Carrots: Spicy Pickles, Pesto, and More

Carrots test our patience as gardeners. Their germination time is long, and weeding them is a pain! I can never tell what's a carrot and what's a weed at the start of the season. But then, the parsley-like leaves begin to develop, and these sweet, orange Popsicle-like roots take form under ground. Once the foliage begins to identify itself, I feel I'm golden. All I have to do is wait a good 2-3 months, and soon, I am digging up loads of carrots.

This year, we had our first successful crop of Danvers Carrots. We planted them in a raised bed which helped tremendously in terms of weed control. To get them out of the ground without breaking them, we saturated the dirt around them with water and pried them up with a shovel.  We harvested about 5 lbs. Then, the question was: what should we do with all of them? We also had another pound from my parents' and our CSA boxes.

We thought about juicing them...but then realized how quickly said juice would be consumed in comparison to the amount of patience exuded to grow and harvest them. We thought about pickling them all, but realized we still had 1.5 jars from last year's canning season. So, we decided to pickle most and freeze some. We also used the greens to make carrot-top pesto.

In the end, we canned four quarts and froze three quarts. We used the same recipe that we used last year, except that instead of guallijo peppers, we used chipotles and dried super hots. And again, we sliced them into rounds versus into spears.

 We also froze four bags (2/3 cup each) of carrot-top pesto. Apparently, carrot tops have a ton of Vitamin K and chlorophyll~ much more than carrots themselves. People drink carrot top tea (sweetened with honey) as a way to quickly get all the nutrients. We thought about drying ours for tea, but decided we'd probably be more likely to eat them up if they were on pizza ~ hence, carrot top pesto.

Use all in varying amounts to your taste (and freeze for the winter, if you'd like!):
Carrot tops (chopped)
garlic
walnuts or pine nuts
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
honey
olive oil

Put in a food processor and mix to desired consistency. It's that simple.

Tantalizing Tastes and Smells: The First Major Harvest

Our gardens are flourishing, and last night marked the first major food preservation event of the season.

The herb garden smells tantalizing and is growing beyond expectations . Our basil plants were ready for a good cleaning, and our summer savory was beautifully out-of-control.  Chamomile was definitely gorgeous, but also in need of a good harvesting as well. I harvested basil, spearmint, chamomile, and summer savory. My hands smelled like a Sicilian countryside (at least in my imagination).  On a non-food note, our butterfly weed is an eye-catcher. Butterflies are rapidly increasing in our yard!

Chamomile 

Basil Plants

Butterfly Weed and Caterpillar

Our first three pints of pesto are in the freezer. The same basic recipe was used as last year, but this time we also added in some green carrot tops in conjunction with the basil and used walnuts in place of pine nuts.

 Pesto...pizza anyone?

Our dehydrator wasn't working due to the humidity, so we oven-dried (yes, in this heat and stickiness!) a pint of chamomile and 2/3 pint of spearmint. Today, we're drying several batches of summer savory.

Summer Savory waiting for the oven

Chamomile and Spearmint - dehydrated and waiting to be brewed

We also pulled our first beets. The greens were blanched and are now chilling in the freezer. We plan to make Beetniks with this crimson bundle of goodness after tomorrow's 60-minute run.

 Finally, a raspberry-walnut vinaigrette is in the fridge waiting to dress fresh salads!  Our raspberries are producing well, though picking is such a continuous process as all raspberries are not ready at the same time. Jam is hard to do with just a few quarts, but vinaigrette is perfect for such an amount. Not much measuring was done for this process; it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-chef's-pants dressing, but it turned out fabulous. So, adapt this to your liking.

Raspberry-Walnut Vinaigrette
about 3 cups of raspberries
about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of walnuts
about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
about 2-3 Tbs. of lemon juice
a couple teaspoons of Dijon mustard
about a teaspoon of honey (or other sweetener)
salt and pepper to taste
small clove of garlic

Put all ingredients except for the olive oil in the food processor. Process until well-blended. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until emulsified. Viola! It's done! Should keep in the fridge for quite some time. Always shake before using.

Art in the Form of Food!

Six years ago, we signed up for a vegetable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share with Harmony Valley Farm in Viroqua, WI. We get a box of fresh, in-season, local produce each week, May through February. Veteran CSA-ers often say it takes about three years to really get into the rhythm of the vegetable box. Through experience, we tend to agree. Our first year was a bit of a blissful struggle ~ we often would rack up a big grocery bill buying the extra ingredients for a recipe calling for bits and pieces of our CSA box ~ like 1/4 cup of asparagus or 1 beet or 1 cup spinach! Years two and three, we began to see that substituting one vegetable for another was beneficial and necessary. By year four, we were completely in the groove -- improvising, creating, and really just throwing veggies together to see how they worked with one another. Art in the form of food! Trial and error has been 100% helpful. Now, after six years, we feel confident that we utilize the box well, but we still continue to improve with each passing year.

One of our favorite ways to utilize a lot of veggies is by making pizza! Pizza is tasty at any time of the year, and any veggie pairs well with cheese, crust, and tomato or pesto sauce! Here are three we've made over the last few months.

Homemade Crust (adapted from Bob's Red Mill)
1 Tbs. Active Dry Yeast
3/4 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/4 c. warm milk
2.5 c. flour
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in water and milk. Add oil and dry ingredients. Stir until dough becomes tough, then knead on lightly-floured board until smooth and elastic. Form dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover bowl and let dough rise until doubled. Divide dough in half and form two 12 inch circles, using fingers or a rolling pin. Top with desired toppings and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

We often pre-bake the crust in 450 degrees for ten minutes to make it crispier. All a matter of preference!

Pizza #1: Gold Beets and Goat Cheese

We used tomato sauce from last year's tomato harvest for this pizza. Then, rummaging through our fridge, we found 3 gold beets, a small package of goat cheese, numerous scallions and garlic scapes, and local Parmesan cheese (via our CSA cheese share!). We roasted the gold beets in the oven, and then threw on the veggies. After dolloping the pizza with goat cheese, we dusted the whole pizza with grated Parmesan cheese. Way yummier than we expected!

Check out those delicious gold beets!

Pizza #2: Goat Cheese, Greens, and Caramelized Onions

Harmony Valley frequently provides us with recipe ideas for what's in the box during any given week. A few weeks ago, they suggested making a pizza crust, spreading a package of goat cheese on it, and then topping it with a prepared saute mix (which is basically baby greens). We took this idea a step further by caramelizing some onions we had gotten in our box that week and adding walnuts. Delicious!


Pizza #3: Pesto and Seasonal Veggies
This pizza was more traditional than the other two. Our basil plants are flourishing, so pesto pizza seemed an obvious choice. Using the basil and garlic from our garden combined with the basil from our CSA box, we made five cups of pesto. We froze most, but spread a bit on a homemade pizza crust (see recipe above). On top, we put veggies that we had growing in the garden or given to us in the box: cherry tomatoes, zucchini, onions, and garlic. We topped it with summer cheddar cheese from Otter Creek Farms in Black Earth, WI.

This cheese is special in that the farm prides itself on its pastured cows. The cows, in effect, eat seasonally. Therefore, the farm offers a spring cheddar, a summer cheddar, and a fall cheddar. The farmers encourage consumers to take note of the subtle changes in flavor throughout the year as the herd's diet changes. Even more special (in the eyes of any animal-loving vegetarian) is that the farmer himself used to be a vegetarian. This tells me that consumers can trust that the cows are treated with respect. After all, happy cows come from Wisconsin!

Garlic

Our first attempt at planting garlic was a successful one! In mid-October of 2008, we planted German Stiffneck garlic, which we obtained from our local garlic guy at the Dane County Farmer's Market. We chose this variety for its reputation of strong flavor. Additionally, we searched for a large head of garlic because we had read that larger cloves result in larger heads. We have found this to be true.

We buried our 8 large individual cloves 1-2 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Then, we covered the garlic bed with 6-8 inches of leaf mulch.

In early spring, we pushed away some of the leaf mulch in order to give the garlic shoots room to pop through and get some sun!

Throughout June, we cut garlic scapes, which are the the flowers that shoot off the main stalk. By cutting the scape, the plant puts all of its energy into the bulb, resulting in the garlic heads having a stronger flavor. Plus, garlic scapes are great additions to spring food! We use them as we would a garlic clove.

Yesterday, we harvested the heads of garlic. Once the stalks are about 30% yellow, the plants are ready to be dug up. The garlic can be used right away, but the flavor won't be as strong as cured garlic. To cure the garlic, leave the pulled garlic in the sun (maybe on your porch) for 3-5 days. Then it can be stored for a longer period.

We've decided to cure six heads and use the other one for basil pesto. Yum!

Basil Pesto (all ingredients can be modified to make your taste buds happy!)
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of fresh basil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a food processor except for the olive oil. Pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Simultaneously, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The pesto is ready when it looks like a runny paste.

Can be frozen or used immediately.