Garden

BabyDaddy and I scored some excellent, fresh lady peas from the green grocer yesterday. We also got baby sweet potatoes and the Best Tomatoes In The History of Man. Here’s what I do with super fresh lady peas (my favorite cowpea variety):

Fresh Lady/Purple Hull/Cow/Black-eyed Pea:

Legumes

Water to cover

Salt to taste

Wash peas and remove leaves and strings and shell fragments (It ain’t Grammaw pickin’ them clean anymore, kids. Machines can now sit on the glider on the front porch in the heat.) Cover peas with water by one inch. Add one tsp of salt per inch of water. Bring to a boil. Test after 10 minutes. Fresh peas are done when there is a bit of resistance to the tooth and a slight grassy flavor in the end product. Serve with cornbread/biscuits, butter, and hot sauce. Greens and sliced garden tomatoes are mandatory.

You are now a Southerner. Congratulations. Now go support the Dixie Chicks. Sketchy LOVES them.

And lordy, we’ll need them all. This is our Ichiban eggplant right now:

That’s one plant. Luckily, we all love this variety so the other night I wandered out back and gathered 2 eggplant and a handful of grape tomatoes. Oh wait a minute. There were no ripe grape tomatoes. Squirrels are satan. I swear. So here’s what went down:

Simple Eggplant Saute

2 japanese eggplants or 1 medium globe eggplant, cubed

1 onion, cut into half moons

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

olive oil

sals & pfeffer

Diced tomatoes or 1/2 can diced tomatoes (squirrels, grrrrrr), optional

Mix it til it’s tasty over medium heat. Add tomatoes once eggplant is softened.

Duh, huh? Picture Time!!!

No tomatoes.

Yummy.

The Recipes preferred the tomato version, but I think that’s because I under salted the other version which was lovely and subtle.

The Tomato Sandwich

2 slices rustic bread

1 garden tomato, sliced

mayonnaise

salt & pepper

kitchen sink

Spread a healthy, insulating layer of mayo on bread to protect you against evil. Sprinkle pepper on mayo. Layer tomato slices to desired slippage/depth. Sprinkle tomato slices with salt. Assemble sandwich. Cut sandwich in half. Eat over sink to catch drips.

Rinse. Repeat. Relax in the cool like these two ‘Mater Sammich Addicts.

Last year I grew the Ichiban Eggplant and discovered a velvety, creamy, vanilla flavor when I roasted the fruit. This year, I put in another and we’re reaping the benefits tonight. So this:

Became this:

Which I cooked at 400 degrees F until nicely roasted. Then BabyDaddy scraped out the flesh (while I heated the pita. I’m a poet and I didn’t know it!)

Then I mixed the flesh in the blender with:

lemon juice

1 garlic clove

salt

olive oil

cumin

smoked paprika (optional but AWESOME)

tahini

And you have Baba Ganoush.

Everyone who reads here knows that my photos, um, suck, but in an attempt at self-improvement the Recipes will attempt to capture our essence of Summer in 10 pictures. The idea was inspired from this post at Sewing for Cherubs.

Here’s Mama Sketchy’s first photo:

Brand, spanking new gardens.

You’ve got sauce. This is adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe.

House Marinara

2 - 3 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil

2 cans diced tomatoes

5-10 leaves fresh basil, chopped (this must be fresh basil)

sugar and salt to taste

fresh oregano (optional) and/ or crushed red pepper

Heat a few tbs oil in a pan. Open cans of tomatoes. Add garlic to oil. Let sizzle for 15-30 seconds. Add tomatoes and juices. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Add basil and salt and sugar to balance out flavors. Add oregano and crushed red pepper if you like. Reduce for about 5 more minutes. Add to pasta.

Fresh tomatoes are heaven (in season). Canned tomatoes, especially Muir Glen, are forever. You can also add cream, pork, shrimp, ground beef/turkey, or chicken chunks to this mix.

ABUNDANZA!

You’ve got sauce. This is adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe.

House Marinara

2 - 3 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil

2 cans diced tomatoes

5-10 leaves fresh basil, chopped (this must be fresh basil)

sugar and salt to taste

fresh oregano (optional) and/ or crushed red pepper

Heat a few tbs oil in a pan. Open cans of tomatoes. Add garlic to oil. Let sizzle for 15-30 seconds. Add tomatoes and juices. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Add basil and salt and sugar to balance out flavors. Add oregano and crushed red pepper if you like. Reduce for about 5 more minutes. Add to pasta.

Fresh tomatoes are heaven (in season). Canned tomatoes, especially Muir Glen, are forever. You can also add cream, pork, shrimp, ground beef/turkey, or chicken chunks to this mix.

ABUNDANZA!

You’ve got sauce. This is adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe.

House Marinara

2 - 3 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil

2 cans diced tomatoes

5-10 leaves fresh basil, chopped (this must be fresh basil)

sugar and salt to taste

fresh oregano (optional) and/ or crushed red pepper

Heat a few tbs oil in a pan. Open cans of tomatoes. Add garlic to oil. Let sizzle for 15-30 seconds. Add tomatoes and juices. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Add basil and salt and sugar to balance out flavors. Add oregano and crushed red pepper if you like. Reduce for about 5 more minutes. Add to pasta.

Fresh tomatoes are heaven (in season). Canned tomatoes, especially Muir Glen, are forever. You can also add cream, pork, shrimp, ground beef/turkey, or chicken chunks to this mix.

ABUNDANZA!

But it’s truly awesome.

(Formerly known as Spoogie Fish Bake. BabyDaddy vetoed that on textural grounds.)

Fish Baked in Special Sauce

Enough mild white fish fillets for your crowd, rinsed and dried

Duke’s mayonnaise, Kraft if you must

Either fresh green herbs, chopped (we like parsley & oregano from ye olde gardeneee)

Or

Italian style bread crumbs - Ian’s is house choice

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put fillets on a rimmed baking sheet and salt. Spread mayonnaise over entire top surface of fish. Sprinkle chopped herbs or breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 20 minutes.

The herbs will get crunchy and the breadcrumbs will appeal to the 15 and under crowd.

This is another planting weekend. Much to RockStar’s dismay, the Recipes are putting out the second wave of carrots and the first of beets. The carrots are some Purple Haze that I bought, and lost, and found, and lost, and tried to throw away but recovered, seeds from last year. The beets are golden seeds that I just got. No drama yet with them. So what is the best way to showboat some of these fancy colored carrots? Pasta salad, of course!

Kinda Greek Pasta Salad

1 box, Barilla Plus pasta, cooked al dente

1 c cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 c Carrots of Many Colors, cut into coins

1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 cup roasted red/yellow peppers, chopped

1 chunk of feta cheese, chunked into lil chunks

1 tbs fresh oregano, chopped

Bottled greek vinaigrette (my secret shame. my secret love.)

Anything else you feel like chopping

Salt & Pepa

Mix it until it’s yummy. Best when room temperature, but cold ain’t bad.

This is another planting weekend. Much to RockStar’s dismay, the Recipes are putting out the second wave of carrots and the first of beets. The carrots are some Purple Haze that I bought, and lost, and found, and lost, and tried to throw away but recovered, seeds from last year. The beets are golden seeds that I just got. No drama yet with them. So what is the best way to showboat some of these fancy colored carrots? Pasta salad, of course!

Kinda Greek Pasta Salad

1 box, Barilla Plus pasta, cooked al dente

1 c cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 c Carrots of Many Colors, cut into coins

1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 cup roasted red/yellow peppers, chopped

1 chunk of feta cheese, chunked into lil chunks

1 tbs fresh oregano, chopped

Bottled greek vinaigrette (my secret shame. my secret love.)

Anything else you feel like chopping

Salt & Pepa

Mix it until it’s yummy. Best when room temperature, but cold ain’t bad.

This is another planting weekend. Much to RockStar’s dismay, the Recipes are putting out the second wave of carrots and the first of beets. The carrots are some Purple Haze that I bought, and lost, and found, and lost, and tried to throw away but recovered, seeds from last year. The beets are golden seeds that I just got. No drama yet with them. So what is the best way to showboat some of these fancy colored carrots? Pasta salad, of course!

Kinda Greek Pasta Salad

1 box, Barilla Plus pasta, cooked al dente

1 c cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 c Carrots of Many Colors, cut into coins

1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water, rinsed and patted dry

1/2 cup roasted red/yellow peppers, chopped

1 chunk of feta cheese, chunked into lil chunks

1 tbs fresh oregano, chopped

Bottled greek vinaigrette (my secret shame. my secret love.)

Anything else you feel like chopping

Salt & Pepa

Mix it until it’s yummy. Best when room temperature, but cold ain’t bad.

Last night’s post-Ironman/pre-bedtime snack:

1 container grape tomatoes, quartered

1 container perlini

2 tbs fresh basil, chopped

olive oil

cheap balsamic

salt & pepper

Mix to taste

The perlinis were great. They made the salad pasta-like. Even rockstar ate it up. Snap some up if you can find it in your store.

This morning’s recipe is fairly safe and straightforward.

Make toast

Spread with Nutella

Eat with the one ripe raspberry from your garden

We planted a raspberry a few weeks ago and now we are reaping the benefits of one fruit per day. That brings the cost per raspberry to $3 so far. I’m sticking it to the man, yo.