Chow Chow

One of the things I purchased last weekend at the Bethesda Farmer's Market were some local meats made into terrific sausages of various types. On top was homemade Chow Chow Relish. Yummy. My sister said that she loves chow chow relish. So.. she will be getting some for her birthday! Oh, forgot she reads the blog....hmm.

We were supposed to get a frost Saturday morning, so I did a big garden harvest. Lots of herbs: basil, lemon verbena, and sage. Tons of poblano peppers, some jalepeno, some yellow and green bells. Tons of squash, mainly butternut and one last Delicata. The last of the leeks. Some nice young turnips.

And a bunch of green tomatoes. A prime ingredients in Chow Chow Relish. Today I made a batch using about 2 pounds of the tomatoes, adding onions, cabbage, and red bell peppers that were unfortunately not from my garden. My son said it smelled great, but there was just enough to fit into 5 pint jars, so there wasn't any to try out this evening. Also made Pear Honey, a recipe from Paula Deen, using pears and pineapple. Thought it would be more pear buttery, but it is more like a cross between pear jam and pear sauce. Made a basil infusion that may become a jelly if I can stay up that long.

Now to check airline regulations to see if Chow Chow Relish is allowed on the plane to Grand Rapids!

Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Visiting the Bethesda Farmer's Market

I had a delightful visit to the Bethesda Farmer's Market today. I was in town working at the Bethesda Row Arts Festival with my sister, and since the Farmer's Market was just a block away, I got to stop by there as well. Wonderful market - just wish I had a cooler with me! My very favorite thing was pure decadence - a duck breast prosciutto that I could not resist. I am not sure how I will use it yet, but I know it will be with something fresh and uncomplicated so I can highlight the duck. I also purchased some truffle salami, cured European style, a green curry sauce, a wine vinegar and some mustards, and some unbelievably great cheeses to eat with pears and apples.

At the art show, the level of craft was very high. I feel in love with a painting, but could only afford a print - but did not get it. Fiscal restraint. But I know after many years of art fairs that there isn't a "next time" with art you love. I have never, ever regreted a decision to buy art or fine craft. It simply brings joy. The creativity at the Arts Festival was only exceeded by the level of execution - and the Farmer's Market was the same, but with food.

Combine good food, great art, a light breeze, lots of sunshine and a high in the low 70's, time with my sister -- certainly this was one of the all time great days. A lucky life indeed.

   Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Summer's Over - Time to Blog Again!

I cannot believe I have not blogged since July. What a summer! The garden did pretty good - no major pest out breaks. The flower gardens were much more neglected! This fall, I started selling a modest amount of produce at the Farmer's Market, along with some baked goods. After a frantically busy summer, adding the Farmers Markets has really put me over the top in busy-ness, but it such a nice place to be. I've made a couple of types of killer granola that I am quite proud of, and the market patrons seems to like it a lot as well. In just a few weeks, I have a following!

Meanwhile, I was quite late planting a fall crop. My lettuce and spinach are up but just barely. My cole crops are being attacked, so it is hard to tell whether the plants or the pests will win. The chard is happy and healthy, but we love it so much I am afraid I will take too much and it will quit for the year. I'm still getting lots of peppers - especially poblanos - and tomatoes.

We had friends over for dinner yesterday, and the food was particularly colorful. I oven-roasted a huge load of tomatoes - yellow, black, and red - with olive oil, onions, kosher salt, my strong soft necked garlic, fresh basil  - in a hot 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.  That mixture then went into a skillet, to which I added fresh spinach bought at the Farmer's Market, and it became our pasta sauce. I made homemade ravioli for the first time (a pasta roller being my newest toy) using pasture raised beef, heritage breed pork, and freshly harvested chard. It took me to a while to get the hang of the dough, but it was quite forgiving. Never was able to pop out the raviolis by tapping the mold on the counter -- hah!! Took each one out one by one by one by one.... sigh. Also roasted bell peppers from the garden - green, red, and yellow - for another colorful dish, with fresh mozzarella cheese. The broccoli rabe came from a store - shocking!

So a lot of activity in the kitchen and the garden... and now on the blog!

Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Zucchini Overload

It happens every year. From not one to overload in a day: zucchini overload. I take it as a personal challenge to face the zucchini each year composing as few fruits as possible. It is a fun hunt, looking for fruits among the vines - the same green, they often disappear until they are bat sized an tough, so it takes some careful looking to get at the small tender ones we love. My skin reacts to the little pricklies, so I carefully move the big leaves and look at the plant base. One escaped Jonathan's picking earlier in the week - it was wrapped to form a perfect "J" - tucked in so perfectly it was hard to get out!

Last night it was zucchini quiche for dinner. I don't make this vegetarian classic much - but it is always terrific. Many years ago, my friends Beth and Dan asked me to contribute zucchini quiche for their wedding celebration. I made a bunch - and developed an aversion to the smell for many years! But after decades, I can appreciate it again. Tonight was zucchini again - this time the strangest pizza I've ever made. No, not zucchini on top - it was a zucchini and cheese crust (with a few eggs and a tiny bit of biscuit mix) with ground beef and tomato sauce on top. Remarkably good.

On the sideboard are jars of zucchini relish - looking pretty and hopefully tasting great. I bought some at the farmers market last year, and it was pretty, tart, and adaptable - a great accompaniment  to any meat. I followed the recipe in "Putting Foods By", and captured it in small, wide mouth half pint jars. I hope it will make nice gifts.

And there is always baking. A chocolate zucchini cake is cooling in the kitchen - with a teenage boy in the house, it is unlikely much will make it into the freezer! I will probably bring zucchini bread to a meeting later this week - hopefully no one is on a carb free diet; it should count as a vegetable!

It won't last forever - as soon as the last of the big stuffed boats are gone, the vines will wilt and the bounty will be over for the next year. Time to find even more uses...

 Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Hydrangeas In Trouble!

The unrelenting 100-degree-plus heat is really taking a toll on my gardens. We've been focused on the vegetable garden, but needed to pay more attention to the borders. It is the poor hydrangeas that have suffered the most. I think I have completely lost the little Blue Lacecap that I planted this spring. It didn't get firmly established before the heat and shriveled before e noticed. Poor thing. Same with the brand new variegated leaved shrub that was going to brighten a dark corner and hide an ugly wire support. But even the very well established shrubs are wilting and may not make it through. Even Molly. I thought Molly was the happiest plant in our yard. She survived at our former front walk, where she had little water or sun or space. hse finally grew so big that I had to move her - and then she seemed very happy in the new spot. Until the heat. Stay cool, Molly - fall will come eventually!


Copyright 2010,EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Wilted Garden

The Veggie Garden is wilting. So are all the borders - and we are losing some shrubs. Even the local hydrangeas are gasping in this 90 degree plus weather - hit 100 a couple of days so far and may again this week. With no rain. I did some hand watering this morning, but the water was hot from mere moments in the sun. Even the shade offers little relief. I can't imagine how August will be!

Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Garlic and Shallot Harvest

My new garlic drying screen

At long last, I harvested the rest of my garlic and all of my french red shallots. I planted both soft and hard neck garlic last fall - and promptly forgot which bed got which type! I always regret not labeling, but often it is late when I finish planting and I decide I will make a label later.... and then don't. It became clear which was which this June as the hard neck garlic shot up scapes, which are not found on soft neck garlic varieties. My soft neck were ready for harvest 2 weeks ago, so I pulled them up and stored them in a wire basket to dry, since we hadn't yet made the drying screen.

The shallots were ready for harvest this week, and they look great. The hardnecks weren't quite there, but I pulled them anyway (hence too much green in the photo) because I wanted to do it all at once, and was hoping to use some of the bed space for a final sowing of beans. 

Jonathan made me this terrific box with screen to hang in  the shed to help dry out and harden the garlic and onions after harvest. It gets good circulation, although I worry about the excessive Maryland humidity. I am hoping to hang the herbs for drying next to them - we are reorganizing the shed to give me room (anyone want to take bets on how long before it is strictly a potting shed?). 

Meanwhile, I used the garlic scapes in a wonderful finger food at a political fundraiser last weekend. I made little Parmesan rounds - very tasty cracker - and topped them with garlic scape pesto, goat cheese from Firefly Farms, and then because I thought they looked dull, a petal from a red monarda flower (Jacob's Kline). They were great! I also made little meringue cookies, which I "glued" together at the bottoms with whipped cream in which were added crushed raspberries from the garden (I used red, yellow, and black but all red would have been the most attractive), and a marinated chicken cubes wrapped with a sage leaf from the garden and prosciutto and grilled, served with a red pepper garlic aoli made with the first soft neck I harvested. 

I will save some heads for planting again this fall - I can keep this up for years!

  

Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Leggy Gaga

Leggy Gaga, the fawn abandoned at our next door neighbor's doorstep!

Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

Thanks, Oprah....

Oprah Winfrey is the most unlikely source for organic gardening advice - or so I thought - but to my surprise, she had the following basic insecticidal soap recipe on her enewsletter:

Start by mixing a concentrate solution to keep on hand by combining 1 cup/.24 L of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon/14.8 ml of liquid dish soap. To dilute this mixture to use in your garden, combine 2 teaspoons/9.86 ml of the concentrate with 1 cup/.24L of water. Put the mixture in a hand sprayer and spray it on infested plants. Be sure to wet both tops and undersides of leaves.


I have used a similar compound for years - although I admit I just rather give it to the bugs than treat all the time - I have plenty to share!
 
Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com

The Sour Cherries Arrive

Being a Michigander by birth, I love sour cherries. There is no better marker of a summer well lived then a sour cherry pie.

Normally sour cherry pies arrive just in time for Independence Day parties, but this year the cherries are early. Maryland doesn't have much of a cherry crop, and many years it fails. Bauhger's pick-your-own orchards has a one-week sour cherry season, and it started two days ago. I'd like to report that I was out there on ladders picking away, but I went the lazy route. I stopped at the famer's market for pasture raised meat, then headed to the farm market for 2 five-gallon buckets of cherries. Pre-picked.

I was hardly alone. Baugher's was buzzing. The line at the cherry pitting machine (see photo) was long, and I noticed a couple of things - my purchase was light in comparison to others, and there were a lot of women in head scarves. I couldn't contain my curiosity, so I asked a couple of gentlemen in line ahead of me what they were planning to do with their rather massive amount of cherries.

Turns out that sour cherries are a regular part of Persian cuisine, and one of the men was going to freeze them for use the rest of the year. A drink was one possibility, but his favorite dish was a Persian rice with sour cherries. He said that one could always make the rice in a rice cooker, but he liked the "old-fashioned" way of soaking, then boiling, then steaming the rice. The other man in the conversation did a quick search on his iPhone for recipe, and it was easy to find. It sounds scrumptious, and we will have it with our Father's Day celebration today. Here's the recipe I am using:

Abaloo Podow – Persian Sour Cherry Rice



About 40 small sour cherries

2 cups rice - basmati is preferred

Big pinch of saffron in 2 tablespoons of warm water

3/4 stick butter melted



Rinse rice till water runs clear. Soak rice for an hour. Boil rice 8 minutes in plenty of salted water. Strain rice. Add half the butter to large enameled dutch oven or other pot. Add half rice and stir a bit.
Add half cherries and half saffron/saffron water evenly in layers.
Layer on the other half of everything starting with the rice.

Put a kitchen towel over the top of the pot, then add the cover. This helps keep the steam in.
High about 8 min, low about 20.

Some of the recipes call for it to be layered in the steaming pan in a pyramid shape; it is supposed to develop a crust. I will try it that way and see what happens.

It was so nice talking top this Persian man - it really made my day that he would share this dish with me, and I hope he and his wife eat their cherries in good health all year.

The other man in line with me told me that he will freeze the cherries in small bags with some Splenda and eat them as a frozen treat all year. He grew up coming to Baugher's with his dad and finding the sound of the cherry pitter machine to be a comforting sound of childhood, and makes him miss his dad. Awwww. A sweet memory - that's why I took the picture of the machine!

I don't know either man's name, but thanks to both of them for sharing!

Last night I spent many hours re-packing the cherries so the huge bag would not explode in the refrigerator where we stashed it while going to hear my husband at a cello recital. Now they are packed in bags, measured out for a mega-harvest-preserving session. From 2 5-gallon buckets of cherries, I am making:

1. Four or five pies. I use the classic Joy Of Cooking version - impossible to be better. Having homemade pies in the freezer means I am always ready for a potluck or have something special for company. I'm using Karen Mahan's pie crusts this year - but still having some crusts in the freezer so they will be ready for when the blueberries ripen in a few weeks.

2. Two batches of sour cherry jam. Not low-sugar - it is a treat and will be treasured as one! I also don't like the freezer variety except for the time involved because the texture is not as firm and thus doesn't spread as well. I don't like the hot steam of a hot water bath canner, but I like the results. I may need to get a pressure canner if I keep this up all summer, though.

3. A traditional Hungarian sour cherry soup. In eastern Europe, this is a first course; here, often a dessert. It sounds yummy either way.

4. The Persian rice - and I am so sure that we will love it that I am counting out the amount for several more batches and freezing them.

5. Two batches of tart cherry liqueur. I made homemade limocello last year, and it was yummy, especially in champagne. I'll try this - takes at least two months - and perhaps give it as gifts at Christmas.   

6. A cherry crumble. While my mom could make a really good pie, what I remember most about dessert in my childhood was the crumbles, slumps, and cobblers. Our favorite was "cherry goo", and I think the crumble is getting close to the "goo" of my memory.

All these cherries make my Michigan heart sing!


Copyright 2010, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com