Garden pictures August 2013 -  Average High  temp right now is 100 so we are limited in what we can grow. We finally pulled the tomatoes and cucumbers over the weekend.  This is what we are left with.

a bunch of pepper

black-eyed peas

butternut squash

Okra

Eggplant

Sweet Pepper

Arugula

Roasted Beet, Arugula and Quinoa Salad

We had a few beets leftovr so I decided to roast them up and toss them with some rd quinoa and some fresh Arugula just picked from the garden.  I sed a red quinoa here.  Yummy.

2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cups of dried quinoa cooked per directions)

4-5 beets peeled cut into 1/2 inch diced pieces

1 bunch arugula chopped rough

2 oz of goat cheese

2-3 scallions chopped

Citrus Vinegarette

Coat the beets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.Roast the beets for 20 minutes at 375.  Cool

When Quinao is room temperature add the rest of the ingredients and toss.

Citrus Vinegarette

1 tsp grated orange peel

Juice of 1 orange

2 oz Grapefruit or white balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp of salt

2 oz of good quality olive oil.

Combine all ingredients in a jar, cover with lid and shake.  

Peppers

IT is now August which makes it pepper season.  We have really been enjoying the Shishito Peppers.  We are amazed at the output.  We get 1-2 good sized batches a week.  These are the perfect appetizer.

Grilled Shishitos

Pick the Shishitos -  sprinkle with olive oil and salt.  Grill on a grill pan in a hot grill for about 3-5 minutes until they are just starting to brown.  Eat with a sauce of mayo and Sriracha.

The sweet pepper plant this year is producing more peppers than we know what to do with.  I decided to stuff them to recreate a dish we had in Upstate NY last summer.

NY style grilled and stuffed peppers.

8 oz links of Italian Sausage

4 oz of cream cheese

Brown Sausage  until cooked -  cool slightly

Mix cream cheese and sausage.  Remove tops of peppers and remove membranes and seeds.  Stuff peppers with mixture.  Bale or grill at 375 about 15-20 minutes until peppers are soft and starting to brown.

More Shrubs and Juicing

So we took advantage of some of the summer fruit and mades some more shrubs.  Watermelon, Cucumber and Peach.

We have been making some tasty cocktails with these shrubs.  The strawberry in the center is best just added to sparkling water.

Watermelon, mint and white balsamic

Cucumber, lavender and aged white wine vinegar

Peach, ginger and white balamic

Here is the process:

Slice and cut into small piece 2 cups of leftover fruit (strawberries, peaches, berries, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes... you get the drift whatever you have an abundance of)  add equal amounts of sugars in a ceramic bowl.  Add any aromatics.  Cover and leave on the counter for 1-2 days.  The mixture will become very syrupy.  Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vinegar (any kind except  distilled white viengar -  balsamics, apple cider, red or white wine will all work) .  At this point I usually put the whole bowl in the refrigerator because I have one, but in the old days I would assume they would have kept in in a cool place.  Let it sit for 3-7 days,  strain out the solids and stored in a jar.  Since it is a vinegar you can store in the pantry but I usually keep mine in the refrigerator.

Peach and Bourbon cooler

1 oz of peach shrub

2 oz of bourbon

juice of 1/2 lime

ice

sparkling water

mix first 4 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with sparking water to taste.

The shrub on the left was made from an orange watermelon.  We find this one goes best with vodka.

Watermelon Cooler

1 oz watermelon Shrub

2 oz vodka

1/2 oz St Germaine

juice of 1 lime

sparkling water

mix first 4 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with sparking water to taste.

I finally broke down and bought a juicer this year.  Mostly because of the tremendous amount of carrots, but I have also been juicing my cucumbers.   I like Gin and Tonics with the cucumber juice so I froze it in ice trays and stored the cubes in a ziploc in the freezer,  I can have G&T's with cucumber juice even when I don't have cucumbers to juice.

The Best G and T Ever

1 Oz cucumber juice 

1/2 oz CucumberShrub

2 oz gin

1/2 oz Kings Ginger Liquor

juice of 1 lime
2 drops lavender bitters

tonic water

mix first 6 in a shaker pour over ice and top off with tonic water to taste.

Shrubs and Drinking Vinegars

We went to the Austin Food and Wine festival in April.  The huge take away we came out with was a class on Shrubs and Drinking Vinegars.  So what is a Shrub or drinking vinegar?  These are basically a way to preserve fruits and vegetable in a liquid form.  They were used back in the days before electricity to preserve the fresh fruit.  These shrubs can be added to sparkling water to create a flavored soda.  They are also excellent mixers for cocktail and are currently the rage in the cocktail scene.  They couldn't be easier to make.   Basically equal parts of chopped and peeled fruit and vegetables, sugar and vinegar.  You can also add aromatics such as herbes and spices, lemon and orange peel to add flavor.

Here is the process:

Slice and cut into small piece 2 cups of leftover fruit (strawberries, peaches, berries, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes... you get the drift whatever you have an abundance of)  add equal amounts of sugars in a ceramic bowl.  Add any aromatics.  Cover and leave on the counter for 1-2 days.  The mixture will become very syrupy.  Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vinegar (any kind except  distilled white viengar -  balsamics, apple cider, red or white wine will all work) .  At this point I usually put the whole bowl in the refrigerator because I have one, but in the old days I would assume they would have kept in in a cool place.  Let it sit for 3-7 days,  strain out the solids and stored in a jar.  Since it is a vinegar you can store in the pantry but I usually keep mine in the refrigerator.

Combinations I have tried so far:

Strawberry, black pepper and white balsamic
Beet, Orange peel, and apple cide vinegar
Carrot, Orange Peel, grated ginger and champagne vinegar.

Beet and Ginger Cosmo

1 part/oz Beet and Orange Shrub
2 parts/oz Vodka
1/2 part/oz ginger liquor such as Kings Ginger
sparking water to taste

Combine and pour over ice garnish with orange slice and candied ginger

So many Beets and Carrots

We have had a bumper crop of Beets and CArrots this year.  John planted a new carrot called the Atomic Reds.  These are a beautiful scarlet color and they are about 12-14 inches long.  We will definitely plant these again.  My favorate beet is the Cylikndras.  These are, as the name promises, more of a cylinder than an ball shaep.  This makes them much easier to peel and also slice to grill.

I tried a new take on the a roasted beet salad.  Since it is June and we now have the AC on in the house we try hard not to use the oven.  So I sliced up the beets and carrots along with some julienned red onion and placed them in a aluminum baking pan.  Added some olive oil and seasoning and then heated up our gas grill.
I placed the whole pan on the rack in the grill noting that the temp was about 350-400.  I baked them in the grill for 20 minutes stirring after 10.  It worked like a champ.

Roasted/grilled Beet and Carrot Salad

Grill or Roast (see above note)  2 large peeled and sliced beets and 2  peeled carrots sliced on the diagonal

and 1 small red onion julienned.

Dressing - 2 tbsp blood orange flavored olive oil ) if you do not have blood orange oilve oil use regular with a tsp of grated orange rind)

                2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

                salt and pepper to tates

2 tbspn goat cheese

2 tbspn chopped mint

2 tbspn chopped roasted walnuts (optional)

Once roasted and cooled combine with dressing and top with goat cheese and mint and nuts.

We roasted a duck which we purchased from Sebastien at the downtown farmer's market a couple of weeks ago.  The duck came out beautiful but we had tons of leftovers since it was just John and I.  We ended up deboning the meat and made duck broth from the bones as giblets.  The bird came with the head attached which isn't something you see every day.  We ended up adding that to the broth as well.

So now what to do with all the leftover duck.  I looked in the refigerator and saw I also had a bunch of leftover mashed potatoes so Shepard's Pie it is.

I went out and picked some carrots, parsnips and a little swiss chard to add to the pie.  I also had some mushrooms so I will add that to the mix as well.  Shepard's pie is great as you can use whatever meat and vegetbles you happen to have on hand.  I save the duck fat so that is what I used to saute the veggies.

Shepard's Pie

2 parsnips peeled and cubed.

2 carrots peeled and cubed

3 tbsp duck fat ( or bacon fat or olive oil or coconut oil)

1 onions chopped

2 bay leaves

1 teasppon fresh thyme

2 cups chopped duck ( or beef or port or chicken)

1/2 red wine,

1 cup stock -  I used half chicken and half beef -  I had already frozen the duck stock o r I would have used that

1/4 cup tomato sauce or 2 tbsp tomato paste.

2 tbsp oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 ups chopped swiss chard

2 cups mashed potatoes

Heat the fat in a medium dutch oven on the stove and saute the parsnips, carrots onion, thyme and bay leaves until tenders about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Add the meat, wine and stock simmer for about 45 minutes until sauce us thick and reduced.  

Saute mushrooms and Swiss chard in the oil fir about 10 minutes. (I used duck fat here again as I happened to have some.  If I hadn't I would have used coconut or oil oil.).   Layer on top of the meat and veggie mixture.

Add the mashed potatoes to the top of this and add some grated parmesan on top of the potatoes.  Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes until top is golden brown and it is heated through.

Beets and beet greens.

We love beets and I am always trying new recipes.  This year I also discovered beet greens.   We used to chunk these in the compost pile but now I save them and saute them up.  Here are a couple of new recipes I tried out.

Spiced Beets with  Beet greens

This is a variation of a Cooking light recipe.

3-4 beets with beet greens.

2 tbsp oil or coconut oil.

2 tbsp minced shallots

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 carrot diced

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp ground red pepper (I used ground peppers from my garden)  Red chili pepper will do.

3 tbsp  chopped cilantro

Remove greens, wash and chop Set greens aside.  Boil whole beets for 30-50 minutes until tender.  Peel and cut into quarters or eighths depending on how big your beet is.  We are looking for bite sized pieces.

Heat a saucepan over med high heat.  Add oil and 5 ingredients and cooks 2 minutes.

add next group of ingredients and cooked beets greens (see below) and cilantro.

Sauteed Beet Greens

1 tbsp oil oil

1/2 onion (I like the red onion for this)  julienned

3 garlic cloves minced

Beet Greens

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth.

Heat oil in skillet.  Add onion and cooks until soft, add garlic and beet greens and vinegar cook until greens have wilted add broth and cook about 5 minutes until soft 

Beetnini

12 servings

This is a recipe I have found from Bon Appetit.  I like the idea of the infused vodka without all the extra not so natural flavorings so I am giving it a shot.  The Vodka is still in the fridge so I will let you know how it turns out.

Vodka and Syrup

6 medium beets

1 750 ml bottle vodka

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp grated peeled ginger

3/4 cup water

Assembly

3 oz fresh lemon juice

3 oz fresh lime juice

12 lemon slices

Cook the beets in boiling water until tender 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the beets.  We use the Cylindra beets with are longer and do not take as long to cook. Drain, cool slightly and peel. add to a 1 1/2 qt jar.  This is another use for all those saved jars. Add vodka to cover. Save the vodka bottle.  Cover and chill for 5 days and up to 1 week.  Strain and pour back into vodka bottle.   Cover and chill.

Bring Sugar, ginger and water to boil in a saucepan stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Let cook and strain out ginger.  Store in another jar.  Cover and Chill.

To make the cocktail

Combine 2 oz beet vodka, 1/2 oz ginger syrup, 1/4 oz each of the lemon and lime juice in a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a martini glass. float a lemon slice on top.

UPDATE:  Ok the finished product was OK but I concoted another vairation that I ended up liking much better.  I had grated the rind off an orange so I juiced the orance.  I also had a meyer lemon so I added the juice of this instead of the lemon and lime I used in the recipe.  I also substituted St Germaine for the ginger syrup.  Also I topped the cocktail off with a little sparking water.

Green Chili Quiche

I used to think that making pie crust skipped a generation in my family as my daughter made great crusts as did my mother, while the skill seemed to totally elude me.  Finally I found this recipe  and now I can almost always create the perfect crust.

2 Cups flour

1 stick chilled unsalted butter

4 tbsp chilled shortening

1/2 tsp salt

Using a food processor and the dough blade.  Add the flour and salt.  Cube the shortening and butter and add.  Process until crumbly.  Fill a liquid measure with ICE and water.  Slowly add to the flour mixture while the machine is running.  Stop adding water once the mixture begins to form a ball.  Usually 3-4 tbsp of water total.  Roll and place in pie pan, crimping edges as you like.  

This recipe will make plenty of pastry for a 1 crust pie with scrap leftover.  

For a quiche bake at 350 for 25 minutes after lining with wax paper and adding dried beans or rice.

Once partially baked remove the paper and beans.

For the filling:

1 cup chopped ham or cooked bacon

1 cup chopped green chilis -  I use the ones I froze from my garden last summer.

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

2 cups half and half

salt and pepper 

Add the first three ingredients to the partially baked pie shell.  Combine the rest of the ingredients and beat until eggs are totally mixed.  Pour into pie shell and bake for 45 minutes or until quiche is set.  @350.

Morning Muffins

I make these about once a year when we pull the carrot crop and put them in the freezer. Then I get to enjoy them for weeks.  I love the consistency of them.  They are kinds of spongy and very tasty. AS a bonus they have lots of fruit and veggies.

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup ground flax seeds (I grind mine in a spice grinder)

3/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking power

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamon (if desired)

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded carrots

2 cups shredded apples

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup nuts chopped (if desired)

Prepare muffin tins by spraying with non stick spray.  Combine first set of ingredients in large bowl.  Combine second set and add to first.  Add remaining ingredients.   Fill cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Makes 2 dozen.

Seeds to Starts

John is on a new mission to only plant from seeds in the garden so he has been scouring heirloom seed catalogs and has purchased seeds for both pepper and tomato heirlooms.  We found out last year that the heirloom varieties seemed to be more resistant to the leaf loppers that pretty much destroyed our tomatoes last year. So we are trying something new.

We have planted 7 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.  Black Krim, Brandywine, Beef Steak, Cherokee Purple, Sweet 100 Cherry, a Japanese variety called Katana, and Red Siberian.  

A Very Pretty Cauliflower 

This year was the first year we have successfully planted everything from seed for the fall garden.  We planted several varieties of cauliflower including the very pretty green spiky cauliflower and this purple one.

One of my favorite cauliflower recipes is super easy to make and very yummy.  It is from Bon Appetit.

Roasted Cauliflower with Chick Peas and Olives

1 head of cauliflower 2-4 cups cut into small florets

1 can garbanzo or chickpeas drained

20 pitted  and stuffed green olives chopped

8 cloves of garlic rough chopped

1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes

3 tblspoon of Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a baking pan.  Roast at 400 degrees  for 20-25 minutes  stirring after 10 minutes.

Austin Food and Wine Chef Inspiration Dinner with Chef David Bull.

John and I were lucky enough to attend a wonderful dinner at the 55th floor of the new Austonian Building.  It was a fundraiser for the Austin Food and Wine Alliance.  For this series of events the Chefs are asked to prepare a menu of what inspires them.  In this Case the Chef David Bull drew on his family for his inspiration.  He prepared dishes based on childhood memories at his Grandparents restaurant in New York which was a family run enterprise.  Needless to say it was fabulous from the Negroni cocktails and Pepperoni soup to the Veal tenderloin and Godfather cocktails which ended the evening.  All with the spectacular backdrop of the Austin Skyline.  A night to remember.

A few garden pictures.  As you can see we still have quite a bit despite all the days below freezing.  So far we have been lucky this year and not had any days below 20.

This is our parsnip patch and I am very excited about these.  We haven't harvested any yet but we should be able to soon.  I can't wait.

These are our Tuscan kale plants.  As you can see by the bare stems we have been able to harvest quite a bit.  This is one of those great bang for the buck crops.  This is only 5 plants but they just keep growing so you harvest the bottom leaves and new ones grow.  So there is a VERY long growing season for these which is good since we really like kale.  It is so versatile.  It can be eaten cooked or raw.  Kale chips are one of my favorites.

These two trays are our 2013 tomato starts.  We are only growing heirlooms this year.  8 different kinds.  Right now they are out side enjoying the sunshine.  We will bring them in this afternoon so they don't get too cold tonight.

John planted a bunch of Radicchio this year and it is ready to be picked. I need to use it up as he wants to use the space to plant something else.   I have a few recipes that I use with Radicchio but I went on the prowl for some new ones.  Here is one I tried last night.

Grilled Radicchio Salad

2 small heads of Radicchio quartered.
Shaved parmisan cheese
Balsamic Dressing

Douse the radicchio with some olive oil salt and pepper.

Grill until wilted and browned but not burned.
Chop, add dressing and coat.  Top with shaved  asiago.

Balsamic Dressing

1/4 cup Balsamic (I used a Mandarin Flavored Balsamic from Texas Olive Ranch)
1/4 cup good quallity olive oil
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
pinch of salt

Add all ingredients to a jar, cover and shake.  Store leftovers in frig.

Happy 2013 -  I am going to try and make a concentrated effort to blog more frequently this year.  There are a couple of things I have been experimenting with from the garden.  First, as usual for January, I find a surplus of daikon radish.  I really like the Japanese style pickles so I thought I would try to pickle some daikon's and carrots.  Since I had some leftover pickling juice I also cut up some beets and pickled them too.  They look so pretty in the jars and they taste wonderful.  It is also a pretty guilt free snack after all the excesses from the holidays.  Adding the coriander and mustard seeds was a tip from my fellow Green Corn Borad member Carla.

Easy Pickled Daikon and Carrot

1 cup water
1/2 cup Japanese rice vinegar or 
1 tsp five spice powder
2½ tsp sea salt
5 tbsp sugar
½ tsp peppercorns
1 bay leaf

3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds


Carrots - cut into 2-3 inch large julieanne sticks -  use the french fry sliced if you have a mandoline
Daikon Rafish -  cut same size as carrots
1 fresh chilli sliced

Heat the first set of ingredients until the salt and sugar is disolved.

Add the peppers, carrots and daikon into a large jar and cover with the pickling liquid..  If you have a large mason jar with a lid this works.  I reuse jars so I just grab some .  Depending on how many jars and carrots and daikon you have you can adjust how much liquid you will need to pickle.    The amounts here are enough for one large jar.  I just store the jar in the refrigerator and it should be good for 2 weeks.  Pickles are ready after 2 days.

Picture is what is left of our daikon crop in this years garden