Garden Greens and a Pickled Egg

It's so exciting to eat fresh, green things from your own garden again. I feel so rich when I sit down to a plate that looks like this. And it all came from thinning my seedlings. I hate pulling seedings, unless I know that I'm going to eat them. These are from a mixed asian greens, arugula, and little baby radishes. There are slices of non-local fennel that I couldn't resist putting in, there-by sullying my hyper-local fare. It's okay by me. The sweet anise went well with the spicy bite of the rest of the greens. Topped with extra-virgin olive oil (I'm a little heavy-handed on that), salt, pepper and a pickled egg (courtesy of my chickens, and pickled in my carrot daikon brine). It was pouring while I ate it, and now the sun has broken out and the sort of crummy mood I was in is now lifting. Thank you sun!

And how's this for a mood-lifter? My first bunch of rhubarb laying amidst the passel of herbs I have waiting to go in a bed. This is from last week and is already steeping in what will become rhubarb liqueur. Sort of crazy that I didn't make jam from it, but that liqueur had me dazzled! I can't wait to pull more because there are tons of rhubarb-y things to make!

N.B. Those stumpy things are scallions that I stuck in some dirt. I've read about this in a bunch of places, but I finally did it with inspiration from Brooklyn Forager. It's amazing how fast these guys grow! And you just need a pot of dirt, really. It's a great gardening experiment for kids as you can see results daily. (Though, I'd warrant that adults like to see daily results, too.)

Penne with Beet Greens, Olives and Red Pepper

One of my favorite things is to make something delicious out of absolutely nothing. I don't know what it is, but I am tickled pink when this happens. I'm talking the day before you go shopping, and the fridge is empty. "Helloooo in there!" you call, and the mustard bottle shivers, cold and alone. Ah, but what is this? A jar of olives with ten or so lonely swimmers at the bottom of the brine. And this? A jar, half-full (optimistic indeed) of red peppers. Some pasta in the cupboard gets rustled out. An onion. Some garlic. A few mushrooms. Beet greens I intended to eat the day I got them. For shame. All this gets sauteed and tossed with pasta and some of its cooking water. Lots of good olive oil and cheese, fresh-cracked pepper, and we are in business.

Smoked Trout and Collard Greens

Happy New Year! Our night was spent very quietly with some bubbles, and a light snack: cheese, figs, nuts and bread to start, followed by fried oysters with a hot chili mayonnaise, and french fries. Slightly decadent, but hey, we went to bed at 9:30. We celebrated with the mid-Atlantic ocean! (Having a toddler who gets out of bed at 5 a.m. is the reason.) I meant to smoke two trout as well, but didn't get to it for various reasons. The french fries were out of desperation--I had potatoes cooked off for home fries. Ends up they made fabulous fries. I love it when things go wrong! They sometimes turn out right!

So, this morning I busted out the Camerons stovetop smoker we received from out friends Ken and Molly so many years ago. This thing is awesome. I think I'm in love again. I'm thinking bacon and cheese and chicken thighs and all sorts of smoky goodness. I'm a total smoking amateur, and this is perfect for me. It works great on your stove and makes your house smell nice, too, without any smoke at all. Very easy to clean and stores nicely.

For the two trout I had, I used pepper and lemon juice. They fit snugly in the silver box and cooked for thirty minutes. I used cherry wood because the only other wood I have is hickory. I think alder would have been better...

See that nice local lamb in the background? Mmm. Dinner.

We had this for an early lunch with horseradish cream, capers, and collard greens sauteed in garlic, lemon and olive oil.

Collard greens with raisins and feta

When you grow good greens you eat good greens. The collards and kale are still going strong and I hope they continue into the snowy months. They will certainly be in the garden next year because if they grow, I will eat them. 

Clean and chop a huge bunch of collards. Saute a good sized onion in a goodly amount of olive oil. Add the greens and some chicken stock. Let them cook a good long while, continuously adding stock so the greens braise and soften. [It took me a while to understand that collards and kale really need to be cooked well. I like crisp vegetables, but you really want them to soften or they're tough, not crisp.] So, at least twenty minutes. In the last five minutes, add some golden raisins. Go ahead, eyeball it, see how much raisin you can take. I like a bit, but I have a sweet tooth. At the end, add a good sized chunk of feta and crumble it in. 

That's a good green.