Garden 2011

It is now springtime in Missouri and that means that it is time to start a garden. I have never grown a garden before as New Mexico is not necessarily the best place to do such a thing. I am a total rookie when it comes to gardening so please forgive if you see something that sounds silly. 

The soil here is excellent and as far as I know nothing has been grown on it for years other than grass. So I sectioned out an area for the garden in a corner of the yard that receives plenty of sunlight and turned it over using a pick and shovel. I guess that is a strange deal for people in the Lexington area because people here kept asking where I got the roto-tiller. We live in such lazy times. I understand the size of garden may dictate the use of a tiller, but there is nothing wrong with a little labor. That is also easy for me to say since Eugene helped with the pick work. 

Anyhow, when it came time for the planting of the seeds I really wanted my daughters to be involved so they could see the process. Last week they planted some sunflower seeds in pots and got to see them sprout, it was an exciting thing for them. 

Emma is learning to write and finds great pleasure in writing letters and words she sees on anything. I used these tongue depressors to mark the rows. Emma got one and made this cool design. I think it is pretty creative using the word "vegetable" and drawing the dirt and plants growing. This is now the image for garden of 2011.

Here is a shot of Nova helping to cover the row of sunflowers that will line the back fence. Nova likes sunflowers and I about a month ago we had dialogue that went like this:

Nova- "why aren't there any flowers?"

Me- "because the sun hasn't some out yet."

Nova-  "well, we need to plant some sunflowers, dad"

Here are three more shots of her

Emma was busy creating the vegetable stick in photo one above while Nova and I were planting seeds. Here she had finished and helped to place the other sticks and cover the seeds. I am planning on a second planting session here in a few more weeks to stagger the harvest times to help with even use of vegetables, we will see. I will be paying close attention to see how the garden works out so as to learn more. 

These are the sticks marking the rows.
I decided to start easy and only plant a few things, some of which are herbs. Everyone has asked me about tomatoes and why I did not plant any. Well, my dad plants tomatoes every year and we had so much of his bountiful harvest last year we stopped eating tomatoes for a month. I expect his harvest to be just a plentiful and the tomatoes to come just as generously as last year.

I like how this has worked out to be such a family event with Megan picking the seeds, Eugene helping with the labor and my daughters helping to plant.


I even had help from my little nephew Joel in remembering where all the markers were supposed to go since he at some point pulled up each one of them. Good times with you, I'll miss you crazy man.

Upcoming

I know I have left out quite a bit these past few weeks and my general lack of discipline is showing. I guess this blog isn't a priority in my life anyhow.

The good news is I am working on a few things so keep looking.

LATIN CUISINE - WEEK 6

Latin cuisine week 6

Here we are still in the lovely South America, one place I would absolutely love to visit. From the rain forests to the Amazon to the Andes to Patagonia, South America has a lot to offer, including great food.

Every week in this class just keeps getting better, I look forward to Latin Cuisine as I have said before. I think I will be disappointed when this class is over. 

This week the dough making was hard again. It was a difficult task for me and when I describe the empanadas you will understand what I mean. 

Here's the menu-

Feijoada (Bean stew with beef and pork):

This is an interesting dish as it has six or seven different kinds of beef and pork. I am wondering if this started out as a "clean out the fridge" kind of stew. It even has chorizo! Either way, it is great. The chorizo really comes through to add some spices and boldness to the complex combination of flavors. We served it with some shredded kale and a rice pilaf. I plated this dish twice because I was not happy with the first presentation. Of course, my photo is only of the first plate. oh well....

Salada do Chuchu (chayote salad):

Interestingly enough, we did not have any chayote for this chayote salad (thanks chef venne), so we di what we could to make a good salad with some South American flair. It worked out well, the avocado adds a nice flavor a looks great as well.

Chupe de Quinua (quinoa chowder):

This was my least favorite dish of the day. Quinoa is a hot grain these days so we had to use it. Its not bad, but I am not a big fan of this style of soup. It has a grain mixed with corn type of flavor to it. Quinoa is one of the very few plant proteins that is a complete protein, so it is a good choice for meat replacement. That is likely one of the reasons for its increased popularity of late. We garnished ours with avocado.

Sauteed Shrimp and Scallops:

This was not a planned dish, but we had so much left over shrimp and scallops from the ceviche that we had to do something with them. We chose to saute them with salt and pepper and serve them over a hash of corn and roasted red peppers. It is garnished with cilantro.

Ceviche Mixto (mixed shellfish ceviche):

This ceviche can be made with almost any type of shellfish that is first cooked and then marinated in a liquid made mostly from lime and cilantro. I is often served almost as a soup with the shellfish sitting in the liquid and eaten with tortillas and some sort of hot sauce. We served ours drained and dry on a plate. It has a very fresh and clean taste. It feels and tastes pure on the tongue. Very good.

Cuscuz de Tapioca Molho de Chocolate (tapioca and coconut cake in chocolate sauce):

This dish was interesting and a little different. The flavor were really good and creamy but the texture was, well, slimy. It's the tapioca. For the sauce for added some Kahlua and that made all the difference. I would be glad just to eat the sauce alone out of a trough, without a spoon.

WORLD CUISINE - WEEK 6

World cuisine week 6 

This week we moved from Greece to Turkey. I don't know anything about Turkey but judging by the cuisine of Turkey, I'd have to say it would be an excellent place to visit. The food we made this week was exciting to me in a way that i was not expecting. The food has complex and well developed flavor profiles and a blend of freshness with earthy and rustic tones as well. 

Our class seemed to be a little more together this week as the members of my group were on point. I think we produced some good food that is noteworthy.

Here's the menu-

Incir Compostu:

These are figs in syrup. The figs were dried so we reconstituted them in some water then we stuffed them with some blanched almonds and then sauteed them in the same water and made a simple syrup but added some port wine to enhance flavors. They were quite tasty and the almonds provided a little tooth to balance the softness of the figs. I know some people don't like figs, I would encourage them to give this fruit another chance.

Havuc Plakisi:

Braised carrots. These were good and fairly simple. The only thing about braising carrots is that you must pay enough attention to them to ensure they do not burn or are under cooked. They were good and tender and retained the flavor of the carrot pretty well.

Balik Koftesi:

These are deep fried fish balls. They are surprisingly good. I think they would have been a little better had they been a little smaller to balance the crispy outside with the soft inside. But they were still very good. One person likened them to Long John Silver's, oh for shame. Anyhow, they are served here with a yogurt and cucumber sauce similar to what you might see in a Gyro.

Sis Kebap:

It is pretty obvious where we get the English term for this dish. The meat is lamb. Lamb is good, it is a little different for the American used to eating beef, but I really like lamb. It is packed with flavors, but can sometimes feel a little dry so care needs to be taken not to overcook lamb. These are obviously grilled and have the taste of caramelization all over them. They were served with rice.

Midye Dolmasi:

Stuffed mussels. They were first cooked on the grill just enough to get them to open up and then they were stuffed with rice and finished in a pan. They were excellent. I like mussels so these were a nice variation, for the non mussel lover I doubt this would change their mind. They were served with a sauce made of oil, vinegar and hazelnuts. The hazelnut flavors grew in the sauce as it stood.

Domates Salatasi:

This is a tomato, cucumber and olive salad. It is simple and good and fresh. 

Kabak Kizartmasi:

These are eggplant and zucchini fritters. They call them fritters even though they can be grilled or battered and deep fried. The other group made the deep fried version, but I preferred the grilled version. I think the grill marks mixed with the more pure flavors that are retained from fast grilling over high heat stand out and speak for themselves well. They were served with the same yogurt and cucumber sauce as the fish balls, and these two made an excellent combination. They sauce has a bit of tangy-ness that really goes well with the zucchini.

LATIN CUISINE - WEEK 5

Latin Cuisine week 5

This week was really exciting for me in Latin Cuisine as we were going to be making tamales, which I really like. I have made tamales many times in Las Cruces. Homemade tamales are a special treat and a "labor of love" as they are not an easy task. It is common for families to get together to make tamales in order to get everyone working and make the whole process simpler. 

I enjoyed class this week but just as in World Cuisine it seemed a little unfocused. I think the reason for that in Latin is the lack of understanding working with dough. It is a bit mysterious to me. I am hoping after taking baking and pastry I will have a better understanding of how dough works and ways to work with it. 

Anyhow, here's the menu

Ceviche de Pescado:

This is the classic ceviche that comes to mind when someone talks about ceviche. It is raw fish that is cold "cooked" by acids from lemon or limes. The flavors of the lemon and lime mixed with cilantro is good and a classic combination in Latin food. However, I found the texture to be not so desirable. The texture was raw and almost slimy. I have heard that the longer the fish marinates the tougher it can get and am wondering if perhaps our ceviche would have been better if left to marinate longer. I somehow neglected to get a photo of this dish.

Plantano Frito:

These are fried plantains. Plantains have an interesting flavor, I am not sure how to describe them. The texture is similar to bananas as they are very closely related to bananas. These are simply fried and retain the flavor of the plantain pretty well. I think they would be excellent with some sort of creamy sauce that has either sweet-ness or a bite to it. I think of something like a pineapple cream salsa. Maybe something to try next time.

Tamales:

The recipe we had for class called for spinach and cheese filling, but we also had some pork leftover from the previous class. One group made spinach and cheese tamales and our group made red chile pork tamales. We made them in the traditional sense as they were rolled and steamed with the husk. I have seen tamales that have been sort of folded up like a little package and while they look fancy, I'd have to side with the traditional presentation. These tamales we made tasted great, I was worried about the masa as it can be difficult to work with and we had a hard time putting it on the corn husks correctly. 

Pabellon Criollo: Caraotas Negras, Carne Mechada y Arroz:

This is an interesting dish. It has black pot beans, shredded beef and rice. The presentation is supposed to be a representation of the Venezuelan flag. which is blue yellow and red. I am not sure how that is supposed to work, but I am betting the Venezuelans know. Anyhow the black beans and rice are simple and have been made many times. The beef was a flank steak that was shredded and then sauteed briefly with tomatoes and other things and it turned out very tender. We served some of the red chile puree on the plate for those like me who love red chile. 

Orange Flan:

We made this in week 1 or #, I can't remember. Either way it is still excellent. We did not have a dessert in this weeks menu so we chose to make this dish again. It was just as before, very good.

This is a fried pig's ear. We had the ear cooking with the beans for flavor and decided to try it fried. It was pretty awful and more of a joke than anything. It is pictured here with a parsley garnish just for fun. Bon Appetit!.....um, no thanks