Can't Write About Food--Too Busy Growing It

But here's a quicky.

And it's about broccoli side shoots.

We've had peculiar weather this spring--too hot, too cold, wet, dry. And we've been clearing out the main garden from a huge pile of not-quite-composted leaf mold. This is all by way of saying that the broccoli didn't do well. The main heads were straggly and bolted fast. And I was ready to pull the tattered plants out and replant the beds.

Then they started sending out side shoots and they are plentiful, tender and delicious. Tonight, I steamed some with a handful of the new peas. Served them both with a tuna steak and the last of yesterday's potato salad.

Very tasty indeed. That's a wee pic of them above.

What are you cooking? Eating? Dreaming of eating?

Soy Yoghurt is...Yoghurting

little green apples

The soy yoghurt is heated and mixed and in the wee Salton Yoghurt Maker, doing it's slow thing. At 8 in the morning, if all goes well, I'll put it in some cheesecloth to drain. Then I'll give it the old taste test and let you know.

And speaking of the taste test, I was marveling at the tiny green apples on the old Cortland tree yesterday. I rambled over to the MacIntosh tree by way of comparison and all those tiny green apples reminded me that it will be time for the annual making of the hard cider before we know it. Relieved to think we've finally bottled last year's grape wine.

The dregs of which I used on some little pork sirloins the other day. A long, slow, tenderizing simmer produced a lovely little dinner. Chard and kale from the garden were sauteed in with mushrooms to bring up some deep flavors.

And for the third time--which I certainly hope is a charm--I have planted artichoke plants in the Italian garden. These are Globe Imperials and I am hopeful of their eventual flowering, as well as their general survival.

Lettuces, Part the Second

April was a tricky and busy month and the garden shows it. But I spent some cool Beltane afternoon hours weeding, pruning, picking and chasing a groundhog out of the garden. I harvested even more lettuce and looked longingly at the ripening strawberries.

We had some fresh broccoli, onions and lettuces for dinner.

Are you catching the theme here? Lettuces, lettuces...they and the radishes are the monarchs of the spring garden. Here they are now--

I wish I could tell you that I've been doing some delicious cooking but I simply haven't. We've been eating lettuces and the occasional loaf of soda bread and...

Greek yoghurt. I got out the old Salton yoghurt maker and started making Greek yoghurt about a month ago. In fact, I'll probably make another batch some time tomorrow. I've tried all the different fat levels in the milk and 2% seems best. Tomorrow's will be soy milk.

I am hopeful of acquiring local goat milk--doesn't that sound perfect? Greek goat's milk yoghurt.

Lettuces

I will buy no more lettuce--for a few months, anyway. The winter-overs are lovely and rich. I harvest them a leaf at a time and soak them in cold water to plump and crisp.

Yummy.

So, I don't have much to say tonight except--I am eating those wide lettuce leaves, smeared with hummus.

I am drinking a homemade hard apple cider--one of the few left from the fall.

Life, while waiting to see if the gov shuts down, is quite delish.

Soup of the Evening...Again

Do you make your own soup stock? It's easy and the potential for delicious is fairly high.

Tonight I put some schmalz, carrot ends, a baked chicken carcass, the tough greens from spring onions (which wintered-over in the garden) into a big pot and simmered the lot for a couple of hours. I strained all that mess out and added back in some carrots (chopped), lots of onion, fresh kale and spinach. I simmered that another 45 minutes until everything was soft and the flavors had blended a bit.

It's the kind of soup that will age well--if we leave around to age.

We do like soup around here.

Getting Me to the Greek

I have a light dairy allergy and so I don't do a lot of dairy, including yoghurt. But a couple of months ago I had to do a run of antobiotics and chose to bring back the eco-system in my gut with some pro-bio Greek yoghurt.

It made me cough a little and gave me a bit of a runny nose but it seemed to get my "personal culture" back into shape quickly.

Plus, delicious!

So we did a yoghurt taste test around here to decide which brand was best. I found that the one with the best taste was 2% rather than 0%--no surprise there. But it was hard to find plain 2%.

Plus, pricey!

So I Goodled Greek yoghurt and found out that it's simply plain yoghurt that is drained of much of the whey, giving it that rich thickness. I dug out the out Salton yoghurt maker, gave it a very good cleaning and decided to try it.

I bought a half gallon of--oh, my goodness--full fat milk. Yes, I know. Crazy, right? I did two batches of yoghurt, draining each batch through a cheesecloth-lined strainer.

Friends, it is mighty tasty stuff. (cough cough) It works out to be about 35 cents a container, about the same price as commercial yoghurt and much cheaper than commercial Greek yoghurt.

Now, I want to play around with all kinds of milk and see how it works.

Boiled and yet delicious

I don't often eat beef any more but with The Day yesterday, I thought I'd do a pot of corned beef, cabbage and tatties. It's terribly easy. (It's easy if you buy your beef already "corned.")

Cut the beef into big chunks and boil it up in water. No need for salt but you might add some pepper, rosemary, a bay leaf or two.

Simmer the whole pot until the beef is tender, then add in the tatties...maybe some onions and carrots, too. Last thing in is the loosely cut-up cabbage, which doesn't take long to cook. Let it all simmer another 15 minutes or so.

Serve it with some lovely fresh soda bread and a pint of the black stuff. Corned beef and cabbage is not traditionally Irish--I also like to boil up a pot of colcannon--cabbage, tatties, bacon and some butter...maybe a little greens (like kale).

Boiling meat is popular in many rural cultures because you could use older and tougher meat.