Pickles - the conclusion

A very busy day indeed!

First, let's discuss the outcome of our dill pickles (see yesterday's blog for recipe).  After a somewhat biased taste test, both CH and I both agree that these dill pickles are a huge delicious success.  They are not very pretty looking.  If you are looking for a Clausen, these may not be for you.  But if you are looking for crispy, dilly, garlicky pickles - give these a try.  I cannot stress how easy they are.  If you are not growing pickling cukes, go buy some.  Farmers markets/CSA's are probably giving them away.

Garlic has been harvested, dried in sun and now in basement for a couple more weeks to dry out.  I cannot tell you how amazing they smell.  Again, easy easy easy.  You need space and sun, but otherwise they remain unattended for 10 months (save the scape harvest).

Harvesting the garlic left a wide open space for planting our Kale seeds (first of many fall plants). 

Finally, three more pints of those big, juicy beautiful blueberries.  Truly our miracles.

Some not so good observations - I may have jinxed myself for mentioning cucumber beetles last night.  Today we found a bunch.  They have wiped out my entire squash/cucumber crops in the past.  This is not a good sign.  Also, something browning the leaves on the cauliflower/brussel sprouts/cabbage.  Not good at all.

Leaving for vacation in a few days is not ideal, but we are so looking forward to it.  It's during that time that you have to let go a bit and hope that these beautiful plants survive on their own.  We have good friends who I hope will come reap the benefits.  ALL are welcome! 

Pickles Part I

Every year we grow both regular and pickling cucumbers.  We've had amazingly good luck and amazingly bad luck growing this seemingly no-brainer of a plant.  This year happens to be a pretty good year (so far).  Cucumber Beetles have taken out our crop more times than not.  As of today, so far so good and only a hand full of beetles (another blog for another day)

We have historically made bread~n~butter pickles and canned them (we will also cover this topic another time).  This year we are experimenting with dill pickles without using the canning process.  We will refrigerate and eat quickly instead. 

As of blog time, we are midway thru the pickling process and will catch you up with how they are coming tomorrow night.  We tasted and they are actually good.

You will need:
1/3 Kosher salt
2 lbs pickling cucumbers quartered longwise (same size if possible, washed and cleaned)
5 cloves smashed garlic (the fresher the better.  check the local farmers market if don't have your own yet)
Large bunch of fresh dill (we had to purchase - ours is not ready to pick yet)

Combine the salt and boiling water in a large bowl; stir to dissolve the salt.  Add a handful of ice cubes to cool down the mixture.  Then add all of the remaining ingredients.

Add cold water to cover.  Use a plate slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl and a small weight to keep cucumbers under the water.  Keep at room temperature.

Begin sampling the cucumbers after 4 hours. 

According to Bittman (our food guru), it will take from 12 to 24 or even 48 hours for them to taste "pickle-y".  When they are ready, refrigerate still in brine.  The pickles will continue to ferment as they sit.  They will keep well for up to a week and we'll blog tomorrow night with an update. 

Garlic Day

Ch -  Blogger du jour...  

 

Garlic is one of our more unique crops, but probably the easiest and in need of the least amount of attention.  You cannot compare fresh garlic to what you get in the grocery store.  The fresh garlic is crisp and white and you can actually smell and taste the difference - taste it's freshness.  Definitely worth considering.

 

Garlic is planted in September and isn't harvested until the following July (now).  I consider this 2011 crop 2nd generation in that the cloves we planted in 2010 were from cloves we harvested the year before which were from the heads we bought at Sweetberry Farms the year before that (confusing right?).  I used the biggest heads as my seed heads (one clove = one seed) because that usually produces the biggest heads the following year.  We started with 46 plants (46 cloves).  I wanted to make sure we had enough to use during the 3-4 months after the harvest and also had enough to plant for next years crop.  Also, we wanted to start some for Gina and Tony in NY. 

 

Two months after planting, it started to look a lot like the garlic had gone crazy and started sprouting too early - before the snows began vs. after they finish in the spring. "OMG, did I plant too early?" (I had to get a little texting language in there - LOL)  "Will the cold kill them?"  When spring finally arrived, the sprigs started to grow again (although we did lose one plant over the winter - which still bothers me to no end.  What did I do wrong with that one?)  Enough... I'll stop obsessing.  Ok, so now  we have 45 huge stalks that gave us a mess of scapes about a month ago.  Scapes are the curlycue stalks that come out of the top and would eventually turn into flowers if you didn't cut them and immediately put them on the grill.  Cutting them off also helps enlarge the heads under the ground - that's what you want, big heads. 

 

OK, so today was the day.  I went out this morning... nice and early and started pulling up garlic.  The stalks had brown leaves and were ready to be pulled.  About midway through the aroma reminded me of a trip I took with my son several years ago.  We drove from San Francisco to Yosemite to go backpacking. 

 

 

 

Along the way, we went through the Garlic Capital of the World! Gilroy, CA and boy, could you smell the garlic for miles....  If you are ever in the area, make sure you roll up the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a little reminiscing, I got all the garlic out of the ground, cleaned a little and laid out on the deck to start the drying process.  I'll move it downstairs to the closet to continue drying before we head to the beach on Friday.  

 

          If its anything like last years crop, we should have plenty of garlic for the next few months, enough to plant and a few to give away. :-)

A full circle moment

It's impossible to imagine what actually happens in a garden when you turn your back on it for a minute (in our case, 2 days - hence the blog down time).  It's a miracle, actually.  We are having the perfect summer for a perfect, productive garden.  The harvest rate is accelerating, so being prepared to do something with all your vegetables (and fruit) really bocomes a full time job.

Getting it all into one weekend is hard enough....getting it all into one day is exhausting.  I have mentioned before the garden is basically in maintenance mode.  The heavy labor part is done.  Now it's weeding, and watering, and weeding some more, and feeding, and weeding, and staking, and weeding.  I think you get the picture.  We're still covering the garden in grass clippings, so while he mows, I'm weeding and spreading the grass.  Once we get the whole thing covered the weeds should subside.  Right now, they are loving the heat and the lack of rain.  In addition to the weeds, the Japenese beatles are rearing their ugly heads.  I'm always crawling around looking for any sign of the pests that can potentially take out perfectly healthy crops.  A garden needs daily supervision and TLC.

Anyway, we got home expecting to harvest green beans (another 1.5 lbs).  What we didn't expect was to see the Japanese Eggplant ready to be picked!  That was amazing.  Two days away and there they were!  Basil......completely out of control.  We picked to the bare bones and spent most of the afternoon making pesto and freezing.  It's really very easy - just leave out the cheese (see recipe in Blog dated 7/10/11).  All you do when you defrost is add the cheesse and you are good to go.  Today we made 6 batches of pesto (24 cups of loosely packed basil leaves and there still more to go.  We just ran out of pine nuts and walnuts).

So the day took a turn I didn't really expect.  We needed to do something with the basil before it went to seed.  Waiting another day would have been too late.  So not a lot of housework got done.  Stepping around piles of laundry is part of our summer tradition.

The best part of the day was dinner.  In the back of the freezer we had eggplant parmesan frozen - it just needed to be reheated.  The eggplant was from last year's garden.  I even had a gravy frozen (also from tomatoes from last year's garden).  All we needed to do was cook the pasta.  It was easy and it was delicious.  It was truly a full circle moment.

Blueberries for Breakfast

Finally Blueberries for breakfast!  Our one productive bush outdid itself this year for sure.  Some were as big as quarters and the heat from the sun made them sweeter than any year before.  If I could I would have an orchard of blueberry bushes.  That's in the someday column for now.  They require no work except protection from the birds.  My dad and CH created a cage that keeps all the hungry birds away from the ripening fruit.  This bush is about to outgrow it's confines, but their contraption has done what it's needed to do for more than a few years now. 
















Taking the cage off takes two people.  We picked, we ate, and then brought the rest to the house to add to our yogurt and cereal.  Have plenty left over for tomorrow and more on the bush just needing a little sun to help them ripen. 

Yum!

Christmas in July

That's the first thing I thought of when I prepared to write tonight's entry.  An odd thought given it was almost 100 degrees today and humid as hell.  But Charles spent the morning freezing a batch of freshly picked green beans and my thoughts automatically went to the cold, short days of December when we plan our dinner around our green beans from our garden.  There is something gratifying and humbling about pulling out a bag of beans dated 07-12-11 and preparing them for dinner in the middle of a New England winter.  They are perfectly green and perfectly delicious.

Freezing Green Beans could not be easier.  You do not have to grow them either.  Pick up some locally grown and freeze them yourself.

We freeze in 1, 1.5 and 2lb increments (I'm anal that way).  The smaller the bean the better.  We weigh them, wash them and cut them into 2 inch pieces.

Have a  large pot of salted boiling water ready and a bucket of ice on standby .  Put the green beans into the boiling water and start the clock - 3 minutes.  After those 3 minutes are up, place them in the ice bath for 3 more minutes.  Drain completely.  You want the beans pretty dry before freezing.

We use a Food Saver, but baggies would work fine.  If you do use a Food Saver, freeze the beans in the open bag BEFORE you suck.  That way the beans keep their shape. 

As an aside, we are not beyond purchased grocery store green beans.  Frozen vegetables in any form are amazing supplements when out of season.

Escarole (tonight without the beans)

When I was young, the words "escarole and beans" were dreaded.  We gagged it down (literally).  We pronounced it different and we were the only kids on the block that had to suffer through it.  It was not good.  Today we're using the american pronunciation in deference to my "american to the bones" husband (to his credit he does say "mapina").  And I'm happy to say as I have matured, so has my palette.  Escarole has become a staple in our house.  I usually buy it when I'm in NY (M&M's has it sometimes for $.99.lb)  But it did make sense for us to grow it. 

We've tried and tried without success.  We start it from seed the same time we start our lettuce.  It comes up without a hitch, but bolts pretty much immediately.  One of my jobs this past weekend was to pull all of them.  Not one plant would be harvested.  Luckily one of the farmers at this weekends farmers market does have tremendous success.  These heads of escarole are beautiful.  Not a blemish and not a piece of sand or dirt.  It made our failure easier to take.

Here's our problem with beautiful escarole...I'm so enamored with these beauties that I over-buy.  Buying local is one thing.  Finding enough nights in the week to cook it all is another.  We haven't found a way to freeze or preserve escarole, so eating it before it goes bad is important.  Our standby is the way my mother made it.  Yes, the same dish I swallowed with huge gulps of water is our favorite.  I am embarrassed to say I had some help with a recipe.  I wanted to do it right.  Our friend Giada De Laurentiis must have had the same upbringing (with a  bit more money).  She re-created our memory.  Here's the link to the recipe.  As an FYI - Dave's Market sells the rinds to the cheese.  It makes all the difference in the world.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/escarole-and-bean-soup-recipe/index.html



Proofing the blog



A Perfect Summer Day!

The original intent of our blog was to keep an electronic archive of recipes that we find year after year (rather than the manila folders jam packed in one of our drawers).  It's the same "problem" each year - once we begin to harvest, we live noses buried in cookbooks looking for the perfect recipes to use as many of our vegetables as we can.  Rotting vegetables is not an option.  We find some recipes that work, some that don't.  For example, today we are knee deep in basil and green beans.  We found an amazing recipe using both (supplemented by some items from the farmer's market).  I will always give credit where credit is deserved (today the tried and true Martha Stewart).  We also like the idea of a blog to track our gardening progress from the planning stages to the fall clean-up.

Speaking of which, the picture you see in the banner is this years sketch of our garden.  My husband, Charles, drew it with his pencils once we decided what we wanted to plant.  I LOVE it and it is to scale.  The pictures you see of the garden, the spacing and the positioning of the plants, were all planned in advance.  The work is both labor and mentally challenging and worth every minute and morsel.

Most of the labor intensive work is behind us.  A lot of the blog will be catch up.  This weekend was a little bit of maintenance and a lot of hanging by the pool.  The dinner we picked was one pot.  Only used 8 oz of green beans.  The rest we will freeze (another posting at another time).  I forgot to take a picture of dinner today, but have others to show you.  Specifically the picture of the garden picnic Charles had waiting for me when I returned home this morning.  The garden is our Eden, and the picnic he planned was heaven. 

Finally, you do not have to have a garden to enjoy these recipes or this blog.  We are not totally organic, we do not always eat healthy, but we do try to eat local.  My only thought is that as often as possible you visit your local farmers market or farm stand.  If you have the resources, maybe join your local CSA.

Pasta with Pesto, Potatoes, Green Beans
Serves 4 (but we ate the whole thing)
From "Great Food Fast.  Everyday Food from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living"

2 waxy potatoes - about 8oz (we got fresh from farmers market so we did not peel)
course salt and fresh ground pepper
8oz Cavatappi (or something similar)
8oz Green Beans trimmed and halved
1/2 cup pesto (recipe to follow)

1.  Cut potatoes into one inch cubes.  Place in large pot of water and bring to boil.

2.  Add one tablespoon salt and the pasta.  Return to boil and cook for 2 minutes.

3.  Add green beans and return to boil.  Cook until vegetables are tender and until the pasta is al dente. 

4.  Drain and toss with pesto.   Season with salt and pepper.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pesto

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
4 cups fresh basil loosely packed
1/2 cup finely grated cheese (we use pecorino romano)
1 clove garlic (we got fresh from the farmers market)
Salt/Pepper
1/2 cup EVOO

Combine everything except EVOO in food processor.  Process until finely chopped.  With machine running, drizzle in oil.  Season to taste. 



The Garden - by Charles Herndon



Perfect