Squash Blossoms!

Squash Blossom

It’s squash blossom AND peach season in Santa Fe!

Chefs blossom with creative squash recipes Chef David Rosales’ recipe for squash blossom filling incorporates roasted poblano peppers, corn and onion, creating a traditional-tasting Mexican dish. For an Italian take on squash blossoms, try deep-frying them or stuffing them with a mixture of ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. Rutland Herald (Vt.)/San Francisco Chronicle (7/29) Take advantage of summer’s peaches Roasting peaches helps concentrate the sweetness and softens the fruit, making it easier to use in pie and even ice cream recipes. Peach crostata is an Italian-inspired dessert that can be made without a pie plate and bakes in 30 to 45 minutes. St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)/TampaBay.com (7/29)

The No Dig Garden

THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN

How do his veggies grow? The no-dig way

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Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times

Pat Marfisi carries alfalfa hay into his Hollywood Hills backyard, but there aren’t any animals to feed. It’s for his “no dig” vegetable garden.

Pat Marfisi applies the low-water, layering technique to his Hollywood Hills plot and reaps an abundance of organic produce.

By Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 12, 2008

PAT MARFISI carries bales of alfalfa hay and straw into the center aisle of his Hollywood Hills vegetable garden and begins tearing off pieces of the stuff. He doesn’t have any animals to feed, just his “no-dig” landscape: raised beds using lasagna-like layers of fodder, bone and blood meal and compost — and remarkably little water.

Now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought, Marfisi’s 300-square-foot patch seems more relevant than ever. It’s his personal horticultural laboratory for a low-water, sustainable technique he learned working on organic farms in Australia last year. http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-nodig12-2008jun12,0,55177.story

GARDENING

How to start a no-dig garden

June 12, 2008

 

PAT MARFISI calls Esther Deans’ no-dig method of gardening “absurdly easy.” Here, he offers tips on where to buy alfalfa and straw and how to create a 300-square-foot vegetable garden, which took him only two hours to complete:

MATERIALS:

Newspaper, alfalfa, straw, compost, blood meal and bone meal.

BASICS:

1. Lay 10 to 20 sheets of newspaper on the ground — soil, grass or concrete. This stops weeds and attracts worms. Saturate with water and dust with blood meal and bone meal.

2. Add a pad of alfalfa and dust with blood and bone meal. Bales of hay and straw come apart in 2- to 3-inch-thick pads.

3. Next come 8 inches of straw, again dusted with blood and bone meal. Don’t skimp on the alfalfa and straw, Marfisi says, because “this stuff really compresses in the first few weeks and then you lose the benefits of low water need and thriving plants.”

4. Wet all this down.

5. Finally, top off with 3 to 4 inches of compost, which also will compress.

6. Now plant seeds or seedlings.

FINDING FODDER

Alfalfa and hay can be found at grain and hay suppliers. There are a few near the L.A. Equestrian Center in Burbank. At Stephens Hay & Grain in Glendale, for example, a 110-pound alfalfa bale is $18.50; a 60-pound bale of straw is $7.50. Delivery is available.

NO DIG BOOKS

“Esther Deans’ No Dig Gardening & Leaves of Life,” by Esther Deans. The 2001 reprint is available at harpercollins.com.au.

“How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back: A New Method of Mulch Gardening,” by Ruth Stout.

“The One-Straw Revolution,” by Masanobu Fukuoka.

–

Lisa Boone

 

Chefs Marc Black and Michelle Blodget Cook with the Chef Recipe

Cook with the Chef June 21, 2008

La Montanita Coop

 

 

Chefs Marc Black and Michelle Blodget from the Montanita Coop prepared a delicious spicy seared chicken using Pollo Real chicken, Heidi’s Red Chile Raspberry Jam, fresh red onion and cilantro, all purchased at the Farmer’s Market.

 

Spicy Seared Chicken with Charred Red Onion Relish and Red Chile Raspberry Sauce

– Recipe by Marc Black
 
Serves: 4
 
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Cajun spice rub
1 Red onion
Cilantro
1 Jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 limes, juiced
Olive Oil
1 10 oz. jar Heidi’s Raspberry Red Chile Jam
1 16 oz. container of More Than Gourmet Demi-Glace Gold

Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
 
1.  Marinate the chicken in the juice of one lime and spice rub for at least one hour, preferably overnight.

2.  In a sauté pan, heat 2 T of olive oil.  Quarter and peel the red onion, leaving the root end on for the moment.  Sear all sides until a dark golden brown, and then remove.  Small dice the onion.

3.  Mince the cilantro. 

4.  Seed and small dice the jalapeno.  Make sure to wear gloves while doing this or don’t touch anything until you’ve washed your hands afterward. 

5.  Mix the onion, cilantro, jalapeno, remaining juice of one lime, about 3-4 T of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cover and allow to marinate. 

6.  Slice the chicken breasts on a bias.  Heat 3-4 T of olive oil in a sauté pan and sear the chicken until it is done; it should be moist. 

7.  While the chicken is cooking, heat up the demi-glace in a sauté pan.  Add about half the jar of jam and heat together.  Add your own herbs or spices if you wish, including salt and pepper. 

8.  Serve the chicken atop a bed of your favorite local mixed greens with the relish and sauce.

Chef Eric Laslow Cook with the Chef Recipe

(Antonio Manzanares of Shepherd’s Lamb)

 

Chef Eric Laslow of The Blue heron at Sunrise Springs kicked off our first Cook with the Chef date of the summer. He offered up an elaborate roasted lamb with chimichurri and roasted paprika potatoes, as well as a chayote and watercress salad with tomato sorbet and cucumber gelee.

 

Roast Leg of Lamb with Paprika Potatoes and Chimichurri

Smoked Paprika Potatoes:

1 lb. fingerling or red potatoes

1 T. capers

½ cup chopped parsley

½ cup sweet onion sliced thin

1 t. smoked paprika

½ cup Spanish olive oil

2 T. sherry vinegar

lemon juice

salt

 

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Remove from heat, drain and rinse under cold water

Combine all other ingredients and toss with potatoes.

 

Chimichurri:

½ cup olive oil

3 T. vinegar

2 jalapenos

1 small bunch parsley

3 T. chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic

1 bay leaf

sea salt

 

Combine all ingredients in a processor until smooth

 

For Lamb:

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

olive oil

 

Crush garlic and chop fine. Rub lamb leg with oil and seasonings. Sear in a roasting pan over medium high heat. Place in a preheated 375 degree oven and roast until desired temperature (for medium rare, about 45 minutes).

 

Chayote and Watercress Salad with Tomato Sorbet and Cucumber Gelee

1 chayote squash sliced julienne

1 bunch watercress, rinsed and dried

2 RIPE tomatoes

¼ cup basil, chopped fine

2 T. olive oil

salt to taste

powdered gelatin

 

Sorbet:

Puree your tomato in a processor with basil and 1 t. olive oil. Season with salt. Put in ice cream maker. Set aside.

 

Gelee :

Puree your cucumbers in a processor. Place in a fine mesh strainer and press out all liquid. Measure your cucumber juice. For every 1 cup of juice you will need 2 t. of powdered gelatin. Reserve ¼ cup cucumber juice. Bring remaining juice to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Dissolve gelatin in cold juice. Add hot juice, stir and pour into a shallow pan to set. 

 

Dressing:

2 cups lemon

1 cup yuzu

1 T. sea salt

2 T. soy

2 T. chopped garlic

2 T. chopped ginger

1 T. sciracha

1 T. black pepper

 

Combine ingredients and marinate chayote for several hours.

When ready to serve, toss with watercress and a teaspoon of good olive oil. Top with sorbet and gelee.

Tracey Ryder in Green Money Journal

GreenMoneyJournal.com

May/June 2008 issue

A Free-Range, Local Chicken in Every Pot By Tracey RyderFresh, seasonal, local, organic-all terms that have become increasingly confusing to consumers as they make food-buying decisions. And with fresh food now traveling an average of 1500 miles before reaching our plates, eaters have grown tired of eating tired food. What are consumers to do with all the confusing choices? Where do they find credible information about what’s best for their health, community, environment? Edible Communities, a network of locally-owned and operated food magazines, publishes 50 titles each quarter in distinct culinary regions across the U.S. and Canada, all of which emphasize the importance of eating locally grown and produced foods. In the four years since it was founded, Edible Communities has grown to be the most trusted and influential media network dedicated to the local foods movement in the world today. Clearly, consumers are “hungry” for more knowledge in this area.  Toread more, click http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?newsletterid=44&articleid=606

Some Recipes from our Summer Issue

Check out our latest issue of edible Santa Fe - on the streets now! Visit us on-line at www.ediblesantafe.com for the freshest stories and recipes.

Radish and Root Kimchi

(By Kristen Davenport -Adapted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz)

Sea Salt

1 or 2 Daikon Radishes

1 small burdock root

1 or 2 turnips

Some Jerusalem artichokes

2 carrots

Red radishes

Horseradish root, grated

3 tablespoons (or more) fresh grated ginger root

4 cloves garlic (or more), sliced

1 or 2 onions, leeks, scallions, shallots

3 or 4 really hot red chiles

Process:

Mix a brine of about 4 cups water and 3 tablespoons salt. Slice vegetables pretty thin and let them soak in the brine. If the roots are fresh and organic, leave the nutritious skins on. Slice the roots thin so the flavors penetrate. Slice some radishes, but leave small ones whole. You can even include their greens. While soaking in the brine, use a heavy plate or other item to keep the vegetables submerged, for several hours or overnight. Prepare spices—ginger, garlic, onion, chile. Kimchi can absorb a lot of spice. Mix the spices into a paste. Drain the brine off the vegetables, but reserve the brine. Taste vegetables for saltiness. You want them to taste decidedly salty, but not unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If they are not salty enough, sprinkle them with a couple of teaspoons. Then: Mix everything and stuff it into clean jars. The amounts above will likely make a quart. Pack it tightly into the jar and press down until the brine rises. You have to either set something heavy on top of the vegetables (a Ziploc filled with brine) or find some other way to keep the vegetables generally below the brine level—you can use your clean fingers, too. Then, ferment on your kitchen counter or other warm place. After a day or two, you’ll start to see bubbles. Taste the kimchi every day to see when it’s best—about a week is when it is usually “ripe.” Once it’s done to your taste, move it to the refrigerator.

Hello world!

Welcome to edible Santa Fe’s blog page! Check in regularly for delicious recipes, ideas and links. We look forward to hearing from you - and would love to post your favorite seasonal recipes, or chat with you. Please be sure to visit our site at www.ediblesantafe.com !