Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

Hot peppers hanging from the kitchen window

     Several years back our neighbor gave us hot pepper seeds he got from Italy.    We have been growing them every summer since then.  At the end of the growing season, we hang them in our kitchen window to dry out.  Once dried, we crush them and store it in a mason jar.  We use them on pizza and in cooking some of our favorite spicy foods.

Potato Leek Soup

      There is a chill in the air.  Finally some nice fall weather.  And what could be better than a hot steaming bowl soup.  You know, the kind of soup that sticks to your ribs and warms your soul.  We had a great year for leeks in our garden so I thought I would make some potato leek soup.  I found this recipe online.  Its very simple and makes great use of  the leeks and potatoes we grew this year.

LEEKS IN OUR GARDEN

POTATOES FROM THE GARDEN

 Ingredients:      3 Large leeks cut lengthwise, separated, cleaned.  

                          Use white and light green parts only, chopped                                                                                                                                            

                          2 tbs of butter

                          2 cups of water

                          2 cups of chicken broth

                          2 lbs of potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/2 inch pieces

                          marjoram - dash

                          1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

                          2 tsp chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried thyme

                          Tabasco sauce

                          salt & pepper

                        

 Directions: 1. Cook leeks in butter with salt and pepper in a medium sized sauce pan.  Cover pan, cook on low heat for 10 minutes.  Check often.  Do not brown leeks!  Browning will give leeks a burnt taste.
2.  Add water, broth, and potatoes.  Bring to a low simmer and cook for 20 minutes.  Scoop about half of the soup mixture into a blender, puree and return to pan.  Add marjoram, parsley, and thyme.  add a few dashes of tabasco sauce.  Add some freshly ground pepper, 1-2 tsp salt or more to taste.

serves 4-6
                        

                     

Hot steaming bowl of soup.

Fall Harvest

The fall garden

     It is that time of year again.  The garden is winding down.  Gone are the cucumbers, tomatoes, stringbeans, and peppers.  All that's left are our fall vegetables.  We have carrots, parsnips, leeks cabbage, spinach, and beets.  Lots of beets.  And for some reason we still have eggplants. 

      Today I decided to pick some beets for a salad.  As soon as we get a frost the beets will become sweeter.  The frost turns the starch in the beets into sugar. Can't wait for that.

The beets I picked today

Miss October

Matilda looking all pretty

          October's hen of the month is our one year old australorp, Matilda.  She's the larger of our two australorps.  Matilda struts her stuff all over the coop as if she is a queen.  She has a regal look and always holds her head high.  When it' s time to eat, the other hens get out of her way.  But when it comes to our family, she is as sweet as can be.  Here she is striking a pose.

Miss September

Henrietta

Broody Hen

     I know it's a little late but September's Hen of the Month is our buff orpington, Henrietta.  Yeah, I know a lot of chicken owners name a hen Henrietta and it is a bit lame, but I couldn't help myself.  She is a good girl and a very productive egg layer. Lately she has become quite broody.  You can always find her in the coop lying in the corner.  When another hen lays an egg, she rolls the egg under her and sits on it.  Sometimes we find 3-4 eggs under her.  We constantly have to pick her up and shoo her outside.  Hopefully with the cool weather coming she will calm down and snap out of her broodiness.

Getting Figgy with It

Figs quickly ripening on the tree

This isn't even half of it

simple fig crostata

     At the end of August the figs on our tree started to ripen very quickly.  This year we had hundreds of figs on our tree.  The trick is to pick them as soon as possible before the birds get them all.  Now that we started to harvest them, we have to use them as quickly as possible.  One of my favorite recipes is a simple fig crostata.  It is very easy to make and delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Crust:
     1 cup of all purpose flour
     2 tbs of sugar
     1/8 tsp of salt
    5 tbs of very cold butter
    3-4 tbs of ice water
     Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process the dry ingredients for a couple of seconds.  Next cut butter into 1/2 inch pieces and drop into flour.  Mix for about 10 to 12 pulses.  You should have pea size crumbs.  Now add 3 tbs of ice water and pulse about six times until the dough comes together.  If it doesn't come together then add one more tbs of water.  It shouldn't take more than that.  It is very important not to overwork the dough because it will become tough and not flaky.  Wrap dough in plastic and put in refrigerator.
Filling:
   1 1/2 lbs of figs cut in half
   zest of 1 medium lemon
   2 tbs of apricot jam
   2 tbs of butter
     Combine the figs, jam, and zest in a bowl and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out dough to about 13 inches on a piece of parchment paper.  Mix some plain bread crumbs with sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle some of the mixture in the center of the dough.  Lift the parchment paper and put it on a cookie sheet.  Now add the filling and fold the dough up about 2 inches around the sides.  Dot the middle with butter and brush the folded ends with an egg wash.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for about 25 minutes, rotate pan and bake for 20 minutes more.  Check to make sure the crust isn't burning rotate once more and cook for about another 10 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling.  Cool on a rack.

           

Catching Up

      I have not posted anything in the past month because we all have been very busy with work and getting ready for school.  But now that we have settled into a routine, I am ready to tell you what has been happening on our little urban farm.

Eggplants Galore. 

We had a great year for eggplants.  I have been breading and frying them most of the summer.

Recently I decided it would be nice to marinate them for a change.  First I peel and cut the eggplants into strips.  Then I bring 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water to a boil.  Shut off the flame and put the eggplant strips in and let them soak for about 3-5 minutes.  I drain them and let cool.  Next I squeeze as much liquid as I can out of the eggplants and lay them in a paper towel.

 

     Now I chop up some garlic and oregano and mix it with the eggplant strips.  Add a little olive oil and put it in a jar.  Add a hot pepper and the top it off with more olive oil and voila we have marinated eggplant.  You can serve this in an antipasto,  put in a sandwich, or top it on a crostini.

Anyway you decide to serve it,  It tastes delicious.