Cilantro
I LOVE cilantro! Perhaps it stems from my childhood in Colombia, where it was sprinkled on top of pretty much everything, perhaps I just like it, who knows. It’s probably from my childhood though, because I like it when it starts to bloom. The ferny bits of cilantro are much better in my opinion. That’s how we always had it in Colombia, the flat, parsley like leaves weren’t seen very often.
My mom had a plant in the garden that was blooming, so I’ve been enjoying ferny cilantro sprinkled on everything. The other morning I made soup for breakfast with duck stock and freshly cut yucca.
If only I had some ripe hot peppers, I’d make the Colombian version of hot sauce that’s green from all the cilantro.
What’s your favorite fresh herb?
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Friday Favorite: Greens
I have to admit, I used to be among the folks that didn’t like cooked greens. Fresh salads have always been welcome on my plate, but cooked greens were too slimy for me. That is, until I cooked them myself, in the proper way.
There really is nothing better than garden fresh greens, cooked the right way with butter and garlic. Earlier this week we enjoyed cooked mustard greens. They were so good I could have eaten a whole plate full. Since I grow mustard as a cover crop in the garden, there’s always a nice crop of it somewhere. It’s quite easy to mow off the top of the patch with a knife for a meal.
How did I make them? I harvested a couple pounds worth, boiled it in salted water for 5 minutes, dunked it in cold water to stop the cooking, then into a colander it went. After a bit of squeezing to remove most of the moisture, into a cast iron skillet it went which already contained minced garlic that had been fried to a golden grown in a few Tablespoons of butter. A quick stir to warm the greens and they’re done. Easy Peasy and so delicious.
Do you like cooked greens?
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Friday Favorite: Starting from Seed
There’s nothing I love more than starting my own plants from seed. Partly, I do it to save money. When you have a garden as large as I do, you could easily go bankrupt trying to buy plants. Starting from seed is a great way to get a lot of plants for minimal monetary investment. I also like starting from seed because you can find really interesting varieties.
Take this asparagus for example, it’s ‘Precoce D’Argenteuil’, an old French heirloom which is prized for it’s tastiness. I also started ‘Mary Washington’ asparagus seeds this year as well. (source: Baker Creek)
Not only can you find rare and unique varities, it’s so much fun to watch the life cycle of a plant starting from seed. These tiny asparagus spears make me smile. Even though I know it will be 3 years before I can harvest anything from these plants, when I finally do I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what these plants have seen throughout their lifecycle.
What’s your favorite seedling to see in spring?
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Pure Joy
Sitting down to a meal of things that were produced here is a wonderful thing. On Tuesday night we did just that. I finally harvested that lettuce I started in containers a month ago.
We enjoyed it topped with: venison tenderloin produced by Mr Chiots (aka the fearless hunter), eggs from our very own flock, seaweed from Mt Rose Herbs, cheese from a local dairy, and an avocado purchased at the co-op (the small farm I usually order from doesn’t have any yet). We topped it all off with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette, which was made with lemons I bought from Lemon Ladies Orchard and olive oil from Chaffin Family Orchards.
Boy was it delicious, once I get my avocado tree growing and a few dairy sheep I’ll be all set for this meal to be 100% home produced. Actually, I’ll probably never have those things, but I enjoy eating as much as I can from my garden!
Do you have anything you dream of growing for yourself but probably won’t?
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Can’t Find It? Grow It Yourself
Last year I started making kimchi and Mr Chiots and I LOVED it. The only problem was, I couldn’t find the Korean peppers to use, so I used my homegrown cayennes. Since I couldn’t find any, I decided I’d just have to grow them myself.
I ordered seed for Korean Chili Peppers from Baker Creek last fall and almost forgot about them when spring planting time rolled around. Luckily, I remember just in time and I ended up with 10 beautiful plants. They produced quite prolifically and I ended up with a bounty of both red and green peppers.
The red ones I have been drying and the green ones I’ll probably pickle, but I may dry them as well (depends on how much time I have). Yesterday, I finally got around to mixing up my first batch of Kimchi and I can hardly wait for it to be done.
Why do we eat kimchi? Because it’s full of all kinds of healthy goodness with the garlic, ginger, onions, cabbage, peppers and probiotics. It boosts the immune system and helps keep us healthy all winter long. I’m really excited to try this batch with real Korean peppers, the week can’t be over soon enough!
Have you ever grown an ingredient specifically for one recipe?
My kimchi recipe is now posted over on Eat Outside the Bag.
