DIY almanac: Fresh berry and oat tart

I love berry season! Yum, these past few weeks I've been enjoying handfuls of plump and sweet Rainer and Bing Cherries and juicy strawberries from the farmers market, and raspberries picked plum off the canes in my backyard. This afternoon I felt inspired to bake a pie, but as I was out picking raspberries (and snarfing every third berry), I thought it'd be a shame to bake my berries and rob them of their fresh zing. With just a little bit of sugar and a crumbly oat crust, I tried to make these berries sing! Here's my super easy fresh berry and oat tart recipe:

Ingredients:

2-3 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup almond meal (optional but definitely adds to the flavor)

1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance and it turned out great!)

A pinch of salt

4 tablespoons of sugar or honey (2 for the crust and 2 to sprinkle over your fruit)

An assortment of berries and cherries, pitted, washed and sliced (at least 3 pints worth)

Preheat your oven around 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a baking pan or pie dish.

Using a food processor, process your oats into a fine meal and then mix all remaining dry ingredients (save for 2 tablespoons of sugar) in a bowl with a pastry blender until you achieve a nice crumbly crust. If you want to make your life super easy, forgo the pastry blender and mixing bowl and  process the oats, optional almond meal, butter, pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar all together until a crumbly soft dough develops. If you don't have a food processor, you could probably just use oats straight up for more of a granola-like crust. Anyway, once your dough is formed, press it evenly into the bottom and up the sides of your greased baking pan. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes, keeping an eye on it. When your crust is golden brown, bring it on out of the oven and let it cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, pour your fresh berries over the crust and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Enjoy and keep chilled. I bet serving this with whipped cream or creme fraiche would take it over the top. So good!

DIY almanac: My favorite way to cook kale

My co-op was just delivered some beautiful, beautiful mixed kale braising greens from Highwater Farm of Mt. Vernon, Washington. Their kale is so very fresh and  flavorful- you can almost taste the rainwater and the soil minerals that helped it grow. I brought home a pillow-sized bag of it...and it's empty already. Kale is so good when cooked in a hot pan with a little olive oil and minced garlic, or when transformed into a hearty winter salad with chopped fuji apples and steamed beets (mmm!). Kale chips are amazing too- whether baked or dehydrated...I'll be sure to post a recipe someday, but for now, here's my very favorite way to cook kale. So simple: 

First, you'll want a good few handfuls of kale.

Then you'll want to bring chicken stock, the juice of one lemon and parmesan into the mix. 

Warm your chicken stock and lemon juice in a nice sized pan over medium-low heat. Then toss in your kale.

Lightly cook and stir until just al dente. I like my greens to still have a little bit of crunch left to them. 

Serve with a generous garnish of parmesan and enjoy your brothy kale goodness. 

DIY almanac: roasted zucchini and stuffed squash blossoms

I'm a little bumned to admit that the rabbits and slugs got to my zucchini starts this season. Pretty shocking since zucchini is so easy to grow. I had my second garden patch too far down the hill I suppose, where these garden fiends could run rampant and undetected, nibbling and munching away to their heart's content. Luckily, I sell produce for a farmer who always has the coolest crops, so I can always get my favorite veggies from him. One of the specialties that he brings along are his baby zucchini squash with their blossoms still attached. The zucchini is tender and sweet and roasts up very quickly and their big, orange blossoms can be stuffed and made into an ambrosial treat. These baby squash can be found now, out in your garden if you have them growing (you can also use pumpkin blossoms), or you might find them at a farmers market. Here's how I like to prepare them for a nice, summer meal:

Roasted Baby Zucchini with Parmesan and Pepper

Ingredients

A dozen baby zucchini

A big handful of parmesan

Black pepper to taste

1 to 2 caps of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice zucchinis in half and arrange, belly-up, on a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Evenly drizzle the oil over them, then generously sprinkle with parmesan and pepper. Roast in the oven while you prep the squash blossoms, or until the cheese is a golden brown. You can also broil the baby zucchini at the last minute to really amp up the carmelization of the cheese.

Stuffed and Tempured Squash Blossoms

Ingredients

A dozen squash blossoms

1 small package of chevre goat cheese or a soft cheese of your choice

1 small chopped sweet onion

1 to 2 tablespoons of cream or milk

Optional stuffing: chopped walnuts or pinenuts, green onions or basil

2 cups canola oil

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups sparkling water

Salt, to taste

Prepare a plate with a piece of paper towel or brown paper (much like you would for making bacon). Mix the cheese, cream, onion and any other stuffing additives in a small bowl. Gently untwist the blossoms and stuff with the cheese mixture, either using a small spoon or a pastry piper (you can also cut a corner off a ziploc bag if you don't have a piper). Re-twist the blossoms shut. Start heating the canola oil in a sauce pot over medium-high heat until you start to see little traces or legs in the oil. You don't want it to be too hot though-no boiling or smoking! Lightly mix the flour, sparkling water and salt in a bowl, then start coating the squash blossoms one by one and then drop them in the oil until their batter becomes light, puffy and a little bit golden on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, remove each blossom and allow them to rest on the plate with the paper towel. Enjoy with your roasted baby zucchini and a glass of lemonade.

our homestead: look what elsha and I made this morning

I had my friend, Elsha, over early this morning for biscuits with honey and some pickling. We made spicy pickled garlic scapes using the recipe I posted a while back. All of the produce used (scapes, elephant garlic cloves, dill and one baby cucumber per jar) came from my backyard. Elsha did a very good job of packing the scapes into the jars, shaping them into pretty little circles...in fact, she did most of the work. In about 4-6 weeks, they'll be ready to enjoy! Yum!

You can view the recipe we used here:

http://growingontheswanslough.blogspot.com/2011/06/harvesting-garlic-scapes.html

DIY almanac: Harvesting garlic scapes for spicy pickles

It's almost time to harvest garlic...but not quite yet. First off, the garlic's going to try and pop out some flowers. These curly green shoots, known as scapes or ramps, which hide within the garlic greens, are absolutely delicious...kind of like garlicy asparagus. It's beneficial to pluck them because instead of letting them flower and seed into bulbils (tiny, tiny cloves of garlic), picking the scapes will allow the garlic bulb down in the ground to have more energy directed towards its growth, resulting in larger cloves. I think it's far more time efficient to grow garlic from large cloves (which will grow into large heads of garlic in one season) since little bulbils can take years to grow to good size. Anyway, scapes are also too good to miss! If you don't have garlic growing in your yard at the moment you should be able to find these at the farmers market now.

There are a few different ways I like to prepare scapes. First off, they are very good roasted on a cookie sheet with a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt. Mmm...toss some roasted scapes on top of salmon. They are also delicious when chopped up, sauteed and mixed in some mashed potatoes. I'm also experimenting with making spicy scape pickles this year. My recipe is below...one will want to adjust the liquid pickling mix based off of how many scapes and jars you have for canning. Essentially you want to be able to pack the jars and have enough liquid to cover the scapes.

Spicy Scape Pickles

Ingredients

A basket full of scapes

1 quart distilled white vinegar

1 quart of water

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup salt

Dill sprigs (you'll want 1-2 per jar)

Fresh Jalapenos, sliced into circles (2-3 per jar)

1-2 garlic cloves per jar

Optional ingredients: Sliced hot red pepper, mustard seeds, etc.

Wash mason jars and lids in hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher to sanitize. Prepare canning equipment (fill a stockpot with water and bring to a simmer, keep lids in a saucepan over a simmer, etc). In a large sauce pot, heat vinegar, water, sugar and salt at a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Keep hot. Toss jalapenos and garlic cloves into jars, then pack with garlic scapes, leaving about a half inch of room at the top of each jar. Feel free to cut scapes if you'll be able to pack more in. Add dill sprigs to jars. Ladle hot vinegar mix into jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Using a non-metallic spatula or spoon, slide down along an inner side of each jar to release any hidden air bubbles. Wipe mouths of jars clean and then fix on their lids. Boil in your hot water bath for up to 15 minutes and then allow jars to rest on the counter until they've sealed. Your pickles will be ready in 4-6 weeks.

DIY almanac: rhubarb pineapple jam

I'm fortunate to have a well-established "granny" rhubarb patch growing in my garden that returns year after year in spring (see the third picture above). When this stalky, sour vegetable (yes, rhubarb is a vegetable and is related to buckwheat and sorrel) appears, I start dreaming of rhubarb pies, sauces, cobblers and my favorite- jam! I made a strawberry rhubarb pie a week ago and I made pineapple rhubarb jam today. I'll share the recipe for the jam below, but first I want to write about rhubarb a little more because it's a pretty intriguing crop.

Rhubarb originally came from western China and was used for medicinal purposes up to 5000 years ago in the East. The plant made its way into Europe and the Romans named it after the barbarian lands wherein they had discovered it: near the River Rha in Scotland. Then, in the early 1800s, Rhubarb was brought to America. This was about the time that it really began having more of a culinary presence than medicinal. In fact, strawberry rhubarb tarts were popular in 1824.

Nutritionally, rhubarb is high in Vitamins A and C, potassium and fiber, and is said to have antioxidant effects due to its high polyphenol levels and it can apparently lower blood pressure. Some sources try to boast its high calcium content as well (more than milk), but the calcium in rhubarb is actually in the form of calcium oxalate, which counter-intuitively blocks calcium absorption. Though the stalks are safe to eat, oxalic acid is concentrated in the large, heart-shaped leaves of rhubarb and thus these are toxic.

Rhubarb is a very hearty perennial which will return each spring for up to 15 years (perhaps longer if it's well tended). Rhubarb prefers a soil pH in the 6.0-6.8 range with lots of organic matter worked in. Much like asparagus, you can plant either rhubarb seeds or crowns, but you cannot harvest stalks until the second year as rhubarb's first growing season helps it build up the energy needed to return. To keep a rhubarb plant producing stalks (or to encourage bumper crops), one should remove any flowers that form within the leaves (see the second picture above) as this means that energy is being diverted into seed production rather than stalks.

Now onto the jam! My local natural foods co-op had a post-Easter sale on pineapple, so I decided to try making a pineapple rhubarb jam, which came out a golden orange hue (almost like apricot jam) with a delicious, caramely and tart flavor. Here's my recipe and directions for making this delightful spring jam:

Ingredients

4 cups chopped rhubarb

4 cups chopped pineapple

5 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

6 ounces liquid pectin

Wash mason jars and lids in hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher to sanitize. Prepare canning equipment (fill a stockpot with water and bring to a simmer, keep lids in a saucepan over a simmer, etc). Toss the rhubarb, pineapple and sugar into another stock pot and heat over medium, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar has fully melted, raise the heat to high and continue stirring the mixture for 30 minutes. About 15-20 minutes in, mash the mixture with a potato masher to get the best jam consistency. Keep stirring until you reach a rolling boil (a boil that keeps on going, even while you're stirring), then add the pectin. Boil and stir for 1-2 minutes, then remove your jam from the heat. Pour your jam into the jars, leaving about 1/4 an inch of head room, and wipe the rims with a clean cloth. Drop on your lids and screw on their bands, then carefully place in your other stockpot and raise the heat to high. Boil the jars for 10 minutes, remove, and allow them to rest on the counter. Delight in the little *pings* you'll hear as your jars officially seal and enjoy!

DIY almanac: scrumptious summer squash stuffed with cheese

Ever seen a pattypan squash? These flying saucers, also known as sunburst squash, are slightly cone-like in shape with frilled edges...in fact, they almost look like little flying saucers when turned upside down. They have a sweet and buttery flavor similar to zucchini and a soft texture characteristic of other summer squash. You can buy seeds for them (for next spring) from the Territorial Seed Company:

http://www.territorialseed.com/product/1102/220

Pattypan can be picked when they are itty-bitty or when they are as large as a baseball. The smaller guys are delicious steamed or sautéed in butter. You really have to let some of these pattypan hold out on the vine until they are on the larger side though, so as to make stuffed pattypan with goatcheese, walnuts, and parmesan (and maybe some bacon?). Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

4 large pattypan squash
4oz chevre goat cheese
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup shaved parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and pepper
4 slices bacon (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil squash for 5-10 minutes until easily pierced with a fork. Slice off their tops and scoop out their insides. Mix squash insides with goat cheese, chopped onion and walnuts. Add cooked bacon (fried over medium heat), broken into pieces, to the filling if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place squash shells in a baking dish and fill with the goatcheese mixture. Mix bread crumbs, parmesan, and olive oil, and generously top each patty pan. Bake for 10-15minutes or until topping is toasted and golden brown. Enjoy (I know you will!).

DIY almanac: heirloom purple calabash tomato soup

So, my family has a tomato farm- Flying Tomato Farm of Snohomish, Washington to be exact. You can visit the farm's website here for some background: http://www.flyingtomatofarm.com/

Anyway, of all the various tomatoes we grow, the Heirloom Purple Calabash are, hands-down, my favorites of the whole batch. Their appearance is almost comically striking: fat and jovial, purplish-red wrinkled balls of Lycopersicon character. And they taste pretty darn good too! A more acidic tomader, these heirlooms have a vibrantly tart taste, as if they were the lovechild betwixt a tomato and a lime. Mmm mmm mmm, delicious simply sliced with a light dusting of sea salt, or transformed into this amazingly flavorful, roasted calabash soup:

Ingredients

6 big calabash tomatoes

2-3 tablespoons olive oil or grapeseed oil

2 handfuls fresh basil (and any other herbs you'd like such as oregano, parsley, etc)

2-3 cloves chopped garlic

1 tablespoon organic butter

2 cups free-range chicken or vegetable stock

pepper and sea salt to taste

1/2 cup organic cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop calabash tomatoes into fat wedges and then toss into a baking dish. Drizzle with oil and mix in the herbs. Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes, until tomato skins are loose and their fruit is shriveled and juicy. Meanwhile, sauté chopped garlic in butter over medium heat until lightly browned. Start heating the stock in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and the cooked tomatoes. Purée with a handheld blender, and additionally strain for a smoother soup, if desired. For a more luscious version, mix in cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with good bread or a hearty scoop of chevre goat cheese. This soup's totally meant for a rainy day!

our homestead: gee, I like fruits n' veggies.

I am absolutely, positively in love with vegetables. And fruits. And mushrooms. And nuts. And all the other nifty edibles Mother Nature has generously provided for us human folk to discover. There is nothing as marvelous as the act of pulling a bright, sweet carrot from the dirt..or brushing one's hand over the rich, green and nutty leaves of spinach. There is nothing as tantalizing as a roasted baby red fingerling potato pierced with a shiny fork- its creamy, buttery flavor but moments from being enjoyed. There is nothing that smells as clean and cool as a just-sliced lemon cucumber or as sweet and tart as a vine-ripened cherry tomato.

In writing this blog, I have decided it would best to share my adoration for produce with others- to grant people with creative recipes, cool facts, and colorful photographs about the gourmet flora I love. Where did this 'love' sprout from? Well, it could be in my nature: both sets of Great Grandparents on my mom's side were either farmers or nursery owners in the "old countries". I might also mention my green-thumb parents: a dad who once owned his own landscaping business and a mom with a tomato farm. On this note, my admiration of veggies also stems from childhood years of eating lesser-known purple potatoes, carving pumpkins grown in a big patch down our hill, picking berries, cherries, and apples galore from our yard, and tending my own mini-vegetable and sunflower gardens. My mom, a talented woman in all things "earthy", began making goatsmilk soap and soon headed to the local farmers market with her creations. This venture to the market inspired her to pursue farming: tomatoes, honey, garlic, herbs, eggplant, basil, cucumbers, eggs...and needless to say I came along and became a "market brat", spending much of my time at the market, meeting local farmers, and learning the "in's and out's" of fruits and veggies. Thus, in a nutshell, I bring this blog to you- a place where I can express how awesome vegetables really are.