Farmers' Market glory

The farmers' market is stupendous this time of year. There is such an abundance of produce, so I decided to do some batch processing to keep great flavors for the winter. On the list; pesto, frozen in 1/2 cup containers, sweet pepper relish, canned, and tomatoes concassé, a simple sauce with shallots and garlic from culinary school.

Spring floral vodka

Everything is crazy in the garden. Chive flowers, scallion flowers, thyme flowers, oregano I didn't know I had. An herbal paradise right now. There was leftover booze from a job, so I took home a bottle of vodka. After draining a cup, I spent some time carefully feeding chive flowers through the neck to soak.

The vodka removed to make space was put in a mason jar with thyme blossoms, mostly just as an experiment. I also planted pineapple sage, so for Dance Parade recovery next weekend, there will be fancy cocktails.

garden moving.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

The garden had to move to the roof. Due to construction downstairs and a visit from the fire marshall, everything is off of the fire escape. And according to the laser thermometer, yesterday the roof was 158 degrees. Squirrel came up with me and danced around on 2 feet until I got her into the shade, which was a measly 123 degrees.

There are benefits though. I prep dinner, J. comes home from work, and we sit on the roof on an old beach blanket and play boggle or backgammon with a bottle of wine. Before coming down stairs i cut herbs to finish dinner off with.

Surprisingly I still get a few peas. Yesterday's backgammon was a gamble for peas. Somehow i ended up eating the woody ones.

My garden feels meager, but J. has a friend in Brooklyn with bees on the roof. The honey should taste like wildflowers, honeysuckle, and roses. i hope to go help harvest.

Peas!

The peas are here! The peas are here! Maybe 2 weeks? I'm not sure. Hopefully there will be enough to make a nice sized dish for J. and I. I'm thinking minced shallots, vanilla sugar, olive oil, sea salt.

Overwhelmed with chives!

The garden is growing, so much so, that I am overwhelmed with chive blossoms. Last year most of them went into garnishing salads, but there are way to many this year. We started out making little bouquets for the table.
A while ago I made Alton Brown's Black Pepper Vodka, which was great with a bloody mary. But after reading some more about infusions, bitters, and such, I decided to try something on my own. I thought the chive flowers would work better with a friend, So I included some celery leaves. And Voila!

I drained a cup of vodka from the bottle. After picking all the chive flowers apart from their bunches, I labouriously got them into the bottle. I then minced up an equal volume of celery leaves, which were even harder to get into the bottle. If I do it again I'll definitely need a new plan. I then poured as much of the reserved vodka back in as I could.

If all goes well, I plan on a nice, spring, herbal vodka tonic followed by a nice, spring, herbal bloody mary next weekend.

Spring Planting

I started planting on the fire escape. I'm always challenged by vegetable choices, window boxes and pots can seem destined only for herbs. Two years ago I grew cherry tomatoes, but we were on the south side of the building then and they burned in the sun, even with me watering them EVERY day.

I decided trellised stuff might be better, so this year I'm going for peas and string beans. Dense plantings that can climb the natural trellis of the fire escape, and  they don't need to spread horizontally. For my own indulgence I also have a box for scallions. Spring, composed salads are definitely in our future!

Herbs will get replanted as well. I waffle between planting from seeds and buying 3 inch pots at the farmer's market. The problem with seeds is I hate to waste them. I really, really, don't need 100 dill plants. But by buying seedlings I am really paying someone to do work for me that I can easily do.

I'll take pictures when everything is together.

Spring!

I noticed these yesterday in the windowbox. My chives have returned! And then there were potted herbs at the farmer's market!  I know it is real early, but I am excited. When the window boxes dry out in a few days I can start the spring clean up and prep for this summer's crop. 

Gardening

I like herbs. I like to think about herbs.I like to use herbs. I like to grow herbs. I don't know any people named Herb, however. I think herbs are under utilized. I think people use dried herbs way more often then fresh. The Minimalist wrote an article about pantry items and talked about how dried herbs are worthless. I only like them if I dry them myself in the fall and then use them that winter. I recently made a tomato sauce with dried basil and oregano from the fire escape gardens.

There is nothing better than a bunch of parsley. Mince some up and it can go on or in everything. I made a salad last week from roast beets, shaved fennel, gorgonzola, and more parsley than you can imagine, all coated with a vinaigrette. We take this hiking in the summer. There is nothing better than a salad that won't wilt. Shake the tupperware, two forks, and we are ready to go.

The problem is the size of bunches at the supermarket. They are never right. Buy a bunch of thyme, use three sprigs, and watch it decay in your crisper. At least with parsley you can make a gremolata. Which goes with way more than just Osso Buco.

I have three window boxes on the fire escape. For some reason the rosemary and lavender survive the winter in NYC. My friends in L.I. and R.I. can't keep them through the winter. I t could be the building's radiant heat. Sage lasts through the first frost, and sometimes longer, and then there is dried sage leaves hanging on the stem for me in the winter. Basil gets thrown here and there, onto a tomato salad from the farmer's market or a summer pasta with olives, capers, roasted red peppers and parmesan. When I freak out I make pesto, and then freak out again  that I have no basil. Last summer I roasted peaches on the grill and coated them with balsamic, basil, and vanilla Häagen Dazs. Mint goes into anything trying to resemble middle eastern. Chives are a lovely summer taste, and grow like weeds in the six inch square I allocate them. I like using the purple flowers in salads. I mixed oregano into a home made salsa and home made chili powder. Yes, they did work. Rosemary, along with pork and lamb, makes great summer cocktails. And thyme, like parsley, goes with almost everything.

The nicest part is you can use them to create a complex flavor palate. It helps keep me interested in cooking vegetarian. Breaded tofu with gremolata? Check. Stuffed portabellos with parsley, thyme, and oregano? Check. Basil sun dried tomato and mozzarella panini? Check.

I'm looking forward to next summer's crop already.