In Season & Fresh from the Garden, the Fields, the Orchards & the Woods
On February 2, in Punxsutawney, PA, Phil the Groundhog is most unwillingly thrust into forecasting the next 6 weeks’ weather (most unwillingly indeed as he is – apparently – wrong 61% of the time). But you know, no matter what poor Phil does or does …
There is no season for ice-cream. Or rather I should say: it is always the season for ice-cream. And in winter we make ice-cream from frozen fruit (poached and pureed, and then mixed into the ice-cream base) or more often using spices.
Ginger ice-cream is a favorite of mine. No surprise there for those who read this blog, even occasionally. My liberal use of ginger is after all rooted in childhood. The ice-cream gets a double dose of ginger: first the cream is infused with fresh ginger (which will also color it a pale yellow), and then chopped crystallized ginger is folded into the finished ice-cream. Good by itself or in combination with sautéed or baked fruit.
Fresh ginger by the way is a model spice to keep around – it will remain fresh for weeks. Choose plump firm roots at the market. Don’t buy a small knob because that’s only what you need for a dish. Buy a big whole healthy root. Don’t keep it in the fridge where it will not only shrivel but mold (yuk!). Break off what you need when you need it. If your root is drying out too fast (sometimes it happens no matter what you do), you can salvage what you have by pickling it (slices or chunks in vinegar or vodka), or by grating it and freezing it (my preferred way). Continue reading Ginger Ice-Cream
Just because it’s winter does not mean you can’t make jam from local fresh fruit. Guess what kind of jam I am making? Apricot you say? They are a chancy crop around here and I never get enough to freeze for later to make jam …
In the colder months, we roast, braise, bake and generally use the oven without hesitation. Roasting vegetables is a great way to make their flavor really shine. For cauliflower (as well as for other members of the cabbage family), roasting also mitigates the “boiled-cabbage” odor …
We give thanks for being able to grow this food, for being able to cook, for being here, now, and for friends.
This year, I am cooking most of Thanksgiving dinner – it has not happen in years, as we generally are celebrating elsewhere.
And so of course I have to use the things we have here. Now. To me that’s the meaning of a harvest celebration – which is after all the root of Thanksgiving.
On the menu:
Cream of Pumpkin & Apple Soup with Truffle oil
Roulade of Turkey Breast with Dry Cranberry/Sage/Onion Stuffing & Autumn Olive Jelly
Cardoon Gratin
Roasted Sweet & Irish Potatoes
Swiss Chard Gratin
Chestnut Puree
Arugula & spinach salad with roasted apples
Appetizer & Dessert to be brought by guests.
Homemade: bread, broth for the soup, butter, lard
From the garden: Pumpkin, sage, thyme, parsley, parcel, Swiss chard, potatoes, sweet potatoes, arugula, spinach, mustard greens, raspberries, cardoon;
Foraged: chestnuts, autumn olives;
Purchased from local sources: turkey, cream, apples, whiskey (to soak the dry cranberries), wine;
Not local: onions, sugar, olive oil, truffle oil, salt, flour & vinegar.
We give thanks indeed.
I have know for a while that autumn olives (Elaeagnus umbellata) were edible. I just never took the time to go after them. But this year seems to be the year when I started to forage more consistently (bird cherries, wineberries, elderberries, chestnuts, Japanese quince, …
I love love quince and was able to get one bushel this year from one of the local orchards (not counting Japanese quince which several friends let me have from their bushes)! So… once more in the middle of putting food by: roasting & can …
Summer is leaving with a trail of rain… and about time too. Summer raged – hot dry – into April and never lightened up until just now when we can finally say “good by”! I’ll be glad to see you again next year. Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the rain and the cooler temperatures.
The fall raspberries certainly like it too. And we like fall raspberries.
It’s also time to dig the sweet potatoes – an official harbinger of the end of summer. Actually it’s later than I want to dig the sweet potatoes: the second week of September is better, as we need to give them time to cure to ensure they keep in storage. But the ground was so dry, it was just about impossible to unearth them. And one has to be fairly gentle or ends up with sliced sweet potatoes. Sure, they callus pretty easily, but why compromise their keeping quality?
So after Monday’s rain which soften the ground, and before Wednesday and Thursday’s rain which is dumping more water than we’ve seen in the last 6 months, I dug about 1/4 of the bed, or about 1/3 of a wheelbarrow. That’s promising. We love sweet potatoes: in the garden they have been – so far – trouble free, and in the kitchen they lend themselves to all kinds of preparations savory and sweet.
Another sign that summer’s is over is that we are eating fresh cilantro again. I encourage cilantro to reseed – really it needs no encouragement, if you let it go to seed and let the seed try, you’ll have cilantro from September through June. And with the help of a cold frame plop over the bed, you’ll have fresh cilantro in the colder months too.
With all this rain, mache ought to germinate soon and I’ll be anxiously looking for it. And maybe this year I’ll get around to thin it (in my free time).
And soon enough it’ll be time to put the cover back on the hoophouse and move all the fragile plants in the green house…
Early September harvest. Two weeks later: cucumbers have succumbed to squash bugs and the drought, but green beans and wax beans are now harvestable: Yeah! As you may recall, summer beans were devastated by Mexican bean beetles. Peppers are ripening – although there is no …