2015 SUMMER GARDEN / FARM-TO-TABLE

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Recipes In this post:

  • Garden Lasagna

  • Stuffed Bell Peppers

  • Grilled Eggplant with Miso and Plum Sauce

  • Canned Tomatoes

People, 

My garden is so gorgeous this summer, and giving us the most lovely things to eat.  Nadia from Fraiche Pantry came over and took these gorgeous pictures for me.

As difficult and frustrating as it is to keep the garden motoring along, when we sit down to eat, and when I see these gorgeous pictures, I’m motivated to keep up the fight.

In this post I will tell you the secret to this summer’s yield, and give you my succinct and succulent ad hoc recipes.

Firstly, The Rodent Guys deserve 80% of the credit for our good results.  They have been coming once a month ($60 per) for a while now and have killed (yes that’s right) and NOT poisoned the gophers.  Poisoning pests is not really recommended for organic farming.  The animals have residual poison in them and the predators and food chain is adversely affected.  So three cheers for Rodent Guys…they are GREAT.

Another reason the garden is good is that we had a bit more rain than usual.  The figs and blueberries are non-performers, but everything else is wonderful.  Soil, water, sun make a garden grow.  “Please sir, may we have some more rain?”

We planted early.  Another reason we have great crops this year.  Planting late misses spring forward energy.  When I plant early I am always rewarded. 

We mixed the seasoned chicken coop droppings into the soil.  I used my tried and true insecticide - 2 T. Dr. Bronners eucalyptus soap mixed with a half-gallon water - and sprayed it all over the berries and trees.  Every few days.  Ugh.  Yes.  It’s the price we pay for being organic.  We  hung old CD’s from wires which keeps the birds and rats away as they hate the light reflections and the sound of clinks and clanks.

Now we are harvesting and just look at these pictures!  We have mixed berries, green bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and lots of blossoms, Japanese eggplant, peaches…below the pictures you will find my  recipes.

A word about cooking from farm to table.  Recipes and even pictures are good inspirations.  Sometimes I see a picture and it instantly converts to something I can do with what I have on hand (aka I see what I want to see!). When you have this much produce coming this fast from a garden, simple, flexible and creative is the best way to go.  And friends and family are essential as they are all potential consumers!

Garden Lasagna (gluten free!)

Really?  Yes Really…just do it.  Even your men will ask for more.

INGREDIENTS ~

  • ½ chopped white onion
  • 1 shallot chopped (yes, you can use garlic, but you know my philosophy…)
  • 2 stalks chopped celery
  • ½ lb. ground chicken
  • ½ lb. ground turkey
  • Hot Turkey Italian sausages, casings removed
  • 1/4 c. chopped parsley
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Spike or Magic seasoned salt
  • Fresh chopped basil, thyme and oregano (or dried) to taste

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Sauté onion, shallot and celery in olive oil, add meat and sauté until cooked through.  Add spices to taste.  Turn off heat.  Note: you must season the meat heavily.  Why?  Because you are NOT salting the veggies below.  To do so makes it too soupy.  Follow these instructions, and it will turn out superbly…

  • Napa Cabbage
  • Eggplant sliced with skin
  • Zucchini sliced with skin (remove seeds if zucchini has grown too large)
  • Fresh Garden greens such as beet greens, kale, Swiss chard, cleaned and chopped
  • 2 jars tomato sauce – Vodka, Arribiata and Spicy Red Pepper are good choices
  • Grated mix of cheddar, jack and parmesan to which you have added ¼ c. chopped parsley and ¼ c. sliced green onion

Pour one jar of sauce over bottom of lasagna pan.

Cut napa cabbage into portion slices (it is too hard to slice once cooked).  I cut it into ‘4’s”.  Cover bottom with portion cut slices.  The Napa Cabbage functions as the pasta layer.  Put a slice of raw eggplant and zucchini on each slice of cabbage. Spoon a layer of meat onto veggies.  Spread a layer of chopped greens onto meat.  Sprinkle a layer of cheese over the whole thing.  Top with a layer of tomato sauce.   Cover and bake at 300 for convection ovens, 325 for regular bake until veggies can be easily pierced with a fork or toothpick.  Uncover and brown and let juices cook down.

Can I double the layers?  You can make a double layer of lasagna. Omit the final layer of cheese on top as the casserole requires a longer bake time and you run the risk of burning the cheese.  When the veggies are soft remove the cover and reduce the juices first.  Add the final cheese layer after it has reduced in the final 15 – 20 minutes of cooking. 

Lasagna cooked this way with a long slow reduction of juices yields the most flavorful results one can imagine.  It tastes like Grandma was in the kitchen making the sauce for a week…but we know the truth.

There is no comparison for cooking fresh. 

You can use real pasta…I’ve done it that way many times.  Genetics has taken over our family’s health profile now with pre-diabetes, so I eliminate the pasta and use Napa Cabbage.  Trust me when I say you will not miss the pasta here when the flavors explode in every bite.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I did not remove the pepper skins.  You Can.  Will they be better?  It depends on your palate.  They will have a much stronger flavor with the skins.  They will be more delicate without them.  Either way is great.

INGREDIENTS ~

  • ½ chopped white onion
  • 1 shallot chopped (yes, you can use garlic, but you know my philosophy…)
  • 2 stalks chopped celery
  • ½ lb. ground chicken
  • ½ lb. ground turkey
  • Hot Turkey Italian sausages, casings removed
  • 1/4 c. chopped parsley
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Spike or Magic seasoned salt
  • Fresh chopped thyme and oregano (or dried) to taste

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Sauté onion, shallot and celery in olive oil, add meat and sauté until cooked through.  Add spices to taste.  Turn off heat.  Note: you must season the meat.  Why?  Because you are NOT salting the green peppers or putting extra salt in the sauce.  Follow these instructions, and it will turn out superbly…

INGREDIENTS ~

  • One large can Tomatillo or Green Enchilada Sauce
  • 8 bell peppers
  • Mexican cheese
  • Parsley/green onion chopped

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Pour a layer of sauce into the bottom of the casserole dish.  Fill each bell pepper to overflowing and place in the sauce.  Grate and mix the cheese with the parsley and green onion.  Sprinkle over top.  Cover and bake at 300 in a convection oven or 325 in a conventional oven for one hour.  To test for doneness, pierce peppers to make sure they are very soft.  Uncover to reduce juices and brown cheese, another 20 minutes. 

Grilled Japanese Eggplant with Miso and Plum Sauce

INGREDIENTS ~

  • Japanese Eggplant
  • White Miso
  • Plum Sauce, Hoisin sauce, chicken stock

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Do not remove stem end.  Slice the slender eggplant like a fan.  Brush with miso and let stand while you fire up the grill.  Grill the eggplants until they start to char, wilt and soften about 20 minutes.  Remove to platter.  Mix some plum sauce, hoisin sauce and chicken stock together.  Brush onto grilled eggplant and pour into bottom of platter.  Eggplant will marinate in the juices. 

Canned Tomatoes

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Wash tomatoes.  We use an electric food mill, all stainless steel.  O.M.R.A. Art. 2500 Electronic Tomato Squeezer Miniprofessional.  We cut the tomatoes into quarters so they go down the chute easier.  We pour all the puree into the large All-Clad pots and bring to a boil.  We sterilize the jars and wash the lids.  We keep them ready to go in simmering water.  We add ½ t. citric acid and 1 t. salt to each quart jar.  Fill jar to within ½ inch of the rim.  Remove air and seal with two piece lids.  Process in hot water bath for 45 minutes.…just the best ever tomatoes ready to use in any recipe…with no residue odor from a can, too much salt or icky additives.

Peach Jam 

The fruit trees alternate – one year fat, the next year lean…we are having a lean year.  So I only had 8 cups of peaches.  Oh yeah…and if you are organic, like we are, and don’t spray your trees with the real stuff like we don’t…you will have almost a worm in each peach…see picture…we live with it.  Small price to pay for incredible peaches that DON'T itch your throat never ever.  So we don’t bite into the peaches.  We clean and slice them first, remove any residue around the pit area and eat juicy peaches that taste like they were grown for the Gods…with juice dripping down from our chins…

I only use Pomona Pectin.  It is the best.  It requires a two-step process.  Why?  Because you CAN double and triple your jam recipes and the final results are perfect, not obtainable with other pectins.

INGREDIENTS ~

  • 8 cups peaches, skin removed, sliced
  • 1.5 cups organic sugar
  • Pomona Pectin

INSTRUCTIONS ~

Place peaches in a Dutch oven, soup pot.  Mash.  Add lemon juice and calcium water according to pectin package directions.  Bring to a boil.  Mix pectin with sugar.  Slowly stir in sugar pectin mix to the boiling jam.

Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.  Skim foam.  Ladle into hot sterilized jars.  Process for 10 minutes (we are at sea level).  Let jars cool in clean area 24 hours.  Store on shelf.  Chill in fridge before consuming.  Chilling improves flavor of jams…odd but true. 

Open a jar.  It must pop.  Smell.  Smell.  Smell again.  Why buy jam when you can make this…?

Ok, how do I do all this cooking and still have a life?

I get up really early on canning/cooking days so I’m all done by mid-morning before it gets too hot…

Tips for busy mom’s…when I was a hard working mom with two kids, a dog, cat, chickens and goldfish…I got up early and planned/cooked dinner before we had breakfast or left for carpool.  That is the ONLY WAY I could get a decent family meal on the table in between pick-ups, activities, phone calls and homework.  The Only Way.  Try it.  It really makes life livable.