Beautiful Beet Greens

Things are going really well in the Hoophouse; the weather is mild, the chickens are banned, and I'm remembering to water the younger plants. Over the weekend, I hope to really solidify a plan of attack for cold weather. All of my greens, etc... should do just fine as long as I'm sure to give them double coverage throughout the most frigid temperatures. In the meantime, we are definitely taking advantage of the Smorgasbord. Truth be told, I went to an authentic Amish Smorgasbord last Spring in Pennsylvania, and the greens in our Hoophouse have nothing in common with what was going there, and their customers seemed relatively happy about that fact. Plus, it was phenomenally expensive. Anyhow - here's dinner:

Barley Cakes & Beet Greens with Cider Sauce
Barley Cakes:
1 C cooked barley
3 T butter
1/2 small red onion, diced
4-5 Shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 beaten egg
apple cider (I was lucky enough to have access to ginger/echinacea/apple cider !)
dollop mayonnaise
1 T thyme
bread crumbs of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. Saute the onion and mushroom in 1 T of the butter over medium heat, until cooked through. Add to the barley. Beat the egg with the cider and add to the mixture along with the thyme and mayonnaise. Add enough bread crumbs to form cakes, and make sure to dredge more crumbs around the outside, to coat. Pan fry the cakes over medium heat in the remaining butter, and after flipping place pan in oven (or transfer to a cookie sheet if your pan doesn't have a heat proof handle.)

Sauce:
other half red onion diced
1 T whole wheat flour
1 T butter
1/2 C to 1 C apple cider
1 apple, diced
dash cream
salt

While the cakes cook through in the oven, start the sauce by sauteing the onion in the butter, and then making a simple roux by adding the flour, stirring to prevent burning. Add 1/2 cup of cider, and diced apples. Add more cider to thin, and more roux to thicken. Finish with a dash of cream and salt.  Quickly saute the greens in a few tablespoons of cider, removing from the pan before they wilt. Place the greens on a plate, making a bed for the cakes, and finish the whole dish with the cider sauce.

Cheesy Chard Tarts (for Cheaters...)

Recently JP and I found my parents' old bread machine in our storage unit and brought it home. I love the smell of fresh bread, but as I make batches and batches of flatbreads all summer for the Farmers Market, I've been having trouble drumming up the enthusiasm to knead, rise, knead, and rise. Bread machine? Why yes, thank you.
So this morning before work I set it all up to make a whole wheat and molasses bread, delayed perfectly so as to be ready when I got home. The smell alone made it worthwhile. However, I knew that I had added the ingredients erroneously, because in my rush I  began making a regular sized loaf and somewhere in the middle of the process started following the recipe for a large loaf. Oops. Throughout my day I was trying to figure out a rescue mission, like croutons or soup in a bread bowl (albeit a square bowl.). I remembered a recipe that I had seen in a vegetarian cookbook from the library a few months back, where the author made tart shells in a muffin pan using sliced bread flattened with a rolling pin. Why not? And so, I give you what turned out to be a delicious dinner - imagine how good yours will be with correctly made bread!

Cheesy Chard Tarts for Cheaters
6 slices whole wheat bread, with crusts cut off & rolled out flat
2 - 3 T butter
4 T goat cheese
half handful shredded parmesan cheese
half handful shredded gruyere cheese (or whatever is in your fridge)
1 large bunch Swiss chard
dash soy sauce
balsamic vinaigrette (or 1 T maple syrup & 1 T balsamic vinegar)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease a popover pan or large muffin pan with butter. Gently push a slice of flattened bread into each cup, while keeping it centered - if using a muffin pan, you might be able to cut your slices in half first. Place in the oven for 8 -10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Chop the chard stems roughly and add to the pan, cooking and stirring for about 7 minutes. Shred the chard leaves and quickly saute them with the cooked stems, adding a dash of soy sauce towards the end. Remove from heat and toss with either 2 T dressing or the maple syrup and vinegar. Fill the bottom 1/4 of each 'tart shell' with goat cheese and return to oven for a few minutes. Fill the remainder of the shell with chard mixture and top with shredded cheese. Return to oven long enough to melt the cheese. Serve warm. These would be awesome with lentil soup!
Beware - we also found a Snackmaster sandwich maker and a Coney Island hot dog steamer, so who knows what recipes (for greens) lurk...

Greens for Breakfast

   I just returned home last night from a hectic weekend in Boston, working as a second shooter for my friend Katie at a gorgeous Wellesley wedding. At the horticulture center, no less! However, photographing plant life was not exactly on the shot list, although I did get a boutonniere or two (very beautiful, Calla lilies...)

   Needless to say, my body hurts, both from driving and carrying camera equipment for many hours. I came home to messages about granola shortages (oh my!) and a chicken who was trying to roost in the pen instead of the coop. Katie fed me Halloween candy, which is not exactly brain food. Okay, maybe it wasn't a force feeding, and her husband also made a ridiculously good dinner, and she even leaves water by my bedside. However, I feel almost hungover from my experience, and I'm in need of a long walk and greens for breakfast!

Luckily, most stores around here sell frozen Myer's Bagels (local, Montreal style wood-fired bagels) if you can't make it to their shop in Burlington. So good! I toasted a sesame bagel I found in the freezer, and had it alongside scrambled eggs with mushrooms and goat cheese, as well as greens from the hoophouse tossed with homemade Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette that I always keep on hand.

Emulsified Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 T mustard of your choice (I like grainy or Dijon)

2 T maple syrup (luckily JP's dad keeps us supplied - yum!)

dash salt

1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

pulse in blender, then add in a slow steady stream while blending:

3/4 C olive oil

adding the oil slowly guarantees the emulsification process (not oily and separated, but the thick and creamy dressing that I require.) Feel free to add a clove of minced garlic or a shallot at the beginning for extra flavor.

Now I'm off for that walk!

Sod Farmers

I have tried Lasagna Gardening in the past, and maybe my beds/layers were never deep enough, but I always had renegade grass coming up and competing with my vegetables. Pulling out those clumps and blades has been a hateful task! Right now I'm in the process of establishing new beds for next year, and am dutifully eradicating the existing grass. I think this grass is so hardy and deep rooted because it has to be to survive in our dense clay.

The chickens always come running whenever I pull out a shovel, hoe, or any other dirt turner. The buffet is open, Ladies. In fact, it makes my job all the harder when they are underfoot; they're not quite bright enough to understand 'blunt force trauma' - they even chase my pruning saw around! Usually, I put them back in their pen if they're at risk of getting hurt, but their pen has just been a mud floor since August and they find it quite boring. Yesterday, JP suggested that I lay down the sod I was digging in the chicken yard. They love it!