A Summer Potato Harvest

Usually we plant our potatoes in the fall and harvest in the early spring, taking advantage of Southern California's mild winters. This year, because our home grown potatoes are rapidly becoming a favorite crop I'm trying for year round planting so we followed out early spring harvest with a second planting. We harvested some of those very successful summer potatoes today -- a hefty bowl of French fingerlings and big (bigger than we've ever grown before) Yukon Golds. I didn't want to do too much and cover up the taste of our day's harvest.

I baked the Yukon Golds and topped them with a savory black-eyed pea stew flavored with slab bacon and braised collard greens. Okay, I admit it this stew was tucked away in the freezer for just such an occasion. Dinner in a jiffy, salad (homegrown lettuce) on the side.

Soup and Salad

I love fresh peas. I love any peas, but bags of fresh peas at Trader Joe's seemed like a good excuse for a simple fresh soup for dinner, along with a hearty salad.

I sautéed about 1 cup each cups of chopped onions, shallots and leeks in 2 TB of butter until the onions were soft but not colored (about 8 minutes over medium - medium low heat). Next I added in 4 cups of chicken broth and brought the pot to a boil. In went 2 16 oz bags of peas which bubbled and boiled for about 5 minutes. I puréed the soup with about 1/2 cup of loosely packed mint leaves. I had a little extra time before dinner so I passed the soup through a fine mesh strainer for a silky velvety texture. As I re-heated the soup, with a little milk stirred in, I fried up some bread cubes in olive oil with a garlic clove for crunchy croutons.

"That was delicious," James said.

Lighter dinners for easy summer nights.

Backyard Rainbow

Tomatoes are here!

Green Velvet, Snow White and Landrace Red Currant.

More varieties to come.

Martha Let Me Down

Since James enjoyed last night's salad and crostini combo so much I thought I'd try again and find a really interesting salad. After a little internet search I settled on a Martha Stewart recipe for a broccoli rabe salad with carrots and radicchio. James loves broccoli rabe. We have a load of carrots from a juicing binge not too long ago. That salad seemed perfect for us. It was beautiful in the bowl but the dressing was just kind of ordinary and in fact didn't add much to the combination. It was just okay. Not good enough.

Mercifully I paired this lackluster salad with super delicious crostini. I sautéed mushroom slices in butter and olive oil until they were golden brown. I added in a minced clove of garlic, chopped fresh thyme, and a finely diced shallot and cooked for about 5 minutes more -- until the shallot was tender. I deglazed the pan with a splash of water and topped slices of toasted (drizzled with olive oil) ciabatta with the mushroom mixture. A delicate goat's milk gouda topped the mushrooms. After two minutes under the broiler and a shower of chopped parsley the best part of dinner was ready to serve. Sorry Martha, tonight was not your night.

Winter Favorite In Summer Heat

"That dinner was perfect," James said.

I couldn't have been more surprised.

I've been trying to clear out the freezer (and make it to farmers market day without shopping, in spite of the fact I missed last week's market) and so I pulled out a container of salt cod purée (brandade -- yes a Christmas favorite) and spread it over thin slices of ciabatta drizzled with olive oil. I sprinkled the tops with chili peppers and more olive oil and set the tray under the broiler for just a couple minutes. Meanwhile I mixed up a salad of lettuce from the yard, prosciutto, Romano cheese, red onion, and sliced pear dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

A perfect summertime dinner.

Hurry Up Pork Tacos

Super quick and super easy pork chops cut in to strips, mixed with chili powder, oregano and cumin and sautéed in hot oil. I loaded warmed tortillas with the crisped meat, beans tossed with lime juice and cumin, guacamole, red onion, fresh cheese and a sweet peach and corn salsa I found at Trader Joes. A pretty decent dinner in about ten minutes.

Can I Still Call It Pizza?

Corn, leek, prosciutto, chopped garlic, chiles, Romano, cheddar and mimolette cheeses. Nots ure what to call it but James seemed to like it.