Huevos rancheros-Spanish Style Poached Eggs

When I eat something I like, I like to deconstruct recipes and replicate them later at home. One way that helps me to do this is to put food that I am not familiar with in terms of food that I am, so that I can get a grasp on the fundamental level of things....
Today, I made huevos rancheros, I think it as "Spanish Style Poached Eggs". It is easy to make and delicious. Here's how:
Saute cut up tomatoes, peppers and onion and garlic in a pan with oil. Cook until vegetables become soft, add Sue's Homemade Salsa, bring to a boil. Crack eggs (any number of them, depending how many people you are serving) in the pan, making a cradle for each egg you put in the sauce. Cover and simmer until eggs are cooked to the desired doneness. You can serve it with the standard Mexican fair, rice and beans, or just some fried corn tortilla and chips. Either way it is good and sooo simple !

Carnitas

Carnitas is cooking in the pot, it smells really good...
Here's the recipe:
4 lb. of pork butt, cut into 2" cubes, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 large onions, chopped, juice from 1 fresh orange, 2 t. kosher salt, 1 large dried Mexican pepper, 1 t. chili powder, 1 t. cumin powder, 1 bay leave, fresh cilantro, a pinch of Mexican oregano and 1 C. cola (any kind). Heat a heavy duty stainless steel pot until bottom gets hot. Add the pork pieces, let it sizzle, turn frequently. Add the orange juice, and the rest of the ingredients. Let it cook for 2 hr. The meat will be good for a varieties of thing, like burritos, tacos etc. The same methods can be used for beef or lingua. For chicken, you need much less cooking time.

Pickled jalapeno peppers Spanish Style:

Pickled jalapeno peppers Spanish Style:
Veggies: Jalapeno peppers, carrots (I grew them too :) and onions.
Brine: 2 C. white vinegar, 2 C. water, 1/2 C. kosher salt, 2 T. sugar and 2 T. vegetable oil, add a pinch of dried Mexican oregano ( not the same a...s regular oregano, you can buy them at the Mexican spice rack). Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Pack veggies in cleaned canning jars, and pour hot liquid in jars. Seal and let cool. Place in refrigerator. Keep for up to a month. You can also seal it with water bath like you would with regular pickled.

Talking Harest

This time of the year, preserving the flavors of the garden has to be on every gardener's mind. I thought about it a lot before I actually did it. It was intimidating at first, there are so much to learn and so much I didn't know... You know what? the best way of learning is by doing. Try different ways of preserving a particular veggie until you find you favorite, and stick with those. You will find your efforts will be well rewarded!

Late August is time when I begin to put extras from the garden away, pickling, preserving or freezing. There are a lot of dos and don't, a few things that have always worked well for me, and I am here to share them with you.

1. Freezing:
Many veggies can be frozen. However, the flavor and texture of frozen veggies can be quite different from fresh ones. The question you want to ask yourself is: "Am I going to eat what I freeze?" I find come up with specific ways to use what you freeze will help you use up the frozen produce. Instead of just blanch and freeze the veggies by themselves, cook then into a meal and freeze them in individual serving portions. I find this particular helpful to send them off with college kids.
Here's a couple of my favorite recipes for freezing, both are a little involved in their preparation, nonetheless easy enough to make once you get the routine down.

Tag: Zucchini, eggplant, potato
(1) Moussaka: This is my adaption of a Greek dish that uses eggplant, zucchini and potatoes. At the end of August, my eggplants and potatoes are coming on strong and I still have a lot of zucchinis, so this is a perfect time to enjoy moussaka and put some away for later.
Ingredients, for one 9x13 pan use:
2 medium sized potato, 1 large Opus Eggplant, 2 medium sized Speedy Silver Zucchini;
1 pint jar of home canned tomato Sauce (see link)+2 T. dried onion flakes+3 cloves of
crushed garlic;
2 C. pizza cheese+1/2 C Parmesan cheese;
Olive oil for cooking
3 C. Béchamel sauce (white sauce-see link): butter, flour, milk or half&half, fresh grated nutmeg,
1 whole egg, fresh or dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste)
Methods:
1. Slice potatoes, eggplant and zucchini into 1/4 slices, and cook in a frying pan with with olive on the bottom until veggies are soft, add some salt to facilitate the process.
2. Pour some tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan, line the pan with a layer of potatoes, and
then zucchinis and eggplant slices, pour more tomato sauce on top, top with another layer of potatoes. Pour the reminding tomato sauce on top. Cover with cheese, cover with the Béchamel sauce. Bake at a preheated oven at 350F for 35-40 minutes. Take it out of the oven, let cool before serving. For freezing: Wait until the dish is completely cooled, cut it up in serving size. Pack them in freezer bags, then in cardboard boxes.

Methods for making Béchamel sauce: stir equal amount of butter and flour in a frying pan over medium heat, cook until well incorporated and flour start to turn yellow. Add liquid (milk and/or half&half, add salt and pepper to taste, add grated nutmeg, add fresh or dried oregano). Cook until sauce is thickened. Let it cool a bit, stir in one whole egg.

(2) Caponata:
I discovered this dish quite by accident, now it is one of my favorites that I have to make every year. It is like a Italian sweet and sour dish to me. And of course, this is my adaptation of it. Check out the link below for recipe.

http://thegardenchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/caponata-what-to-do-when-you-have.html

2010 Garden Inventory_July

It is the end of July, the garden is in full output mode. So far I've harvested radishes, zucchini, broccoli, cucumber, peas, lettuce, stem lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage, baby bok choy, beets, artichoke, garlic and garlic chive. And green beans and corns are just begin to come on. Got a few red tomatoes. Watermelons and Mini Dew are finally taking off.

Broccoli: Bought the starts from Portland Nursery in early May and transplanted to the garden. it is now at the end of its season, however still producing smaller florets that is no less tasteful. I have make broccoli soup and blanched and frozen some.

Red and White Tux radish: Sowed in March, been producing great tasting radishes through May/June. The cool weather this spring was beneficial to the radishes

Lettuce/Stem Lettuce/peas: planted in April, produced a lot of nice lettuce
Stem lettuce is ready to harvest in Mid July. A late planting of shelling peas (May 17) are just start to produce.

Spring Java Cabbage started in April, transplanted in May, start harvesting at the end of June. Still have some in the garden, but quality is deteriorating. Split occurs when watered. Made two batch of Kimchi and two batches of sauerkraut, and many great tasting coleslaw.

Zucchini: Started some in April, transplanted in late May, started producing July 4th, it is in full production. Made Zucchini chips with Bread and Butter recipe, great tasting. Also added some oil and hot pepper and made Bread and Butter on Fire, tastes even better!

Cucumbers: Started some in March, transplanted on May 15 (after the May hail storm), planted second batch in April, and more in May. July 15 got the first Stallion White Cucumber, was from the ones started in March. Two weeks later, ones planted in April and May are also producing. The conclusion is starting cucumbers too early is not worth the efforts. Cucumbers are not going to grow until the weather warms up.

Green Beans: Zupa No-String Green Beans sowed in late May started to produce at the end of July. Broad Beans (Della Fave and Ruby Crest) sowed in May 3, started to produce at the end of July. The growth was slow this year due to the cool spring. Pole beans are only 4 feet tall in June. The hot weather in July pulled it up in a hurry.

Asparagus Beans: Sowed in June, about 5" tall now, expecting to produce in August.

This year I ha d to sow melons three times (May, mid June and late June). Melons are particularly sensitive to the cool weather, in the first two attempts, tender seedlings didn't survive the cool rainy spring. Guess the third time is a charm, with the hot July they are finally taking off. Great hopes for watermelon and mini Dews.

Eggplants: Sowed in Feb 14, transplanted to the garden in early June. Although early June is when I normally transplant eggplants, but this year was cooler than normal. The eggplants suffered as the results. They were stunned. They are now growing fine.

Peppers: Peppers were started in Feb 14, transplanted in early June, they survived better than the eggplants. They are taking off now, seeing small peppers setting on the plants.

Soybeans: At the time I transplanted the eggplants and peppers, I sowed soybeans in the empty spaces. They are growing up at about the some height of the peppers/eggplants. They are great for providing shades and suppressing weeds. They have flowers on them now.

Beets (Cylindrical) sowed in April are about 4-5" long and can be harvested.

Carrots: At the time I transplanted the cucumbers started in March, I sowed carrots and radishes in between the cucumber rows. The radishes did great, not so great are the carrots, some survived. Sowed another batch in July, for fall harvesting, they are just emerging now.

Corns: Sowed some in May 5, have small corns on it. Sowed second sowing in June, they are 4 feet tall.

Conclusions: Peppers and eggplants can be started about a month later, March 15 instead of Feb. Because you can not transplant them out to the garden until weather is about 70F

Corns can be sown a little later as well.

Chinese Cabbage Salad: It is June, where is the sun?!

The first part of June has been wet and cold. We had record breaking rain fall of over 4", record low day time temperature... and the sun is no where to be found. All this is not good news for vegetable gardeners. While the cool crops are loving it, my beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplant are just sitting there and getting attacked by insects :( Taking it in stride, I've had plenty good tasting radishes, lettuce and Chinese cabbage... I enjoyed my oriental salad made with Spring Queen Chinese Cabbage, here's the recipe:

4 C. fresh Chinese cabbage, cut into 1/2" strips
1 package of Top Ramen noodles, broken into small pieces
1/2 C. pineapple pieces
1/4 C. red bell pepper pieces
2 fresh scallions (small Flagpole Giant Green Onion)
Dressing:
1/2 C. light soysauce
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. olive oil
1 t. sesame seed oil
1/4 C. brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Pour dressing on the cabbage and Top Ramen mixture, toss to coat, sprinkle pineapple, red pepper and scallion pieces on top. Serve immediately.

An Eventful May 2010

May turned out to be an eventful month. I got the garden ready in late April while we were having a few nice warm days. Early May, I was all pumped up and ready to plant. I planted my usual cold crops, radishes, peas, onions, spinach, cabbage and beets in the ground. The few nice days that followed gave me the false sense of security, thinking the cold weather is gone, I transplanted my tomatoes and peppers and eggplants in the garden and hoping they'll get an early start and I will have an early harvest.... And then it happened, a hail storm hit us right after I transplanted all my seedlings, I rushed to cover my tomato seedlings but some have suffered pretty good damages. I felt lucky I didn't the cucumbers I started out in the garden, they would've been pulverized.

Just as I was trying to nurture my plants back to their health, I detected flee beetles in my garden and they had already done quite a bit of damage to my radish and cabbage, and they are working on my pole beans. I sprayed the garden with Neem, an organic pesticide (1.5 table spoon of Neem Oil in a gallon of water) and got the flee beetles under control.
Whew!
The truth is here where I am, even though the official "last frost date" in spring is April 15, the ground temperature in May still fluctuate quite a bit. What I've learned is if you count on luck along, it will come back bite you. On the other hand, if you want to plant early, using protection, raise the ground temperature is the only way to ensure success. Last year I planted my tomatoes in May and I used MiniHooper, a mini hoophouse I designed to cover early crops, to protect my seedlings. The cold rains really didn't bother my seedlings since the temperature inside the hoophouse is 10 degree above the soil temperature outside. And I started my bush beans inside a Mimihooper. I've harvested beans by the 4th of July and had early harvest on my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants as well.

Now it's June, looking forward, most of my plants survived May. I am hoping they will start to take off once the warm weather sets in. So here the lesson I learned: don't count on your luck alone (everyone can use some) when it comes to planting in early spring. A few nice days in April fooled me, I did not cover my seedlings, turned out my "luck" was not there. This is a mistake I don't care to repeat.

Happy Gardening!