Irene soup August 27, 2011

Between being frightened by the news, and worrying about my vegetable garden being destroyed by Hurricane Irene – the eve of the arrival of the storm was spent with a lot of hand-wringing, pacing and worrying.

My older daughter helped me empty the contents of our covered patio deck into a lovely M.C. Escher -inspired assembly of stubborn patio chairs, precariously balanced over bicycles, a Radio Flyer, and a hodge podge of gardening items methodically stacked inside my ex-car garage-currently-Papa’s-woodworking-man-cave. 

We then ran outside to the vegetable garden, and tried to pick as many string beans/yard-long beans and tomatoes before nightfall.  My little one spun dizzy circles in the yard, her arms out-stretched and her sundress puffing into little parasol shapes as she sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Stauw (Star, with Brooklyn accent, thanks to Lala at daycare).”  My older daughter grabbed handfuls of beans and cherry tomatoes next to me.

I then hustled everyone back into the house once the rain started falling.

To calm myself, I decided I’ll cook.  Let’s call it, “Irene Soup.”

Here are the ingredients:

1 container, Trader Joe’s Hearty vegetable stock

1 lbs dried Cannellini beans, picked over and rinsed

2 large handfuls of string beans pulled from the garden, de-stringed and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 large onions, cut into bite-sized pieces

4 carrots, peeled, and cut into 1/8 inch pieces

4 celery stalks, rinsed, and cut into 1/8 inch pieces

Handful of kale from our garden – probably about 8 medium leaves – julienned across the “rib”

Handful cherry tomatoes from our garden

1 packet Hokuto Bunashimeji mushrooms – rinsed, and the bottom “stalk” part trimmed.  The mushrooms were pulled into small clusters.

2 sweet Italian sausages, grilled, and cut into bite-sized pieces.  These were left-over from an earlier dinner.

1 Tbs chopped pancetta

1 Tsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Handful of thyme and oregano leaves, pulled off stems

In the bottom of the pressure cooker, set over medium heat, I drizzled the olive oil, and added the pancetta to brown.  I then added the onion, carrots and celery until fragrant.  I then added the remaining vegetables (kale, beans, tomato and mushrooms) until they softened a little, (kale and beans will get brighter green in color) and then poured in the stock. 

I then added the dried beans, and brought everything to a strong simmer, stirring occasionally.

I then added the lid, adjusting the heat (medium) until there was a steady, but not hysterical hissing of steam, and set the stove timer for 45 minutes.

Once the timer rang, I let the pot cool until the pressure lock released the lid, and checked for done-ness.  I wasn’t convinced after my original check that the bean soup was done, so I started the pressure cooker again for another 30 minutes.  I added the sliced sausage pieces at this point to the soup.

Once the second round of cooking was done, I stirred and garnished the soup with the herbs from my garden.

The resulting soup was velvety, soft, creamy soup, punctuated by the occasional carrot, bean or mushroom.  The tomato, kale, celery and potato were “melted” into smaller pieces (or shreds) and I knew this would be a hit with the girls.

Thankfully, we did not lose power, and we did not suffer any property damage during the storm.

 

Taking a deep breath – it’s August already… Brandywines, San Marzanos and more

“You know, you haven’t been as diligent with your blog these days…”

An honest comment from my father last night as we skyped – the girls eating dinner, while my parents (Jiji and Baba) took turns talking to them.  I certainly need to get back into my routine of blogging – but it’s difficult these days,  trying to soak in the long, summer days without the restrictions of school schedules, wake-ups and the dreaded daylight’s savings…  No, not a mikka bouzu, but… simply summer laziness?

Last night’s dinner included:

Freshly picked edamame – boiled for 4 minutes until they turn brilliant green, then sprinkled with sea salt.

Seared flank steak (TJ’s conventional, but I believe non-antibiotic), marinated with a minced garlic-(conventional) ginger-soy sauce-rice vinegar-Trader Joe’s 21 spice rub, and seared on the grill.

Freshly picked green beans – string beans and yardlong beans, blanched, and cut into inch long pieces, seasoned with katsuobushi  and soy sauce.

Handful of freshly picked yellow grape tomatoes

The garden is yielding an amazing amount of vegetables, starting with tomatoes ranging from the yellow grape tomatoes, San Marzano Roma tomatoes, gorgeous blush-hued Brandywine tomatoes, and Beefsteak tomatoes.  This is the first year I was successful with the Brandywines, and I was struck by how beautiful they are.  The tomatoes are ridged – some almost look knotted – but they all seem to glow a breath-taking rose as they ripen on the vine.  I thought my eyes were failing on me the first time I picked one that was ripe – I actually rubbed my eyes, thinking something was wrong.  How could a tomato be pink?  Oh, my dear reader – they can be pink, and they delicately and deliciously transition from the light, sea green to a bashful pink.  And the taste!  They are juicy and bursting with flavor, and I couldn’t help but eat a whole tomato (the size of my hand!), cut into wedges with salt in one sitting – barely breathing between the pieces because I felt I’d miss something by pausing, and hastily wiping away the juice running down my chin.  It tasted of summer sunshine in each bite.

The beans are also growing quickly – there are several types – Kentucky Blue (your typical string beans), flat green beans (we received a bean packet from a local fair that we planted), two types of yard-long beans (one is red, the other green), and of course, edamame. 

The cucumbers seemed to have failed this year due to the glitch with my sprinkler system – I’ve got rogue summer yellow squash, butternut squash and spaghetti squash that regenerated out of the compost pile – and have monopolized any area outside of the raised beds, virtually dominating the sprinkler head directed at the cucumber trellis.  We did get a good harvest early on – but not certain I’ll have any more this summer.

Shiso is growing under the poles, shaded by bean vines reaching upwards.  The artichoke is also growing, I cut one artichoke last night – I just need to steam it for the girls to “dip-dip” in a soy sauce vinaigrette. 

Potatoes are also growing – another compost re-generator, and I’m curious to see what they look like when we dig them up.

In the evenings, when I can manage to squeeze into the garden with the girls, I watch them go from the garden to the garden hose to rinse them before eating their pickings – the little one declaring she wants edamame – although I suspect every green bean she picks is considered an edamame in her book.  The older one carefully picks tomatoes, yellow ones, orange ones, red ones, and runs to the garden hose, rinsing them off, these summer jewels, and popping them in her mouth.

Summer appears to be picking up momentum as we lazily float down these wonderfully carefree times – but school is right around the corner, and my bento battle (at least for Saturdays) will start in two weeks.

As for photos of my garden – apologies for the lack of them – I was too busy picking, eating and chasing Kiki, my chocolate lab, out of the garden before I realized I left my camera inside…

 

PS.  Today’s NY Times has a wonderful article by Mark Bittman – one of my favorite columnists regarding “The Proper Way to treat Heirlooms.”  A timely article!

Tomatoes and Beans in various colors, shapes and sizes

Picking right now…

Yellow grape tomatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes

With the exception of the carrots, kohlrabi and the olive hummus – all the veggies are from our garden!!  Counter-clockwise:  Yellow and red tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, kohlrabi, carrots, zucchini, green beans and yard-long beans from our garden!

Blanching edamame – the girls love to snack on these as I prepare dinner.