I’ve loved nasturtiums ever since I planted some along an ugly wire fence when I was a little girl. They were a vining/trailing variety, and I was amazed at the transformation the bright green foliage and jewel-like blooms brought to the depressing fence that bordered the porch of the house my family lived in at the time.  Later in life I discovered you could eat nasturtiums.  Just like the blooms livened up an ugly fence, they can also liven up a plain salad with their intense color and peppery taste.  Nasturtium vinegar is an easy way to capture the color and flavor of the flowers, so you can have a little taste of summer to brighten up a dreary winter day.  This is so simple, I’m almost ashamed to blogging it.

Stuff some nasturtium flowers into a jar, and pour a mild white vinegar over the blooms. Rice wine vinegar is my favorite to use for herb and flower vinegars.

I’ve made a couple of batches of this so far this summer. I usually pick a few blooms each day and add them to the jar of vinegar over a period of two or three weeks. I like to enjoy the flowers in the garden, and this way I don’t have to pick the plants clean.

After 2-4 weeks the vinegar can be strained and bottled.

I promised you a recipe using the Florence fennel I harvested the other day, and for a change, I’m delivering in a timely fashion.  Fresh produce waits for no one!  This salad is a take on a traditional Italian dish, Pasta E Fagioli, or pasta and beans.  Mediterranean peasant food is my all time favorite.  If I have to be more specific, then it would the simple practical Tuscan dishes which utilize fresh seasonal produce, cheese, hearty breads, and leftovers.

My sister, the world traveler, just gifted me this tin of cold pressed organic olive oil she picked up on a recent trip to Cyprus. I thought this recipe would be worthy of such a high quality olive oil. Some day I would love to visit Greece and Italy, but for now I’ll have to live vicariously through my sister’s traipsing around.

Pasta e Fagioli Salad with Fennel
4 ounces whole wheat penne (1 1/2 cup dry)
1  15 oz can Cannellini Beans (of course, I recommend organic)
1/2 medium bulb Florence fennel, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 cup onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons good extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste (I used a little more than a teaspoon of salt)
Small bunch of greens of your choice
Basil

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  I’m always sure to salt my cooking water because I hate bland pasta.

Combine the beans, fennel, tomatoes, onion, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a roomy bowl.

Drain the pasta and toss with the bean mixture. Place greens on a platter or plates, and spoon mixture on top. Garnish with chiffonaded basil.

I would have preferred to use my favorite arugula, but my current planting isn’t ready yet. I still had a little bit of spinach left in the garden, so that’s what I was stuck with.  Cress would be a good choice for greens also.  I guess I like anything with a bit of a peppery bite.

This recipe was born out of an overabundance of snow peas and cilantro in my garden, although I’m positive I can’t have been the first to throw these flavors together.  My guys were gone, and I wanted a quick, light summer meal for one.  They wouldn’t eat this in a million years…. even if they were starving. Bart won’t eat cilantro or raw snow peas, Kelie won’t eat anything that swims, and I’m positive Kuyler would have a problem with the whole combination. Thank heavens they leave me from time to time, so I can eat foods I like.

I get raw shrimp in the shell and cook it myself.  I think the flavor is far superior, and it only takes a couple of minutes to dunk them in boiling water until they begin to curl and turn pink, then toss them in a bowl of ice water to chill. Feel free to use your favorite shrimp.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad with Snow Peas & Orzo
1/2 cup orzo, cooked according to package directions
3 to 4 ounces cooked and chilled shrimp (6 to 8 shrimp depending on size)
3/4 cup raw snow peas, cut in half
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Cilantro
Salt & pepper to taste

Whisk together olive oil and lime juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  In a bowl, toss vinaigrette together with orzo, shrimp, snow peas, and cilantro.  The amount of cilantro is entirely up to personal taste.  Serves one as a meal, or two if serving as a side dish.

This week’s weather has been insanely, prematurely HOT! I wasn’t quite prepared for this kind of heat, and have been trying to quickly shift into summer cooking gear. To make matters more difficult, my guys are on a big painting job this week.  After a full day in the blazing heat they’re not craving hearty meat and potato dishes.  This evening’s dinner will be grilled shrimp marinated in a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, Old Bay seasoning, and served over a bed of crisp greens from the garden. I’m also planning to serve this quick grape salad which took me all of 5 minutes to prepare.

Hazelnut Grape Salad with Cilantro
3 cups halved red grapes
1/2 cup hazelnuts
Handful of chopped cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Tablespoon good olive oil
Sprinkling of salt

Toss all ingredients together and it’s ready to serve.

Yes, I know I’m a delinquent blogger.  However, in defense of my delinquency, I’ve been all work and no play for the last several weeks. Also, the projects I’ve been working on can’t be posted here unless I want to announce all Christmas gifts to my family.  For the first time in weeks, I find myself with a little free time to play around with.  I was able to spend all day yesterday at my son’s wrestling invitational, where I watched him whup his opponent.  I shot team photos throughout the day, but I’ll only make you endure one shot (although you know I want to make you look at page after page of my baby).

Today snow is flying outside my window, and up to 8 inches of lake effect snow is expected over the next couple of days. I found myself in the mood to experiment with some herbal tea blending. When this type of cold snowy weather hits, I find myself wanting to guzzle hot tea but not the caffeine or sugar that usually accompanies hot beverages.  As the holidays loom on the horizon, it’s no surprise that I ended up with this cranberry apple herbal blend. Not only is it pretty and festive, but the sweetness and warmth of apple and cinnamon and the organic cranberries (slightly sweetened with organic cane juice) eliminated the need for further sweetening.

Cranberry Apple Herbal Tea
2 parts dried apple
2 parts dried cranberry
1 part cinnamon chips
1 part hibiscus flowers
1 part rose hips
1 part lemon grass
1 part orange peel
2 parts calendula petals

I use organic ingredients whenever possible, and my fruits are chopped into small uniform pieces. The blend brewed up a warm festive cranberry color that suited the flavor perfectly.

My second blend isn’t quite as pretty as the first, but it’s very warming and tasty with ginger and lemon flavored herbs.  This blend is very good sweetened with a little bit of honey.  I can’t take credit for this blend, as it was inspired by an herbie friend of mine.

Lemon GingerMint Tea
1 part dried ginger pieces
1 part peppermint
1 part lemon grass
1 part lemon verbena

I guess I will announce one Christmas gift.  I think I’ll make up some tea bags using empty heat seal tea bags, package a few in a tin tie bag with a label or hang tag, and give them as stocking stuffers.

As summer has come to a close, and autumn begins it’s progression I’d like to share one more recipe using tomatoes.  This is something I throw together for lunch on a weekend. In the past I’ve always baked it in the oven, but this summer was so hot that I started making it on the top rack of my grill with the lid closed. In fact, I discovered that my grill makes a very good “oven”.  Sometimes I make this with pie crust, but then it’s not a quick fix. You may notice that I don’t add salt to this recipe.  Feta is salty enough that additional salt is not necessary.

Crustless Tomato Feta Quiche
4 ounces feta cheese, roughly crumbled
1 or 2 large hands full spinach or arugula, rinsed, dried and chopped
1 large handful basil leaves, rinsed, dried and chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 or 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Handful halved kalamata olives

Preheat oven or grill to about 400°F.  Lightly coat the inside of a pie plate with olive oil. Place crumbled feta in the bottom of the pie plate. Layer the greens and basil over the cheese. Combine beaten egg, dairy, and nutmeg and pour over the cheese and greens. Arrange sliced tomatoes and olives over the top of the mixture and bake approximately 45 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned around the edges. Allow the quiche to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Quiche is excellent chilled. A slice of cold quiche grabbed from the fridge makes great finger food on the fly.  I’ve been know to grab a piece as I’m running out the door, and eat it in the car. If you’re one of those folks always rushed for breakfast, a quiche baked on the weekend can provide  instant breakfast ready for your weekdays.

I’ve also adapted this recipe for party finger food. I get some of those Athens Fillo Shells that can be found in the freezer section at the market.  I’ll warn you, they can be difficult to find in stock during the holiday season, so I try to keep several packages stored in my freezer. I place a small crumble of feta in the bottom of each shell, pour egg/dairy mixture over the cheese, and then garnish each with either  a cherry tomato slice, or a kalamata olive half. These little guys are always a hit.

Oh, one last thought I almost forgot to add…. I’ve also been known to layer 3 or 4 sheets of fillo dough in the bottom of the pie plate for a light crust.  I pop it in the oven for a couple of  minutes to lightly brown, and assemble my quiche as usual.

Each year in late summer, my husband and I spend some time together foraging for elderberries.  This year we hit the mother load and found a gargantuan new patch. Last Friday I was extremely busy in the shop, so my well meaning hubby decided to help me out.  He had a HUGE plastic storage tote full of elderberries waiting for me when I finished work. I spent Friday evening, and just about all of Saturday stripping berries from the stems. Of course, my husband had a major job going over the weekend and had to be on the site, leaving me to deal with 35 pounds of elderberries all by myself! I started out on my front porch, but after several hours I moved my operation indoors and watched / listened to chick flicks while I worked. The fruit of my labor (pun intended) was 30 pints of rich elderberry juice sweetened with honey from a local beekeeper. I also added some lemon juice for tartness and a chunk of ginger in the bottom of each jar.

Elderberry is part of my winter regimen for preventing and treating colds and flu. Elderberry has been used in folk herbalism for eons, and modern medical studies are now confirming it’s effectiveness.  Last year I used elderberry tincture and tea. A friend of mine gave me a jar of her canned juice when I picked up a rare cold, and I found it to be very soothing to my sore throat. As a result, I promised myself that I would can my own juice in the future.

With such a glut of elderberries I’ve been able to experiment with recipes a little more. My friend Tina has quite the collection of recipes going on her blog, and I’d like to offer one of my own for elderberry sherbet.

Elderberry Sherbet
3 cups elderberry juice
Juice of one lemon
1 cup honey
2 or 3 slices ginger root (optional)
1 cup cream

Place elderberry juice, lemon juice, honey, and ginger slices in a pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once completely cooled, remove ginger slices and add cream. Refrigerate mixture several hours to chill thoroughly. Place chilled elderberry mixture in an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions. This is a soft sherbet, so you will need to transfer it to a container and place it in the freezer overnight to firm up.

I have a human powered Donvier 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker that I store in my deep freeze at all times. Whenever I make  ice cream, sherbet, or sorbet, I sit and churn in the evening while I watch TV. Then I pop the frozen treat in the freezer and it’s ready for dessert after dinner the following evening.

This past weekend, my husband and I went out to forage elderberries. We noticed that the berries seem to be ripening a little more quickly than last year, and wanted to get some before the birds did. Last year I dried enough elderberries, and made enough tincture to supply a small army. The berries we picked this weekend went to my dad to make elderberry wine. I plan to pick some more this coming weekend which I will can as juice with honey, lemon juice, and a little ginger.

I just got the following email from my dad this morning:

“I thought you might be interested to know that we’ve got one of the hottest ferments going that I’ve ever seen. I made a yeast starter about 12 hours before pitching the yeast. When I put it in the batch it started bubbling vigorously within three hours. This morning is going like “gangbusters”. Doing the juice extraction by simmering was a good choice because it gave us a really rich, ruby red juice with no sign of “green goo”. I think this is going to be a good batch. Dad”

Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to tell you how the wine turns out for about 18 months. The process begins with primary fermentation and progresses to racking, fining, and bottling about 6 months later. Aging will take another year.

While we were out picking elderberries, I grabbed some ripe Sumac berries so I could make some Sumac Lemonade at home. Now before you get alarmed, this is Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) and not the much less common poison variety (Toxicodendron vernix or Rhus vernix).

I’ve always been a bit mystified why there is so much confusion over poison sumac. The poison stuff has white berries, and doesn’t look a thing like true Sumacs which have red berries.

Staghorn Sumac berries are covered in a layer of a sort of fuzzy red, waxy powder. When collecting the berries, the easiest way to know if they are ready is to rub the berries between your fingers and then lick your fingers. If the taste is sour you know they’re ready. This tartness comes from ascorbic acid (vitamin C).  We haven’t had much rain this month, so the Sumac berries are in good shape. Rain will wash off the berries, taking the tart flavor with it.  It’s also a good idea to choose clusters of berries that look relatively clean. It’s best not to rinse the berries before making the lemonade.

Sumac berries are slightly diuretic and laxative, so don’t go hog wild and drink a whole pitcher of the lemonade, or you may be visiting the restroom frequently. However, if you’re having difficulty in that department, then a pitcher of the lemonade may be just the herbal remedy that you’ve been looking for. While we’re on the subject of herbal remedies, I though I would mention that Sumac has a long standing history of use in Native American and Appalachian folk medicine.

To make the Sumac Lemonade I placed some of the berries in a bowl of cold water. I rubbed the berries a little bit, and then set the bowl aside for about an half hour to infuse.  It’s important to use cold water. Boiling the berries will bring out tannins, resulting in a bitter unpleasant drink. Also, the longer you infuse the berries the stronger the flavor will be.

After infusing the Sumac, I poured the resulting liquid through a coffee filter.  I know some directions will call for straining through cheesecloth, but even with a coffee filter I still get a fine red sediment at the bottom of my container. If you look closely at the picture to the left, you will see a small amount of a fine red sediment in the bottom of the glass.

Sweeten the Sumac Lemonade to taste and enjoy!

If you’re a home gardener then I’m positive you’re swimming in tomatoes about now, and desperately trying to keep up with your ripening bounty.  I’m getting double whammied thanks to my brother-in–law (but I’m not complaining). I planted my tomatoes late this year, and the first one is just beginning to ripen.  My dear brother-in-law,  my husband’s identical twin, planted WAAAY too many plants, has no canning or preserving experience, and keeps hinting around that I might be able to do something about his glut of tomatoes.  I’ve been finding deposits of tomatoes on my kitchen table about every other morning, and he’s been warning that the main crop should be ready some time next week.  I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to help him. In the meantime, I’ve been happily munching away on tomato and sweet onion sandwiches, and making up batches of pico de gallo which are quickly polished off by my heathen tribe.

I’m not giving measurements, because this recipe is more about proportions and personal taste.

Pico de Gallo
Tomatoes
White Onions
Cilantro
Lime
Salt
Jalapenos (optional)

Dice tomato and throw it in your bowl.

Dice up to an equal amount of onion. This is where personal preference comes into play.  I usually go with about 1/2 to 3/4 the amount of tomato. I recently learned that authentic Mexican food uses white onion and not yellow onion.

Finely chop a bunch of cilantro. Again…. personal preference. If I were the only person eating the Pico de Gallo, I would use an amount equal to my tomatoes, but my guys can’t handle that much.

Very finely dice the Jalapeno and add it to the mix.  I skip this one because I’m the only chili head in the house. I would be accused of cruel and unusual torture if I set out a bowl of spicy Pico de Gallo.

Add lime juice and then salt to taste.  This tasting step is very important for a couple of reasons.  First, you don’t want to overdo the salt.  If you’ll be eating the salsa with chips, remember that your chips are salted.  Second, this may be the only Pico de Gallo you get to eat.  Once you set it out it will disappear quickly!

This is a versatile salsa.  Don’t limit yourself to eating it with chips. It makes a wonderful side dish. I recently served it as a side with homemade tamales (which I promise to post at some later date).  You can add it to any number of Tex-Mex type dishes also.

Last year the pesto I made for the freezer didn’t make it past December.  This year I promised myself I wouldn’t run out again, so I planted boatloads of basil. The picture to the right is just one of the rows I planted, and I’m still wondering if I planted enough. Over the last couple of weeks my kitchen has smelled divine as I’ve made pounds and pounds of the heavenly condiment.

I’m constantly amazed at the passions invoked by the mere mention of pesto.  Just yesterday I spoke to a wife who told me she can get her husband to do just about anything if she makes him pesto.  I have a friend who told me the cucumber wilt that destroyed my entire crop of cucumber vines in the last week is the payback I’m getting for all of the pesto I’ve been making! Harsh words spoken out of jealousy my dear friend!

I realize the interwebs doesn’t need another pesto recipe, but I’m going to add another one anyway. The proportions for pesto is an age old controversy, and I don’t want to step on any one’s toes. Ultimately, I think we should make food we enjoy, and that cooking is about preparing food to suit our individual tastes. This is the way I like my pesto, but you should change the proportions to suit your own taste. If you love garlic, throw in a few more cloves. If your bank account is larger than mine, feel free to double the quantity of pine nuts. To be honest, each batch of pesto I make is probably different. I tend to taste as I go, and then do things like throw in an extra handful or two of Parmesan or nuts.  I should also mention that when basil becomes scarce, I make pesto from other herbs and nuts.  In the early spring, I’m able to grow arugula weeks before anything else is available. It makes a wonderful peppery pesto combined with whatever nuts I happen to have on hand. Cilantro also makes a fantastic pesto. If pine nuts are beyond your pocketbook, use walnuts, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds.  One of my favorite nuts to use is pistachios. In the late fall, one of my favorite pesto combinations is arugula, sage, and pumpkin seeds to be served over pumpkin ravioli.

Pesto
12 ounces basil leaves (or my gargantuan stainless bowl filled loosely)
3 to 4 oz Parmesan cheese
4 to 6 garlic cloves
2 to 4 oz pine nuts
1 cup or more extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Rinse and dry basil.  I use a Salad Spinner, and it makes quick work of cleaning and drying greens and herbs.  It’s one of my must-have kitchen tools. Another tool I use on an almost daily basis is this  Cuisinart food processor, which was a Christmas gift from my little sister.

Combine basil, cheese, garlic, and nuts in food processor. Turn on processor and slowly pour olive oil into mixture until the pesto reaches the desired consistency. I tend make my pesto on the thick side for storage. Later, while cooking, I will alter the consistency with more olive oil to suit the recipe I’m working with.

To store pesto for winter use, I freeze it into cubes in ice cube trays. Once frozen I transfer the cubes to dated and labeled freezer bags.