Farm to Fork

We made tapenade last night before dinner, after a few hours of pitting our marinated olives by hand.

Recently, we enjoyed a toasted bagel with cream cheese and red pepper jelly, which was canned from the jalapeno peppers in the garden. 

The figs from our tree were jammed and dehydrated for the winter.

We have enjoyed all summer a fresh chop salad of zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow bells, onion, avocado and Japanese eggplant (mostly) from the garden.

Pomegranates are in varying stages of ripeness, and we've got buckets and buckets of them to make into jams and juices and store for later.

Two strangers stopped by to visit the house today. Mary Beth was a girl when her grandparents lived here, and she lived in the house next door. She remembers the fig, the olives, and the pomegranate trees. That would conservatively estimate their age at 50+ years, and they are still vigorous producers once they got onto regular routines of fertilizer, water, and love. Unbelievable.

Our guests remembered the land towards the street had a vineyard and a big kitchen garden. The back of the house had a big old screened porch off what used to be a 2br/1ba house with an unfinished attic. The memories just tumbled out of their animated, smiling faces.

Some of the land out back was fenced off for burros. Yup: the kids rode burros.  She remembered hearing the rumblings of the farm equipment down the road and how the kids would dash out front to wave at the farmers.  Her parents put in the pool the year she went off to college, and there was a bite of nostalgia when she realized it has been here 50 years...

I've never thought much of buying whatever I want and eating it year round. This beautiful old gal has stood 112 years, and continues to teach the truth of how to live here. It is hard, continual work to tend to the bounty, from planning to planting, through tending and harvest. And then it begins again with canning and preserving once the fruit is cut from the vine.

All of this was on our minds as we munched on our first-ever homemade tapenade. The olives had to journey 10 months to our table. We touched it every step of the way: from harvesting them off the trees last November, tending the brine for seven months, and from there into a savory variety of marinades for three months more, and to the table.

House of ours: we are listening.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

A tried and true favorite.

The kids will never know this soup is made with heart-healthy asparagus. You can make it with asparagus that is past its prime and wilting a bit. Or from leftovers that need to be used up. It's a great base for other winter veggie soups, as well.

In a big soup pot

Take:
2 lbs fresh asparagus, with the hardest part of the stalk trimmed away, rough chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, minced and sautéed in 3 T. butter with the asparagus, 5-6 minutes.

Add:
6 cups chicken stock (organic or home made) heated to the edge of a boil. Let cool 5 min before transferring small batches to blender to puree until smooth. Scoop out any pieces as you transfer it back to pot. Maintain heat on low/med so it stays hot.

Separately:Melt 3 T. butter, add 2 heaping tablespoons of flour and seasonings to taste, and cook over low/med heat 5 minutes until it thickens and flour cooks. (This step can be repeated if the soup needs additional thickening after everything is combined.)

Combine: SLOWLY add roux to stock, whisking all the while, keeping over low/med heat, and add in the sour cream and half and half.  Thoroughly heat through (on med heat), checking consistency.  Add seasonings to taste (pepper, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of hot paprika for us). 

We like it best served in mugs alongside grilled cheese sandwiches. Great made ahead. Great stored in the fridge up to 5 days. (Creamed soups don't freeze well)

A You and Me Place

Here's to endless possibilities in a place we can run and shout out loud. A place where makeup is optional and the TV's rarely on.

A place where hammering sounds come from the garage and the whirr of the Cuisinart in the kitchen and the clank of canning jars.

Here's to room to breathe and grow and change, to try things we've wondered about and never done.

A place to believe again that we can do anything we dream up. A why not do it place.

Here's to aging and practicing our denial with 4 hard of hearing ears and the constant chatter call from various parts of the house ...
                   what?            what?            what?

A long drive at sunset place.
A let's try it place.
An always you and me place.

Red Pepper Jelly

Long past promised recipes to share. And all that I've learned about canning - !

Red Jalapeno Pepper Jelly (substitutions are in parentheses)
Source: Foodie Bride

1 orange bell (or red or yellow), seeds and stems removed
1 lb red jalapenos, seeds set aside, stems removed (or green, or some green and some red)
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 pinch salt
6 c sugar
3 oz liquid pectin (powder pectin equivalent: 4 teaspoons=1oz)
1 Tablespoon butter
Dry red pepper flakes to taste

Food process peppers for 10-15 seconds. Transfer to LG pot (you will need it) and bring to a boil, then simmer 15-20 min.

Put through fine mesh sieve to separate pulp and you need to have 1 cup of liquid. Simmer longer if necessary.

Return liquid to pot, add back in some or all of the seeds and pulp for spicier jelly (I added back in about 70% and tasted as I went), add salt and sugar and stir constantly until dissolved.

Bring to a rolling boil -- one that cannot be stirred down -- boil 1 minute longer and add the butter and pectin, stir well.  Let boil 3 min as complete recipe.

Jars need to be hot and sterile and ready to go. Ladle hot liquid leaving 1/4" for expansion. Put in a water bath for 10 minutes with lids and rings put on snugly but not too tight. Remove carefully from water and cool completely on a counter top rack. Tighten ring down.

To check seal: When the jar completely cools, push down slightly in the center of the cap. A well sealed jar will not pop back or have any give. Jars without a good seal should always be refrigerated.

(I double the recipe; it makes 14 or so jars) 

Kitchen Time with my Jalapenos

The smells of garden filled the air this weekend.

The last 10 figs came off the tree and we enjoyed a fig and almond breakfast cake this morning, Labor Day, as we rested up from a very long week.

Zucchinis have been in abundance, and we've got 4 loaves of Zbread - two regular batches with a hint of cinnamon, and two special batches of double chocolate zucchini that was a family recipe from a friend. Both are delicious, but the DblChoc warmed up a little with a scoop of ice cream is heaven on earth.

On Sunday I bubbled up a batch of creamy broccoli cheddar soup, which we dipped with large chunks of sourdough for dinner, and I had a reprise for today's lunch. It's Panera's recipe. Mine cut way back on the half and half and the cheese, and I doubled up on the carrots, and it was perfect.

The chile plant went crazy and there were 15 good sized ones, so those went into another batch of red pepper jelly. I substituted green for red, added in some red pepper flakes for zing, yellow and red bell peppers as a base, and put up 13 jars this afternoon. We'll do a grand opening on tomorrow's bagel with cream cheese.

The store-bought jalapenos intended for the jelly will be pickled and canned for next year. I planned on making spring rolls and made up some Thai chile dipping sauce that's waiting in the fridge for later in the week.

Kitchen time lets me unwind but I am an every-surface-and-utensil kind of cook. It hasn't been a successful day until every surface is cluttered and the sink is full of dishes. August had too much rental house stuff going on, and I had kind of built up a lot of ideas that all had to be made this weekend. I got through about half of what I had planned. The main thing is the rental stuff is done, and things can get back to something closer to normal.

I am always ready for September, but this year I am especially grateful to flip the page. August is the longest month of the year, maybe because by this point I'm good and ready for Fall.

The garden gave up six artichokes today, 2 lemon cukes, another big dog Armenian cuke, and a squash. Tomatoes are f-i-n-a-l-l-y  yielding 6 or 8 a day. Super disappointed in the Better Boys ... all plant and no fruit ... but the Romas and the Beefsteaks are more than making up for it.

Thinking forward to canning salsa, diced tomatoes with onion and peppers, and spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and garlic ... and our winter garden, which is just around the corner. Bring on the crisper evenings and shorter days, the sights and smells of fall, reacquainting yourself with your winter wardrobe, and knowing pumpkins will bring family.  And maybe, please, a brief respite from mosquitos.