From JH:
tulip bulbs
What’s the best organic-matter gift one can smuggle in from Amsterdam? Tulip bulbs from the floating flower market, no doubt. These are going in the ground today, and because I’m not sure what variety they are (maybe parrot?), I’m already looking forward being surprised in the spring. Thank you, FK!
Filed under Flora, Gardening, Gift Ideas, Raw Materials, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
roasted H&O tomatoes
With the very last of my garden’s ripe tomatoes, I decided to make sauce. And because these tomatoes weren’t the sweetest (cold weather is the culprit, I suspect), I chose to roast them before turning them into a pomodoro. My recipe is an on-the-spot improvisation. I used:
As many tomatoes as you see above (a mix of Jersey Devils, Tommy Toes, Austin Red Pears, and one San Marzano)
4 cloves of garlic (stiff-neck, my new favorite), smashed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine (Cote-de-Brouilly Beaujolais, specifically, but any hearty drinking wine will do)
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet, and drizzle them with olive oil and a generous sprinkling of salt. Cook them in the oven on the center rack for approximately 20 minutes, or until some of the tomatoes are brown and others look like they’ve “popped.” Transfer the tomatoes/garlic and their oil to a large sauce pan, smoosh them until they’re saucy, add the wine and cracked pepper and bring to a boil. Once the sauce begins to boil, turn the heat to Low, and let simmer for 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Add salt to taste.
I must say, I’m pretty pleased with how my sauce turned out. Again, that it was made from tomatoes that I grew myself makes it even more delicious. And to make that satisfaction last just a little bit longer, I chose to freeze the sauce for later. Won’t it be so wonderful to have summer tomato sauce on a winter’s night not too far from now. Yes, I think it will.
from JH:
long john cayenne peppers
Look what finally decided to join us, at last! To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to do another Growth post this year. These past few weeks, little by little, JB and I have been dismantling the H&O garden. Most of the raised bed is clear, and in an effort to use as much of the mint as is humanly possible before winter strikes, I’ve been continuously picking and consuming it (mint in my tea, mint in my salad, mint with my tomatoes, mint in my rice, mint bouquets all over the apartment…a girl can only use so much mint). The tomato trellises are all that’s left, but before we take those down, I needed to gather the last of the kinda ripe ones (look up), and the abundance of green ones that don’t stand a chance in New York’s now 40-degree days (winter in October? Seriously?). But look how many:
green tomatoes
Seems I’m in for some more green tomato pickles. Thank goodness for Mrs. B’s recipe!
p.s. The chili pic is my very modest ode to the late, very great Irving Penn (1917-2009), still-life photographer extraordinaire and inventor of fabulous picture dreams. No one’s done food better than you, Mr. Penn.
Filed under Find & Fix, Gardening, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
The tomatoes went berserk! JB and I harvested 9 lbs of them when we got home:
austin red pears, jersey devils, slicers, and tommy toes
And then, after the almost 4 hours of driving, 3 ferry rides, and a delayed red-eye that took JB and I back from the remote island in BC where we’d been for the past week, we made a most delicious lunch. It’s nice to be home:
the perfect plate
Filed under Cooking Chronicles, Gardening, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
fresh-picked
Just harvested: squash blossoms, mint, oregano, basil, and arugula. What can simple city farmers and part-time home cooks do with this? How about a green salad, and prosciutto-and-squash blossom pizza! The blossoms, which essentially dissolved into the cheese (amazing), lent an earthy, flower flavor to the salty di Parma. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures, it was too dark in my kitchen to take any good ones, and I’d rather get your imagination going than post an ill-focused image. I promise that if you think hard enough about a salty-savory homemade pizza topped with San Marzano tomato sauce, garden herbs, ham, and mozzarella, you will get hungry.
From JH:
oh, tomatoes
I have to give JB the majority of the credit for these. If not for his love (in the form of water, pruning, staking, and general tending to), I’m certain these beauties wouldn’t be what they are today. A man who can grow tomatoes is a man worth keeping, I’ve decided. Just look:
jersey devils
:
austin red pears
Seeing that some were ripe and ready, we picked just enough to make the most obvious salad:
picked for dinner
:
caprese with H&O tomatoes and basil, and caputo's mozzarella
Delicious! In fact, the mozzarella (a perennial favorite of ours) was disappointing compared to the fresh (and free!), homegrown garden fruits and herbs, which were still warm from the sun and the dirt that they came from.
Filed under Do It Yourself, Gardening, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
tomato trellises and the beloved garden stool
Let me count the ways…
1. It has simple, organic Scandinavian design
2. It has indoor/outdoor versatility
3. It has lightweight, get-up-and-go carry-ability
4. It has economic appeal (just $19.99)
5. It is informal by day, and dinner-ready come dusk
6. It is the perfect perch for building a tomato trellis (see above; the hydroponic bucket is JB’s, and is otherwise knows as “the bionic tomato maker”)
7. It is preciousless
8. It is easy to store (buy multiples, they stack!)
9. It is just my size
10. It can be painted, when I tire of its blond-wood color
11. It fits seamlessly into my oh-so urban garden “look” (like I had some choice in the symmetrical display of fire escapes and fencing)
Filed under Gardening, On the Cheap, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
unsightly summer squash
WARNING: If you go too long without picking your summer squash, it will blow up like a “torpedo” (I quote all of the many friends who told me so). This is what JB and I came home to after a long weekend in Northern California. What is one to do with a yellow squash this size? It’s lost a lot of its taste. For now, we’re just keeping it in the kitchen…as a reminder…
But in other great garden news:
jb's baby tomatoes on the vine
:
rows of arugula, cilantro, and spinach
Filed under Do It Yourself, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
summer squash!
What we’re doing here in the H&O garden is nothing extraordinary, I know. But I’ve been a city mouse all my life, a consumer of store and farmers’ market produce, a regular at restaurants––to attempt to grow my own food, and then to have it work (!) is a thrill I can’t quite describe. It’s so exciting, it makes me hungry.
Filed under Do It Yourself, The Growth of a Garden
From JH:
baby tomatoes
Nothing washes away the work week––an especially stressful one this was––like an evening spent staking tomatoes. JB and I built the tomato trellis this evening with simple twigs and twine, just a little something for these gorgeous green babies to lean on. Really, I’m amazed by how far they’ve come. It’s all about the tomatoes tonight:
trellised tomato plants
OK, and the arugula we planted a few weeks ago is looking pretty good, too:
two rows of arugula
Ah, but the sunshine, the piercing, sideways summer sunshine…
Filed under Do It Yourself, Gardening, The Growth of a Garden
Home and Oats 