Rain!

Last week we had four inches of rain, highly unusual in the valley at this time of year, and our remaining tomatoes and basil took a real beating. Today, it's raining again!

Friday I planted a few more lettuce plants and some snow peas, but didn't do any gardening on the weekend since we had house guests. I picked three tiny eggplants for our guests on Friday, cooked along with some farmer's market squash, the last garden peppers, a few tomatoes and onions. We will probably have enough tomatoes for salad this week, but next weekend everything comes out, and broccoli plants will go in.

Butchering a Deer

Last weekend cousin Don, our local provider of wild fish, fowl and game, invited me over to help (mostly watch) him cut up his deer. By the time I got there at 11 a.m., he had already taken care of the upper two quarters. It was interesting to see how the different
parts of meat lay out on the carcass—and the size seemed to me like a fairly large lamb. I took home about half the bones and trimmings to make stock and ended up with enough meat for a stew, plus bits that I turned into “burger.” A mix of half ground pork (from our pig) and half deer was about right, and the burgers were delicious. I froze the stew meat and broth for another time. Don joined us for dinner, bringing choice cuts of venison (which he cooked for us!)—it was an amazingly good meal.

Fall Garden, after two weeks

After two weeks, the fall/winter garden is looking good, but due to the unusually hot weather, we've left in some of the summer vegetables, mostly because it's too hot to do much gardening. We may get one more squash and three more peppers, plus some cherry tomatoes this week. But by next weekend, we'll pull out the eggplant, peppers, and squash plants; the tomatoes may last another week or so. We are already enjoying lettuce and radiccio in our salads and should have a good crop of arugula soon.

Pig!

We got a call from the Meat Lab Friday morning—our pig, now pork, was ready. After asking them to cut it up and smoke the ham and bacon, the tab came to $155. For that we ended up with two large roasts, two hams, 6 to 8 pounds of bacon, a pork tenderloin, spareribs, a two-pound package of pork stew, 8 pounds of ground pork, and about a dozen thick-cut pork chops. Although the half-pig weighed 86 pounds, the actual quantity was quite manageable—one shelf and the drawer in our freezer. Look for pork recipes to come!

Lavender Cheesecake Update

We ate the lavender cheesecake last night, and all agreed it was delicious. However, no one could taste the lavender, which had been evident when I tested the pre-baked filling. In addition, the cheesecake was much denser than the one we had in Bodega Bay. I will try to "lighten it up" the next time I try it and I'll also use more lavender!

Lavender Cheesecake!

I’ve only made one cheesecake recipe in my entire life, possibly the best there is: Aunt Mary’s Cheesecake. That recipe, however, will remain a family secret. Earlier this month when we were in Bodega Bay, we had a wonderful crème fraiche cheesecake at the Terrapin Creek Café. Although we did not get the recipe from the owner, I found a couple of promising ones and decided to try a variation on one of them, using lavender as a flavoring ingredient. The recipe I liked best had the same crust recipe I use, which seemed like a good sign. It also was lighter on sugar than some of the others, also good, I thought.

I started on Friday by making some crème fraiche—1 cup of heavy cream heated to about 100 degrees, plus 1 teaspoon of buttermilk. I let it sit out all night, and it was pretty good, but next time I’ll do it two days ahead. The recipe suggested individual-size spring form pans, which had been used by the restaurant, but our local housewares store didn’t have them, so I used my 9-inch pan. Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Crust: 18 squares (1 package) of crushed graham crackers
¼ cup of sugar
¼ cup of melted butter

I crushed the graham crackers in my food processor and then added the sugar and butter; pressing them into a spring form pan was easier than using a pie plate, as I normally do.

I soaked three chopped lavender flowers in ¼ cup of warmed heavy cream for about 20 minutes and then strained it and added it to the following mixture:

Filling: 12 ounces of cream cheese (Philadelphia brand)
1 cup of crème fraiche
½ cup of sugar
2 eggs

I considered adding vanilla, which most cheesecake recipes call for, but I liked the faint lavender flavor and decided not to. More sugar might have been possible, too, but I decided to try it this time with only half a cup—if it’s good that way, I may experiment with lowering the amount in my regular cheesecake! I baked it at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes and let it sit in the turned-off oven another 5 or 10—the top was lightly browned. As with my other cheesecake, I will refrigerate it overnight and serve it tomorrow.

Davis Farmers’ Market

The Davis Farmers’ Market is open every Saturday, from 9 to 1, and if I don’t go, I always feel a bit of regret. In addition to all the fresh food, there are displays of crafts, including soaps, clothing, jewelry, woodworking, straw hats, pottery and more. Since various political or non-profit groups also set up tables, it can get pretty crowded.

This summer the market was voted #1 among large markets in the country, so the signs now proudly claim that honor. We go mostly for the fruits and vegetables, but often stop in to Mr. Bledsoe’s booth for his pork and lamb—delicious! He says he will sell me some goat, if I email him in advance, but I’m waiting for the right set of dinner guests for that. You can also buy local cheeses and yoghurt, organic wine, eggs, olive oil, fresh tortillas, bread and pastries, plants and herbs.

Today one of my favorite organic fruit sellers was “closing out” his peaches and grapes, so we stocked up. I may make some more peach jam with the peaches, or at least freeze a couple of desserts. We also bought potatoes, onions, peppers, snow peas, green beans and squash. We had to pass by Mr. Bledsoe, since we’re saving room in our freezer for our pig—possibly ready on Tuesday.

Dinner, 9/18/09

It’s almost officially the end of summer, and with temperatures in the high 90’s here in Davis, summer food is still what’s on the menu chez nous. Tonight we grilled chicken with Herbs de Provence (created at home with fresh herbs) and ate it with a bean salad, made with green and white beans, orange cherry tomatoes, nicoise olives and herbs de Provence; green salad with herbs, and herbed rice, along with a California rose wine.

I also made a lemon verbena, mint, and lemon thyme tisane, compliments of Alice Waters’ Simple Food, and some crème fraiche, to go into a cheesecake tomorrow. Somehow I lost my small pottery jar of Herbs de Provence, possibly during our move, so I’m thinking about drying some herbs for the months ahead. Tonight I used rosemary, lemon thyme, sage, basil, lavender, fennel leaves and marjoram, but didn’t have any summer savory, which should be part of the mix.

Eating Locally

A couple of weeks ago, after beginning Barbara Kingsolver’s book about eating locally (and seasonally), I started thinking about just how locally I am willing to eat. There are the obvious exceptions, like chocolate, coffee, tea, and spices, which even our ancestors had to import from far, far away. I wouldn’t deny myself those things, since they have always been a part of our country’s import allotment. Sugar and flour, too, are unlikely to come from anywhere local (unless someone in the central valley is manufacturing sugar from sugar beets, as they did in my youth). So they all probably have to be procured from outside of northern CA.

But then there are the imported products I have come to rely on that are being produced locally, such as olive oil, vinegar, and jam, which are much more expensive than their local counterparts. I can buy pretty good extra virgin olive oil at Costco or Trader Joe’s for less than $10 a liter, but it’s all from Italy, Spain or Greece (or some combination). And then there’s the California-produced, organic extra-virgin olive oil at about $12 for 25 ounces from Napa Valley Naturals—why are some of its olives from Argentina’s Cordoba Valley? Williams-Sonoma makes an excellent California “House Olive Oil” for about $26 (25 oz.), too expensive for everyday use, given the quantities we consume. The really local stuff, produced on the UC Davis campus is even pricier, at $20 for half a liter.

Vinegar poses a similar problem. I love Sherry wine vinegar, available only from Spain for as low as $8 for 25 ounces, and all of the reasonably-priced Vilux vinegars from France, at about $7, are terrific. Although Williams-Sonoma once sold excellent red wine vinegar for about $12, I haven’t seen it in awhile, and most of the local stuff comes in very small bottles, for high prices. Same problem with jam; the good, reasonably-priced stuff without high fructose corn syrup is from France or the UK (marmalade). At least here, I can make my own! More to follow on local eating options…

Tomatoes

We’re still enjoying tomatoes, and with hot weather predicted for the end of the week, we should continue to do so for awhile. My favorite tomato dish is the simplest—a variety of slice tomatoes on a plate, with good olive oil, basil, mozzarella, and freshly ground pepper. We ate these last night and will probably have some more tonight. My favorite: the little orange cherry.

Eggplant

Last night we ate this eggplant, possibly one of the last of the season. The plant has quite a few flowers still, but it may be too cool for them to turn into fruit. In fact, it rained here last night!

I cooked this very simply, in order to taste the eggplant fully. I sauteed small cubes in olive oil, tossing often, and then added about 1/4 cup of water to the pan and let it steam for a few minutes; eggplant is NOT good al dente! Next I added some small green onions that had been hiding under the sage I pulled out. A big handful of herbs finished it off, including red pepper flakes, Vietnamese coriander, parsley, agastache leaves, and purple basil.

Along with a green salad, with orange cherry tomatoesand lemon cucumber from the garden, it was a great accompaniment to the giant beef ribs we had bought at the Meat Lab on Friday.

Fall Garden Started!

It was cool and cloudy today, a perfect day for work outside. I decided it was time to plant the baby broccoli rape and get some lettuce, kale and chard to go along with it. The lemon cucumber had to go, along with pretty much everything else in one 4x8 bed, except one squash, 3 small parsley and 2 arugula plants. In the other 8x4 bed, we pulled out two large sage plants and planted them in the ground, making way there for chard and some more parsley. All the rest went in the other bed: six-packs of kale, broccoli rape, red romaine, radiccio, bibb butterhead and a mesclun mix. I added some soil booster, and also some fertilizer. The lettuce plants are so big I’ll start picking some leaves, maybe even tonight.

I’m giving the eggplant and peppers another week at least, and I don’t know how long the tomatoes will keep going. I think I’ll probably make some pesto to freeze this week, before the basil gets too bitter. At left is a shot of the newly planted bed.

Chicken Dinner

All last week my 90-year old mom was sick, so I said I’d take dinner over on Saturday. Since I wanted something kind of bland, I bought a chicken and some mushrooms and decided to use my favorite veal stew recipe (Ragout de Veau, Printanier, but without the peas) from Julia Child’s Vol. II. I checked out several other chicken recipes of Julia’s from #1—did I want a fricassee or a sauté? According to Julia, a fricassee is best if you’re making it ahead, so I followed those directions. However, I didn’t want to thicken it with an egg-yolk mixture (harder for the folks to reheat the leftovers), so I used the beurre manie in the original veal stew recipe. Fresh tarragon provided a much more subtle flavor than dried would have, but I probably should have peeled the tomatoes. I served it with rice, instead of potatoes, and it turned out great.

Herbs in the Garden

One of the best things about a garden is that you can grow your own herbs, most of them year-round in California (though unfortunately not basil). Right now I have 5 huge basil plants, 3 small parsley plants (took out last year’s monsters when they went to flower), lots of rosemary, lavender and mint, chives, sorrel, thyme, tarragon, marjoram, oregano, some Vietnamese coriander (I can’t grow the regular cilantro, or chervil), lemon verbena and 3 culinary sage plants (plus lots of other salvia varieties, since they do well her). I’ve been adding all kinds of herbs to my salads, along with some agastache (a hybrid, Reronswood Mist) I bought a couple of weeks ago—not sure if it counts as an herb. Unfortunately, I’ve had no luck at all this year with nasturtiums, which I love for salads—will keep trying with those. That's the agastache in the pot, since I still haven't decided where to put it. And the little guys in front of it are broccoli rape, about to go in where I took out a big squash plant.

Summer Garden, Looking Very Tired

Yesterday I said I would post a shot of the garden today; I took this photo yesterday, and the bed looks even more tired today. This weekend may see the end of the squash, chard, and cucumber, to make room for the fall veggies. In the background, you can see four fruit trees we planted in January. The whitish mess at the front of the box is the squash that performed the worst, and across the way are two overgrown sage plants.

Meat Lab

Friday is one of the days the UC Davis Meat Science Laboratory (or Meat Lab) is open, so today we paid a visit. We didn't need much but wanted to look into ordering half a pig, to freeze for winter and fall. If you butcher the pig yourself, it's only $1 a pound, but we decided the let them do the butchering, which adds .40. In addition, we asked them to smoke a ham and some bacon, an additional .60 per pound of meat smoked. We'll get our pig in about two weeks--hope it fits in our freezer. In the meantime, we bought a couple of steaks and some beef ribs that look like big spareribs. I will report later on how they turn out--a new one to me.

The Meat Lab offers a meat shopping option in Davis that encourages people to think about where their meat comes from. The Meat Lab sells beef and pork (and lamb in the spring) that has been raised by UC Davis student and set out for sale. House-made sausage and eggs are always available, along with fresh eggs. Caleb Sehnert (above, left), Meat Lab manager and instructor of Animal Science 49G offered us a tour several weeks ago, and I was so impressed by the facility, I decided to take the plunge and go whole (well, half) hog.

You can find information about the Davis Meat Lab at this link: http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/facilities/meat.htm

Rosemary & Lavender

One of the great things about living in California is the abundance of rosemary and lavender—neither of which did well in my Connecticut garden. I would manage to keep a couple of rosemary plants alive through the holidays, but invariably they would die with the first major cold spell. And I had no luck with lavender at all. One huge lavender bush and three small rosemary bushes (yes, bushes) were here when I got here, so I didn’t have to plant more, though I brought along a smaller lavender, which is now doing well.

So the obvious thing to do is to think of things to do with these wonderful herbs. Rosemary had always been part of my repertoire, especially with all manner of lamb and chicken recipes. It’s also great with hearty vegetables, such as eggplant, and wonderful with potatoes. But lavender? Well, the New York Times ran a lavender pasta recipe last summer, and that was terrific. This summer I have experimented a bit more: lavender ice cream, lavender added to strawberry shortcake, lavender in salads, you get the idea. Both the flowers and the leaves can be used, and I’m thinking about a lavender cheesecake next. I’ll also try it with squash and tomatoes, before they’re all gone.

For Lavender Ice Cream:

2 cups half and half (or use a mixture of milk and cream)
¼ cup honey
¼ cup sugar (or use all sugar, which makes the lavender taste more pronounced.)
1-2 Tb finely chopped lavender blossoms
4 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Heat the milk with the lavender blossoms (but do not boil) and let steep off the heat for 15-30 minutes. Stain the milk, return to the pan, and add honey and sugar. Cook over low heat until sugar and honey have dissolved—taste, and add up to ¼ more sugar, if desired. Beat the eggs with the salt, and gradually add about ½ cup of the warm milk; then add the egg-milk mixture to the remaining milk. Cook the custard until it coats a spoon lightly, stain into a bowl and refrigerate (preferably overnight). Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker—I use the attachment to my Kitchen Aid mixer—and then return to the freezer until firm.

End of the summer garden

This summer we planted our first vegetable garden, after moving to Davis, CA last summer. We created 3 connected raised beds, two 4x8 and one 8x12 and are doing most of our veggie gardening in these, due to really poor soil. Results were mixed, though not quite a $64 tomato (unless you count the boxes and dirt, in which case more!). Two kinds of cherry tomatoes were great, but larger heirloom varieties kind of disappointing (my cousin in town grows MONSTER Brandyweins). One patty pan squash failed almost completely, and another squash variety was only so-so. Eggplant somewhat better, but peppers also disappointing. Best crop of all probably 5 varieties of basil. Lemon cucumber--pretty good, at least enough for our family of 2. Biggest disappointment: green be ens--a total failure! Here's what the boxes looked like with our winter crop last fall. Note also the very small trees in background--next post will show them today!

But the sad thing is that most of the stuff in the garden is beginning to peter out. Last night I made a great pasta (taken from one of my favorite websites--http://thelittlehouseinthecity.blogspot.com/) with one squash (not quite the last) plus two kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of basil, parsley, and anise hyssop, all from the garden. Along with some leftover chicken, a good bit of olive oil, and a lot of Parmesan, it was great. I should have cherry tomatoes for quite a while, but maybe only a couple more squash and eggplant.

So maybe this weekend it's time to start the fall garden, for vegetables this winter. I bought some broccoli rape in Sebastapol last week, and I'll also plant chard, sugar snap peas, regular broccoli, arugula, lettuce, radicchio and more. The great thing about living in Davis (as opposed to CT, where I spent the previous 23 years) is that you can grow stuff all year. So maybe goodbye to summer food (though a lot more tomato-based pastas and salads lie ahead), sometime soon.

As for the politics of food, I couldn't agree more with Michael Pollen in the NT Times today: our health care woes are largely the result of our food policies. Take a look: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?emc=eta1