recipes

Cracker trial

| Green Card Gardener

Baking something that is so readily available is not obvious. But lately I haven’t been able to find our favorite crackers, the Kashi stoneground 7-grain crackers, in stores. Also, the rosemary plant that moved from its winter home in the guestroom to the patio is so full and bushy that not using rosemary often makes me feel guilty each time I walk by and inhale the wonderful scent. And, finally, I had buckwheat flour that needed to be used up, as it does not have a very long shelf life. Three good reasons to try my hand on crackers.

I used solid Amish farmer’s cheese but I doubt it is easily available outside Pennsylvania. Substituting it with well-drained Greek yogurt should work as well. The crackers might just end up a bit moister and might require a tad longer baking and a bit more salt, as Amish farmer’s cheese is saltier than Greek yogurt. I wanted the crackers to be even so I cut them with a ruler but that’s just me being a neatnik… For a more rugged look, just break the sheet in pieces after baking.

Buckwheat Rosemary Crackers

3½ ounces buckwheat flour

3½ ounces rye flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons + 1½ teaspoons cold butter (1¾ ounces)

3 ounces solid farmer’s cheese

1 heaping tablespoon Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons + 1 ½ teaspoons 2% milk (1¾ ounces)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

1. Put the flours, baking powder and salt in the food processor. Dice the butter and the farmer’s cheese and add. Process until the mixture is crumbly.

2. Add the yogurt and milk and process until the dough forms a homogenous mass and sticks together in a ball.

3. Transfer to a bowl and quickly incorporate the rosemary using the tips of your fingers. Do not overwork the dough. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

4. Line a large (14×16 inch) baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust with flour. Roll out the dough directly on the parchment with a floured rolling pin. The dough should fill the entire sheet. You can patch the dough as needed but make sure to smoothen out the sutures.

5. Cut the dough into 1.5-inch squares using a ruler and a sharp knife. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the cold oven. Set the oven to 375 degrees F and bake until the crackers are lightly browned. Depending on the time it takes your oven to reach the set temperature the crackers might already be done at that point (mine were).

6. Transfer the parchment with the crackers onto a cake rack and cool slightly. Break the crackers apart and completely cool on the rack. Store in airtight tin containers.

Makes about 80 crackers

Strawberry patience test

| Green Card Gardener

It made me cringe when I pinched off two handfuls of flower buds from the 70 strawberries I planted in the new patch in April. But that’s what you are supposed to do in order to get stronger plants and a good crop next year. Alas, no strawberries this year! For now I can only dream of Rote Grütze, one of my favorite German desserts. Later in the season I will make it with raspberries, red currants and blueberries. The recipe can be found in my cookbook Spoonfuls of Germany.

The word “Grütze” is anything but appealing in German, meaning something like “grits”. Hence as a kid because I loved the dessert so much but disliked the name, I renamed it “nostalgia pudding”, as it was a very old-fashioned dessert back then. Rote Grütze has since made a huge comeback in Germany and is now available in all types of weird concoctions such as Rote Grütze tea. I stick with the classic.

Vanishing seeds

| Green Card Gardener

As a gardener, you experience all types of failures. What just happened to me with the cucumber, summer squash and Charentais melon seeds qualifies for the funny category although it is also rather annoying, because I started the seeds late already due to cold weather, and now I have to buy seedlings in order to get an early summer crop.

After the seeds showed no sign of germination after more than a week, I put the tray with the jiffy pots in the oven with the light turned on, and a heating pad underneath to speed things up. A big red sign said, “Do not use oven and leave light on”. The oven smelled like a greenhouse but except for a couple of lonely melon seedlings, no results.

So this morning I decided to start all over again, emptying out all the pots and sifting through the soil. I found several melon seeds that had not germinated, I suspect due to lack of heat. But I could not believe my eyes when the rest of the pots contained no seeds whatsoever! Then it dawned on me – one sunny day last week, I had put the tray outside on the patio table, and the birds must have eaten them.

A small consolation: there is still one jar of Golden Zucchini Chutney in the pantry. I made it for the first time last year instead of the Zucchini Relish I usually make. The recipe is adapted from Preserving by Oded Schwartz. We eat the chutney with any type of Indian food.

Golden Zucchini Chutney

3½ pounds golden zucchini

3½ tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon corn oil

3 tablespoons black mustard seeds

1½ tablespoons freshly ground coriander

1 dried medium-hot red chili

1½ tablespoons turmeric

4 large onions, halved I thinly sliced

7 large carrots, peeled and grated

8 ounces candied ginger, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

5 cups apple vinegar

1¾ cups sugar

You also need:

A canning pot, or a very large stockpot

6 1-pint canning jars

6 bands

6 new (unused) lids

1. Cut the squash (do not peel if using organic) in half lengthwise and scrape out any seeds. Cut into ½-inch cubes.

2. Place the squash in a colander and sprinkle with half of the salt. Let stand for one hour. Rinse under cold water and drain well.

4. Heat the oil in a large non-corrosive pot. Add the mustard seeds, coriander and chili and fry until the mustard seeds pop and the spices release their flavors. Add the turmeric and stir.

5. Add the squash with all of the remaining ingredients except the sugar and the remaining salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

6. Add the sugar and salt and simmer for 1 to 1¼ hours, until most of the liquid has disappeared and the chutney as a thick consistency. Remove the chili.

7. Fill into sterilized canning jars and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Let sit for 2 months before opening.

Makes 6 1-pint jars

Blueberry haven

| Green Card Gardener

Because we have a berry farm in the area where you can pick your own, I don’t bother growing blueberries. The place is perfectly organized: on peak days, such as around July 4th, one family member greets you with a walky-talky alerting a second person, who leads you to your assigned spot. This way you don’t have to pace up and down the rows looking for ripe blueberries. One year, I spent 1.5 hours picking from a couple of bushes and came home with almost 20 pounds of blueberries. After we all have our fill, most of the blueberries go right into the freezer.

Today I used the last bag of those blueberries for a Blueberry Corn Coffee Cake. The recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison’s Sweet Corn Coffee Cake with Berries in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Her recipe is based on an 8-inch springform pan but this one is for a 9-inch cake, therefore the amounts are a bit odd. If you use frozen blueberries like I did, bake the cake a few minutes longer, and if it browns too much on top, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Just make sure no ice crystals are clinging to the frozen berries, which might make the cake soggy.

Blueberry Corn Coffee Cake

7¼ ounces flour

3½ ounces yellow cornmeal

5 ounces sugar

2¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

6 ounces buttermilk

3½ ounces sour cream (reduced fat)

Finely grated zest of 1 untreated lemon

2¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2¾ ounces corn oil

2 cups blueberries

Light brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

2. Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, sour cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract, eggs, and corn oil.

4. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until well combined. I find that a silicone spatula works best, as you can scrape over the bottom and pick up any lumps.

5. Fill the dough into the prepared pan. Distribute the blueberries on top and gently press them into the dough. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the rim. Cool completely on a wire rack.