Asparagus!
or sparrow grass or sparr grass. But an asparagus by any other name is still an asparagus. I learned my lesson from last year: pick every single spear, the huge fat ones (some are larger than my thumb) as well as the skinny ones during …
Author: sylvie
First Radishes
I am told that open-face radish sandwiches are an acquired taste. I am told – very firmly – that cream of radish-leaf soup is undoubtedly an acquired taste. Nobody’s perfect! I still plant radishes. Those ‘Radis de 18 Jours’ are young, crisp, mildly spicy and …
Making Rillettes
It’s funny how some posts draw comments… and what for…Like my post on spring salads prompted requests for the recipe of the potted meat I served with it!
Which, of course, one should rightly ask for the recipe, because it is simple, simply delicious, can be made well in advance, will keep in the fridge for quite a while and requires nothing more than a fresh green salad and a chunk of crusty bread to transport you to a little lunch nirvana. Yes, it will take several hours from start to finish, but most of it is not active time: the pork is slowly (slowly – I say) cooking while you go do something else. When it’s cooked, you let it cool enough to handle, and you use your hands to shred the meat (how fun is that?), pack in pots, cover with melted fat, refrigerate for a couple of days… et voila! Serve it and look like a genius!
(and since I can’t find my pictures of a pot rillettes, and it’s late, this post is without picture. You can always look here…) Update: not the picture I remember, but I found one…
So here’s my picture-free recipe for Pork Rillettes. Continue reading Making Rillettes
Postcard From The Woods
Actually not from the woods but from a very nice garden that was open during Virginia Historic Garden Week. But the dogwoods are blooming in the woods too – although the last couple of very hot days is shortening the bloom time. Other than that, …
Tis the Season
I know. I am supposed to post the recipe for Pork Rillettes. But I am too tired. It’s spring after all, with its myriad tasks: making new beds, planting like crazy, transplanting like there is no tomorrow, watching the chicken scratch through the weeds, weeding!, …
Spring Luncheon
The secret is in the dressing.
Well, not really. The secret is a just-picked mix of lettuce and other greens such oak leaf-lettuce, Reine des Glaces, baby arugula, baby spinach, frisee, a few pea shoots, an asparagus or two (thinly sliced), sorrel, escarole, a smattering a baby mustard, flowering tips of kale and cabbage, a wee bit of anise hyssop & mint, and the very very last of the mache. To tell the truth, the baby arugula, baby spinach and baby mustard, are – truly! – thinnings: I sow the seeds too close, on purpose, knowing that I will harvest every other plant (several times) until the correct spacing is left for final crop to mature nicely. Meanwhile, the thinnings are big enough to make a real salad, and make a better use of preciopus real estate: no need to wait for that bed space to fill. Sow thickly & harvest with scissors.
But a good dressing matters: at the bottom of the salad bowl, whisk one part balsamic vinegar of Modena & 3 parts extra virgin olive oil. Add the salad. Toss. Scatter a handful of Johnny-Jump-up flowers (Viola tricolor) on top so they can make faces at you. Needless to say the flowers have not received a drop of pesticide or herbicide…. only use edible organic flowers (and greens too of course) – in other words don’t expect to pick up a flat of pansies at the garden center and pluck the flowers for your salad. They are likely to have ben sprayed with stuff you do not want next to you plate – let alone swallow. Or grow some: they are some accommodating, so cheery and so daintily robust!
Take your prettiest chipped plate. Add a dollop of pork rillettes (French-style potted meat from pastured pork), a chunk of crusty homemade baguette and a large serving of salad. Sit down. Tuck in. That’s lunch!
Note for locavore log: homemade bread, rillettes made with Rappahannock pork + garden herbs, all the greens and flowers from the garden.
Blooming Currants
Did you know red currants bloom as the same time as the cherries? They do. But unlike the billowy dreamy snowy cherry blossoms, the flowers of red currant are rather inconspicuous. One hardly notices them – especially with the explosion of greens and colors in …
Before The Rain
Before the rain is a good time to: 1. transplant Swiss chard 2. transplant lettuce 3. check on tomato seedlings in greenhouse. Sigh. Too early to transplant outside. BUT
Start! part 2
This is the 2nd article of a 2 part-series geared at first-time would-be food gardeners (Read Part I here)
What should I plant?
Not so fast! (aren’t you getting tired with me saying this so often?)
Before you plant, you need a place to plant. We already discussed where. Now let’s discuss how.
Mid-April is late by all counts to start a garden the traditional thorough way – which is to dig and incorporate large amount of organic matter (i.e compost, composted manure, coffee grounds, finely shredded leaves – NOT MULCH!!!! do not dig mulch in!!!!). So unless you have the back and stamina to dig and improve your new garden over the next week or so (or unless you already have a ready to go garden plot) , do it the lazy way: frame a sunny area of your lawn, cover it with newspaper (no glossy please) and pile at least 8 inches (12 inches better) of GOOD top soil, compost and composted manure on top. This will suffocate the grass (the odd really hardy and deep rooted perennial weed may survive, but there is little chance of that). The dead grass will provide additional nutrients for the growing plants.
Earthworms – your friends – will take care of moving things up and down and, in the process, provide worm castings (plant candy) and tunnel the soil, bringing needed air to the roots of the plants. Plant roots need air. Really. So, if you spy any earthworms, leave them alone and let them do their thing. Continue reading Start! part 2
Pushing Up!
Bow to the mighty asparagus! The first ones are now tentatively pushing their rosy tip up – just checking on the above ground weather. Is last year holds true (and so far, it does, as after a few days of warm weather, we are back …