Port Potager

When we have made enough sweet gherkins  for the year, it's time to switch to sour little cornichons:  These are far less involved than the gherkins because they're a refrigerator pickle. This recipe lasts pretty well forever (unless you lose power for several days and have to dump the contents of fridge, I guess). French cornichons are small and sour and totally delicious with cheese and other charcuterie-type delights.  The only tricky part about making them is remembering to pick the cucumbers when they're still tiny — the size of your pinkie finger is ideal. In the quart jar I have above, some are more the size I would use for gherkins. For whatever reason, all the really tiny ones are facing the wall in this photo.  Anyway, I think I've perfected my cornichon recipe, so give it a try if you're up to your ears in cucumbers: It's a great way to slow down your yields for a week or two since you won't have to harvest giant cukes later. ...

Last week I spent some serious time in the herb garden. It could use a renovation: some are now too shaded, others are garden bullies that have spread beyond their borders, etc. Even so, there was plenty to harvest. Here's what I walked away with: That's not everything we grow, but it is a sampling of what's doing well. Things like sage and rosemary will be better in the fall, but these are some of the herbs that are ready to go at the height of summer. Basil. I cut a lot  to avoid having it begin to flower and go to seed. Even with this giant pile, I still only ended up with eight pesto cubes . Luckily, a little bit goes a long way in the flavor department. Horehound. Those globes between the leaves are its flowers, so I may have cut this a bit too late for full potency. Horehound is a bitter relative of mint used to cure respiratory ailments, and I keep meaning to use it to make some homemade cough drops.  Tarragon. It's not worth dryi...

It's the time of year again: zucchini is back in force! This one had a particular joie de vivre and would not be dragged down. It was growing straight up – something I hadn't seen before. I figured it would fall back to earth as it got too heavy, but no. This one was aiming for the heavens until we cut it. It was tasty, too. When zucchini is still small and tender (if you can manage to stay on top of it), you can totally eat it raw. We had this one in a shaved zucchini and fennel salad: Kirk just uses a sharp vegetable peeler to make long, thin strips. It's dressed simply with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. There's also some thin bits of fennel bulb thinnings and some fennel fronds as well. This was a rare occasion in which we cooked together. The other part of last night's dinner was an omelet I made with (obviously) eggs, baby broccoli (the side shoots are even better than the big heads !), tarragon, chives, scallions, and a mild...

Now that things are growing in the warm sun, we are enjoying some seasonal delights at the dinner table. We have tulips from the cutting garden: Tulips rather notoriously lose steam after their first year, and ours are no exception. Many did not re-bloom, and the ones that did are smaller than they were last season. Still, we have enough to keep up a bouquet on the dining room table, and that's enough to brighten things up indoors. Asparagus season is in full swing! To keep it from getting out of hand, Kirk turned several large bunches into  Cream of Asparagus Soup 4-5 scallions, chopped 3-4 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbs. olive oil 2-3 large bunches of asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces 1/2 to 1 cup cream Salt and pepper to taste  fresh tarragon for garnish 1. In a large stock pot, sauté scallions and garlic in olive oil.   2. As you cut asparagus into pieces, add to the pot and allow to sauteé while you continue chopping.  3...

A portion of yesterday's harvest: In this basket are (what must be) the very last of the snap peas, tiny "Paris market" carrots , a pair of red onions, and beets. The onions aren't quite ready to be picked, but I needed some to fulfill a promise to Tiegan. This summer she is planning to make dinner for us once a week (supposedly with help from her brother, but his enthusiasm for this project remains to be seen). She has gone through Kirk's old " Meals of Many Lands " children's cookbook and decided on Scandinavia. Thus the request for pickled beets. So that these would definitely be ready for next week's dinner (I convinced her to do France first), I am going with a quick refrigerator pickle rather than a ferment . I used Alton Brown's recipe  with a few modifications: After washing and trimming a dozen small-to-medium beets, I drizzled them with olive oil and added a couple cloves of peeled garlic (instead of shall...

Since we're not buying vegetables any more, it's a good idea to make the most of our garden odds and ends. Here's what I found for lunch: Leftover new potatoes and peas from Sunday dinner , side shoots of broccoli (yes!) from the leftover plants that have not yet ben fed to the chickens, and some goat cheese (a great summertime staple, we have decided). I also ran out to snip some tarragon and a bit of thyme. These things I worked into an omelet with a bit of salt and pepper. Omelets are a great way to blend weird leftovers together, and they are one of my favorite things for lunch: Add some garden greens and voilà ! Leftover lunch is served, quick and delicious.

In addition to the basil that I cut and dried back in October , I also brought in some other herbs to dry before the first expected freeze . Those are now completely dried, and today I put them in mason jars to store them: From left to right are sage, tarragon, and marjoram. At the time, it felt like I brought in armloads of herbs, but when they dry, they really shrink down. In the middle of the summer it seems like there's no way you could ever use all the herbs you plant, but drying them for storage is a whole other matter. Now I don't think there is such a thing as planting too much! I also cut several bunches of the cilantro that is still growing in one of our greenhouse tunnels. We managed to time this perfectly, because the colder weather has kept it from going to seed — something that I've never been able to keep on top of in the summer. Anyway, I only brought in a fraction of what is out there:  So I was thinking that this was a gigantic bunch of...

As I write this, it is snowing. Check the date: October 27. That's some crazy shit right there, people. We knew this was coming, but I have to be honest: I did not believe that forecast AT ALL. With the exception of that killed-back basil , we haven't even had a real frost yet. TV weather people up here are notorious for hyping up the forecast, so I wasn't buying it. Until last night, when we read the freeze warning from the National Weather Service, that is. Then, like stupid summer grasshoppers , we had to scramble. So, in the dark and the cold, we went outside and managed to put it up a green house tunnel: Kirk set up 10 foot long , 1/2-inch pvc pipes to make the hoops (four of them). Then he zip-tied another one along the top to support the plastic sheeting. The plastic sheeting is held down by scrap lengths of wood from the raised beds. This was no fun to put together in the dark of night, and it all felt very half-assed. Seeing the picture, though, makes us ...