Risking it all for an eggplant

Would you risk your life for an eggplant?  This was the question I was asking myself last night as I searched in the dark during an intense thunderstorm for an eggplant to harvest for dinner.  When a lightning bolt lit up the sky, instead of dropping my metal hand pruners to avoid electrocution, I used the bright light to locate the Thai Hybrid Tiger eggplant that I remembered seeing on the plant the day before.   I captured my elusive prey, and ran into the house soaking wet but victorious.  

Vegetable gardening definitely triggers temporary insanity.  A gardening friend in Indiana e-mailed me about her frantic midnight lima bean harvest last month when an unexpected frost threatened to kill her plants.  And a customer at The Cutting Garden recently ordered flowers to be sent to her 86 year old aunt who broke an arm and a leg when she fell off the top of a wall while she was pruning her lemon tree.  

In my defense, the eggplant was needed for David's latest kitchen creation:  tostadas with black beans, cotija cheese, and eggplant.  On the side, an amazing salsa made with our fresh tomatillos and jalapenos.  Thankfully, I harvested the tomatillos and jalapenos before the storm hit.  I savored the dinner flush with the excitement of surviving danger in the name of gourmet cooking.  David just thinks I'm insane.   Please confess your craziest behavior in the name of a great meal - I know I'm not alone.

ps  Recipes for the tostada and tomatillo jalapeno salsa coming soon...

Risking it all for an eggplant made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!  Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Tomatillo Corn Chowder

Too pretty to eat?  That didn't stop us.  And not just easy on the eyes, tomatillos are easy to grow in the hot, humid weather we enjoy (that enjoy part was said with just a bit of saracasm).  Sometimes referred to as Mexican tomato or husk tomato, the tomatillo is a tomato relative.  Both are members of the nightshade family which also includes eggplants, potatoes and peppers (and some highly toxic, poisonous stuff we'll leave for another time).  Tomatillos develop slowly while encased inside a big, round, papery cocoon.  It looks odd enough to fascinate the kids, and they also enjoy palpating the cocoon every few days to feel the fruit inside growing.  Starting out no bigger than a pea, the tomatillo gradually grows to fill the husk with a fruit that is firm, heavy and dense.  They have a great shelf life once harvested (two weeks or more in the refrigerator), and they are also beautiful.  Ours are a gorgeous glossy green the color of Granny Smith apples. 

We started tomatillo seeds back in May, and totally ignored them as soon as the seedlings were in the ground.  Luckily, these plants don't need a lot of attention and they love the heat.  They have become enmeshed with our White Dixie baby butter bean vines in a sprawling mess in the back yard, but it seems to be a happy marriage for all.  The White Dixie vines are loaded with massive quantities of fat bean pods, and there are tomatillos in their papery husks hanging everywhere.   The tomatillos resemble green Chinese lanterns adorning the plants.

Although we live in Texas, our cooking usually features Asian or Mediterranean flavors.   Since tomatillos don't often appear in those cuisines, we opted for a Southwestern soup to use our tomatillos along with our Anaheim and jalapeno chiles.  Ironically, we selected a recipe from rebar written by two Canadian restaurant owners.  Even though the authors live in the Pacific Northwest, they know how to make great Southwestern vegetarian food.  We love this cookbook, and if we ever make it to Victoria, rebar will be our first stop.

Tomatillo Corn Chowder
adapted from rebar by Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz

Ingredients

8        cups         vegetable stock
5                        Anaheim chiles, seeded
1 1/2   lb            tomatillos, husks removed
                          vegetable oil
1                        yellow onion, diced
10                      garlic cloves, minced
                          salt
1         tsp           coriander
3         Tbs          oregano
4                        jalapeno, seeded and minced
1                         zucchini, diced
2                         potatoes, diced
3         cups         corn
1         cup          1/2 & 1/2
1         tsp            black pepper
                           fresh cilantro, chopped

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400.  Cut Anaheim chiles in half.  Toss tomatillos lightly in vegetable oil.  Roast chiles and tomatillos on a sheet pan until the skins are slightly charred.  Remove from the oven, dice the Anaheims and chop the tomatillos.
2. Saute onion in oil over medium high until translucent.  Add garlic, 1 tsp salt, and spices.  Add the jalapenos, zucchini, potatoes, and 1 tsp salt.  Saute for several minutes, then add the stock.  Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until potatoes are tender.
3. Add corn, chiles, and tomatillos.  Simmer 10 more minutes.  Add the 1/2 & 1/2, and more stock if needed.  Remove 1/2 the soup and puree.  Season with salt and pepper.  
4. Garnish with cilantro when serving. 
   

Tomatillo corn chowder made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Stretching the leftovers with Bruschetta

We love leftovers, especially for weeknight dinners.  Sometimes we're just too tired to cook after a long day at work.  To be honest, sometimes David is too tired to cook or I'm too hungry to wait for him to cook.  Yesterday, we had leftover penne pasta with caciocavallo, thai eggplant and cayenne peppers waiting in the fridge.  Unfortunately, the pasta is so good that we were a bit overzealous eating it the first night, so there wasn't quite enough left to fill both of us.   The quick solution:  bruschetta.  These are little open-faced grilled sandwiches, easy to make and very filling.

We had a bit of extra caciocavallo cheese from the night before, and of course there is always eggplant in the garden.  In just a few minutes, David turned these simple ingredients into amazing bruschetta.  They were so good, in fact, that the pasta was pushed to the side until every bruschetta crumb was gone.  What's not to love about bread grilled in olive oil topped with fabulous cheese and garden-fresh eggplant?

Bruschetta with Grilled Thai Eggplant and Caciocavallo
makes 4 Bruschetta


Ingredients

4      slices       ciabatta, sourdough, or similar bread
1/4   lb             Thai long green eggplant, sliced thinly
2      oz            caciocavallo (or whatever is leftover)
                       olive oil
                       red pepper flakes or 1 dried cayenne pepper

Procedure

1. Heat olive oil over medium high and grill eggplant slices until golden brown on both sides.  remove and drain on paper towels.
2. Cube half the cheese, and grate the other half
   
3. In same pan (add more olive oil if necessary), grill bread slices until golden and toasted on both sides.
4. Place cubed cheese on bread while it's still in the pan so the cheese will melt.  Remove from pan, then top with eggplant slices and grated cheese.  Sprinkle lightly with red pepper flakes or crumbled dry cayenne pepper.
5. Try to be nice and share the bruschetta with your spouse
   

Penne with Caciocavallo, Thai Eggplant and Cayenne Peppers

Although the temperatures have dropped and fall vegetable seeds are started in the garden, the summer eggplant harvest continues.  This year we have become particularly fond of Thai Long Green eggplant due to its firm texture, mild flavor, and lack of seeds.  The plants are also extremely prolific, with an almost constant supply of new eggplants from just two plants.  It is one of those vegetable plants that is great both for the garden and the kitchen.

When the cayenne pepper plants were pulled out of the garden last weekend, there were several cups of peppers on the plants.  We picked them all off, and will leave most to dry.  Many are over four inches long and a brilliant bright red.  David decided to make one last dish using some of those gigantic fresh cayenne peppers along with our Thai Long Green eggplant and Italian parsley from the garden.

We were worried about over-harvesting from our parsley plants so David bought a bunch at the grocery on the way home.  When we compared our freshly picked parsley with its bright green leaves and strong aroma to the store-bought parsley which was totally lacking in taste or smell, we tossed the purchased parsley in the bin.   Parsley should do more than add green specks to a dish.   Fresh parsley provides a nice zing to cooked vegetables, and it is loaded with vitamins A and C, as well as iron, folate and calcium. 

The dried pasta was from Rustichella d'Abruzzo, and we added one of our favorite cheeses, caciocavallo.  Caciocavallo is a wonderful Italian cheese.  We first tasted caciocavallo many years ago in Sicily where it originated.  The texture is similar to fresh mozarella, although a little firmer, with a delicious smoky flavor.  The "cavallo" suggests that at some point the cheese was made with horse's milk, but thankfully the milk now comes from cows or sheep.  On a business trip to Brescia in northern Italy David actually ate "cavallo", but that discussion will be left for another day.   For today, we are enjoying our pasta made with vegetables fresh from the garden with our "cheese on horseback".

Penne with Caciocavallo, Thai Eggplant and Cayenne Peppers

Ingredients

1           lb               Thai Long Green eggplant (or other Asian-style),
                               sliced thinly
                               olive oil
3                             garlic cloves, diced
5          Tbs             Italian parsley, chopped
3                             cayenne peppers, seeds removed and diced
                               (or 3 dried peppers, diced)
3          lbs               fresh tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
12        oz               dried penne pasta
10        oz               caciocavallo, grated
                               salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Loosen skins of tomatoes by placing tomatoes in boiling water 1 minute, then allow to cool.  Remove skins and seeds, then chop tomatoes.
   
2. Heat 3 T olive oil over medium low and saute garlic, parsley and chiles until garlic is browned (about 5 minutes).  Add tomatoes and cook until a thick sauce, 20 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
   
3. Saute eggplant in clean pan with olive oil over medium until brown on both sides.  Remove and drain on paper towels.
4. Boil pasta in salted water.  Drain in collander, then add tomato sauce, eggplant and cheese.  Add salt and peper to taste.
   

Fall Planting Time

In Houston, we have two seasons.  Summer (which lasts for about 6 months) and the rest of the year.  Our trees don't turn fabulous shades of red and orange, nor do we eagerly anticipate the first snow.  For us, autumn is the time of year that we celebrate that we survived the summer.  We are reinvigorated by the cooler weather and thoughts of cruciferous vegetables growing in the garden.

October is the time to start seeds for most of those fall vegetables.  First we had to make some room, so we pulled up the okra and the chile pepper plants.  The plants would have continued to produce for several more weeks, but we're ready for some new options.  We left one jalapeno plant since those peppers are best fresh, but we will have to rely on our vast stores of dried cayenne, poblano, and anaheim peppers until next summer.  If David had his way, we would have removed all the eggplants and lima beans too so he wouldn't have to cook with them any more.  But those plants are too loaded with vegetables and flowers to dig them up.  And they're among my favorites.

The weather was perfect for working outside, with temperatures in the 60's and 70's., and it stayed dry until Sunday night.  The list of what we planted is long -- check out the "what's growing" column to the right.  The kids even helped out in between laser tag battles with the neighbors and tennis matches in the middle of our street.   The dragonflies seem to have disappeared, but there were lots of Gulf Fritillary, Sulfur and Monarch butterflies keeping us company.

The biggest project of the weekend was planting the rest of the garlic.  In addition to the ajo rojo already in the ground, we ordered an assortment of garlic from Nichols. Many of the varieties are new to us, including Bogatyr, Purple Glazer and Oregon Blue; it was interesting to work with all the varieties at once.  There are clear differences in size, color and aroma.  We didn't cook any of them, but the flavors promise to be equally distinctive when we harvest our garlic next spring.  Such variety is especially exciting after years of cooking exclusively with grocery store garlic.

First, each garlic bulb was separated into individual cloves.  The cloves were then soaked overnight in water mixed with baking soda (the recommended ratio is 1 Tbs per gallon).  Perhaps this is obvious, but each variety of garlic should be soaked separately to avoid confusion.  In the morning, the skins were removed from each clove.  The skins were loose for the most part, but this is still a tedious project.   There are always some cloves that look healthy until the skins are removed, revealing damaged or badly discolored cloves that should be discarded.  The healthy cloves receive a quick (about 4 minute) bath in rubbing alcohol before going into the ground.   All our garlic was planting in raised beds.  For more detailed instructions, Gourmet Garlic Gardens is an excellent resource.

As if on cue with all our seeds and garlic cloves freshly sown in the garden, it started raining last night.  Today brings even more rain, promising lots of seedlings in the next few days.  This intensive fall planting was exhausting, but what a relief to have almost everything done.  With just a few seeds left to start in November (including peas, agretti, and onions), now it's time to relax and wait.  And continue to eat lots of eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes and lima beans.

Farro Pasta with Goat Cheese, Eggplant, Tomatoes and Greens

Dinner was Italian (sort of).  Pasta with eggplant and tomatoes.  So far so good.  But we still don't have spinach in our garden, so our Italian pasta dinner included senposai instead.  Senposai is such an adaptable green that an unsuspecting diner would probably never know the difference.   We have used senposai in Middle Eastern, Asian and Italian dishes.  Really it works in any recipe that calls for spinach, kale or cooked leafy greens.

Senposai is also a star in the garden, especially our hot Houston garden.  We've been harvesting from the same plants all summer, and many months later they are still growing.  The leaves are thick and green; when left on the plant they reach up to 12 inches long.  Senposai is tasty whether picked small or large.  We rarely let the leaves grow to full size because there's always a need for more senposai in the kitchen.

We selected a wonderful pasta from Rustichella d'Abruzzo made with organic farro.  Farro is an unhybridized ancestor of modern wheat with a dense nutty flavor.  The texture and taste pair well with vegetables fresh from the garden.  Imagine a pasta stand-in for brown rice.  Our recipe is really not much of one.  Use it as a guide for whatever vegetables you have on hand.  For us that means eggplant (of course), Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes, and senposai.  But this pasta would be delicious with kale or spinach, or even with brussel sprouts (my favorite vegetable).   

Farro Pasta with Goat Cheese, Eggplant, Tomatoes and Greens
makes 4 entree portions

Ingredients

1        box         dry pasta
1        pound      Italian eggplant, sliced thinly
1 1/2  cup          senposai or other leafy green
1        cup          cherry tomatoes
4        oz            goat cheese (we used Carpicho
                         de Cabra peppered goat cheese)
                         olive oil
                         salt and black pepper

Procedure

1. Cook pasta and drain in collander.  
   
2. Heat olive oil over medium in saute pan and saute eggplant until golden on both sides.  Place slices on paper towels to drain.
3. In same pan, saute senposai until soft, about 2 minutes.  It shrinks down like spinach, but not as much because it is thicker.  Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In same pan, gently heat a tiny bit of olive oil and add goat cheese.  Allow cheese to get warm, but not to melt into a liquid.  
5. Remove goat cheese from pan and add to cooked pasta.  Add eggplant and senposai and toss.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add cherry tomatoes.        
   

                 

Green Tea Buckwheat Soba Noodles with Edamame and Tofu

Some gardeners suggest that the best way to harvest edamame is to pull out the entire plant and then pluck off the beans. The rationale is that the edamame tend to ripen at the same time, so there's no point to leaving the plant in the garden.  It also eliminates the tedious bending and searching for mature edamame.  But it takes fortitude to yank up a perfectly healthy vegetable plant, especially one that is still growing and flowering, so we chose to leave the plants in the ground and harvest the mature edamame every few weeks.  Our approach produced edamame all summer, plus a massive late crop of edamame that we harvested this week.  The plants were loaded from top to bottom with the last beans of the season, so laden with pods that the plants were drooping under the weight of the soybeans.  With no new flowers in sight, and few immature pods that needed more time to mature, we finally pulled up the plants.  Just four plants yielded several pounds of gorgeous, fat edamame pods. 

Now the tough decision -- how to use them.   One of our favorite weeknight dinners is a Japanese dish using green tea buckwheat soba noodles.  This dish is heavy on the protein (using both edamame and tofu), and the green noodles look beautiful with our freshly picked edamame.  The noodles are also surprisingly hearty, making for a very filling meal.  We use fresh tofu, but packaged works just as well.  For that matter, if you don't have any fresh edamame, frozen are fine.  Make sure you select the beans that have already been removed from the pods.

Green Tea Buckwheat Soba Noodles 
(Uji Cha Soba) 
with Edamame and Tofu 
(makes 2 entree portions)

Ingredients

7          oz         (1 package) uji cha
                         green tea buckwheat soba noodles
2         Tbs        Japanese soy sauce
1         Tbs        Japanese rice vinegar
1         Tbs        mirin
1         Tbs        tahini
1         cup         fresh edamame, removed from pods
10       oz           fresh tofu or firm packaged tofu, cubed
                         peanut oil
3         Tbs        sesame seeds

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 350.  Place sesame seeds on sheet pan and toast in oven until fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
2. Cook noodles in boiling water 3 to 4 minutes.  Drain immediately in a collander and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Heat peanut oil over medium high in a pan or wok.  Fry tofu until golden brown, flip over and repeat.  Remove from pan and place on paper towels to dry.
   
4. Boil a pot of salted water.  Add edamame and cook until tender.  Our fresh edamame cooked in 3 minutes.  If using frozen, it may take longer.  Drain immediately in collander.
5. Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin and tahini.  Add to the noodles and mix well.  Fold in the tofu and edamame.  Spinkle with toasted sesame seeds.  Serve hot or cold.

Bulgur with Halloumi and Eggplant

Prepare to cry.  You may be moved to tears by the sheer genius of this simple dish.  But first you have to slice a lot of onions.  Don't be deceived by the short list of ingredients.  This Syrian recipe turns bulgur, eggplant and haloumi into a memorable meal.

If you are unfamiliar with halloumi, it is a cheese that is made in Cyprus.  We actually ordered a small recipe pamphlet devoted to halloumi from the Cypriot government a few years ago.  Halloumi has a great salty flavor and an unusual layered texture that it retains when cooked.  You can fry or grill it without the cheese turning into a liquid mess.   It is an amazing, unusual cheese that is one of our favorites.

For this recipe, inspired by Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food,  we used our Thai Long Green Eggplant to add a nice punch of color to the finished dish.  You will be surprised by how many onion slices are required, but wipe away your tears and get cooking.  You'll be glad you did.

Bulgur with Halloumi and Eggplant
(based on Burghul bi Jibn wal Batinjan by Claudia Roden)
makes 4 large entree portions or 6 generous side portions

Ingredients

1          pound       Thai or Asian-style long eggplant, sliced thinly
1 1/2                     large onions, sliced
                             olive oil
2          cups          coarse-ground bulgur,
                             washed in cold water and drained
3 1/2    cups          boiling vegetable stock
7           oz            halloumi, cubed
                             black pepper to taste
                             Italian parsley, chopped

Procedure

1. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil and fry onions until golden.  Add bulgur.  Add the hot stock and cover.
2. Cook on very low heat until stock is absorbed and bulgur is tender, about 20 minutes.
3. While bulgur is cooking, fry eggplant slices in olive oil.  Drain on paper towels.
4. When bulgur is cooked, add 4 Tbs olive oil, halloumi, and eggplant.  Gently combine.
5. Re-cover and keep the pot on very low heat until the halloumi is soft.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serve hot.
   

Fresh Lima Bean Hummus

If you're feeling fatigued reading our third consecutive entry about lima beans, imagine how we feel.  Eating from the garden every day means cooking with what is available, even if it means eating the same vegetable for days on end.  Luckily, we have not yet hit the lima bean saturation point.   In fact, after months of eating eggplant every night, limas still feel like a novelty.  The fact that these beans are so adaptable has helped immensely.

We've been craving Middle Eastern food lately, so David decided to create a hummus made with fresh lima beans instead of the standard (canned or dried) chickpeas.  We used a mixture of lima varieties from the garden, and added our fresh parsley, cilantro, mint and dill as seasonings. The hummus, a lovely smoky green color, was thick and filling, with a flavor quite distinct from traditional hummus.  To round out the meal, we sauteed thin slices of Sfumata di Rosa eggplant (yes, we're still harvestiing eggplant!) and served the hummus and eggplant with warm pita bread, feta, fresh Marketmore cucumbers and Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes from the garden.   Eating from the garden has rarely been better.

 

 

 
Fresh Lima Bean Hummus

Ingredients

1 1/2     cup         Fresh lima beans, removed from pods
1/2                       onion, chopped
3                          garlic cloves, skins removed and smashed
1/2         tsp          salt, plus more to taste
                            black pepper to taste
1          cup          water
1/8       cup          Italian parsley, chopped
1/8       cup          cilantro, chopped
1 1/4    tsp           cumin
1/4       tsp           cayenne pepper
3          Tbs          lemon juice
3          Tbs          olive oil
3          Tbs          tahini
1          Tbs          fresh dill, chopped
1          Tbs          fresh mint, chopped


Procedure

1. Combine beans, onion, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and water and simmer, covered, until beans are tender (about 12 minutes).
2. Remove from heat, uncover and add parsley and cilantro.  Let steep 5 minutes.
3. Drain water.  Add cumin, cayenne, lemon juice, olive oil, dill, mint and tahini and puree until smooth.  We added more salt at this point, and black pepper.  You may need more lemon juice too.
   
4. Sprinkle with sumac.  Serve with warm pita. 

Brothy Mediterranean Lima Beans

Eating from the garden often means eating the same vegetable for days on end.  If you've been following us for a while you know that we've had eggplant almost every night for months.  Literally, months.  Before that it was snap beans daily.  They took forever, but now the big producers in the garden are the lima beans.  There are baby limas, gigantic Christmas limas, Carolina pole limas, and Florida speckled limas.   Lima beans are well-suited to the Southern garden because they love the heat which is never in short supply here.   They take a long time to mature, but then they provide a long, extended harvest.

Unlike the bland frozen beans I remember eating while growing up, fresh limas are full of flavor and absolutely gorgeous.  We've been experimenting with different lima recipes to keep it interesting every night.  The limas have impressed with their versatility.  They're also very filling, high in protein and fiber, and an excellent source of folate, iron and potassium.   Best of all as far as David is concerned, they're NOT eggplant.

Two nights ago we had an Italian soup with lima beans.  Last night, David decided to cook a Middle Eastern-style dinner.  We had a simple salad with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden, and Brothy Mediterranean Lima Beans.  We used a combination of limas from the garden.  The cooked beans turned shades of lavender, pink, and white in a warm aromatic broth.   Delicious, and definitely not monotonous.

Brothy Mediterranean Lima Beans

Ingredients

1 1/2         cup           fresh lima beans
                                 (or whatever you manage to harvest),
                                 removed from pods
3/4            cup           water
2               Tbs           extra virgin olive oil
2               Tbs           fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1               Tbs           garlic, minced
1/2            tsp            sea salt
                                 black pepper
1               Tbs           lemon juice
                                  bread for dipping
                                 (we used Middle Eastern cheese bread)

Procedure

1. Combine water, beans, 1 1/2 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs parsley, garlic and salt.  Cover and heat over medium until beans are cooked, stirring occasionally.  We used a combination of fresh limas in different sizes (probably not the best idea because the small beans cook more quickly).  Everything, including the gigantic Christmas limas, was done after 12 minutes.  If using only baby limas, check after 8 minutes.
2. Remove from heat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add lemon juice, 1 Tbs parsley and 1/2 Tbs olive oil.  Serve warm, and use bread for dipping.

Pasta e Fagioli with Christmas Lima Beans

Last fall at our restaurant, we made a pasta fagioli soup inspired by a recipe in Domenica Marchetti's The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy.  This is a beautiful book that we purchased at our favorite cookbook store, The Cook's Library, in L.A.  This soup was my first exposure to Christmas lima beans, and I was so enamored of them that I decided to grow them in our garden this summer.  These giant limas are hearty and filling, the perfect bean for a soup eaten on a blustery autumn day (in Houston that means it's in the 80's).

These limas are positively gigantic, and when dried they are a lovely speckled burgundy.  The fresh beans are even prettier in shades of white, pink and fuscia. If you have read our previous entries bemoaning the long and slow process to harvest, you know that Christmas limas do not provide instant gratification to the gardener.  The vines started in April are lush and full, but it is only now that we are harvesting our first beans.   At home, we decided to make a vegetarian spin on Marchetti's soup using fresh Christmas limas, rosemary, and cayenne pepper from the garden.  Good things do indeed come to those who wait. 

Pasta e Fagioli with Christmas Lima Beans
(based on the recipe by Domenica Marchetti)

Ingredients

2       cups      Fresh Christmas Limas
                      (the original recipe uses 2 cups dried limas soaked
                      overnight)
1                    rib celery, minced
1                    yellow onion, finely chopped
3       cloves   garlic, minced
1       Tbs       fresh rosemary, minced
1/2    cup       olive oil
8       cups      vegetable stock
                      sea salt to taste
1/8     tsp       finely chopped dried cayenne pepper
8        oz        orzo pasta
                     parmesan cheese
                     homemade pesto
                     ciabatta or similar bread     

Procedure

1. In large pot, combine beans, celery, onion, garlic and rosemary.  Add 1/2 cup olive oil and stir to combine.
2. Add vegetable stock and bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer over low until beans are tender.  The fresh beans cook much faster than dried, so keep an eye on your soup as it cooks.
4. Puree 1/2 the soup and add back to remainder.  Season as needed with salt, and add minced cayenne.
5. Return soup to boil and add pasta.  Reduce to gentle simmer until pasta is cooked.  The pasta will thicken the soup considerably.
   
6. To serve, drizzle with olive oil and top with freshly grated parmesan.
7. We eat the soup with pesto crostinis. To make the crostinis, brush both sides of slices of ciabatta or similar bread with pesto and toast in a pan or on the grill. 

Pasta e fagioli with christmas lima beans made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!  Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

 

Spicy Tofu with Asian Greens

This summer we experimented with growing Asian greens.  We ordered every variety that we could find that would survive the long, hot Texas summer.   The plants were quite hardy and productive, far exceeding our expections and producing heavily all summer.  The challenge for us then became what to do with these exotic greens.

We have discovered that Asian greens are amazingly versatile.  They can act as a stand-in for spinach in Italian recipes, as lettuce for our Middle Eastern salads, and as the vegetable for stir frys.  Last night, we created a Pan-Asian dish using a combination of three of the greens:  Senposai (Japanese), Yu Choy (Chinese) and Natsu Rakuten (Japanese).  We added Thai eggplant and jalapenos from the garden, plus tofu, to create a filling dish with a bit of a kick.  If you love heat, feel free to add even more chiles to the recipe.  You can also substitute any greens you have available if senposai, yu choy and misome are not sold at your local Kroger or Farmer's Market.

Spicy Tofu with Asian Greens

Ingredients

1       lb       tofu
                   peanut oil for frying
                   olive oil for sauteeing
8                 sections green onion, each 1" long
8                 thin slices ginger
2       tsp     chili paste
1       tsp     chopped fresh jalapeno
2       cups   assorted Asian greens
                   (we used senposai, yu choy and natsu rakuten)
1       lb       Thai (or other Asian-style) eggplant, sliced thinly
2       tsp      sugar
2       tsp      sesame oil
4       tsp      corn starch
5       tsp      soy sauce
2 1/2 cup     vegetable stock

Procedure

1.  Horizontally cut block of tofu into 3 sections.  Then cut each slice in the shape of an "X" -- on the diagonal each direction to make a total of 12 triangles of tofu.
2. Heat the peanut oil on high, then fry tofu about 4 minutes until both sides are golden brown.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
3. Heat olive oil and saute eggplant until golden brown on both sides.  Remove and drain on paper towels.  Using same pan and oil, cook greens briefly (about 1 minute).  Remove and set aside.
   
4. Heat 3 Tb peanut oil over medium and saute onion, ginger, chili paste and jalapenos until fragrant.  Add tofu, eggplant, greens and all of the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
   

Garden Pu Pu Platter with Crunchy Baby Lima Beans

When David was growing up, his family dinners were very predictable.  Thursday was meatloaf night, Friday was spaghetti.  Perhaps as a reaction against that routine, he refused to cook us the same dish twice for dinner.  Each night was a new recipe, with results that ranged from the spectacular to the inedible.  One constant was that we rarely ate before 10:00 at night as David forged his way through yet another unfamiliar recipe.   By the time dinner was finished, David was usually exhausted and cranky, the kitchen was a disaster area, and I was ready to go to sleep.

While I appreciated his efforts and loved the variety, too many nights of gnawing hunger and late nights forced me to suggest that David create a repertoire.  Not the strict schedule he grew up with, but a collection of tested recipes that he could draw from when planning dinner.  For our restaurant, we use a software program called Living Cookbook to store our recipes.  When the chefs (inevitably) lose a recipe or it gets covered in grease, we just print out a new copy.

For the house, we decided to go low-tech.  We purchased a binder, and David filed all his favorite recipes inside.  We still set aside several nights each week for experimentation, but we have a few nights each week to enjoy our favorites and spend the rest of the night relaxing.  This routine has been complicated somewhat by the vegetable garden.  Other than eggplant (which is always in supply right now), it's hard to know what will be ready from the garden each night.  So the key has been to keep the kitchen well stocked with basics (which for us means things like tofu, feta, couscous, onions, and spices) so that we can harvest each night and design the dinner accordingly.

Sometimes this means edamame on the side, other nights we have fresh snap beans or senposai.  Even though we have introduced a bit of regimentation to the schedule, we still have amazing variety thanks to the garden.  Last night is a perfect example.   From the garden we harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, dandelion greens, arugula, lima beans and (of course) eggplant.  David decided to make a salad, with some cooked vegetables on the side.  The result:  a garden pu pu platter with Jerusalem Salad (part of the repertoire) using the dandelion greens, arugula, cucumbers and tomatoes, plus sauteed eggplant and crunchy lima beans on the side.   The eggplant harvest was a combination of thai long green, rosa bianca, cloud nine and black beauty.  Each kept its color, making for a beautiful side dish in shades of green, purple and white.

The baby limas were also a mixture of varieties -- Dixie Butterpea, Fordhook 242, Henderson's Bush, and White Dixie.  David prepared Crunchy Lima Beans -- crunchy on the outside, still soft and creamy on the inside.  Easy to prepare, with a flavor that can't be beat.

Crunchy Baby Lima Beans

Ingredients

1-2       cups       fresh lima beans (removed from pods)
                          sea salt
2           Tbs       olive oil


Preparation

1. Boil salted water.  Add lima beans and blanch 3 - 5 minutes.
2. Drain in a colander and run beans under cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add lima beans, sprinkle with sea salt, and saute until they are slightly shriveled and dry-looking on the outside (about 5 minutes).  Remove immediately to avoid over-cooking.  Serve right away.
   

Ajo Rojo Creole Garlic

Garlic is one of those basics that you always need in the kitchen.  The great thing about growing your own garlic is that it stores so well that a single harvest can produce enough to use throughout the year.  Since you're actually eating the bulb, organically grown garlic from your own garden is also much healthier than store-bought garlic.  And while all the garlic at the market is the same, there is amazing variety available if you choose to grow your own garlic.   This year, I selected Ajo Rojo, a creole garlic.


Most garlics are either hardnecks or softnecks.  Hardnecks are known for producing large cloves which are easy to peel and have excellent flavor.  They do best in cooler climates.  Softnecks are recommended for southern growers.  This is the garlic offered by retailers because they are more productive than hardnecks, and they store better than longnecks.  Ajo Rojo is a creole garlic, a unique group of garlics that originated in Spain and is genetically distinct from both the hardnecks and softnecks.  Creole garlics do well in hot climates, have a pleasant warm flavor that is retained when cooked, and store for around 9 months.  In other words, an ideal garlic to grow in Houston.  Since I'm a sucker for beautiful vegetables, it's an added benefit that Ajo Rojo cloves look amazing with streaks of red, pink and burgundy.

Garlic is slow to mature, and requires cold weather to develop and enhance flavor.  It must be planted in fall for a spring harvest.  I have read that due to our mild climate, garlic can be started in Houston as late as December and still achieve excellent results.  I started most of the ajo rojo this week, setting aside one bulb of about 15 cloves to start in November. With Ajo Rojo's long shelf life, this succession planting should produce enough garlic for us to use all of next year.

Garlic is in the allium family which includes onions and leeks.  It is ideal to plant garlic somewhere that has not recently grown alliums to avoid any diseases that affect the onion family.  Garlic also needs loose, fertile soil, with good drainage to avoid drowning during one of our heavy rains.  A raised bed is therefore ideal.  I chose to devote an entire bed to garlic.  In a garden where square footage is in limited supply, this is a big sacrifice for me.  But, that one bed will produce a year's supply of garlic, which is a excellent ROI.   With the garlic in the ground, there's nothing to do now but wait for a spring harvest.


Ajo rojo creole garlic made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Cosse Violette, Je T'aime

Cosse Violette, je t'aime.  Por quoi?, you ask.

1. I'm a sucker for purple vegetables (I have founded a 12-step program for eggplant addiction).
2. These beans are the most amazing deep purple with hints of green at the tips.
3. The vines and flowers are equally beautiful shades of purple and lavender.
4. The plants are producing like crazy right now with beans dripping down everywhere.
5. The purple color makes finding the beans for harvest a cinch.  Reaching them isn't always so easy.
   
6. Cosse Violettes are flat instead of round, in lots of funky shapes.
7. They taste magnifique.

Only one thing makes me triste: Cosse Violette turn green when cooked.  But you will quickly forgive this shortcoming when you take your first bite.  Cosse Violettes (or any snap beans fresh from the garden) should be quickly blanched and sauteed to retain their amazing flavor.

Cosse Violette à la française

Ingredients

1-2       cups      Cosse Violette or other fresh snap beans
                         (quantity varies with the harvest)
2          Tbs        Olive oil
2          tsp         butter
                         sea salt

Procedure

1.  Boil salted water and blanch beans 3 to 5 minutes.
2.  Drain immediately in collander.  If cooking right away, skip to step 3.  If not, run the beans under cold water to stop the cooking process.
3.  Heat olive oil and butter together in saute pan over medium heat.  Saute beans 3 to 4 minutes.  Lightly sprinkle with sea salt before removing from pan.  Serve immediately.
   

Cloud Nine Eggplant Souffle

The eggplant glut continues, requiring some creativity in the kitchen to avoid total burn-out.  We decided to do a week of eggplant dinners to highlight the versatility of this vegetable.  First up, eggplant souffle made with Cloud Nine eggplants.  This recipe is from Ana Sortun's book, Spice.  She and her husband are a mirror image of David and me -- he does the growing, she does the cooking -- and many of her recipes reflect their love of home-grown vegetables.  This souffle is excellent for those who are not totally enamored with eggplant because the the flavors of dill, asiago and sumac dominate in the finished dish.  Using fresh, firm eggplant is key to success here.

Eggplant Souffle
(adapted from Spice by Ana Sortun)

Ingredients

3      lbs       cloud nine eggplant (or any fresh eggplant)
1/4   cup      salt
1      cup      milk
1                 onion (outer layer only, peeled)
2     cloves  garlic, peeled
1                bay leaf
7     Tbs     butter
1/2   cup     flour
1/8    tsp     freshly grated nutmeg
1/2    tsp    sumac
1/4    tsp    black pepper
1/2    cup   grated asiago cheese
1/2    cup   fresh dill, chopped
4               eggs, separated

Procedure

1. Peel eggplants with vegetable peeler and cube.
2. Boil large sauce pan of water and add salt.  Add eggplant and reduce heat to medium high.  Cook until eggplant is soft.  Drain.
3. Puree in food processor until smooth.  Add pepper.  Measure 2 1/2 cups of puree and set aside.
4. Bring milk, onion, garlic and bay leaf to a boil over medium high heat.  Remove from heat and steep 10 minutes, then remove onion, garlic and bay leaf.
5. Melt 4 T butter over medium high until it starts to foam, then whisk in 1/4 C flour.  Whish until mixture is golden brown, then add hot milk and whisk until thick and doughy.  Add nutmeg and sumac.
6. Add cheese, dill and egg yolks.  Add eggplant puree.
7. Heat oven to 400.
8. Beat egg white to stiff peaks, then fold into the eggplant mixture.
9. Butter and flour eight 6-oz ramekins and fill each 3/4 to top with eggplant mixture.
10. Bake until golden brown and tall, about 20 minutes.
11. Dust with more sumac, and serve with greek yogurt and warm pita bread.
    

Cloud nine eggplant souffle made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Extreme vertical gardening

 

I planted Marketmore 76 cucumbers and Cosse Violette French Purple-Podded beans together at the back of our vegetable border.  This has turned out to be a very successful combination.  The vines are intertwined on the same bamboo poles, making for a very efficient use of space, and the cucumber and bean plants are all lush and healthy.  In fact, the vines have grown so big that they are now climbing up into our neighbor's crepe myrtle.  I'm not sure how I'm going to work out the harvesting -- there's no room for a ladder -- but Marketmore's bright yellow flowers combined with Cosse Violette's purple flowers and beans are gorgeous dripping down from the tree branches. 

Further complicating matters is the jungle of tomato plants that have taken over the front of the border.  It's tough to get through the tomatoes without damaging anything, but I squeezed in yesterday to pick the first of the Cosse Violette beans.  The beans are a gorgeous deep purple with a flat shape like a Romano. 

As I was stretching to reach the beans up in the tree branches, I discovered two huge cucumbers nearby.  I didn't think we had any Marketmores yet, but here were two that desperately needed to be harvested.   The smaller of the two was close to 8 inches long.  They had been hidden from view by the tomato plants until I was standing right next to them.

We had Jerusalem Salad (see my earlier posting for the Jerusalem Salad recipe) for lunch prepared with the Marketmores, plus a green bell pepper, dandelion greens, mizuna and arugula from the garden.  We sauteed the Cosse Violettes for an delicious side dish.   David was thrilled to have a meal without eggplant, and I have to say that few things taste as good as a salad made with freshly harvested vegetables.  I just hope we don't have to rent a cherry-picker to do the rest of the harvesting.

Fried eggplant with hot chiles

I have learned that taste is totally subjective, especially with respect to saltiness and spiciness. At our restaurant, we have a constant debate about the right amount of salt for our soups. I prefer less, but our cooks prefer more. Our customers have joined in the debate, and there is seldom a consensus opinion. The same is true when it comes to heat. Some think our chicken tortilla soup is too spicy, and others dump tabasco on top.

I am a total wimp when it comes to eating spicy food, and am perfectly content to have nothing that is even remotely hot. This has been a source of conflict because many of David's favorite restaurants prepare dishes that bring tears to my eyes and a burn to my throat. The compromise has been that we order items that are not too hot, and then he dumps hot sauce and sriracha on everything.

When David selected a recipe for fried eggplant with hot chiles, I was excited to try a new eggplant dish, but the jalapenos made me nervous. My fears were not allayed when David showed me that the recipe called for using the whole chile, including the pith which includes all the heat. But we trust Bsisu, and decided to stick to the recipe as written.

The results were suprisingly tasty, and not at all spicy. The jalapenos just added a depth of flavor to the dish. David served these with a dollop of Fage Greek yogurt just in case I needed to cool down. The yogurt made a great dip for the eggplant, and I would recommend that you do the same.  Our garden is producing so much eggplant, and so many jalapenos, its wonderful to find a recipe that uses them together to such good effect.
 
Fried Eggplant with Hot Chiles
(adapted from The Arab Table by Mary Bsisu)

Ingredients

3          lbs             eggplants (we used a mixture of varieties
                             from the garden)
1          clove         garlic, smashed
1          TB            fresh lemon juice
1          TB            white vinegar
1          C              vegetable oil
4-6                       jalapeno peppers
                            ground sumac for garnish
                            Fage yogurt

Procedure

1. Remove eggplant skins with vegetable peeler, leaving a few thin strips of skin on each.
2. Cut eggplant into 1/2" thick circles.
3. Combine garlic, lemon juice and vinegar.  Set aside.
4.  Heat vegetable oil over high, then fry eggplant slices until edges darken and centers are golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.  Transfer to paper towels to dry.
5. Make a slit in each jalapeno and remove seeds.  Then fry them in the same oil used for the eggplants.  Remove when the peppers blister and turn white all over.  Transfer to paper towels to dry.
6. Mix eggplant slices with the lemon garlic sauce.  Add the fried jalapenos.  Sprinkle with sumac
7. Serve with warm pita and yogurt on the side.

Fried eggplant with hot chiles made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.  Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!
Cheers, The Foodbuzz Editorial Team

Harvesting Okra Seeds

Our okra plants are still producing nicely, so I decided to leave a few okra on the plants to mature fully for seed harvesting.  While okra tastes best when it is small and dark green, it is ideal to wait until the okra is giant and faded to a creamy white before picking if the aim is to collect lots of mature seeds.  After harvesting, leave the okra to air dry.  I leave them on top of our microwave, but you can also let them dry outside.  After a few days, the okra will be dried out and the seeds ready for collection.  Just split open the orka vertically, easily done with your fingers, and let the seeds drop into a bowl.  Label and store for next year.

Butter Beans

After growing snap beans, lima beans require a bit of an adjustment.  The plants take much longer to mature and flower.  Then, once there are finally bean pods, its a long wait for the beans inside to mature.  New pods are small and flat.  After the pods enlarge to full-size, the beans start to develop.  You can assess the size of the beans by holding the pod up to the light.  At first, the beans will look like tiny flat circles.  It's time to harvest when the pods are fat, there's no space between the beans, and the pod starts to lighten around the edges.

After such a long wait, it seems fair to expect instant gratification from the harvest.  But lima beans have to be taken out of their pods first.  This is tedious work, so put on the tv and get to work.  When I saw the beautiful butter beans our garden produced, I started to forget all about the long wait, the back-breaking work looking for the mature pods, and the hard labor involved in extricating the beans from their pods.   And our fresh limas taste as good as they look.  In fact, the fresh limas are so tasty that now I'm thinking that they may be worth the wait after all.