What's Growing in the Garden

It's been a wet and rainy kind of day but I was prepared for the rain. When soaking rain is expected, I try to get as much in the ground as possible. Before today's rain, I planted a bed of spinach and another bed of radishes, arugula and mesclun.I cover the newly seeded beds with row covers to help germination and to keep garden critters out. Then I sit back and let rain do its thing.

Soaking up the cool, spring rain are...

Garlic planted last fall

Chives - a perennial that keeps coming back year after year.
A must for every kitchen garden.

Tête-à-tête daffodils - only 6" tall but the first to bloom.

Spring Roll Lettuce Wrap

Spring roll lettuce wrap for two

When I make spring rolls I will usually double the recipe and stash them away in the freezer. Later in the season when I'm lost in the garden, these spring rolls are a god send.

When the garden is overflowing with salad greens and herbs, is the time to do the Wrap. Decoratively arrange a large platter of your favorite salad vegetables. Mine usually includes some or all of these:

Leaf lettuce
Sprigs of cilantro
Mint leaves
Bean sprouts
Cucumbers, sliced into thin half moons
Thin slices of raw onion
Cherry tomatoes, cut in half or quarters
Cooked rice noodles
Cooked Spring rolls, cut in half or bite size pieces, with kitchen scissors
Spicy Fish Sauce

At the table take a leaf of lettuce and fill it with a couple of cilantro leaves, one or two mint leaves, five or six bean sprouts, cucumber and onion slices, a piece of tomato, a few strands of noodles and a piece of spring roll. The idea is to add a little of everything but keep the bundle small enough to eat in one huge bite.

Wrap lettuce tightly around the whole bundle.

Drizzle with a generous amount of fish sauce.

Lean over your plate as you take a bite for this is not an elegant meal...it'll be messy...but dig in, eat with your fingers, play with your food.

Kitchen tips:
- Bake frozen spring rolls in a preheated 450 F oven for 30 minutes, turning once, until brown and crunchy.
- If you don't happen to have spring rolls lying around, you can wrap with pieces of cooked fish, chicken or beef.
- Spicy fish sauce, in a jar, will keep almost indefinitely in the refrigerator. It can be whatever you need it to be, a condiment, a salad dressing or a dipping sauce.

Zucchini Bread for Knitting Foodies

Spring is definitely in the air...

and while I wait for the last snow to melt, I'm on a mission to use up everything I put up last summer and fall. We have been eating from the freezer all winter long and now it's looking quite bare. What I do still have is a few bags of shredded zucchini. Frozen in three cup portions, the exact amount called for in the zucchini bread recipe I've been wanting to try. This was originally a recipe for banana bread and a favorite of Christine's, a fellow knitter. Christine would often show up for our weekly knitting with her moist and not too sweet banana bread, which she serves with whipped cream cheese.

This week, I made my zucchini version for the knitters. Usually we all bring food to share but don't coordinate our efforts so every week is a surprise. Sometimes we all show up with crackers and cheese, sometimes we end up with lots of desserts. Last Tuesday, though, the stars and the moon were aligned and we had tremendous food....

Laura's Spinach, Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Caramelized Walnuts

Lynne's Everything Quiche and Emily's Bacon and Mushroom

Christine's baguette with goat cheese and fig preserves

Ellen's red cabbage and carrot coleslaw

My Zucchini Bread

Sue's Lazy Daisy cake and a parade of other goodies...

...but Karl prefers my homemade waffles with new 2009 vintage maple syrup

Among all that fancy food, my zucchini bread may seem quite ordinary, but don't be fooled, it's yummy, gorgeous and versatile. It's just right with afternoon tea, excellent for dessert and whether its my zucchini bread or Christine's banana version, we all pounce on it whenever it makes an appearance on knitting night. And best of all, it's so easy to make and handy to have around.

One Bowl Zucchini Bread
2 cups flour (I use King Arthur Flour's unbleached all purpose flour)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
3 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnut
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil two loaf pans. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix well with your fingers breaking up the lumps of brown sugar. With a wooden spoon, blend in the remaining ingredients in the order given. Beat the batter for 1 or 2 minutes. Bake about 45 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before slicing. Makes two loaves.

Snow Day Sourdough Waffles

Yesterday the temperature was in the mid forties and sunny. I sat outside in the warm sunshine, boiling sap, making syrup. Today snow...


So I made Sourdough Waffles to go with yesterday's fresh syrup. When my starter needs to be used and I don't have time to make bread, these waffles are my answer. Set it up the night before, stir in a few ingredients the next morning, and you have the best breakfast ever. They're crisp on the outside, light, fluffy and moist on the inside with a mild sourdough tang. Cook up the whole batch and throw any leftovers in the freezer. They're just as good toasted on a busy morning.

You just have to drag out the old waffle iron and give these a try. Once you've tasted them you'll want to make them over and over again.

Back in 2001 I ordered some sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour and it came with a recipe. I've tweaked and adjusted it over the years and it continues to be our family favorite, with or without the blueberries.

The night before sponge:

1 cup All-Purpose Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups buttermilk (I use Saco dry buttermilk, very convenient and keeps a long time in the fridge)

1 cup sourdough starter

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the above ingredients. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight.

The next morning, while the waffle iron is pre-heating, make the batter

• All of the overnight sponge
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
  

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, and oil. Add to the overnight sponge, stir in the salt and baking soda. Add the blueberries. Pour batter onto your hot greased waffle iron. For the crispiest waffles, let most of the steam escape and the waffle will be very brown. Serve with butter and hot maple syrup. Serves 4.

How to Make Maple Syrup

One and a half quarts of maple syrup made from eight 2 gallon buckets of sap, collected over a period of three days and twelve hours of boiling. Is it worth it, you might ask. That depends...to me there's something magical about sugaring. Maybe its the promise of the coming spring, or the miracle of the running sap when all the landscape is still frozen. The drip drip sound of sap hitting the buckets and the snail-pace of the boiling process ground me somehow, connecting me to the land and the trees. If you have one or two maple trees in your yard, give sugaring a try. Your reward will be golden, delicious maple syrup, nectar of the gods.

Here are some simple steps for successful backyard sugaring.

First identify your trees. This is usually easier in the fall, when you can look at the leaves and see their colors, mark the trees and wait for the sap to run. Here in my corner of southern New Hampshire, sap rises in late February when day time temperature is above freezing and night temperature below freezing.

Use a 7/16" drill bit to drill 1 - 1 1/2" tap hole into a mature and healthy sugar maple. Locate the hole directly below the largest, healthiest limb, on the south, southeast or southwest side of the trunk.

This is a standard metal sap spout you can buy at the local hardware store, if you live in sugaring country like I do, or you can mail order them from Bascom Maple Farms.

Gently tap the spout into the drilled hole.

Almost immediately the sap, clear as spring water, will spurt out and drip even before you can get the spout in.

Hang the buckets to catch the drip.

These are used aluminum sap buckets, available from Bascom's for a mere $3.50. They're available used because big syrup producers no longer use buckets, they use tubing to deliver sap to a big holding tank at the bottom 0f the hill.

Collect and boil the sap.

I start the boiling process outdoors, over a gas burner. The long process boils 40 gallons of sap down to 1 gallon of syrup. I fill a large shallow roasting pan with sap that I've strained through a sieve, lined with several layers of cheese cloth, to filter out the big pieces of debris--chunks of wood bark, dead moths, ants, etc. Turn the heat on full blast and boil at full steam, add more sap as the level goes down, skim away the foam and scum that form on the surface, continue evaporating until all collected sap is used up. When the sap in the pan turns amber with concentrated sugar and the temperature begins to rise above the boiling point of water, 212 degrees F, I move to the kitchen for better control.

I strain the liquid , slightly thick at this point, through a dampened felt filter bag, into a large, deep stock pot and clip on a candy thermometer. This is the critical stage that can make or break the final product. The pot can boil over in an instant, going from syrup to burnt at lightning speed. I watch like a hawk. When the temperature reaches 7 degrees above the boiling point of water (219 degrees F), it is syrup. I must admit though, I don't fret too much about all this. I try to get it as close to 220 degrees as possible but, frankly, after 12 hours of boiling, I settle for less than perfect. If my syrup is too thick or too thin my family will never complain, they're lost in the pure pleasure of fresh maple syrup on their waffles and crepes.

To can syrup for longer shelf life, pour hot syrup, at least 180 degrees F, into sterilized jars, cap and let cool in the jars, after which they can be safely stored in the pantry. Having said all that, I still store my jars in the freezer, just in case. Last year I made 9 quarts, and didn't want to risk losing them.

Try making your own syrup at least once, you'll never complain about the cost of pure maple syrup again.

Warm on sourdough waffles and sweet butter. Sublime!

Maple syrup links:
Homemade Maple Syrup
Maple Syrup Facts
Sugaring at Middlebrook Farm School

Slow Roasted Garlic with Rosemary

By now my stash of garlic has seen better days, they're starting to grow roots and sprout green shoots in the middle. It's time to eat them up. Towards that end, I've been making lots of this mellow and creamy, Slow Roasted Garlic with Rosemary. The smell permeates the whole house, and when it is spread on my crispy No-knead Sourdough bread, there's nothing else like it.

three heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
place in a small casserole to hold the garlic in a tight single layer
barely cover with olive oil
a sprig or two of fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
cover tightly with foil
roast in 300 F oven, until garlic is very soft, about 30 minutes
remove foil
increase oven temperature to 350 F
roast another 10 to 15 minutes
until slightly golden

Served alongside warm and crusty No-knead Sourdough bread, your family and friends will beg for more.

No-Knead Sourdough Bread

When I needed to get out of town last summer, we headed out to the Cape to stay with our friends, Bob and Jeanne. Bob has been baking bread for as long as I’ve known him, and I've known him a very long time, so he knows what he's doing and his sourdough loaves are a thing of beauty. When he offered me some of his starter, though, a red flag went up in my head. If you’ve ever had experience with sourdough, you know what I mean. It’s like coming home with a pet that must be fed and tended to and I wasn't sure I was up to the task. But Bob made bread making look so simple and effortless that I threw caution to the wind and accepted his gift.

-->

-->

Bob's boule, the object of my envy

The sourdough sat in its one quart Ball jar in the back of my refrigerator. Every couple of weeks I'd pull it out, scoop out a cup to use in one recipe or another, then feed it. I would add 3/4 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water to the jar, mix it all together and leave it on the kitchen counter until it comes alive and starts to bubble, usually a couple of hours. Then I'd put it back in the refrigerator to hang out for another couple of weeks.

This went on for several months as I baked decent loaves of bread and made wonderful waffles for breakfast. Bob's beautiful crust and crumb eluded me, however, until I discovered the no-knead method of bread making made famous by Jim Lahey a few years back. I’ve adapted Jim's recipe to use sourdough instead of yeast, and the result is perfection itself. The process is insanely simple, with a bowl and a wooden spoon the dough comes together in two minutes flat, no fussy measuring, no kneading, with only a spoon to wash.

The loaves come out of the oven rustic and gorgeous every single time. Cut through the crispy, thin crust, and the inside is holey, light and chewy. I’ve made more than a dozen loaves over the last few weeks. I can’t seem to stop making it and my kitchen smells like a French bakery. So to those of you who’ve adopted my sourdough, you must make this bread, and to everyone else out there, get your hands on some sourdough, even if you have to beg or steal or, better yet, make your own starter. DO IT! It will make you happy.

Recipe for No-Knead Bread

In a large bowl, mix together

2 - 3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sourdough

1 cup water

3/4 TBS kosher salt

The dough should come together in a shaggy ball, sticky and wet. I let it rise in the same bowl that I mixed it in, mine came with a plastic lid that I put loosely over the top but a damp kitchen towel will also work. Let sit on the counter from 8 to 12 hours. I've left it for as long as 24. This is a very forgiving dough, I usually mix it up sometime during the day and leave it over night then shape and bake any time the next day.

Here's what the dough looks like after 12 hours or so.

Transfer onto a generously floured board, being careful not break the bubbles, gently shape into a ball. and let sit while oven is preheating. Put a heavy 5-quart dutch oven with its lid, side by side, in the oven, preheat to 500F. Any large, heavy pot will do, I've used Le Creuset and All Clad, both work very well.

When the oven is at 500F gently place the very soft dough into the pot. Don't worry about how it lands or how it looks, it'll still come out perfectly baked. Cover and bake 20 minute.

After 20 minutes, a pale crust forms.

Remove lid and continue baking another 20 to 30 minutes until deep golden and internal temperature between 200 and 210 degrees F.

Remove to a cooling rack and listen for the crackling sound the crust makes as it cools.

-->

-->

The Resulting Effect

Tim gave his all with a little help from his friends....

Chinese Barbecue Chicken - a family favorite

Tim was quite disappointed when he first learned that his all time favorite food came from a jar. Nevertheless, when my sons were growing up, they're now 25 and 28, this chicken had a permanent spot in my rotation. I always made more than I needed. The chicken was great at room temperature, and could hold for that commuter who, on occasion, would miss his train. The leftovers were perfect for after school sandwiches and salads for the rest of the week.

I no longer have to worry about after school snacks, and the commuter no longer commutes. However, after being with Tim the last couple of weeks, I was nostalgic for those days when my two boys would come home from school and devour huge amounts of food, mostly because they were growing boys, but also so, they could wait to sit down and eat with the commuter, who was often the last one in the door. And the first to leave in the morning, I might add.

I hope you make this dish and find time to eat with your family. I would love to hear about what you did with your left over chicken. It's all about the left overs, you know. Here's how to do it, I dare not call this a recipe.

• 4 - 5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, I prefer thighs rather than breasts, thighs are juicier and not so easy to overcook.
• 1 - 14 oz jar Lee Kum Kee Char Siu sauce
• 1 TBS soy sauce

Combine all three ingredients and marinate at least an hour or overnight in the fridge. Grill or bake in a 450 F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, turning once. If baking, be sure to line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up.

Serve with grilled vegetables and a mound of jasmine rice sprinkled with a few drops of Maggi Sauce. Enjoy.

A recipe for surviving the New Hampshire winter

It's frightfully cold this morning, 7 degrees in the sun and it's predicted to get even colder for the next few days. Because winter can be so very long, the days so short and cabin fever a real threat, I get through the winter by surrounding myself with only the things that make me happy...

A plowed driveway

A shoveled path to the bird feeder

A nice pile of firewood just steps from the back door.

A patient kitty to remind me I'm not the only one waiting for spring.

Colorful yarn

Cymbidium orchid ready to bloom

A sunny corner office

A warm fire, a big stash of yarn, a pile of seed catalogs

Plenty of good friends...

...and good food....

...and more good friends...

Cheers!!!