Food, Cooking and Recipes – Page 2

Cooking and Recipes, Food, Gardening, Seasonal, summer

To Pick or Not to Pick; Fried Green Tomatoes

July 14, 2014by Alicia Winter5 Comments

Everything in the garden has a season. Most often just when we are entirely sick of one vegetable, another begins to ripen, giving us a change for a while until we are sick of that one too. Some we never get tired of eating and they are gone all too soon, like peas and strawberries, but others come in hard and fast, in abundance, and we have to eat them, freeze them, pickle or jar them, or just give them away as fast as we can. Take green beans, for instance. We have been eating radishes, lettuces, kale and cucumbers for weeks now, and I have been watching the delicate purple flowers of the beans develop anxiously. Haricot verts thinner than a cu-tip, lightly steamed and gobbled up with just a touch of salt are simply divine. But in just a few days of picking I start to notice the ones I missed on the first few rounds are now the size of a pencil, and no longer bright green but dusky and even purplish. I sweep through the bean patch, picking everything I see, and haul in about 3 gallons of beans. Some we eat fresh. Some we pickle. Some we freeze. The next day….more beans. Ugh! But I know there is an end in sight, and I’ll be happy to use the ones I put up in soups and salads throughout the long months of winter. Today, though, I’m sick of beans.

Not so tomatoes. I could eat a fresh tomato every day of my life and be a happy person for it. Anyone who has had a tomato fresh out of someones garden, still warm from the afternoon sun, knows there is little resemblance to a store bought tomato. The abundance of flavor, the fresh tangy sweetness and juicy texture; It’s as good as a fresh peach, and each summer we wait and wait for the tomatoes to ripen. We eat the best ones fresh with sea salt, or a bit of good balsamic vinegar glaze, and the rest, the ones marred by bugs, rot, or blemishes, go into the freezer. We never seem to have enough to last throughout the winter, and each summer, as the beautiful fruits get larger and begin to ripen on the vine I wonder, Should I pick them yet?

The dilemma is this. If I pick them green, they won’t get to ripen into the luscious red fruits that I love. If I don’t pick them green, I won’t get to have fried green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes are traditionally thought to be deeply southern dish and one I had never tried until my (Italian) mother in law decided to grow a garden. The recipe’s inclusion in cookbooks actually date back to the early 1830’s in the United States and are possibly of Jewish origin, first seen in the Midwest. In any case they are prepared throughout the US and everyone who has tried them know they are well worth the effort. In the end, I picked!

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

serves 4

4 Green hard tomatoes

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

approximately 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs or cornmeal, seasoned with salt and pepper

Vegetable oil

Remoulade to serve

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick rounds, slicing off and discarding the top and bottoms (the breadcrumbs don’t stick to them) Mix the egg and milk together with a whisk. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium heat and add about a 1/4 inch of oil. Dip the tomatoes in the egg mixture and coat them with the breadcrumbs.

Fry the tomatoes in a single layer, flipping once when the breadcrumbs turn nicely brown. Drain on paper towels and keep in a warm oven. Serve with a remoulade of your choice. I made mine from mayonnaise, catsup, lemon juice and tabasco. Enjoy!

Food, Cooking and Recipes, Gardening, Seasonal, summer, Uncategorized

Berry Season

July 3, 2014July 3, 2014by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

Summer’s heat is upon us, with temperatures climbing towards the 90’s, and with the heat comes the season of the berry. Blueberries and black raspberries are the first out of the gate in early July, changing almost overnight from pale green and rose to deep blue and black, respectively.

Wild black raspberries are one of my favorite summer treats. Of all the things I forage for in the wild, these luscious gems are a truly one of my favorites. Sweet yet tart, they are best eaten right away, or as soon as you can get them home and into a bowl of cream. They are very delicate and don’t hold up well to storage, unless you plan to freeze them. If you intend to make anything other than jam with the frozen ones, it’s best to freeze them in a single layer on a sheet. Otherwise they will end up as juice in a bag.

Picking black raspberries is no picnic, as they say, and this is one treat you have to work for. They mostly grow along hedgerows and by the sides of dirt roads, and are often laced with stinging nettle and Multi-flora rose brambles, neither of which feels good on bare skin. They like shade and the first ones to ripen are often under other plants. Plan your berry picking foray to include boots and long pants, as well as a wide brimmed hat to protect against the ever present gnats. A long sleeved shirt and some bug repellent go a long way toward making it a pleasant experience. Berries ripen over time, so if you want any quantity for jam or jelly, plan on picking every two days while they are in season.

Picking fresh blueberries is somewhat easier, especially if you have a well tended patch, as we do. I was just in the nick of time in getting mine covered against the birds this summer, as the day after I put up the netting they began to turn blue. Experience has taught me that the berries I deem to be “almost ripe” are perfectly edible to the host of birds hovering just over my shoulder waiting for me to leave. We have lost entire crops of the succulent morsels by waiting one too many days to put up the nets. The protective tent only helps so much though; almost every day I shoo out a hungry fellow that has managed to find a hole or sneak under.

Blueberries are very easy to maintain. They don’t require spraying and are not bothered by pests. They need little pruning and seem to winter well. We have not had any problems with the deer eating them. Harvest seems to depend more on the weather than any other factor and this year they are ripening early. Ours have grown slowly over time, but are abundant producers and we average about 5 gallons a year from 10 bushes. Pie, and more pie, is our first choice for stored berries, especially in the winter months. They freeze well, but I can’t tell you how long they keep because they don’t last long!

Berries are one of natures super-foods, and wild berries even more so. Packed with antioxidants, vitamins and fiber, they not only taste delicious but are really good for you. Everyone should save a spot in their garden for a blueberry bush or two, and if you don’t have a garden, try growing them in pots. It’s well worth the effort, for your taste buds as well as your health.

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Island Feast

June 19, 2014by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

As many of you know, we have the luxury of having a family home on Martha’s Vineyard. We are able to go out to the Island a few times each year and enjoy the company of family and spend some time at the beach. One of our favorite pastimes (read obsessions) is ocean fishing, and Martha’s Vineyard is truly a fisherman’s paradise. No matter what time of year, there is always something good to be had from the ocean. My husband’s parents, who are able to spend quite a bit of time here, also keep a large kitchen garden, so summertime on the island is a time of plenty.

The first day I woke to a beautiful balmy island morning and took my coffee into the back yard to check out the garden. My mother in Law had emailed me about what was growing, so I had an idea of what I’d find. What took me by surprise were the giant radishes the size of lemons. I had never seen a radish grow so big. I had planted these very seeds when we last were here in May, in a mix with carrot seeds, but they were average, “garden variety” radish, not some monster varietal. You might remember in my last post a photo of a cheese and radish sandwich on a bagel. Those tiny radish were from my garden, of which I was formerly proud. What am I doing wrong? I’ii have to do some research to find out why in my garden they are quarter sized and often woody, but here they are luscious red orbs of crunchy delight. I picked a dozen, sliced them thinly, and set them in a marinade of rice wine vinegar, sugar and water.

Despite the neat rows of sorrel, arugula, chicory, and red and green lettuce in the garden, I still felt the need to traipse next door with my basket to the twice weekly farmers market. I wanted some cilantro, and that was as good an excuse as any to stroll the aisles of farm raised produce, meats, breads and cheeses, as well as handmade soaps, hats and fresh squeezed lemonade. I was surprised to see the amount and variety this time of year; while my zucchini are just flowering, I found some beautiful 6 inch long ones perfect for the saute pan. When I asked, I was told they grow them under plastic to keep them warm and to fruit earlier. I fought down my rising jealousy with the fact that I live in a different growing zone entirely than Martha’s Vineyard, and furthermore islands are naturally more temperate because of the surrounding seas. In a month I’d be sick of fresh zucchini anyway. But for now I was happy to have it and bought 8 nice ones to bring home, along with a fresh baguette.

Later that afternoon we drove to one of our favorite fishing spots, a jetty that juts out into the sea at the edge of a wide basin, With it’s sister across the way, it forms a channel that feeds a big salt water pond. The structure, as well as the sand beach on one side, provides a great place to fish for black bass, tau-tog, porgy, rock bass, flounder and fluke. It can occasionally be a good spot for stripers and bluefish, but it’s not reliable enough to count on. When the water warms it’s a pretty reliable place for scup, and that’s what we went for today. I’m not a big fan of the littler fish, so I usually make my way around the jetty to the channel and try for the odd striper, but midday at a slack tide is not really the ideal time. I didn’t have much hope. After a couple dozen casts, and a nice lunch, I decided walk out to the end of the jetty to see what was going on there. The boys had long since given up fishing and were napping in the sand when I decided the way to catch my striper was to hook on a huge piece of squid, heave it to the middle of the channel and wait till the big one came along and gulped it in. Yeah right. But as I waited, enjoying the warm sun and the breeze off the ocean, I began to notice my line migrate ever so slightly. My big squid was being nibbled! I quickly reeled in, changed my big hook for a smaller one, slapped on a tiny mouthful of squid, cast back out and nailed a giant porgy. I had three more in the bucket before the boys caught on and we had a blitz. We filleted them on the beach and brought them home to bake over sliced onions, one of the easiest and most delicious ways to cook fish.

A few minutes in the garden provided me with the greens for a lovely salad. I chopped the fresh cilantro into it and used the radish marinade mixed with some good olive oil for the dressing. The baguette sliced up, the zucchini sliced and sauteed with a pinch of salt and the fish baked to perfection completed our Island feast. A beautiful day and a most memorable meal!

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First Out of the Garden

June 17, 2014by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

Early June in Connecticut is an exciting time for gardeners. By now most things are in the ground that are going in, and all the planning and planting are complete. I usually estimate mid to late may as the time to plant, but after the 15th I keep an eye on the weather and wait for a few days when the night time temperatures stay above 55. Most plants don’t like to root out in the cold. Now in early June the new garden, with its tiny shoots of new growth, is just getting itself established, and it’s too soon to count any success or failures. Those of you who have a greenhouse might be laughing at me, for by now your gardens are lush wonderlands of heavily foliated plants happily bursting with buds and fruit. Sadly, I only have my little bathtub and a grow lamp for starting seeds, and have relegated it to peppers only, so I start most of my vegetables from seeds right in the ground.

There are a few exceptions of course. I always buy tomato plants already started, and with those it’s just a matter of money. The more money you pay, the more plant you get. In early June, for the right price, you can get a plant with fruit already on it, or, if your pocket is not quite so full, at least a 4 to 5 inch healthy looking specimen. This year my budget for plants was a little short, so I went with the smaller choices. I try to buy heirloom varieties in most cases, but there is a good argument to be made for the old standbys like Big Boy and Early Girl. They are reliable producers, are pest and drought resistant and produce nice firm fruits (just like you find in the grocery store!) but the heirlooms for me are much more exciting to grow. I like the idea of plants that are not genetically modified almost as much as I like the unique fruits themselves, whether they are German green stripe or Purple Cherokee. Check out Seed Savers, a wonderful source for heirloom seeds and a really great company, to learn more about heirloom and heritage seeds and genetic diversity (or lack of it) in the American food industry. http://www.seedsavers.org/About-Us/

Another plant I buy already started is eggplant. I have never tried to grow these from seed because I rarely succeed with the plant itself. I have yet to produce a bumper crop of eggplant of any kind, which might be just as well, as I’m the only one in the family who enjoys it. I usually plant just two plants, as I have very limited real estate in my garden, but even with constant attention and words of encouragement, they never seem to thrive. Whether its those damn tiny aphids, blight, rot, or just plain weakness, they always look jaundiced and produce thin tiny fruit. This year, when I saw my two healthy plants begin to yellow, I went to ask advice from a local gardening expert. She starts many plants from seed in a greenhouse and sells them to local gardeners like me. I have never bought from her before, but have heard about her renown with plants of all kinds. She is the type who looks at gardening through the eyes of a chemist, while I’m more of a hope and a prayer type. She explained that most people (me) plant eggplant too early, before the soil has warmed sufficiently, and they fail to thrive. She said that most people (me) fail to protect their plants with a copper fungicide dip prior to planting, and that most people (Not me!) over water and leach the nutrients out. She recommended the copper fungicide spray, a natural pesticide with soap in it, and a fish emulsion top dress to enrich the roots. Maybe with these tools, and of course a few good thoughts, I’ll be serving eggplant Parmesan in August! Oh, and she also gave me three varietals of eggplant that she had left over. With five plants in the ground, I almost hope they don’t all thrive, or I’ll be eating eggplant by myself every single night!

With everything going in, there is not much coming out this time of year, but that’s not to say there’s nothing to eat in the garden. All my greens are up and we have been feasting on fresh spinach, sorrel, arugula and lettuce for a few weeks. The radishes are full to bursting and the second planting is already coming up. I love radish, and usually plant a spicy blend, with all different shapes and colors. I use radish in a variety of dishes as well as eat them fresh washed out of the dirt. I like the diversity of flavor and color, whether on a salad or sandwich, or stirred into an Asian inspired soup. I made just such a soup the other day. Recipe to follow.

The green onions are ready to be picked, if you can bring yourself to give up a full sized onion later on in the year. I always have a hard time with this. While I’m not a patient person by nature, the thought of yanking out those half formed babies for a quick turn on the grill makes me pause. It’s not that they wouldn’t taste delicious, it’s only that I think of myself trudging to the store in the middle of February to buy some old generic onion instead of plucking one out of the lovely onion basket in the basement, filled with my very own. Instead, I satisfy my taste for fresh onion by snapping off the stems of the onion flowers and chopping or grilling those. They taste just as fine as the whole thing, but I can leave the roots of the onion itself in the ground to fulfill it’s destiny.

Aside from the radish, greens and onions, we have been eating lots of cilantro, parsley and basil as those plants establish themselves. The beets are ready to thin and the greens are delicious sauteed or in salads. The strawberries which I transplanted this spring are a bit behind the curve but are beginning to ripen. The peas are blooming and the squash are flowering and the tomatoes continue to make suckers and flower. It’s an exciting time in the garden and lots more to come.

ASIAN NOODLE SOUP

6 cups broth (I used pheasant broth because I had some left over)

3 TBS Mirin

4 TBS Soy sauce

1 TBS sugar

2 cloves garlic chopped fine.

salt and pepper to taste

dash of something hot (chili paste, Tabasco, red pepper)

3 cups cut up cooked chicken (or pheasant)

4 cups chopped fresh spring veggies, such as radish, baby carrot, green onion, endive, peas,

1/2 lime

Prepare rice noodles as directed on the package. Mix the first 7 ingredients and adjust to taste. Simmer and add the chicken. When noodles are done add the fresh veggies to the soup and simmer for 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables or they will be soggy. Place a serving of rice noodles in a wide bowl and ladle the soup over them. Squeeze the lime over the soup. Serve with chopsticks and extra hot sauce. Enjoy!

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My First…Morel

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

For those of you mushroom fanatics in the know, and those who desperately wish you were in the know, finding your first morel is about as memorable as your first kiss. Mushroom hunters spend months and years wandering around in dead fall and through mushy forests in search of these precious gems of the spring, and once found, guard the secret of the location like treasure. Many’s the time I have engaged mycological foragers in conversation trying to ferret out information about when, where and how they found these fungal delicacies, and never did I get a hint of a reliable clue. Sure, anyone will give you generalities that you might find in any book on the subject, like look at the edge of the woods near old orchards, or where there are lime deposits, or near dying ash or elm, but disclose their secret spot to an outsider? Never.

A few weeks ago my husband came back from hunting turkey with a giant brownish fungi that he imagined I’d find interesting. It was about 5 inches tall, hollow, and had spongy pits all over its “cap”. Although his hunt was unsuccessful, I was much more delighted with his efforts than if he had brought home a fat tom. Little did he expect my shrieks of delight and demands that he take me immediately back to the exact location where he had found it. We agreed to go back and I spent the next half hour poring over my books and through mycology websites to ensure that what he had found was indeed a true morel. I’m sure I’m not the only newby mushroom forager to worry about poisoning my loved ones! In fact it was a real morel, albeit an old one, and off we went to see if there were more.

After a short hike through some soggy march and then woodland brambles, we found an old tree with a half dozen large morels under it. Mushroomers say that in order to know mushrooms you must know trees, so I suppose I’m not much of a mushroomer. It’s no wonder I haven’t found any myself. I can’t identify an ash from an elm, so I have no idea what type of tree they were growing under or why. They were easy to find as they stood 5 to 7 inches tall, and were about 2.5 inches wide. Morels are best when young. As they mature they tend to get drier and more brittle, less tender and moist. We decided to give them a try anyway. After picking off a few slugs and a good long soak to drown any other bugs inside, I cut them into chunks for a soup.

I decided on a soup for two reasons; they were old, and my sons hate soup. It’s not that I didn’t want to share, it’s just that they might be less likely to try mushroom soup than something like mushrooms in pastry crust, and therefore I had less of a chance of poisoning them if I had somehow made a mistake in my identifications. Did I mention I was nervous to eat them? I sauteed them in some butter and took a nibble. The flavor was surprisingly good for slightly out of date mushrooms. Earthy and pungent and very…mushroomy. I waited a half an hour and didn’t develop stomach cramps so I decided to go ahead. The recipe that follows is a delicious and decadent way to eat a morel.

CREAM OF MOREL SOUP

4 to 5 cups sliced mushrooms

3 tbs butter

3 tbs flour

2 cups broth

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 tbs dry sherry

1 tsp fresh chopped thyme

Cut the mushrooms into small pieces and saute over medium heat in the butter until soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir. Add the broth and stir until smooth. Cook until the broth starts to thicken, about 5 to 10 minutes minutes. Using a handheld puree tool or a blender, mix until smooth. (if you like you can leave some chunks for texture) Add the half and half and the sherry, making sure to keep the heat to a low simmer. Serve topped with the chopped thyme and enjoy!

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Lucky Spring Finds

April 4, 2014by Alicia Winter3 Comments

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted and I have to say it’s not for lack of tasty things to eat over the winter. We feasted on lots of pheasant, venison, fish and veggies, both from the freezer and the pantry. I made late season roasts and stews and pies out of all sorts of yummy things we had put up and stored, but I was too lazy to blog about it. Funny that now, when spring has finally arrived and I have tons of work to do in the garden, I feel myself motivated to post again. In fact, while I was out surveying my sorry garden boxes last week, and planning big things for this summer, I came upon a bit of green poking out of the last of the snow. Low and behold, sprouting there under the eves where the sun warms the garage wall, I found the last of the parsnips I had left in the ground last fall. I didn’t mean to leave them…they just escaped my attention until it was too late.

And so I dug them up! After a good scrub, I removed the inner core of the larger ones (it tends to get woody) cut them into 1″ pieces and roasted them at 400 for about 40 minutes. How sweet and delicious they were! I would even say that they were sweeter for being left in the ground for the long winter than when I originally cooked them in the fall. Their creamy sweetness was a spring treat, and now I know to leave some there for next year.

The second treat for me in this season of meager fresh local pickings was a bunch of Jerusalem Artichokes that my son brought home from an expedition. These little tubers are new to me so I did a bit of research on them. Jerusalem artichoke is actually a misnomer, as they are neither related to nor resemble an artichoke. They are actually the roots from a sunflower plant, and sometimes known as sunchokes, a much more appropriate name. They are much like a potato in texture and appearance after removing the little buds that grow on them.

They have a soft brown color, although they look reddish in the photo. As for recipes, I learned they are best roasted or sauteed to bring out their distinctly subtle nutty flavor. I plan to slice them into rounds and saute them, in keeping with their origin, in sunflower oil, dress them with sunflower seeds and lemon zest, and add lots of coarse salt and pepper. Stay tuned for the results!

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Pheasant Season

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

As I’ve mentioned, fall is one of my very favorite seasons, in part because beginning in late October and running through Christmas, Connecticut hosts a hunting season for pheasant. Throughout the state there are controlled releases of birds on state land at irregular times during the week. These are then hunted by upland bird hunters, usually with dogs to help them find, or flush, the birds. Peasant is by far my all-time favorite animal to hunt, and I look forward to the beginning of the season all year. They not only are a blast to hunt, but they make a delicious addition to the November menu!

I first hunted pheasant, as well as chukar and grouse, with my dad. I was perhaps in my twenties (I can’t remember because it was SO very long ago!) when he invited me along on a private hunt. At a private club, the way it works is that when you arrive you determine how many birds you want to hunt, usually 2-4 per person, and the guides will set them out for you in the hunting area. The birds are raised in huge pens nearby. You relax for a while and then off you go to find the birds. We didn’t have our own dogs then, so we used the dogs that came with the guide service. This may seem to some like an unfair advantage over the birds, but let me assure you it is not. Pheasant are not like wild chickens. They are crafty and very fast and can often outsmart a dog by leaving a confusing scent trail, running in circles, or just generally blending into their environment the way God made them. It is neither easy to find the wily creatures after they are freed nor is it easy to fell them, although I must say that pheasant are slower in the air then the average game bird. That’s one of the reasons I like to hunt them! I need all the advantage I can get.

Back then with my dad I was an average shot. I remember missing the first bird, but I got some that day. Over the years when I lived in Colorado, my husband and I would often head south and east to Blanca in the fall and hunt birds there. I was never a crack shot, like he was, but I hit most of what I aimed at. Recently, when we were back in Connecticut, he and I decided to tune up our game by going over to Millbrook New York and spending the day at the Orvis shooting grounds called Sandanona. http://www.orvis.com/sandanona They have a world class sporting clay course for wing shooters. This was a real treat for us, and not something we could do very often. 100 clays at 20 stations each to practice on. By the end of the day we had sore shoulders and tired arms, but we were smiling. He was smiling somewhat more than me, as he had schooled me at each station, hitting approximately 70% of his targets to my somewhat less then 50%. Needless to say I was a bit discouraged. So the following Christmas, after a whole bird season of listening to me gripe about what a bad shot I was, my darling husband gifted me a trip to the Sandanona shooting school, where I would be taught the proper techniques and principles of wing shooting in a half day class with an expert. I couldn’t wait.

The class was super fun, and I learned a ton about how to shoot. I learned that my gun doesn’t really fit my body. It’s too short, and canted too little to line up with my eye when I draw it up. But I love my gun. My dad gave it to me and I’ll never get rid of it. I learned that even though I am right handed, I am “left eye dominant”, which means that my left eye leads and my right eye follows. I learned that because of this I should be shooting left handed. So I tried that. It’s like walking with shoes on the wrong feet tied together. Not even safe. I learned that I could compensate by using a patch over my left eye, to force my right eye to work. I tried that and actually fell down. With a loaded gun. My shooting went below 30%. I spent the next season practicing closing my left eye instead of my right while I draw. Draw, close, aim, fire. I hit a few birds, but didn’t even make my bag limit for the season.

What now? I’m trying to get back to a place where I can forget my limitations and just shoot. Where I can let instinct take over for ability. I need to un-think shooting. I’m trying to be OK with the fact that, for whatever reason, I’m just not a very good shot, and I’m trying to remember that even though I love to shoot, what I really love is to walk in the woods on crisp fall days with my husband and my son and my dog.

Here is a recipe for one of our very favorite fall meals. If you want leftovers, you had better make 2. It takes a bit of work, but is well worth the effort. FYI the easiest way to get the meat off a pheasant is to cut the skin of the breast and peel it back, and then filet the breasts off the bone. Then continue to pull the skin down over the thighs, exposing the legs. Break the leg joints at the end of the ‘drumstick’ and again at the hip. Use a knife to separate the legs from the body.

Pheasant Pot Pie

6 cups water

1 pheasant, breasted, and legs skinned

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp. thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup diced turnips

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced leeks

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 tbs butter

3 tbs flour

1-2 bullion cubes

1 pie crust.

In a stock pot, bring the water to boil and add the pheasant and the spices. Reduce heat to low and simmer the pheasant for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to cool, reserving the liquid. Meanwhile, chop the vegetables and mix in a large bowl. In a heavy cast iron pan over medium heat melt the butter and then add the flour, stirring constantly until the roux begins to darken. Stir in the bullion. Add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of the reserved liquid broth to the roux and stir until you have a smooth gravy. Freeze the remainder of the broth for future use. Mix the gravy into the vegetables. Cut the pheasant into bite sized pieces and mix into the vegetables. Put all of it into a pie plate or a 9″ round cake pan,mounding to fit. Cover it all with the pie crust, sealing the edges to the pan. Bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour. Serve warm with a nice salad.

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November Soup

November 2, 2013by Alicia Winter5 Comments

I’m a big fan of soup. I serve it year round, from hearty stews in the dead of winter to a cooling gazpacho or an avocado bisque in the heat of July. When chillier winds start to blow in November, soup is definitely on the menu. It’s cozy warmth really help to bring the family together around the table when the darkness comes early. And they smell so good too!

Tonight’s soup is a perfect dish for early fall, as the ingredients are what is naturally on hand. Parsnips from the garden and apples from the orchard make this soup a creamy delight. Non-dairy, and not too sweet, it’s scented with cumin and coriander. Perfect as an accompaniment to a roast or stuffed chops, or serve it on it’s own, with a hearty bread like sourdough or cheddar biscuits and a green salad. With only a couple of ingredients it’s super simple to make and can be made ahead. It will keep in the fridge for a few days, too.

For a nicer flavor, roast the parsnips in the oven for about 40 minutes on 350. You can peel them first or just leave them as they are. It will slightly caramelize the sugars and make for a richer soup. Any variety of apples will do, but my favorites are good old Mackintosh or Gala.

Parsnip and Apple Soup

2 tbs good Olive Oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 firm apples, peeled and chopped

8 to 15 parsnips, depending on the size. (more for 1″ or less at the crown)

3 1/2 cups (or more depending on desired consistency) of chicken or vegetable broth

Sprinkle of cumin

Sprinkle of coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the olive oil until tender. Add the apples and a dash of salt and and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft. Add the parsnips and the broth and cook for 20 minutes if you roasted the parsnips first, 40 minutes if not. Allow to cool and puree the mixture in a blender, or use a hand blender right in the pot. Sprinkle with the spices and stir. Serve alone or with finely chopped parsley or a dollop of yogurt. Enjoy!

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Greens, and Other Garden Leftovers

October 28, 2013by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

As a gardener I am still reeling from the summer growing season, and while this recent frost didn’t take me entirely unaware, It did make me realize that it is time to wrap it up. And what is left in the garden in nearly November? More than I’d like to acknowledge. If I identify it, then I’m obligated to address it. If I can ignore something, then I don’t have to do anything about it, right? Isn’t that just the way of human nature? Well, I have been ignoring too many things in the garden this fall, and now I have to put up or shut up. Let’s take my hot peppers. (http://eattheseason.com/2013/04/25/garden-planning/) What was I thinking! Who needs that many varieties and plants of pepper? I have singed the tongues and fingers of everyone I know with baggies of peppers and gallons of hot sauce this fall and yet the peppers still proliferate. Thank goodness for the frost. I lost about 3 gallons of hot habinero, Aji and serrano this last weekend and yet I still spent hours jarring what I was able to pick. Well, they are done. All that is left to do is pull out the plants.

Not so for every other thing still growing. I have piles of leeks that happen to be very frost hardy. My endive are still clinging to life despite the frigid temps at night and I can’t pull them up until the greens all die back or they won’t force into cornichons properly. My parsnips as well as carrots will happily ride out the cold under their layer of mulch until the ground actually freezes, so I can ignore them for a while longer. What is calling out for my immediate attention are the beet greens.

I have a love hate relationship with greens of all kinds. From kale to spinach, collard and mustard, I have grown and eaten them all. I know they are a super food and oh so good for me, and I love the bitter, pungent taste of them well seasoned, but they take so very long to prepare that my shoulders droop at the thought. Washing each leaf, checking for bugs, soaking and washing again…it is so tiresome. I plant them because they are hearty, healthy foods that should be in all our diets, but come fall, when I have no choice but to eat them of throw them out, I sigh and march out to the garden with my clippers.

The beet greens I have been able to ignore all summer. In the spring they are too tiny to clip, and I tell myself not to damage the plant until the beet is fully formed. In the summer the greens look like crap, all wilted and hot looking, covered in dust. I’m more interested in the brilliant garnet gems under the greens. Cold borsht, beet salad with chevre, these are the things that grace the summer table. Greens are a fall dish, to be served with venison roast or grilled chops. And now it’s fall, and the greens look bright and lively with the cooler air. There are still plenty of them out there, as I pick only the largest of the beets, and the ones that were planted too deep tend not to erupt. They still have verdant greens but not much of a beet. And so I clip.

I came across this recipe for beet green soup that is super simple and interesting. I happened to have some barley so I gave it a try. Perfect for a fall evening served with cheesy bread. Make sure to use a very wide (at least 10″) stockpot for this recipe. That way the eggs stay on the top and don’t sink down in the soup and into oblivion.

Beet Green Soup with Barley and Poached Eggs.

2 TBS olive oil

1 Medium Onion

4 cloves Garlic

8 cups Broth

6 cups stemmed beet greens chopped to 1 inch.

3/4 cup of barley

salt and pepper to taste

4 eggs

Parmesan cheese

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft and fragrant. Add the broth, the beet greens and the barley. bring to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer covered for 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Crack the eggs and let them poach in the soup until done to desired consistency. (I like a firmer egg so I cooked mine about 6 minutes) Serve and sprinkle with the cheese.

Food, Cooking and Recipes, Gardening, Seasonal, summer, Uncategorized

The Season of Bounty

July 4, 2013July 4, 2013by Alicia WinterLeave a Comment

It’s that time of the year when a quick evening browse around the garden with a cocktail yields a colorful basket of produce. For a little while this early summer, I could get away with gathering into my upturned shirt, but with the warmer days and rainy afternoons, the harvest has begun in earnest, and I try to remember to bring out a basket along with my drink. Garlic and green onions, early tomatoes, blueberries and strawberries, carrots, early beets, peas and peppers are all coming in by the handful. I always try to balance my desire for fresh produce with the realization that if I leave it a while longer, it will grow bigger, but there is nothing like the taste of sweet baby carrots and tender beets steamed with a bat of butter on a steamy summer evening. My favorite dish of the early summer is, of course, a simple salad of fresh newly picked veggies. The thinly sliced Peruvian white habanero adds a super kick to this tasty dinner.

I am surprised to see the blueberries ripen so early this year, as I usually think of late July as blueberry season, but I predicted this to be the year of the berry, and it seems I have called it right. Even the tangy and delectable wild black raspberries in the hedgerow are beginning to ripen early, and I got a sticky purple handful this morning for my trouble. Unfortunately, as they grown amongst the nettles, I also got a prickly wrist.

On another note, for those of you who read “the Doctor is in” I’m happy to report that my pepper plants are all thriving. Many of them lost all their dark green foliage to the cold snap we had in May, but the smaller, lighter green leaves are beginning to thicken out the plants, and on many there are the first blooms. Some did better than others and are already fruiting, hence the spicy salad, but most peppers like the heat, and will produce best from late July into early September. During this pepper heyday, you will find me in the kitchen, gloves on, chopping peppers for hot sauces and salsas as fast as I can.

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