Spring Garden Greens

            The garden is growing greener by the day.  Most people have just gotten their tender plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, set out in the garden.  The seeds that were planted in early spring, such as lettuce and peas are finally ready.  Green onions are growing taller by the day.  Of course, those pesky green weeds are really starting to creep up on us now as well. 

Garlic scapes are another early spring green garden veggie that is often overlooked and under-utilized.  Garlic, which is planted in the fall, sends up a flower stalk in the spring.  It looks kind of like a little green snake that comes out of the middle of the plant.  They should be picked off so that the garlic can concentrate its energy on the bulb underground instead of the flower.  Instead of just discarding them, they can be chopped up and used just like fresh garlic.  I have been a little worried because I felt like my scapes came on much earlier than last year.  I checked my records and last year my article featuring scapes was printed the second week in June, so it looks like they are about two or three weeks early.  My best farmer-friend, Becky, is growing over an acre of garlic and she confirmed that her scapes are ready as well.  We both think our garlic bulbs may be pretty small this year—just another by-product of our funny spring weather this year.

            The following recipe was sent to me by my friend Jayne, who got it from annies-eats.com.  I modified the recipe slightly; it called for leeks, which I changed to garlic scapes and a few other minor alterations.  This delicious dish really highlights a wide variety of early spring vegetables.

Spring Green Risotto

5 c. chicken or vegetable stock

1 ½ tbsp. olive oil

2 green onions, chopped

10 garlic scapes, chopped into ½ in. pieces

1 ½ c. Arborio rice

2/3 c. dry white wine

1 lb. asparagus, cut into ½ in. pieces

1 ½ cups fresh peas (cut into ½ in pieces if using snap or snow peas or shelled if using English peas)

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1/3 c. mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese, which is what I used)

½ c. parmesan cheese

3 tbsp. minced fresh chives

            In med. saucepan, heat the stock over med. heat until simmering.  Heat the olive oil in large pan.  Add the green onions and sauté until tender.  Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat with the oil, cooking for about 1 min.  Add the white wine and simmer over med. heat, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed.  Add the stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more.  Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus, peas, and scapes in boiling salted water for 4 min. until crisp-tender.  Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop cooking.  When the risotto has been cooking for 15 min. add the asparagus, peas, and scapes to the risotto.  Add salt and pepper.  Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is tender but still firm.  The entire process should take 25-30 min.  Remove from heat.  Mix in the lemon juice, mascarpone or cream cheese, Parmesan, and chives.  Stir until cheese is melted and creamy.

Radishes: A Spring Classic

            There has been a wide variety of flowers and plants for sale the past couple of weeks at our market.  I’m sure many mothers received some of them as gifts this past Sunday.  Each week we will see an increase in the variety of fresh local produce available for purchase as well.  Asparagus is still in season; lettuce and greens are coming on strong; green onions are ready; and there will even be some sugar snap peas available this week.

All winter we look forward to the taste of fresh vegetables from the garden.  One of the first to be ready, of course, is the radish.  Way back in January, I brought home a small painting of a radish from my friend Nora’s art gallery.  I hung the painting in the kitchen and nearly every day since then I have looked at that radish just waiting for the spring days when I would once again harvest the real thing from my garden.  The smell of the dirt as you pull it out of the ground, the juicy crunch, and the pungent spicy taste, are what make the radish a true spring icon.

            If you are planting a garden with your children or grandchildren, radishes are a great place to start.  The seeds grow so easily and produce so quickly that the kids will feel really successful right off the bat, which will hopefully lead to more gardening enthusiasm.  Also, radishes don’t just come in red, but also come in white, pink, and even purple, so you can have some fun variety in your garden as well. 

            Rich Schroeder, fellow vegetable grower and radish fan, gave me the following recipe this week. 

Red Radish Butter

½ cup radishes

1 cup green onions

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 cup softened butter

Finely chop onions and radishes in a food processor.  Mix with mustard and butter.  Makes ½ cup.  Good on sandwiches, crackers, and with broiled fish and meat.

Flowers and Rhubarb for Mother’s Day

            Last week kicked off the 2012 season of the Zanesville Farmers’ Market, which is held on Saturday mornings from 9:00am to Noon at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds.  Judging from all of the smiling faces, it was a happy and friendly crowd.  Vendors and customers alike were glad to return to the place that will be part of their Saturday routine for the next six months.

            Don’t forget—this Sunday, May 13^th is Mother’s Day and Farmer’s Market is the perfect place to shop for a gift.  A wide selection of flowers is available—flats of annuals to plant in her beds, vegetable plants if she has a garden, hanging baskets to dress up the porch, or pots of perennial flowers that she can enjoy year after year, are some of things you can find to make your mother feel special.  If you buy her flowers, I hope you will take the time to help her plant them as well.  That will mean more than the plants themselves.  If your mother does not have a green thumb, I bet she won’t refuse a pie that she didn’t have to bake herself, some good cheese, or a handmade craft item.  Our market has a lot of variety.

            If you think about it, there are very few vegetables that are perennial in our climate.  Things such as tomatoes and peppers, perennial in their native tropical environments, are killed by our freezing winter temperatures, and here they must be replanted every year as annuals.  Asparagus is a good example of one vegetable that is a perennial in our region.  Another plant that is technically a vegetable, although not always thought of as such, is rhubarb.  Rhubarb is also a perennial, coming back year after year in the early spring.  It seems like everyone’s grandmother used to have a rhubarb patch out in the backyard.  Based on the number of requests we get at market for rhubarb and from the way it flew off the vendors tables last week, it seems that many of these old-time patches have gone by the wayside. 

            One rhubarb plant needs about one square yard of space to grow, but even just one plant would probably provide your family with plenty of rhubarb each season.  I think we should renew the popularity of rhubarb, that old-time favorite, by increasing the number of back yard rhubarb patches.  Here is a yummy rhubarb recipe from “The Joy of Rhubarb” by Theresa Millang.  Give your mom a great reminder of “the good old days” by making this treat for her on Sunday.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

Filling:

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

3 Tblsp. All-purpose flour

1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp. finely shredded lemon rind

6 cups fresh rhubarb, diced

3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Topping:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 Tblsp. Granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

3 Tblsp. cold butter or margarine

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400º.  Filling:  Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon in large bowl.  Add lemon rind, rhubarb, and strawberries; gently toss until coated.  Drizzle top with vanilla.  Pour mixture into greased 13x9” baking dish.  Bake 10 min.  Topping:  Mix first five topping ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles pea size.  Stir in buttermilk with a fork just until a soft dough is formed.  Drop dough by the tablespoonfuls on top of hot fruit mixture, creating 12 portions.  Continue baking at 400º until topping is puffed and browned about 25 min.  Let stand 10 min. before serving.  Serve warm with strawberry ice cream.

Farmers’ Market is Back in Action

    Saturday, May 5^th is the first Farmers’ Market of the 2012 season at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds.  From 9:00am to Noon you will once again be able to purchase local vegetables, plants, flowers, meats, cheeses, baked goods, and a variety of other products.  Come out not only to shop but to catch up with all of those market friends you haven’t seen since last fall. 

    The weather has been very unusual this spring.  Who would have guessed that March would be warmer than April?  It seems like a lot of the early veggies I planted at the end of March such as lettuce, peas, and radishes, stagnated in the cold weather and barley grew during April.  But now as the temperatures have warmed back up heading into May, plus some much need rain that has fallen this week, things have started to shoot up.  There are so many tasty things to look forward to in the next few weeks. 

    One of the first spring vegetables that you are sure to find at market this week is asparagus.  Nothing beats the fresh taste of asparagus that is locally grown.  Being in season for such a short period, I suggest you get to market early to purchase a bundle or two. 

    My friend Janelle just sent me a tasty new asparagus recipe she got from a blog she follows (101cookbooks.com).  The dish calls for a tahini dressing to be added to the dish after it is cooked.  The dish is good with or without the dressing, so if you are like me and don’t have any tahini in the cupboard, you can skip the dressing.  I substituted two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and a splash of Worcestershire sauce instead.  Also, just so you know, it took me more than ten minutes to make this—more like thirty.  I must be a slow cook.

Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 or 2 14-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch segments
3 cups pre-cooked brown rice
1 cup almond slivers, toasted
fine grain sea salt

Tahini Dressing:
1 garlic clove, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup tahini
zest of one lemon
scant 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons hot water
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Make the dressing by whisking together the garlic, tahini, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil. Add the hot water to thin a bit and then the salt. Set aside.  Add olive oil to a big skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas and sprinkling of salt. Let the beans sauté there for a couple minutes (try to get some crusty color on them). Add the garlic and onions. Stir for a minute. Stir in the asparagus with another pinch or two of salt, cover with a lid for a minute or two to steam - just until the asparagus brightens and softens up just a bit. Uncover and stir in the rice and almond slivers. Taste and add more salt if needed (likely). Serve family-style in a big bowl drizzled with a few tablespoons of the tahini dressing; let each person add more dressing to their tastes.  Serves 4-6.

2012 Farmers' Market

Scenes from the market.

A Corny Contest

"What's in Season" article from the third week in August:        

    Hopefully you have gotten a chance to attend the 165^th Muskingum County Fair this week.  If not, you still have time.  This means that on Saturday we will once again be holding Farmers’ Market downtown on Third Street.  We had many customers tell us they drove to the fairgrounds last weekend before they remembered we were not there, so be sure to remind your friends.

            On Monday night my mom, my friend Becky, and I participated in the potato peeling contest at the fair.  I thought mom stood a good chance at winning; after all, she had to help peel potatoes for a family of twelve growing up.  Her bucket was pretty full when time was up, but surprisingly, she did not place.  Becky and I weren’t even close.  Tuesday night here at home we had a little contest of our own.  If you have been reading the column all season you will remember that I challenged my cousin’s wife, Kelley, to a corn husking contest.  Kelley is my cohort when it comes to canning and freezing.  It is so much quicker and more fun to have a good friend help you do these tasks.

            We competed to see who could husk the most ears of corn in sixty seconds.  Amazingly, we had to declare a tie.  We ended up with the same amount of cobs, twice.  We even inspected the cobs to see who got their ears cleaner and they were the same.  We each did five ears.  My dad got in on the first round and he lost and gave up.  He claims we gave him “junky” ears though.

We put up 10 dozen ears of corn in about an hour and a half.  We have a pretty good system to get it done that quickly.  Here is how we do it:  Husk the corn and put it in a large kettle of boiling water for five minutes.  Remove it from the boiling water and dunk it in ice water to stop the cooking.  This process is called blanching.  To remove the corn from the cob we slice it off with an electric knife.  This is a real time saver.  Once the corn is cut off the cob put it into quart freezer bags.  We put 4 cups into each bag and yielded 18 bags from our 10 dozen ears.  Be sure to label all the bags with the date so when they get buried in the bottom of the freezer you will know how old it is.

There is still plenty of sweet corn for sale at Farmers’ Market and I’m sure you can find a farmer who will sell you a large quantity to put up in the freezer as we did.  Here’s a good side dish you can make with your fresh corn (or use your frozen corn to make it this winter.)  This is from my friend Dr. Maggie Somple.

Corn Pudding 

·        ¼ cup sugar

·        3 tablespoons flour

·        2 tsp. baking powder

·        1 ½ tsp. salt

·        6 large eggs

·        2 cups whipping cream

·        ½ cup butter, melted

·        6 cups fresh corn kernels (about 12 ears)

Combine first 4 ingredients.  Whisk together eggs, whipped cream, and butter.  Gradually add sugar mixture.  Whisk until smooth; stir in corn.  Pour mixture into a lightly greased 13”x9” baking pan.  Bake at 350º for 45 min. or until golden brown.  Let stand 5 min.

Becky and I in the pizza eating contest at the fair.

Mom, Becky, and I in the potato peeling contest.

Mom weighing in.

Becky and I are next--none of us placed.  Of the three of us, mom had the most, then me, then Becky.

Janelle double fisting the corndogs at the fair.  That has nothing to do with the article, but I had to put this in to tease her!

These pictures are of some of my prize winning flower arrangements at the fair.  All the flowers are from my garden.  Apparently, I forgot to take pictures of my prize winning vegetables.

Red and green glads and red, yellow, and green zinnias in Grandma Julia's coffee pot.

Red zinnias in the shape of 165 to celebrate the "165th Muskingum Co. Fair"

Pastel arrangement--a bit of everything--zinnias, glads, spider flowers, love-in-a-mist, cosmos . . .

This one got "Best of Show."  The theme was "harvest" and I had to use fresh vegetables in it.

Here's a better picture I took if it at home.  It had eggplant, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, zinnias, dill, purple basil, sage, and more!

Kelley shucking corn.

Kelley and I blanching corn.  Two pots of boiling water on the stove and a large bucket of ice water to cool them.

Dad chilling the wine in the corn bucket! (Of course, this event required a bottle of wine--Kelley and I drank the whole thing.)

Cutting the kernels off the cob with electric knives.

Kernels that we cut off the cob.  Once the bowls were full we filled up our freezer bags.

     

See You Downtown

 "What's in Season" article from the second week in August: 

     For the next two weekends Farmers’ Market will be changing locations.  The 165^th Muskingum County Blue Ribbon Fair will be taking place at the fairgrounds, so market will be held downtown on Third Street in front of the Freight Shops.  The time will be the same: 9:00 am - noon.  For some, having market downtown will bring back memories of when downtown was a bustling place on Saturdays and the farmers would bring their goods in town to sell.  I wish I had been around to see it like that.

            It seems like the fair rolls around each year right when the glut of the tomatoes are on.  Last year I had a friend visiting from Europe during the fair and I told him he would have to help me pick tomatoes before I would take him to the fair.  A ticket to the fair is pretty cheap wages for a days work in a hot tomato patch but it worked; we got the patch picked and still had time to go to the fair and participate in the potato peeling and pie eating contests that evening.

            I have more tomatoes “than you can shake a stick at,” as my dad would say.  I don’t know what that saying means, but find myself using it a lot.  I have all shapes, sizes, and colors.  Did you know they don’t just come in red?  The little cherry tomatoes are just the cutest things and it is so nice when a mother buys a pint for her kids because she says they eat them just like candy.  Really, they are just as appealing as candy and so much better for them.

            My aunt and uncle have a dinner party club with their friends.  They meet once a month at each others’ houses for dinner and the ladies try out new recipes.  This is one that my aunt Monica made last year using cherry tomatoes.  When my cherry tomatoes were ready this year, her friends recalled this dish and were still raving over it, so I knew I had to get it from her.

Slow-Baked Tomatoes with Garlic and Mint

·        3 pints cherry tomatoes

·        ¼ to ½ cup olive oil

·        7 cloves garlic, peeled and split lengthwise

·        1 bunch fresh mint

·        1-2 tsp. coarse salt

·        1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

·        Toasted slices of bread such as a baguette

·        Goat cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 325º.  Place tomatoes in ceramic baking dish in a single layer.  Coat with  olive oil.  Toss in garlic, mint, salt, and pepper.  Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 min or until skins split and soften but tomatoes still retain their shape.  Serve, hot, warm, or at room temp.  Spoon over slices of toasted bread with goat cheese. 

           

Tomatoes before putting them in the oven.

After roasting them--Yummy!

My goddaughter, Cecilia--so sweet!

Hard at work!

Janelle and friend picking cherry tomatoes.

Jud and Cecilia in the tomato patch (pole beans on the right)--what a jungle it has become!

Lovely little tomatoes!

The first of the larger heirloom tomatoes.