American Potager

pasta with spinach and feta cheese

    

 

  

    Spinach and Swiss chard are the cool season vegetables that are abundant in the kitchen garden now. Lately I've been mad about spinach and I've been fixing it every which way. On Thursday, my good friend, Rob Lamp shot some footage for a short video we're working on. That day we made Quick Spanokopita which you can find here. I have also been making spinach pizza with garlic and goat cheese. Today, it's Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese. 

    The fall asters, late coneflowers and black eyed Susan's have been long gone from my November garden in spite of Indian summer and temperatures in the 70s. So todays fall table arrangement is Swiss chard plopped in a vase. 

Pasta with Spinach and Goat Cheese

5-6 cups fresh spinach

1/3 cup (or so) of extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

8 oz feta cheese

1 lb of Italian pasta, cooked to al dente and drained

Fresh ground pepper to taste

 

    Coarsely chop the spinach and walnuts. Swirl the olive oil in a large frying over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute for a few minutes but do not brown. Add the spinach and walnuts and cook and stir just until the spinach is wilted. 

    Add the cooked pasta to the same pan. Crumble up the feta cheese and stir. Serve immediately with a glass of wine and a vase of Swiss chard in the garden.

 

apple pie comfort

    The last few weeks we have been collecting suitcases loaned out to friends, closing old accounts and consolidating belongings so they weigh under fifty pounds. My youngest son will be working in Japan for a year and I have been trying to not interfere with his packing. Last night we savored a family meal with his brothers and favorite foods including a pie with apples from our own trees.

    Today I dropped him off at the airport, followed him with my blurry eyes until he turned the corner to the gate, went home and ate the last piece of apple pie. Served à la mode, of course. Godspeed, Travis.

tomatoes: canned, roasted or dried

How do you preserve the tomato harvest? We have been canning slow simmered tomato sauce and drying bite-sized cherry tomatoes. The oven roasted tomatoes with a little lemon juice, olive oil and thyme are destined for the freezer if any is left over after we slather it on a baguette with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

it's not rocket science

What's growing in the garden is served at the table. This is the simplest description of living from the potager jardin. So the 'garden dictates the menu' recipe for today is Fresh Tomatillo Salsa. The recipe is in the first picture; that's it- tomatillos, a tomato, purple peppers and jalapeños. Well almost, I also added some salt, fresh cilantro and lime juice until it suited me. Served with blue tortilla chips it was gone within minutes. 

  

heavenly eggplant parmigiana

The label on the 'Lavender Touch' eggplants I planted says  "Very productive, showy fruit with an excellent, mild, sweet flavor." I couldn't agree more. My garden is overflowing with the pale purple fruits which is perfect because it is coinciding with my craving for a good eggplant parmigiana. I made some last night and you really ought to try it. I'll try and recreate the recipe for you, which isn't always easy. I do know I used about six medium small eggplants, two purple peppers and the contents of the two cans (which just happened to be in my cupboard).

Here's the rest of it.

Eggplant Parmigiana

5-6 medium eggplants

2 small green (or purple) peppers

1 large clove of garlic

1 small onion

1 large can tomato sauce

1 small can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped

3 Tbl. fresh basil, chopped

Extra virgin Greek olive oil

1 cup dried bread crumbs with salt and pepper added

3 eggs

1 Tbl. all purpose flour

1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Chop the onion, peppers and garlic and saute in a drizzle of good olive oil until translucent. Add the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. Add the thyme and basil. Simmer for about an hour, stirring to prevent sticking. 

Beat the eggs until well mixed and set aside. 

Cut the young eggplants lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices. 

Heat up some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet until hot.

Dip an eggplant in some flour, then in the beaten eggs and finally in the bread crumbs. Repeat for all the eggplant.

Place the eggplant in the hot skillet and cook each side for a few minutes until coating is brown and eggplant begins to cook through. Add more olive oil during this process as the eggplant has a tendency to soak it up.

Add a ladle of the hot tomato sauce to the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Place a layer of the cooked eggplant on top. Sprinkle on some of the Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Cover with more sauce. Continue layering the eggplant, cheese and sauce until it's all used.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Fabulous.

    

sometimes I write fiction

Here is a photo of one of the watercolors in my new book, The Kitchen Gardener's Handbook. It's a bird's eye view of a front yard edible and seasonal garden- in summer. One of many in the book. The paintings illustrate how the garden shifts through the year and one season is highlighted in each chapter.

When I drew up the plan I carefully selected edible and non-edible flowering shrubs and perennials that will provide bouquets for the table or something to nibble on every day of the year. The planting plans are quite detailed and are in the book- oodles of them, so you can use them to create your own garden.

When I drew up the plan... there was no garden. It was a figment of my imagination coupled with a desire to showcase such gems as Tiki Torch coneflower or Henry Eilers sweet coneflower and to mix them up with rhubarb, espaliered apple trees and peonies. Most of what I do is fiction... until we build the garden.

Speaking in Lancaster, Ohio on June 26th (support your local author)

June 26, 2010 @ 10:00 am

Designing the New Kitchen Garden

The Fairfield Heritage Association

105 E. Wheeling Street

Lancaster, Ohio 43130

Joyce Harvey 740-654-9923

Book signing to follow presentation

I will be giving a talk on Designing the New Kitchen Garden with great images from my first book and some from my new upcoming book, The Kitchen Gardener's Handbook. Come by and say howdy and tour some great gardens. Behind the Garden Gates 2010 Garden Tour will benefit the Fairfield Heritage Association. 

 

strolling the high line

It's been on my list for a while and I missed it the last time I was in New York. The wait was worth it for me to see some late May blooms on the High Line over the weekend.  I salute you, Piet Oudolf.

Favorite flower of the day, Trifolium rubens (Red feather clover)

Future planting area.     

evolution of a book title part deux

This post could also probably be called evolution of a book cover because until the book is released in the fall it could change. For now this is the version that is on Workman's website. The title, in fact, has changed since my conviction that it would be called Kitchen Garden Companion. Handbook sounds a little more handy, useful and of course, indispensable. It's a book you'll take with you when you design your kitchen garden then plant, harvest, cook and eat.

 

green almond season

    

    I was just in Santa Barbara working on a design project. While I am in town I always stay with my friend a little farther north in Camarillo. How lucky for me that Holly just visited the local farmer's market and brought back a new treat to share. I have heard of green garlic and green tomatoes but never green almonds. The grower said we could eat the whole immature nut, fuzzy shell and all.

    The best way to enjoy green almonds is to peel off the shell and munch on the crispy unripe nut. The taste and texture is just like a cucumber. We decided to toss some into our salad.

    The green almond season is short, just a couple of weeks. If you have your own almond trees pick a few now to enjoy or look for them at your California farmer's market.