FROM GARDEN TO TABLE

Such bounty this month, so much green and such good eating...I can't resist devoting a blog post entirely to food, some simple and some not quite so simple, all delicious.

I stop harvesting asparagus on the first of July, with some regrets, but also with an eagerness for all the greens and other produce now ready in the garden. However, I will begin this food journey with asparagus. When something is in season, I am inclined to serve it often, even nightly, in a different form. We ate a GREAT deal of asparagus this year, and I often gave thanks to the Steinmetz family from whom we bought this farm. They had planted an ample asparagus crop many, many years ago, and it is still giving and giving, and spreading its circular self farther out each summer.

A simple cold dish with a yogurt, dill dressing, given to me by my friend Janet...mmmmmmmmmm, served here with a spinach omelet, and the almost nightly fresh greens salad.

Here is one of the easiest, and truly tasty, simple ways to serve this vegetable. Cleaned, cut up, and lightly sauteed in good olive oil, with a great deal of diced garlic, which one must add close to the end of cooking time so it does not burn.

Served here with a chicken cutlet. We do not eat a great deal of meat, perhaps once or twice per month, and it is mostly chicken. Chicken cutlets, Sicilian style is a favorite.

An asparagus frittata.

Pre-sauteed asparagus served with a wild rice mix, loaded with chopped onions and garlic.

And last of the asparagus, but surely not least

the Quiche



We also had an abundance of spinach this summer and we ate it frequently raw, but I also found a new way to serve it which we loved. It is a bit complicated, but worth the effort.

Spinach and Herb Torta in a potato crust.

3 large potatoes; 2 tbs. olive oil; large onion chopped; 1 tsp. fresh chopped dill weed; 1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley; 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro; salt and freshly ground pepper; 2 large bunches spinach roughly chopped; 1 c. small curd cottage cheese; 1/3 to 1/2 c. crumbled feta;
grated zest of one lemon.

Peel and slice the potatoes, and fry them in some of the olive oil until golden, remove from pan and lay on paper towel. Add a bit more of olive oil to pan add onions and herbs and saute about four minutes. Season with salt/pepper and remove to bowl. Add the spinach to pan with the water that is clinging to the leaves (add a bit more water if it seems too dry) and cook over high heat until leaves are wilted and tender, about 4 minutes. Put spinach in sieve and squeeze out all water, then add it to the onion mixture. Add the eggs, cheeses and lemon zest. Meanwhile preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To assemble torte, butter a 9" spring form pan. Cover the bottom with the potato slices making sure there are no gaps. Pour the spinach mixture over this and bake immediately, until firm and golden.

Torte just out of the oven.........

...and served with a green salad, fresh pineapple and strawberries.

My broccoli came on very early this year, and I picked four large heads just the other day. Keeping it pretty simple, I made broccoli cashew stir-fry...

and served it with fresh spring rolls with fresh cilantro, and pot stickers, both with a great dipping sauce.



Greens, greens, greens....Kale helped make our Sicilian Greens and Beans deeply flavorful.

Onion, garlic sauteed in olive oil, and in this dish, one inch slices of Italian sausage sauteed, as well. Lots of stemless kale added and cooked until very soft, and a can of cannelloni beans, drained but not rinsed, added at the end. Salt/pepper to taste.

Here served with slivers of Romano cheese and a fresh cucumber, dill mayo salad.

And something new I created after reading several Swiss Chard recipes...wanting to combine various aspects of each.

I took the largest leaves, snipped the stems off close up in the leaf. Blanched each leaf for about 30 seconds until very green. Set them aside.

Sauteed chopped up chard, lots of it, in olive oil with of course, chopped onion and garlic, salt/pepper, until soft. Drained and squeezed, set aside to cool.

In a bowl I put one container of ricotta cheese, 1/2-1 c. grated raw milk jack style cheese (Organic Valley) or mozzarella, 1/4 c. of Romano cheese, 1 large egg, pinch of nutmeg, and the cooled chard mixture. Mix this very well, let sit and drain for a few minutes.

Take the soften, blanched leaves, and lay them flat on the counter. Place one heaping spoonful of mix in the center, fold sides of leaves up and roll from back to front until you have a small 'sealed' bundle. Continue until leaves are used, (I used about 14) and mixture gone.

I made these early in the afternoon and refrigerated until supper time.

To cook: Olive oil the bottom of a small cake pan and cover lightly with your favorite tomato sauce (I use my frozen roasted tomato sauce). Place a layer of the chard bundles, grate some of the jack style cheese and romano cheese, add a layer of sauce, repeat until bundles are used up. End with a layer of sauce and the grated cheeses.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake for about 10-15 minutes more.

I served these over linguine, and my husband's first words were WOW! I've never tasted anything like this before, it's delicious. And, indeed, it was.

A posting of mine about food would not be complete without my all time favorite meal, which we have at least once per week....

PIZZA

And for the dessert we have most often in the summer, cobbler (for a recipe check my May 11, 2010 posting).

In this case fresh strawberries

Served with honeyed fresh whipped cream, Organic Valley, of course.

I just made this cobbler with fresh peaches and blueberries the other night. It is a great recipe because you can use it with any fresh or frozen fruit you might have on hand.


What a wonderful time of year for those who love gardening and cooking. If you just love cooking and don't/can't garden, the abundance of local Farmer's Markets offers the same produce. At this time of year, it is pretty inexpensive to buy fresh local produce. Buying local---GOOD!

MY MORNING GARDEN

When I was a child we lived in a great old house on Liberty Street, in Fredonia, NY, with my Grandmother Gennuso, my mother's mother. When I was really young, my Aunt Minnie, my mother's older sister, also lived with us, as her husband had died of TB. My father, at that time, was in the navy, and away 'at war'. We were three girl children, as my youngest sibling, my brother Butch, had not yet been born. Jackie, my eldest sister and Barbara, my youngest sister and I helped make up this world of women in which we lived for several years.

I must say that high among my fondest memories is my grandmother's garden. It was extensive, and stretched, or seemed to, far behind our house. It was a garden laden with tomatoes, basil, onions, garlic, leafy vegetables, broccoli, and much, much more. Grandma spent much time in the garden. I can still see her slightly portly figure, in a faded, flowered, cotton house dress, her white, white hair tied neatly in a bun at the nape of her neck, bent over the green rows, hoeing or weeding by hand. My grandma loved her garden! It was apparent in the tender way in which she toiled, in the reverent way in which she gathered its harvest, and in the deeply respectful way in which she used its produce. We wasted nothing, what was not prepared for immediate consumption was lovingly 'put up' in her working basement. Not only did she have a wood cook stove in the kitchen at that time, but she also had one in the basement so that all the women could keep cooler while canning.

I loved trailing behind my grandma in the garden...I am sure it is her influence and example that has led to my deep love for the outdoors.

Approaching my garden in the morning, I feel as though I am entering a cathedral...

...this small arched opening which leads to my garden seems like a portal of some holy kind...

This morning I felt my grandmother presence more strongly than on some mornings, though she is there always. The light, the lush, verdant greens, the ampleness of it all speaks to its givingness, its readiness to break through to the 'other' side.

My broccoli has been pushing to make it to the table, and as I can just barely see the burst of soon to be flowers, I harvest two heads this morning, which will be on our table tonight.

The basil is looking beautiful, and I can't resist the temptation to snip a leaf and rub it behind my ears and on my wrists. Soon we will have fresh pesto, too.

The tomatoes are honestly looking the best that I can remember in years...huge, healthy looking stalks with plenty of yellow flowers. We have eaten two small tomatoes from one plant, and it is about to yield two more. Those will sit on a dish, sliced with a fresh onion and basil, with a dirzzle of olive oil and wine vinegar, perhaps tonight as well.

And one of my very favorite garden gifts is the cucumber. I have two that are very near to harvest, and I hope I can wait another two to three days to let them get to their prime.

This is the first year I can remember, this late in the summer, that the potatoes do not (as yet) have potato beetles munching away. I generally walk through the rows with two flat stones in hand, and although it is a very difficult thing for me to do, I place the potato bug that is only doing what it is meant to do, on one of my Killing Stones and squash it with the other. This is a part of tending my garden I do not relish. I wish there were some way the potato beetles and I could both share this crop.

The rows of dill have finally gotten some growth. I love to snip a piece off and chew on it as I am working.

Yes, I love my garden and I am so grateful to my grandmother who so loved her garden as well.

Rag Roses

I thought when I retired, as I am sure most newly retired people do, that I was going to have time unlimited, time that was filled with a leisurely approach to all that I wanted to accomplish. Well, granted I'm not so much a leisurely person, I still thought my life would slow down and I would have ample time and space for all. This is just so not true!! I often think it is time to retire from retirement, as this is so frequently tire-ment or day by day, retire-ment. I do not mean to complain, as I LOVE retirement; time spent with my grandkids; time in the garden (despite the weeds racing ahead of me); time for the vineyard; time for biking; time for cooking and baking; time for writing; time for friends; time in the workshop, weaving, sewing, creating.

I can honestly say I am not 'tired', but I do feel crunched and often have to leave something out of my day that I long to have done, for instance a bike ride. Somehow that is always the first to be left out, but that is changing today, for as I leave this computer, I am hopping on my Gary Fisher.

The latest item to emerge from my workshop is a Rya Rag-roses lampshade. I am having lots of fun weaving lampshades, and have plenty of frames still to go. I am nearly out of rag balls, so I am going to have to explore other avenues for further shades.

This is the Rya Rag-roses shade as initially completed.

This is a shot of that same shade with the addition of a tendril of leaves connecting the roses.

This looks lovely lit from underneath, but I think it is pretty as is, as well.

I'VE GOT THE BLUES....

Before getting to the Blues, below is the completed lampshade, which when placed over a bulb, lightens beautifully, any blue feeling one might have. This shade took quite a long time, and is woven on a wool warp with cotton and silk weft. I found the frame many years ago, and loved its unusual shape. One doesn't often see a rectangular lampshade anymore.

And now for the BLUES!

Way back in April I had been weaving a blue wool rug on my old Union #36 loom. I began, of course, thinking it was going to be lovely, although as I wove along, I started to see the 'rug' differently, and not altogether kindly. I plowed ahead, being unable to just hack it off, and when it was done, gloomily cut it off the loom.

Here it is just off the loom, and truly I thought it ugly. Mostly I did not like the warp-faced white showing up so strongly on the blue wool.

It sat until just last week, rolled up, forgotten and unfinished on the couch on the unused front porch. For some reason last week, I decided to return to this rug, and at least finish the ends.

And here it its, and I still don't like it very much. While I was tying and twisting the ends, my husband walked by and said, "That's beautiful!" My reply was, "I hate it."

I laid it out on my workshop floor and kept it in my mind, wanting somehow to make it into something that I did, in fact like.

I decided to put some fabrics and object on it that complimented its colors. I gave some thought to turning it into a wall hanging. Mmmmmmmm.....what could such a BLUE background support. I thought, perhaps the ocean. So I drew and cut out some fish templates and laid them there as well. I hunted up some beautiful Chinese silks that I had been squirreling away for years, and laid them on the rug as well.

And for several days, when I entered my workshop I saw this...and let it sit in me and peculate.

This is the hanging that was born from that prolonged thinking. The fish were assembled beforehand, each from multiple silk fabrics. After I had finished all of the fish, I laid them out on the rug and thought for another day or so.

Finally, I appliqued them to the rug. And yes, I do think it is nice now.


Some close-ups of the fish.

And though I do have lots of Blue, I don' have the BLUES anymore!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Thinking about my father, Bartholomew John Adragna, especially today, Father's Day!
I owe so much of what I am, and so much of what I love to this man, who despite being 'on the road' as a traveling salesman so much of my youth, has left an indelible mark upon my life, my loves, and my talents, especially regarding food preparation, and creating in general.

I owe my love for and ability with food, to my father who always showed deep respect, even reverence, for the ingredients that he used. I never recall him using 'short-cut' methods, or using anything remotely ready-made. I do recall him using the freshest ingredients possible, and he always seemed to exude a love for what he was using...and for the finished products. I do not recall anything he ever made that was not beautiful and delicious, except of course for squid, which I simply could not even pick up with a fork. He never, as I recall, used a recipe, but conjured up his artistic dishes from his soul. No holds barred where food was concerned. We may have gone without a lot in our childhood, but food was never skimped upon.

I owe my love for creating to my father, whose creative outlets were food, the saxophone, and the fact that he could sing. (Unfortunately, among all of the 'gifts' that were bestowed on me, singing just was not one of them.) He couldn't help himself from creating, and he loved the process, I think even more than the end product, which is how I feel as well. Give this man an audience and a mike, and he'd bellow out a song in his beautiful, deeply rich baritone. Give him a saxophone and without the aid of sheet music, he could wail out some lonesome jazz piece or a jitterbug special. No saxophone available at some Italian wedding??? Loan him the trumpet and he'd blow you to pieces.

It has been a very long time since my father passed away as way to young a man...and though I miss him, he is never far from me, my kitchen, and my creations.

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

An unlikely subject for my post today....the good old stand-by Duct Tape, the standard original sliver stuff! It's multiple and varied uses touted by high school students who use it to make wallets and prom dresses, among other things.

When I was having the basement put under my workshop, I had decided to use the excavated soil to put a Kitchen Garden outside our back door. I used the cement blocks that had held up the workshop to frame this little garden, and this spring got it planted. It is coming along, though I know it will take a season or two for me to get it the way I'd like it. I have herbs planted in it, along with a few flowers and two tomato plants...so I can step out the door at dinner time, and bring a really fresh one to the salad.

The Kitchen Garden.

I planted the just about visible two tomato plants about three weeks ago.

Now this Kitchen Garden is directly in the 'road' between the deck and the dog house, the two places Sapala, our dog, spends her time. So it is not surprising that she dashes through it, top speed, several times per day, no matter the reprimands.

Two weeks ago, the plant you see below.....

...was found languidly lying on the dirt, severed at its base, except for a thread of plant fiber connecting it to the stem...and I mean the barest of fibers.

Still, I did not want to loose this plant, and although I thought it was a goner, I got the Duct Tape out, taped it back together at the base, and buried it just a bit deeper.

and much to my surprise, it took. Here is the tomato plant, none the worse for wear. To say I was surprised is to put it mildly...but grateful, as I am sure the plant is, too. Perhaps I found it at precisely the right moment, just having been severed and eager for repair, or perhaps there really are 'magic' uses for Duct Tape beyond the ordinary.



On another note or two....

two 14" x 47" table runners just completed...



and dinner last night. A spinach salad fresh from the garden, along with an omelet of asparagus also freshly picked. (My asparagus is quite prolific, and I pick nearly 2# per day, needless to say, we eat a lot of it and I give much away.)

Garden Images

There is something about a spring garden that I love, perhaps most of all the gardening season. I love the tidiness of it all; the stretch of growth you can almost see; the verdant leafs of radishes, spinach, lettuce; and the potential that is almost palpable.

...radishes, like school children, neatly rowed up...

...the ruffle-like bouquet of lettuce...

...broccoli, at the head of the class, already heading up...

...peas, so far this year, untouched by rabbits, will soon begin their climb...

...and the beans, like umbrella-ed soldiers marching not quite so straight...

...unfurling quietly, but in big ways...

...onions shooting up so straight they seem like spears...

...and just a few of the 30 tomato plants along tomato fences...

...and this one I just could not resist. I saw it at an Amish greenhouse, and left it their that day, though it was only $2.50 and already had flowers aplenty and 4 tomatoes on it. But it just would not leave my mind, nagging at me constantly, so that the next day, back I went, and here it sits, at the head of the 'class' far and away advanced...

...and the potatoes which seemed to have sprouted and pushed themselves up all in a day...

I can sit in my garden chair for a long time just being. The relationship between the plant, the soil, the sun, the rain, it is almost visible, there at the edge of sight. It seems a holy place, my garden, where nourishment of body and soul abounds.

...and last, but clearly not least, the plethora of zinnias vying for their space, I can almost see their fall presence, exploding with a profusion of colors, shapes and sizes....

I am grateful for this garden. I feel privileged to be the one tending it. I am thankful for what these plants will give to me, and pray what I give back is worthy.