1 or 1½ navel oranges per servingPeel the oranges removing all of the white pith.Cut the oranges into ½-inch slices. Sugar them lightly, sprinkle them with orange-flavored liqueur, and chill. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and extra orange juice....

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November 2006 Monthly Archive

Blue Hubbard Squash

The peak-season for winter squashes is from October through January.

The Blue Hubbard Squash—which is also called the New England Blue Hubbard—is a great choice for a sweet tasting winter squash to serve on a cold, late autumn evening. The flesh of the Blue Hubbard is deep orange. It is dense and starchy and has the nutty, sweet taste of a sweet potato.

The Blue Hubbard is best steamed or baked. You can serve it topped with brown sugar or maple syrup and a pat of butter right in the empty seed cavity. It can also be mashed or puréed with butter and seasoning before serving.

Unlike summer squashes, winter squashes like the Blue Hubbard are allowed to mature on the vine. Their skin is hard and inedible—unlike summer squash such as zucchini. While winter squashes get their start in the summer along side summer squashes, their thick rinds allow them to be stored for many months—right through the winter.

Continue reading "Blue Hubbard Squash" »

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

A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia

An enthusiastic and accessible companion, The Kitchen Garden Grower's Guide: A practical vegetable and herb garden encyclopedia by Stephen Albert details the very essentials to gain small crop prowess and expertise. This in-depth reference book is for the kitchen gardener and cook, a simple, one-stop, easy-to-use guide to bring fresh, inexpensive and healthy food from your garden to your table. Use this book as an index and information bank-a cornucopia-to access your favorite small vine fruits, vegetables and herbs and answer your particular questions.

Golden Raisins

Golden raisins are moister and plumper than dark raisins. They make for delicious eating out of hand or can be added to a rice pudding or as an ice cream or pancake topping.

The Golden raisin is almost always a Thompson seedless grape that has been treated with sulfur dioxide and then artificially dried with the hot air from a flame.

Dark raisins—most of which also come from Thompson seedless grapes--are dried naturally in the sun for several weeks.

The Thompson seedless grape is a medium-sized grape with a thin, pale green to white skin. It is a very sweet, seedless grape.

The Thompson seedless grape—which gets its name from the late nineteenth century California grape grower William Thompson who planted it widely—is known in other parts of the world as the Sultanina or Oval Kishmish. Sultanina grapes originated in ancient Persia or Turkey.

There is a round—not oval—grape very similar to the Sultanina which is called the Sultana or Round Kishmish. The Round Kishmish or Sultana can develop a few seeds and has a higher acid content than the Thompson seedless. In the United States, the names Thompson seedless (which is really the Sultanina) and Sultana have been deemed legally synonymous.

Raisins made from Sultana or Sultanina grapes are called sultanas or sultanis in the Eastern Hemisphere. (The name sultana is from the feminine form of sultan.)

Broccoli raab and Rapini

Broccoli raab and rapini are not synonymous, but when it comes to recipes and marketing they practically are.

Broccoli raab [rob] has long, thin rich-green stems (6-9 inches/18-23 cm long) topped with scattered clusters of broccoli-like florets. The flavor is nutty and both pungent and zesty.

Rapini [rah-PEE-nee] is similar to broccoli raab but with fewer florets and a flavor akin to mustard. Rapini is preferred for its mustard-like tops. (Both have leaves that look like turnip greens.)

Either is a good match for less assertive partners such as pasta, rice, polenta or potatoes. Italian cookbooks dating back to the fourteenth century included broccoli raab and rapini recipes.

For the record, here are some of the other names also used for these vegetables: raab, rapa, rabe, rapine, rappi, rappone, fall and spring raab, turnip broccoli, taitcat, Italian broccoli, broccoli rape, broccoletti di rape, broccoletto, broccoli di foglia, cime de rape, rape, broccoli de rabe, Italian turnip, and turnip broccoli. There is a related but milder green grown in China which is known as choy sum or Chinese broccoli or Chinese flowering cabbage.

Choose: Select stems that are upright and firm with leaves that are bright green. The florets should be tightly closed.

Serve: These two can be stir-fried, steamed, sautéed and braised or included in soups or salads. Try this: Trim the bottom of the stems and cut the stalks crosswise into 2-inch pieces. Drop them into boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon. Sauté in a little olive oil and garlic to taste for 3 to 5 minutes until tender.

Nantes Carrots

The Nantes carrot was first described in a nineteenth century French vegetable seed catalog in this way: “Root almost perfectly cylindrical…skin very smooth…flesh of the root entirely red, very sweet and mild in flavor….”

The Nantes carrot takes its name from the city on the Atlantic coast of France where the surrounding countryside is ideal for its cultivation. (“It only attains its full quality in a mellow, deep soil…,” wrote Henri Vilmorin in the 1885 edition of his family’s seed catalog.)

Shortly after its introduction, the Nantes became a kitchen garden favorite and its reputation (and cultivation) rightfully spread far and wide.

Today there are more than a half dozen varieties of carrots that specifically bear the Nantes name, but more generally Nantes has come to embody a quite large (more than 40 members) class of medium-sized cylindrical carrots rounded at both the top and tip. In general, Nantes cultivars are known for being sweeter and tenderer than other carrots.

Carrots can be found in markets year round, but late summer through fall is prime carrot season. Many of the Nantes cultivars are at farm markets now.

When choosing carrots, look for those whose skins are both firm and smooth. Avoid carrots with cracks or those that are turning soft or have withered. If you buy carrots with their foliage attached, be sure that the leaves are moist and bright green. As a rule, it’s best to remove carrot leaves as soon as you get home because the leaves draw moisture from the roots.

You should find young carrots to be mild and tender to the taste and mature carrots sweet. That’s because carrots store their natural sugars in the outer cell layers closest to the skin. As the carrot matures, more sugar will be stored in the outer layers. (That may mean that you might want to remove the core of older carrots—where there may be little flavor at all.)

Carrots that are green skinned—usually at the top or around the shoulders—have probably been exposed to the sun during growth. The taste can be bitter.

Carrots can be eaten raw and cooked in just about every way. If you are trying to match carrots up with other foods, here are some foods whose flavors have an affinity for carrots: beef, celery, chicken, chives, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, curry, dill, dried apricots, honey, onion, orange, raisins, rosemary, shallots, tarragon, thyme and tomatoes.

Walnuts

Fresh de-husked walnuts are in peak-season from mid-September through November.

The most popular walnut variety is the English walnut, which is also known as the Persian walnut. The Persian walnut originated in Iran or ancient Persia. (The Persian walnut migrated to China before 400 AD. It came to New England from England with the Pilgrims.)

The less popular black walnut has a stronger—slightly bitter—taste and is a native of North America. Its shell is harder to crack than the English walnut and its flesh has a high fat content that will shrivel and turn rancid quickly.

Choose: Walnuts out of the shell should be plump and meaty and crisp. Don’t accept shriveled nutmeats. Walnuts in the shell should not have any cracks or holes.

Serve: Use walnuts ground or chopped in cakes and pastries. Use in salads or in meat, poultry or fish dishes.

Yams

A yam and a sweet potato are not the same vegetable, but they can be substituted for one another in most recipes.

The yam has more natural sugar and is therefore sweeter than the sweet potato and its flesh is moister than the sweet potato.

Yams--depending upon variety—can have a flesh that is white, yellow, purple or pink and a skin that is off-white to dark brown. The sweet potato usually has a bright orange flesh and a thick, dark orange skin.

Yams and sweet potatoes are most often confused simply because canned sweet potatoes—especially in the United States--are often labeled yams.

Choose: Select yams that are unblemished with tight skins.

Serve: Cook small yams in their skins. Large yams can be washed, peeled, and blanched for 10-20 minutes in boiling salted water. Then use them just as you would a potato or sweet potato.

(For the record: the yam is an African native of the Dioscorea family; the sweet potato is a native of the Americas and comes from the Convolvulaceae family.)

Parsnips

Ah, yes, the parsnip!

After the first frost of the year—in the next couple of weeks, the starch in the parsnip converts to sugar and that is when parsnip eating gets good.

The parsnip has a pleasantly sweet taste that combined with brown sugar, maple syrup, cream, apples or spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon or allspice, for instance, make it all the more appealing. And its sweetness offers a welcome contrast to sour, salty or bitter foods.

But that is not to say that the parsnip leans only to the sweet side; it can be chunked and added to beef stew or combined with potatoes for mashing. It can be paired with chervil, dill and parsley. It can be baked, boiled, braised, breaded, grilled, mashed, pureed, roasted, sautéed, or steamed.

When choosing parsnip, look for small to medium sized roots that are not pitted. Size has nothing to do with how good a parsnip tastes—remember its age. You should avoid parsnips that are limp or shriveled or spotted.

A parsnip can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. Wrap it in a paper towel, placed it in a plastic bag, and put it in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

When you go to prepare your parsnip, trim off the ends and knobs and peel before cooking. (The outer layer of raw parsnip can be added to coleslaw.) If the core seems tough or stringy you can cut it out.

A half-cup of fresh sliced cooked parsnip contains 63 calories (a half-cup of raw sliced about 50 calories) and 15 carbohydrates.

While the parsnip is not wildly popular today, its culinary versatility made it once a staple at winter tables in colder climates particularly before the popularization of the potato.

The Romans liked parsnips and so did Europeans in medieval times. The parsnip came to America in the 1600s. It had one of its best mentions in the 1898 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book authored by Fanny Farmer.

If you’d like to get started serving parsnips, the easiest way is to simply cook them like you would carrots. If you want to get fancy, put them around a beef roast and let them cook in the meat juices. Then serve hot on a crisp fall day!

Meyer Lemons

The Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a tangerine. Its sweet taste—lemon with a hint of its parent tangerine--has made it a favorite of cooks and gourmets. In fact, some chefs call the Meyer “the gourmet lemon.”

Meyers are more round and have a softer, more smooth rind than the bigger, commercial lemons—such as the Eureka and Lisbon. The pulp of the Meyer is deep yellow and it is less acidity than its sisters.

The Meyer takes its name from the American plant explorer Frank Meyer who discovered this lemon near Peking in 1908. By the way, the blossoms of a Meyer will fill a room with a wonderful sweet fragrance for days.

Choose: A ripe Meyer lemon will have a rich orange-yellow skin when ripe. Choose a bright, shiny fruit that is fat for its size.

Serve: Take your best lemon tart recipe and use Meyer lemons.

Napa Cabbage—Chinese Cabbage

The Napa Cabbage or Chinese Cabbage which the Chinese call Petsai and the French call Pé tsai is a milder and sweeter alternative to the green cabbage.

The Napa Cabbage has an oblong head with leaves that are flat and wide. It resembles a head of Romaine lettuce. Because the leaves are thinner than the waxy leaves on round-headed cabbage, this vegetable is more delicate in both look and taste.

Because of its delicate taste, the Chinese cabbage is a good choice for wrapping fish that you plan to steam or for lining the bottom of a bamboo steamer basket. Its sweet flavor will not distract from other vegetables, fish or poultry that you steam.

Choose: Look for a head that is tightly closed and crisp with leaves that are moist, not wilted. Avoid heads that are starting to yellow or brown.

Serve: Use Chinese cabbage as you would bok choy in stir fries. For a Napa slaw, grate this cabbage with onion, beets, dill, chives; add pepper and dress with sour cream, wine vinegar and brown sugar.

Cauliflower

Many French kings went by the name Louis. The name means famous warrior. The moniker worked for many of the kings of France, but by the time the name came down to Louis XV, the French had just about had it with the idea of an absolute monarchy.

While Louis XV did little to popularize the notion of the divine right of kings, he was a great lover of cauliflower and is perhaps rightfully credited with bringing that heavily flowered vegetable cousin of the cabbage to its culinary high point in history.

Even today if you see the name “Du Barry” on a French menu—such as crème Du Barry—you can be assured that cauliflower figures into the recipe. (You see, the Countess Du Barry was Louis’ favorite mistress and she shared her love for everything cauliflower with the king and his court.)

These day the royal passion for cauliflower may be history, but it can truly be said that cauliflower is one of those vegetables that can do it all. Cauliflower florets—sometimes called “the curd”--can be eaten raw, baked, boiled, steamed, roasted, french-fried and stir-fried. They can also be sautéed and pureed after cooking.

Cauliflower, like the tomato and corn, is at its tastiest just after harvest. If you eat your cauliflower within a day or two of picking, that will count as harvest fresh.

Now—late fall into early winter--is a good time to be looking for cauliflower at your local produce stand. Cauliflower takes from 90 to 120 days to reach harvest from planting and requires steady cooling weather to mature evenly. That means the plants set out in late summer are now coming to harvest.

Fresh cauliflower should taste mildly sweet or nutty and have a delicate crumbly crunch. Raw cauliflower should not be chewy or squeaky when you bite into it. As for cooked, if the cauliflower you are eating tastes “strong” or has a cabbagey smell then it probably is not fresh or has been cooked too long. In short, if you think of cauliflower the way Louis XV did, it should be in all ways elegant to the senses.

When selecting cauliflower, look for heads that are creamy white. The curds or florets of fresh cauliflower should be compact and tight. One way to test for freshness is to snap the leaves that surround the head at their midribs. If there is a “snap”, the head is fresh. Avoid heads that are discolored or spotted. If the stem of a cauliflower head is dry or discolored, the head is not fresh.

Three flowerets of raw cauliflower (about 2 oz) contain 14 calories, 12 calories cooked.

Since you want to enjoy your cauliflower at its freshest like a tomato or ear of corn, why not place the young, white florets raw on a salad or savor them with a mustard- or curry-flavored dip.

As for crème Du Barry, the delicious creamed cauliflower soup: why not try the countess’ own recipe, sautéed florets served in a rich sauce made with veal, ham and cream.

Winter Melon

Honeydew, casaba and Cavaillon melons are classed as winter melons because they ripen more slowly than other melons and are usually not ready until late fall. After harvest, they even continue to ripen in storage.

Choose: Honeydews should have a smooth, evenly yellow rind that is slightly green at the stem end. Look for honeydews that are oval or elongated. Casabas have a rough green or green and yellow skin. Cavaillons are slightly elongated with a finely ribbed rind. Some believe they are the tastiest of this group.

Serve: Season winter melon slices with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Fresh This Week: Fall Harvest Continues

The fall harvest continues with the first persimmons and pomegranates coming to market now.

Persimmons have a tangy-sweet taste and creamy texture. The most popular is the Hachiya, which is also called Japanese persimmon. There is a native American persimmon which originates in Virginia. It is smaller than the Japanese persimmon and much more flavorful. So much so it can be used to make a tasty persimmon pudding.

If you are headed out to the farmers’ market this week, here’s a list of what you are likely to find:

First-of-season: Almonds, Brussels sprouts, chestnuts, kale, kiwi, mandarin oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, pumpkins, quince, sweet potatoes, walnuts, yams.

Peak-of-season: Apples, apple cider, apple cider vinegars, arugula, apples, beets, broccoli, burdock, cabbages, carrots, celery, chard, chili peppers, chipotles, cilantro, collards, dried fruit, guava (pineapple and strawberry), kale, leaf lettuce, leeks, lima beans, mushrooms, olive oil, parsley, radishes, red flame grapes, salad mix, scallions, spinach, strawberries, tomatillos, turnips, winter squash, vegetable and herb plant starts.

End-of-season: Basil, corn, eggplants, garlic, green beans, heirloom tomatoes, melons, sweet yellow onions, red onions, peaches, butter pears, bell and sweet peppers, plums, pears, potatoes, raspberries, strawberries, summer squash—acorn, butternut and Kabocha, pattypan and yellow crookneck squash, hot and sweet peppers, Thompson seedless grapes, squash blossoms, field tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini.

Pomegranates

If you crave a fruit with a juicy sweet-tart taste and don’t mind working for it, you will surely enjoy the pomegranate.

The pomegranate is a native of Iran and is one of just a handful of fruits that warranted a mention in the Old Testament. In fact, Moses told the Israelites as they wandered in the desert that if they persevered and got to the Promised Land they would enjoy the refreshment of pomegranates.

For sure, eating a pomegranate is a labor of love.

It’s the translucent, brilliant-red pulp that surrounds the pomegranate seed that is so sparkling tasty. But pomegranate seeds—there are hundreds in each fruit—are first encased in a leathery skin and then packed into compartments that are separated by a bitter, inedible membrane. Getting to the flavor of a pomegranate requires some patient parsing and then the reward comes in snippets, seed by seed.

Pomegranates are nearly round in shape, about 2.5 to 5 inches (6.-2-12.5 cm) in diameter, almost the same size as an orange. The thin leathery skin is pink to crimson blush over yellow. The pods inside are made up of bright red kernels—each a hard seed surrounded by the pithy membrane. Munching on the seeds exudes the sweet juice but after that you will have to decide to swallow the almost inedible seed or spit it out.

When selecting a pomegranate, look for one that is large, brightly-colored and shiny. It should be firm to the touch and heavy for its size. The skin of an overripe pomegranate might have cracks, but it may still be quite tasty. Don’t choose fruit that is shriveled or dull.

You can keep a pomegranate at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks, and the taste may actually improve. If you store pomegranates longer, keep them in the refrigerator (for up to a month) or freeze the seeds for up to 3 months.

To enjoy pomegranate seeds out of hand cut the fruit into quarters, turn the skin inside out and pop out the seeds. If some white pith remains, you can place the seeds in a bowl of cold water and swish them around. The seeds should sink to the bottom.

Pomegranate juice is refreshing. You can put the seeds through a juicer or ream halved fruit on an orange juice squeezer. Or simply cut a hole in the stem end, and place the fruit over a glass. The juice will run out on its own or you can squeeze it.

One fresh pomegranate contains 104 calories, 26 grams of carbohydrates and 399 mg of potassium.

Pomegranate varieties to look for include Balegal, Early Wonderful, Fleshman, Green Globe, Phoenicia, and Wonderful.

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November 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