1) Strawberry season has flown by - Dawn and I went strawberry picking at Land Sakes farm in Weston to get a couple of quarts of the extra-sweet June-bearing strawberries for jam. We pretty much ate all of our fruit as soon as it came in, and so we bought a few quarts at the you-pick-it operation. Land Sakes isn't certified organic, but it used to be, and they say they haven't changed their practices since they stopped getting certified. I wanted to find somewhere organic because strawberries are supposed to soak up chemicals like a sponge - and we were not disappointed. The strawberries were at an orgasmic peak of ripeness. More pictures posted when we actually get our jam on.
2) We went to the Cape last weekend, and over the summer solstice, apparently summer happened. We came back to a million snap peas, big tufts of lettuce, some carrots, big radishes, etc. Now the work of the garden is mulching, weeding, harvesting and cooking - the trick now is to actually use the stuff I grew while its in season. Tonight I got to make my first all-garden dinner.
I wanted to make a stir-fry from this magical period when my ichiban eggplants overlap with the peas, bok choi, and garlic scapes. Recipe below.
3) Last, I put in a sweet perennial garden at a rental house on Cape Cod. Since no one will take care of these plants all summer, I wanted to make sure they were hardy. I split up my wild yarrow, moonshine coreopsis and some unkillable groundcover, transplanted some lillies and some yellow coreopsis that were growing nearby, and put in an echinacia I bought. Here's a picture of it at the beginning of the summer - we'll see how it looks by the end, after the deer have had plenty of time to feast.
Late-June Thai-style stir-fry w/brown rice and fried tofu.
Ingredients:
One package firm tofu
three garlic scapes, chopped into small pieces
two green onions, sliced into rounds - save some of the green pieces for garnish
two baby ichiban eggplants, sliced into rounds
two handfuls of snap peas
medium baby-sized bok choi, chopped into 1" pieces
three or four stalks of Thai basil
any stalks of broccoli that you've got so far, chopped into florets
Peanut oil
fish sauce
red pepper flakes
Sauce: I used Soyaki for the tofu, and Chinese BBQ sauce, cut with rice wine and soy sauce for the veggies - but teriyaki or any other soy 'n sweet mix would work.
You could absolutely just chop everything up and fry it in the pan. I cooked it a little more elaborately, because I have a habit of overcooking everything in a stir fry. The quick deep-fry on the eggplant gives it an awesome flavor and consistency.
1) Put on brown rice.
2) Marinate tofu in teriyaki - I used my fav, Trader Joe's Soyaki.
3) Rinse all the veggies well - I soak them in salted water for about ten minutes, just in case any bugs took a ride inside with you. Start heating up a pan of salted water for the bok choi.
4) Heat up about 1/2" of peanut oil in a wok and cook eggplant on both sides - about 1 minute, then remove to drain on a paper towel
5) dump out most of the oil and throw in the tofu and marinade - fry for about 5 minutes on high heat, stirring often, then empty out tofu into a separate bowl
6) boil bok choi in salted water for two to three minutes, then drain
7) throw a little more oil on the wok, then add the garlic scapes and green onions, stir constantly for 30 seconds. Add broccoli, cook four minutes, then add snap peas, bok choi and eggplant. Pour in BBQ sauce and stir until everything is covered, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add most of the thai basil, 5-10 drops of fish oil and red pepper to taste.
Plate with rice, tofu and veggies, and sprinkle green onions and Thai basil on top. (I also added some cashews for crunch). You should have a delicious Thai-flavored, garden-fresh dish.
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