Recipe: Colcannon

One of the many traditional Irish recipes for mashed potatoes, this one features scallions and either kale or cabbage. I like the way our Toscano kale tastes with Yukon Gem potatoes that are in the boxes this week. Made creamy and rich with the help of milk and butter, this can be a tasty side dish or a heavier main course with the addition of bacon.

Ingredients:

- 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed

- 4 cups kale, chopped

- 1 cup scallions, finely chopped

- 1 cup milk

- 4 tbsp butter

- (optional) 5 strips of bacon

- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Boil peeled and cubed potatoes in lightly salted water until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes, and drain.

2. At the same time, simmer kale in lightly salted water until softened and reduced, about 15 minutes.

3. Add butter to potatoes and melt on low heat. Mash potatoes and mix thoroughly with melted butter.

4. Add scallions, milk and kale and simmer for 10 minutes on low-medium. Taste and add salt as needed.

5. If adding bacon, fry and cut into thin strips, mix into colcannon just prior to serving.

*** * ***

Harvest Day Dinner

With two hungry farmers to feed on this busy harvest Monday, I needed to make sure dinner was filling enough. For this meal I added bacon to the colcannon and served it with roasted patty pan squash and a huge salad. I also fried some mushrooms by special request of Sylvia, the only kid I've ever known who love mushrooms.

Dinner in order from front to back: colcannon with bacon, garden salad (featuring red peppers that will be in next week's box!), fried mushrooms in yogurt and roasted patty pan squash

Guest farmer Kevin stops by to help Eric out with harvest day. Thanks, Kevin!

Info

Comment

Garden School

With school out, our childcare arrangements have gotten a bit more complicated. Sylvia is in daycare part-time to cover some of Michelle's work schedule, but alternating Fridays have left a gap this summer, with both Michelle and me working, but only one of two kids being looked after. The solution: those Fridays become take your daughter to work day. The first time we tried it I was quite apprehensive, but as we packed Rose's backpack with activities and snacks she said (with a huge smile), "this is just like going to school!" And so "Garden School" was born.

After a bit of helping (picking beans, pulling weeds, etc), she settles into her little chair and pulls out some puzzles or drawing materials from her bag. Then there's usually a break for a snack and some garden exploring (Are there any cherry tomatoes yet? How tall is the corn? What plant is that?), all while talking my ear off in classic Rose fashion.

Garden School set up: kiddie Muskoka chair and travel activity table (from the car). Good for reading, drawing and snacking.

It makes for a very slow day overall as I can't fully concentrate on my tasks and try my best to avoid trips back to the house or the barn (which would involve walking at Rose dawdle speed, the slowest walking know to humankind) , but they have been some of my most enjoyable times in the garden.

Rose has been my little garden buddy for years now, ever since I used to pop her in a sling and tend to the container garden on the back deck of our Toronto apartment. We would chat about the various plants I was watering and she would reach out and grab little snacks for herself like a bean or basil leaf.

My garden helper in our Toronto days, circa 2010.

Our work and childcare schedules feel like they're always in flux, as the kids grow older and Michelle and I adjust (and mostly increase) our respective work loads. I'm not sure if Garden School will be part of the plan next summer, as from a practical point of view Michelle working Fridays means I typically work one of the days of the weekend to make up the lost time, and that can be exhausting for both of us. Still, what started out as a inefficient, make-shift solution to a scheduling problem has become a lovely way to spend the day in my favorite place with one of my favorite people.

Info

Comment

Recipe: Corn Summer Salad

The classic way to enjoy the abundance of corn this time of year is on the cob with butter and salt, and I'm definitely a fan of the classics. However, I love the way this recipe combines the other flavours of summer into one amazing, height-of-the-season salad. The goat cheese blends with the oil and vinegar and the water from the tomatoes to make a lightly creamy dressing.

If you have the time, you can sprinkle the chopped tomatoes with some salt and let them rest in a colander in the sink for 10-15 minutes before adding them into the salad. The excess water will be pulled out by the salt and drain away, preventing the dressing from becoming too liquidy.

Ingredients:

- 4 ears of corn
- 4-6 tomatoes, chopped and drained (if desired)
- large handful of basil
- 150 g of goat cheese, crumbled
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Shell corn. I've tried a few different tools for this and so far my favorite is a corn zipper. Google it!

2 Bring a small pot of water to boil and dump corn into the pot. Let simmer for 1-2 minutes.

3. Drain corn in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool to touch.

4. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl. Drizzle oil and vinegar and add salt and pepper as desired. Mix thoroughly and serve.

Info

Comment

Garlic Harvest

The garlic is in! Thanks to a couple of long days of hard work from farmer Kevin, the garlic is hanging up to cure in the barn.

We're now in the home stretch of the long process of growing garlic. This garlic was planted last fall, from individual cloves saved from the previous year's harvest. Under a heavy straw mulch, they have a couple of weeks of establishment in the rapidly cooling soil before winter arrives and the plants go dormant, waiting for the spring. When the snow finally melts, the new sprouts are some of the first green in the garden. We might pick some plants for green garlic, to carry us through until the scapes are ready. Once the scapes are all harvested, it's just a few more weeks (ideally very dry weeks, not really the case this year) until the leaves start to turn yellow and die back. When a few leaves have yellowed and a few green ones remain, it's time to pull the bulbs and hang them somewhere dark and airy to cure. Curing helps the bulbs store better and also matures the flavour, which is mild and sweet but with no rich spiciness when first pulled out.

Harvest is always hard work - if all has gone well, it comes at the tail end of a heat wave (to dry out the tops and prevent the wrappers from rotting underground), and you need to work fast because once out of the soil, the bulbs can be damaged by the sun.

Now, just a week or two of curing before we can start eating. Thanks for all your help, Kevin!

Info

2 Comments

Recipe: Tomato Confit

Juicy, ripe tomatoes are slow cooked in olive oil on a bed of basil until they nearly fall apart. You can use the resulting chunky sauce over pasta or rice, mixed with other veggies or meat, or simply over toast. The smell that will waft through your house while this dish is in the oven is too delicious for words.

Ingredients:

- fresh basil, enough to cover the bottom of an oven safe dish
- 5-7 tomatoes, depending on size
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Place basil in an even layer on the bottom of an oven safe dish.

3. Peel tomatoes (this can be done raw or you can blanch first to make it a bit easier to peel). Cut in half.

4. Lay tomatoes on top of basil layer, core-side down.

5. Pour olive oil over as evenly as possible and sprinkle salt.

6. Bake for 90 minutes.

7. Mix basil and tomatoes together and serve. Enough for 4 as a side dish but can served over pasta, meat etc. as a main course for 2 (see above for suggestions).

Info

Comment

Tomatoes

The peak of summer for me is when the tomatoes start to ripen. The cooler weather this year has meant a slightly later start but those long hours of daylight have finally begun to work their magic.

The tomato vines are still dominated by green fruit, varying in size depending on the type. But here and there amongst the green are the delicious bursts of red that tell you tomato season is just beginning.

The early varieties are ready for delivery tomorrow. Are you ready?

Info

Comment

Eva Mae Farm

* * *

*** * ***