The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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October 2006 Monthly Archive

Pumpkins

Jack-o’-lantern or pie?

That could be the question you ask when faced with a pumpkin this time of year.

The answer is simple. It’s in the size of the pumpkin before you.

Small pumpkins are best for cooking. They will be sweet and delicious, perfect for pie fillings, breads, muffins and soups.

Intermediate and large pumpkins are usually not very tasty eating and are best suited for Jack-o’-lanterns. And those huge pumpkins you see at the county fair and pumpkin growing competitions, they are best for just that—fairs and competitions.

Continue reading "Pumpkins" »

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia:
The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide

A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia

The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide is a veritable encyclopedia and easy how-to guide on all that is natural and necessary in the world of gardening and small fruit, vegetable, and herb preparation. Stephen Albert leaves no stone-collard green, leek, or potato-unearthed in this absolutely amazing field guide that greenhorns, old hands, weekend gardeners and chefs should not be without.

Frisée

There is curly endive and then there is frisée. They are the same, but they are not.

The difference?

Frisée—pronounced free-ZAY—is a petite, pale curly endive produced by blanching. It has an opened, flattened shape. Its leaves are frizzy and finely cut, yellow-white to yellow-apple green in color.

Frisée has a bittersweet taste and it’s tender on the tongue unlike other curly endives. Frisée will spice up a salad mix or add a bit of zing to a light entrée such as fish.

Fall is the time that frisée comes to market. Although it is one member of the chicory family that can be harvested during the summer, like other chicories and endives too much warm weather and sunlight can make frisée overly bitter.

Bitter is not the ideal taste when it comes to frisée. Rather peppery is how a good frisée should taste.

Both frisée and plain leafed endive belong to the leafy vegetable group of peppery tasting plants that are often grown specifically for fall and winter salads. Joining frisée in this group are mustard, garden and pepper cress, watercress, arugula, chicory and radicchio and corn salad or mache. These peppery to slightly bitter greens—when judiciously used—can turn around a salad that is bland and uninteresting.

Frisée or chicorée frisée is French for curly chicory. It also is sometimes called Italian curly chicory or French curly chicory.

Now, frisée is not exactly the same vegetable that comes to market as chicory, curly chicory, and curly endive, although it is exactly the same plant, Cichorium endivia. Here’s the difference: When curly endive is about three-fourths grown—about 30days from seeding—the plant is covered and pressed and hidden from the sunlight: sometimes with boards, sometimes with cups. That’s the way it stays until the plant attains exactly the right paleness and tenderness.

Because blanching requires extra time and extra effort on the part of the grower, you can expect to pay about twice as much for frisée as you would pay for baby lettuce.

At the market, choose frisée with crisp leaves, not wilted. You can keep frisée in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

In Lyon, France they cut up frisée, toss it with warm bacon and vinaigrette dressing, then top with a poached egg. Voilà, a Lyonnaise salad!

Torpea Onion—the Red Torpedo

There is an onion that comes from Torpea in Calabria, Italy that you will enjoy. It is a mild or “sweet” flavored red onion—many say the sweetest-tasting onion in the world--that will be a welcome addition to the preparation of many meals, and, if all else fails, you can just about make a meal of this onion itself.

Torpea is a seaside village almost 400 miles south of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The gardens there are filled with bougainvillea, verbena and jasmine. The hills rising from the sea around the village are quilted with orchards of lemons and limes, olive groves and fields of vegetables and onions.

It is said that the Phoenicians—one of the great peoples of the ancient world—introduced onions to Torpea. If so, it would only be a guess where Torpea onions really originated because the Phoenicians were explorers and traders who roamed far and wide across the then known western world more than 3,000 years ago. Certainly in Torpea this onion found a perfect meeting of soil and climate from which it developed.

Today the Torpea onion—which is known in Italian markets as Torpea Rossa--is said to be the most popular onion in Italy and Europe. Those grown in the fields around Torpea are said to be extraordinarily “sweet.” If you stop in at your farm market this week, you may find Torpea Rossa onions grown close to where you live. They will be labeled sweet Italian onion, Italian red onion, Creole onion and--most commonly—red torpedo onion.

“Torpedo” is probably not a corruption of Torpea. Rather, it is descriptive of the Torpea’s elongated spindle or torpedo shape. The Torpea onion has a red to deep purple colored skin and a flesh of light rose colored rings. It does not actually have high sugar content but rather a low pyruvic acid count—meaning lack of heat and mouth burn—which translates into mild flavor, not pungent like many onions. To that end, this onion eaten raw will not make you cry.

The Torpea Rossa is delicious on both cold and warm sandwiches and on turkey burgers or hamburgers. Its deep red color makes it a lively garnish or addition to a spinach salad. These onions can be used in pasta dishes with tomatoes and basil. They can be grilled or lightly cooked and sautéed.

Here is a recipe for Torpea Rossa onion salad: Peel, halve and thinly slice 2 pounds of these red onions and place them in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of olive oil, 1½ cups of red wine vinegar, ¾ cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper; pour over the onions. Cover and let stand at room temperature for about 2 hours. Makes 4 cups and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

The Torpea Rossa can be grown from seed in about 120 days. It is planted usually in spring for summer harvest or from mid- to late summer for autumn harvest. The autumn harvest is at the farm market now.

Winter Squash Varieties

Winter squashes—which are at the farm market now—are best from early fall through winter.

Winter squashes are drier, more fibrous, and much sweeter than summer squashes. The thick, hard shells of winter squashes can not be eaten, but the shells add to the period these squashes can be stored—ranging from 30 to 180 days.

In addition to the sweet flesh which becomes creamy when cooked, the seeds of winter squash can be washed, dried, and roasted either salted or plain.

Here are the winter squash varieties that you will find at the market for the next few months:

Acorn: somewhat oval and acorn-shaped with a ribbed, dark green skin and orange flesh. The flesh is tender and fine-textured with a flavor that hints of hazelnuts and pepper. To prepare, remove the seeds and bake. You can eat this one directly from the shell. This variety keeps fro 30 to 50 days.

Buttercup: a variety of turban winter squash. It ranges in size from 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) in diameter and from 2 to 3 inches (5-7.5 cm) tall. It has a light blue-gray turban crown with a dark green shell flecked with gray. The flesh is orange and tastes a bit like sweet potato. This squash can be baked, steamed, or simmered. This buttercup will weigh about 3 pounds (1.4 kg) and can be stored for about 1 month.

Butternut: large, cylindrical to pear-shaped from 8 to 12 inches (20-30 cm) long and 3 to 5 inches (7.5-13 cm) in diameter. This winter squash can weigh from 2 to 3 pounds (.9-1.4 kg). The color of its skin ranges from yellow to camel. The finely textured flesh is sweet and deep orange. You can bake, steam, or simmer this squash. Avoid this squash if it has a greenish skin.

Hubbard: oval to round squash with a thick rind ranging in color from dark green to gray-blue or orange-red. This squash has a dry, grainy texture and a yellow-orange flesh. The Hubbard is less sweet than other winter squashes. It is best boiled or baked and can be mashed or puréed. It will store for up to 6 months.

Spaghetti: the spaghetti squash is also called vegetable squash. This watermelon-shaped squash has a skin colored creamy-yellow. The spaghetti squash gets its name from its yellow-gold flesh which separates into spaghetti-like strands when cooked. This squash will average from 4 to 8 pounds (1.8-3.7 kg). It will store at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. After this squash is baked, the strands can be served with sauce just like pasta.

Turban: this is a family of winter squashes which includes the buttercup squash. At the blossom end, this squash looks like a turban. Turban squashes range in size from 2 to 15 inches (5-76 cm) in diameter at the base. The skin colors vary from bright hues of orange, green, and yellow. The flesh is fine-textured and very sweet with a hazelnut flavor. Turban squashes can be baked, steamed, or simmered.

Yard-long bean

If you wait for the yard-long bean to become a yard long, you will probably have waited too long.

The best tasting yard-long beans are usually about 18-inches (45 cm) long, which means the best tasting yard-long beans are young. Even so “tender” and “sweet” are not adjectives that are commonly used to describe even young yard-long beans. Rather the yard-long bean—which also goes by the name asparagus bean and Chinese long bean—is a bean that is dense and solid at half its size, not crisp and juicy. The yard-long bean, simply put, is not a substitute for the green bean.

Fall is the peak season for yard-long beans which is perfect because these are beans well suited for deep-frying, stir-frying and braising. On a brisk autumn day, yard-long beans are good eating with vegetable or meat stews, with fried rice, black beans, sausage, roast pork, curry or chili sauce. The taste of yard-long beans intensifies with cooking; they become nutty, chewy and firm.

Where exactly the yard-long bean got its start is unclear. It might have been Africa; it might have been Asia. That the yard-long bean is sometimes called a Chinese long bean tells us that it has been a staple in that country for thousands of years, probably to pre-historic times. Today, you will find yard-long beans at Asian produce markets and probably at your farm market as well.

When choosing yard-long beans, pick those that are thin and relatively long to 18 inches. The peas inside should not be developed, so avoid beans that are bulging. Yard-long beans will not be crisp like a green bean, but they should not be limp either.

There are both pale green and dark green yard-long beans. The paler bean will be sweeter tasting and more tender than the dark green variety. The dark green bean is stronger flavored and more firm. So you can choose the bean best suited to your taste and to the meal you plan to serve

Before cooking, cut off both ends of the bean then cut it into lengths of 2 to 6 inches (5-15 cm).

Yard-long beans will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. They should be wrapped in a paper towel and placed in a plastic bag. Beans that have grown too old will turn limp and rusty colored.

Casselman Plums

Even in early October, it is not too late to enjoy a juicy sweet-tart plum fresh off the tree. When you are at the farm market this week, look for Casselman plums.

You know that the plum standard is the Santa Rosa plum: that is the rich-tart purplish-crimson skinned plum with amber flesh that shades to dark red near the skin. Early variety Santa Rosa plums are ready for harvest in June. The Casselman plum is an improved, late season Santa Rosa plum hybrid with a bright red skin and plenty of flavor. The Casselman plum is being harvested now.

The Casselman is one of the so-called Japanese plums, which is a bit of misnomer since its lineage—like other Japanese plums--can be traced back to China. The Casselman plum’s ancestors were brought to California from Japan by Luther Burbank around the turn of the twentieth century. Burbank—who did much of his plum breeding in the northern California town of Santa Rosa--was responsible for the introduction of more than 100 different varieties of plums including the Casselman.

What Japanese or Santa Rosa plums have in common is that their rich, distinctive flavor. They are perfect for desserts.

Here is a plum sauce you can enjoy over vanilla ice cream or pound cake: purée 1 pound of sliced ripe Casselman plums in a blender. Strain through a sieve. Stir in ½ cup of sugar and lemon juice to taste. Add ¼ teaspoon of almond extract for extra flavor.

Casselman plums are also great eating out of hand.

When selecting plums, choose those that are plump and well-colored. They should smell like a fresh plum and should give slightly to gentle pressure. Plums can be stored at room temperature: they will soften and ripen on the counter but they will never get any sweeter than they were when they came off the tree. Don’t choose plums that are too soft or too hard.

When you are ready to eat or prepare a plum, wash it gently then slice it in half around the pit and rotate the halves to separate. The pit will pop out.

Rosemary

Rosemary as a seasoning can be used in a variety of dishes. The flavor of rosemary combines both strong and subtle qualities: it is pungent, both piney and lemony, and it is minty—but sweeter with a slight ginger finale.

The rosemary shrub is a native of the Mediterranean region where it has been in use since 500 B.C. As a culinary herb, rosemary can be used fresh (leaves, flowers and sprigs), dried or ground. Generally the silver-green, needle-shaped leaves are sprinkled over or rubbed into foods.

Rosemary will add flair to chicken and turkey, fish, lamb, beef, veal, pork, and game—particularly in their roasted forms. Vegetables that respond well to rosemary include dried beans, green beans, broccoli, lentils, mushrooms, parsnips, peas, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes.

Rosemary complements other herbs such as chives, thyme, chervil, parsley and bay in recipes. You can add rosemary to marinades, salad dressings, bouquet garni, and cream sauces.

Storing: Freeze whole sprigs of rosemary (but frozen rosemary will be stronger than fresh). When you are ready to use a few leaves slide your finger and thumb down the sprig for the amount you need.

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October 2006 Monthly Archive

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia: The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide

A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia

Harvest to Table's New Encyclopedia:
The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide