Too much mint

Mint is great, I put a few seedlings in a 5" pot 3 years ago, stuck the pot in the ground, and then proceeded to ignore it ever since, save for the trip to grab a sprig here and there.

As many of the seed packets will attest to mint from see is not "true" I.E. it wont have the same flavor as the parent. So what I did this fall was to carefully select a leaf from each sprig, if I liked it, the plant was safe, if it was less than spectacular, I pulled the stalk and its rootball up. Hopefully next year I will have a more consistent flavored patch of mint. I also trimmed it back heavily, and spent the afternoon wondering what the heck I am going to do with all this mint.

Well some of it is going to get dried for tea of course but thats a lot of tea, and I usually prefer to blend it rather than go straight mint.

So, I made mint jalapeno jelly. Considering I hadn't made any kind of jam all year I really didn't feel rusty. I did however omit the food coloring, so the jelly looks a bit yellow, but I scraped some out of the bowl when I was done and it is certainly powerful...Its an odd experience. I've only ever had mass produced mint jelly so this was definitely stronger than what I was used to. At first all you taste is the sugar, but after its been in your mouth for a second the mint hits you...and then the heat.

It would be pretty awesome on crackers with some cream cheese. Its usually recommended to be served with lamb but...not gonna happen, so if anyone has any vegetarian ideas for it (other than crackers or toast) fire away.

Oh by the way

yep another post on the run. lets get the bad news out of the way.

my garage was broken into by kids...how do I know it was kids? because they took the time to rip the car stereo out and left the thousands of dollars worth of tools sitting in the open.

Germination of the in situ squash and melons has been aggrivatingly poor.


now the good news.

my wife and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this sunday. I cooked her favorite dish. Chicken marsala. Despite being an avowed vegetarian I will handle chicken twice a year. Valentines and our anniversary, with one caveat: It must be free range organic. Pricey but I'd like to think it contributes to the results. And the recipe translates well to mock chicken too. Behold

"Chick'n" "Marsala"

Dredge thawed "quorn naked cutlets" in 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp salt. (I am approximating the measurements, I have made this so many times I just eyeball it now. Secondly, if the cutlets are slightly damp, it helps the flour stick.)

saute in 1Tblsp olive oil/1Tblsp butter on medium heat until both sides are golden. Throw in a cup of sliced crimini mushrooms, naw go ahead and throw in the rest of the crimini mushrooms because they are just that good. Pour in a cup of Marsala wine (white port also works very well) and cover. Lower heat slightly and Simmer for about ten minutes until the wine reduces and thickens a bit. Flip the cutlets once during cooking. If the sauce has not thickened sufficiently, add a scant teaspoon of flour and stir well with a fork to prevent clumps.

then yesterday I finally got to use the morels I found at the grocery store. Granted the joy pales in comparison to finding them in the wild, but I have never cooked with them. I sliced and boiled them in a cup of water in a saucepan for about 30 minutes, then added whole cream, about half a lemon worth of juice, some minced fresh thyme, a little salt and pepper, then let that reduce again by about a third, and added just a touch of flour. This went over angel hair spaghetti Sadly I was the only one who really liked the results but my enthusiasm more than made up for the lack from the rest of the family. My wife said the look and texture reminded her of the infamous dinner scene from Hannibal. Apparently she does not have the stomach for anything resembling brains. The taste though...was out of this world in my less than humble opinion.


In garden news, the potatoes are flowering! Time to start the green beans in the flats! My lemon tree is making more flower buds! The soup beans appear to be doing well, the black eyed peas...not so much.

Thats it. Gotta go. Take care.

Playing Catch up

Wow...were to start, things went well at work.

On the stead, 100% of the potatoes have pushed through, I found the bed much easier to work this year, though not as nice as the one thats 4 years old. I can reach into that with my bare hand and get to my wrist with little effort, and come up with a fistfull of worms and chunks of various bits of stuff alive and dead.

I made my first "50 foot" salad last weekend. Arugula, butterhead, and oakleaf lettuce. Very good, nice and tender. On memorial day I grabbed some more arugula, picked up a couple pears and a block of parmisan cheese and made this.


On Monday I transplanted some cukes, nasturtiums, and melons into empty spots in the lettuce patch. Looks like the arugula is done for the season. And something has chewed on 5 of the six broccoli almost to the point of defoliation, but thankfully I found good leaves growing back, so I think they'll be ok. But I found that some of these were ready which made my day. Have you ever seen such gorgeous radishes?


I started corn, black eyed peas and shelling beans.

I noticed something a little disconcerting with the female kiwi vine. Black on the edges of some of the new growth, as shown here.

A search has not turned up any plausible results. I had several shoots coming off last years's growth, so I trimmed this one, and have not seen any others succumb to its fate, but I would like to know what is happening, because it killed a male vine last year. (the replacement however is doing just fine.)

I just realized the other pictures are on other cameras, so I'll save for other posts, but I will leave you with this parting shot, the first and likely last real picture of yours truly that will show up here.



Oh did I mention we had 5 yards of stone delivered for the walkway, and 6 yards of much for the ...um mulching? I did a lot of shoveling. And no my hand is not missing, It was a chilly evening.

Meal recap

With all the prior excitement I totally left out the dishes I prepared for easter dinner.

A little background. I love to cook. Since becoming vegetarian (can't believe its been 10 years) I discovered the wonder of not only eating fresh, made from scratch meals, but also preparing them as well...In fact sometimes the preparation is more fun. Anyhow, usually I am the sole lettucehead at any given meal. And when invited to friends house they usually say: uuuh, salad? when I ask what they would like me to bring. Some of my closer friends (who have probably heard me gripe about it) usually give me a blank check (metaphorically speaking). They'll tell me what the main (usually meat) dish is and I'll come up with something to compliment it. Thats really the way to go...where was I...ah, so usually I feel a lot of pressure to wow the crowd so to speak. I literally cook like I have something to prove, and given my proclivities for perfectionism in the kitchen, I become a bit of a troll at the stove. Thankfully my wife was kind enough to set aside the entire evening prior to easter that I could work on it. So enough with the chitchat on with the show.

As if I did not feel enough pressure, I set a new criteria for myself...In season veggies only. For Central New York it tends to narrow the field.

Since we were doing dinner twice, for the first event

Asparagus soup.

Chop and saute 6 shallots until they become clear.
dice 1 lb asparagus reserving tips
add 1 tblspoon lemon juice, 1 tblspoon all purpose flour and 3 cups vegetable stock. (I am a bit of a stock fanatic, I've tried them all, and most recently found I like the results from a paste based organic stock whose name escapes me right now)

Let this simmer covered for at least an hour. The original recipe says 20 minutes but I extended the cooking time for reasons I will explain momentarily.

Next run it through a food processor until its absolutely liquid. The longer cooking time will break down more of the fibers and make the liquid more flavorful. Pour this through a strainer and mash as well as possible until you have a mostly dry playdough left in the strainer. There will probably be about half a cup. This is mostly asparagus fiber. You could skip this step and probably do well as it obviously has a great amount of dietary fiber sitting there, but if you strain it you will end up with a wonderful consistency. Pour about a cup of milk* through as you are straining to pick up more flavor.

lightly saute the asparagus tips and throw them back in at serving time. Set the tips on a towel to absorb most of the butter or cooking oil. If too much of it ends up back in the soup it can separate and make brown floating dots in that lovely soup you just worked so hard to make.

* Almond milk would probably go nicely too.

This one was a hit. The next one suffered from a modern malaise I refer to as cruciferphobia or the fear of cabbage.

boil 4 outer cabbage leaves for 5 minutes

saute one medium onion, add 1 cup cooked brown rice, 8 oz tomato sauce 1 tsp nutmeg. Heat for a few minutes to thicken, then spoon mix into the center of the cabbage leaves, roll them into packages, and stick a toothpick in to keep them closed. I had leftover rice and sauce that I spooned over them when they went in the pan. Cover with foil and cook at 350 for about a half an hour.

This one had a certain depression era feel to it as I made it that was sadly relevant to modern times. It can literally be made for next to nothing. Those who tried it, liked it, and for my mom (who, due to a medical condition has to have a bland diet) this was perfect. The acidity of the tomato sauce was really not an issue. Personally I thought it was too bland. For me, cabbage takes two modes of entry to my stomach, kraut or kimchee.

these were the original recipe's, I ended up doubling them for the crowds.


Oh and of course I made three loaves of no knead bread (one on a stone, two in loaf pans). There were no leftovers from that. My best batch yet. Sara made sure to tell everyone to "Try the bread, its the best."

So there it is, three accompaniments which could have probably been combined together as a meal if you really wanted to. All in season. The asparagus soup is going in my arsenal as is, the cabbage, like I said, still needs something.

A productive weekend

As promised, the process pictures of the mostly finished sunroom...mostly.

Step one, tear out the bushes.





done.

Next they dug the holes for the footings (which was photographically uninteresting) then put in concrete footers and built the deck portion (which has an insulated floor).


then they pretty much did the rest in two days. I didn't get a picture of just the walls in place, (and I wasn't about to stand outside yesterday morning and take pictures of them working.)

Here is the finished product.


Note I have the blinds pulled down on the side windows (which are an enormous 57" wide). We got cellular blinds for the windows, and between that and the low-e glass, it was pretty warm yesterday despite being isolated still from the rest of the house. Note that I still have to put a door where the windows are, so entering the room does not involve gymnastics.

And that very same day, I put three dwarf citrus trees on order from Growquest.

I did a lot more this weekend. Starting with the window to the kitchen door (on the north side of the house.) We were contemplating making our own shades for the sunroom from "Warm window" fabric available at jo-ann fabrics. By the yard it is quite pricey, but one of the employees wholeheartedly endorsed the results. So we decided on a test. Make one for the kitchen, and if we like the results, do the whole sunroom. All in all it took about 3 hours to make a 24"x40" shade and hang it. I would rate the results as "not bad." A the part of me that thinks things like "I see where the errors are, and I know I can do the next one better," kicked into gear. Unfortunately the lobbying efforts did not pay off, and I can understand. The materials alone were helaciously expensive. Granted, some things you had to buy in bulk, like cordage, the brass rings, the eyelet screws, and a branded weight rod (instead of just using some 3/8" round bar stock and cutting it to length.) but at $140 it is hefty. And professional looking it ain't. So we compromised and got some rather nice cellular shades which do a decent job of insulating.



I really should have followed the optional step of spraying some kind of light adhesive between the insulation layer and the inside facing fabric to give it a more crisp look. In all fairness we used a rather heavy upholstery fabric as well. I'd love to give it another try on some other windows. Maybe the bedroom windows of the kids rooms which face north and west. It would mean saving up a bit first, as I said, quite expensive, but you can definitely feel the difference if you put your hand behind the shade at night.

And on a different note, I made my first loaf of "no-knead" bread. It looked and smelled amazing. Fresh warm bread made a nice complement to Chicken Marsala and wild mushroom risotto for valentines day. (In my case it was "chicken" made with Quorn cutlets.)


I did notice that I should let the stone warm up a little longer, as the bottom wasn't quite as crisp as the top...which as you can see from the picture, was perfect. It was extremely well recieved. In fact, it was gone before the evening was out. I have plenty of dough and I will make another tonight with a little longer warm up time.

I also put cabinet doors on the area below the counter where our garbage/recycling bins sit, but for some reason they weren't on the card.

One last thing, last night my wife inquired now that the sunroom is "done" why I don't have anything growing out there yet. Simple answer: After everything that went on, I'm tired. Of course that was yesterday, today I'm rested.

An oldie but a goodie

Still trying to use potatoes and running out of ideas, I cant believe it took me this long to use the caribes for what in my opinion, a vocation they were born for. Creamy mashed goodness. Add in some milk, sour cream and a few chives from the backyard. Perfect.



I also made some blueberry ice cream, but that disappeared before I could photograph it. Didn't see any at the farmer's market, but in wegmans I was just about to grab a carton when the stockgirl walked by and said: "locals are on the other side, they're better, trust me."

I didn't sample the others but lets put it this way, 6 full tummies agree the local berries were good.

In other news, brown bat number 8 decided to take up residence just outside the men's room at my work.


Bruce was evicted moments after.

Cookin and keepin

I didn't get a shot of the plate before hand but dinner consisted of stuffed zucchini and green beans from the garden (steamed just a touch). Here is what's left, I was nervous about how it would be received. My wife likes them, I used to make it all the time before we got kids, but the kids was the variable. One just turned one year old and I guess I shouldn't have worried because he eats everything under the sun and seems to love squash and sweet potatoes, so when he barely took time to breathe between bites I shouldn't have been surprised. Our daughter will be turning 9 in two weeks and the last time I made eggplant it did not go well, but I was relieved to hear that she loved it.


After dinner I put some of the glut of potatoes to use. The old standbye, your favorite and mine, potato and leek soup. This picture was taken before I finished filling the jars, 5 in total but when you factor in the large headspace it probably came closer to 4 quarts. Since this is a low acid food and I have no pressure canner, this is going in the freezer, hence the large headspace. Both came from the same cookbook, which I'll have to see if I can find a link to. I must have close to a dozen cookbooks, but this one gets used more than all others.
I first started cooking around the time I "fell off the chuckwagon" (has it been almost 12 years now?) Anyway, its not something I have always been good at, but after growing a lot of my ingredients now I am really getting the sense of accomplishment from it.