Pork Soup Dumplings
I had been meaning to make pork dumplings with hairy bittercress for a while and called my mom to ask what she usually adds to hers, but in talking to her, she said if I have any leftover gelatin based broth, I can add it …
Blog
Crawfish Sautee
I was at the supermarket today and saw a giant bucket of live crawfish on sale–and if you know me you know that I often get cravings for them. I don’t know what it is about these delicious morsels, whether it’s the joy of peeling …
Great Goumi Berry
There was a sad little goumi berry (Elaeagnus multiflora) bush, root bound and sitting in the corner of a nursery I go to at the end of every season to nab huge discount deals. I’ve never eaten a goumi berry before, but it seemed interesting and I’m making a “food forest” so hey, why not try it? It was less than ten bucks so worst case is that I don’t plant any more, right?
The taste profile is said to be anywhere from astringent to tart to sweet, so I have no clue what to expect with it. Of course, it needs to be fully ripe to be enjoyed, but apparently you can make jams at any time with it.
It rewarded me with these amazing little flowers this spring–and when I went in the garden, I tried to figure out where this mix of heady orange and jasmine fragrance came from–turns out the little flowers back an olfactory punch. I’ll update when the fruits come in so we can put this to rest.
Hardy to zone 4, it really is quite an attractive bush. It does well in poor soil, sun or partial shade, and even near the salty sea spray. It’s a nitrogen fixer, so it adds nitrogen into the soil (which is why it does fine in poor soils) so it’s a great companion plant, boosting all the things around it.
Perfect Pear
I planted two pear trees the fall before last, and they took their sweet time establishing themselves. This spring, the wait finally paid off as I was treated to a gorgeous show of blossoms which will soon be followed by fruits. I planted two kinds–an …
Un-Chocolate Vine
I have two Akebia (Akebia Quinata) in my garden, one on either side of the gate to the back. It’s a lovely vine (although I have no idea why it’s called “chocolate” as it neither smells nor tastes like cocoa.) Drought tolerant, it’s hardy from …
Strawberry Rhubarb Scones
Oh dear, I’m afraid I might have opened a delicious but dangerous gate with these scones. Fluffy, but still somewhat dense like a traditional scone, sweet, tart, floral, and fruity, I found myself having eaten two before I realized what I was even doing! Sure, you can turn your home grown rhubarb into pie or jam, but I think scones is where it really shines. Sadly, my alpine strawberries have not yet fruit this year so I had to use store bought strawberries, but in the future I’ll likely be using the intensely sweet and fragrant alpine variety.
I add sprigs of lavender next to them when they’re cooling, and in whatever container I keep them in. The very subtle fragrance of lavender makes it even more delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached but you can use any)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup rhubarb, chopped
- 1/4 cup strawberry, chopped
- 1/4 cup sugar plus more for the strawberry/rhubarb
- 1 stick unsalted butter or 8 tablespoons, softened (RIP my arteries)
- 1/2 cup half-and-half or milk
- Optional: Sprigs of lavender
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Combine 1 tablespoon sugar, chopped strawberries, and chopped rhubarb in a bowl. Set to the side.
- Mix the flour, salt, 1/4 cup sugar, and baking soda together.
- Cut in softened butter and mix until pea sized grains form.
- Fold in strawberry and rhubarb.
- Add milk or half-an-half and combine until dough forms. Roll into a ball, place onto lightly grease oven pan or ungreased cookie sheet, and then flatten to a circle about 1 inch high. Cut into 8ths and separate each slice slightly.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until outside is golden brown. Remove from oven, place sprigs of lavender among them, and allow to cool.
Ruby Rhubarb
My rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) have begun to come out and that means I’m dreaming of delicious recipes to use with it. There’s a delightful farm a little further out east, on the north fork of Long Island that makes the most amazing rhubarb scones. Tangy, …
Garlic Mustard Breakfast Quiche
Garlic mustard is out in full force along my back fence, where I haven’t had the time to plant/cultivate anything just yet. Considered a highly invasive weed, this plant is also a wonderful foraged green in early spring, when it’s still tender and not very …
Korean Rice Bowl (Bibimbap) with Foraged Greens
Now that spring is officially here, in general, the only things I usually buy from the store, when I do go, are meat and dairy products (sometimes grain/flour as well, but I buy rice in bulk and bake my own bread so that’s an every so often thing). Vegetables, both wild and cultivated, are now coming in from my garden in full force, and a side effect of that is all the money I save from not having to buy it in the supermarket means I’ll splurge a little more on the cut of meats I get. I’m also in a bit of a hurry to get rid of the residual supermarket vegetables (like that bag of bell peppers I lost my mind over from Costco two weeks ago) I bought in preparation for the continuous harvests.
We’ve actually been eating bibimbap a lot but I never found the time to sit down and write about it. The prep is pretty fast, mostly chopping and sautee-ing, and you could make vast quantities of the toppings to store for later, and everyone can put whatever they like on top, and make it as spicy or as mild as they prefer. In this particular bowl, I used hairy bittercress since that’s the weed that’s been popping up the most in my garden, but you can use garlic mustard, dandelions, hostas, or any other edible herbaceous weed/foraged greens you come across.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup hairy bittercress (or other foraged greens), chopped
- 2-3 slices short rib, American kobe/wagyu, chicken thigh pieces, pork belly, or 2 – 3 tablespoons ground beef
- Sesame oil, for sautee
- 1/4 cup Onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup Bell pepper, sliced (optional but recommended)
- 1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced (optional but recommended)
- 1/4 cup Zucchini, sliced (optional but recommended)
- 1 egg (duck or chicken), sunnyside or over easy
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sake/mirin
- 1 pinch sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Gochujang (Korean pepper paste) to taste
- 1 cup cooked rice
- Place rice in a large bowl on the bottom.
- Sautee the hairy bittercress (or whatever wild greens you’re using) with minced garlic in a little sesame oil over medium heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set on top of rice. With each of the vegetables you are using, separately sautee them in sesame oil, adding salt and pepper to taste, until tender and set them on top of rice.
- Marinate meat for five minutes in soy sauce, sake/mirin, and sugar and then sautee in sesame oil over high heat until desired done-ness (anywhere from rare to well done for beef, well done for pork/chicken.) Place on top of rice.
- Place over easy/sunnyside egg on top of rice. Add a dollop of Gochujang, to taste. Less if you don’t like it spicy, more if you do. Mix well before eating.
Creamy Cheesy Hosta Dip
I’m on a hosta shoot binge because they’ve started to unfurl in my garden, and while you can eat them up until they reach about 7 – 8 inches and fully uncurl, they become progressively more bitter and tough, rather than sweet and tender. This …