I just posted a bunch of food pics and recipes from my recent vacation - here’s the last installment.
It may be the oldest trick in the book, but I love cutting a hole in bread and grilling it along with an egg to make a “bird nest”. Always a crowd pleaser.
I also tried something new - habanero infused rice. You take an unripe habanero which I imagine is difficult to find. I just happen to have about 50 right now in Peppertown USA. They are so fresh they appear to be fake…
You take the unripe habanero and drop it in boiling water along with the rice. At the end of the cooking process, the habanero will look as if its been stewed - it will have lost all of its firmness.
If the habanero ruptures during the process, you have to throw the rice out unless you want serious, serious heat. This recipe imparts a little heat, but largely adds a smoky flavor to the rice. When I cook this again, I’ll probably add another pepper for a more pronounced flavor. I served the rice along with some quesadillas that included fresh jalapenos from the garden.
I did a quick harvest before I left to come back to NYC - here’s the bounty.
I gave a friend a bag of those cherry tomatoes which he quickly used in a Summer Harvest Pasta. He roasted the tomatoes along with brussel sprouts, then tossed with bacon and shallots in a vinaigrette. Looks amazing…
I’m headed back out for Labor Day - more food porn to come!
To put things in perpsective, I’m on vacation.The Chevy Chase kind.
At a gorgeous beach enjoying the many splendid fruits of the Shambaugh Victory Garden and it’s subsidiary Peppertown USA. I have been harvesting a lot of vegetables and herbs, wanted to share the food “pron”.
First, feast your eyes on the first pepper harvest:
This is a decent amount of action, akin to backseat groping, but is only a harbinger of things to come. Here’ the score. The jalapenos have been the fastest and the most prolific plants by far. I have 4 plants and was able to harvest around 50 peppers out of the gate. The largest of the plants has around 25 peppers on it at a time. The bell peppers are off to a slow start, but I picked a bunch of green ones to jump start production. Humans recommend that you pick the early fruits of a pepper plant in order to encourage more production. Bell Pepper plants produce around 3-4 peppers per plant at a time, and I have 10 plants. About to get funky with a capital P. I only have one Poblano plant, but it’s sprawling, halfway to a tomato plant, used a cage for support. The Cayenne peppers are just beginning to change color, not sure how long that process takes, but I think I’ll have around 30 peppers soon. The Cubanelle (sweet) are prolific, but not too large yet. And that red guy in that shiny silver pan is a Habanero. We have around 20 that are about ready to pop. I have 4 plants and it’s gonna be a bumper crop of napalm.
What to do with all of these peppers?
The first thing we did was follow a recent Gourmet recipe for Jalapeno Poppers.The fresh jalapenos from the garden are much hotter than store bought variety and not nearly as waxy. This is good eating - great with a beer on a hot summer day.
We made a quick tomato sauce using bell and jalapeno peppers. Perfect over linguine.
We harvested green beans and cooked them simply with shallots and garlic.
We spiced up my favorite potato recipe with jalapenos and pepper jack cheese. Added a great NY strip rubbed with a Montreal steak spice.
The heirloom tomatoes are pop-and-locking across 6 basil plants that have gone into hyperdrive.
Birch made an epic caprese salad this past weekend.
We made 10 batches of pesto - third no butter, third with butter, third with sundried tomato. Here’s the no butter, made especially chunky for a tuna steak cooked later that night.
To honor all of this great food courtesy of the Shambaugh Victory Garden, I built a new leaf compost enclosure to help fuel future efforts.
That’s my first installment. More summer vacation food porn to come…
Many updates have been posted here about the Victory Garden’s progress and we’ve been harvesting all kinds of beans, peas, cukes & cherry tomatoes. Pepper Town USA is also going gang-busters and has been providing a plenitude of deliciousness. Last night, however, was a milestone that I relish every year - the consumption of the first vine-ripe heirloom tomato. Let me say - W O W.
Still Life With Yellow Heirloom & Green Habenero. You don’t get much of a feel for the scale of this monster, but I’d put it at well over 1.5lb, maybe 2.
First cuts - and the inside looks perfect. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with the larger heirloom varietals. They can be rather persnickety; appearing ripe only to yield an unripe or, worse, rotten center. It also doesn’t necessarily help that they have such medical-wonder proportions, one lobe can be ideal and another not quite there yet. But this puppy was showing red tasty scrumptiousness across the board.
Fully butchered and being carefully watched over by a tasty glass of rose.
We figured best to enjoy this rite of season as a caprese salad w/ fresh basil from the garden and some lovely Burrata. i was introduced to Buratta not days before by our local cheese monger at the Green Grape’s new “Provisions” store. This cheese lady really knows her stuff and I’m not ashamed to admit she has a flawless track record of introducing and upselling me into new cheeses (4/4 for the record). When she told me about Burrata, that it was a mozzarella with additional cream inside, there was nothing to be done but scarf a sample. The deliciousness met my tongue, synapses fired, a waking dream of the tomato at home bubbled up and *POW*, just like that, sweet sweet commerce was made. I greedily scurried a ball of the imported stuff home to be mated to this awesome ‘mater.
Love the Buratta and love the Green Grape’s provisions; I’ll gladly sing both their praises for making my life better.
The result. Nothing but ultra fresh and perfectly ripe, garden-good, tomato and basil, delicious cheese, some olive oil, salt and pepper. It was 3 times as delicious as it looks; damn I love summer - victory garden indeed!
This report was submitted today by a duke in fine standing and a life long lover of the swine. He’s sort of our own Andy Rooney and prone to rants that contain deep truths burried within the greasy layers of stream-of-deliciousness rambling. Also of note; the manifesto arrived burned into cracklin like some sort of delectable scroll. You’ll forgive if the translation is a bit spotty…here at HQ we were a little, um, late in realizing it wasn’t a snack delivered by secret admirer……
So after a weekend of mass pork consumption, and the onset of a mild case of trichinosis, it occurred to me that we might have somehow forgotten to pay homage to the sausage, the forgotten pork vehicle.
Bacon month turned into bacon summer and lord knows we have consumed some bacon. On top of the usual 2 pound a weekend minimum that has been set as the standing bar for the Ram’s Rest, this weekend we actually consumed 4.5 pounds of freshly cut slab bacon from the oh so sassy Smith Street butcher. For those of you not familiar with bacon, it is the pig’s way of saying thank you.
Lest I digress, back to the forgotten fruit.
In the madness of the bacon frenzy, we have neglected our friend the sausage, who has faithfully served us for so long & in so many wonderful ways. There is of course the link and the patty, who have been holding it down at breakfast since we figured out how to grind shit up. There’s also the hot dog (aka. frankfurter, frank, weenie, wiener, dog and tube steak) the most perfect $1 New York food on the planet. Like the oven at Peter Luger’s, the secret to the New York hotdog is to never change the water they boil them in, thus accumulating the flavor encapsulated in the nugs and boiled off bits from years of hot dogs. I go mustard/ketchup, kraut and onions, but I’m from here.
Beyond the commonly known breakfast sausages and garden-variety hot dogs I just mentioned, there are a plethora (yes jefe, a plethora) of other ’sausage’ related products that make this world a better place. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, there are over 85 varieties of sausage (with many having sub-varieties).
I’m going to stick the ‘mainstream’ varieties, and by mainstream, I mean the ones I know and like. I am certain the butcher’s son (who shall remain nameless*) knows more about this subject than I do, but his absence at the last few meetings has put his membership into question and catapulted me into a position of authority.
When I am king, you all will hang.
In the “things everybody would identify as a sausage” category there’s: Bratwurst, Chorizo, Kielbasa, Weisswurst and a million flavors of what we simply call sausage. Each has it’s own magic and will be sampled in September, now officially know as Sausage Month..
On the somewhat forgotten side, are the Italian’s contributions to the party, Capacolla (aka Gabagool as in “what? you don’t like Gabagool?”)), Mortadella, Proscuitto and Salami. Though we more often than not see them sliced thinly (and in NG’s hands by the refrigerator), these varieties start off as tubes and slabs and then are sliced after the fact. Rest assured they are real and they are fantastic. These will also be represented in the Sausage of Truth showdown in September.
Lastly, there are other regional pleasures that mainly exist in the places that deem eating crazy shit to be totally fine.
Included in this category are: bangers, smokies, scrapple, lola, linguica, goetta and frizzies. Each are odd and, in their own way ,delicious. I might propose a mixed bag event where nations are represented by their respective meats.
All in all, the sausage is truly it’s own pork champion, not some redheaded stepchild of bacon. I am resolute that, after sausage month kicks off, you will all have a clearer understanding of the power of the sausage.
I just hope the lipitor holds up its end of the bargain.
With all the talk of Peppertown USA, I would like to throw in a suggestion for next years crop, the Bhut Jolokia.
Weighing in at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units, the Bhut Jolokia chili from India is considered the worlds hottest pepper. Just to put that into perspective, the Jalapeno is a weak 10,000 Scoville Heat Units.
The video below is of Gavin McInnes eating a Bhut Jolokia pepper and is AWESOME. I hope we can attempt this same stunt next season after a visit to Peppertown USA
Having never done battle with a group of 12 tomato plants at mid August growth, I never understood how the idea for the film “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” came about. I know now, my friends, I do.
With Pepper Town USA neatly in order, the not- so-sleepy neighbor plot to the East (?) got out of control in the last few weeks. While it’s tenders were tending to other matters, the tomato trestle system could barely contain the high summer growth. Plants were growing every which way but as intended, with fear of taking over the basil and cucumber patches– egads!
A little known fact about grape and cherry tomatoes vines– allowed to grow along the ground, they will re-root and fuse with a neighboring plant. We had about 10 vines that made it from one side of the trestle to the other side. In an attempt to get some order back, I re-tied many of the vines and even tied some over the top of the trestle system so that the tomato bunches would start to grown over the trestle with fruit hanging down from the wires– rather than on the ground with easy access for all sorts of pests.
After 5 hours of re-giggering, Victory was indeed mine. Not with out some causalities, of course. About four sections of vine needed to by cut to make room and sun for other plants- there was just no way around it. Further, two pints of green tomatoes were shaken from their branches as the re-org took place. Not to worry, my friends, they will will not go down in vain. About three weeks from now, pickled green cherry tomatoes await your Labor Day martini!
As for the rest of the garden, the green beans and Pepper Town USA are in the lead with great strides and major yields ready for the taking.
I’ll wait for the Mayor of PT to arrive before harvest, as I think he has some plans for these beauties. The green beans were harvested and went to the pasteurization tank for their last Hoooray…
The cucumber plants seemed to suffer from the tomato invasion, and are not yielding as much as I would like to see at this point. I sourced some organic vegetable food from the hardware store and stuffed their little mounds– hopefully we see a turn around.
The Sugar snap peas maybe a complete loss, we’ll have to see how they do with the bit of maintenance and the additional water. Oh, and the basil party is on. One batch of basil pesto in the freezer already!
Having recently returned from an excellent road trip to Michigan’s lower peninsula, I have to say that the state does right by it’s motto : Great Lakes - Great Times. Also have to give a serious shout out to the cherry, a vastly undersung fruit. Traverse City, in addition to being an amazing lakeside summer town, is arguably the epicenter of world cherry farming. We were there at peak season and let me say: Hole. E. Sheet. The cherries were out of this world…sweet cherries, semi-sweets, sours for cooking….all of them had robust and complex flavors that are hard to imagine if you’ve never had them fresh off the tree.
I guess the same can be said for any fruit, but we were definitely blown away by the sheer cherry awesomeness. If you’ve never slurped the juice that collects at the bottom of the bowl you’re using for pitting cherries, you haven’t lived. We muled about 10lbs home; most are frozen awaiting future diabolical cherry plans, but some yielded an amazing cherry/balsamic reduction for a grilled pork loin. Is there no end to the cherry’s excellence?!?
True indeed.
Yellow Sweets
Mixed sweets pickin’ pail
Fresh cherry pie!
Also of note; they show appropriate reverence for the jerky in Michigan. I’m having all of my mail forwarded here immediately.
Although we are waist deep in cucumbers, beans and herbs, the tomatoes and peppers are just entering the home stretch. I’m happy to report that Peppertown USA, a subdivision of the Shambaugh Victory Garden, is about to see it’s population hit 100 - the bell, cubanelle, palladin, jalapeno, cayenne, poblano and habanero peppers will have mature vegetables next weekend. Every single plant other than the habaneros had to be staked, as the weight was pulling them over. Victory is at hand!
I have had a picnic in my apartment the past three days in a row. Radishes, cucumber, grapes, apples, almonds, water crackers, baguette, pate, prosciutto, chicken and tons and tons of cheese. Wash down with a bottle or two of wine. Repeat as necessary.
When I think about a picnic, chicken is the first thing that comes to mind. I decided to try a new Deviled Chicken Drumsticks recipe last night. The recipe says it serves 6 as an entree. Umm. This chicken is so good that two of us plowed through it in record time. And it’s insanely easy, only 15 minutes of active cooking time. Can be served hot or cold. This is a real winner.
The ingredients are awfully simple. Get 2 1/2 - 3 pounds of good quality chicken drumsticks. I used D’Artagnan which I bought at the local supermarket. If you haven’t had it, their chicken is nothing short of incredible. It makes a huge difference in any recipe. Pat the drumsticks dry and coat in Dijon mustard. You then coat the drumsticks in a breading that is equal parts panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, along with salt, pepper, couple tablespoons of melted butter and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. You then roast in the oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until the chicken has browned.
It will look exactly like this. Chicken on deck!
If you haven’t read it yet, pick up the August 2008 copy of Gourmet magazine - the one with a cheesecake on the cover. It’s the best issue I’ve read in a while, most notably for some amazing stories, but it also has great pepper recipes. That hit a nerve since I have 24 pepper plants in the Shambaugh Victory Garden
In the 40’s and 50’s, every issue of Gourmet magazine featured cartoons. They posted a bunch on their site which I got a kick out of. Check them out.
The only thing I love more than cheese is potatoes. Put the two together, and you’re a speaking my language. A year or two back, I picked up a bunch of cast iron mini cocottes made by Staub.
They are pretty handy for a range of recipes like chili or mac n’ cheese, but I’ve been focusing on gratin dauphinoise. I have been experimenting a lot over the past year and think I finally cracked the code. Feast your eyes on this:
I don’t have a formal recipe, but this is super easy. I rub the cocotte with a garlic clove and butter. I then add layers of thinly sliced yukon gold potatoes. If you have a mandoline, use that to slice the potatoes. It’s not too difficult to achieve a similar effect with a chef’s knife, it’s just a lot more time consuming. After each layer, I add a tiny dollop of butter, a few finely chopped green onions, salt and pepper. Repeat until you have nearly reached the top of the cocotte. Mix equal parts whole milk and heavy cream, add that mixture to the cocotte so you have completely covered the potatoes. Top with Gruyere cheese. One tip: I place a sheet of aluminum foil on the oven rack directly underneath the potatoes to catch run-off - saves a lot of hassle, especially if you have sensitive smoke detectors. Cook at 375 degrees for around 30 minutes or until the cheese crust is bubbly, a little blackened.
I specialize in potato recipes and this has quickly become one of my all time favorites. One of the nicest things about the dish is the aroma of the green onions as you pierce the various layers. It’s irresistible. I am going to try a few new things for kicks: substitute jalapenos for green onions, add a few layers of pancetta but this recipe is a crowd pleaser.
You should get involved.
I planted every pepper variety I could find from the nurseries on the North Fork of Long Island: green bell, red bell, yellow bell, orange bell, purple bell, cubanelle, paladin, cayenne, poblano, jalapeno and habanero. 24 plants in total = Peppertown USA.
Although I am a big fan of peppers, I can’t say I personally cook with them all that much. I like to stuff bell peppers with a sausage breadcrumb mixture, make an occasional spicy Thai soup, but I don’t have a vast repertoire. Given that it’s about to rain peppers, I have got to get my house in order.
My first foray will be to make the perfect Jalapeno Popper, a favorite guilty pleasure. There is an incredible farm on the North Fork named Catapano that makes some of the best goat cheese I have ever tested. I think that cheese, jalapenos from the Shambaugh Victory Garden and a light tempura batter are going to produce a real winner. We’re also growing a lot of tomatoes and some really hot peppers so Salsas are a given. But what next?
If you have a great pepper recipe, please post a link in the comments section. I’d love to try a number of recipes and could really use the help!
The Victory Garden is at full cruising speed and starting to yield fruit. We harvested a first round of succulent cukes this past weekend, as well as some delicious green beans and kickin’ romaine. But the real news is all about mulch.
After hours spent toiling in the hot sun doing battle with weeds, we finally wised up and mulched the f out of virtually all of the garden. The results are damn fine to behold and should dramaticly reduce the amount of weeding required to ensure intended plant primacy. It’s our garden, we play god and we decide the natural order. We hope…
Peppertown USA - a great place to live with an excellent school system.
Prized Tomato Trellis; trespassers will be drawn and quartered by order of The White Witch.
Basil patch right next to the tomatos for gustatory convenience. If we could grow a prosciutto bush, a mozzarella plant and a Rose vine in the same plot, I’d never leave the property.
It’s been dumping rain on Shelter Island and the Shambaugh Victory Garden has been drinking it up. I snapped a few pictures this past weekend to show progress:
As you can tell, everything is doing well. The tomatoes show remarkable progress, but the prize for “early bloomer” goes to the Cucumbers. I’m growing right meow…
I cook a lot of American, Italian, French food - I sometimes venture to Asia, but I have never cooked Indian food in my life. It sounds like I missed the boat, but I lived in a carriage house for 8 years on “Curry Row” in NYC (6th Street between 1st & 2nd Ave). This is a small street with approximately 20 Indian restaurants. My house was in the center of the block and the kitchen of one of the Indian restaurants faced my house. The kitchen staff were very cool and would send waiters into my house and serve me there. Why cook Indian food when you can get Chicken Tikki Masala brought with a moment’s notice?
I moved out of that carriage house, am no longer overloaded by it all and decided to try my hand. First, make some Basmati rice. Second, make some Chicken Tikki Masala.
Sound easy? Well, it actually is. It’s really a tomato based sauce with some type of dairy product to cut it, and lots of spices. I looked at a few recipes and freestyled my own. Here’s some inspiration:
I had a watermelon on hand and decided to carve a “melon boat”, although I opted for the “melon basket” variation (easier to carry). I saw these a lot in the 70’s when I was a kid, haven’t seen one in a long while. You usually add cantaloupe and melon. It only takes 15-20 minutes and is all kinds of awesome. I served mine as desert with vodka.
DOFB
