CHARD PIE

Swiss chard is plentiful now, and this cold snap, and I mean cold, just seems to perk up the lovely leaves.  Swiss chard was something we often ate when I was growing up.  I fondly recall a soup my mother made with Swiss chard, onions and garlic of course, and tomatoes, it was delicious and I make it often myself.  This time I wanted to try something different, and decided upon a Swiss Chard pie.

Starting with one pie crust...

...which  I decided to roll thin snips of fresh basil into the dough as I folded it over itself amid the chunks of butter...

I thought this would be a nice addition to the various flavors, and by the way, I was correct.

1 tbs. olive oil                                          3-4 eggs
3/4 c. chopped onion                               1 c. milk
1 clove garlic, chopped                           1/2 tsp. salt/pepper to taste
1 c. grated cheese such as Organic Valley's Raw Milk Jack style  
3 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (optional)                         1 tbs. chopped fresh dill           
1 bunch Swiss chard, cleaned and chopped
1 fresh tomato, sliced

Heat oven to 400.  Roll out your pie crust and put into pie plate, I used a 9".  Heat oil in large skillet add onions cook until softened, add garlic saute a while longer.  Add chopped Chard stems first, cook for a few minutes, add greens until they wilt.  Turn off heat.  Beat eggs, milk and salt together.  

Spread chard in pie crust, add cheese, add crumbled bacon, pour egg mixture over top, sprinkle with the dill.  Cover with sliced tomatoes and a bit more dill, and bake until center no longer jiggly, 40-50 minutes.

Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.  May be served warm or at room temperature.

As usual, I wanted to serve a fresh salad, but this time with a twist.  I took a fresh zucchini and using a potato peeler, made thin ribbons which I marinated for a few minutes in balsamic vinegar...

...after making my traditional salad, I added curls of this marinated zucchini for taste and beauty.

A really fine meal with crusty fresh bread/butter.

And for me, (my husband does not like beets, though he will try them every time) beets fresh from the garden, steamed and served with butter and snips of fresh dill.

We feel blessed when we sit down to our evening meal, every single time!

SO WHICH IS BEST??

Growing up in rural Fredonia, NY in a close circle of Sicilian neighbors and relatives, homemade pizza was an every Saturday event.  We lived with my mother's mother, about two miles from town, the last house on Liberty Street....acres and acres of land behind us and adjacent to us on the right, along with Canadaway Creek.  It was certainly an idyllic setting to grow up in.  Surrounded by such land, filled with vegetable gardens, vineyards, and lots and lots of fruit trees.  Most of the elders, if not all, came over from the 'old country', as did both sets of my grandparents.

My grandmother made bread every Saturday, and of course a couple of pizzas as well.  I do not know what kind of flour my grandmother used, but I doubt it was Tipo '00' flour.  

I have been subscribing to La Cucina magazine for many years, and continue to read about the best pizzas in the WORLD... which are in Naples, Italy...Neapolitan pizza.  I have also read that the only flour used for pizzas in Naples is '00' flour.  (As well as the only tomatoes, which would be San Marzano, which having found some seeds this spring, I started my own San Marzanos.)

This flour is certainly not easy to come by in the States, and it is quite expensive, as well.  Several years ago I sent to NY city for some and did the 'taste test', and some thought the '00' pizza better than the pizza I have developed and made over the years.  

Now, my pizza (this one I have developed) happens to be my favorite pizza, but I am still intrigued as to pizza made with '00' flour.  Recently I had a friend visit an Italian store and he noticed this flour and brought me two small bags (traded for fresh bread, he wouldn't tell me what he had paid).  So a new test was in the making.

Although I made both of the dough balls above, I tend to call the one on the left 'my' pizza as opposed to the other.  As you can see, my dough is flecked with grains, where the '00' flour is very white, and in fact very fine.  '00' means finely ground, and it is very high in protein content...and the 7-grain bread flour I use is also very high in protein, though not so fine.  

...stretched out 7-grain...

...stretched out '00'...

The other thing about Naples pizza (it is essentially a street food) is that it is simple, lightly topped and fold-able...

My 7-grain topped with my traditional toppings, roasted pizza sauce, thinly sliced pepperoni, Organic Valley's raw milk jack-style cheese, freshly grated Romano Cheese, and slivered basil leaves.

I also topped the '00' flour pizza in this manner, and with no rising after topping each, they went directly into the oven...for a quick, perhaps 10-12 minute baking. 
(They are baked in a very hot, preheated 500 degree oven on adobe tiles.)

Here they are just out of the oven, ready for Freddie and I to taste,

along with a fresh salad. 

Quite honestly, there IS something about the pizza made from the '00' flour, and I truly loved it, perhaps a bit more than I love my own pizza.  The production of the dough is far more involved, and takes two days of work, and I still have enough for two more pizzas in the fridge.  

I am going to make the two pizzas again this week, and top the '00' in an authentic Napolino way...and try again...and when my San Marzanos are ripe, I will try yet again.  I know I won't often make this pizza as opposed to 'my' pizza, but once in awhile, perhaps.  

This morning I canned peaches....

and then had one of my favorite, summer sandwiches....so simple with the ingredients shinning through to the palette.

Good bread, in this case a bagel, Hellman's mayonnaise, fresh basil leaves, and fresh tomatoes (in this case sweet cherry tomatoes from my Amish neighbor) and more mayo on top.  
So simple and so delicious.

BEANS, BEANS AND MORE BEANS

An abundance of green beans led to canning Dilly Beans.

 

two heads of dill per jar

one dried cayenne pepper per jar

(if you want just a bit of hotness)

Pack clean sterile jars with clean beans, reaching about 1/2 inch below top of jar...pack tightly.

Meanwhile, be heating 2 1/2 cups white vinegar and 2 /1/2 cups water, 1/4 cup pickling salt...to a boil.

Put pepper, 1 clove garlic and 2 heads dill in jar, fill with hot mixture to 1/2 " of top, seal with sterile lids, place in hot water bath and boil for 10 minutes.

Best if not opened for at least two weeks!

On another note, Monica and I have The Rural Alphabet hanging in Tivoli, in Portage.  This is a very upscale assisted living/nursing home facility, simply beautiful and ultra modern.  They held a reception for us Friday evening....

this is part of a small, but enthusiastic group that attended the reception...

Monica and our cards and book display

...and me...

We were pleased at the reception we received.  They will be selling our cards/books in their Gift Shop.  

HARD CHOICES

Although I am spending much time fighting weeds...mostly coming from the straw mulch I put down, there are so many vegetables ready each morning I can barely choose which to have for our dinner.  In fact, sometimes we just have them all!

Haricot vert a French green bean that is very long and slender, and by the way, the best green bean I have ever eaten.  I grew them for the first time last year, and saved enough seeds to give some away, and to plant two long rows myself.  They are presently prolific, and I pick a large pail-full each morning.

Broccoli heads are coming in also, and we have had broccoli in many ways....the simplest was sauteing onions and garlic in butter, adding slightly steamed broccoli, stirring about, then adding 4-6 farm fresh eggs, (my friends Geri/Steve have by far the best eggs in the world) cooking until set.  Serve with fresh crusty bread, a little bit of heaven.

First head of cauliflower this morning, more broccoli and beans...

...onions are sweet and add to every dish...

We have been getting a few cucumbers each day, and our very favorite way to eat them is...clean and cut off the ends, score each cucumber with a fork, slice thinly...slice fresh onions very thin into rounds, salt/freshly ground pepper, plenty of chopped fresh dill week, and Hellmans mayonnaise, a generous amount.  It is good to make this a couple of hours ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator. (We go through a great deal of mayonnaise in the summer, and the only one I use is Hellmans.  Hellmans has a new one out using olive oil, but I have as yet been afraid to try it, as I love the original so much.)

A wonderful taste of summer.

We love plain steamed green beans served with butter, but I always make extra to use in this salad.

Cut up steamed green beans, onions, a bit of fresh minced garlic, cucumbers if you wish, plenty of fresh chopped dill weed, sliced cherry tomatoes, salt/pepper and dried oregano.  Dress with good olive oil and wine vinegar, a little heavy on the wine vinegar as the beans soak it up and add very much to the great flavor.  This dish should be made a few hours ahead and left at room temperature to serve.

Our favorite way to eat fresh broccoli is raw, in the above salad.

Clean and cut a smallish broccoli head into bite sized pieces in a medium bowl.  Cook a couple of strips of bacon (or turkey bacon) until crisp, sprinkle over the broccoli.  Chop a freshly picked onion into small pieces and add, sprinkle a handful or two of sunflower seeds over all, and a handful of dried cranberries.  Dress with about a cup of mayonnaise, a tsp. of cider vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar, and salt and pepper, adjust all to your taste.  Toss completely.

The very last of the peas served over a salad of fresh greens, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and sliced radishes, topped with homemade Blue Cheese dressing, another summer favorite.

We have at least two of these salads each evening, and one night this week we had only salads, three or four, for dinner.

THIS AND THAT

I spent all day yesterday at Norskedalen, (I left home at 6:30 A.M.) at an Art Show.  Hot, muggy day spent in a lovely, but airless old log house.  It is an ideal place for me to set up my wares, as there is a huge, old barn loom and an old treadle sewing machine in the main room.  My goods look great in this setting.  However, it was not a profitable day, and I do not think I even recouped my registration fee. 

...rugs, bags, Woolies...

...Woolies and pot holders...

I kept pretty close count of how many people came through the cabin, and I believe it was a bit over 152.  The first year of this show, there were over 250.  

Having left home so early to go set up, and not getting home until about 5 p.m., literally soaking wet and exhausted, I never made it to my garden.  It is highly unusual for me not to go to the garden multiple times a day.

So that was the first thing I did this morning, and not only had the weeds multiplied enormously, but so had the vegetables. 

A great picking of peas, close to my last I'm afraid, two nice heads of broccoli, a yellow cucumber (a new variety I am trying this year) and much to my surprise, a bountiful picking of french style beans.  

We will have a very green supper tonight...steamed green beans with butter, broccoli omelet, and peas sauteed with lettuce and onions, with a touch of nutmeg.

Despite the heat, and it was hot, of the day, and the mugginess, I turned the oven up to 375 degrees and made 

three strawberry cobblers

(strawberries fresh out of the field at 9:00 this morning)

and one strawberry crisp.

My daughter, Educational Coordinator at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, has a large group of teachers here for the week, doing what is called the Cultural Tour.  She had asked me to make dessert for their dinner tonight...with one of the participants being a vegan, thus the crisp.  

It was not a good day to have the oven up to 375, believe me!!

A couple of weeks ago I got Michael Pollan's new book out of the library, and before I even got through the introduction, which he wrote, and I so wish I had, I knew I wanted to own this book, which I purchased at our local bookstore.

It is a wonderful journey into the land of food!!

And below, this radicchio is going to be on our table tomorrow night, I plan on grilling it. I have never grown it before, but thought I'd give it a try this year.  If nothing else,  it is absolutely beautiful.

I have never  grilled radicchio, but am eagerly looking forward to it.

BOUNTY

What a bountiful summer it has been so far.  Despite the late spring, my garden is in great production. 

This is a small portion of one of the three pea fences in my garden.  They are loaded and I might add, absolutely delicious.  I know some people feel that growing peas is too laborious, at least the picking, and shelling part.  I must say, I love the picking, but love way more the shelling.

A wonderful rhythm happens...I sit somewhere out of doors with the peas on my lap, an empty bucket on the ground to my left, and a bowl on the table to my right...oh, and my dog, Sapala at my feet...

...she eagerly awaits the juicy shells, which she immediately chews up...

Somehow the rhythm of shelling the peas is not unlike the rhythm of weaving, meditative and calming...I can't help but recall my maternal grandmother, with whom we lived until her death when I was twelve, and her huge garden out back of our house.  She loved to garden, and she was a master.  I remember trailing after her summer day after summer day, as she tended the vegetables or the grape vines.  I recall sitting alongside of her, a pan of peas on our laps, and snapping the ends, popping open the pod, slipping our thumb to the top, and gently pulling down, gathering the peas in our hands.  What a glorious upbringing I had, day after day out of doors, wandering among the vines and the garden vegetables.  In the fall, going in and out of the basement as the 'ladies' 'put up' all that we grew. I know that my grandmother often works alongside of me in my garden, I can sense her presence in the hot sun, toiling and sweating right next to me...loving the earth and its bounty.

...sauteed in a little butter, with onions and garlic and just a touch of nutmeg....

Lettuce is still coming and is not yet bitter...

...and the strawberries...

What a season it has been.  I have frozen more bags then I can count, this morning I made and froze three pies, so there are now 4 strawberry pies in the freezer.  We have eaten strawberries plain, with yogurt, in cheesecake and in cobblers.  I am not sick of them, and kind of regret that I believe today will be the last picking.

I love the bounty of summer.  I love dinner time, when Freddie and I sit down to a meal gleaned from the garden that very day.  We are truly blessed!