Cabbage Kale and Bread Soup!

Once again, the garden provides inspiration! We grew several Savoy cabbages in the garden this year. This cabbage is just spectacular! I have made this soup several times, however, never with homegrown Savoy cabbage. I picked it from the garden moments before it went into the chicken stock…can’t get much fresher than that.
This recipe is so with the trouble and time. You will need to multi task to keep the prep time to a minimum. Please do not let the anchovies scare you they melt in the bacon fat or you can just skip them and add salt!
So here is what you will need

Ingredients
• 3 quarts good-quality chicken (I like College Inn BOLD in the brown box)
• 1 Savoy cabbage, stalks removed, outer leaves separated, washed and roughly chopped
• 2 big handfuls of kale, stalks removed, leaves washed roughly chopped
• About 16 slices stale Italian bread
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• Olive oil
• 1 pound of bacon cut into lardons
• 1 (4-ounce) can anchovy fillets, in oil
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 7 ounces fontina cheese, grated
• 5 ounces freshly grated Parmesan, plus a little for serving
• Sea salt (if you are not using anchovies)
• Couple large knobs butter
• Small bunch fresh sage, leaves picked

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan and add the cabbage and kale. Cook for a few minutes until softened (I did this in 2 batches). Remove the cabbage and kale to a large bowl, leaving the stock in the pan.

Toast all but 5 of the bread slices or in a toaster or on a cookie sheet in your oven, then rub them on 1 side with the garlic as they come out of the oven or toaster, and set aside.

Next, heat a large deep fry pan on the stovetop, start to fry your lardons of bacon (lardon is bacon cut into rectangular pieces) now add your anchovies. When the bacon is golden brown and sizzling add the anchovies. Once the anchovies are melted, add the rosemary and cooked cabbage and toss to coat the greens in all the lovely flavors. Put the mixture and all the juices back into the large bowl.

Place 4 of the toasted slices in the casserole-type dish, in 1 layer. Spread over 1/3 of the cabbage leaves, sprinkle over a 1/4 of the grated fontina and Parmesan and add a drizzle of olive oil. Repeat this twice, but don't stress if your pan's only big enough to take layers - that's fine. Just pour in all the juices remaining in the bowl and end with a layer of untoasted bread on top. Push down on the layers with your hands.

Pour the stock gently over the top until it just comes up to the top layer. Push down again and sprinkle over the remaining fontina and Parmesan. Add a good pinch of salt if you did not add the anchovies and drizzle over some good-quality olive oil. Bake in the preheated oven for around 30 minutes, or until crispy and golden on top.

When the soup is ready, divide it between your bowls. Melt the butter in a frying pan and quickly fry the sage leaves until they're just crisp and the butter is lightly golden (not burned!). Spoon a bit of the flavored butter and sage leaves over the soup and add another grating of Parmesan. Such a great combo!
This is a great hearty dish for those crisp cool nights!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW TO SEE THE STEP BY STEP PHOTOS

Cabbage Soup

Smoked Salsa

We have an abundance of tomatoes and peppers from our garden. It has been a banner year for tomatoes since we had so much rain early in the season! Therefore, we decided to make salsa with our harvest.

7 pounds of chopped tomatoes
1 pound of finely diced peppers
1 large red and yellow onion chopped
1 head of garlic chopped
1 bunch of cilantro (just the leaves)
1 bunch of thyme (just the leaves)
6 red hot peppers chopped
3 tablespoons of kosher salt
2 ounces of lime juice
6 shakes of Tabasco Smoked Chipotle sauce
1 capful of liquid smoke

First, we boiled the jars, rings and lids to sterilize. Chopped all the ingredients. In a pan with hot oil we added the onions let them cook for about one minute then add the garlic. We then added the peppers and tomatoes salt, hot peppers, lime juice, Tabasco and the liquid smoke. This cooked for about 8-9 minutes we then added the cilantro and thyme.

The mixture was removed from the stove and we began to fill the jars with the salsa. We wiped the edge of each jar with a clean paper towel then lifted the lid with a magnet and placed the lid on the top of the jar. You need to be careful not to touch the sterilized lids and jars so your salsa does not become contaminated, Once the lid is in place we twisted the rings in place to hold the lids. Back into the boiling water bath. The jars boiled for 15 minutes and were removed from the water and allowed to cool. As the jars are cooling, you will hear the lids popping and sealing themselves. If they do not pop, you can push them down and as long as they do not pop back up it is a good seal! Once completed cooled we removed the rings and labeled the salsa. Good eats!!!

TO SEE THE PHOTO ALBUM OF THE PROCESS CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW

Smoked Salsa

From Vine to Dine!

There is nothing better than a tomato fresh from the garden! This year we planted nine tomato plants; eight we hung upside down in baskets and one we planted in the ground. What we did not plan on was the nine that grew from tomatoes that fell on the ground last year and germinated in to plants!

Tonight was to hot and sticky to cook and I have been waiting for the perfect moment to pick the first tomato and consume immediately. Tonight was the night. (Some tomatoes had been picked and snacked on but none had made it in to the house!)

I ventured outside in the hot and humid air to pick some yellow Lemon Drops, some Sweet Baby Girls and one huge Brandy Boy along with green beans, purple pod beans a cucumber and some basil. The Brandy Boy weighed in at 1 pound 9 ounces! As I was assembling dinner the Lemon Drops and Sweet Baby Girls disappeared – Phil and Mia ate them; I guess they were hungry!

I had picked up a French Baguette at the farmers market sliced it open gave it a sprinkle of Olive Oil, Balsamic vinegar, a nice slice of homemade mozzarella cheese and a better slice of that vine ripe Brandy Boy tomato, I added some coarse ground sea salt and a few leaves of garden fresh basil. The perfect dinner – from vine to dine with in minutes cannot get much fresher than that!

TO SEE ALL PHOTOS IN THE ALBUM CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW

Garden Update 8.20.09

When Life Hands You Cucumbers

I must have planted too many cucumber plants! We can’t keep up eating them so what do you do when life hands you cucumbers…make pickles! I love crunchy refrigerator pickles the “clausen” type so this recipe fit’s the bill

Fermented Dill Pickles – Refrigerated “Clausen” Type

Pickling Cucumbers
12 Fresh Dill Flower heads, or
2 Tbsp Dried dill weed and
2 Tbsp. Dried dill seed
10 to 12 Cloves Garlic
6 to 8 Peppercorns
1/4 Cup Vinegar
1/2 Cup Salt
1 1/2 Quarts Water

Rinse but do not wash the cucumbers. In your container add garlic, peppercorns, and vinegar. Dissolve salt in water and add to container. Stir. Add your cucumbers and dill. Fill container the remaining way with water. Cover.

Fermentation sequence
1. Clear brine – no cloudiness for 1 to 3 days
2. Cloudy brine with gas formation, 2-3 days
3. Cloudy brine – no gas formation, 5 to 6 days

Pickles ready to eat after 10-11 days.
Refrigerate pickles if you do not want to process them.

To process the pickles
Fill clean, sterilized quart jars with pickles to within 1/2inch of the top. Wipe, seal, and process in a hot water bath at 170 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and place on towel in a draft free area. Let jars stand for 12 hours. Label and date. Store in a dark, cool area.

TO SEE THE PROCESS CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW

Clausen style dill pickles

Garden Update 7.26.09

More rain and some sun this week. Our squash plants look very water logged and I’m not sure we are going to get very much of anything out of them this year. The tomatoes, carrots, peppers and cukes are looking great. The second planting of beans, peas, radishes and beets are looking just fine. What I can not get over is one of the grape vines we planted last fall is growing very fast the other three vines are doing ok but the Niagara Grape has officially reached the top of the pergola; 11 feet high. The other vines do not get as much sun as that one so maybe that is a factor. It is just amazing to watch.

Took some photos of the fruit trees as well. The cherry seems to be growing the most and the pear tree has some sort of squash growing with it. It must have been from a seed that was in our compost pile, we amended the soil with our compost when we planted the trees. So we will have to wait and see what type of squash we are growing.

One of the many mystery tomato plants is most likely a roma tomato by the looks of the shape, can’t tell the variety of the other mystery tomato plants we will just have to wait and see.

This week I have started to keep a log of how many pounds of produce we are growing in the garden; this weeks take a 7 pounds - we harvested Cucumbers (2 ¼ pounds), raspberries, purple pod beans, green beans, purple potatoes (1 lb 1 oz), red bliss potatoes, lettuce, radish, yellow and white carrots and banarama peppers. Next year I will keep track from the first harvest…don’t know why I did not think of this
sooner!!

TO SEE THE PHOTO ALBUM CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW

Garden Update 7.26.09

Garden Update 7.19.09

What a difference some sun makes!! The tomatoes are looking so much better; things seem to be growing and are no longer at a standstill. I cannot get over how large and prolific the red raspberries are this year. I have been picking at least one bowl full per day and the birds and squirrels have not seemed to have discovered them YET!!

The tomatoes seemed to have set quite a bit of fruit this week. The lemon drop tomatoes are loaded with fruits and flowers; health kick has a nice cluster of tomatoes on it; the 4th of July tomato is getting bigger and the Brandy Boy is going wild! The tomatoes planted in the ground and the mystery tomatoes that are just popping up from seeds left in the ground from last year are doing better than the hanging tomatoes. I will hang the tomatoes again though since they do not take up space in the garden and allow us to grow more in such a small space.

On one of our visits to the local farmers market, we found a curry plant. I had never seen one before so of course we bought it!! When you rub the leaves, it smells just like curry. The woman who sold it to us told us to dry then grind the spice not to use it fresh. I just love the framers market you never know what you are going to find!

This week for garden maintance, I mulched with grass clippings, pulled the peas and weeded. The grass clippings seem to be working well with keeping the weeds down but I just cant mulch the whole garden especially where I just sowed the radishes, beets, peas and beans!!
We had a good harvest this week about ¼ pound of the blue and yellow peas the last of those till fall; ½ pound of purple pod beans; ¼ pound of green beans; 2 pints of red raspberries and one perfect zucchini!

To see the photo album click on the photo below

Garden Update 7.19.09

Garden Update 7.12.09

More rain this week, however, we have had 3 days of sunshine, it just rained at night. This week I harvested most of the beets, radishes and waterlogged onions. I sowed lots of beets and some radish in that area.

The peas are starting to die back so I planted more for a fall crop. The beans are looking great and we have had a good harvest, however, planted some more beans as well. Looking forward to a bountiful fall harvest of peas and beans.

Earlier this week I harvested some compost from the worm bin and fed the tomatoes, cauliflower, and zucchini. Today I went to the grass clipping compost heap and remulched the beans, potatoes, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. The grass clippings are doing a great job of keeping the weeds down and do not seem to be adding too much nitrogen to the soil. In the grass clipping compost pile was also add ash from the wood oven so I think we have a good balance.

Hoping the sun keeps shining!

To see the photo album click on the photo below

Garden update 7.12.09

Garden Update 7.5.09

This week we picked quite a bit of the yellow and blue peas, purple pod beans, lettuce and a few radishes and red raspberries. The weather seems to be trying to turn, still seems to rain every day but at least we are having a few hours of sunshine to make the garden grow.

The tomatoes are always the stars of the garden, I am starting to see some fruit, but still seem to have tons of flowers, the progress seems so slow. We have fruit on the 4th of July, brandy boy and health kick tomato varieties.

The summer squash grows but the minute, as does one grape vine “Niagara”. I swear if I sat outside all day, I could watch it grow!

Today I added worm compost to the hanging tomato baskets and the cabbage; hopefully we will see the benefits of adding the worm’s hard work in the next couple of weeks.

To see the album click on the photo below

Garden update 7.4.09

Garden Update June 27, 2009

Here comes the sun! After weeks of rain, drizzle and overcast days we finally have a sunny day and it looks like we have a few in a row with just threats of thunderstorms. Over the past 2 weeks, we have harvested peas, strawberries, lettuce and radishes. I am anxiously awaiting our first tomato!

The tomato plants have tons of flowers and the ones that had been fed worm tea from our vermicomposting bin have taken off as well as the petunias that are planted in the top of our upside down tomatoes. We also rotated the hanging baskets to ensure they all get a good dose of sun!

As I photographed the garden today, I noticed that the cucumbers that I sowed directly in the garden are doing much better than the ones I had started indoors. I guess I will not be starting cucumbers inside again. They mystery tomatoes are doing well and have found several more in the lettuce patch I am going to let them do their own thing and hope we have a very bountiful tomato harvest.

The fruit trees we planted in June all have leaves on them and seem to be adjusting well to their new surroundings. I put a treatment of calcium fertilizer on them this week so we will see if this boosts the growth rate.

Hoping that Mother Nature has shut off the steady supply of water and she sees fits to only rain occasionally for the rest of the summer!

To see the album click on the photo below

Garen update 6.27.09

We may have Grapes!

Rain, Rain and more Rain, and the forecast is for rain until Thursday. I cannot remember when the sun last came out! It seems that we had a slight break in the weather so I took a stroll in the garden and picked some radish and 13 small strawberries. This is the first year for the strawberry plants so we are not expecting too much, they are very sweet and will produce all season. Next year we should have a better harvest since the plants will be better established.

Last fall we planted 4 grape vines (3 different varieties). Our goal is to train the vines to grow over the pergola so we can have some shade on the patio. Upon taking a close look at one of the vines, I think we may have some grapes forming! This vine was to last to produce leaves and the first to have grapes forming! Can’t figure out Mother Nature!

Click on the photo below to see the album

Grapes?

Mystery Tomato

Another week of rain!! Mother Nature we need to sun so our vegetables will grow!

As I was photographing the garden today I noticed yet another “Mystery Tomato” plant. I’m going to let her grow where she is right now and transplant her when she gets a bit larger. Now it’s a wait and see game as to the variety of two tomato plants. I guess we had a ton of dropped tomatoes last year. What I am surprised at is we have not seen any grape vines. Last fall when we made wine we dumped all the stems, skins and seeds from pressing the grapes into the garden. So we should have something popping in but have not seen anything as of yet!

The broccoli is toast, I keep cutting the large flowered stalks off hoping that will could have a few small broccoli shoots off the side but it does not look promising. Peas, beans radish, lettuce, onions, asparagus, squash, carrots and cukes are doing outstanding. Peppers, and egg plant seem to be at a standstill.

The hanging tomato experiment is going ok, still the strongest plant is the one planted directly in the ground. The fourth of July hanging tomato has a flower or two so we should have ripe tomatoes in 30 days. Rule of thumb is 30 days from flower to ripe fruit so we will try to keep track of that.

Pray for sun!

Click to see the album

Garden over time 6.14.09

Garden Update 6.6.09

The garden is progressing but not in all areas. It seems my broccoli bolted and some of brussel sprouts did not take. I removed the bolted broccoli and dead sprouts and replaced them with savoy cabbage and cauliflower, hopefully they will thrive along with the remaining broccoli and sprouts.


The upside down tomatoes seem to be doing well, no buds yet, however the one purchased tomato plant that we planted in the ground has buds!! I also happed to find a MYSTERY tomato plant growing among the lettuce, it must have been from a tomato that fell on the ground last year. I dug it up and planted in an area that would give it more room to thrive. Now its wait and see as to what and if it produces any tomatoes.


This week I mulched the beans, cukes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and the 2 tomato plants that are in the garden with grass clippings. Hope this keeps the weeds down and does not add too much nitrogen to the soil.



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Garden over time 6.6.09

Mushroom Cultivation

Last night we inoculated 6 logs with mushrooms spores in hope of growing our own mushrooms. The process is quite simple; the hard part was locating logs. We needed freshly cut hardwood logs, the ideal log would be oak or maple cut in the spring. The logs should rest for 3 weeks prior to inoculating.

We purchased the mushroom spores from fungiperfect.com. The spores are on wooden plugs with ridges; this is where the spores attach themselves. The bags they are shipped in are sealed and some spores will grow within the bag. The spores are white and almost rubbery feeling.

Phil drilled holes in the logs with a ¾-inch bit around the entire circumference and on the top of the log. I placed the plugs in the holes and hammered them in with a rubber mallet. Once the entire log had the plugs in I sealed the plugs as well the cut ends of the logs, this keeps moisture in the log which is necessary for the mushrooms to grow.

We then placed the logs in an upright position on a pallet; the logs should not come in contact with the ground if possible. In about six months we should see some mushrooms start to appear, however next season we should have a better crop once the logs have established themselves. These logs will produce mushrooms for many years to come.

To see all the photos in this album please click on the photo below

Mushrooms

Garden Update May 31, 2009

We will be posting weekly garden updates on our blog, not only so we can track our progress but to make notes as to what has worked and what was not such a great idea.

Our latest experiment is growing tomatoes upside down in wire baskets we purchased from Wal-Mart for $7 each. We lined them with plastic to help keep the soil from drying out. The baskets were filled with Miracle Grow Garden Soil - not potting soil! I check the soil every day to ensure that the soil has not dries out. My concerns with this method are that the basket may be too small for all the roots. I had placed 3 petunia plans on the top and one tomato plant on the bottom, so there may be a war for root space.

I have been feeding the plants with "worm tea" from our vermicomposting bin. So far the plants look healthy they were planted on May 17, 2008.

We also had our first harvest of herbs, we did not pick any basil as it is not ready, rosemary it did not need a hair cut as this is the herb we use to most of and we did not take any parsley, still does not look like it could use that hair cut.

Click on the photo below to see the album

Garden May 30, 2009