Perfect Pairings

Twig Farm Goat Tomme (from West Cornwall, VT) with a 2010 Black Opal Shiraz Cabernet (SE Australia).  No, the wine was not local and it was a gift, but the earthy rind and deep complexity of the cheese balance perfectly with the spicy berries of the blended wine.  Alas, out of Triscuits, the cracker with few ingredients.  (I stopped buying crack, I mean, Cheese-Its, after I read the side of the box and decided I preferred salt and rosemary to MSG.)

Other perfect pairings: Phineas and Ferb.  My family loves the show.  But why watch imagination at work, when you can LIVE it?  My daughter wanted to "go to outer space for REAL" so yesterday we made her space suit.  I had been keeping large Styrofoam packing material in the basement for years, waiting for the right moment.  I even held on to the torn flex hose when I replaced it for the dryer.  Some silver paint, aluminum foil, lots of duct tape, and caps and other junk of various kinds, and two hours later, voila! Cost of project: $0  Value: Priceless.

The materials, along with my daughter's "Perry" hat.  Use heavy-duty clippers
for flex hose and duct tape edges to avoid cuts.

Painting Styrofoam and wrapping in foil.  Do not use spray paint on Styrofoam;
it may melt! (I discovered this at age 12, sculpting foam by melting it with
nail polish.  Maybe it's the alcohol.)

Fitting #4

Fitting #6

"I can't bend my arms!"

Ready for space!

Here's one more bit of technology you can use today: Hot, humid weather is the best time to make bread.  Why?  I throw a damp towel over the dough and leave it outside, the deck bench my personal proofer!  Since I have two more kids this month and they are not used to eating "healthy, whole" foods from scratch, I made my multigrain bread, but replaced the multigrain cereal and wheat flours with just unbleached flower.  I did keep the oatmeal in, and the vital wheat gluten necessary for the texture.  5 minutes to mix, ten minutes to knead, left outside 2 hours, reshaped and pounded into the bread pan, another 1 hour rise outside (where it almost overflowed!), then 40 minutes in the oven.  I did time it to bake in the cool evening.  Really, it's 20 minutes of your time if you're planning on being home for 4-5 hours anyway.  Another great pairing: Warm bread and butter, honey, or preserves.  Try it!

Don't forget our Kickstarter, even if you can only donate $10.  Here.

Vegetarian/Vegan Option

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Multigrain Bread

Taste of Earth 

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Prep: 25 minutes  Rise: 3-5 hours  Bake 40-45 minutes

Cool: 1 hour  Makes one loaf

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 tsp. vital wheat gluten

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup multigrain cereal (such as Bob’s Red Mill)

1 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup warm water (100ºF-115ºF), divided

3 tsp. active dry yeast

1/4 tsp. sugar

2 tbs. olive oil

1/4 cup local honey (or substitute brown sugar)

In a large bowl, whisk together first six ingredients.  Dissolve yeast with sugar into 1/4 cup of warm water in a separate bowl.  Let sit about ten minutes, until foamy.  Incorporate remaining water, oil, and honey, then make a well in the flour mixture and stir wet into dry.  Flour hands and counter and knead bread about 10 minutes, until elastic.  Place rounded 6” X 4” dough back in bowl and cover with hot wet towel.  (I use my turned-off oven as a proofer.)    Let rise 2-6 hours, or until dough has doubled.  Grease bread pan and punch dough down.  Transfer dough to bread pan, reshaping if needed.  Let rise 1-2 more hours.  Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Bake bread 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.  Cool one hour.

Building with Bottles

It takes a plastic bottle 450 years to decompose.  Some have said of the waste we generate why we aren't building houses out of it.  Now some people are!  With 6,000 bottles filled with sand then cemented into place, you can make a small house or community building.  Of all the bottles produced or the U.S., only 27% get recycled.  This PET (polyethylene terephthalate) can be made into carpet, luggage, shoes, fabric, fiberfill, car bumpers, and more.  Yet, the other 73%, or 60 million bottles a DAY,  are thrown away in the US alone. That single day of "trash" could build 10,000 houses.  There are an estimated 640,000 homeless in America. 

Personally, I reuse mine and also have reusable water bottles.  Rhode Island now recycles #5 plastic, so all those ice coffee cups should be going in recycling too.  They do make great pots for seedlings on a budget.  We donated 42 basil plants to a food pantry last January.  There are so many other uses for them as well: bird feeder, light bulb...  I've posted before about other countries using plastic bottles as light bulbs.  Here's another video and the original one I posted.  

The best course of action is to not generate trash in the first place.  But if you've got it, reuse it, recycle it, send it overseas if you want to, but keep them out of the landfills and ocean!  The majority of the air we breathe is not from trees (not even the rain forest), but from phytoplankton in the ocean.  Every curb is a coast-line.  Enjoy your water and keep it clean!  

BTW, our Kickstarter is up to $341.  Just $4859 to go in 40 days.  If you haven't pledged, even $10, please help us get our cookbook out into the world!

I just made this again, this time with stinging nettle and lemon balm.  Oh my!

Vegetarian 
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Pansotti with Walnut Sauce

Taste of Italy

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Prep: 1 hour  Cook: 15 minutes  Serves 10 

Dough:

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp. cider vinegar 

1 tsp. salt

2 3/4 cup unbleached flour

Filling:

1/4 cup blanched, towel-dried, minced borage* 

1 cup ricotta (cow or goat)

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tbs. chopped fresh basil*

Walnut Sauce:

1 shallot, minced

1 tbs. butter

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 tsp. liquid smoke

This dish takes time to make, but it well worth it.  Serve it at a dinner party and enjoy the praise for making your own ravioli and rich sauce.  Borage has a light cucumber taste and the hairy texture of the leaves disappears when you blanche them.  For dough, whisk eggs, milk, and vinegar.  Stir in salt and flour, then knead on heavily floured counter into a stretchy dough.  Keep wrapped in plastic in refrigerator until needed later.  For filling, pick 25-30 borage leaves, carefully washing them and removing discolored parts.  Boil leaves about 5 minutes to soften hairs, place in ice water 1 minute, then squeeze out excess water by placing leaves in a towel and pressing.  Mince leaves on a cutting board, to yield a 1/4 cup.  Mix thoroughly with cheese, wine, and basil.  To make ravioli, roll dough out as thin as possible (the last setting on a pasta machine) and cut into 3” squares.  Make sure area is heavily floured, as dough can get sticky.  Place about 2 tsp. of filling on each square and fold over into a triangle.  Separate ravioli on floured wax paper until ready to cook.  For sauce, toast walnuts gently in pan then set aside.  Mince shallot and sauté in butter until just soft.  Run nuts through food processor with some of cream to create a paste, leaving some pieces unprocessed if desired.  Return nut mixture to pan with remaining cream.  Heat gently, stirring in liquid smoke towards end.  Cook ravioli in boiling water 3-5 minutes.  Drain and top with sauce.  Use fresh basil leaves as garnish, if desired.

* Recipe also works with stinging nettles and lemon balm

Super HOT!!!

So glad I cooked LAST night (veggie fritters, spring rolls, frittata).  It was 102ºF in the school garden today!  The spring rolls were quite refreshing and cold.  Yet another friend of mine finds he is gluten intolerant.  Try a salad!  Or roll this gluten free salad into a roll, here:

Gluten-Free/Vegan and Wild Option

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Spring Rolls

Taste of Vietnam

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Prep: 15 minutes   Makes 15 rolls

2 oz. rice vermicelli

16 chinese cabbage leaves or mixed salad greens

8 mint leaves, plus garnish (lemon balm also works)

3 tbs. cilantro

3 (wild) chive stems

1 carrot, grated

2 radish, grated

1 stalk of rhubarb, sliced fine

2 tsp. white sugar

2 tbs. white vinegar

1 cup small local cooked shrimp, chopped (optional)

15 rice wrappers

Chop cabbage or greens, herbs, and scallions fine.  Combine with other vegetables, sugar, and vinegar.  Boil rice vermicelli until soft, drain, and cool with cold water.  Drain again and cut into inch-length pieces using kitchen shears.  Mix well with vegetables (and shrimp, if using).   Soak rice wrappers in warm water in a pie dish, one at a time for about 30 seconds.  Place about half a cup of mixture near top of the corner of the wrapper, fold over, and roll tightly.  Tuck in sides half-way through rolling, and roll until end.  Serve chilled, with mint leaves for garnish.  

Snails and Zombie Pancakes

It's been raining here, a little.  Okay, an inch and a half in one day.  I'm walking home from the bus and there on the sidewalk is a snail.  Then another one.  I put them both in my pocket meaning to drop them into the terrarium at home and see what happens.  I get home, look through the mail, get cleaned up, make dinner, forget about the snails...

The next day I'm at work, reach into my coat pocket, and...they're still there!  I wash them off and put them in a plastic container I recently pupated a female orange sulphur in, adding some worm compst and kale leaves because they were immediately handy.  The snails came to life within minutes and started exploring.  Later, I brought them home and set up a terrarium of dirt, most, a stick, a rock, and buttercrisp lettuce to snack on.  This was on Wednesday.  Today, they laid two clutches of eggs while we were at the FM.  If kept warm and moist, babies in two weeks?

Speaking of clutches of eggs, we're about ready to order our chicks.  The coop is half built.  School is almost out.  The order and supplies are lined up on-line.  I will keep you posted when I click the order button and they arrive.  Don't forget about our cookbook Kickstarter, at this link.

Meanwhile, I'm finding more and more strawberries with slug bites.  The ones we saved went into pancakes yesterday to celebrate my daughter's preschool graduation.  She loves to make faces with them.  Daddy even got a zombie pancake!

Now to make scape goat (with lamb this time, a half-recipe), herb dipping oil, bread, and home fries.  I love planning meals around the FM and my front yard!  So much cilantro...and still mushrooms from what we dried in October.  I think some soup is in order too.

Gluten-Free

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Scape Goat

Taste of Greece

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2 lbs. young goat or lamb shanks, cut up 

1/2 cup garlic scapes, chopped to 1/2” lengths

1/2 cup fresh stemmed and chopped “Hot and Spicy” or 

     Greek oregano

1/4 cup fresh stemmed and chopped lemon thyme

1 tbs. grape seed or olive oil

2 cups of peeled carrots cut diagonally, 1/2” thick

3 potatoes with skin, scrubbed and sliced 1/2” thick

1 cup chopped celery or celeriac

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp. each salt and white pepper

3 tbs. tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Stem herbs by pulling leaves downward, discarding any discolored or dead leaves.  Trim excess fat from meat.  Heat oil in large stainless steel pan or Dutch oven on medium-high.  Brown meat but do not cook through, about 3 minutes per side.  Set meat aside and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add carrots, potatoes, celery/celeriac, onion, and tomato paste and stir well.  Cook about five minutes, or until onions soften.  Add garlic scapes and cook 2-3 minutes more.  Return meat to pan, pour in wine, and spread herbs over all.  Heat to simmering.  Cover pan with tight-fitting lid or foil and finish cooking in oven until meat is tender and falling off bone, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Serves 4.  

Kickstarter!!!!!

What to do on this cloudy Venus transit (aside from watch it online)?  Pick strawberries!  We're in year three and up to 1-2 pints a day.  Next year, maybe some from the freezer.  Today, we also started on the snap peas: 87 blanched and frozen for winter.  But wait, there's more!

Drumroll...Fund-raising has begun for the Around the World in 100 Miles cookbook: World Cuisine Recipes Using Local Ingredients.  Help us reach our goal, help the community, and eat well!

Just follow this link.

Try these great ways to use rhubarb while you're at it:

Gluten-Free/Vegan and Wild Option

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Spring Rolls

Taste of Vietnam

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Prep: 15 minutes   Makes 15 rolls

2 oz. rice vermicelli

16 chinese cabbage leaves or mixed salad greens

8 mint leaves, plus garnish (lemon balm also works)

3 tbs. cilantro

3 (wild) chive stems

1 carrot, grated

2 radish, grated

1 stalk of rhubarb, sliced fine

2 tsp. white sugar

2 tbs. white vinegar

1 cup small local cooked shrimp, chopped (optional)

15 rice wrappers

Chop cabbage or greens, herbs, and scallions fine.  Combine with other vegetables, sugar, and vinegar.  Boil rice vermicelli until soft, drain, and cool with cold water.  Drain again and cut into inch-length pieces using kitchen shears.  Mix well with vegetables (and shrimp, if using).   Soak rice wrappers in warm water in a pie dish, one at a time for about 30 seconds.  Place about half a cup of mixture near top of the corner of the wrapper, fold over, and roll tightly.  Tuck in sides half-way through rolling, and roll until end.  Serve chilled, with mint leaves for garnish.  

Gluten-Free/Sulfite-Free/Vegan

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Radish Rhubarb Relish

Taste of India

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Prep: 10 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes  Chill: overnight  

1/2 cup radish, grated

1/2 cup rhubarb, sliced 1/4” thick

1/4 cup carrot, peeled and grated

1/2 cup red onion, finely diced

3/4 cup cider vinegar

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients well.  Bring mixture to boil in small sauce pan.  Boil gently until liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes.  Chill overnight to develop full flavors.  Serve as a garnish, in a wrap with lettuce and  grilled vegetables, or on grilled chicken, burgers, hot dogs, or vegan alternatives.  This recipe has not been tested for canning.  Keep refrigerated and use within two weeks.

Gluten-Free/Vegetarian/Vegan Option

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Rhubarb Compote

Taste of France

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Prep: 5 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes  

2 1/2 cups rhubarb, sliced 1/2” thick (about 5 stalks)

1/4 cup plus 2 tbs. water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs. local honey (optional)

2 tsp. corn starch

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 tsp. lemon zest

Dissolve corn starch with 2 tbs. water.  Mix with all ingredients except nuts.  Heat in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in nuts and cook 5 more minutes.  Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Gluten-Free/Vegan

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Rhubarb Pickles

Taste of Earth

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Prep: 5 minutes*  Cook: 10-15 minutes  Makes 2 pints

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3/4 cups sugar

7 whole cloves

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper 

10 stalks of rhubarb, cut to 3” lengths

2 pint-size mason jars

In small sauce pan, dissolve sugar into vinegar and bring mixture to boil.  Add cloves and red pepper and simmer 10 minutes.  Keep two sanitized mason jars in a bowl of hot water in preparation.  Fill each jar with half the rhubarb stalks.  Pour vinegar mixture over stalks and secure lids.  (Leave a half-inch of space if canning.  Can in hot water bath ten minutes.)  For immediate use, let cool on towel on counter, then refrigerate overnight.

* Time does not include sterilizing jars.

A Shocking Betrayal of Friends!

I thought these guys were my friends!  Their cute, tickly crab legs, their somersault bodies, their way of munching all the leaves I was too lazy to rake...  But clearly, strawberries have major appeal for these land crustaceans.  Last year, I bemoaned every nibble found on the handful of strawberries my plants put out, clutching them to my chest and muttering "my precious..."  I blamed the slugs.  I shooed away the seed bugs, who seemed to cause the least damage but were present nonetheless.  I even did an experiment this year: letting strawberries run rampant among several companion plants.  I tried pairings with chives, lemon balm, mint, borage, feverfew, thyme, and just mulch.  Well, guess what?  Mulch is were seed bugs and pill bugs hang out, over-wintering as well.  I found them everywhere except above the creeping phlox.  The creeping phlox is dense and spiky, blocking access to the mulch and none too pleasant to walk across, I bet.  I think the thyme (especially wooly thyme) would work as well, but my plants are still quite sparse.  One thing is clear: strong smells do not keep these pests away.  My solution: Let the strawberries run rampant.  You'll still get pest damage, but the 88 "good" strawberries we picked this morning make me feel less precious about sharing a few here and there.  Then make a strawberry pizza with spicy oregano or lemon thyme and tangy goat cheese share it with your friends.

A better day in bug land!  Despite the constant duct-taping of my digital camera, I got some quasi-descent shots of insects in action this week.  Today, it was ants herding aphids up my rhubarb stalks, ladybugs to the rescue, spittlebugs, more viceroys and some sulphurs, and a tiny ant carrying a pill bug carcass.  Observe:

Pill bug meets end atop tiny ant, upper center

New little friend.

CHARGE!!!!!

Cue: Jaws music

Hello to you, too!

Tiger moth?

Mating sulphurs

Spittlebug

Mookie

 I wish I had a better macro-lens, or more control over the focus.  I'm no Mark Moffett, with lighting and expensive equipment and all that, but I think I have an eye for what looks interesting, informative, and simultaneously beautiful.  I have been known to pose insects, lure them in some way, and lie in wait for magic to happen.  Also, my daughter buried me in yard clippings and we found caterpillars silking their descent from the maple tree.  "Silking": Think, Mission Impossible with a silk thread launching off a branch.  I wonder what kind of caterpillars they are.  Perhaps I'll check bugguide.net later.

Meanwhile, I've been experiencing technical difficulties with getting my video on Kickstarter so I can raise the funds for the cook book.  Hopefully, things will soon be underway with over 100 recipes and sustainable living tips finally in print.  The cooking continues.  I made Vietamese spring rolls twice this week and plan on making many of the other rhubarb recipes I came up with last spring.  I had a great picnic with a new friend near the Farmer's Market, and tried out Vermont's Blue Ledge Farm Goat Milk Crottina.  It is like a brie with a mushroom-esque rind.  It was great with the strawberries and apple we shared.  Later tonight, I made a pizza with thinly sliced strawberries, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, Hot and Spicy oregano, and the new cheese.  No olive oil or sauce.  It was delicious, the sweet tang of the tomatoes and berries off-set by the earthiness of the asparagus and cheese.  I would make it again.  My kid made a face on hers with a sun-dried tomato eyes, mouth and nose, cheese ears, and strawberry cheeks.

As usual, some recipes:

Gluten-Free/Vegan and Wild Option

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Spring Rolls

Taste of Vietnam

________________________________________________

Prep: 15 minutes   Makes 15 rolls

2 oz. rice vermicelli

16 chinese cabbage leaves or mixed salad greens

8 mint leaves, plus garnish (lemon balm also works)

3 tbs. cilantro

3 (wild) chive stems

1 carrot, grated

2 radish, grated

1 stalk of rhubarb, sliced fine

2 tsp. white sugar

2 tbs. white vinegar

1 cup small local cooked shrimp, chopped (optional)

15 rice wrappers

Chop cabbage or greens, herbs, and scallions fine.  Combine with other vegetables, sugar, and vinegar.  Boil rice vermicelli until soft, drain, and cool with cold water.  Drain again and cut into inch-length pieces using kitchen shears.  Mix well with vegetables (and shrimp, if using).   Soak rice wrappers in warm water in a pie dish, one at a time for about 30 seconds.  Place about half a cup of mixture near top of the corner of the wrapper, fold over, and roll tightly.  Tuck in sides half-way through rolling, and roll until end.  Serve chilled, with mint leaves for garnish.  

Gluten-Free/Sulfite-Free/Vegan

________________________________________________

Radish Rhubarb Relish

Taste of India

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Prep: 10 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes  Chill: overnight  

1/2 cup radish, grated

1/2 cup rhubarb, sliced 1/4” thick

1/4 cup carrot, peeled and grated

1/2 cup red onion, finely diced

3/4 cup cider vinegar

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients well.  Bring mixture to boil in small sauce pan.  Boil gently until liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes.  Chill overnight to develop full flavors.  Serve as a garnish, in a wrap with lettuce and  grilled vegetables, or on grilled chicken, burgers, hot dogs, or vegan alternatives.  This recipe has not been tested for canning.  Keep refrigerated and use within two weeks.

Gluten-Free/Vegetarian/Vegan Option

________________________________________________

Rhubarb Compote

Taste of France

________________________________________________

Prep: 5 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes  

2 1/2 cups rhubarb, sliced 1/2” thick (about 5 stalks)

1/4 cup plus 2 tbs. water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs. local honey (optional)

2 tsp. corn starch

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 tsp. lemon zest

Dissolve corn starch with 2 tbs. water.  Mix with all ingredients except nuts.  Heat in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in nuts and cook 5 more minutes.  Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Gluten-Free/Vegan

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Rhubarb Pickles

Taste of Earth

________________________________________________

Prep: 5 minutes*  Cook: 10-15 minutes  Makes 2 pints

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3/4 cups sugar

7 whole cloves

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper 

10 stalks of rhubarb, cut to 3” lengths

2 pint-size mason jars

In small sauce pan, dissolve sugar into vinegar and bring mixture to boil.  Add cloves and red pepper and simmer 10 minutes.  Keep two sanitized mason jars in a bowl of hot water in preparation.  Fill each jar with half the rhubarb stalks.  Pour vinegar mixture over stalks and secure lids.  (Leave a half-inch of space if canning.  Can in hot water bath ten minutes.)  For immediate use, let cool on towel on counter, then refrigerate overnight.

* Time does not include sterilizing jars.