Cucumbers Need Love

As I said in my last post, I recently traveled to Chicago, but before I was there I spent some time camping on Long Island.  Due to those trips, I was away from my garden for a while.  Luckily, my garden partner Tiffany can usually pick up the slack when I'm away (and vice versa).  On Saturday I made my way over to our garden, knowing Tiffany had been there while I was away.  As it was about 95 degrees here in New York, I was hoping to make a quick trip and then head back home and sit in front of the fan.  No such luck!  But then again, can you ever make just a quick trip to the garden?  There is always something else you can do, if you make the time.

While I was in Chicago, I read an email in which Tiffany gave me a garden update--things looked good, however, she had had to leave before she could get to everything and, in her words, "the cucumbers need some love".  Boy was that the truth!  I've never grown these plants until now and I'm learning that they are a little tricky.  The last time I had seen our cucs, they were litke little toddlers, slowly sprouting up and starting to climb the supports we had put in place for them.  When I saw them on Saturday, they were like full blown teenagers--tall, gangly, and unruly!  The plants are strong-willed and independent, branching out for whatever they can wind their tendrils around, however, they are also fragile and impressionable.  Cucumbers need your guidance, no matter how much they think they know the best way to grow, they need your help. 

Here is an example for you--the cucumber vine started growing up the nearby grapevine, the grapevine is in the middle, you can see the light green, tightly wound cucumber tendrils toward the bottom:

So Saturday, with my water bottle by my side and my big floppy sunhat on my head, I spent a good two hours tending to my teenaged cucumbers.  I made a lattice out of string, a stick, and the nearby swing set so our plants can grow a little bit wider instead of just growing up up up.  Here you see the fruits of my labor

Before:

After:

Since we started our plot on the late side, we don't have any full grow cucs to enjoy quite yet.  My neighbors Nick and Michelle have a very large cucumber plant and told me to take any that were full size since they haven't been around.  I took a couple beautiful fruits and I decided to make my very very favorite cucumber treat, tzatziki sauce!!  This is a pretty standard recipe that you'll see everywhere, I just do it by sight and taste so if you need something more exact, you can easily find one in a cookbook or online.

3 medium cucumbers, peeled, sliced, cored and chopped
3 cups plain greek yogurt (or use whatever plain yogurt you have and strain it)
dill (fresh or dried, fresh is best)
big spoonful of chopped garlic
salt and pepper

 First, you need to prepare the cucumbers.  MAKE SURE TO SEED THEM!!! It's really easy, just run a spoon and scoop out the seeds.  This is a must-do because they make the sauce watery and kinda gross.  I've been lazy before and left them in and it really does make a difference.

Next, you can either put them in a food processor or chop them up.  Some people prefer the sauce with superfine cucumbers, but I like the chucks so I just do it by hand.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and leave the chopped veggies in a strainer for about a half hour and from time to time press them down to get more of the water out.

Finally, mix the cucumbers, yogurt, garlic, and dill.  Add in a little more salt and pepper.  As for amounts, I'd say maybe two pinches of dried dill and about 4 pinches fresh....but just taste it and see.  Once you put it in the fridge for at least an hour, the flavors will be stronger so you can always taste and add more later on.

I hope you can make it with fresh cucumbers, it is a simple pleasure of summer to make recipes from fresh food.  Enjoy on grilled meats, fish, or veggies.  If you are anything like me, you will eat it on it's own with a spoon!!

Carrot Ginger Soup

Here I am!  It's been far too long since I've posted but I blame that on the absurdly warm weather New York has been having and my recent birthday festivities.  I've still been here, cooking and reading and crafting. 

The temperatures here have finally fallen back within the normal springtime range and it seems like a perfect time for a carrot soup.  Ok, I sort of made that up--I don't really go around figuring out the perfect time for carrot soup ( I think I've only had it once before).  The thing is, our latest CSA delivery has left us with oodles and oodles of carrots in our vegetable drawer.  I checked out a carrot bread, carrot cake, and carrot curry recipe but none of them required more than 4 or 5 carrots per recipe.  I needed to use a lot of carrots, not just a few.....I'm talking about pounds and pounds of carrots here!  Mollie Katzen to the rescue (as always!).  Although I wouldn't say this was my favorite recipe, it is very healthy and quite filling.  Interestingly, it comes out less of a soup and more of a velvety sauce, it sort of looks like a curry.  I ate it with rice and tempeh that I marinated and baked. My roommate ate it with corn tortillas.

• 2 lbs. carrots (I used about 6 cups of sliced carrots)
• 4 cups water (you'll need to add more later)
• 1 1/2 c. sliced onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger (peeled, chopped, and pureed)
• 1/4 tsp of: dried mint, cumin, cinnamon, and crushed fennel seed
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 cup of cashews, lightly toasted 

1. Chop up all those carrots and put in a big pot with the water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender (about 10-15 min).
2. Chop up the onions and throw them in with the carrots.  Add the garlic and ginger, simmer another 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the spices and the lemon, let simmer for another 5-7 minutes, meanwhile toast the cashews lightly.
4. Blend everything together in a blender or food processor--it might be necessary to do this in batches.
5. Serve with some sort of carb on the side.


My notes about this recipe: I think this is a good side dish.  We attempted to eat it as dinner and I think it was a little over powering.   But it was still yummy and filling and a nice way to us up all our carrots!!  Oh and it made me covet one of those immersion blenders.  That would be so much easier than using a blender, but there's always next time!!

Here are a few photos:

 For those of you who don't know tempeh, you should!  It is a soy product, sort of a cousin of tofu.  Now I know not every loves tofu, but tempeh is tofu's smarter, better looking cousin!  It's texture is much more palatable to those who don't like tofu--it's sort of the consistency of sausage.  Also, it comes in lots of varieties (this one is 5 grain) AND it doesn't have some of the negative qualities linked to other soy products.  Now I'm no scientist, but I've read a lot about how soy mimics estrogen in people's bodies and can make your body react negatively because it thinks that you are getting a surge of hormones.  Don't quote me on this (since I'm not an expert) but I've read that tempeh doesn't have those qualities....something about how it is produced differently than other soy products.   Like tofu, tempeh is highly amenable to marinades--mine was oil, soy sauce, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.  Bake it in the oven at 400 for 10-15 minutes and you're all set.

Enjoy!

Springtime Quinoa Salad

Saturday was the first official day of Spring!  Here in New York we've already had a healthy dose of sunshine and blue skies over the past week, but it is nice to make it official.  Alas, my daffodils have died, but I did notice some beautiful purple and yellow crocus popping up in the neighborhood.

Since I starting writing in the Fall, I've mostly been writing about cold weather recipes--hot foods that fill you up and stick to your bones.  Today I am pleased to present my first Springtime recipe (although it was technically winter when I made it).  The other day, I was doing a quick shopping at Whole Foods and I was trying to think up something delicious and fast.  As I thought over our pantry at home I came up with a few things I knew I had--quinoa, sliced almonds, dried cranberries.  Then, I remembered a quinoa salad that my roommate had made a while back.  To my cart I added red onion, scallions, and apples and I made my way home.

This salad is so refreshing!!  I just know you will love it.  Make it on a warm spring day as a main dish or even a side dish.  If you haven't cooked with quinoa yet, what are you waiting for?!  It's very versatile--you can use it as a substitute for rice or any other grain.  I even have a recipe for quinoa muffins that are very very good.  Quinoa is actually easier and faster to make than rice and many other grains and it is so good for you.

I didn't use measurements, so you're going to have to get creative and do some taste-testing along the way.

-chopped red onion (about 1/4 c.)
-3 scallions/green onions chopped
-dried cranberries
-walnuts
-quinoa (I used 1/2 c. dried which equals 1 c. cooked)
-olive oil
-lemon juice
-dijon mustard

1. Prepare the quinoa according to package directions (make sure to rinse it first!)
2. Mix quinoa with the first four ingredients.
3. Add in the other ingredients for the dressing--adjust to taste.  I probably did 2 parts olive oil, 1/2 part lemon juice, and 1 part dijon mustard.  Don't forget lots of salt and pepper.
4. Refridgerate for about a half hour.  Taste it again and adjust the seasonings.
Enjoy!

Norwood Food Co-op and Flexible Veggie Veggie Soup

The other day I was volunteering for my CSA (community supported agriculture) during pick-up time.  Being jobless these couple of months has afforded me the delightful opportunity to help almost every week in some way.  I have really enjoyed meeting new people and chatting about the beautiful produce.  I love being part of the CSA, not only because it supports the work of Norwich Meadows Farm and neighboring farms, but also because it forces me and my roommates to be creative with our cooking.  So as I sat there at pick-up, I started dreaming up what to make for dinner.  This is a favorite pastime of mine, especially when I have a full fridge!!  There were so many possibilities that afternoon, but since the weather was cool I decided I had to make soup.  When the weather gets cool, I slowly begin to rekindle the love I have for soup-making that always fizzles when the summer approaches.  I spent many evenings during my JVC experience making soup for community members and so the act is forever associated the kitchens I have known and loved from my past: 10 Romasco Lane in Portalnd and 7 Patten Street in Jamaica Plain.  From those experiences, I can assure you that homemade soup is not only good for your body and soul, but all that chopping is a definite cure for whatever ails you!

When I got home, I poured over some of my favorite cookbooks and finally settled on a vegetable soup from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest.  I love that her recipes are often flexible--you can substitute one thing for another if you like or even add in lots of extras.  Here is the biggest difference between cooking and baking; one is scientific (baking) and the other is a fluid art (cooking).  When I first started cooking, I thought I had to follow the recipe line by line.  Yet with practice I discovered what is most beautiful about cooking--almost nothing is written in stone, be creative!

Ok so getting back to the soup.  I began to chop and chop lots of veggies from the CSA and the farmer's market I had been to in the morning--carrots, pac choi, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, etc.  Everything was going smoothly as I dug into Mollie's recipe.  Then a big oops!  Her basic vegetable soup is a tomato based soup (as in, you need tomato juice and paste for it).  I hadn't read far enough along to see this important point.  Because I didn't have those ingredients, I made the base of the soup into veggie bullion since I had loads of bullion cubes on hand.  And in the end, I took one Mollie's suggestions for an add on:  I dropped a few eggs in for an egg drop soup feel.  The result was lovely and I have been enjoying it for a few days.  Below is what I am calling Flexible Veggie Veggie Soup, an adaptation of Mollie's Vegetable Soup recipe:

 -2 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced--leave skin on
-1 medium-large onion, chopped
-2 stalks of celery
-1 large carrot, diced
-1 big handful of green beans, chopped
-6 cups water
-2 or 3 cubes of veggie bullion
-spices you like--I added rosemary and thyme and bay leaves
-3 ripe roma tomatoes (or any kind of tomatoes you find)
-6 garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 head of pac choic, chopped
-any kind of pepper laying around in the fridge, diced
-3 eggs, beaten

Note: Feel free to add any veggies you get from your CSA or those you have lying around!  As Mollie writes, you ought to add harder veggies first (potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc) and any softer veggies later (greens, peppers, zucchini, etc).  Leftover beans or grains or pasta would also be delicious--add these just before you eat the soup.

• Put potatoes, onion, celery, carrot, green beans, and water in a big soup pot.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Add in the bullion and spices.  Lower the heat, stir, and simmer covered for about 20 minutes.
• Add in the remaining veggies and the garlic and let simmer for about 10 more minutes.  Check the seasonings and adjust as needed--at this point if you need an extra veggie bullion cube or salt, pepper, or other spices, add them in!!
• When everything tastes delicious and the vegetables soft enough, slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs while stirring.  

I love the way just a few little eggs bring new life to a long-time favorite soup and I hope you do too.  Enjoy!!