Late Harvest Pasta

It is surprising to see zucchini still growing in the garden in October!  I suppose this is just more evidence of the lovely warm Autumn we've had this year.  The following recipe came out of necessity on Sunday evening when the cupboards were bare but luckily I was able to pull a few things from the garden and make this quick and tasty dinner.

 

Picture above is Zucchini with blooms on October 21, 2014.

 

Late Harvest Pasta with Zucchini, Garlic and Red Cabbage from the garden

 

Ingredients:

 

1 package of fresh or dry linguine

1 can of clams (with juice)

3 cloves of  minced garlic

1 small zucchini diced

1/4 small red cabbage finely shredded (with mandolin if you have one)

1 heaping tablespoon dried basil

Juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

Splash of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Get water boiling in pot for linguine.

Meanwhile in a sauté pan on low heat add olive oil and garlic.  Leave this for a couple minutes then add the clams with juice followed by all the other ingredients except the cabbage and parmesan.  When the pasta is cooked scoop from the pot directly into the pan using tongs or whatever scooping method works for you.  Stir ingredients together for a minute or two and turn off heat.  Add lemon juice parmesan and finely shredded cabbage - serve immediately.

 

Twirl and enjoy!

Strawberry Jamming

This is the DDS' second annual strawberry jam making cooperative.  Last year we messed up Shannon's kitchen so this year it was my turn.  In one afternoon we processed about 20 pounds of strawberries into jam.  We chose to make batches of strawberry rhubarb, a lavender infused strawberry and a freezer strawberry jam.  Working together definitely makes the task less daunting.  This time around I washed and hulled the strawberries, while Shannon cut up rhubarb, prepared the jars (water bath to sanitize) and measured all the ingredients.  We follow the recipes that came with the pectin.

Below: Chopping rhubarb picked from Shannon's abundant patch

 

Below: Berries being washed in my sink in prep. for hulling (removing the stem).  My mom has a very old tool made especially for hulling strawberries.  I just push a small teaspoon into the top of the berry and twist out the hull.

 

Our folks picked up the two flats of berries from a local farm in Langley.  There is nothing like the flavour and colour of fresh local strawberries.  You can tell they are not GMO as they definitely don't keep for long and need to be eaten, frozen or jammed very quickly.

Below: Some of our lovely jars of jam.  The darker colour jars are the lavender infused and the lighter is the strawberry rhubarb.
 

 

 

For the Strawberry rhubarb we followed the recipe provided with the pectin.

To make the lavender infused jam, I packed two tea bags (designed for loose leaf tea) with fresh picked lavender, added to the strawberry mixture and let it infuse during the cooking and stirring portion of the process.  I removed the lavender bags before putting the jam into jars.  The flavour added is quite subtle.

 

If you have room in your freezer for freezer strawberry jam I highly recommend it.  For freezer jam you don't need to sterilize or seal your jars or containers and it tastes more like fresh picked strawberries than the cooked jam.  Often it is a little runnier than cooked jam and thus makes an amazing syrup for waffles or ice-cream.
 

Though I don't think we save money by making are own jam, it is satisfying to see the jars lined up on my shelf and know exactly all the ingredients that went into them.  It doesn't hurt to support local farmers too. 

 

 

 

rhubarb muffins

I have happy rhubarb.  It is already growing like gangbusters so I decided to make some rhubarb muffins.  I've been eating these rhubarb muffins since I was a kid, I'm not sure where the recipe originated.

Rhubarb Muffin Recipe:
1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 and 1/2 cups rhubarb
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Topping (optional)
1 Tb melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


Directions:
Combine sugar, oil, egg, vanilla and milk
Stir in rhubarb and nuts
Add dry ingredients
Put in muffin tray and sprinkle with topping


Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes

Now off to eat a muffin with my coffee.  Do you have any favourite rhubarb recipes?

Lauren's Sage and Rosemary Bread

Even in January there are still some hardy herbs to harvest. I was gifted a large rosemary from my friend's garden (thanks K!) and it continues to thrive throughout the winter.  My sage was just a small sprig when I planted it along a fence five years ago and also provides lots of flavour to those classic hardy winter meals like stews and soups. 

This bread is great with a comforting bowl of soup or fantastic on its own.  The loaf gets a nice crust when baked in a cast iron pot but is fine baked on a pan as well.

Lauren's Sage and Rosemary Bread Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons yeast
about 2 cups of warm water
 2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary plus a few sprigs to garnish
2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped sage plus a few leaves left whole to garnish


1.Add flour and salt to mixing bowl with bread hook attachment
2.Fill a  one cup measuring cup leaving enough room at the top to add honey and yeast.  Leave for a few minutes until yeast dissolves
3. Add wet ingredients, mix for one minute, add about half a cup more of warm water.  Dough should start to form into a smooth ball, if it appears too dry add more water.
4.  Add finally chopped herbs.
5.  Let dough rise for 45 minutes to 2 hours depending where you and your bread need to be that day.  Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it down into a ball, this should take just a minute, don't spend a lot of time kneading, you have better things to do.  If you have some aggression to get out beat on the dough vigorously and tell your family it is a necessary part of the process.  Make the dough into a roundish shape and let rise 30 minutes to one hour, again depending on how much time you have to get this bread done.  Preheat your oven to 450f.
6.  As gently as possible plop your ball or bread into a cast iron pot with lid (or any ovenproof pot with lid).  Gently press a few sprigs of rosemary and sage into the top of the loaf before placing on the lid and throwing in the oven.
7.  After 30 minutes remove the pot lid and let the bread bake for another 10 minutes until it is brown on top.  The bread is at its best one to two hours after it comes out of the oven.

A version with raisons or organic garlic is really nice with the herbs.  A bit of grated cheese can be added though I'll line the pot with parchment as the cheese can stick the loaf to the pot without it.

Perhaps a little warm carbohydrate comfort in loaf form can help us all get through the drudgery of winter.  Let me know how your bread turns out.

Lavendar Harvest

Yesterday we harvested lavender from the five bushes along our driveway.

Lavender Crème Brulee for dessert.  The recipe is originally from the "Girl in the Fig Cookbook" By Sondra Bernstein. "The Girl in the Fig" brings nostalgia from my California days of good food and great friends.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/the-girl-the-fig-cookbook/9780743255219-item.html?ikwid=girl+in+the+fig+&ikwsec=Home&gcs_requestid=0COjamZyqwbgCFUlv5wodwn8AAA

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tablespoons dried lavender, plus more for garnish

8 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar, plus about 4 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling

2 tablespoons wildflower honey

Place the cream and milk in a saucepan and add the lavender. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Let the lavender steep for about 15 minutes or until the milk has a lavender flavor. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks, the 1/2 cup sugar, and the honey in a separate bowl until smooth. Whisk into the lavender-cream mixture. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and skim off any foam. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F. Pour the mixture into 6 ramekins. Set the ramekins in a baking pan and add enough hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the baking pan with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes or until set. (Test for done-ness by jiggling the ramekins.) Remove the baking pan from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool in the water bath for 5 minutes. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Before serving, sprinkle the tops with a thin layer of sugar and caramelize with a small torch or under a broiler set on high. Garnish each crème brûlée with lavender blossoms