Vitamin booster

| Green Card Gardener

In the past few days, each time I walked down to the garden, the sight of the elderberry bushes bending under the weight of the dark, shiny fruit has jumped at me. Elderberries are usually one of the latest berries to ripen but this year everything is a few weeks early. I hope the elderberries are as ripe as they look because I want them now! I have a cold and elderberries are packed with vitamin C.

Elderberries are rarely grown in the US (despite American elderberries being native shrubs) and hard to find, that’s why I planted several bushes, mainly to satisfy my cravings for my grandmother’s elderberry soup (the recipe can be found in my cookbook Spoonfuls of Germany).

If I could do it all over again, I would plant the elderberries in a different location, not on the wind-battered hillside where the soil gets extremely dry. Elderberries prefer moist soil and thrive near a brook or a pond. At this point the bushes are too big to move so in dry weather they need a good soaking every now and then.

Extracting the juice from the elderberries was cumbersome until I bought a steam juicer last year. It is the #1 equipment I would recommend to everyone who processes larger amounts of berries of all types, not only elderberries. I am so happy with my acquisition, and have shown the steam juicer to so many visitors, that my husband starts rolling his eyes when I head to the pantry to make yet another demonstration.

I can the elderberry juice with sugar (¼ cup sugar for 4 cups juice) in 1-quart canning jars and process them 20 minutes in a hot water bath.

No more shortcuts

| Green Card Gardener

Although I’ve been cooking for many years, I have only recently learned one important lesson – don’t take any shortcuts, at least not with recipes from a highly knowledgeable source. When I made Julia Child’s Boeuf bourguignon for the first time a few months ago I put too much meat in the pot at once, with the result that it did not brown but foamed and bubbled like baking soda. The next time I made the dish, I stuck to the recipe and the meat was perfectly browned. If there was a shortcut, wouldn’t someone like Julia Child go for it? Only then did it dawn on me that it’s not a good idea trying to outsmart cooks who obviously know better than you.

Another example for the no-shortcut rule is eggplant, which is growing abundantly in the garden right now. I have always wondered why the eggplant dishes I made had a bitter aftertaste, even when the eggplant was freshly picked. I am usually too rushed or too lazy to salt it and let it sit for 30 minutes or even 1 hour. It is surprising how much brownish liquid the eggplant releases, no wonder it’s bitter. And, the taste is indefinitely better, no matter what the eggplants are used for afterwards.

Getting 3 pounds of eggplant ready for lasagna was quite a bit of work but I have promised myself that from now on if I don’t have the time to prepare the eggplant comme il faut, I rather cook something else.

I started off with Deborah Madison’s eggplant lasagna with garlic béchamel from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I had made it before and found it somehow lacked something. But instead of serving it with a tomato sauce as she suggests, I incorporated cherry tomatoes right into the lasagna, which I pre-cooked in olive oil and garlic. I also used a good amount of basil and increased the amount of béchamel because I find lasagna often too dry, especially if you prepare it in advance and reheat it.

I was very happy with the result. My son, who would usually not eat eggplant, pointed to his empty plate saying that it “tasted and looked like meat, not like eggplant at all.” Amazing what salting and a little patience can do.

Eggplant Lasagna

3 pounds eggplant

Olive oil

Salt

12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Béchamel:

2½ cups milk

3 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup flour

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup milk

Freshly milled white pepper

12 sheets no-boil lasagna

¼ cup packed chopped fresh basil

8 ounces mozzarella, diced

2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan

1. Peel the eggplant and cut into 1/3-inch slices. Spread the slices on two large baking sheets in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small heavy pot. Add the garlic and cook until translucent. Add the tomatoes and stir. Cook uncovered over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are shriveled up a bit. Set aside to cool.

3. For the béchamel, smash the peeled garlic cloves. Put in a saucepan with the milk. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let steep for 15 minutes.

4. When the garlic milk is ready, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and cook stirring for 2 minutes. Pour the garlic milk through a sieve into the saucepan. Stir well with a metal whisk until the sauce thickens. Add the bay leaf and the nutmeg and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often and scraping over the bottom of the pan.

5. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

6. Blot the eggplant slices dry with paper towels. Rinse and dry the baking sheets to remove any excess salt.

7. Brush each slice with olive oil from both sides and place slices in a single layer on the baking sheets. The eggplant should be baked one sheet at a time so if you have two ovens use them, or bake one batch after another in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the slices over and cook for 15 minutes from the other side.

8. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

9. Spray a lasagna dish (one that fits three sheets snugly without overlapping) with olive oil.

10. Remove the bay leaf from the béchamel sauce and whisk in the cream and the milk. Season with salt and pepper. If the béchamel seems lumpy, strain it through a sieve.

11. Spread ½ cup béchamel sauce over the bottom of the dish. Add 3 lasagna sheets. Cover with one-third of eggplant, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, parmesan, and one-quarter of the remaining béchamel sauce. Repeat this with two more layers but omit the Parmesan in the last layer. Place the last lasagna sheets on top and add the remaining béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Press down a bit to immerse the lasagna sheets as much as possible but try not to break them.

12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and press down a bit to immerse top layer, especially if it’s a bit dry and curled up.

13. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 servings

Stocking up on herbs

| Green Card Gardener

My herb garden is a dangerous place these days for people who are allergic to bee stings like me. Usually I cut down the different mints in mid-summer but this year I wanted to be kind to the much-needed pollinators so I left everything untouched. As a result the area is swarming with bees and other insects. Even a hasty pulling of the largest weeds the other day felt like zigzagging through enemy lines.

Unfortunately I am not equally successful with all of the herbs. The production of thyme, one of my favorite herbs for cooking, can never meet the demand. Cilantro is another finicky grower. And, I seem to always forget that I have it, and when I do remember and want to use it in a dish, it’s already past its prime and has started to go into seed.

For the ones that do grow, here’s how I stock up on herbs for the winter:

Basil – Air-dry in bunches, then strip off papery leaves and crumble finely using a colander. This retains small pieces of stem and other woodsy parts. Or chop up leaves by hand or in a food processor. Do not spin dry the leaves so some water still clings to them, which makes them easier to chop  in a food processor. Put basil puree in an ice-cube tray, fill up with water and freeze. Store basil cubes in a freezer container or a freezer bag and use for soups or pasta dishes.

Dill – Air dry or freeze. I usually let one or two plants go into seed and collect the seeds for next year. Dill seeds are also great for pickling.

Marjoram – Air dry and crumble.

Mint – Air dry and crumble like basil. Powdered mint mixed with granulated sugar makes a great addition to fresh fruit salad (I always squeeze some lime on it too).

Oregano – Air dry and crumble.

Parsley – Freeze leaves or whole stems and use in soups and other cooked dishes.

Rosemary – The winters on our Pennsylvania mountaintop are too cold for rosemary so I grow it in a large pot and bring it inside before the first strong frost. I have had the same plant for several years now. In the winter I keep it in a barely heated room and water it very moderately. This way I can cut fresh rosemary year round although the shoots get a bit leggy in late winter. It just takes bigger amount the get the same flavor.

Sage – Air dry and crumble or freeze whole leaves for dishes such as Saltimbocca. Or, use for sage butter, which is delicious on baked winter squash and baked potatoes, or to rub under the skin of a chicken or turkey.

To make sage butter, mix 1 stick soft butter, 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage, finely grated peel of ½ organic lemon, and salt (amounts are to taste). If the sage leaves are large, cut out the thick mid-rib with a sharp knife. Refrigerate or freeze in small containers or in an ice-cube tray.

Savory – Air dry, crumble and use for Whole Wheat Herb Bread

Sizeable breakfast

| Green Card Gardener

In food, like in so many other areas, everything is typically bigger in the United States than in other countries. Pancakes are one of the few exceptions. German pancakes, the kind my grandmother fed me for lunch (unlike in America, pancakes are usually not eaten for breakfast in Germany), are as large as a dinner plate. They are thicker and quicker to prepare than French crêpes. Because they are so large, they are easily filled and rolled up.

We are not big breakfast eaters but once in a while, when I have time in the morning and feel very hungry, I take out my good old Dr. Oetker cookbook (the German equivalent to The Joy of Cooking) and make German pancakes.

Today was such a rare pancake day. I layered two pancakes and filled them with a mix of fresh raspberries and blackberries from the garden and a cut-up peach from a local orchard. Then, very un-German, I mixed in a few tablespoons of maple syrup – enough of a breakfast to fill up two people.

German Pancakes with Fresh Fruit

¾ cup + 3 tablespoons (4½ ounces) all-purpose flour

2 eggs

¾ cup + ½ tablespoon (6½ ounces) low-fat or fat-free milk

1 teaspoon sugar

Pinch of salt

¼ cup seltzer water

2 tablespoons butter

Fresh fruit for filling

Maple syrup

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

You also need:

A large pan with a lid

1. Beat the flour with the eggs and the milk in a bowl with a wire whisk or with an electric mixer to a smooth batter without lumps. Add sugar, salt and seltzer water.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large non-stick pan until is sizzles but does not turn brown. Pour half of the batter into the skillet and wiggle the pan a bit so the batter is evenly distributed. Cook the pancake over low-medium heat until set all through the center and golden brown at the bottom.

3. Flip the pancake over using the lid and cook until golden brown from the other side. Place the pancake on a large plate.

4. Melt the remaining butter in the pan and bake the second pancake the same way.

5. Distribute the fruit over the first pancake and top with the second pancake. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve immediately.