Berry Tart tonight

Low fat tart crust?  You must be kidding! In the interest of eating well while staying healthy, I've been searching for low-fat dessert options all summer.  We continue to have an abundance of berries which I have to admit do lend themselves to yummy shortbreads, scones, and rich butter crusts.  But, I have chosen to avoid butter like the plague.  I love the taste of butter and the flakey pastry crusts it makes, so coming up with a substitute has not been easy.  We've eaten several dry, tough tart shells.  However, I think I'm now headed in the right direction.  The last crust I made was tasty and certainly lower in fat than those I made "in the old days".  This crust was made with graham crackers and walnuts.  One tablespoon of melted butter was used to add flavor. I happened to have chocolate graham crackers in my pantry, so that's what I used.  I think it worked.  For the filling I drained and sweetened vanilla yogurt.  It was non-fat and tasted just right in combination with the berries.

Low-fat Tart Crust

2 cups of toasted walnuts
1 cup of crushed graham crackers
1 egg
1 TBSP melted butter
1 TBSP oil
Pinch of salt

Pulse walnuts and graham crackers in food process until finely ground, add pinch of salt.  Whisk together egg, butter and oil.  Add to crumbs and pulse until the mixture comes together.  Press onto the bottom and sides of a tart pan.  Bake at 325F until firm and slightly browned - about 12+ minutes.  Allow to cool before filling.

Simple Berry Tart

Filling:  3 cups of nonfat vanilla yogurt, drained
            2 - 3 TBSP sugar

            Assorted berries, washed and cut into uniform peices
            Sugar for sprinkling on top

Using cheese cloth or a coffee filter, drain about 3 cups of vanilla yogurt  (my favorite is locally made Nancy's Organic Vanilla) until it is thick, somewhere between sour cream and cream cheese.  This may take a few hours.  When the yogurt is thick enough to hold it's shape in the tart shell, sweeten it with sugar.  Spread in the cooled shell and top with berries.  Sprinkle sugar on the top.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  We found that this tart was better the second day.

Not totally nonfat, but totally good.

Oh, baby, beans!

Baby beans tonight - I picked our first grean beans today, Blue Lake bush beans.  For the past several years Reyn has grown a pole bean variety called Fortex. He set up two large orchard ladders with a trellis between them and twine to support the runners.  They were prolific, delicious, and beautiful.  The first year that we used this system he planted 16' of beans.  Last year he pared it down to 8' of beans. He always saves seeds from our plants for the next year.  We usually have so many beans that we are unable to eat all of them over the winter.  I still have at least a dozen packages of last year's beans in the freezer.

This year, due to our new plan to have a year-round garden, the beans were not planted until the garlic came out of the ground - in July.  We didn't have space left in the garden for the pole arrangement, so we compromised with Blue Lake Bush beans. They have grown well, apparently happy with the soil vacated by the garlic, and now we have  tender, delicate baby beans.  My harvest for tonight's dinner consisted of beans,  patty pan squash, a nice cucumber, small walla walla sweet onions, and basil.  For a little protein I added a fillet of wild silver salmon.

Menu:  Grilled Salmon with a Lemon/Basil Pesto Sauce
             Patty Pan Squash Grilled with Assorted Fresh Herbs
             Sauteed Baby Green Beans with lemon
             Sweet Onions glazed with Pomegranate Molasses
             Salad of sliced cucumbers and onions

Patty Pan Squash- I simply washed and quartered the squash, tossed them with a little olive oil, then added chopped fresh herbs and some salt.  Reyn grilled them in a grill basket along side the salmon.  Both took about 11 minutes to cook.

Sauteed Baby Green Beans with Lemon - Heat a small saute pan with 1 TBS of lemon infused olive oil, add beans and saute about 2 minutes.  Add 2 TBS water and cook for 4 - 5 minutes longer.  Sprinkle with lemon zest, salt, and pepper.

Sweet Onions, glazed with pomegranate molasses - Steam or parboil small sweet onions.  Just before serving heat 1 TBS. olive oil in a saute pan.  Add onions and saute until lightly browned.  Add 2 TBS white wine and 2 TBS pomegranate molasses.  Continue to cook, shaking the pan from time to time until the onions are nicely caramelized and coated with the glaze.  Season with salt and pepper - you may want to add just a touch of sugar.

Grilled Salmon with Lemon/Basil Pesto Sauce -  Rub the salmon lightly with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  Grill for about 10 min. per 1" of thickness.  Top with Pesto Sauce.

Lemon/Basil Pesto -  In a food processor combine 1 cup of fresh basil leaves, juice and zest of one lemon, 2 TBS of pine nuts, and about 1/3 cup of olive oil.  Process until combined, but not completely smooth.  Add 1/4 tsp of salt.
                                                  
I had never made pesto with lemon in it before, but thought it would compliment the fish.  It did, indeed.  I left out the parmesan and used less oil.  The finished product with very nice and went well with the grilled salmon.              

Garden Update

Feels like Fall this morning - I can't believe that I just typed that. It's a beautiful cool, sunny morning. Just two days ago it was blazing hot and I was uncomfortable.  It's not hot today, and somehow it just feels different.  I'm not ready for this to end.  The summer seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye.  I've had a great time, but I'm not yet ready to give it up. Neither is the garden.   I've mentioned again and again what a strange year this has been for our vegetable garden.  Everything has been slower to mature and much later than previous years.  Normally we would be inundated with produce by now, the tomato cages  hidden and  leaning over from the abundant weight of their fruit. Not this year. While we are eating plenty of good fresh produce every day, I have not yet felt overwhelmed by the volume, nor have I had excess to put away for winter.  I'd call this our leisure garden.  Pick a little, eat a little, pull a few weeds.  Not bad, really.

The tomatoes have just begun to ripen in the past week.  We are eating Sweet Millions, and Sun Golds daily, and Early Girls as they ripen.  There are plenty of tomatoes on the vine, yet to come, so I anticipate having enough to roast for the freezer - just not yet.  We have three different summer squash plants growing: a Patty Pan, a light green zucchini, and a round french courgette.  The courgette is my favorite, but patty pan has thus far out paced it for production.  Just how many ways can you cook a patty pan squash?  I'm working on it, but not many recipes can beat simply tossing the squash on the grill.

We are now harvesting cucumbers, something I have been looking forward to for months.  Our cuke plants were really slowed down by the cold wet weather we had earlier in the summer.  I was afraid that the wouldn't produce at all.  Fortunately, they are now up to speed and I am eating cukes at nearly every meal.  I love them when they are young, tender and crisp; eaten moments after being plucked from the vine.  What could be better than tender cucumbers, sliced along with fresh warm tomatoes, adorned with just a splash of vinaigrette and a sprinkling of salt?  Maybe the addition of  a little shredded basil and a few pine nuts.  Oh, I do love summer.

Smashed Potatoes - French style

A thunder storm was moving in quickly as I dashed through the garden just before dinner tonight. We had been kayaking down the river all afternoon and I hadn't given much thought to meal planning other than the grilling of two chicken sausages.  It was beginning to rain as I finished making my selection.  Lots of swiss chard - again-  one baby cucumber, a handful of sungold tomatoes, a lovely onion, a pinch of basil, then a few potatoes from the cellar.  I chose Yukon Gold, the ones that grew next to the compost pile.  They were large, smooth, blemish free, and very crisp.  My plan was beginning to form.  I added one head of garlic, still drying in the garden shed.  This time I chose Nootka Rose, a variety that we had not tried before. 

The tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and basil became a sweet little salad dressed with vinaigrette. I used the potatoes to make one of my favorites, a recipe I learned 10 years ago when my daughter, Rebecca, took me to La Varenne, a cooking school in Burgundy for my 50th birthday.  We spent one full week cooking and eating, and eating, and eating, until we could barely move.  Our curriculum included daily ventures to local restaurants for demonstrations from the chef, followed by generous samples of the lesson.  One of my favorites was a simple Smashed Potato dish, French style.  Here is my adaptation of the recipe.  The original was paired with a luscious sauteed foie gras, something I enjoyed, but could not now allow myself to eat.

Simple Smashed Potatoes, with garlic

Wash and cut into chunks, several Yukon Gold potatoes,

Cover them with water and bring to a boil.  When the potatoes are
tender, drain them, then return to the warm burner and allow them
to dry out.   Heat several tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan,
add 2 cloves of slivered garlic.  When the oil becomes hot, add
the potatoes and cook, smashing with a fork to obtain and uneven

mash.  The potatoes will become slightly browned.  Add additional

oil if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  I also added snipped

chives.

Fingerling Potatoes

The potato harvest has begun - Last year Reyn casually threw in the ground some old potatoes that had started to sprout.  From that meager beginning we harvested over 50 pounds of potatoes. It was a total surprise.  This year he approached it more seriously.  He made a trip to our local garden store, Down to Earth, and selected 4 varieties to plant:  Adirondak Blue, Norkota, Yukon Gold, and an unlabeled Fingerling potato.

Traditionally, potatoes are planted on St. Patty's Day.  Our's went in the ground on March 24th.  They were planted about 4" deep and 18" apart.  Potatoes require reasonably fertile soil that is loose and well drained.  They also seem to do quite well in the compost pile, which really has no soil at all, but is very loose and rich in nutrients.  Every year we are surprised by one or two plants that appear there.

This year's compost harvest

 Early in the season Reyn planted a lettuce border around the perimeter of the potato bed.  We had far more lettuce than we could eat so he ended up allowing it to grow tall and shade the potato plants.  We are now wondering if the close proximity of the lettuce roots may have reduced the number of potatoes produced.  This year's harvest was about 40 pounds.  We have yet to try the Norkota or Adriondak Blues, but I can report that the fingerlings are delicious.  My son, Tyler, likes to grill these little potatoes.  Here is his recipe.


Tyler's Grilled Fingerlings

Slice the desired number of potatoes in half lengthwise
Toss with olive oil
Season with salt, pepper, chili, oregano, and whatever suits you
Place on hot grill and turn until cooked through and nicely browned on the outside.  May take about 15 minutes.

They are soft in the middle and crisp on the outside.  Very nice with barbecue or grilled meat, fish, or chicken.

Garden Update

When the garden gives you chard - This has been and interesting and unusual garden year for us, not entirely what we expected.  We started the garden very early after being blessed with mild weather in February and March.  We produced abundant crops of salad greens and the like, then were hit with our more typical Oregon weather in late May and throughout June; namely, cool wet weather. That's when things slowed down. It is also about the time we decided to go on a three week vacation.  The idea was that we'd ride out the wet weather in a more agreeable locale, then come home just in time for summer.  It was a great plan, and we had a fabulous time, but I'm afraid that the garden suffered from the neglect.  In hindsight . . . . . . .  I'd do it again in a minute.

So, our garden seems to be a little slow to produce this summer.  More specifically, that means that we do not have the overflow of ripe tomatoes, zucchini, and beans that we usually have at this time.  What we do have is a much more manageable flow of fresh produce.  Reyn has also been using the garden space differently than in the past.  He has been planting crops successively with the goal of producing food for us year round.  He has just planted tiny baby lettuce and spinach plants, which will be eaten in the fall and winter.  We are enjoying our garden in a new, really,  more civilized way.  Our tomatoes are just now beginning to ripen, we are picking two or three squash each day, and finally, the cucumbers are beginning. We have plenty of carrots, beets, onions, and enough chard to feed an army.  We are eating chard everyday.  Not quite breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but close.  Tonight I made a salad of grated carrots, beets, and scallions on a bed of shredded chard.  It was a very nice combination.  Because I was using the fresh, uncooked, chard leaves, I selected only tender young leaves.  I have really come to enjoy raw carrots, beets, and chard.  I hope you like it, too.

Carrot and Beet Salad on Swiss Chard

1 carrot, grated
1 beet, grated
1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 bunch of chard leaves, stem removed, then sliced
2 TBS roasted sunflower seeds
vinaigrette dressing with sesame oil added

In a large bowl mix grated carrot, beet, and scallion.  Toss with about 2 TBS of dressing.  In a separate bowl toss chard leaves with dressing - just enough to lightly cover the leaves.  Arrange the chard on individual salad plates, then top with the dressed carrots and beets.  Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.  Salt and pepper to taste.  For this salad I mixed the carrots and beets together.  As you can see, the beet juice stained the carrots, creating a subtle jewel-toned salad.

Glorious Garlic

Judging Garlic - Now that the garlic has been harvested I have been given the task of sampling each of the different varieties, cataloging their traits, and determining which ones we want to plant again.

They have not yet completed the drying process and are hanging in the garden shed.  I've been using the fresh garlic in my cooking, but haven't really paid much attention to what type it was.  Unlike the dried garlic we are used to, fresh is crisp and juicy inside.  It doesn't peel quite as easily since it has not fully dried, but the aroma and taste are wonderful.

Yesterday I decided to try the Purple Italian Easy Peel.  As you can see from the photo, the skin is a beautiful light purple color.  The cloves are a nice workable size, large, but not oversized.  I decided to simply roast this head of garlic with some fresh herbs from my garden.  I cut the head in half, horizontally, drizzled it with a little olive oil, sprinkled it with a touch of sea salt, then wrapped it in foil and baked it at 425F for about 35 minutes. The aroma was out of this world.  When the garlic was done I served it with fresh Rosemary Bread for a delightful appetizer.  We simply used a small knife to lift out the soft fragrant cloves and spread them on the bread.  So easy, and so good.