Potato Planting

Red Pontiacs and Yukon Golds.

The other day, I was outside very early planting some potatoes. It's a little late, date-wise, but weather-wise is another thing. It's almost mid-May, but the weather seems decidedly April-ish. Lots of rain, and cooler temperatures. But every plant I see is forging ahead, despite the weather. Most of the garden is planted, aside from the warm weather plants, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squashes.

I'm new to the potato game. I always thought why bother with potatoes? They are cheap, and I can get good local ones quite easily. But yes, once you grow your own, as with probably anything, you're likely to notice the difference. Last year a friend gave me a bunch of seed potatoes, and I carelessly threw them in a lousy spot and they flourished. This year I've done the same, thrown them in a lousy spot. Maybe with a touch more care. Potatoes were often the plant that farmers used to loosen up a new plot. It seems to work for me, so I'm doing it again.

The new potato bed.

My garden is right by the road, but not for any other reason than it was the best place that was closest to the water source. We have three acres, so it seems like I'm trying to make a statement about it. But I'm not, even though it's a statement I can totally get behind. The site gets great sun, it faces south on a slope, and the drainage is perfect. When we moved in, I decided to make the garden very small, with the ability to make it bigger. Next year I'll make it twice the size by fencing it in. This year I'm starting the beds that will be part of the bigger garden, like the row above.

(You may wonder how I can plant things without fencing with the unbelievable deer population we have in the Hudson Valley. I also have quite a few unfenced raised beds. Amazingly, the deer have left me alone (knock on wood). I ascribe it to being so close to the road, which is a steep and dangerous curve that they never seem to want to cross. A plus of the roadside garden. Another plus? I now know more of my neighbors than I would have!)

Not for the faint of heart.

I'm a little crazy, I think. I mentioned in my asparagus bed post that my soil is very rocky. See above. I think most folks would have bagged it after pulling that many rocks out of the soil. But once I start something, I can't really stop. I understand why some people don't garden. It's back-breaking work. But I tell you, I was out there on a Sunday morning as people were driving to church, and I thought: this is my church. Honestly, that's how I feel about it.

It will be all worthwhile in a few months.

I felt very satisfied when it was done. And I slept really well that night. And hopefully, if it all works out, I'll have twenty or more pounds of potatoes to feed my family when it's harvested. I think probably the thing that hooked me with potatoes was digging them out of the ground. It was like finding buried treasure!

The nuts and bolts of planting the potatoes:

I bought Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold seed potatoes from my local garden/feed store. The seed potatoes sat in a basket inside by a warm window, so the eyes began to sprout. I then cut them, leaving an eye on each piece, and let them scar over--don't put them in the ground after cutting them. [Tip for next year: don't cut seed potatoes, instead buy small seed potatoes.] I dug a trench about a foot wide, and about six to eight inches deep. I covered them with about two inches of dirt--no compost--and as they grow I will hill them up. Potato flowers are beautiful, and a signifier of new potatoes to be harvested. In July, the potato plants will start to die, and underneath the soil you will find your gold. There's tons of information on planting potatoes on the internet. This is just a very basic overview, and also sort of a garden journal for me to see what I did this year. Let me know about your potatoes!

Kielbasa Potato Soup with Caramelized Onions and Kale Chips

An antidote to winter

I don't think I'm alone in saying that soup is one of winter time's greatest joys. I was visiting friends on a cold winter's day, replete with blue skies, scintillating sun and blustery wind that swept the powdery snow every which way. While riding on a tobbaggan behind their four-year old son, which was being pulled by a snowmobile, I fell off on a fast turn. Not wearing snow pants (like a rube, I might add) I was cold to the bone when I finally got home. No matter. This soup warmed me up in no time at all.

This soup was born out of leftovers, as many good soups are. I've broken it down to be a stand alone recipe. However, you might want to have kielbasa sauteed with onions and boiled potatoes the night before and just make sure you have a good amount of leftovers!

Kielbasa and Potato Soup with Caramelized Onions and Kale Chips

Boil six potatoes in their jackets, peel when cool. Can be done the day before and kept in the fridge. Right before they are to be added to the soup, mash each one with a potato masher squarely, so they are not mashed but instead in nice cubes and chunks.

Make kale chips. Can be done a week beforehand. Keep in an airtight container.

1 large bunch of kale. Stem removed and chopped. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for ten or fifteen minutes. Maybe longer. Keep an eye on it! It goes from crisp to burnt in a matter of a minute. I like to salt them when they come out of the oven.

In a large Dutch oven pour one or two tablespoonfuls of olive oil and saute two medium yellow onions and one small red onion until brown and sweet. I like to slice them in thin wedges.

Add in one large red pepper in large dice a little before the onions are done, so they become soft.

Add a large kielbasa in at the same time as the peppers. Cut in slices on the diagonal, cut in half. Let them brown a little as the onions caramelize.

Then add the potatoes and six cups of water, slowly, so that it never gets cold. Add about two cups of water and two potatoes at a time, waiting for it to come to a simmer again, then adding the next batch. When you have them all added, and it's back to a simmer, let the soup cook with the lid partially on for about ten minutes. Then add half the kale chips, which will turn into the kale with the soft consistency of spinach. Reserve the rest of the chips to serve on the table for whoever wants more kale or some crunch.

The kielbasa salts the soup, so you don't really need to add any salt at all. Maybe a few grinds of pepper. Now all you need to do is fall off a speeding snowmobile!

Potatoes, kale, kielbasa, onions- that's it!

Greek Roasted Lamb and Potatoes

A couple of years ago (okay, more than a couple, but hey, who's counting?) I had the extreme good luck to get a New Year's visit from my friends Eve and Adam. Eve is an incredibly talented and intuitive cook who I've learned tons from. I often wish she'd start a blog cataloguing what she eats, because it's always the best stuff. She has turned me on to so many great things, from Hog Island oysters to Seattle's finest Dan Dan Noodles. When I lived with her in Oakland, Ca., she would take me everywhere. This was her home turf. I was a New Yorker, new to the Bay Area. Her curiosity and unrelenting spirit for all things good is unparalleled. Wine and cheese, falafels stuffed with french fries, Walnut Grove's best burger joint, the Cheese Board, Berkeley Bowl and Berkeley farmer's markets are just some things that come to mind from the distant past. A few years after the Greek New Year's we had, they visited again. This time Eve packed her suitcase to fly across the country with the most incredible oysters I've ever had, Totten Virginicas. I mean, need I say more?

Back then on that New Year's Day, Eve showed me how to make a Greek New Year's Day meal. I wish I had documentation from that day so long ago, but all I have are some scattered doodles on notecards. I'm sure I've lost some nuances but I'm never disappointed, so I'm doing something right. Right now I'm nursing the first of the year's colds, so I won't go into detail, but we had a lovely local lamb roast, with lemon potatoes, creamy tzatziki, and feta. This is somewhat truncated (what? no olives??) but we relished it nonetheless.

Thanks, Eve! And, Chronia Polla!

Potatoes, Iberian Style

I don't know what real Iberian potatoes taste like, but this is my version of an incredible treat from my childhood. There was a restaurant that my family would go to every once in a great while. It was called The Iberian and the family who ran it were from Spain. One of the highlights of the menu were these lovely slices of potato, maybe a 1/4 inch thick, cooked to golden perfection, with a bit of fluffy potato inside to remind you that this wasn't any ordinary chip. I would order the mussels in a green garlicky sauce that came out in a cast iron pot and these dear potatoes. I don't think they roasted them; were they deep fried? No matter, these come close enough for me, and to boot they are an easy and quick dinner. It feels like something really bad for you, too, but how could potatoes roasted in olive oil be all that bad?

Oven at 400 degrees. Slice your washed, un-peeled potatoes, about four large ones depending on your pan. I use an old cookie sheet that I no longer use for cookies, and drizzle it generously with oil. Place the slices of potato in a single layer, drizzle for olive oil, generous salt and pepper. Let them cook about 4o or so minutes. Flip them over half-way through.

I served these with a dip that had yogurt, mayo, and horseradish. They were gone in minutes!

Very Easy Corn Chowder

Lately, I've been craving lots of soup. The cold weather and its requisite colds are here, and the refrain of "lots of fluids" is ringing in my ears. This is the easiest, most satisfying soup you could as for. Why don't you do yourself a favor and make it? People should not only eat more soup, they should make more soup. It's easy and cures what ails you.

Saute a medium-sized onion in olive oil and a slice of butter. Slowly add two cups of chicken stock. If you prefer, you could just use water. Then add three or four potatoes, peeled and diced, and let them cook in the simmering broth until tender. Then add two cups of milk--I used 2 percent. Bring to almost simmering. Use your trusty immersion blender (one of those hand-held thingees) and puree until you get a nice smooth blend. Bring back to temperature and add two cups of frozen corn and a handful of chopped scallions. Parsley would be good too, but I was out. Salt and pepper. Cook for a bit more, making sure the corn has been heated thoroughly, and then you are done.

It would also be good with some bacon in it, but then doesn't everything? Say it! Chow-dah!

Potato Kale and Feta Mini-Knishes

I failed to get a shot of these, but they were delicious. The filling can be made for a side dish, as well. As a matter of fact, I might not go through the trouble of making these again unless I have guests. They were perfect for my theme of no utensils, only napkins.

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 4 tbsp Water

To make dough combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Make well and add 1 Tbsp of oil, eggs and 2 Tablespoons water. Gradually mix wet ingredients to flour. Knead dough until ball is formed. Knead dough, place in oiled bowl. Let stand covered for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Filling: 2 tbsp olive oil 2 cups plain mashed potatoes with skin on 2 cups finely chopped onions Chopped kale 8 oz of feta cheese Salt and pepper to taste Put oil in skillet and cook onions until tender, add kale, salt and pepper, and cook down for about fifteen minutes. Add potatoes and feta and mix well. Divide dough into thirds on a floured surface. Roll dough out in a rectangle and fill with mixture. Seal seams with a pinch of water. Slice to form wheels and try to gather the dough around the bottom, place on baking tray. They will look like little cups. Mix up an egg yolk with a little water and rub the dough sides with the egg wash. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Of course, you can make any shapes you want, and really, any filling, too!

Short Ribs Braised in Wine with Mashed Potatoes

Let me start off by saying that photographing food is extremely hard, and this photo illustrates that sentiment. Especially meat with some dark gravy. It just looks awful. Meat must be the hardest thing to photograph. Have you ever seen those new-ish meat print ads that say something like, "Welcome to the Land of Beef," and it's a landscape, a diorama, if you will, made of a large cut of beef with gravy as the sea around it. It's disgusting. That said, this meal was very far from disgusting. The first braised meat of the season the day before autumn was officially here. It's a welcome taste.

Braised meat is incredibly easy as long as you have the time to let it do its business in the oven. All I did was brown the meat in a sturdy dutch oven, then removed it to make room for sauteing red onions, then carrots. Then two cups of red wine to deglaze. Slowly added two cups chicken stock. Returned the ribs to the mix, arranging them just so, covered the whole shebang and stuck it in a 325 degree oven for 2-3 hours. Voila, you are done. I mashed potatoes with skin on, some butter and yogurt, salt and pepper.

Welcome, to the land of beef!