Things are heating up here in the hills. I have a hyacinth blooming in the yard and to my surprise, the multitude of tulip bulbs I planted last fall are poking up towards the sun. They may be slow bloomers, but I'll be happy to see their lovely faces whenever they choose.
This is my busy time of the year working weekends as a chair umpire for college tennis, leaving me little time for gardening but that will soon change and I'll be out in the dirt once again. I am planning on planting shallots, along with the requisite tomatoes and maybe I'll try zucchini or crookneck squash. That will give me a garden-fresh ratatouille (minus the eggplant). I make a mean ratatouille.
As the cold days turn warm, I have been doing a lot of cooking experimentation. Mainly with phyllo dough. I made a muffin-size stuffed phyllo with feta, eggplant, and pistachios (I used walnuts). Of course, there was more, coriander, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. With phyllo, the tough job is painting them all with olive oil and stacking them. Having done a few now, I am a bit better at it. The first one was a sort of swiss chard quiche with feta in phyllo, with 10 layers of dough, and that came out a bit oily but palatable. I'll give that another shot, though.
Paint it as thinly as possible is my advice. It's kind of fun at any rate. The feta muffin recipe is from Martha Stewart. You layer 4 sheets, oiled between each, then cut into quarters and stuff them into a muffin pan, then fill them with baked eggplant, feta cheese, broken up nuts, and the spices mixed together. Bake those puppies up and devour. O la la, good. Mine weren't as cute as Martha's, but I barely had time to look at them anyway.
My other ingredient passion is kale. It's a type of cabbage. Tried a couple recipes, nothing great. I think the best way to prepare it is to shred the green part off the stalks, blanche in boiling water for a couple minutes, drain and then saute with garlic and onions, red pepper flakes and salt. Final touch, a few splashes of vinegar, red wine vinegar is my fave, but I have tried apple cider and balsamic too, both good, just not too much. Another way is to cook them in a chicken broth and let it reduce rather than blanching them. Kale is good sauteed with sausage too, for the meat eaters out there. You know who you are, Romania!
What vino to have with your greens? Ahh, thanks to my generous sis, I had a Christmas gift card for Whole Foods, and used it to get some goodies, including a bottle of red wine from Sicily that was dirt cheap, Piccolo Fiore 2010. Maybe there has been a mistake, but I had a pleasant surprise. It was perfect. A light red, like a Pinot or Zinfandel. Soft on the palate but flavorful. Great with veggies.
So what better to do as you sip your Piccolo Fiore and wait for the kale to blanche? Check out a comet, what else? I drove to the coast of the beautiful Pacific Ocean just minutes from my house, with my trusty star-gazing companion, Penny, to see if we could observe the comet in the evening sky just after sunset. We walked the West Cliff path looking closely for any sign of the rare sight. Just as the sky began to become darkened and the crescent moon appeared, a huge cloud bank rushed in to block any hope of seeing the cosmic event. Darn that fog! But here is what it would have looked like...
This is my busy time of the year working weekends as a chair umpire for college tennis, leaving me little time for gardening but that will soon change and I'll be out in the dirt once again. I am planning on planting shallots, along with the requisite tomatoes and maybe I'll try zucchini or crookneck squash. That will give me a garden-fresh ratatouille (minus the eggplant). I make a mean ratatouille.
As the cold days turn warm, I have been doing a lot of cooking experimentation. Mainly with phyllo dough. I made a muffin-size stuffed phyllo with feta, eggplant, and pistachios (I used walnuts). Of course, there was more, coriander, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. With phyllo, the tough job is painting them all with olive oil and stacking them. Having done a few now, I am a bit better at it. The first one was a sort of swiss chard quiche with feta in phyllo, with 10 layers of dough, and that came out a bit oily but palatable. I'll give that another shot, though.
Paint it as thinly as possible is my advice. It's kind of fun at any rate. The feta muffin recipe is from Martha Stewart. You layer 4 sheets, oiled between each, then cut into quarters and stuff them into a muffin pan, then fill them with baked eggplant, feta cheese, broken up nuts, and the spices mixed together. Bake those puppies up and devour. O la la, good. Mine weren't as cute as Martha's, but I barely had time to look at them anyway.My other ingredient passion is kale. It's a type of cabbage. Tried a couple recipes, nothing great. I think the best way to prepare it is to shred the green part off the stalks, blanche in boiling water for a couple minutes, drain and then saute with garlic and onions, red pepper flakes and salt. Final touch, a few splashes of vinegar, red wine vinegar is my fave, but I have tried apple cider and balsamic too, both good, just not too much. Another way is to cook them in a chicken broth and let it reduce rather than blanching them. Kale is good sauteed with sausage too, for the meat eaters out there. You know who you are, Romania!
What vino to have with your greens? Ahh, thanks to my generous sis, I had a Christmas gift card for Whole Foods, and used it to get some goodies, including a bottle of red wine from Sicily that was dirt cheap, Piccolo Fiore 2010. Maybe there has been a mistake, but I had a pleasant surprise. It was perfect. A light red, like a Pinot or Zinfandel. Soft on the palate but flavorful. Great with veggies.
So what better to do as you sip your Piccolo Fiore and wait for the kale to blanche? Check out a comet, what else? I drove to the coast of the beautiful Pacific Ocean just minutes from my house, with my trusty star-gazing companion, Penny, to see if we could observe the comet in the evening sky just after sunset. We walked the West Cliff path looking closely for any sign of the rare sight. Just as the sky began to become darkened and the crescent moon appeared, a huge cloud bank rushed in to block any hope of seeing the cosmic event. Darn that fog! But here is what it would have looked like...
Would love to have seen the comet too. And I have been thinking of phyllo dough for weeks now, coincidence? I will now have to venture into that realm.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Spring!
Yep, missed this one but there's another coming in November so I'll be sure to try again. Little tip on the phyllo dough, After much experimentation I have finally got a better touch for how to put just enough butter/oil on the sheets before layering. Turns out you don't need much, and melted butter works better than olive oil.
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