Nicoise Ne Pas?

When I got home last evening, I was able to harvest this amazing bowl of vegetables. I am having some friends over tonight so I am going to make a classic Salad Nicoise….sans black olives on a couple of the servings as my friends don’t care for them. I thought I would share the my recipe (acquired on a trip to France, a…ahem few years ago).

Salad Niçoise (pronounced nee-suaz) is essentially a French composed salad, much like our American Cobb salad, but with tuna, green beans, and potatoes, instead of chicken, bacon, and avocado. Salad Niçoise hails from Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea, though like so many foods we enjoy here of French origin, has changed a bit to adapt to our tastes. The one thing that I didn’t like is that some of the cafes in Paris, they served this salad with canned tuna….a great big world of NO!!! More of the upscale cafes though, served the salad with freshly grilled tuna. While I really like the salad, they do take a little while to make…hence making it for special dinner rather than a regular weeknight meal . It is a good idea to set up a mise en place (all ingredients chopped and ready to go) will help the salad come together smoothly.

For the Vinaigrette

1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad

2 grilled or otherwise cooked tuna steaks* (8 oz each)
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and either halved or quartered
10 small new red potatoes (each about 2 inches in diameter, about 1 1/4 pounds total), each potato scrubbed and quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium heads Boston lettuce or butter lettuce, leaves washed, dried, and torn into bite-sized pieces
3 small ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into eighths
1 small red onion, sliced very thin
8 ounces green beans, stem ends trimmed and each bean halved crosswise
1/4 cup niçoise olives
2 Tbsp capers, rinsed or several anchovies (optional)

Marinate tuna steaks in a little olive oil for an hour. Heat a large skillet on medium high heat, or place on a hot grill. Cook the steaks 2 to 3 minutes on each side until cooked through.
1 Whisk lemon juice, oil, shallot, thyme, basil, oregano, and mustard in medium bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

2 Bring potatoes and 4 quarts cold water to boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and cook until potatoes are tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer potatoes to a medium bowl with a slotted spoon (do not discard boiling water). Toss warm potatoes with 1/4 cup vinaigrette; set aside.

3 While potatoes are cooking, toss lettuce with 1/4 cup vinaigrette in large bowl until coated. Arrange bed of lettuce on a serving platter (I used two serving platters, shown in the photos). Cut tuna into 1/2-inch thick slices, coat with vinaigrette. Mound tuna in center of lettuce. Toss tomatoes, red onion, 3 tablespoons vinaigrette, and salt and pepper to taste in bowl; arrange tomato-onion mixture on the lettuce bed. Arrange reserved potatoes in a mound at edge of lettuce bed.

4 Return water to boil; add 1 tablespoon salt and green beans. Cook until tender but crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain beans, transfer to reserved ice water, and let stand until just cool, about 30 seconds; dry beans well. Toss beans, 3 tablespoons vinaigrette, and salt and pepper to taste; arrange in a mound at edge of lettuce bed.

5 Arrange hard boiled eggs, olives, and anchovies in mounds on the lettuce bed. Drizzle eggs with remaining 2 tablespoons dressing, sprinkle entire salad with capers and serve immediately.

Happy Gardening

The Tomatoes are Coming!! The Tomatoes are Coming (Part II)

Growing tomatoes is relatively easy. I prefer growing from organic seeds so I can be assured that my plants are completely free of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilzers.

Starting seedlings: I place 1-2 seeds in each peat pot and keep them watered well until the sprouts appear and the seedlings have grown to an appropriate height (6 inches) and thickened slightly before transplanting into the garden. The seedlings also spend time outside during the day and then are brought in at night for a couple of days, then they are transferred outside with the protection of my mini greenhouse cold frames. Once all danger of frost has past (check your local forecast), the seedlings are planted near my garden structures.

Soil preparation: Tomatoes do best in loose, rich, well-drained soil, so make sure to work lots of compost into your beds before planting.

Planting: Tomatoes like warm soil and don't tolerate frost, so wait until warm spring days arrive and soil temperatures reach above 60°F to plant.

Spacing: Plant tomatoes deeply, so the lowest set of leaves is at soil level, and press the soil down gently. Stake your tomatoes, leave about 1 to 3 feet between the plants. Plant spacing in ample garden space is fine, but in the raised bed garden, tomatoes are a little more crowded. I plan 4 plants at each garden structure so they can be staked (or tied) to the side of the structure.
Watering: Once all your plants are in the ground, water them well. To avoid problems with disease, water from the bottom and early in the day. Tomatoes need even moisture, though, so don't let your beds dry out. Once the tomato plants are established, apply a thick mulch of straw, grass clippings, or composted leaves.

Fertilizing: As long as you've added compost to your beds before planting, you shouldn't need to add any other fertilizer for tomatoes; although, I do fertilize everything else with fish emulsion so the tomatoes get it too.

Pests:If your plants' stems are being chewed off, you might have cutworms. If you notice holes in the leaves of your tomato plants or big, fat, green caterpillars lolling on the plants, you're probably dealing with tomato hornworms. Curled-down leaves and small pink, green, or black insects on leaf undersides signal aphids. To prevent insect infestation, remove any fruit with signs of damage as well as leaves. I also use a combination of pepermint and garlic oil to spray all foliage and fruit to deter insects.

Disease:If you spot speckles on any leaves (especially lower leaves) during the growing season, pinch off the affected leaves to reduce problems with early blight, late blight, and other leaf spot diseases. Blossom end rot is marked by a sunken, brownish black area at the blossom end of some of your tomatoes. At the end of the season, be sure to pull out and destroy or throw away (not on your compost pile, though) all of your tomato plants if they showed any signs of disease. Otherwise, the next season's crop may be infected by disease organisms that survive the winter sheltered in the debris of the old crop.

Harvesting :Pick tomatoes when they just begin to change from orange to red. Gently twist the fruit off while holding the vine, then let the tomatoes finish ripening at room temperature out of direct sunlight. Don't store them in your refrigerator because the cold temperature will cause them to lose flavor and texture.

Happy Gardening!

The Tomatoes are Coming! The Tomatoes are Coming!

Nope, no warning of impeding invasion, just a warning that bumper crops of tomatoes are about to explode in the garden.

I have been sneaking tomatoes out of the garden for a couple of weeks now, but the bumper crop is beginning to mature! I grew eight varieties of tomatoes this year. Since this is the first year of the potager, I wanted to see what varieties would do best in our zone, with the soild in the raised beds and with the care provided. I also wanted to try a few heirloom varieties to determine what to grow next year based on performance and taste. I will report on the performance in a few weeks once the harvest has subsided.

In the meantime, I thought it was a good idea to talk about the varieties of tomatoes I am growing. These are the tomatoes in the garden:

· Roma: An excellent variety for salads, stewing and canning. This is also the most popular tomato used in sauces.

· Better Boy: Standard Hybrid tomato with few seeds, good for slicing!

· Early Girl: A determinate early variety that is an excellent choice for salads and quick sauces

· Hybrid Yellow: I chose to include a yellow tomato for color when making capresi (tomato, mozzerella and basil) salads. This variety is excellent for slicing and works best for fried green tomatoes if taken off the vine early.

· Grape Tomato (red): For salads and snacking, this variety grows in clusters of 6 or 8 tomatoes that mature in succession.

· Cherry Tomato (white): Although I planted this with a roma tomato in a pot, it is still retaining a lighter color (although much more yellow than white). It is excellent to pop in salads or a quick pasta dish!

· Ox Heart (Heirloom): This is an old fashioned Amish heirloom variety with a heart shaped pink fruit that can weigh up to 1 pound. The flesh is very meaty and containes very few seeds, making it great for slicing. Another advantage is that this is an indeterminate variety, which means it will produce fruits over a longer period of time rather that in one big harvest!

· German Pink (Heirloom): is a Bavarian variety that produces large 1-2 pound meaty fruits with few seeds. The German Pink has a full sweet flavor, even floral, and a tender skin. The tomato is an extremely versatile fruit, as it is excellent for canning and freezing but also slicing and juicing.

Next time, I will talk about growing methods….ooooh exciting!

Happy Gardening!

Mehhh, What's Up Doc?

Carrots, carrots, carrots! Have we got carrots!

The carrots are beginning to crown in the garden so I am going to have full grown carrots for munching and cooking shortly! Truth be told, I have been snitching a few of them already when they were babies so I could enjoy the sweet taste of baby carrots in salads, etc.

There are numerous varieties of carrots and purchasing standard organic carrots is pretty inexpensive so I chose to grow two varieties that are not commonly available at the market.

Adelaide Baby Carrots is a miniature Nantes-type, with straight sides, shaped like a baby finger; this new variety is much improved from its Dutch “seedsmen” predecessor. This carrot is bred to reliably produce coreless, succulently sweet baby carrots. The carrots should be harvested at no larger than 3" - the smaller the better. I like to serve this bright orange baby carrot with the little greens still attached blanched for a salad or blanched and sautéed for a delightful side dish!

I also planted French Babette (baby) carrots. This is a brand new French Nantes hybrid finger carrot bred for early color, even cylindrical shape, high-yields and extraordinary taste. These carrots germinate quickly after being directly sewn into the garden soil and mature in approximately 70 days after germination.

Carrots work best when planted in friable soil so add extra sand to this part of the garden (this also benefits leeks, beets, and other root crops). Do not plant carrots directly after composting the soil. Add compost in the fall to be ready for spring carrot planting. While hardy, these carrots also like to be watered properly so watch the greens for signs of yellowing or wilt.

Happy Gardening!

All Fired Up!

Channeling Pat Benetar for a moment there, forgive me….Part of the enjoyment of growing your own fruits and vegetables is, of course, eating them! The beauty of a potager is that there is always something new ready to go at any given time. Last night, it was an onion, some fingerling potatoes and broccoli! I thought I could simply blanch everything and serve it with the incredible wild salmon I was planning to poach. However, I was inspired to grill out since the weather was so gorgeous!

I love to grill and nothing brings out the sweetness of food than grilling! To enhance the flavor of the food I was making last night, I decided to cedar plank grill instead of simply placing the food on the grill.

Cedar planks are available everywhere now. High quality ones are available at http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/h244/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1150cedar+grill+planks&cm_src=SCH

These couldn’t be easier to use and you will be amazed at the flavor they add to grilled meats, fish and vegetables!

To use a cedar plank for grilling, you must rinse any loose material off the plank and then place it in a sink or vessel submerged in water for a minimum of 20 minutes, up to 4 hours. Once soaked, you can light your grill (charcoal or gas). Once the grill is at temperature, place the cedar grilling plank on the grate and watch until it begins to smoke. Place your fish, fruit, vegetable and or other meat on the plank arranged for proper cooking. The salmon I made last night along with the potatoes, brocolli and onions were ready in less than 20 minutes with a smokey and savory flavor that just couldn’t have been better.

Try different cooking methods with your potager’s bounty as you begin the heavy harvesting season and remember if you are in the midwest, to start your secondary tomato seeds in the next two weeks so they will be ready to go in the ground in mid August for late September harvesting!

Happy Gardening!

The Summer Garden

The garden is in full swing, with many items already harvested and or in decline. That also means that many heat loving plants are thriving. It is also time to think about planting…..WHAT? Planting?...You heard it right…planting.

The lettuce, radishes and early beet crops have all been harvested and removed as well as my broccoli (see center picture); these crops cannot be re-sown in the heat of the summer, so that will leave holes in your garden.

There are many things you can plant in their place. If you would like a lot of cut flowers for your late summer/ early fall table, this would be an excellent time to plant large marigolds, amaranth and larkspur. However, this is also a very productive time for some vegetables. Planting summer onion seeds, late crop squash, swiss chard and hearty beet varieties, makes your summer garden as productive as its spring and fall sisters (yes, you will want to plant items for fall).

Summer is also a time to watch and be amazed at the progress of your garden. I have already gotten a harvest from my bush beans; I am hoping for another soon. The cucumbers are producing about 1-2 ripe fruits per week! The eggplant, peppers, potatoes, shallots are all coming along and I have so many green tomatoes, I am not sure what I am going to do with the miriad of ripe ones I am sure to bring in shortly.

But the coolest plants I am growing are just now starting to take off. The blue cheese pumpkin squash, winter squash, bottle neck gourds and the triumph of the ages, a miniature sugar, seedless watermelon! I am so delighted at its progress, I am almost willing to overlook the squirell theif that stole one of the fruits already! I said almost. I finally broke down and used my fox urine granuals along the fence row (away from places the dogs will go) to deter the rats with cuter outfits from visiting my garden.

Growing organically has also left me vulnerable to some other insect pests, but the peppermint and garlic oil spray is doing a pretty good job and keeping them at bay without adding chemicals to my food supply.

The most important thing to remember in the summer garden is watering! While your raised beds and plants in the ground may be able to go a few days without watering, your potted items will wither and die without almost daily intervention. I am still using collected water for the most part; I have had to break the hose out about three times so far when my english rain barrell was a little low on supply, but for the most part, it has created a completely self sustained garden!

It is a busy time in the garden, but I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Happy Gardening!