Gardening - Take Two

Last year I started a garden as somewhat of a coping mechanism to deal with the death of a close friend. Dio and I have a very small porch (you can pretty much see the entirety of it in those two photos), so we started small. A few herb boxes, some tomatoes, peppers, some beans and peas, and a few hanging flowers. Just enough to get my hands in the earth and to have a little green around me. It was a bit of a hasty decision, so we started late in the season.

The yield last year was so-so. A lot of learning and a very wet June didn't help. The tomatoes suffered a blight due to heavy rain, followed by excessive heat, and an added bonus of caterpillars. The peppers also suffered because of the caterpillars. The herbs, however, did amazing. We had lots and lots of basil, enough mint for home made ice-cream, lots and lots of thyme (oh, the horrible puns), and enough chive, beans and peas for me to munch on while gardening.

Which brings us to this year. We did things a bit differently this go around.

For starters, I stared a lot of the herbs as seedlings, so about half of the herbs in my garden I have grown myself, from scratch, if you will. Dio was also kind enough to lend his engineer prowess to the planning stages, and we redesigned the layout to accommodate more room to grow. And an unseasonable warm spring (on April 7th it hit 90 degrees, which is a record high for Boston) and a gambler's spirit tempted me out to start planting a teentsy bit early.

Over all, today I am wondering if I got carried away.























This is only a bit of the madness. The full roster for the garden this year is a bit insane (at least for my opinion of a porch garden)

Sweet Basil/Purple Basil
Chocolate Mint/Peppermint
Curled/Italian Flat Parsley
Spinach
Sage
Oregano
Thyme
Chive
Leek
Scallion
Fennel
Roma/Bush/Goliath/Golden Pear tomatoes
Red/Green/Yellow Bell Peppers
Strawberries

and we still have room for an eggplant and an heirloom tomato!














Another experiment is the 'upside-down' gardening thing, which is apparently all the rage.We're using 3 liter soda bottles (Dio took three for the team and drank all that soda for me) and growing cherry tomatoes and strawberries that way.


















So far, the garden is a huge success. We've already harvested some of the basil for a Green Goddess Casserole, and the peppers and all but one of the tomato plants are already flowering. Hopefully it continues to flourish through the summer.

Preview of coming attractions!

Let the Great Torrone Project of 2009 begin!

Sweet Burbon Apple Pie (and bonus pinwheels)

A plus side to the horrendously wet New England summer we had was a bumper crop of apples. Dio brought me home a bag of Opalescents from the Farmer's Market last week. Time for pie! Apple pie is one of the two things I make every year without fail. You'll see the other one in December.

I am an inconsistent type of gal when it comes to baking. I like to fiddle with my recipes. This is basically Laa's Magic Apple Pie with a few changes to the apple part.

For the Crust: (makes enough for a full bottom and top crust, or bottom and lattice top with some to spare)

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
  
• 1 tbs. raw sugar
• 1/3 tsp. sea salt
• 2 sticks chilled butter*, cubed
• 4 tbs. cold water

For the Filling:

• 8-12 apples, peeled and cut into small chunks (use whatever apple you like and cut up enough to fill the pie shell you're using.
• 6 tbs. butter
• 1 tbs. flour
• 4 tbs. ''ish" raw sugar* (Raw sugar is a personal preference. I like the richness. If you don't, just use white sugar)
  
• 4 tbs. ''ish'' white sugar*
• ground cinnamon
• ground clove
• ground nutmeg (grind it yourself! It takes two seconds and tastes fantastic!)
  
• about 1/2 cup-ish bourbon of choice* (I used Knob Creek since it's a house favorite and what we had on hand.)

*(notes on the ''ish''es: If you like your pie sweet, add more. Less sweet, add less. I'm a big fan of tasting as you go, so I keep my sugars and spices close so I can add more if I want. That's why my measurements are never that precise. I apologize.)

To make crust:

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Add butter and mix (preferably by hand) until mixture becomes mealy and the butter is in pea sized chunks.
3. Add water and mix gently until all ingredients are combined and there are chunks of butter throughout. Do not over-knead!!! I cannot emphasize this enough!
   
4. Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 10 minutes. (I made mine around 9am and let it sit in the fridge until around 7 when I got home from work.)
   

To cook the apples:

1. Peel and cut your apples into small chunks and place aside.
2. In a large skillet or wok, melt the butter on medium heat, then add the flour sugars and bourbon, cooking until it starts to reduce into a syrupy consistency. This takes around 3-5 minutes (and smells fantastic).
   
3. Add apples and stir until coated in syrup. Allow the apples to cook until they start releasing juices.
4. Add cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg to taste. (Feel free to add other spices and herbs too, or to subtract some of the ones I added.)
5. When the apples are coated in the spices, you can add another dash of bourbon and cook until the alcohol comes off, or just take it off the heat and pour the apples into your pie plate.
   

The rest of it:

1. Roll out pie dough and place it in pie cooking device of choice.
2. Add apple mixture to the uncooked crust, if desired, add some small cubes of butter to the apple mixture,
   
3. Add top crust and pinch off edges. If you made a lattice top, you're fine. If you made a full top crust, use a pie bird or cut slits to allow steam to escape. You can either cut off the crust that hangs over or fold it over and make a super thick crust edge. I recommend placing aluminum foil around the outer crust to prevent it from burning. (If you feel so inclined, you can also brush a mixture of egg white and white sugar over the top crust to make it all shiny and sweet.)
4. Cook at 375-400 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until the top starts to brown nicely and the apples are sizzling.
5. Take out of the oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes.

If you have leftover crust, you can make some pinwheels!

Pinwheels:

• Take your leftover crust and gather it back up into a ball.
• Roll it out into a fairly rectangular shape
• Coat the top with butter, sugar and cinnamon
• Roll into a tube
• Slice 1/2 inch thick slices
• Place on a small pie sheet or aluminum foil tray while your pie is baking and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until they look golden brown.

Operation Wedding Cake

Operation Wedding Cake is officially complete!

First, let me say a few words about wedding cakes. I love cake, especially wedding cake. I joke that I got married for the cake. However, Dio and I never had a formal wedding, so we never had the experience of picking out that special cake. (But we DID have cake. Two, in fact.)

Wedding cakes are so precious, and such an important part of a wedding ceremony, should you choose to have one. I had only experienced the guests side of the wedding cake experience before. Staring at it throughout the wedding, marveling at how pretty it was, and wondering when I could eat it. Now, on the other end, I realize how precious this confection is. How much care goes into making it. Through the entire process, through the stress, sleeping in the kitchen, dealing with the humidity, losing decorations, gathering new ones, getting stung on the tongue by a bee, and finally putting it all together, I kept reminding myself how much I love the people I made this cake for, and how I wanted to make this the most special, wonderful cake they had ever eaten.

All day, I felt like I was guarding something so delicate and precious. The relief and pride when I placed this cake in front of them was overwhelming. I laughed as the groom lifted it up for the entire room to see, and then I retreated to the outside of the building and quietly watched them cut the cake through a window, with a huge grin on my face.

This cake that was our gift to them on their wedding day.






















(Photo courtesy and copyright of Peter Paradise)



Immense thanks to Dio, Miss A, and my mother and father for putting up with me and helping me bake all those cakes.

And many blessings to Chaya Leia and Dave. I'm looking forward to remaking that top tier for them in a year, and watching it bring back the memories of that day.

Cake Teaser

This pretty much sums up my week (and my current mental state)...



Two of the coolest people I know are getting married this weekend, and I have the honor of making their cakes. The cakes are all, as of 30 minutes ago, finished and stored in my little freezer, ready to be transported to the wedding site and decorated tomorrow afternoon.















(Cakes are scary before they're dressed up for the table, huh? There are 3 12'' rounds, two 9'' and 6'' rounds, 4 9''x13'' white cake sheets, and 5 9''X13'' chocolate sheets crammed in that freezer, awaiting their doom. Their delicious, frosting covered doom.)


The coolest thing about this baking marathon? The tiered cake is gluten-free! Yep, you heard me. Gluten-free Banana Spice Cake (with a few spice modifications on my end, including the addition of about a tsp. of orange peel on Dio's suggestion, which adds a nice touch to the flavor), recipe courtesy of Karina's Kitchen. We made a test cake last weekend. Feedback was really positive.
I don't usually care much for gluten-free baking, but this cake was moist as can be and had a really good flavor (somewhere between banana bread and carrot cake). It was a really pleasant , and delicious, surprise, and I think the bride will really enjoy it. The groom too!

Green Goddess Casserole

Sorry it's been a while, but hopefully this weekend we'll have a big spur of activities, and I can catch up on past meals.

Last night I wanted a break from meat (I know, heresy!), but I still wanted something rich and satisfying that still had a bit of a homey taste. I'm from Ohio, so what better than a pasta bake? I had been interested in making my own Green Goddess dressing, and thought it would make a great sauce. Not the modern-hippy one, but one rich and savory where the herbs nicely off-balance the deep flavor of anchovies. I can't stand anchovies by themselves, but used in sauce, they're amazing! I keep a bottle of Thai West Fish sauce in my fridge, and use it quite often.

Green Goddess Casserole

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound pasta (rotini, shells, macaroni, anything you'd put in a bake. I used spinach and tomato rotini to add more depth to the recipe. And cause I already had it in my cupboard

For the Sauce

• 1 cup mayonaisse (home-made is best)
• 2 tablespoons anchovy sauce (I use Thai West Fish Sauce)
• 1 cup spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs (or 1 tablespoon dried, but fresh is much better for this). I used basil, chives and spring onions
• 1 egg

For the Tofu

• 1 brick of pressed seasoned tofu. Quickest and easiest is buying a pressed tofu like a five spice. They make a great one near us in Cambridge. Otherwise, you can use any recipe to press and marinate your tofu
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin (or half tbsp white whine and half tbsp sugar)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp ginger powder

The rest

• 3 cups spinach, chopped
• Two tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella (about 5 oz.) chopped into half inch cubes
• 2 chugs Canola oil

Putting it together

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Make your pasta, following directions, for al dente.
3. In blender, add all ingredients for sauce. Blend on low until incorporated and sauce is a spring green color. Set aside.
4. Mix all ingredients for the tofu except the tofu itself in a bowl.
5. Cut tofu into half-inch squares. For me, this was cutting the block once vertically. For other tofus, twice. Add to bowl, toss to coat.
6. Put a chug of oil in the bottom of a pie plate, and swirl to cover. Add tofu, spread out as evenly as possible, and add to oven for half an hour, tossing every ten minutes.
7. When pasta is down, drain and shock under cold water. Add to 10" pie tin or 11x7 brownie pan. Add the spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella and sauce and toss to combine. On top add the tofu, pouring any marinade over top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Laa wants me to note that the tomatoes, chives and basil came from our garden. The extreme sweetness of home-grown tomatoes really added a nice note to the dish. Laa usually doesn't eat raw tomatoes, and she eats them! So I'd recommend getting as good quality tomatoes as possible.

Coming soon!

So we seem to be a bit behind on the blog...

Upcoming soon-ish..!
-Kitten Invasion dinner (Chompy Noodles, Mushroom Pepper stir-fry, and fruit salad)
-Review of MMMac and Cheese in Faneuil Hall
-Nicole's Dinner (Asparagus soup, Chicken cutlet with leek over pasta, mascerated strawberries with whipped cream)