Archive for the ‘Cook Your Harvest’ Category
Roasted Red Tomato Sauce
Do you ever have tomatoes that are kind of bland and not as flavorful as you hoped for? Here is a trick to bring out their flavor – roast them!
Select your tomatoes:
Put them in boiling water for about a minute then plunge them in cold water to make the skins easy to slip off.
Slice, then place in an oven on low heat to roast.
Once tomatoes are well roasted put through a food mill then spice according to taste.
Flax
Flax seeds add a nice nutritious nutty flavor to many dishes and the fibrous stalks can be spun into fiber. Growing this plant in the Northwest is so easy that it’s almost seen as a weed.
First grow the flax:
Picture from: www.flaxandhemp.bangor.ac.uk/
Once it has matured and the seed pods are fully formed, harvest it and let it dry in a dark place. Once the seed heads are dry lay them on a cloth and crush the seed heads to release the small seeds.
Next winnow it to separate the grains from the chaff.
Here is the final product; lovely golden flax seeds.
To learn more about how to process the stalks into fiber visit here.
Kimchee!
What’s crunchy, spicy hot and really good for you? Kimchee! Here’s how to make your own. It’s much easier than you would think.
The first step is to chop your veggies and spices:
Next mix the spices together:
Mix in the veggies:
Once all is well mixed put in a jar and let sit until it’s fermented:
Once your kimchee is ready invite friends over and eat!
Here’s a recipe with more detailed instructions.
Portage Bay Grange welcomes urban farmers
Joshua and Annette make whole-grain waffles
Portage Bay Grange in Seattle’s University District recently welcomed The Urban Farm Handbook authors Annette Cottrell and Joshua McNichols to their first Open House on November 19. While we enjoyed fresh-pressed cider, Joshua and Annette described local grain sources, grain mills, and whipped up delicious spelt, sourdough, duck egg, and goat milk waffles.
Urban farming tastes great!
Portage Bay Grange hosts Seattle 4H at Open House
Portage Bay Grange sells small livestock, feed, and a variety of thoughtful urban homesteading mercantile including BPA-free Weck canning jars.
A great place to visit with young kids, the Portage Bay Grange Open House also showcased the very urban and active Cooped-Up in Seattle 4H Club.
I Like the Urban Farm Handbook
The Urban Farm Handbook is a really good book. I have read a ton on gardening, homesteading and cooking so when I got this manual in the mail my expectations weren’t all that high. But as soon as I read the phrase about Annette’s husband calling her plan to grow as much of her family’s food as her “Crazy Bus” I was hooked. This book weaves together practical knowledge on how to grow your own food with great recipes and wonderful stories on local urban farmers.
I like how the two authors, Joshua and Annette, have different levels of commitment, (an example is Annette kneads her own bread by hand, Joshua uses a bread machine.). So often people act as if it’s an all or nothing proposition; grow your own or you are not doing right by your family so this take what you want approach is really refreshing.
“These brussel sprouts are good!” said my daughter as she bit into another serving of the roasted brussel sprouts with bacon. This recipe and several others like the power pancakes made with freshly ground grain are sure to become family favorites.
I would like to write more but I want to try the sausage recipe on page 288. Homemade sausage just sounds amazing!
EPA’s New Site on Urban Ag
The EPA is weighing in on urban ag.
This website provides information for people pursuing agriculture projects as a part of brownfield redevelopment and reuse.
Before a property can be redeveloped, contaminants must be removed, capped or contained in ways that limit exposure risks. Urban agriculture projects can help bind contaminants while providing further benefits to the property and surrounding community. An urban farm or community garden can improve the environment, reduce greenhouse emissions, and improve access to healthy, locally grown food. Other possible benefits include promoting health and physical activity, increasing community connections, and attracting economic activity. For more detailed information, please read our basic Information page.
Visitors to the Urban Agriculture web pages will find:
- Information on how to start an urban agriculture project
- Success stories and information about ongoing urban agriculture projects
- Resources & related links for information from EPA, other federal agencies and non-governemental organizations
- Frequent questions about urban agriculture and the answers to them
- Presentations and additional educational materials
City Fruit Fall Fruit Cooking Series – Beyond the Canning Jar
From our friends at City Fruit. These classes look great!
Local non-profit City Fruit is partnering with Seattle culinary experts in two state-of-the-art art kitchens to offer a series of unique classes highlighting new ways to use fruit from the fall harvest. Cost: $30 for City Fruit members, $35 for non-members. All proceeds will go to support next year’s harvest!
Sign up for the series and get a class free. Sign up via Brown Paper Tickets or send a check to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle, WA 98118.
- Oct 1st Fruit Pies and Pastries – Marcee Clark of the Seattle Culinary Academy
- Oct 8th Demystifying Quince – Amy Pennington of urbangardenshare.org and author of Urban Pantry
- Oct 15th Shrubs (Drinking Vinegars) - Patricia Eddy of Cooklocal.com
- Oct 22nd Fall Fruit: From Appetizer to Dessert – Roxanne Vierra of PCC Cooks
- Oct 29th Simple Fruit: Poaching, Roasting and Braising – Laurie Pfalzer of Pastry Craft
Special thanks to Dish it up! Gifts, Wines, & Tools for Today’s Cook and to The Pantry at Delancey for donating their kitchens for our classes.
Garden Dinner
What to make for dinner is always a big question at my house. Last night I decided to let the garden decide; whatever was ripe was what was going on the table.
Collards
We have collards coming out our ears right now so they definitely needed a place on the menu. Here’s an easy recipe even my kids like to eat:
Zesty Collards
Wash all those little aphids off and any other bugs that might be lurking under those nice shady leaves. Cut the ribs out, roll up the leaves and cut them in thin strips. Put canola oil in a frying pan and saute onion and garlic until soft. Add in 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter, salt and hot pepper to taste. Cover and simmer about five minutes until soft.
Fingerling potatoes
Fresh Potato Salad
Boil unpeeled potatoes until fork tender. Drain off water. To make the sauce: combine one part vinegar and two parts olive oil, add in 2-3 crushed garlic cloves, sliced onion, salt, black pepper and dijon mustard to taste. Mix and toss over the taters.
Zuchinni
Italian Zuchinni
Saute zuchinni until soft. Drain off water. Top with cheese and a bit of hot pepper.
Beets
Tangy Beet Salad
Boil unpeeled beets until fork tender. Peel off skins and cut into quarters. To make the sauce combine one part vinegar, two parts olive oil, two cloves crushed garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Add in onions and toss beets.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb Pie
Prepare your favorite pie crust. Slice the rhubarb and mix with 1/4 cup quick tapioca, add one to two cups of sugar depending on how sweet you like. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes. Put in pie crust. Place in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes then reduce to 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
Now gather your friends and family and feast!
Jammin’ With Figs
Figs are now in season and each bite takes me back to desert days in Arizona. This season I got enough of the succulent fruit to make jam. Gail Savina from City Fruit suggested using a recipe from Alice Water’s Fruit cookbook. So here it is:
Edible Flowers
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