Wellhouse Garden

The Celery Challenge

Jan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:59:14 +0000

Celery

I bought some celery starts at the local garden center this spring, even though I didn’t think celery would grow here on the wet side of the Cascades. Celery needs a long growing season, 5 months, and cool weather. We have the 5 months (May through September), but generally not cool summers. Celery gets tough and stringy in the heat. But this has been an unusually cool summer. We had a cold, wet, miserable June. Only one sunny day. And this followed a cold, wet, miserable May. Summer was a full month late. So, the celery was happy.
I have done everything else wrong with my celery. It is supposed to be grown in a trench, like leeks, in order to hill up the soil around the plants so that they are blanched. It should be planted 12 inches apart, in rows 2 1/2 feet apart. It should be fertilized regularly with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Commercial growers spray the wits out of it because bugs love celery. (Celery is one of the top 12 vegetables for heavy pesticide residue. See this article.) Well, alas, I have done none of that. The soil was amended with Steve Solomon’s fertilizer at planting. But the plants are too close together, the slugs are invading, and now…aphids.

Aphids and slug damage on celery

A closer look

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Celery belongs to the same botanical family (Aepiacea or Umbelliferae) as angelica, anise, arracacha, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, centella asiatica, chervil, cicely, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill, fennel, hemlock, lovage, Queen Anne’s Lace, parsley, parsnip and sea holly. No wonder that photo I took of an old flat leaf parsley plant looked like young celery. The bugs and slugs apparently can tell these plants apart; slugs and aphids have never attacked my parsley.
The question now is: how to use the celery in the kitchen. Soups, sauces and celery sticks come to mind. The French mirepoix flavor base of onions, carrots and celery, the Italian soffritto, and the Cajun and Creole Holy Trinity are cooking staples using celery. The history of celery goes all the way back to the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun (died 1323 BC). But it was the ancient Greeks who really invested cultural significance to celery; they associated it with the cult of death. Death to the aphids, I hope. Read the Wikipedia article on celery – it’s quite interesting.

Young celery

Harvested celery

Here’s a simple salad with young garden celery. This homegrown celery is very sweet and mild, not at all stringy. The leaves are so abundant and delicious, I will have to think of something to do with them. At least the leaves are not ruined by the bugs and slugs. I’d better go search the garden shed for some organic pesticide before my entire crop is destroyed.

Salad with celery, ingredients

Summer salad with celery

Summer Salad with Celery

INGREDIENTS

lettuce (I had some lovely New Red Fire, but use what you have

sliced cucumbers

sliced red onion

arugula leaves

celery, sliced into bite-sized pieces

tomatoes, if you have them. I have no ripe tomatoes yet!

extra virgin olive oil

white wine vinegar (I used a white lemon balm vinegar, yum)

Feta cheese, crumbled

DIRECTIONS

Layer salad in a salad bowl, starting with lettuce.

Add on the arugula leaves, then celery, onion and cucumber.

Drizzle with vingegar and olive oil.

Sprinkle on cheese. Grind on some black pepper and serve.

Kale Flowers

Jan — Sat, 01 May 2010 18:11:08 +0000

Kale flower buds

My over-wintered kale decided it was time to produce seeds in March. We had unusually warm weather in February and March which triggered the kale clock to get on with it and produce the next generation. It bolted, forming single towering stalks with flowers. Normally when vegetable greens bolt they become tough and bitter, good fodder for the compost pile but not good eating. However, the flowers looked so inviting that I pinched off a bud cluster and popped it in my mouth. The bud cluster was mild and sweet and tender! Almost like young broccoli, but milder and much sweeter. I ventured further down the stalk, breaking off pieces, trying them for tenderness and taste. The thin flowering stalks were fine, turning tough only when the stalk was approaching 3/4 inch in diameter. Even the leaves coming off the stalk were not bitter.

I stopped grazing. Using kitchen shears, I cut all the flowering stalks off about a foot down, took them to the kitchen and then looked for recipes. My take on a stir-fry type recipe follows at the end of this post. But first let me tell you what has happened since March.

The first flowers went for food. A few days later more flowering stalks shot out the sides of the plants, at leaf junctions. These plants are determined to make seeds. A lucky genetic imperative for the garden harvester. Also lucky that the weather turned as cold and wet as a typical Spring here on Puget Sound. I think the continuing cool temperatures are keeping the kale sweet and tender. And the plants continue to produce flowers, which I try to pick before the buds open. I don’t know how long this lucky harvest will last. When warmer weather arrives (soon, I hope) will the kale buds become bitter? Alas, the kale will have to go in mid May anyway, when the summer crops need planting.

Kale flowering stalks	Kale flowers washed
Kale flower stirfry ingredients	Cooking the kale flowers

Here’s a quick recipe for the kale flowers. Chop the stalks to about 2 inches in length, but keeping the flower buds intact. If the stalk resists the knife, it’s tough, so keep cutting up the stalk until you get to an easy-to-cut area. Discard the tough stalks.

Stir Fried Kale Flowers

INGREDIENTS

2 T. canola oil

1 T. peanut oil

2-10 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like garlic. I used 10.

4-6 C. Kale blossoms, leaves and tender stalks. Cut stalks into 2 inch pieces, leave blossom stalks 4-6 inches long.

1 C. leeks, chopped into 2 inch pieces

glug of soy sauce, what, about 1-2 tablespoons

1-3 t. ground ginger (or more, depending..)

pinch or so of red pepper flakes

cornstarch slurry to thicken sauce (about 1 tbs. cornstarch in 2 tbs. cold water

DIRECTIONS

Heat oils in hot pan.

Add garlic, stir around for about 2 minutes.

Add ginger, red pepper flakes and soy sauce. Stir and then add the kale.

Stir the kale until bright green and wilted

Add water and leeks.

Cover pan and let steam for 3-5 minutes, until green leek parts are tender.

Pour in cornstarch slurry to thicken.

Serve with rice.

Kale flower stirfry served

Winter Kale

Jan — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:49:32 +0000

Winter Red Kale

Kale is a perfect vegetable garden plant. It will grow almost anywhere. It survives our Puget Sound winters without cover. It tastes best in the cool seasons, especially after a frost. It’s easy to cook. It’s delicious. It’s good for you. Wow. I plant every year for a fall and winter crop, and every year I am surprised at its sweet taste.
Kale is a brassica, a member of the cabbage family. It was a popular leafy green in Europe up until the end of the Middle Ages (wikipedia). Yum – porridge and kale. Today kale is still popular in Europe. In Germany there is a festival celebrating kale, in which boiled kale is served with schnaaps. (again, wikipedia)

Because kale tastes best in cool weather, plant in late summer for a fall and winter crop. My rows are usually too close together, at about 14 inches, but the kale doesn’t seem to mind. Plant 1/2 inch deep and keep watered. You can also plant in early spring when the soil is about 45 degrees; that would be March here near Seattle. I don’t plant a spring crop because I need the space for spinach or lettuce. Kale is for hearty cold weather meals. Summer is for salads. Keep your kale watered and feed with fish fertilizer, or even just a good red worm compost. The kale can be bothered by cabbage worms, but they really don’t eat much of it. The slugs and snails seem to avoid it. I probably don’t have insect or pest damage because I grow it as a winter crop, when the bugs and slugs are hibernating. They don’t know what they’re missing!

There are many varieties of kale: White Russian, Red Russian, Siberian, weird, smooth leaf, curly leaf, and ornamental. My favorite is Red Russian. I see that Territorial Seed has a variety that is a cross between a cabbage and kale, Nero Di Toscana Kale. So maybe I’ll plant some of that later in the summer. There is usually some form of kale on the seed racks in stores in the spring. I think they’re all good, except I’ve never heard of anyone eating the ornamental kale. In 2009, I planted Territorial Seed Winter Red on July 17. It survived the winter uncovered by a cloche. It even survived the 9 degrees we had one night in November.

Pick leaves from the outside in. If you leave the central stem, it will continue to produce more leaves. The central leaf rib can be tough, so just cut it out as you wash the leaves. Your kale will last until summer heat turns it bitter, or it sends up too many flowers.

Kale on September 4

Kale on January 1

If you have leeks, here’s a great recipe for Kale and Leek soup.

Washed kale	Kale and leek soup ingredients
Cooking kale and leek soup	Kale and leek soup served

Kale and Leek Soup

INGREDIENTS

2 c. diced carrots (coarsely chopped)

3 cups of chopped leeks (use all of the white part and into the green an inch or so)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbs. light olive oil

chicken broth or water

1 tsp. dried orange blossom thyme, or 1/2 tsp. ground thyme

1 tsp. dried winter savory, crumbled, or dried summer savory which is milder

1 tsp. white pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes

salt to taste

5 c. chopped kale

1 can of white beans, I used cannellini beans

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, saute carrots, leeks and garlic in a couple of glugs of olive oil, until leeks are tender, about 10 minutes.

Add chicken broth (or vegetable broth or water) until of soup consistency, about 4 cups.

Sprinkle in thyme, savory, pepper flakes, pepper and salt.

Bring to a boil and add kale and cannellini beans.

Simmer until time to eat, at least until carrots are tender, 15 – 20 minutes.

Ladle into bowls, garnish with a sprinkle of grated parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese.

Spring Leeks

Jan — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:03:20 +0000

Spring leeks

The little leeks planted last fall are wonderfully tasty this spring. These leeks were the last to be transplanted last year, intermingled with small cabbage transplants. The cabbages, alas, froze to death in that very cold snap in November, but the leeks lived. They will be good until the weather warms, at which time they will soften as they try to bolt. So we must eat lots of leeks before early summer.
Remember, when you harvest leeks be sure to dig them with a shovel or garden fork. Pulling them usually just breaks them, as their roots are wide and strong. If you take a pair of scissors with you to the harvest, you can cut off the roots, trim the leaves, and strip the first outer leaf off the stalk. This makes for easy cleaning in the kitchen. Leeks are root crops, so it’s best to slice the leek longwise and rinse out any dirt that fell between the skins while the leek was growing. The green tough leaves of leeks can be used in cooking, but I haven’t tried it.

Leeks in the garden

Leeks with cabbages

And oysters are best in cool weather, if you pick on a clean beach in Puget Sound. So here’s a recipe for oysters and leeks on toast, a leeky version of the classic oysters and onions on toast.

Leeks and oysters

Shucked oysters

Leeks and oysters cooking

Leeks and oysters on toast

Leeks and Oysters on Toast

INGREDIENTS

2T butter

2T light olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped carrots

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 scallion, chopped, including green part

2 dozen oysters, shucked with liquid reserved. Feel free to use a pint jar of oysters from the market

2-4 cups chopped leeks, the white part with just a little of the green part

1/2 class white wine

1 T chopped parsley

1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Soften carrots, garlic and scallion in butter and oil over medium high heat.

Add leeks, parsley, oyster liquid, wine and pepper, cook until leeks are very soft, about 7-10 minutes.

Lay oysters on top of leek mixture in pan, making a single layer.

Cover and cook 8-10 minutes over medium heat, until oysters are opaque and edges curled.

Serve over lightly buttered rye bread toast

The Gourmet’s Onion: Leeks

Jan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:51:15 +0000

Growing leeks

The Roman emperor Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but he did like his leeks. Egyptians grew them from at least the 2nd millennium B.C.E. As did the Mesopotamians. The leek is the national symbol of Wales, originating from a battle in a leek field (Wikipedia). I’m sure there were a few farmers weeping for their trampled leeks after the battle. Americans have generally missed the leek boat. In the grocery store, leeks are very expensive. I once calculated that the leeks for leek soup would cost me $16! Better to grow your own leeks. It’s easy.

Leek seeds can be started in pots or plots, closely seeded and then transplanted to a permanent bed when about 6 inches tall. Or direct seeded in the garden in spring. Or purchased as seedlings to plant out when the weather warms. If you live where winters are cold, you’ll have to grow autumn leeks, which are harvested before the ground freezes. Here in the Pacific Northwest, on the wet side of the mountains, leeks overwinter in the ground. I generally plant Giant Musselburgh, a very hardy overwintering variety, and American Flag, which was the only variety left on the seed stands by the time I room to plant leeks last summer. Check your local nursery or county extension agent for advice on growing leeks in your locale.

Last summer, after I planted my summer crops, and was waiting to harvest the garlics, I ran out of room to plant leeks. It was a dark day for my garden. No leeks was a catastrophe of huge proportion. Crisis gardening kicked in. So I started seed in gallon pots, in June, thinking to transplant the starts later in summer. It was a continuing crisis from the start. First, the pots that were planted on June 2 sprouted on June 7, but they weren’t leeks! My first thought was that a seed packaging intern had mixed up the seeds. My second thought was that I had lost my mind and mixed up the seed myself. The first theory was more comforting. So I planted another series of pots of leeks. And waited. The grass-like leek seedlings finally appeared, I pulled out the invaders (radishes?), and kept the seedlings watered.

Wrong sprouts in leek pots

Leek seedlings June 23, 2009

By August a raised bed was free, so I added a couple of inches of compost, some organic fertilizer, and prepared to transplant the seedlings. Growing leeks in raised beds is not as convenient as growing in a long row in a grounded garden. Trenches have to be dug, which means I have to move a lot of soil out of the way, before bringing it back as the leeks grow. Mounding alongside the trenches is not possible in my beds unless the soil level has decreased considerably, so I cart away the soil, and then blanch the leeks by filling in the trenches with compost or the removed soil as the leeks grow. So, dig a trench at least 6 inches deep. The white part of the leek is the edible part, and the longer the blanched part is, the more food you get. So, the deeper the trench, the more blanched leek you get.
Gently dump the pot of seedlings into a bucket filled with about 6 inches of water, keeping the seedlings upright, and gently disentangle the roots of the seedlings. Then lay the seedlings in the trenches 2 to 4 inches apart, and fill in soil to the leaf joint, keeping the seedling vertical. I pack 4 rows of leeks in a 4-foot wide bed. Too close according to most advice, but it works for me. And we do need lots of leeks.

Leek seedlings in rows

The leek seedlings in October

Harvest your leeks by digging with a shovel or garden fork. If you try to pull them, they’ll break off. You can eat leeks at any size (like all onions), but I usually wait until they’re large enough to make soup.

Leeks and Potatoes

Leeks cooking for soup

Blending the soup

Leek and Potato Soup

Here’s a recipe I adapted from a Food Network recipe: Creamy Leek and Potato Soup.

Leek and Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups of leeks, chopped (use all of the white part and into the green an inch or so)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can or box of chicken stock

2 cups of boiling potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes

salt and white pepper

chopped fresh parsley for garnish, if you have it

olive oil for drizzle

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add the leeks and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the chicken stock and potatoes. At this time you can add about 2 cups of water.

Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Blend with an immersion blender, or puree until smooth in a blender or food processor. Add more water if needed.

Season with salt and white pepper.

Ladle into bowls, garnish with parsley or cracked black pepper, drizzle on a little extra virgin olive oil

Note: you can add 1/2 cup of cream to this recipe for a creamier soup.

Strawberries alive and well

Jan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:26:04 +0000

Strawberries ripening

The strawberries got off to a rocky start this year. We planted two types: Tristar, from the nursery, and some wild strawberries I took off a dune on the beach near the ocean. I divided my raised bed in half, keeping the plantings separate. We filled the bottom of the raised bed with composted sod mixed with kitchen compost, and filled in with good soil, then a one inch layer of chicken manure, stirred in. The plants looked good. All was well. And then disaster struck.

The first of the berries were malformed, lumpy, small, ridiculous. The beach strawberries didn’t even bloom; they put all their energy into making more plants. I took the small disfigured berries to the nursery for a diagnosis: gray mold. A disaster also called Botrytis Fruit Rot. Here’s a photo. When I read the description of this disease I was tempted to pull out all the strawberries and use the bed for something less difficult. But there were a few good berries, so I waited. Luckily.

The weather warmed. The sun came out. The berry plants grew. And the gray mold disappeared. Or rather, went into hiding. I think the heat wave in July may have caused it’s demise. But the heat didn’t hurt the berries. They have continued to produce at least a cup of good berries every day. As the plants become larger, so do the berries. I’m delighted. I pulled out all the beach strawberries, and let the runners from the Tristars gow into the empty part of the bed. Now even those runners are producing. I think the beach strawberries would make a good ground cover, but not a producing berry patch. So, they’re history.

The strawberry bed in April

The strawberry bed in July

The strawberries continue to grow bigger berries. I will have to figure out how to freeze them. In the meantime, here’s how we ate the early crop. We didn’t have whipping cream on hand, so used vanilla yogurt. It was good.

Strawberries with banana bread

Basic Banana Bread

2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 C. sugar
3 1/2 tsp. baking bowder
1 tsp. salt
3 T. canola oil
3/4 C. milk
1 egg
1 C. mashed ripe bananas
1 C. chopped nuts

Grease and flour a loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl, beat at medium speed for a minute. Scrape bowl a couple of times. Pour into pan. Bake 55 – 65 minutes, until tester comes out clean. Remove from pan. Cool. Slice. Enjoy.

Blueberries are ripe

Jan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:07:21 +0000

Ripe blueberries

Blueberries are such an easy berry to pick. No thorns. Just put your bowl under a bunch and rub the bunch. The ripe berries will fall into your container. They don’t all ripen at the same time, so don’t pick any that are not blue. At least try not to. If they have a bit of red or pink color to them they will be somewhat sour. Oh, well. Add some sugar. Apparently the berries that are not quite fully ripe will ripen at room temperature. This must surely be the explanation for baskets full of fully ripe berries at the grocery. If you pick the berries in late afternoon shade, many will look fully blue, but that’s just the shade. I do this all the time, pick in the late afternoon, then find some berries not fully ripe. If they aren’t green or white, into the meal they go.

I planted three bushes several years ago, in a neglected part of the yard. And promptly neglected them. Amazingly, they lived. So when I got serious about creating a blueberry patch a couple of years ago, those forgotten bushes were transplanted into the patch. At blueberry patch creation, I purchased an additional 9 bushes: 3 early, 3 mid-season, and 3 late season. The old bushes appear to be early, as they have produced at the same time as the “early” varieties. I did discover that the bushes did not grow until I fertilized with an acid fertilizer, same as for rhododendrons. The bushes started to grow immediately. I’ll add more in the spring. Blueberries do need an acid soil, apparently mine was not quite to their liking.

The blueberry patch in June

Netted blueberry bush

We have to put bird netting over the bushes as the berries ripen, otherwise the birds would get every berry. So it’s a bit of a trick to pick the berries. We just pull the hanging netting up over the bush to pick, then flop the netting back down. Keep an eye on the netting if you use it. I rescued a starling the other day.

So on to the eating. Blueberries are fabulous on their own. Popped as snacks. Or on cereal. Or in smoothies (yum). Here’s a recipe from SimplyRecipes. It’s very good.

Blueberry Buckle

Cake ingredients:

2 cups and 1-2 Tbsp of sifted, all purpose flour separated

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 pint blueberries

Topping ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Sift together the 2 cups of flour, the baking powder and the salt. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixtrue in 3 parts, alternating with the milk. Toss the beries with the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour (to separate and scatter evenly throughout the batter) and fold in. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.

Combine ingredients for topping with a fork to make crumbly mixture. Sprinkle this over the batter.

Bake for one hour, then test for doneness by gently inserting a fork. If it does not come out clean, give the cake another 5 to 10 minutes to bake.

When the cake has cooled, run a knife around the edges and lift the cake out o the pan. Serve with whipped cream.

Blueberry Buckle

Yum

Winter savory

Jan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:00:27 +0000

Winter savory

Overlooked, practically forgotten, rarely mentioned. It is not summer savory, the more commonly known and grown herb. It’s peppery, spicy, bold, distinctive. A wonderful addition to hearty soups, vegetables, beans, and chicken, fish and meats.

And, it’s very easy to grow. It is an evergreen perennial, so plant it once, instead of annually like summer savory. It likes sun and well-drained soil. It’s hardy, grows well in Zones 5-8. The plant in these photos is 3 years old. Most sites suggest that the flowering shoots are the best part of the plant for culinary use. Mine hasn’t bloomed yet, but the leaves of the young shoots are very flavorful.

Winter savory, lower left.

Apparently the flavor does not stand up well to over-cooking, which must mean high heat. I’ve simmered soups flavored with winter savory, with no loss of flavor.
Winter savory is Satureja montana. Summer savory is Satureja hortensis. Montana and Hortense. Siblings, but not twins.

Satureja is a genus of aromatic plants of the family Lamiaceae, related to rosemary and thyme. There are about 30 species called savories, of which Summer Savory and Winter Savory are the most important in cultivation. See this Wikipedia article. It seems that there is a caterpillar of a moth that feeds exclusively on Winter savory. Not on mine, I hope.

The leafy sprigs are easy to dry. Spread freshly cut sprigs in a wide shallow basket lined with a paper towel or parchment paper, then let dry on the dining room table. That’s what dining room tables are for. In summer. When it’s more fun to eat outside. Or tie sprigs in bunches with kitchen twine and hang over the dining room chairs. You can recover your dining room when cold weather arrives, and your dried herbs are safely canistered in the kitchen.

A friend brought us some halibut from Alaska. Here’s what we did with it. Served with a salad of fresh garden lettuces and orange slices, and steamed baby peas from the garden slathered with honey-butter. Yum.

Halibut with Winter Savory

Thaw halibut fillets, if necessary; pat dry. Place on lightly greased shallow broil-proof pan. Brush on butter-savory mixture. Pour white wine to a depth of about 1/8th inch or so. Don’t pour wine over the fillets; wouldn’t want to disturb the brushed-on flavors. Broil 6 inches from broiler coils, about 5 minutes. Flip, brush with leftover butter-savory mixture (or just butter, if you were too generous on the first side.) Broil another 5 minutes, or until fish flakes easily.

Butter-savory brush-on

1 T. finely chopped fresh winter savory
1 t. fresh orange zest
1 T. finely chopped Egyptian onion bulb, or scallion
1/4 C. butter or margarine

Combine all, microwave briefly to soften butter. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Cooking with Winter savory	Winter savory with halibut
Halibut with Winter savory brush-on	Done. Halibut with Winter savory crust

Elephant garlic scapes

Jan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:15:07 +0000

Elephant garlic flower bud on scape.

Flowering plants, aka angiosperms, appeared on land 125-250 million years ago, depending on what fossil you are looking at, how you classify angiosperms, what author you are reading, and whether you have looked closely at that strange rock you picked up on vacation last summer. My elephant garlic is flowering now.

The flowering stalks are called “scapes.” According to The Free Dictionary a scape is “A leafless flower stalk growing directly from the ground, as in the tulip.” Elephant garlic scapes do not grow directly from the ground. They come from the top of the plant. But still, they are leafless.

Another definition from the same source is “Variant of escape.” The scapes in my garden did not escape. I cut them off. Supposedly by removing the scapes, the garlic below ground will grow larger. Also, the scapes can be eaten. The flowers are used by florists. Thinking I would end up with a gorgeous bouquet of huge allium flowers, I cut off the tender bottoms of the scapes for cooking, and put the top scapes in a vase. That was a couple of days ago. I don’t think the flowers will open fully.

Emerging scape on Elephant garlic.

Elephant garlic bud opening.

Elephant garlic is not really a garlic. It’s closer to a leek. The heads, which grow underground like true garlic, are very large, and, when fully formed, are made up of “cloves” just like true garlic. Somewhere I heard that the individual cloves in an elephant garlic head are called “toes.” The taste is milder than true garlic. And wonderful. Mine aren’t ready for harvest yet.
Growing elephant garlic is just like growing true garlic. Here in western Washington garlic is planted in the fall. We planted all the garlics and the elephant garlic on October 24 2008. Probably a little late. This crop looks like the best I’ve grown, probably because these garlics were planted in the very loose, compost-amended soil where last year’s potatoes grew. I applied three doses of liquid fish fertilizer, in February, March and April, and then kept things watered. I haven’t put my hand into the dirt to see if heads are developing. I’ll be soooo disappointed if all I get are scapes.

Elephant garlic in spring.

Scapes in a vase.

These scapes are supposed to be very good for stir-fried dishes. I tried it, and discovered a couple of things. The tender part of the scape is the lower part, close to the plant. Higher up the scape the covering skin is tough. The older the scape, the more tender the lower part. Which seems contrary. Usually, young is tender. But the scapes with the tightest buds seemed to be the toughest. Go figure. I wonder if the buds in the vase will open. Somehow, I don’t think so.

Here’s what I did with the edible tender parts of the scapes. They do not taste much like garlic. They are mild and have a distinctive flavor.

Scapes and garlic

Use the lower tender part of the elephant garlic scape. Slice thinly on the diagonal. When slicing, start at the bottom of the scape. Then you can feel through the knife when you get to the tough part of the stem.

1/4 – 1/2 cup sliced elephant garlic scapes

1 cup edible pod peas (from your garden, of course)

1 tablespoon chopped green garlic, or whatever you have

1/2 cup of any other stir-fry vege you have – celery, onion, sweet pepper, etc.

2 teaspoons dry ginger, or and inch of fresh ginger root, chopped

salt to taste

chicken, beef or pork strips

Saute the scapes, garlic and hard veges until just starting to soften. Add meat, cook until just done. Pour in 1 cup water or chicken broth. When hot, thicken with a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water. Add peas and soft veges. Steam for 2 minutes. Serve over rice. Yum.
You can also season with your favorite Thai seasoning blend.

Scapes and peas.

Scapes cooking.

Spinach weather

Jan — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:40:23 +0000

Spinach, May 27.

Cool nights, damp days, occasional sun breaks: perfect weather for spinach. We planted our spinach on March 21. Last frost is usually March 15, but this year we had frost through March. It didn’t seem to hurt the spinach. This year’s seeds were from Territorial Seed; Olympia Hybrid code SP778. It’s been a great variety! It’s managed well even through the warm days we’ve had lately. We dug in some chicken manure before planting, and that was that. For some odd reason, the slugs don’t invade the spinach much. We’ve been eating spinach, mostly as salad for a couple of weeks now. I can’t keep up with it!

Popeye was right. Spinach is a nutritional superstar. Vitamins, minerals, even opioid peptides. Huh? See the Wikipedia article on this one. No wonder Popeye felt so good after eating spinach! Not so much iron, though. Sorry, Mom.

Spinach, April 8

Spinach, May 1

So, on to a recipe. Well, there are wonderful salads. I like simple: spinach, orange slices, almond shavings, paper-thin slices of red onion, olive oil and crumbled cheese. There’s also the ever popular steamed spinach: how to turn 8 cups of raw spinach into small mounds of dense deliciousness. Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, eat small bites.

And then there’s soup. Here’s my recipe for a light appetizer type soup. Or a lunch soup with a sandwich. You could add chicken or turkey meatballs, or white beans, to make this a supper soup.

Washed spinach

Egyptian walking onions and shallots

Spinach soup in the pot

Jan’s Spinach Soup

1/2 cup chopped egyptian wallking onions, or scallions
1/2 cup chopped shallots, or 1/2 cup chopped onion plus 3 cloves of garlic chopped
a colander full of spinach, chopped coarsely
a small sprig of fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
a glug of olive oil
a pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tsp. dried parsley
32 oz. chicken broth
1 T. basalmic vinegar.

Glug some olive oil into a soup pot. Wilt the ewo’s and shallots. Pull off the rosemary leaves and add them to the pot along with the red pepper flakes and parsley. When the alliums are soft, add the chicken broth. Simmer until veges are very soft. Add the vinegar and the spinach. Simmer just until the spinach has wilted well. Don’t cook too long, or the spinach will get brown. Blend everthing in a blender or use an immersion hand blender.

To serve, float a fat piece of garlic toast on top, sprinkle with shaved Pecorino Romano cheese. Yum!