arugula

June in the Kitchen – Peach, Arugula and Prosciutto Salad
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June in the Kitchen – Peach, Arugula and Prosciutto Salad

I first read about this combination of juicy peaches, rich prosciutto and peppery arugula in Michael Chiarello’s cookbook “Casual Cooking“. The cookbook was published in 2002 and is still pertinent 13 years later, offering recipes that are flavorful and delicious in addition to being easy to prepare. Michael Chiarello is a chef in Napa Valley, which is sometimes called the Tuscany of America. He is founder of the Tra Vigne restaurant in St. Helena. Recently a post I read on Fiesta Friday #71 for a “Grilled Nectarine and Arugula Salad” on Caroline’s Cooking triggered my memory, her recipe sounds delicious. I haven’t made Michael’s version in several years, it used to be a favorite because it is so versatile. Serve it as a first course (on individual plates), on a platter as part of a buffet, or even as dessert.

Use peaches, or nectarines, or a combination…I think even apricots would be wonderful.

Warm Peach and Prosciutto Salad with Arugula

  • 1/4 lb. of thinly sliced prosciutto
  • 1 lb. of peaches or combination of peaches (peeled) and nectarines, each cut into 8 wedges
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
  • 4 cups loosely packed arugula, washed and dried
  1. Lay out the prsciutto on individual plates or a platter. Let it warm to room temperature.IMG_3300
  2. Place the sliced fruit in a bowl and add the salt and pepper (salt no more than 10 minutes before cooking or they will soften too much).
  3. Heat the butter in a large skillet and cook on medium until starting to brown.
  4. Add the thyme, and bay leaf to the skillet and warm for 30 seconds to flavor the butter.
  5. Add the peaches and balsamic vinegar, cook for an additional 30 seconds to warm.
  6. Turn off the heat and take the skillet off the burner, add the arugula and toss quickly just to wilt. Remove the bay leaf.
  7. Add the contents of the skillet to the platter of prosciutto.
Warm peach salad with proscuitto and arugula

Warm peach salad with prosciuitto and arugula

April in the Kitchen – Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri
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April in the Kitchen – Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri

BBQ season is here, although I wouldn’t complain if we had some more rain. We are headed into serious drought conditions here in California. But, no rain is forecasted for the weekend and temperatures are up in the 70’s. It’s good grilling weather and steak is on the menu. We prefer hanger, skirt, and ribeye steak on the grill. And, of them all, my family is most fond of skirt steak, a cut which has unfortunately become more expensive because its popularity for fajitas.

Arugula is present year round in my garden, it has self sowed itself prolifically enough to more closely resemble a weed. The wild selviticca is very peppery and tart, unlike the tamer varieties you find in the supermarket. You don’t need much to make a big impact.

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri

  •  8 cloves of roasted garlic
  • 1 small shallot
  • 1 large handful of arugula
  • 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • Coarse salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of steak for the BBQ
  1. In the bowl of a regular or mini-food processor combine the garlic and shallot, pulse until finely chopped. Add the arugula and pulse again, add the olive oil, wine vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Pulse to combine into a green sauce.
  2. Meanwhile preheat your BBQ grill or stove top grill pan on high heat. Rub the steak with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill to your desired doneness. Let the steak rest on a cutting board for at least 10 minutes before cutting against the grain.
  3. Serve with chimichurri sauce.
Grilled Skirt Steak with Arugula Chimicurri Sauce

Grilled Skirt Steak with Arugula Chimichurri Sauce

Note: Roast Garlic

  • Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
  • Cut the top 1/4 inch off the top of a head of garlic. 
  • Place in the center of a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil.
  • Wrap the foil, enclosing the garlic, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until soft. 
  • Allow to cool before squeezing the cloves from the skin. 
Janurary in the Garden – Garden Share Collective
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Janurary in the Garden – Garden Share Collective

Happy New Year! This post is part of the Garden Share Collective. Each month a group of dedicated bloggers and gardeners share the stories of the vegetable gardens. I’m adding mine to the group although I am definitely off-season to the gardeners in Australia and New Zealand! My mouth waters at their tomatoes. I try to avoid them until our season opens in July. My garden doesn’t usually produce the first tomato until August or September. But, I can look and enjoy and enjoy the pictures. Click on the link to take a look at gardens around the world.

TheGardenShareCollective300pix1I haven’t done much gardening in the past few weeks; some harvesting but we’ve had rain, cold weather (for Northern California), and frost. All growth in the vegetable garden has slowed. I’ll be seeding lettuce and arugula later this month.

Frost bitten Nasturtiums

Frost bitten Nasturtiums

And, the seed catalogs are coming! I received the first ones in the mail last week. Time to dream of spring and summer.

I had some carrots seeded in containers on my deck which were going well until I noticed that something (squirrels?) had eaten the greens entirely off! Frustration!!! It’s too late to try seeding again for a month. Do squirrels like carrot greens? Hopefully it’s not mice.

Carrots eaten by????

Carrots eaten by????

What is on the garden schedule for January?

HARVESTING: salad greens, chard, beets, kale, fava leaves, herbs, and sprouting broccoli.

Lettuce

Lettuce

Chard

Chard

Beets

Beets

Baby Cauliflower

Baby Cauliflower

Thyme

Thyme

Parsley

Parsley

PLANTING: more salad greens

TO DO: Continue clean up, watch for snails and slugs, add compost to beds. I’m considering the purchase of an indoor grow light to start seeds. I’ll have to figure out a way to keep the cat from eating the greens.

November in the garden – salad greens, broccoli, peas, carrots, artichokes
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November in the garden – salad greens, broccoli, peas, carrots, artichokes

Thank goodness we got some rain overnight. My garden has been getting along with occassional water from the hose but I don’t think veggies like it as much as rain water. Do you notice a difference after a rain? I do, they seem to perk up and go through a growth spurt.

The broccoli rabe is starting to form little heads. I may harvest a bit to add to pasta this weekend. Planting three varieties of broccoli is an experiment, in addition to the broccoli rabe I’ve planted purple sprouting broccoli and regular ones. We’ve had some warm weather during the day so they are getting a good start. In the past the cabbage worms and aphids got most of the harvest. I’m being diligent this year about picking off cabbage worm eggs and watching for aphids.

broccoli rabe

broccoli rabe

The cauliflower is standing tall, but there are no heads yet.

The lettuce is looking amazing! We had our first full salad from the garden last night. It was gorgeous with all those colors, textures and leaf shapes. I added fava leaves and trimmings from the pea plants.

fava beans and lettuce

fava beans and lettuce

I plan to scatter some more arugula seeds this weekend. We love it so, and it gets eaten quickly.

Arugula

Arugula

The watermelon radishes I planted seem to have become squirrel food! I’ll replant and cover them with a wire basket to keep the critters away. The radishes were purposely inter-planted with some spicy mixed greens, that usually keeps the furry pests away. Not this time, they selectively dug up all the young radishes.

The snap and snow peas are growing tall though.

nap peas, snow peas, and mesclun

snap peas, snow peas, and mesclun

That’s some spicy mesclun in the front, see the holes where the squirrels dug up the radishes? Grrrr…

carrots and radishes in containers

carrots and radishes in containers

Although I have many gardening failures over the years, the one that frustrates me the most are carrots. They should be easy to grow, right? Well, I have had terrible luck so far. Recently I decided to try another method, containers. I had some deep nursery containers that were sitting around waiting for me to stop being lazy and recycle back to the nursery. I thought I would use them, plant some radishes in the same container. So far, so good. I initially planted pelleted seeds (which are larger and supposed to make it easier to space the carrots), but the germination rate was terrible! So, I purchased several seed varieties and plan to thin the carrots when they are a couple of inches tall.

mini coldframe

mini coldframe – greenhouse

This mini-greenhouse is on the back deck, I’m hoping it will allow me to keep growing lettuces throughout the winter. It will get more sun once the magnolia tree looses the rest of it’s leaves.

artichoke plant

artichoke plant

The artichoke plants are coming back with the cooler wet weather. Last spring we had tons of them. This plant looks as if it could use separating out into at least 3 new ones. They grow like weeds here. Because my neighbor likes the flowers, I let some of them go to seed. Every since they have been self sowing themselves everywhere, even into cracks in the sidewalk.

artichoke plant growing from a crack in the sidewald

artichoke plant growing from a crack in the sidewald

 

10 Kitchen basics to grow in pots
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10 Kitchen basics to grow in pots

If you have a deck or terrace with some sun, you can grow the following 10 herbs and vegetables. Having a pot of these herbs near your kitchen will encourage you to use them regularly. The fresh ones are infinitely better than the dried.

Many of them are actually easier to grow in containers. The first four are Mediterranean plants often found growing wild beside a road or path in the warmer parts of Europe. They will grow without any attention on your part other than a slug of water every now and then. In fact, withholding water concentrates the oils and makes them more flavorful.

The mint is best grown in a container; given a chance it will take over your garden.

Herbs:

  1. Thyme
  2. Rosemary
  3. Sage
  4. Oregano
  5. Mint
  6. Parsley – will need to be periodically replanted, not too often if you keep it sniped
Thyme and mint

Thyme and mint

Veggies:

  1. Arugula
  2. Salad greens
  3. Radishes
  4. Scallions or chives

Yes, you can grow arugula and other salad greens in pots. They will need regular water to taste their best. Without it they will wilt, become bitter and generally unappealing. If you have to be away for a period of time, I have some ideas that will help keep your garden healthy until you return. Look for another post coming soon.

Having lettuce near your kitchen will encourage you to snip the leaves for wonderful salads. You can either pinch off the outer leaves when they are of the size you want, or cut the entire plant back about an inch above the soil line. The plant will come back for a second or even third time, it’s called cut-and-come-again. The salads from these greens are infinitely better than those from even the finest grocery store. Plus, you can grow exactly the type of lettuce you want. Those commercial mesclun mixes always have too many spinach leaves for my taste. Seed catalogs are full of beautiful lettuces and lettuce mixes. Cooks Garden is famous for their mesclun; take a peak at the varieties available in their on-line catalog.

Radishes are easy to grow, too easy! I find that I forget about them unless they are front and center. My first gardening failure was in my grandparent’s garden when I was 9. I was excited when my grandfather gave me some radish seeds to plant. However, I immediately forgot about them until they were overgrown, woody, and way too hot to eat. Believe me I’ve had lots of failures since! So, put them in a container where you can watch them every time you pass by and pull them up when ready. In France radishes are a favorite starter with a crisp baguette, unsalted butter, and flaked sea salt on the side. I particularly like the French breakfast variety.

Scallions or chives will grow well in a pot. Having them close to the kitchen will encourage you to snip a bit to use with eggs, or salads, or as a fancy garnish. You can grow chives from a transplant, or from seeds. Your plant may die back in the winter but will come back in the spring. The flowers, pulled apart, are beautiful added to a salad. Scallions grow from seed, or even easier, a bunch from the grocery store. Put a bunch, with the rubber band still around them, into a glass with about an inch of water. Change the water every day or two. Once you see the roots growing and new greens on the top, you can plant them into soil. Simply snip off the green portion as needed or pull one up.

Parsley and basil

Parsley and basil

If you have herbs planted further away from the kitchen, cut a few sprigs while you are out in the garden.  Put them close by in a glass of water (change it every day). If you are sure you won’t forget them (I would), you can cover the glass or jar with a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator. I like to see them and they add a really nice herby scent to the kitchen, much better than those fancy infusers. I often have glasses of parsley, basil (in season), oregano, and rosemary on my kitchen table; ready to use when I feel creative.