Food

Strawberry mission accomplished

| Green Card Gardener

Finally, after taking all sorts of measures to protect strawberries against critters, there are enough strawberries from the garden to make Rote Grütze, the German red berry dessert that was my favorite as a child. The recipe can be found in my cookbook Spoonfuls of Germany.

Rote Grütze can be served with vanilla sauce, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, liquid heavy cream, or plain milk. My favorite has always been vanilla sauce made from scratch – lots of it, therefore I often double the amounts.

 

Scapes straight to the table

| Green Card Gardener

“You mean I could have actually made money with these instead of throwing them on the compost?” asked our neighbor last year when I told him about garlic scapes being sold at upscale farmer’s markets. His family has farmed the land for generations, long before organic farming, CSA, slow food, locavore, and all the other wholesome and eco-conscious food trends came about.

His father gave me valuable gardening advice that sounded like it was coming straight from the Farmer’s Almanac, such as “Don’t plant tomatoes before the full moon in May.”  I think he got a kick out of seeing that city girl getting into gardening, and he surely wondered whether I would ever harvest anything. He passed away before my garden really started to thrive but his wife was still around then. She was confined to a wheelchair and spent the most part of every summer day on her porch, from where she waved to me when I passed by on my bike on the way to the post office.

Knowing how much she loved watermelon, I promised her a share of my first watermelon. When it was finally ripe, my husband phoned her to tell her he would bring it over but said he wanted to alert her it was so big that he had to take the truck. After that day, until she died, every time I stopped on my bike for a quick chat, she raved about how sweet that watermelon had been, then drifted off into an endless chuckle about the truck being needed to deliver it.

Back to scapes. Last year, I made scape pesto and scape butter. Both were good but I found that after a few days, the garlic flavor becomes too pungent and overpowering. I think it is best to eat scapes within a couple of days. So now I am picking not more than 2 to 3 scapes at once to make only a small amount of a dish. Unlike most days, the goal is: no leftovers.

Scape Topping for Pasta

2 to 3 scapes

½ to ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan

1. Cut the pointy tips off the scapes and discard. Finely chop the scapes.

2. Slowly warm the olive oil in a small saucepan. The oil should not be hot so the scapes won’t sizzle when you add them. Remove from the heat and stir in the scapes. Let sit for a few minutes, then season with salt and pepper. Serve over whole-wheat spaghetti with plenty of Parmesan.

Makes 2 servings

Feta Cheese Balls with Scapes and Hazelnuts

2 to 3 scapes

15 whole hazelnuts

8 ounces feta cheese

Extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Cut the pointy tips off the scapes and discard. Slice the scapes very thinly.

2. Lightly toast the hazelnuts. Set aside to cool. Rub off most of the skins and discard. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely.

3. Process the feta in a food processor to a very fine crumble. With slightly damp hands, form six compact cheese balls of the same size.

4. Pour a small amount of olive oil on a plate. Mix the scape slices and the hazelnuts with freshly ground pepper on another large plate.

5. Roll the cheese balls first in olive oil to coat lightly, then in the scape and hazelnut mix, pressing it gently into the cheese. Cover with plastic foil and refrigerate until serving.

Makes 3 servings

Two anniversaries

| Green Card Gardener

After I moved from New York City to this lovely hilltop in Pennsylvania where my husband lived with his two young children, it took me a few years to get the gardening bug. I was just too busy learning to become a parent, although I felt from the beginning that with all that space around us (the storage room being as big as my bedroom was in the city), not growing your own food would be a shame.

The first summer, I did put in a couple of basil plants. I remember taking large bunches of it to the office, the scent filling the room, and my coworkers marveling about it (thankfully, the days of commuting are long over).

I started the garden in 2004, a year when our family was facing a serious health issue. That first-year garden, as tentative and modest as it may seem to me from today’s perspective, helped me keep my sanity. Gardening, whether for food or for beauty, has been my outlet ever since.

To celebrate my 9th gardening season, as well as our wedding anniversary today, I cannot think of a more befitting food than homegrown strawberries. Do I need to say that the critters seem to leave most of the strawberries alone now? They do!

Mini Strawberry Vacherins

I have made Vacherin quite a few times before but usually as one large cake. Even though it vanishes quickly so appearance really does not matter that much, after cutting the meringue does not look half as pretty. This time, I made four small Vacherins.

The meringue can be made one day ahead and stored in a dry place.

Meringue:

¼ cup ground hazelnuts

¼ cup ground walnuts

6 large egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ cup superfine sugar

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Topping:

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons vanilla sugar, or 2 tablespoons sugar + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sliced strawberries

1. Lightly toast the hazelnuts and the walnuts in a non-greased pan. Make sure there are no larger pieces in the mix, as they will clog the pastry tip (speaking from experience here). Set aside to cool.

2. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a food-grade pencil, draw 12 circles with a 3.5-inch diameter, leaving at least ½ inch between them.

3. Beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar in a large bowl at medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed and gradually add the superfine sugar, then the confectioners’ sugar. Continue beating until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Fold in the nuts.

4. Place a pastry bag with a plain tip in a large tall glass. Fill the bag with the batter in three batches in order not to overfill. Pipe thick circles onto the prepared baking sheets, starting on the outside and working your way inside in a spiral until the circle is filled. Even out the surface with a knife if necessary.

5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Place the baking sheet on the 2nd and 4th shelf of the oven and bake for 3 hours, or until the meringue is totally dry to the touch and crisp but not colored. Leave the baking sheets in the oven with the doors closed until it has completely cooled down.

6. Take the baking sheets out of the oven. Gently remove the meringue circles from the parchment. Place on a cake rack.

7. Whip the heavy cream with the vanilla sugar. Spread half of it on four meringue circles and arrange sliced strawberries on top. Place a second meringue circle on each and repeat with the remaining cream and strawberries. Place the last meringue circles on top. Serve right away, or refrigerate for a few hours but serve the same day.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Strawberry suspense

| Green Card Gardener

Our first strawberry harvest, and we would have a bumper crop if some animal, or animals, was not taking a bite from almost every ripe strawberry. I am in the middle of a critter war – again.

Every time I try a new deterrent, checking out the strawberries the next day is more suspenseful than watching a thriller. I warily walk down to the strawberry patch, bracing myself for what I am about to find. First I stand there for a few seconds with my eyes closed, then I slowly open my eyes and start looking around.

The amount of Epsom salt I spread around the perimeter of the patch this morning should make the strawberry thieves sneeze so hard we should hear it by the house. But again, if the critters are as keen on the strawberries as I am they might just pinch their noses and continue nibbling.

One way of distracting myself from garden woes is to make something quick and easy from a hassle-free crop. Harvesting those beautiful radishes made me think back to the time when the rabbits could squeeze through the fence and devoured the radish greens down to the ground. So it is again just a question of notching up the defense; maybe it’s time to reconsider a fence around the strawberry patch. Meanwhile I will listen out for the sound of sneezing tonight.

Radish Salmon Spread

8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon milk

3 ounces smoked salmon, finely chopped

1 bunch radishes, finely chopped (about ¾ cup)

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Stir the cream cheese and the milk until smooth. Add the radishes and fold in with a spatula, then fold in the salmon and dill. Season with pepper to taste.

2. Refrigerate. Take out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving.