The Rocky Mountain Locavore: Gardening, Cooking, Eating and Drinking in Wyoming

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Cody, Wyoming

Every gardener has their complaints about the weather and how it thwarts their best efforts to grow as much variety as possible. My sister has challenges with the weather occasionally being too cool to ripen tomatoes in her mild Sonoma County wine country climate. 100 miles away, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, we complain that the summers are often so hot in August that all of our summer vegetables stop producing for a time. However, very few gardeners face the climactic challenges that my friends Laurie and Tom faced when they moved from Sacramento, California to Cody, Wyoming. Our recent visit there was a lesson in resiliency in growing and eating locally.

Cody is in USDA zone 4, with an average annual winter extreme low temperature of minus 20 degrees. Their last frost date in the Spring is sometime in mid-May, and the first frost is sometime in mid-September, giving them a growing season of a maximum of about 4 months for any frost sensitive fruits and vegetables. Historically, freak freezing temperatures have been recorded at least once for every month of the year except July. Dry winds blow much of the time, and the humidity is extremely low. These are challenging conditions for a gardener.

This is the spot where our friends grew their outdoor garden last year. The garden was tilled and ready to plant when we arrived on May 6.

The Wyoming garden plot ready to be planted

While we were there my husband Adrian helped Tom plant some onions. The potatoes and garlic were already in the ground in another spot. The garlic had been planted in the fall where it had been growing under a thick layer of mulch.

When you are fond of Mediterranean climate foods, sometimes you get creative in an attempt to grow your favorite treats. Here is Tom in the greenhouse and yes, in addition to the tomatoes, strawberries, and artichokes, those are fig trees in the greenhouse.

Watering the plants in the greenhouse

The strawberries from the greenhouse were the sweetest strawberries I have ever eaten. So far, the indoor fig harvest has been small.  They planted just about every variety they could find, and this year the trees with the largest fruit set are: Peter’s Honey, Tarantella, Chicago Hardy, Desert King and Neverella. They will transplant the artichokes to the garden soon.

They are still debating whether to keep the tomatoes in the greenhouse all summer or try to move them out to the garden at some point. Last year, the tomatoes were in the garden when they had an early freeze in the beginning of September so they had to pull up all of the plants with the tomatoes attached, hang them in the barn, and gradually pick the tomatoes from the plants as they ripened. They also enjoyed plenty of fried green tomatoes.

You may remember my last post about my measly bean harvest shown below:

My sad little bean harvest from last year

Faced with my own bean-growing disabilities despite living in the “fruit and vegetable capitol of the United States”,  their dried bean harvest was awe-inspiring to me. This is what they had left this spring after eating their home-grown beans for much of the winter:

Wyoming heirloom bean harvest

Take a look at all the varieties of heirloom beans they were able to grow in Wyoming:

Vermont Cranberry

Tiger Eye

Scarlet Runner

Mitla

Marfax

Limelight Lima

King of the Early

Kinearly

Jacob’s Cattle

Gaucho

Cannelini

Agate Pinto

All of the beans above are bush beans. They also grew one type of pole bean successfully:

Gold of Bacau Pole Bean

Most of the bean seeds were purchased from Fedco seeds .

They also grew an unusual type of garbanzo bean that you can pop:

Hannan pop garbanzo bean

One evening we enjoyed the Pizza Tom cooked in the wood-fired brick oven.

Tom loading pizza into the brick oven.

Pizza in the wood fired brick oven

After the pizza was cooked beans were put in the still hot oven.

Laurie uses a bean pot for the beans. She covers the beans with about 2 inches of water and bakes them in the covered pot in the brick oven until the beans are tender.

Bean pot in the brick oven.

The Marfax beans were cooked simply this way, with minimal seasonings. They were delicious reheated and served the next day with tortillas and salsa.

Wood oven roasted Marfax beans

They also used the brick oven for baking bread several times while we were there.

Chickens are also being raised for both meat and eggs.

Laurie feeding the chickens

In California, I have been on mushroom hunts in the North Coast, and everyone is lusting after the elusive King Boletes, otherwise known as Porcini mushrooms. Collecting even one of these mushrooms in considered a prize. Laurie and Tom have found fields of boletes while riding or hiking in the hills of Wyoming. These were harvested and dried and stored for later use.

Dried Wyoming King Boletes mushrooms

The boletes made a great sauce for some delicious local lamb one evening for dinner. Locally grown lettuce for salad and home-grown potatoes which had been stored over the winter completed the meal. After dinner the lambs are also a source of entertainment.

“Little Richard” the baby lamb

Mama lamb thinks baby is a pillow

Prior to moving to Wyoming, Tom made some killer red wines from California Zinfandel and Barbera grapes.  Unfortunately, grapes do not grow well in Zone 4, so his grape fermentation projects were put to a halt. Adhering to the code of eating locally, he continued to ferment grains, which grow well in Wyoming. Fermented grains are beer, and Tom has made some great batches of beer over the years. However, recently he decided to take it to the next level, by opening a licensed distillery and using locally grown wheat to make spirits.

The distillery

The silos to the left of the distillery hold the locally grown wheat which is fermented in open top fermentation tanks.

Fermenting wheat

The wheat mash is then pumped into the still.

The mash inside of the still

Here is a photo of Tom with the American made still, purchased from Vendome. in Kentucky. As the mash heats, the volatilized alcohol rises up the tall distillation column in the back of the still.

Tom and the still

The condensed distillate is then separated by Tom into 3 categories, heads, hearts and tails, in the tank shown below. The decision of what constitutes the “hearts”, which is the final product, is the art and science of the master distiller.

The separation tank with the three sections for heads, hearts and tails

The final spirit is then siphoned into oak barrels for aging. Here you can see Tom topping off the barrels with a funnel. Note that the spirit is completely clear when added to the barrel. The golden color of aged distilled spirits such as whisky is imparted into the product during the barrel aging process.

Siphoning whisky into the barrel

Finally, the barrels are stored in a barrel house for aging.

The Barrel House

While we were there, some of the first batches of Single Track Spirits all wheat whisky were fermented, distilled, siphoned into oak barrels and tucked away in the barrel house.

The first 7 barrels of Single Track Spirits Wheat Whisky safely tucked into the barrel house

I returned home from Wyoming to my own gardening challenges. The branches of the apricot trees that had a promising fruit set on them looked like this when I returned.

Dead apricot branch

It looks like I will go without apricots again this year. However, our citrus trees seem to have experienced a substantial fruit set, and the lemon branch looked like this when I looked at it today.

Lemon branch: Each one of those green nubbins will eventually be a lemon

I thought of my friends in Wyoming, who have managed to eat locally despite their numerous climactic challenges. Eating locally means using what you have and using it well. In my case it reminds me of the old adage:  “When you have lemons, make lemonade.”  In the case of  the resilient Wyoming Locavore, you might substitute: “When you have wheat, make whisky” !

Heirloom Beans

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An exciting development in California has been the growth of the “heirloom bean” industry. Look beyond the standard grocery store, and you will find you are no longer limited to pinto beans, kidney beans, white navy beans, lentils and split peas. Farmers markets, specialty food stores and online retailers now offer dozens of varieties of beans, with unique tastes and flavor characteristics that bring real excitement to cooking with this humble food. Even Thomas Keller of the world-famous French Laundry restaurant has a special variety of bean he purchases from Rancho Gordo.

While the price of many “heirloom” foods is dear (5 dollar tomatoes, 100 dollar Thanksgiving Turkeys etc.) heirloom beans are an affordable luxury. At 5 dollars or so per pound, they are more expensive than your standard kidney beans, but in terms of overall value for the food dollar they are a bargain. A 5 dollar bag of beans can make a hearty main dish for at least 4 people, with as much protein as 3 ounces of meat for each person. And the protein from beans has a much lower carbon footprint than animal protein as well.

In terms of the labor involved in growing these beans, I can assure you, they are an amazing bargain at this price.  I tried growing some heirloom beans this summer, and after 5 months of tending the trailing vines I ended up with a small handful of beans. They were hard to shell too. Here is what I ended up with:

I am thankful to the passionate farmers who are keeping these rare varieties of beans alive so that we can enjoy them. I am afraid that my bean growing skills might lead these rare varieties to become extinct!

Once you see the beautiful array of colors, and taste the unique flavors, you realize these new heirloom beans are “not your grandmother’s beans”.  The first time I had my current favorite,The Good Mother Stallard Beans, from Ranch Gordo, I was taken aback by the rich meaty flavor and I just had to have more. I wanted to learn more about heirloom beans so I decided to make a trip to their store in Napa to see for myself what they had to offer. I had a great little visit, poking around the store, asking the friendly employees lots of questions, looking at the cool bean cooking pots they had, trying to set a limit on how much I should take home. The beans were all so pretty and all so different it was hard to say no to any of them.

I left the store with the following bounty in my bag:

I plan to cook all these beans in a simple manner so that I can truly appreciate the complexities of flavor associated with these different varieties.  Most heirloom beans are so fresh, you do not need to soak them before cooking.  I have also found that because they are so fresh, they tend to have less of the gassy producing indigestible carbohydrates in them. I really have had no problems with bloating and gas with the heirloom bean varieties I have tried. I usually limit the amount of garlic and onions I prepare with the beans and I think that helps as well.

As you can imagine, I was biting at the bit to dig into those Good Mother Stallard beans.

This is what those beauties looked like when I took them out of the bag:

This is my general bean cooking recipe that I plan to use for all of these heirloom bean varieties. Always wash the beans and remove all stones or other grit before using them.

For a small batch for 2 put 1/2 pound of the beans in a pot and cover them well with water. The water should be about 2 inches above the beans. Add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 bay leaf, a pinch of sage, 1 clove of garlic thinly sliced and 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Bring the beans to a boil, then cover them and simmer on the lowest possible heat. Check them every 15 minutes or so, and add more water if necessary. The beans should always be well covered with water. After about an hour or so, begin checking the beans by tasting one to see if the texture is soft. Once they are cooked all the way through, turn off the heat and they are ready to serve.

You can do a quick soak method as an alternative, and this may remove even more of the gas-producing compounds in the beans. Bring them to a boil, then turn off the heat and let them sit for an hour. Pour off that water, add fresh water and the other seasonings and cook them as noted above.

Behold, the unadorned Good Mother Stallard bean in all her glory. A simple food, and simply delicious.

Nutrition tips: Legumes, which include dried beans and peas, are an important component of the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet. A variety of legumes are served simply as a side dish or used  to make spreads such as hummus or white bean puree, added to soups and stews, or served cold in salads. The California Mediterranean diet includes the traditional Mediterranean varieties and uses of legumes, but also includes the varieties of beans and flavors of the New World, including Latin and South America. In these agrarian cultures beans and legumes have served as an inexpensive source of protein, iron, calcium and other vitamins and minerals. Legumes are also an excellent source of soluble fiber, which can lower cholesterol and blood glucose levels, and it is likely this has contributed to the health benefits associated with the Mediterranean diet.

Roasted broccoli soup with cheddar crisps

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When you grow a garden it sometimes seems that all the vegetables or fruits become ripe at one time. Anyone who has grown tomatoes or zucchini in the summer is familiar with this predicament. For many of us, this is the time to can, freeze, dry, or in some other way preserve the bounty of our harvest. The winter garden can be just as singularly prolific: broccoli raab one week, kale the next, broccoli after that.

If this head of broccoli sits on the plant too long it will go to flower and will no longer be edible.

Certainly one can eat the same vegetable night after night for dinner, and believe me, we do.  We have had roasted broccoli for dinner at least 4 nights in the past week.  However, a little variety is always appreciated, and nothing uses up a windfall of vegetables like soup. Since I like the sweetness that comes to broccoli when it is roasted, I decided to try a roasted broccoli soup, and I was quite happy with the results. Admittedly the color was not quite as fresh and green as a soup made with fresh broccoli, but the subtle sweet flavor made up for the army fatigue hue and a nice crispy yellow cheddar garnish helped to brighten up the color and boost the flavor.

The broccoli can be cut up into very large pieces for this recipe. No need to be very particular about it as it will be blended up into the soup at the end.

For 4 cups of cut up broccoli which should make 4 generous servings you will also need:

¼ of a large or ½ of a small onion cut into rough chunks

2 whole cloves of garlic peeled

1 small or ½ large potato,  peeled

2 Tablespoon of California extra virgin olive oil

32 ounces of chicken broth.

For the cheddar crisps have ready 4-6 ounces of low-fat cheddar cheese for the above recipe quantities.

Start by roasting the broccoli, onion and garlic.  Pour 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a roasting dish, add the broccoli, the onion and the garlic and mix it around with your hand until it is all coated with the oil. Then bake it in a 400 degree oven, stirring once every 5 minutes, until it is lightly caramelized and browned. This should take about 20 minutes.

As you can see the broccoli, onion and garlic above have some nice caramelized color to them which will give some great flavor to the soup.

While the broccoli is roasting, chop your potatoes in some large rough chunks. No need to be too particular about it as they will also be blended up into the soup.

Once the broccoli is cooked add it to the pot along with the potato pieces and the chicken broth.

Broccoli, potatoes, onions and garlic in the pot with chicken broth.

Now bring the whole mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer until the vegetables are very soft.

While the soup is cooking, make the cheddar crisp garnish. Following this link to my recipe and directions for the cheddar crisps. After they are made and cooled break them into rough pieces to use as the garnish.

Crumbled Cheddar Crisps

Once the soup is cooked thoroughly, which should take about 20 minutes or more, it will need to be pureed. I did this with my new Vita-Mix Blender which was a Christmas gift from my son and my husband.

Roasted broccoli soup in my new Vita-Mix blender

Wow, did it make the soup smooth and creamy! I started the blender on a low speed, then gradually ramped up to the higher speed and it sounded like an airplane taking off!

If you use a regular blender jar, make sure to cool the soup a bit before blending it and leave an opening in the top for the air to get out or it will explode on you! Another good way to puree soup is to use and immersion blender. You just place it in the pot and puree the soup right there.

This is the soup in a bowl after being pureed.

After you puree the soup you will need to heat it back up before you serve it. You should also add salt and pepper to taste at this point. If you like a creamier soup you can add milk, or half and half or cream. However, I tried that and found that I preferred this more full flavored version without any dilutions.

Serve the soup piping hot in a bowl with the cheddar crisps crumbled over the top right before serving.

Roasted Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Crisps

Cheese Crisps

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This is a one ingredient recipe that became my son’s favorite after school treat. Cheese crisps started as a simple piece of cheese melted in the microwave, and progressed to an art form and a source of debate in our household in in terms of what kind of cheese, how long it should be cooked, what to cook it on, etc. Cheese crisps are a  fun “make it yourself” after school snack for kids or a tasty little appetizer. They are a great way to use little bits of leftover cheese. Cheese crisps can also be crumbled and used as a fancy garnish for salads and soups.

The general premise is that if you take a piece of cheese and heat it in the microwave, first it will melt, then it will become bubbly and finally it will get crispy. During this process some of the fat will also melt out of the cheese. You will end up with a reduced fat piece of crispy cheese goodness. How can you go wrong with that?

I have tried this with almost every type of cheese possible. The lower the fat content of the cheese, the more it will puff up and become crispy prior to becoming brown. The higher fat or more moist cheeses may need to be cooked until they are quite brown before they will become crisp, so they take a bit longer. Every microwave will cook at a different rate too, so you will just need to experiment with this one.

I used a  75 percent reduced fat Cabot cheddar cheese.  I obtained the cheese from Trader Joe’s.  It works great for this recipe as it puffs up and becomes super crispy due to the low fat content.

Start by cutting a piece of parchment paper about 5 inches square.

Cut a piece of cheese about 1/4 inch thick. This piece was about 1 1/2 inches wide by 3 1/2  inches long. 1 to 1 1/2 ounces is about the maximum amount of cheese you should use and 2 inches is about the maximum width I would recommend for the narrowest side. You can also make this recipe with a 1 ounce pile of grated cheese. Put the cheese on the parchment and place it in the microwave.

Set the time for 2 minutes on full power and turn the microwave on. WATCH CAREFULLY!  It takes our microwave between 1 to 1 1/2 minutes for the cheese to be fully crisped up and ready. First it will melt, then it will start to get bubbly.

The cheese above is melted and starting to get crispy. This cheese was low fat so it cooked in 70 seconds and was crispy before it became brown. The cheese crisps up as it cools so when you first take it out of the oven it may not be crispy, but in a minute or two it will crisp up. If it is not to your liking you can alway cook it a few more seconds.

This is how the cheese looked when it was finished cooking.

Here are pictures of a much higher fat and higher moisture content cheese: Laura Chenel Chevre (Fresh Goat Cheese). It was so soft I was surprised that I could cook this one to a crispy texture. I had to sort of smash the cheese together into a mass on the paper:

With soft cheeses especially it is important to use an ounce or less, or the cheese will not get cooked in the middle. This is the cheese halfway cooked, after about 40 seconds.

This is the finished goat cheese crisp.

As you will see from the picture, a lot of moisture and oil was left on the parchment and the surface of the cheese when it was finished cooking. Just blot the fat and moisture off with a paper towel.

After they have cooled for a minute or so, take the cheese crisps off the parchment and place them on a plate and you are ready to reuse the parchment paper over and over again.

When all your crisps are finished, you can pile them on a plate to serve. Try several different cheeses and serve as an accompaniment to a cocktail or a glass of wine.                                             Goat Cheese and Cheddar Crisps

Pasta with broccoli raab and sausage

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Broccoli raab (also called rapini) is a member of the brassica family.  The brassica family includes some of the more common vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprouts. Through our gardening adventures we have found that even the brassicas grown for their leaves, such as kale and mustard greens, will eventually form small heads that look like miniature broccoli before they go to flower. Usually once they are at this stage the greens and heads have become quite bitter and are past their prime. However in the case of broccoli raab, although in this picture it looks like a miniature head of broccoli, both the tender leaves and the small flower buds can be eaten.

Raw Broccoli Raab

Broccoli raab has a touch of bitterness, but there is also a unique nutty component to the flavor.  When it is sauteed, the robust flavor makes it a great accompaniment to grilled meats. Once we tried it, everyone in our family was hooked, so we decided to grow it in the garden this year. In our part of California, broccoli raab and other brassicas are primarily winter vegetables, so we planted it in early fall. It is easy to grow, the seed came up in a very short time, and once it was large enough to eat (but before it developed the yellow flowers) we harvested the tops and small leaves by cutting them with scissors and got another crop within a week or so. We cut these, and got a third crop and by then the plants were about spent.  So the fall planting is reaching the end of the harvest stage, and has now become entertainment for the wild bee population. However, we planted another batch and hope to get a harvest before the summer heat sets in.

As a simple side dish, I like to boil the broccoli raab and then saute it, in the same manner that I make my sauteed chard. However, it can also be used to make a delicious pasta main dish. One thing I love about this recipe is that it is a one dish meal.  It is also a versatile recipe as it can be made with broccoli raab or chard or other hearty greens.

For a batch to serve 4 use about 4 cups of chopped broccoli raab (This may be 2-3 bunches if the bunches in the stores are small). Other ingredients include 2 cloves garlic, ½ of a large onion, 1-2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, about 16-20 ounces of organic chicken broth and 4 chicken or turkey spicy Italian sausage (I like Trader Joe’s brand). Alternatively you can use 12-16 ounces of bulk Italian Sausage.  I often use diestel brand which is a lower fat, locally produced product.

If you are a vegetarian you can skip the sausage (or use one of the excellent vegetarian sausages on the market) and use vegetable broth.

Sauce ingredients: Spicy Italian Sausage, Garlic, Onion and Organic Chicken broth

Finally, you need enough pasta for 4 people (about 8 ounces dry, you can read the label for serving size information). I usually use whole grain pasta, and for this recipe I used a whole grain rigatoni from Trader Joe’s.

I also used 4 large pieces of slightly stale levain bread from Acme Bread and another Tablespoon of olive oil to make the toasted bread crumb garnish. Any firm artisan style sourdough bread can be used to make the toasted bread crumb garnish, but you can also skip the bread crumb garnish and use grated dry cheese such as parmigiano, pecorino romano or a local dry jack cheese instead.

If the broccoli raab is a bit mature, break off the flower buds and leaves.

Breaking off the leaves from the tough stem

Discard the largest, toughest stems.

Stems to be discarded

Chop the buds, leaves and smaller stems coarsely.

Chopping the broccoli raab

Broccoli Raab ready to be cooked.

 Crush the cloves of garlic with the back of a cleaver to loosen the skins, then remove the skins and slice them thinly.

Thinly sliced garlic

Remove the skin from the onion and slice it thinly.

Thinly sliced onion

I find the casing of sausages to be a bit tough. If the sausage has a casing that is thick and therefore easily removed, you can remove it before cooking the sausage. However, this is optional.  To do this slice through the sausage casing lengthwise.

Slicing through sausage casing.

Then remove the casing from the sausage.

Peeling casing from sausage

Slice the sausage in half, then cut the halves into slices about ½ inch thick.

Sliced sausage

If you use bulk sausage, it can just be crumbled into the pan.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add 1 Tablespoon of salt to the pot.

If you want to make the optional bread crumb garnish take the levain bread (or other dry hearty artisan bread) and tear it into pieces and then grind it into coarse crumbs using a food processor. Add a drizzle of oil and mix to coat the crumbs evenly. Bake them on a baking pan in a 325 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes (stirring once after 5 minutes) until lightly toasted. Be careful, they can burn very fast! Set aside.

Toasted bread crumbs

Now, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add the sausage and onion.

Sausage and onion in the pan.

Cook the sausage and onion, stirring occasionally, until well browned.

Sauteed onion and sausage

Turn down the heat to low, add the sliced garlic and stir it around for a couple of minutes more. Do not let the garlic brown! Turn off the heat.

The sausage mixture after turning off the stove.

Now plunge the broccoli raab into the boiling water and let it cook for 5-10 minutes until one of the largest stems, when pulled from the water and tested, is no longer tough.

Broccoli raab in boiling water

Scoop the broccoli raab out of the pot and into the pan with the sausage. Do not pour out the hot water, leave it boiling as you will be adding the pasta to it in a minute.

Broccoli raab being scooped into pan with sauteed sausage

Now turn the heat on the frying pan back up to medium high. Add 16 ounces of chicken broth and stir it all up. Bring it to a boil, turn the heat down to a moderate simmer, and continue to cook while you are cooking the pasta. You want the mixture  to be somewhat saucy, so if  it gets too dry, add some more chicken broth. You can also add some water if necessary, but only add about ¼ cup liquid at a time.

The broccoli raab mixture with chicken broth added

Add the pasta to the water you boiled the broccoli raab in and cook it until it is done but not mushy (read the label for approximate times). Scoop it out, add it to the pasta mixture, and stir it all up.

Scooping pasta into broccoli raab mixture

Add more chicken broth or water if necessary, and cook the mixture until the pasta is all evenly coated and it is well blended and hot. You can keep it warm on a low heat for up to 15 minutes before serving at this point as long as there is plenty of liquid in the mixture.

The finished pasta dish

Put the pasta onto warm bowls or plates, and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture (or grated cheese) and serve immediately.

Pasta with broccoli raab and sausage

California Winter Garden Tour

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I love winter vegetables, but we have seldom managed to grow a good winter garden . The challenge of a winter garden is that you should start thinking about planting winter vegetables in August, when you are drowning in tomatoes and other summer produce, and the days are so hot you cannot imagine ever desiring a hot meal of hearty winter greens. That, combined with the last days of summer vacation for Adrian (who is a retired  schoolteacher) seemed to prevent us from ever getting it together enough to plant a winter garden. Finally, this year, with Adrian’s recent retirement, he has had the time to really enjoy the garden and plant and tend to it year round. We have been harvesting the bounty of these plantings in the past few weeks, and sharing meals with our son who is home on leave from the U.S. Coast Guard. He spent 8 months in the arctic ocean on the polar icebreaker Healy,  eating mostly frozen and canned vegetables and fruit so our fresh salads and home grown fruits and vegetables have been met with rave reviews. The timing was perfect.

I thought I would give you a little garden tour. We have had good weather for a winter garden, as the days were sunny and clear.  There was very little rain, so we did water much more than usual.  I took these photos a few days ago, before a cold front and rain storm came in. Most of the produce seems to have survived the weather,  but we did harvest all of the caulilower except one of the heads before the freeze. The one we left looks like it is ruined from the cold. However all the other vegetables seem to be holding up okay, and we did have a great salad last night from the greens we picked yesterday during a break in the rain storms.

Broccoli raab is a new favorite vegetable in our family.  I cook it the same way that I cook chard and other greens. http://californiamediterraneandiet.com/recipes/cooking-chard/ . If you want to make a main dish out of it, saute some onion and spicy turkey Italian sausage in olive oil, then scoop in the par-boiled broccoli raab and saute it for a few minutes. Finally add cooked pasta and stir it up well and serve. This has become one of our favorite quick entrees.

Broccoli Raab

Unfortunately, we did not harvest some of the broccoli raab in time, and it flowered. However, we left it in the garden as the bees were going crazy over it. The bees seemed to be very active this winter due to the warm weather, but there are only a few plants flowering right now.

Broccoli Raab with bee

Mesclun salad mixes contain a variety of lettuces and spicy greens such as mustard and arugula. They have a bitter bite due to the mustard and arugula, which can be an acquired taste. Mesclun mixes are good in salads containing fruit, nuts and cheeses to balance the bitterness. The greens can be cut over and over again and they will grow back.

Mesclun salad mix

Little gem lettuce is another household favorite. It is crisp, yet tender with a buttery mild flavor.  It is good served it in a simple salad with a mild dressing such as green goddess, or as an alternative to romaine in a caesar salad.

Little Gem Lettuce

Kale is a very nutritious vegetable that can be added to soups, stews and pasta dishes.Lacunato “dinosaur” Kale

Cauliflower can be roasted in the oven using the same method as roasted Brussels sprouts. http://californiamediterraneandiet.com/recipes/cooking-chard/.  It can then be served hot or cold.

Cauliflower

Raw broccoli makes a great southern style salad with mayonnaise, bacon and raisins. Broccoli is also great roasted with olive oil in the oven, or sauteed in the same manner as broccoli raab, chard and other greens.

Broccoli

Peas, onions, shallots and garlic are planted in the fall for a spring harvest.

English peas (Will be harvested in the late spring)

Shallots (will be harvested in the late spring)

Garlic (will be harvested in spring)

Another interesting experiment that has worked out well is a bacon avocado tree which we planted about 3 years ago. Bacon is a fairly frost tolerant variety. We got 6 avocados from our little tree this year! I love bacon avocados in a salad with little gem lettuce and a creamy green goddess dressing.

Bacon Avocado

And of course we continue to harvest our citrus which we also sell from our little farm.

www.burgesonfamilyfarm.com

Our Owari Satsuma mandarins get sweeter after a mild freeze. They are at their sweetest right now, at over 13 percent sugar measured with a brix refractometer.  They skins of ripe Satsumas are very thin and fragile however, and may not hold up well to this long period of wet weather we have entered.

Owari Satsuma Mandarins

Oro Blanco pommelos are incredibly sweet. They are sometimes huge, but a lot of the large size is due to the thick skin. Inside, they are usually the size of a grapefruit but much sweeter and juicier. They are eaten like a grapefruit.

Oro Blanco Pommelo

Meyer lemons are a sweet lemon and tend to be more frost tolerant than other lemon varieties.

Meyer Lemon

Key limes are small, very tart, with a pronounced lime flavor. They have small seeds. The famous key lime pie is easy to make and delicious.

Key Lime

Bearss limes are called bartender’s limes. They are very juicy, with no seeds. They are ready to harvest when they are green, but will turn yellow as they continue to ripen and become more sweet. They are fabulous in lime cocktails such as margaritas. You might want to try a mandarin margarita, made with Satsuma mandarin juice and Bearss lime juice.

http://burgesonfamilyfarm.com/2012/01/15/mandarin-margarita-recipe/

Bearss Lime (bartenders lime)

We have 3 varieties of blood oranges: Moro, Sanguinella and Tarocco.

Blood oranges

Come back often for more recipe ideas using this beautiful winter produce.

Finishing up the Satsuma harvest

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Frost last night, more for tonight, and rain predicted in the next few days. The Satsumas will not last much longer with those weather conditions predicted. The fruit is so sweet, with sugar content at 13 percent or more. We are picking almost everything although we do not have many orders and we are really not sure why that is. Farming itself is an incredible challenge, but marketing adds a whole other level of complexity.  Any ideas on how to sell this absolutely perfect fruit?