Strangest Kale Recipe Yet!

So, for some forgotten reason I'm growing kale this year, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale, to be exact. It's growing fantastically, hasn't shown any signs of insect activity and they're really attractive plants.



The problem, though, is that we don't eat a lot of kale. It's always just been that stuff they use to dress up the seafood case at the store. Or, on a few rare occasions--one, maybe--I've put it in soup. So having broken the gardening rule that we're only going to grow what we'll eat I went in search of recipes to use that stuff up. Naturally, there is a plethora of soup recipes online. Many pair it with beans and for reasons I'll go into at another time, we don't need another beans-n-greens opportunity. Then I stumbled on what I think is a rather unique recipe: Baked Kale Chips. I know, it sounds completely crazy but they really are good. They won't last until tomorrow and I'm starting to worry I didn't plant enough kale. I made them using the method in the recipe and sprinkled them with Barbecue 3000 blend from Penzey's and some salt. The results aren't pretty, but they're delicious! Maybe it's just that if you put enough olive oil and salt on anything it becomes edible, but I like the slightly cabbagey flavor they have. Next time I make them, I'll hold off on some of the oil and salt. They shrink when they cook so underseasoning them at the beginning is probably a good idea.

Garden Update

I'm glad I didn't commit to any sort of schedule for posting about the garden. It really is true that the more there is to report, the less time there is to write. Over the last week or so I've gathered a few images of the more interesting--to me, at least--developments in the garden.

The collards are getting huge so I think I'll cook some this week. I'm planning on cooking some of the Jacob's Cattle Gasless (!) beans I grew last year to go with them. I don't feel like having black-eyed peas this time.



And speaking of beans there are about a half dozen bush varieties coming along nicely. Some will be consumed as green beans (even the purple ones), some will be shelled and some will be dried.



I took that picture only a week or so ago and they are probably twice as big now. A few have been nibbled by beetles but they look great and most are starting to flower. The White Dixie butter beans I planted later when the Red Calypso failed are really taking it in the shorts, though.

Again, in relation to beans in general, I tried escarole for the first time this year. I make the bean connection because the only recipe I've tried with it so far paired it with canellini. This is the second of two plants. It's gotten huge since I took this picture last week so I hope it's still good when I cook it this Thursday.



On the other sided of the garden the garlic has got me really excited. Last year since it was the first time we had the plot we spring planted the garlic. Consequently it didn't have as long to grow. The resulting bulbs were tasty but probably on the small side. Gambling on getting the same plot this year, we planted this crop of garlic last fall. The plants are huge and robust. I hope that's reflected in the harvest!



Another exciting new plant in the garden is the fava bean. I had them for the first time at the co-conspirator's cousin's house in Portland last year and decided I'd try growing them. I planted them first thing this spring since they're supposed to be a cold weather crop. They came up and then stalled for about a month. Then they bloomed, the flowers turned a disturbing wilted black color and I worried. It turns out that's just what they do. Now pods are forming and some are already quite big. Unfortunately I did what I usually do. I planted all the seeds at once and then stood back and thought "It might have been a good idea to plant those at intervals." I'll soon be researching what to do with excess favas.



Like most everything else, the tomatoes hit their stride this week and doubled in size. This year I'm going to try pruning and staking them. I've got some varieties I'm really excited to try--'San Marzano,' 'Tasty Evergreen,' 'Hillbilly Potato Leaf,' 'Silvery Fir Tree,' and 'Cherokee Purple' among them.



The garden's looking great right now. We've got the weeds under control, everything that can be mulched is mulched, and some things are being harvested even as others are just coming up. We're off to a good start and the Solstice is upon us. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season shapes up, especially a couple of "spicy" experiments I'm trying!

WTF Bird Encounter

I've decided I have a weird inner clock. Or maybe it's just that it's tuned to the year and not the day. In any case, this time of year I find myself springing (yes, I don't exaggerate) from bed as early as five A.M. looking for something to do. As I've discovered this is an excellent time to make ambient sound recordings since traffic is light and few others are about I've been visiting favorite haunts in order to capture the aural essence of summer to tide me over in the less sunny months to come.

This morning I headed out in the green thunderstorm light to Frautschi Point in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve only to find this on the street.



I presume it was a hawk of some sort and just assumed it's a Red-Tailed. Popping on the hazard lights and grabbing the camera I managed to take a few decidedly poor pictures of the scene. Sorry, but conditions were not ideal. Anyway, just adjacent to that stretch of road were two of these guys.



As I was sitting there watching, the crane decided to visit the raptor!



Curious? Warning? Dumb? I can only guess. In any case, the encounter apparently agitated both participants enough that one of them left.



On viewing this photo later, I had second thoughts about my Red-tailed Hawk identification/assumption. Hence, the WTF title of this post, meaning "Who's That Flying?" That's what it's always meant, right?

Germination Station

Last year we put in most of the garden by planting seeds directly in the ground. A few plants, like tomatoes, peppers and parsley were purchased at the Westside Community Market or received from my Garden Guru. This year I decided to start some seeds indoors on my own from my current supply. I've started seeds in the past with wildflowers and even hostas back when Shady Character was all the rage on the Internet. Back then I had a good sized propagation bed on a table in the basement complete with a heating cable. This time around I'm using the plastic-enclosed shelf I built for my orchids which are greatly reduced in number now. Fluorescent fixtures provide the light and some warmth in the enclosed space. I've also got a fluorescent fixture over part of our work bench lighting some pots on a small heat mat I purchased as well as some pots that that are doing just fine without any bottom heat. I'm looking forward to seeing these little guys grow into real food-producing plants!

Seeds

The way I like to describe the weather over the last couple of weeks is "less consistently wintery." Sure, there's still snow on the ground and more on the way today--accompanied by freezing rain. Yay. But there have been some warm days recently that have done a good bit of melt damage to the accumulated snow. In fact, there are some bare places near the house where the drifts had nearly reached the windows. There aren't any crocus yet. Yes, I looked.

Spring is a countable number of days away and my intention to start some seeds for the garden ahead of time has got me thinking and planning what to do and when. Seed catalogs have been arriving fairly regularly. In the depths of winter I got a little crazy and ordered dozens of them. It's a little escape to page through each one as it arrives and dream about actually picking the luscious vegetables in the pictures. However, if I read the phrase "very unique" one more time I may flip out. Most of these catalogs are going to turn out to be just references, though. I've got sources.

First, across the street from my office is an extremely well-stocked garden center. It's got everything I need in the way of seeds and later it will have started plants should my own attempts to make little seedlings fail. And, second, one of my dear friends is a serious collector of seeds who shares them generously. Consequently between the ones I've purchased, saved myself and gotten from him, I have a list so extensive it will be a miracle if I can grow even half of it. And this isn't even including the tomatoes and peppers I'll be selecting later.

Alyssum , Carpet of Snow
Arugula, Apollo
Arugula, wild
Basil, Italian Genvese
Basil, Purple Petra
Bean, Bush, Baby Lima 'White Dixie Butter'
Bean, Bush, Pencil Pod
Bean, Bush, Red Calypso
Bean, Bush, Royal Burgundy
Bean, Bush, Tavera
Bean, Fava, Windsor
Bean, Lima, Henderson Bush
Bean, Pole, Trionfo Violetto
Bean, Soy, Green, Butterbean
Beet, Bull's Blood
Beet, Burpee's Golden
Beet, Burpee's Golden
Bok Choy, White Stem
Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Rosette
Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Rosette
Broccoli Raab,
Calendula, Mixture"
Calendula, Pacific Beauty Blend
Carrot, Rainbow
Carrot, Scarlet Nantes
Cowpea, Southern, California Blackeye #5
Cucumber, Armenian Burpless
Cucumber, Japanese Soyu Burpless
Cucumber, Lemon
Cucumber, Parade
Escarole, Broadleaf Batavian
Fenugreek,
Garlic, Bavarian Purple
Garlic, PVT
Garlic, Tai Lang
Garlic, Western Rose
Gourd, Autumn Wings
Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch
Kale, Chinese, Kailaan, White Flowered
Kohlrabi, Purple and White Vienna Blend
Lettuce, Butterhead, Marvel of Four Seasons
Lettuce, Butterhead, Tom Thumb
Lettuce, Leaf, Lolla Rossa
Lettuce, Leaf, Red Sails
Lettuce, Leaf, Tango
Marigold, Starfire Signet
Melon, Charentais
Minutina,
Mustard, Ruby Streaks
Nasturtium, Peach Melba
Nho Gai, Vietnamese Coriander
Oregano, True Greek
Parsley, Italian Dark Green Flat
Parsley, Rooted, Hamburg
Parsnip, All American
Pea, Snowbird
Radish, D'Avignon
Radish, Easter Egg
Radish, Helios
Radish, Winter, Chinese Rose
Seasoning Celery, Amsterdam
Shinguku,
Silverbeet, Five Color
Spinach, Bloomsdale
Spinach, Bordeaux
Spinach, Olympia
Squash, Summer, Early Golden Crookneck
Strawberry, Alpin,
Strawberry, Alpine, Mignonette
Summer Savory,
Zinnia, Cut and Come Again

Baked Beans Part 2

Swift on the heels of my first foray into bean baking I made another attempt. This time I chose to use different beans, a different recipe and a different technique. The Dutch oven was in need of reseasoning yet again before I could use it but the house was shut up tight due to the onset of winter. Without adequate ventilation for that smoky process I decided to turn to the programmable slow cooker instead.

The beans in this batch were Lina Cisco Bird Egg that I had grown and harvested fresh rather than dried. This method worked well because I could pick and shell large or small amounts and just keep adding them to the zip-top bags in the freezer.



Since the beans weren't dried I skipped soaking them and tossed them directly into the cooker. The recipe I used was "Classic Baked Beans" from "The Everything Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Rachel Rappaport. As with many slow cooker recipes, the ingredients were all just dumped in together. The only other cooking needed was frying the bacon. I used the real thing this time since the whole recipe only called for two slices.



The essential onion and garlic were added. And where the recipe called for "spicy mustard" I used a mixture of horseradish bratwurst mustard and jalapeno mustard.



Salt, pepper, molasses, brown sugar, water, chili sauce and cloves rounded out the ingredient list. Though I set out to follow the recipe exactly, I forgot to add the cloves. The chili sauce I purchased specifically to make this dish is practically indistinguishable from ketchup.



Ew. That's not too appetizing. Let's add the water and give it all a stir. Now it looks more like food.



Knowing the shell beans would probably take less time to cook than soaked dried beans I set the cooker for six hours rather than the eight to ten the recipe called for.



As it turned out, the beans were sufficiently cooked in only four hours--If I remember correctly. I either didn't make a note of the cooking time or lost it. I cooled them and stuck them in the refrigerator. A few nights later reheated some on the stovetop to serve with dinner.



We served the beans with scrumptious pork chops topped with Door County cherry salsa and a side of coleslaw. Yum!



The flavor was smoky and rich thanks to the bacon and again, not too sweet. However, the slightly metallic undertone was there again! In the previous batch I had blamed it on the cast iron Dutch oven. Now I'm not so sure. the current suspect is the fancy schmancy organic molasses I used in both batches. I'm half tempted to try a different brand--probably the classic standby my mother uses. Then I'd just have to figure out what to do to get rid of an almost full jar of expensive organic molasses! I seem to remember my father using it as a supplement to feed cattle. Maybe this will be my excuse to get a nice little Jersey cow for the back yard...

Baked Beans Part 1

I love baked beans. We serve so many meals that include them it's ironic we buy the canned ones when making our own wouldn't be that difficult and possibly more economical. I made a couple of batches in the last month using two different methods and the results surprised me. The recipe I used is an altered version of Alton Brown's. I'll point out the changes I made as I go along.

For the first batch I used beans I got for free--can't beat that! Our garden neighbor had a bunch of pole beans mature and dry. He didn't want them them so I picked and shelled them. They're an unknown variety and definitely not the white Great Northerns the recipe calls for. The color was more of a medium brownish tan. Referring to my many catalogs I might say they fall into the category of yellow beans.

Before I could actually start cooking I ended up having to re-season our Dutch oven. Apparently when we used it last time we either cooked something acidic in it or cleaned it too thoroughly when we were done. A few small spots of rust had developed on the bottom and inside the lid. After that time-consuming task I was finally ready to bake some beans!

The actual cooking begins with the bacon and vegetables. To cut down on the fat but keep some smokiness I substituted Canadian bacon and reduced the amount to ten ounces. I used local onions and the jalapenos came right from our own garden.



I didn't want the finished beans to taste too sweet, so I reduced the brown sugar and molasses by half but kept the full amount of tomato paste. Ew. Not very pretty at this stage of the game. Taking an idea from one of the comments posted on Alton's recipe I added a crushed calcium citrate tablet to make up some for the reduced molasses. After all, everyone knows that the combination of sugar and calcium keeps the beans from cracking.



In the pot it was starting to look like food!



And after adding the soaked beans and broth (I substituted chicken because we had some) it was really starting to look like--soup? I was a little skeptical that the beans were going to soak up that much liquid.



But after several hours--I don't remember exactly how many but it wasn't the six to eight the recipe calls for--the liquid was absorbed and the beans were done. AND, as you can see in this image, the Dutch oven had lost it's seasoning again! In fact, the inside of the lid was stripped completely!



Final assessment? Despite the bacon switch and reduction this was a meaty pot of beans. I could see further reducing the meat and adding some smoked Spanish paprika to maintain the smokiness in future batches. Also, the sweetness was still pretty high. Not too cloying, but definitely noticeable. But worst of all, the dish carried a distinct metallic flavor. I'm attributing that to the iron that got in as the steam corroded the Dutch oven. They were not horrible, though so we ate them of course, first with a pork chop and a side of braised cabbage.



In my next post I'll be cooking up some beans again with a different twist and perhaps a mystery solved...