First Home-Grown Beets of the Season

I had a nice little harvest last weekend.  More salad greens, some garlic (which will need to cure for a while), plenty of herbs, and two baby beets.  This year I planted a variety called Cylindra, which is a long skinny red beet.  I figured that would be a good space-saver.  (I also planted golden beets, but they’re not ready yet).  I’ve been making a salad recently using my home-grown greens topped with bacon and Humboldt Fog aged goat cheese.  I figured some hearty chunks of quickly boiled beets would be a great addition.

I top this salad with a vinaigrette made with aged cherry-infused balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.  It’s heaven.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

The (Almost) Year-Round Kitchen Garden

I went out to my garden plot yesterday, thinking that maybe the snow would have finally melted enough for me to plant some sprouting potatoes.  I also thought I might be able to pull up some overwintered carrots.    Unfortunately, this is what I saw:

I was able to clear away enough snow to sow my potatoes, but finding hidden carrots was not going to happen.  So February marks the first month in which I got zero harvest out of my garden.

Still, I think it’s pretty cool that I got ANYTHING in January and December.  In December I was still harvesting tender salad greens, even if it meant clearing off snow to do it.  And at a few points in December and January I pulled up crunchy, delicious overwintered carrots and  frost-sweetened kale.

My January carrot harvest: small, but so delicious. Next year I need to plant them earlier so they can get bigger before the frost.

Steamed kale was delicious on top of a creamy kabocha squash risotto in December.

I don’t think I’ll get anything from the garden in March, either, unless the arugula  seeds I sprinkled on a bare patch of dirt yesterday somehow germinate unusually quickly.  But by April I will be pulling early lettuces and arugula and radishes (at least, if last year is any indication).   And I could always buy some turnips at the market and plant them and get some turnip greens in fairly short order, although that kind of feels like cheating.  My point is, in this area it’s totally possible to have a productive garden 9 or 10 months of the year.  Maybe next winter I’ll invest in some row covers and extend the season even more.

Read Full Post »

Hidden Delights

When I was out at my garden this weekend, I was amazed to discover how much of my bed of greens and kale had survived under the snow.  Check it out!

Once I cleared all the snow away, there was actually a lot of baby salad greens that were totally fresh and tender.  I got to eat a fresh, homegrown, delicious salad in December.  Amazing.

Read Full Post »

Salad Dressing, by way of Annapolis

Like fellow DC gardener The Slow Cook, I’ve been joyfully harvesting fall salad greens.  Last weekend I picked a veritable bale of baby arugula and lettuces.  The greens have been so tender and tasty that I haven’t wanted to adulterate them with a lot of add-ins; it’s been a dressing-only affair.  And though I usually just make my own vinaigrettes, lately I’ve been really enamored of a bottled dressing from a family-owned operation in Annapolis.  The brand is Tessemae’s, and their lemon garlic dressing is totally addictive.  Cute story, too:

Being the mother of three athletic boys, I had to figure out a way to get them to eat their salad while staying healthy. Pouring on an unhealthy dressing was not an option, so over the years I made and perfected my own. When my oldest, Greg, realized how great the dressing was (15 years later!), he said “Mom, let’s go in to business together and make it for the world.”

Anyway, I don’t usually make it my business to promote specific products on my blog, but this stuff is great on greens.  A nice balance of olive oil, lemon (both juice and zest), and a little mustard.  And the fact that the dressing separates and solidifies in the fridge speaks to its lack of weird additives and emulsifiers.  I got my bottle this summer at Whole Foods on P Street when one of the charming sons was doing a demo, so presumably it’s still being sold there.  Good stuff!

Read Full Post »

Weekend Photos: How the Garden Grows

My fall garden is doing very well, and now I’m once again dealing with an excess of greens.  And some of the stars of summer are producing into the fall.  I’m still getting jalapeños and other peppers, plus a few tomatoes here and there (Romas and Dr. Carolyns).  And the Swiss Chard is as productive as ever.  But the fun stuff is all the tender, new plants I sowed in early September.

This bed is mostly arugula, with a little lettuce and basil and dill here and there.

In the foreground, there's lettuce I planted from starts. The middle section is carrots and the back section is beets, both of which have a way to go to reach maturity.

In one bed I scattered many assorted lettuces and mesclun mixes. Now they're perfect for a tender salad.

The chard is still robust. I always have too much.

The Mexican Sour Gherkin vines are also still incredibly productive.

Me in my garden plot!

Read Full Post »

BLT Salad

I love BLT sandwiches, but it’s not exactly the healthiest thing one can make for dinner. So I like to make a BLT salad, which cuts down on the carbs and greatly increases the leafy greens. And oddly enough, that adjusted ratio is perfect for what’s coming out of my garden right now. I’ve got tender fall lettuces and spicy arugula and mizuna starting to come up in appreciable quantities. And though I no longer have the big slicing tomatoes that work so well on a sandwich, I’m still getting a few late Romas and cherry tomatoes from my garden. These are more than sufficient to give a BLT salad some good tomatoey flavor.

The strategy is very simple. I put a dollop of mayonnaise and some salt and pepper in a large bowl and cut it with some vinegar or lemon juice. I add the chopped tomato and any juice from the cutting board to further thin the dressing. Then I toss the lettuce in the dressing and add a couple slices of bacon that I’ve fried and crushed into pieces. Finally, I add cubes of freshly toasted bread on top (from one slice, rather than the two I’d use in a sandwich). Sometimes I’ll actually fry the bread on one side in the leftover bacon fat, though I suppose that makes the salad a little less healthy. Whatever. A little fat makes salad awesome.

Read Full Post »