. Purchase canning jars. I prefer the wide mouth because they are easier to fill. Consider buying a variety of sizes. Even if you are only canning one kind of sauce, the variety will enable you to maximize your tomatoes – if a recipe calls for a small amount of tomato, you open a small jar, instead of opening a large jar that may not be completely used. Also, buy a pair of “canning tongs”. These tongs are specially designed to lift the jars out of the water.
2. Wash the jars. Put the lids in one pot and the jars in another pot. The pot for the jars should be deep enough that the jars can be covered by at least on inch of water.
3. Cover the lids completely with water and put them on the stove. Bring to a boil, and turn off the heat. Let them sit in the water until you’re ready to use them.
4. Cover the jars completely with water and bring htem to a boil. Continue boiling them for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, bring the tomatoes to a boil, and continue cooking them for at least 10 minutes. Even if you smoked the tomatoes, you still need to boil them.
6. Remove the jars from the water, draining the water out. Fill each jar with tomatoes, leaving about ½ inch at the top. With a clean towel, wipe the lip of each jar clean.
7. Drain the water from the lids and cover each jar. Seal with the metal band.
8. Return the jars to the boiling water and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the water and let stand for 20 minutes. Remove the band and test the lids – if it comes off easily, then the seal did not work and you must repeat the process. If the lid is tight, then you are all set!
This year, I canned 12 pints of stewed tomatoes and 12 pints of smoked tomatoes. Alas, I processed more tomatoes than I had jars. I bought more jars and made ketchup with the remaining tomatoes.
Homemade Ketchup
8 cups stewed tomatoes
1 onion
½ cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
Puree onions and tomato. Combine in a stainless steel pot. Cook over medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to keep tomatoes from sticking to the bottom.
This will keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator or you can jar the tomatoes.
Brett called two weeks ago to let me know that the plum tomatoes were in full production! He knows I plan an annual visit to the farm with the sole goal of canning tomatoes to last me through the winter. He suggested I come for a visit soon, lest I suffer the same fate as last year: my timing was off and the varieties available, though more flavorful than the plums, were too juicy for preserving. By the time I arrived this week, he had set aside 50 pounds of #1 plum tomatoes, plus another 20 pounds of #2 Cherokee purples which would add depth of flavor to my sauces.
The guise of my trip was to can tomatoes, but in truth, I cherish every opportunity to visit. In an era of high fuel costs and rising food prices, where the average food travels 1,500 miles from the field to the plate, I take a special pleasure in harvesting my food just hours before eating it. A typical meal on the farm has less than 10 food miles. Lamb comes from Donna and Cameron, just a few miles down the road in Lexington Park. Friend Bob fishes in the Chesapeake Bay, 1,500 feet from the farm – sharing his catch of Cobia, Bluefish or Striper. Vegetables, chicken and eggs come from the fields less than ½ mile from the house. The Mennonites raise livestock for milk and cheeses about 15 miles north in Leonardtown. Deer prance in the fields surrounding the farm, occasionally venturing into the fields and eating the watermelon. “Crop management” means we occasionally eat venison, too!
The farm is at peak production now – harvesting several varieties each of tomatoes, okra, red peppers, cucumbers squashes, eggplant, watermelon and okra. Meals are abundant, but so is the work.
The watermelon and okra coexist nicely on the south fields, neither encroaching on the others space. Unlike some of the other crops, the watermelon doesn’t mind the shade that the okra creates from its talk stalks. And in fact, it’s a good thing… when the crew harvests the watermelon, they leave them in the shade of the okra until they come with a truck to gather them all.
Neither is fun to harvest. The obvious challenge in watermelon is the weight. The crew will harvest one ton each week – 5 pounds at a time. After passing through the patch, snipping the ripe ones from the vine, the crew will pass through a second time with a tractor – one person driving the tractor off to the side and two others gingerly setting each watermelon in its hopper. The okra’s spiny stalks prickle as you harvest. To make the task palatable, the crew wears long sleeves and gloves – necessitating an early morning harvest before it gets too hot in the fields, making the protection as unbearable as the spiny stalks.
With proper protection, I love picking okra. The abundant flowers are beautiful white with a purple center; they smile at me. Brett usually hoards the okra for market, but my reward for harvesting is as much okra as I can eat. I usually make a succotash for one meal and deep fry some for a second. In fact, market demand is so strong, Brett doesn’t eat okra until September.
On the north side, with all the tomatoes, is my favorite chili – affectionately named “Peachy Mama.” Typically, it’s a sweet pepper with floral undertones. But since they are planted so close to the spicy chilies, they sometimes get cross-pollinated and develop a little kick. Unlike other chilies that are equally delicious red-ripe or green, the peachy mama is only good when it’s fully ripe — a pale orange. Harvesting is tricky… the brittle branches lose their flowers (the predecessor to the chili) easily. Each pepper must be carefully inspected for ripeness, but a clumsy touch means fewer chilis in subsequent weeks.
SAUTEED OKRA WITH TOMATO AND CORN
1/2 pound fresh okra 1 medium vine-ripened tomato – Cherokee Purple or San Marzano 1 small onion 2 cloves garlic 1 peachy mama pepper or ½ small red bell pepper 1 ear corn, kernels cut from cob 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil or butter 1 tbs. fresh Genoa or lemon basil salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Cut okra into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Chop tomato. Dice onion, chop garlic and cut corn from cob. In a heavy skillet heat butter over medium-high heat. Add the corn in a single layer and sprinkle the onions and garlic on top. Do not stir for a few minutes until the corn develops a sweet, roasted aroma. Stir, and continue cooking for 1 minute. Add the okra and pepper, stirring occasionally, until the okra is bright green, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato and basil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes, until everything is heated through. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.
I first tasted Parducci’s wine 10 years ago.I was planning a dinner for my grandmother’s 90th birthday.The local wine merchant told me the Pinot Noir would be the best pairing with the Pepper Crusted Salmon with Pomegranate sauce, Garlic Roasted Potatoes with Aged Goat Cheese. I heeded his advice and purchased a case.And he was spot on.To this day I remember the bright berry and dusty flavors of the wine and how they enhanced the sweet, earthly flavors of the pomegranates and goat cheese.
Today, many wines today have a gimmick to help sell them, Two Buck Chuck, Sin Zin, etc.“Wines that Love” is a new label that blends wine to specifically pair with different foods.To me, this makes no sense… they have a “Wine that loves…. salmon.”Salmon can be paired equally well with a pinot noir (see above) or with a white Sancerre, depending on the preparation.This particular wine is a white.
When passing through the wine aisle at the Whole Foods the other day, I noticed “Sustainable White Wine.”The bottle tag asserted that this was the first carbon-neutral winery in the U.S (so Europe already has carbon neutral wineries?).Ah, yet another gimmick.But then I noticed the producer was Parducci’s, and all the warm memories of my grandmother came floating back and I had to buy a bottle to sample.
Of course, my first question is what makes the winery carbon neutral?They achieve this through “onsite mitigation” and purchasing carbon credits. “On-site mitigation” combines a myriad of initiatives.First and foremost, they practice sustainable farming – a method of working the earth that does not damage or deplete natural resources. As an example of non-sustainable farming, if chemical fertilizers are used to protect one crop, the run-off could damage water supplies, which could in turn kill fish and damage the natural flora.
By contrast, sustainable crop management requires caring for the current fields, as well future crops and surrounding fields.This can also require managing the local water supply by restoring and maintaining wild life and fish habitats.According to their website, they use solar panels to power the winery.Though they have more panels on the way, the currently only support 25% of their electric needs (hence the need for purchasing carbon credits).They use bio-diesel to power their tractors and cars, and use earth friendly packaging. The corks look and feel like cork, so it's either a really good fake or cork is no longer an endangered resource.
I challenge that the consumer to complete the circle sustainability: first, by not wasting a drop of wine, and second, by recycling the bottle.
Let’s cut to the chase.What you really want to know is how the wine tastes!
Well, let me put it this way.Most products that are sustainable and earth-friendly tend to carry a premium price tag.At $10 a bottle, this would probably compare in taste and complexity to a $5 “normal” bottle.And it lives to that expectation.
The wine is likely a blend of the ever-present chardonnay with sauvignon blanc.Thankfully, the oakiness is kept at bay.The wine is full, but lacks balance.If I were stuck on a desert island, I would joyfully drink it.But given the myriad of other options, I will buy carbon-offsets to maintain my neutrality and drink better wine.I’ll save this bottle for cooking.
Nonetheless, I laud Parducci’s efforts to protect the environment. And, for sure, I will check back with other vintages and varietals to see if they come up with a wine I love.
I know that the zucchini plants yield about 1 fruit for every 8 flowers, or so. Given those odds, I planted about 20 plants hoping to optimize my potential for zucchini. So far, no luck, but I have plenty of blossoms.
The blooms need to be picked at about 5pm the day before they bloom. This will yield the largest flower – the better for stuffing. The flowers open up first thing in the morning, and close after about 2 hours. Once they’ve opened, they rot pretty quickly. But if you catch them before they open, they will last about 3 days in the refrigerator.
Given that, I started harvesting 3 days out for a dinner party on Tuesday. I yielded about 18 blooms, enough for a generous appetizer.
Stuffed-Fried Squash Blossoms with Roasted Tomatoes
18 squash blossoms, stamen removed ¾ cup fresh ricotta cheese ¼ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese 1 tbs. fresh basil 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste ½ carrot, peeled and diced ½ celery stalk, diced ½ onion, diced 1 tbs. butter
2 cups chopped tomatoes ½ cup white wine ½ cup parmesan cheese Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup flour ½ cup corn starch 1 tsp. salt 1 egg ½ cup ice cold soda water 1 cup plain oil
Mix ricotta, parmesan and basil together. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Gently stuff each squash blossom with about 1 tbs. of filling.
Meanwhile, sauté carrots, onions and celery in butter. After 5 minutes, add wine and tomatoes. Simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Puree with parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.
Make the tempura batter: Mix together the flour, corn starch and salt. Add the egg and soda water. Whisk just to combine.
Heat a large skillet with oil over medium heat. Dip each squash blossom in the batter and add to the pan. Cook until lightly golden on both sides, about 4 minutes. Drain on a paper towel and serve immediately with sauce.
I always have a stash of Green Goddess in the fridge. It’s a terrific, all-purpose summer (and really, anytime) condiment:
– a salad dressing with cherry tomatoes, romaine and cucumbers
– a sauce for grilled salmon.
– A sauce for grilled steak
– With corn cakes, cherry tomatoes and soft shell crabs.
– A dressing for pasta salad with lobster and corn.
– A dip for crudités
– Instead of ketchup for hamburgers
– A dressing for Cobb salad with bacon, avocadoes, grilled chicken and lettuce.
– A spread for smoked salmon canapés.
Now that my garden is in full force, I have plenty of parsley, tarragon and scallions. If I had lettuces, I would add arugula or spinach, too.
Dreamy Green Goddess 1 tbs. capers 1 cup spinach or arugula, washed and picked over 2 bunches scallions, washed, slice green only in 1/2 inch lengths 1 bunch flat parsley, washed, leaves picked from the stem 1 bunch tarragon leaves picked from the stem 1/2 cup sour cream 2 cup mayonnaise 2 tbs. white wine vinegar 2 tsp. kosher salt 1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1. Puree capers, spinach, scallions, herbs, and sour cream in a food processor 2. Fold in mayonnaise, and season with vinegar, salt and pepper
, have nary a reference. The old standby: Time-Life Cookbooks had a few.