Fresh From the Farm in the Last Few Weeks

In the last few weeks of summer, between planting for fall and waiting for warm weather crops to ripen, other urban farmers help supplement my garden.

I was given some lovely purple and green Romano beans as well as various squashes and zucchini.  Zucchinis are amazing. They seem to grow about an inch a day in hot weather hence all those jokes about not leaving your car unlocked in August lest someone sneak zukes in there.

I also got some lovely bluish green and light brown eggs from Thom's backyard coop.  I remember when I was a kid and we kept chickens, my brother and I refused to eat eggs from chickens that we knew.  Kids are dumb.

 

Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, though mostly its the little cherry ones, and rainbow chard and Tuscan kale are growing again after I fenced them off from the hungry deer. New this week are these volunteer Yukon Golds.  I didn't plant them but apparently when you plant potatoes somewhere, you never end up harvesting them all so they come up year after year.  Digging up potatoes is just like being on an Easter egg hunt.  Each time you turn up one of these little orbs in the dirt, it's a thrill, even when they're only the size of your pinky nail.

While it still seemed like summer,  I planted kale, spinach, salad mix, and more chard, and those have now become seedlings.  A bunch of the seeds that were harvested from a friend's Chinese lettuce harvest didn't grow at all so I'm not sure how dependable it is to harvest your own seeds.  I'm getting ready to harvest the potatoes that I actually planted, so stay tuned!

Savoring Summer

As we go from 80 degree days to 60 degrees, we have another guest post by Thommy reminding us to gather ye rosebuds (or zucchinis and figs!) while ye may!

The fact that the majority of people in America live in the setting of urban modernity shows that the (post) industrial world has provided many great things to its citizens.  The world’s urban centers are great concentrations of activity that allows for progress and prosperity.  But clearly there is a great expense for all of the benefits this world provides.  This resource-intensive system is also ridden with poverty, pollution, and an ironic isolation that can only be experienced in suburbia.  Another tradeoff is the homogenization of culture and a disconnection with the natural world.

I remember listening to a program on NPR while driving years ago. Some high school students were given the phrase “Everything that’s unique” as a point of departure for a poetry assignment.  Predictably, many of the resulting poems were of the cliché, tediously heartwarming type that breeds rainbow-colored flying horses with unicorn horns (as far from unique as this creature can transport someone).  One poem, however, stood out in a way that made me pull my car over to stop and listen.  The young man read his poem that bemoaned the coming of big-box stores to his rural town.  “All we sacrifice is everything that’s unique,” was the poem’s conclusion.  It is clear that the young poet was painfully aware of the shortfalls of the urban setting.

So what can we do to reclaim what is lost to industrial anonymity?  A very direct way of accomplishing this is through food.  I can sum up my favorite meals with the acronym SLIF.  I praise foods that are Seasonal, Local, Idiosyncratic, and Fresh.  A simple way of doing this is to keep a garden.  Even the smallest addition of homegrown food will enrich the experience of eating and resurrect seasonality.  But if it’s impossible to grow your own food, look to the region for ingredients: go to local farmer’s markets, partake in community sponsored agriculture programs, or shop at places that feature local foods and the staff gets to know you personally (why shop at a place where you can’t get a hug?).

I feel very fortunate to live in the Puget Sound region of Western Washington where local flavor is abundant, and seasonality can be smelled in the air.  Even in the city, it’s difficult to ignore the resinous fragrance of the alders as they break dormancy in early spring.  This is followed by salmon runs, Walla Walla sweet onions, fresh garlic, and a plethora of garden produce.  As the year continues, fall is filled with the candy sweet smell of the katsura trees commonly planted here, and of course, the mushrooms that are the gifts of the autumn rains. 

Late summer is a spectacular time for SLIF.  Vegetable gardens are bursting with the abundant fruition of the year’s toil.  Grilling is a great way of bringing out the best of the season.  The following is a step by step description of how to make one of my favorite meals:  Salmon grilled in grape leaves served with fresh, seasonal vegetables. 

The Primary Ingredients:

   

Fresh wild-caught sockeye salmon and freshly picked zucchini.

I prefer sockeye salmon in this case because it is manageable in size and comparatively economical.  A side of sockeye filet typically weighs about 1.25 lbs and can be found for as little as $7.99 when on sale.  Use what’s available, but avoid farm-raised salmon because it s less tasty, nutritionally inferior, and environmentally damaging.  The portions pictured are about a third of a pound each.

The zucchini I grew this year is the “Piccolo” variety.  It forms striped ovoid fruits just larger than my fist. One makes a two great portion sizes.  Romano or scarlet runner beans are also great summer grilling vegetables because their flat pods are less likely to fall through the grill.

Seasonings and accompaniments:

In addition to the lemon pictured with the salmon, here are small sweet peppers,  fresh basil, ripe yellow tomato, ground Korean chili pepper and olive oil.  Salt will is another important ingredient, but is not pictured.

Preparing the peppers:

    

Roasting peppers on a grill is a very easy process.  I’m a low-tech cook, and strongly prefer charcoal to propane.  It’s a little less convenient, but imparts a depth and fragrance to the food.  Simply place the peppers on a hot area of the grill for a couple of minutes until the skin starts to blacken.  Flip and let the other side char as well.  Move the peppers to the cool part of the grill and cover to let them cook through. Remove them from the grill when they are soft.

The seasonings:

    

Peel and chop the garlic coarsely. Slice the basil to a fine chiffanade.  This is done by stacking leaves on top of one another, rolling the and slicing them into fine ribbons.  Add the garlic, basil, and ground chili to olive oil and mix gently.  This seasoning mix will be used on the salmon and the zucchini.

Gad Zuchs!

    

Slice the zucchini into wedges, salt them lightly and coat with the seasoning mixture.  Place them on the grill and mark them.  Flip and repeat.  As with the peppers, move the zucchini to the cooler periphery of the grill and cover to continue cooking.

Finally, the fish!

My first step with almost any seafood is to squirt it with lemon juice and salt it.  These two ingredients are crucial as they impart brightness and depth to the flavor.  They also preserve freshness and cut down on cootie action.  Salt and acidity are two of the major ingredients in food preservation.

After the lemon and salt, apply the seasoning mixture. 

At this point, the salmon can be cooked by grilling, baking, or broiling to make a satisfying main course to a great meal, but a couple more steps can make it an a wonderfully nuanced SLIF experience.

The Grapes of Wrap!

An often-overlooked summer food that is in abundance throughout the region is the grape leaf.  Grape vines twine their way through many neighborhood gardens.  In very fortunate years, they actually produce edible grapes.  But even in the years with the worst of weather, the vines are bedecked with lush green leaves with great culinary value.  These can be used fresh through spring and summer, or preserved for later use (see the SAVING SUMMER essay for further details).

To continue this recipe, blanch several grape leaves by holding them by their stalks and dipping them in boiling water (with a little salt for good measure).

    

Remove the stalks and flatten out the leaves.  Two good-sized leaves should be enough to cover the salmon.  Place the fish in the center of the leaves and cover thin tomato slices.  In this case, I used yellow tomatoes because great ones were available, but any flavorful garden fresh tomatoes will do.

I sometimes omit the tomato step, but end up regretting it.  The tomato helps to prevent the fish from drying out while cooking.  Good tomatoes also provide the elusive umami taste (see the Umami article for further details).

Wrap the salmon by bringing the ends and forming a tight “envelope.”  The wrapping helps the salmon cook evenly, remain moist, and stay intact on the grill. 

     

Place on the grill and cover.  Check every five minutes or so.  When the salmon is cooked, it should be firm to the touch and the leaves should have slightly charred edges.  Because the fish is wrapped, it can be picked up with tongs or easily scooped up with  a spatula.  Charred grape leaves also impart a subtle yet flavorful smokiness to the salmon.

Serve the salmon, peppers, and zucchini with a little bit of steamed rice.  Any extra basil leaves or lemon wedges make a great edible garnishes that will add flavor as well as visual interest to the plate.

It must be noted that the grape leaf is fully edible and quite tasty. When sliced, the salmon will be pink and opaque and topped with roasted tomato goodness. 

So what’s for dessert?

As long as the grill is hot, why not enjoy another example of the Seasonal, Local, Idiosyncratic, and Fresh, and grill up some ripe summer fruits?  Grilled figs make a great sweet treat to follow the salmon, and are among the simplest things to pepare.

I always admire the mysterious beauty of fresh figs as I slice through them. When properly ripe, they taste of honey and butter.  I had to purchase these figs because unfortunately, my tree is still a toddler and won’t produce fruit until next summer (at the soonest). 

    

To prepare these figs, simply cut them in half and put them on bamboo skewers.  Using two skewers will keep the fruits from rotating, and make them easier to handle.  Place the skewered figs face-down on the grill.

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In just a few minutes, the figs will brown and caramelize.  Simply remove them from the skewers.  They can be served with goat cheese, ice cream, or my favorite way:  Plain. 

Enjoy the bounty of the season.

Saving Summer

These next series of posts are written by guest blogger Thom Lee, who doth protest too much that he's just a regular guy. Now Thom claims he's a Luddite who cannot figure out how to use a blog but I think he's just affecting a learned helplessness in order to get some dumb schmuck (ahem!) to do the dirty work for him. But since he's getting paid no peanuts (at least that would be something!) no nothing for his lovely photos and informative posts, it's the least I can do . He's also got a steel-trap for a mind so enjoy his essays on food preservation!

Late summer is a time of great abundance in the temperate world. Freshness is the flavor of the season and as the full spectrum of the sun is reflected in the rich hues of the garden. A great joy of this time of year is picking fruits and vegetables directly from the yard just before preparing it and tasting the time and effort invested in the throughout the year. 

Unfortunately, this season is short in the Pacific Northwest. To some, it seems that the region goes from spring to fall without a season in between. So it’s important to take advantage of the season by savoring its entire flavor. But in some cases, the season can be extended by preserving the bounty. 

I am heartened to note that many people still engage in traditional food preservation techniques such as canning, pickling, and making jams and other sweet preserves. These methods yield wonderful foods, but the result is a new flavor that is a distortion on the reality of the season, sort of a culinary equivalent of the shadows on the walls of Plato’s cave. But there is one summer flavor that can remain intact throughout the year: The grape leaf. 

Growing grapes in Western Washington is an iffy endeavor. The summers are too short and mild for most of the standard wine grapes, but there are several cultivars of table grapes that occasionally fare well. Most people think of grapes solely for their fruit, but the plant has many other uses. The canes can be used in basketry or burned to make drawing charcoal; seeds can be pressed for their valuable oil; moreover, the leaves are an excellent food source. 

Possibly the most common culinary use of the grape leaf is the Dolma: leaves stuffed with rice, meats and/or various vegetables. In America, these are most often associated with Mediterranean food, but they are common throughout the Arabic world, Eastern Europe, and South Asia. 

Grape leaves, however, can also be used as an edible wrap for other foods. In fact I love using them on the grill as a protective and flavorful cover. The leaf holds the contents together, allowing them to be manipulated on the grill. For example fresh goat cheese can be wrapped in grape leaves then grilled until the leaf starts to char. Scoop it up with some fresh bread, and enjoy with olives and sun-dried tomatoes! Perhaps my favorite way of enjoying them is to wrap them around salmon (see the “Savoring Summer” essay for further details). Now THAT is the taste of summer for me. 

In the summer, grape leaves are abundant and can be blanched and used immediately, but what about the rest of the year? Fortunately, they can be successfully preserved. Commercially, they can be purchased pickled in brine containing salt and citric acid. Of course this can be done at home, but this would cast them as images on the walls of Platos cave. A much easier way is to preserve grape leaves is to blanch and freeze them. They freeze beautifully and retain their fresh summery flavor. Here is the process: 

Start out by collecting grape leaves. If you don’t have your own grape vine, chances are there is one in your neighborhood. People are generally generous with their leaves because they are usually available in abundance.

Select leaves that are fairly round, and not deeply lobed. This will assist greatly in wrapping. The leaf should also be mature and firm and not young and flimsy. Any size leaf will work, but I generally select the larger ones because I’m a big-portions kind of guy. Make sure that the petiole (stalk) is still attached.

Holding the leaf by the petiole, dip it in boiling salt solution (1/4 cup salt to a quart of water or so). The leaf will wilt and relax and turn a deep olive green in about ten seconds. Set these leaves aside in a bowl to cool. If tasted at this stage, they will be tough, salty, and slightly sour.

Remove the petioles (using a knife, kitchen scissors or teeth), and make a stack of ten or so. Fold into thirds and seal in locking freezer bags, making sure to press out any excess air.

Make lots and freeze. They should keep well until a new crop of fresh leaves is available. To use, thaw, rinse, and wrap! Enjoy!

Wild Geese

In honor of the geese I saw calling to each other in the sky a few weeks ago and to changes in the seasons and to transitions in life and to seasons of life...



Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

--Mary Oliver, from Dream Work

I Can Can!

I refuse to believe it though the signs are there: summer is coming to an end. I've started seeing geese in V formation flying around, there are yellowing leaves on the lawn, kids are going back to school, and just yesterday, I saw the ultimate sign of fall beginning: a Starbucks advertisement for its Pumpkin Spice Latte. Noooooooooooo! I'm not ready!

One of the things I've become interested in as I've learned more about local eating is food preservation. During the bounty of harvest season, canning or preserving what you grow in the summer to eat during the winter months is an ideal way to get around the conundrum of how to keep your food miles low while eating more than cabbage. It also preserves the last vestiges of summer as the inevitable slide into fall begins. (Noooooooooooo!) I didn't grow up with any experience of canning but luckily, local homesteader Thom, who doth protest too much he's just a regular guy, graciously offered to give me a lesson on how to can fresh beans. We used the Romanos and scarlet runner beans he grew in the backyard as well as my measly harvest of green beans and those grown by my friend May's grandma in her backyard. I showed up on a sunny Friday afternoon and the whole process, from picking the beans in the backyard to cooling jars of beans on the counter took about 2 hours. Not bad for something that can last you all year.

In order to can, you will need the following:
1. About a dozen sterilized pickling/canning jars and lids with a rubber gasket to keep out the cootie action. Get jars that are about the size of whatever it is you are canning so you don't have to do a lot of trimming. We used 12 oz straight-sided jars with a twist on lid.
2. A processor, which is really a big metal pot deep enough to immerse the jars into. They usually come with an insert to hold jars upright as you heat them and are convenient for pulling out the really hot finished products. Thom used a bunch of ornamental pebbles at the bottom to disperse the bubbles made by the boiling water instead with the added bonus that he could fit more jars into the processor.
3. 1/2 tsp. of alum powder
4. 5 C white distilled vinegar.
5. 5 C water.
6. 1/2 C canning salt which is pure and has no added agents. Do not use regular salt because it contains iodine and an anti-caking agent which causes the flavor to be off when canning. In a pinch (pun intended), you can also use Kosher salt though it is less dense so you may need to add in a bit more.
7. Various seasonings, which traditionally include dill (Get the whole stalks of dill that are about 5 feet tall with the yellow flowers. They are gorgeous in the jars and make your house smell yummy to boot.) and garlic but can include whatever else the pickler's creativity leads him/her. In our case, we put about 1 clove of garlic and a dill flower and sprig of leaf per jar as well as about a 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, 1/3 tsp mustard seeds, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 a hot sweet pepper, and 1 tsp of salted black beans as the umami maker (more on that in a future post).
8. About 3 lbs of fresh beans for about a dozen jars. They can be all one type or a mix.

To get started, again, make sure that all the jars have been sterilized (putting them through the dishwasher is easiest. If they are new, run them through with just hot water. If used, clean with detergent and then run them through with just hot water again.) Put the lids with the rubber gaskets in some hot water and keep warm so the rubber remains soft. Do not boil.



Wash and trim your beans, chopping any too large to fit into the jars down to size. You want to have about a 1/2" head room in the jars so the beans should be a bit shorter than the jar. Be sure to remove all cats from the counter before you start or your jars may not be vegetarian (cat hair!). We lined up all the beans in the colander facing the same direction to make it easier to put in the jars, so Thom said, but I think it's really because of his OCD.


At this point, you want to make the pickle brine. It is usually 50/50 water and vinegar and in our case, we used 5 C of each and then added 1/2 a cup of canning salt. Add the allum powder at this point in order to preserve the crunchiness of the bean. Bring to a simmer and keep warm on the stove as you fill the jars.



Now is when the fun really begins. Begin by putting a dill flower and a sprig of leaf as well as a clove of garlic (bashed in to let the flavors out) in each jar. Add the peppercorns and mustard seeds and then tilt the jar and start stuffing the beans in. Put enough in so they fill the jar but are not overly crowded. Put the pepper in on the side as well as a bay leaf and then sprinkle the black beans on top. If you prefer more sweetness in your pickling, you can add in spices like allspice or cloves.



Once you've got your beans and spices in, you are ready to add the brine. Pour the brine from the stovetop into a measuring cup for easier pouring and then fill the jars up, leaving about a 1/2" head space in the jars. Then tighten on the warmed caps and deposit the jars into the processor and bring the water to a boil for about ten minutes.



After ten minutes, lift the jars out and set them on the counter to cool. The top of the lids will be convex and as they cool, will emit a popping sound and the lids will flatten out. The beans will be floating towards the top of the jar and have turned a different shade of green. As they marinate in the brine, they will begin to settle down in the jars. For optimal flavor, let them sit in their own juices for at least 2 weeks.



I can't wait to try them! These jars are definitely not going to last until winter but now that I know how straightforward canning can be, next summer I'm going to plant more beans with the hopes of being able to have at least one jar left by wintertime.