Summer Squash

It happens every year. I plant far too many summer squash plants. No matter how many times I remind myself that two or three plants is enough, I can't help myself.

They just look so small...

But before you know it, they grow ...

And begin producing a ridiculous amount of squash....

Just a bit of a gardening note before I proceed: squash should not be planted this close together - it encourages diseases like powdery mildew and decreases the amount of squash produced. Nor should squash be allowed to grow this large. Harvest them when they are small for the best flavor.

I love summer squash, but I'm not a fan of freezing it. I'd much rather cook delicious winter squash than frozen or out-of-season summer squash. So it was becoming a dilemma, what to do with all this excess produce (it is inevitable that your friends and neighbors will also be inundated by their own plentiful harvests and hence will not want any of yours). Last summer I was all about jam. This summer it has been pickles. I have learned that summer squash make delicious pickles. There are a variety of recipes for canning squash pickles and I have had success with every one I have tried. This is a particularly good and easy one...

Zucchini Pickles  

(recipe from a newspaper clipping from Food Day in the Oregonian, August 2010)

Makes 1 quart or 2 pints

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 large pinches crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 pound summer squash cut into spears
• 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 TBS granulated sugar

Place the garlic, mustard seed, coriander seeds, and red peppers in the jar. Pack squash spears into the jar. They will shrink after the brine is added, so pack as tightly as you can without smashing them.
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the squash. Attach lids, let cool, and refrigerate.
The pickles will be ready by the next day. However, they are better if allowed to pickle for a week. These are definitely a perfect addition to a fall BBQ or your lunchtime sandwich. You might not use all of the pickling brine. Don't throw it away! It will keep for about 2 weeks in your fridge for use as a salad dressing or marinade.

This is a recipe I make weekly during the summer. I have no idea where this recipe came from, but I can not claim credit for it. These muffins are a perfect breakfast served with some fresh fruit. They are so moist I never add any butter or jam to them. My daughter absolutely loves them and regularly asks to have one for a snack. I usually make a full batch of batter but freeze or refrigerate half for later (this is particularly useful if you have guests in town and want a nice breakfast without any work). Feel free to experiment with the amount of sugar and oil.

Squash Bran Muffins

Makes 24 large muffins

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBS cinammon
• 2 cups wheat bran
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 molasses
• 3 cups finely grated summer squash (or carrots)
• 1 cup raisins

Sift together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the bran.
Beat the eggs. Add the oil, sugar, and molasses.
Add the grated squash and raisins. Add to the flour mixture, stirring just enough to combine.
Bake at 350-degrees for 25 minutes.

Of course my absolute favorite squash recipe is to simply slice them, coat with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and throw them on the BBQ. I actually just pulled several of our squash plants yesterday to make room for some fall crops of salad greens, onions, garlic, and carrots. I have had my fill of squash for the year, but I know that it won't be long before I am looking forward to BBQ summer squash and squash bran muffins.

Rhubarb

I have a confession. I am a fruitaholic. I can live on fruit. Any kind, doesn't matter. "Five a Day", not a problem. I am a particular sucker for the summer fruits - the berries, peaches, plums, melons, etc. Seldom, however, do I eat these fruits out of season. In my opinion the quality is terrible and they just aren't worth the price when you buy summer fruits in the middle of winter. So when they show up at the farmers' markets, I go nuts. Strawberries are just coming into abundance and the first of the cherries have shown up at our local farmers' market, but we are still waiting on the rest. Fortunately, there is rhubarb. Just when I think I can't wait any longer for something other than apples and pears, rhubarb comes into season.

We can still find a bit of rhubarb at our local market, so I've been loading up and canning away. The first batch of jam had to be thrown away after I discovered my candy thermometer broke in the pot - devastating! But today I managed to preserve seven lovely jars of the most delicious rhubarb-ginger jam. Jam is so easy to make, its a great introduction to canning. Canning is intimidating, but not at all difficult. I recommend the following book....



"Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" edited by Kingry and Devin

Along with a ton of interesting recipes it provides very easy to follow instruction on home preserving. I also find the USDA's website useful. Canning is relatively straight forward, but you'll want to do your reading before starting and follow reliable recipes, as this affects the ultimate safety of your preserves. As a side note, this is not a kid-friendly activity. There is just too much boiling hot, spattering liquid around. Plus it is a process that requires your undivided attention. I always can when my daughter is asleep.

Anyways, rhubarb jam, you've got to make some. Fabulous! Without much effort we'll be able to make more than enough jam for the year along with some to share with friends.

I had a bit of extra rhubarb left over from the jam, so this morning I stewed it for a little less than 10 minutes with some sugar and lemon juice, then added it to our oatmeal. Delicious! I think I'll try this again with some fruit juice or honey instead of sugar.



More on these fabulous berries later...

A Few Deliciously Simple Meals

I generally am not one to take shortcuts in the kitchen - I just enjoy cooking from scratch too much. But some shortcuts are just too good not to use. I had discovered a great shortcut for making ravioli a few years back, but had forgotten about it until recently. The Asian rice paper wrappers you can find at just about any grocery store are great for making ravioli and dumplings. The fillings are limited only by your imagination. We made a deliciously sweet filling of butternut squash. Just roast a butternut squash, mash it, and season to taste with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Moisten a wrapper with water, place about a tsp of filling in the center, fold and press the edges, and set aside on a lightly floured plate. Gently boil a few ravioli at a time in a large pot of salted water for a few minutes (they float when done) and enjoy immediately with a sauce of your choice. We melted some butter with garlic and fresh rosemary from the garden. Fabulous!

With all the greens, scallions, and mushrooms available at the Farmers' Markets, I plan on making some more Asian flavored dumplings soon.

Although easy to make, the preparation can be a bit time consuming. But you can make enough for several meals and simply freeze the extras. Just place them on a lightly floured sheet pan and freeze until solid. We now have several easy meals ready to go in the freezer. This is definitely going to be one of my new favorite ways to set aside some of our summer garden excess for those rainy winter days.



Here's a great recipe using the lovely spring greens, carrots, and mushrooms now available at the Farmers' Markets. This was super easy and a really light, warming spring meal. Its from one of my new favorite cookbooks....

"Bob's Red Mill Cookbook"

This book is full of really easy, nutritious meals. I highly recommend it.

Mushroom and Barley Soup with Spring Greens

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of stock
• 2 cups of mushroom stock
• 1 large onion, finely diced (or a handful of green onions)
• 2 large carrots, finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb mushrooms (any combination)
• 2 cups of cooked barley or bulgur
• 2 large bunches of spring greens (bok choy, chard, spinach, or mustard greens), sliced into thin ribbons or bite-size pieces

Directions:

• Bring the stock to a simmer in a large soup pot. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves. Allow to simmer until the carrots start to become tender.
  
• Add the mushrooms and continue to simmer until the vegetables have reached the desired consistency, about 5-15 minutes.
  
• For the last few minutes add the greens, just cooking lightly.
• Spoon the cooked grains into warmed soup bowls and ladle the soup over the top.
  

Return of the Farmers' Markets

One of my favorite things about Portland is the abundance of Farmers' Markets. There are a few that go year round, but this week marked the beginning of most. It seems that almost every neighborhood has one, making it easy to find a nearby market 7 days a week. I absolutely love Farmers' Markets. To me they represent what food shopping should be all about. You support local businesses, connect with the producers of your food, and generally enjoy the experience rather than dreading the chore of going to the store. So I celebrate the return of Farmers' Markets by saying good-bye to the grocery store.

This evening was the opening day of our little neighborhood market. My daughter and I spent over three hours there! Our shopping was done within 20 minutes, but it was such a lovely evening that we just didn't want to leave. So I bought a basket of strawberries, some fresh bread and local cheese, and set up camp on the grass near the calypso band. Within seconds my daughter had her shoes off and had joined the large group of children partly dancing, partly running through all the picnickers, stopping by just long enough to grab another handful of berries - which she seemed to do from every family she passed by. I feel fairly confident that she prefers these shopping experiences to being tied down in a shopping cart. Next time you are at your Farmers' Market, stop and people watch for awhile. As people buy their food for the week, they are strolling, not rushing, conversing with the vendors rather than simply answering, "credit or debit?", their children are happy, they run into friends, and the whole atmosphere is festive rather than stressful. I plan on making this my normal shopping experience rather than the exception.

Learning to shop the Farmers' Markets (and I mean really shop, not just pick up a few things for fun) takes practice. We have become so accustomed to having whatever produce we want year round. This is a skill I'm still working on. It can be particularly difficult in the spring, when there isn't much available beyond the early spring greens like kale and chard. Today's finds included swiss chard, kale, bok choy, sugar peas, butter lettuce, and radishes. I was pleasantly surprised to find some early zucchini.


I am always super happy when I make it to the market early enough to get some eggs - these go fast! Just look how beautiful these are!




This is a great book for the Farmers' Market shopper as well as the backyard gardener...

"The Victory Garden Cookbook" by Marian Morash

This lovely book is organized by fruit / vegetable. So lets say you happen to find an abundance of chard and kale at the Farmers' Market but have no idea what to do with it. This book outlines the basics of storage and preparation as well as providing more than a few simple, flexible recipes using each particular vegetable. It even gives tips on growing your own if you are so inclined.

My eventual goal is to purchase a small share of a CSA to supplement our garden for all our produce needs. But until then, you'll find me at least once a week at a local Farmers' Market.

Baked Kale Chips

Some days you just really need something salty and crunchy. Instead of reaching for a bag of fritos, try these baked kale chips. Kale is a fabulous vegetable, incredibly nutritious and great in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. Even if you dislike kale, you should try these. Think Lays potato chips - light, crunchy, salty. Eat them as a snack or toss them on some soup instead of croutons. Unlike a bag of chips, these don't keep long, so only make enough for immediate enjoyment. If there happen to be any leftovers, just toss them into your evening salad. Kids love these too!

Baked Kale Chips

1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 -2 teaspoons salt or seasoned salt

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Pull or cut the kale leaves away from the thick stems, discarding the stems and tearing the leaves into large bite-size pieces
• Toss the leaves with olive oil and salt
• Spread the leaves on a baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes, until the edges of the leaves are browned but not burned and the leaves are crispy

It is easy to use too much oil and salt, so start out conservatively and adjust the recipe each time you make them. Enjoy!