FOOD and gardening

[apple_pathways]

I know it's spring and time to move onto spring vegetables, but there were some yummy-looking leeks in the grocery store the other day, and I couldn't resist! So here's a quick recipe:

Leek, New Potato, and Kale Bake




Ingredients

• Two medium leeks
  
• About a pound of red new potatoes, sliced thin.
  
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
  
• Some kale - chopped (I'm sorry: I suck at measuring!)
  
• Butter
  
• Olive oil
  
• Nutmeg - about 1/2 tsp?
  
• salt and pepper
  
• Milk (1/2 to 1 cup)
  
• CHEESE! (I used smoked gouda. It was AWESOME!)
  
• Bread crumbs

Instructions
Clean the leeks. I like to cut off most of the tough, green, fibrous tops and then slice them in half lengthwise. Rinse out the dirt between the leaves, and slice into 1/2" strips.

Heat 1-2 Tbs butter in a pan. (I always do about half butter, half olive oil. The butter tends to cook away pretty quickly, and the oil keeps everything sauteeing without adding too much saturated fat.) Add the leeks and the nutmeg, and sautee about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes and the sliced garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the garlic softens, about 3-4 minutes. Add the milk and bring to a simmer. You really only need just enough milk to about halfway cover the veggies. Add the chopped kale, and stir until it wilts.

Pour the veggie/milk mixture into a casserole dish. Top with shredded cheese and bread crumbs, and bake in a 350 degree oven until the potatoes are cooked through, about 30 minutes.


Tomorrow, for my friend's graduation BBQ, I'm making an orzo pasta salad with marinated veggies. They had some GORGEOUS-looking eggplants at the grocery store: deep purple, and cream and purple-striped ones. I also bought some zucchini, yellow summer squash, a red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and some marinated olives and feta cheese. I think I'm going to add some oregano from the herb garden. What I can't decide is this: should I cook the veggies? How is eggplant raw? My instinct is to roast the veggies, but: before or after I marinate them? Hmm...conundrums.

(Good lord, is this journal boring! If it's not me complaining, it's me wittering on about food! When do I get my Old Lady badge?)

It was a beautiful sunny day, and I spent the afternoon puttering around in the garden. The cat accompanied me, and spent her time pretending to be a street-savvy Wild Animal. She very nearly went after a bumblebee who was working the hyacinths, but wisely decided he was out of her league.

I then went inside, and re-potted some of the seedlings I'd started that were getting too big for the starter trays. Remember the baby pictures I posted of my seedlings? Well, look at my pumpkins now:



THEY ARE READY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

I also have a FANMIX up at sherlockmas. Check it out, and feel free to point and laugh at my taste in Angsty Chick Music. :P

In conclusion, SPRING IS FINALLY HERE! OMG, LOOK:



Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout! Happy weekend, everyone. xx :D

And now, to work on the latest Music Battle Challenge from evilhippo. This one is FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT: I must tell a story through my song choices, without repeating any artists!

Comments

[tourdefierce.livejournal.com]

Those flowers are so gorgeous.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Thanks! But actually, that's my neighbor's forsythia bush. *EPIC SADFACE* The shed behind it is ours, though. :P

[inkdancer.livejournal.com]

1. I love it when you "witter on" about food! Food is truly one of the things that makes life worth living.
2. I would marinate and then roast the veggies. I don't like eggplant much when it's raw, but when it's marinated and lightly seared it's very delicious.
3. Your garden is coming along splendidly! I need to get stakes and move my tomatoes before they outgrow their box.
4. Hooraaaaay spring! I should get some pictures of the dogwoods in my neighborhood. The neighborhood itself is called "Dogwood Ridge," so they are everywhere, and this year they are finally getting big and beautiful, outgrowing that awkward baby tree stage.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that you have practical advice about my recipe! ♥ I think marinating then roasting would be a good idea. I'm just wondering if this would be worth firing up the charcoal grill, or if I should just roast them in the oven? Hmm... It will depend on how productive I feel tomorrow!

POST PICS OF YOUR TOMATOES SOON! I love garden pics. ♥ I just moved the tomatoes I started into larger peat pots. In addition the varities my mother has started, I'm growing a strain developed by Heinz that's supposed to be especially good for canning. I love the smell of tomato plants! Am I crazy to want it in some kind of cologne?

Oh, dogwoods!!! ♥ I love them. We have a couple in our backyard, but they're still rather young, and not even close to blooming yet. PLEASE DO post pics, so I can drool in anticipation!

[inkdancer.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness grilled eggplant. SO GOOD. I have very happy memories of making chicken and eggplant on the grill with my grandfather. We actually marinated both in the same sauce (Italian dressing and lemon juice) and they turned out wonderfully.

Will do. I need to find the cord that lets my camera exchange with my computer so I can have better quality pics than last time. What strain is that? I'm doing beefsteak and my mom's fiance is doing some kind I've never heard of before... I'm not sure which I'll prefer. But I do understand your love for their smell. When I was a very little kid I used to sit in front of the fridge and cry for tomatoes and cheese. I could live on tomato and cheese sandwiches forever and be pretty happy about it.

Dogwoods are my favorite kind of tree. I especially love the pink ones, but I love how all the colors look when they bloom. Will definitely get some pics for you!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

The vegetables are marinating as we speak! I don't think I'll be grilling them, just because grilling sliced zucchini and yellow squash can be quite fiddly. :P

I'm using a similar marinade: extra virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, and italian herbs.

As far as I know, the special canning variety I'm growing is called Heinz tomato! (That's how it was identified on the site I bought it from: Pinetree Garden Seeds.) My mother's favorite variety is called Big Mama: they're a plum tomato, but HUGE! Awesome for sauce. Plum tomatoes have fewer seeds and more flesh, which is good for making sauces, but most varities are small, which make them tedious to peel and prepare for cooking. Since this variety is so big, you don't have to peel so many.

Mmm, tomatoes and cheese! ♥ My dear, we are kindred spirits! (Just throw a couple leaves of basil on that sandwich!)

I can't wait for the dogwoods to bloom here! Right now, it's just the forsythia and a few magnolia trees.

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

Leeks aren't a spring vegetable? They are all over the farmers market here the past couple of weeks.

Planting a Satuma orange and a Meyer lemon tomorrow. Very excited.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Where I live in Michigan, leeks are a fall vegetable: the farmers' markets aren't even OPEN yet! (We have a very short growing season.) Where do you live? (I seem to recall you also were able to purchase a large amount of delicious strawberries for jam awhile ago, which leads me to believe you live in a much warmer climate!)

(The orange and lemon trees you're planting confirm my suspicions!)

THAT IS SO EXCITING! I want to see pics of both. I'm such a garden nerd. :P

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

Tis true. I live in a suburb of Houston Tx where it might freeze once a year. In fact we planted impatients a few years ago and the bloomed straight for 3 years because it never got cold enough to kill them.

This winter was cold and we lost most of the flowers and herbs. But we're planting a lot today. I'll post photos. I'm very excited about the citrus although I have it on good authority that although my tree is full of little buds I need to pinch most of them to help the root stock this year. But still excited!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I can't even imagine. I think I could do with a shorter winter, but I don't know that I could do without one entirely--warm weather year 'round would be just too weird! And I love autumn far too much to give up cold weather completely.

Can't wait to see your pics! I hope one day to have enough yard space for fruit trees. For the time being, I'll just live vicariously. ;)

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

a good friend of mine mentioned that phenomenon this fall, or maybe last fall, when the farmers market closed.

It doesn't close here. We have Faarmers markets 50 weeks a year. In November when the mornings are often in the 40s through about February one or two of the local markets go back by an hour so it's a little warmer for shopping and then get earlier in July and August when it's often 80 by the time the sun is up... but aside from a week at Christmas we have produce at the market year round.

This week at the market still had carrots, leeks, fennel, turnips, beets
plus artichokes, cauliflower in three colors, zucchini *loads of giant zucchini* and zucchini blossoms the first really nice tomatoes of the season all sorts of spring onions, potatoes, green beans, mushrooms.. but we always have mushrooms... and it was a relatively slow week as it rained.

Planted my trees yesterday and will plant herbs this weekend *big frost this year twice killed my herb garden* Pictures as soon as everything goes in.

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

I'm useless with cooking, scared of your sprawling pumpkins, and apparently allergic to spring for the first time ever.

I don't think you had an Old Lady badge, but if you had, I've officially stolen it with this comment. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I am so domestic, it is EMBARRASSING! Just wait until the end of the summer, when I start posting about canning tomatoes and jam. :P

I gladly share my Old Lady badge with you! It's nice to know there are other Prematurely Aged out there to sympathize with me. ;)

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

Oh I love the sound of the leek bake -- I'll have to try that. I tend to roast everything in the oven because I'm lazy, but I've both roasted and grilled marinated eggplant and they both turn out AMAZING!

Love the spring time posts!!!!

[tierfal.livejournal.com]

When do I get my Old Lady badge?
When you tell people their music is too loud, yell at children to get off your damn lawn, and acquire at least four more cats.

GET TO WORK. :D

Your pumpkins look awesome. (If I continue to compliment them, do you think they will treat me well when they become our overlords?)

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

When are you coming to bake for meeee?

(Sorry I have been quite hit or miss here on LJ but I am thinking about you.)