Category Archives: Garden and Orchard

  • Mixology Monday LXXIII Cocktail: The Strawberry Witch

    May 20, 2013

    8 Comments

    The Strawberry Witch cocktail.

    The Strawberry Witch cocktail.

    Wow, time flies. It’s Mixology Monday again. It seems like we just made our CSA Gin cocktail for the last MxMo and here we are. Happily, we have another theme that is close to this wannabe farmer’s heart, “the witch’s garden”. Here are the details from this month’s host Cardiff Cocktails (an excellent site, worth a visit):

    mxmologoAs far back as we can look, the use of fresh herbs have been prevalent in the world of mixed drinks. From the early days of the julep, through Williams Terrington’s 19th century Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, to Don the Beachcomber’s ahead of their time Tiki drinks, fresh herbs have always been at the forefront of mixology. So lets take influence from the bartenders that once ruled the world of mixology, raid your herb garden that too often gets neglected, and start mixing. I don’t want to put too many limits on this theme so get as creative as you please, want to use roots, spices or beans as well? Sure thing. Want to make your own herbal infusions or tinctures? Sounds wonderful.

    witchwitch1Well, we certainly have herbs here at the farm. Mint, thyme, basil, tarragon, oregano, sage, marjoram, lemon verbena, parsley and rosemary are all in full swing. But we also have strawberries that need to be used and we wanted to play with Strawberries and thyme for a while. So we chose these as the basis for the cocktail. We also took the name of the challenge to heart and immediately looked at our bottle of Strega (“Strega” means witch in Italian) as a potential ingredient.

    witch2witch4If you are unfamiliar with Strega, it is an herbal Italian digestif that features a rich yellow color (from saffron) and sweet herbal flavors. Strega, is usually enjoyed by itself, but we have been trying to get it into our cocktails. To our tastes, Strega has mint, juniper and citrus notes, so gin seemed like a good match (and one more herbal ingredient). But we were a bit concerned about too many herbal notes, so we added some lemon juice and a splash of sparking wine to brighten, and lighten, the overall flavor of the cocktail.

    witch5So how does the Strawberry Witch taste? In a word, herbal. But in a good way. Strawberries and thyme play very well together, the Strega sweetens without being cloying and the gin, lemon and champagne add the expected bright notes. The sip is tart, with mint and thyme flavors followed by some of the lemon and sweet notes of the Strega. The strawberries do more for color and aroma than flavor, but we are OK with that.The finish is very clean, almost dry.

    witch6(One last note here. Thyme can be strong stuff. At first we muddled it along with the strawberries and some lemon peel. This was a bad idea- the thyme got harsh and bitter. The next time around we muddled the strawberries and lemon first, then added the thyme and gave it just a few nudges. This worked way better, plenty of thyme flavor but not too much. Fresh herbs vary widely in strength and flavor, but be warned, you may want to do a quick test run before you muddle your herbs.)

    witch8Thanks again to Cardiff Cocktails and Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for another great MxMo!

    The Strawberry Witch:

    Ingredients:

    • 3-4 medium strawberries
    • Lemon peel
    • 2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus some extra for garnish
    • 1 1/2 oz dry gin
    • 3/4 oz. lemon juice
    • 1/2 oz. Strega
    • 1-2 oz. sparkling wine or Champagne

    Assemble:

    1. Place the strawberries and lemon peel in the cocktail shaker. Muddle until the strawberries are a smooth purée. Then add the thyme springs and lightly muddle a few times.
    2. Add the gin, lemon juice and Stega to the cocktail shaker. Add some ice and then shake until well-chilled. Double-strain the mixture into a coupé or flute. Top with the sparkling wine and garnish with a thyme sprig. Serve.
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  • Spinach With Walnuts And Miso (Horenso No Kurumi-Ae)

    May 17, 2013

    15 Comments

    Spinach With Walnuts And Miso

    Spinach With Walnuts And Miso

    It may not sound like it, but to us, this dish is essentially “Japanese creamed spinach”. Just lighter, and probably healthier. What you get is sweet, earthy spinach with rich umami flavors and a creamy texture. This was not what we expected when we made the recipe, but we will take it. This dish is a very pleasant surprise. As Carolyn said “I could eat this every day”.

    spin4spin5spin6And I am certainly happy about that, since the recipe came from Nancy Singleton Hachisu’s excellent cookbook “Japanese Farm Food“. The cookbook was a Mother’s Day present for Carolyn and she chose the recipe. It is always good when the first recipe you try is a winner (particularly if the cookbook is a gift). And we can’t wait to try more of the recipes, a bunch of them look amazing.

    spin7spin8spin9The story behind the cookbook is also very cool. Nancy Singleton Hachisu is an American expat (from Norcal) living in northern Japan with her Japanese husband and children. They run an English language school and grow, cook and preserve their own food. Her cooking is pure, clean, simple and beautiful. This is what she serves her family. Good enough for us.

    spin10spin11spin12This recipe is also a good example of the keys to Japanese home cooking (at least, in our opinion, we do not claim to be experts). A few well-chosen ingredients matched with proper technique give you a dish that is way more than the sum of its parts. In this case you need to quickly blanch, chill and then completely drain the spinach. Squeeze out the moisture more than once. The other trick is to take your time making the dressing and then tossing/folding it into the spinach. But the attention to detail is worth it, this dish is a treat.

    spin3spinSpinach With Walnuts And Miso (Horenso No Kurumi-Ae):

    (Adapted from Nancy Singleton Hachisu)

    Notes Before You Start:

    • How you cool your spinach may depend on your kitchen layout. Just be sure to cool it quickly and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
    • Using a mortar is the more traditional approach and is easier to control (but also takes more work). If using a food processor, chop in quick pulses.

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  • Lavender, Cherries And Loquats

    May 15, 2013

    15 Comments

    cherry14cherry1The new arrivals are coming fast here at the farm. Another warm stretch brought out the Black Tartarian cherries, along with a few Vans. The rest of the Vans will be ready in a few days and the Bings should be ripe in a week or two. We love all the cherries but the small sweet/sour Tartarians are a real treat. We got them as part of a grafted “pollinator” tree, but the fruit turned out to be a real bonus. We like to cook and mix drinks with cherries, but we usually eat the first batch out of hand. This bowl of cherries is no exception.

    cherry15cherry3Meanwhile, the lavender is just starting to pop. That means bees, bees and more bees. The bees, honeybees and native bees, simply love the lavender. They will work the lavender all summer and the flowers will move and buzz all day when the sun is out. It never, never gets old- for us, or the bees.

    cherry4cherry2And we have loquats. Lots of loquats. We need to do something with them (marmalade?) this year. We know they are getting ripe, as the woodpeckers and squirrels come calling for the fruit. The woodpeckers are cool, the squirrels, not so much. The woodpeckers just take ripe fruit, we can live with that. The squirrels take a bite and drop the unripe fruit. Varmint.

    cherry9cherry10cherry11Otherwise, the garden and orchard are always in (slow) motion. Plenty of blueberries and strawberries. Raspberries will be ready tomorrow. The figs are ripening. Apples, pears, peaches and nectarines are all growing, and probably need thinning. The nasturtiums and squash are in bloom and there are tiny yellow flowers on the tomatoes. The eggplant even recovered from a serious beating (eating?) by the snails. And the roses are still roses. Have a few…

    cherry6cherry7cherry8

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  • First Harvest And A Farm Update

    May 7, 2013

    30 Comments

    Blueberries. They were good.

    Blueberries. They were good.

    “Harvest” is a relative term around here. We have herbs and potatoes most of the year, and citrus over the winter (and spring). But each year’s harvest really starts when we get blueberries and strawberries. To us, these are the signals of a new year in the garden.

    harvest2harvest5And so it begins again. Use whatever cheesy metaphor you want about springtime, it still rings true. Life continues, life starts again. It is a worth an extra moment to take a step back and enjoy the miracle of life, and tending a garden (preferably with the ones you love) is a very good place to do it.

    harvest4harvest6And the work also starts again. We will cop to getting some help this year with netting and (organically) spraying the orchard. The trees are too big to do it ourselves, and the varmints will take everything if we don’t have the nets. But we are back to thinning, planting, spreading compost, acidifying soil and generally schlepping around the garden. But a few early blueberries and strawberries are a very welcome reward. A big heat snap got the berries going and (along with the artichokes, herbs and roses) they are off and running, with no end in sight.

    harvest1harvest7We also have hints of what’s to come. The Van cherries are a week or two out, the Bings probably a few weeks later. Golden raspberries will get sweet with the next stretch of warm weather. Peaches, nectarines, apples, pears and figs are all maturing on the tree, but have months to go. The lavender is sending up canes, and when they flower the bees will be here from dawn to dusk. And we have our first tomato blossoms. Nice. Slugs ate our young eggplant. Not so nice.

    harvest3

    Tomatoes are coming…just not soon enough.

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  • Royal Potato Salad

    May 2, 2013

    45 Comments

    potatopotato3Well, if it’s “Royal” it has to be good. And it is. Very. But we do smirk at the name of the recipe. It comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s (YO) cookbook “Plenty“. If you are unfamiliar with “YO” he is the hottest vegetarian cookbook author of the moment (he isn’t a vegetarian, but he’s rolling- we jokingly call him “the vegetable whisperer”.) And if you sense a bit of intense jealousy suspicion, you are might be right. But good food is good food, and this recipe is a winner. We aren’t proud, if a dish tastes good, we will make it. Often, if the kids like it.

    potato5potato4And many of the recipes in the cookbook are true winners. There are also some recipes that require way, WAY, too much work for what you might get- but for the most part we are big fans. And YO does know his flavors. But, like many restaurant chefs, YO will ask you to do work that simply isn’t worth it, but looks/sounds good at the time. Chefs do that sometimes. Chefs are not home cooks, and they just can’t help themselves.

    potato6potato7In this case YO asks you to make a very tasty potato salad with a bright pesto sauce and peas, but then adds halved, soft-boiled quail eggs. We like quail eggs, and used them in the recipe, but you can’t tell us that quartered hard-boiled chicken eggs wouldn’t work just as well (maybe better). And after you try to peel a dozen quail eggs, you might agree. But maybe that is what makes the recipe “royal”….whatever. (Actually it is named after Jersey Royal potatoes…but why let the facts get in the way of some good snark?)

    potato9potato10As for the rest of the recipe, this is the good stuff. Boiled waxy potatoes with a herbaceous, not too garlicky pesto, peas and soft-boiled eggs is a lovely dish. We did adapt the recipe for more herbs, particularly parsley, in the pesto. But this is where you can play around to fit your tastes. But what you get is a mix of bright, earthy, sweet, herbal and umami flavors along with soft and slightly crunchy textures. If this sounds like a restaurant-quality dish, that’s because it is. We have come to accept that YO is truly a “vegetable whisperer”.

    potato11potato13potato14potato15Royal Potato Salad:

    (Adapted from “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi)

    Notes Before You Start:

    You need “waxy” new potato varieties, or Yukon Golds in a pinch. Russets will not work here, as they will fall apart.

    You can play with the proportions of parsley and basil in this recipe. If your basil is fresh and flavorful, lead with it. Otherwise go with more parsley, it makes for very good pesto.

    Ingredients:

    (serves 4-6)

    • 10 quail eggs or 4 chicken eggs
    • 1 cup frozen peas
    • 2 pounds new or “waxy” potatoes
    • 3/4 cup basil leaves
    • 3/4 cup Italian parsley (plus more for garnish)
    • 1/3 cup pine nuts
    • 1/2 cup, about 2 oz. grated parmesan cheese
    • 1 clove garlic, lightly crushed
    • 1 cup olive oil
    • Dash of vinegar
    • 1 bunch (handful) mint leaves, shredded
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

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  • Meyer Lemon Sorbet

    April 29, 2013

    33 Comments

    Meyer Lemon Sorbet.

    Meyer Lemon Sorbet.

    Life was “in the way” last week, so it has been a long gap between posts. We get a little twitchy if we don’t get to cook, so it is nice to be back. Happily, we still have Meyer lemons on the tree. But time is running short on our favorite citrus, so we made lemon sorbet to get ourselves back on the “blogging track”. After all, if life gives you lemons, make lemon sorbet (umm….or something like that….maybe Lemondrops….whatever).

    lsorbet4lsorbet6And there are few desserts that give you this much flavor for so little effort. Lemons, water, sugar (maybe a touch of booze- we will explain). Heat, then cold. That is really it. You do need an ice cream maker (although granita is another option), but ice cream makers are cheap, most work well, and you get a good return on your investment. We think smiles make for good ROI. And with summer coming, sorbet will please just about anyone.

    lsorbet5lsorbet7But, like all good things, there are a few tips and techniques that will make your sorbet kick serious a$$ the best it can be. Sorbet is basically frozen fruit juice and extra sugar. Pretty simple stuff. But you can control the flavor and texture. For flavor, first pick good fruit. Second, if using citrus add some zest into the mixture. There is a lot of flavor in the zest, so it you want more depth, this is the way to get it. You can put the zest into the final sorbet mixture, and that is OK, but it is best to incorporate the zest into the sugar syrup to extract the most flavor. (If you are hardcore you can make an oleo- saccharum syrup- see here.) Once you get the flavor of the zest you can keep it or strain it, your call. We strain. And we add a touch of Limoncello to the sorbet, this does add flavor, but it is really about texture.

    lsorbet8lsorbet9And texture is where the action is. Good fruit gives your sorbet good flavor. But technique gives your sorbet that magically soft, yet still “icy”, texture. Happily, the techniques are easy. To start, just be sure that your mixture is well-chilled when you put it into the ice cream maker / churn. The colder the mixture, the smaller the ice crystals. The smaller the ice crystals, the smoother the sorbet. You can chill the mixture in the fridge or, if you are in a hurry, use an ice bath. But you need the mixture to be under 45 degrees. The other tip is to add a touch of booze. Alcohol inhibits freezing and ice crystal formation- so a few tablespoons of spirits (maybe of Limoncello, vodka or Sauternes if you have it), will smooth out your sorbet. You can omit this step, but it is a negligible amount of alcohol, and the results will be worth it.

    lsorbet11lsorbet13lsorbet12If you follow these steps, you will have some very tasty sorbet. It doesn’t need anything extra. But in case you want to take things to the next level, you may want to drizzle on some sour cherry syrup. Sour cherry lemonade sorbet? Oh yes. And if you really want to impress, put a scoop of the sorbet in a cocktail class and then fill the glass halfway with champagne. Oh my….

    Add some sour cherry syrup...you won't be sorry...

    Add some sour cherry syrup…you won’t be sorry…

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