RECIPES FROM FORT YORK COMMUNITY GARDEN

First you sow, then you reap. And then what? Summer is not only hectic because you are a Fort York Gardener and doing all that involves (weeding, watering, nurturing, filling the rain barrels, fending, stretching chicken wire around you precious crops), but also you harvest and after the harvest, then what? Eat, of course, but  unlike the rabbits and groundhogs who seem to like it as is, we all want to pursue the ultimate in tastes. Combining flavors, adding our favorite dressings. In the spirit of sharing, and inspiring, here are some favorites from the gardeners  using ingredients grown in the garden plots of Fort York Community Garden.

arugula salad with strawberries - photo H. Chacon

 Arugula salad:
Gardener: Hasse Chacon
From the plot: Arugula, strawberries, fresh herbs

Ingredients:
Fresh arugula
A few straberries
Chèvre cheese (crumbled)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Fresh herbs finely chopped
Pine nuts or crushed walnuts
Salt & pepper to taste
A few slices of red onion (optional)

1  Make The Dressing:
Place olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper in a glass jar and cover tightly with a lid. Shake well, until the dressing is emulsified

2. Compose
Place the washed and dried arugula leaves in a salad bowl, along with the slices of onion

Drizzle with the dressing and toss. Top with: chèvre, nuts and sliced strawberries

ready for pesto: fresh basil and garlic scapes – photo M.D’Aguilar

Garlic Scape Pesto with Linguini and Cherry Tomatoes
Gardener: Mark D’Aguilar

From the plot: fresh basil, garlic scapes, tomatoes.

 

Ingredients:

6   Garlic Scapes, heads removed and roughly chopped (or substitute, or add, arugula)
1/3 Cup  Fresh Basil leaves
1/4 Cup  Chopped, toasted Walnuts
1/2 Cup  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2  Lemon, juice and zest
1/4 Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, grated
12  Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Sea Salt yo taste
1 Ib  Linguini, or other Pasta

1. Combine the garlic scapes, basil, walnuts, 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a food processor or blender.    (You can also toss in some Arugula leaves for a nice bite)
2. Process until the leaves and garlic scapes are finely chopped.
3. Then add the nuts and remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and lemon juice and jest.
4. Scrape mixture into a bowl and stir in the cheese. Add a drizzle more olive oil if necessary and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt and pasta to directions for al dente.
6. Drain the pasta reserving 1 Cup of the pasta water.
7. Toss the pasta with the pesto and add in the tomatoes.
8. Only if necessary, add some of the reserved pasta water to bring it to a creamy consistency.
9. Serve with a grating of more cheese and a few torn fresh basil leaves.

 

 

Jam

Gardener: Patrisha Robertson

From the plot:  Fresh French Lavender, Rhubarb.

Apricot & Lavender Jam

Ingredients: a basket of apricots, sugar, lemon juice, water, fresh lavender blossom.

Split the apricots, removing stones.

Pit the stones and reserve the “almonds” inside.

Wash, then split the apricots and then layer them in a pot with sugar (I use the least amount I can, so I start with less and may add more)  and a 6 – 10 of the “almonds” (these will help provide the pectin). If you have lavender sugar you can add a dash here also.

Let sit for a few hours.

Add a little water, a squeeze of lemon juice,  and bring slowly to a boil.

The mixture will thicken to a lovely jam like consistency.

Remove the “almonds”. Add fresh lavender at the end.

Decant into sterilized jars using traditional canning methods.

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam or Rhubarberry (rhubarb + blueberry) and Ginger jam.

Ingredients: rhubarb – 10 – 12 stalks,chopped,  fresh ginger, sugar. Blueberries optional.

Same as above (without the peach “almonds”)

Rhubarb + Sugar + some nice chunks of fresh ginger.

Don’t use much water as rhubarb has a lot on its own.

If necessary, use some liquid or powdered pectin.

Before decanting into clean, sterilized jars remove the lumps of ginger!

OTHER THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO AT THE GARDEN!

Bird spotting! There have been beautiful red and gold finches at the sunflowers. Thrushes are admiring the strawberries! Bring your paints and make a watercolour of your crops! There are some beautiful forms to be seen  – from sweet pea and bean blossoms, to exploding garlic pods! Hope to see you – remember Wednesday day is our communal gardening night!  5 pm – 8 pm!

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE HERB GARDEN

 Some herbs were added to the garden this week:

Anise, and the herb, bee balm, along with some sorrel, and also lovage has come back as a seedling for all those who protested its recent decapitation.

A sickly raspberry bush, discarded at a nursery, also appeared and was planted in the Sketch communal plot for recuperation and possible transplanting when

we find our soft fruit spot!

Anise Hyssop or Licorice Mint

Anise: Anise Hyssop or Licorice Mint. Perennial. Member of the mint family. Flowers are purple-blue and blooms June – September.  Can grow up to 1 m. tall. In its natural habitat grows by streams and ditches and in cultivation requires a lot of moisture or it will wilt.

Harvesting: At the start of flowering. Or anytime. Snip the leaves off starting from the bottom of the plant.  For tea, cut whole stems off starting 4 – 5” inches from the bottom of the plant.  Hang upside down to dry. Anise tea (or Licorice Mint tea is excellent for the digestive system. You might want to add the leaves to a general “mint tea” mix for extra flavor.  Fresh leaves can be used in salads. The flowers can be cut on the stem, dried upside down, and then used in floral arrangments. In winter anise can but cut back to a 6” stub. Benefits: Anise hyssop is a favorite of our friends the beest and can repel cabbage moth.

Adapted from various sources including: http://www.growing-herbs-at-home.com

The Sorrel looks sad but it has just been planted!

Sorrel: A perennial herb with a tangy flavor. Leaves can be used pureed in soups, pesto and sauces or as is, added to your other leafy greens for a salad (or, of course, on its own). It Greece it is mixed with spinach, chard, as a component in spanakopita. The taste is sharp owing to the oxalic acid it contains: and the older the leaves the sharper this gets. Eat when young! And  don’t overdo it as oxalic acid is toxic. (Note: you would have to eat a lot).

Our sorrel has to get grow first. But next year we might try this!

 

Sorrel Soup

1 pound sorrel leaves, washed and trimmed of stems
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped
6 cups of the broth of your choosing (vegetable or chicken)
3 tablespoons sugar
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, free range, beaten

Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add shallots and cook on medium-high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add sorrel a little at a time, tossing; cook until leaves have wilted, about 10 minutes. Add broth, bring to a boil, and simmer about 15 minutes.

Using a hand-held blender, purée the soup. Add sugar and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and add beaten eggs.

Whisk vigorously until eggs have dispersed. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve hot or cold with a garnish of sour cream.  Provides 6 servings.

 Recipe courtesy of http://www.gastronomersguide.com

SOME THINGS COMING UP AT FORT YORK

July 12 – Fort York hosts the Spacing Roadshow.  7 pm. $5.

Discussions on Urban Design, architecture and community building.

August 13 & 14th The Conscious Food Festival is back at Fort York doing what it does: spreading the world on the connection between what we put on our plate and the state of the planet.

Access to plots will be available during that weekend.

Hello Bee Balm, Come Along Bees…

We hope that it won’t be continued. But so far this summer, there’s been a marked absence of bees in the garden.  Hence the appearance, suddenly, in the herb garden of some American Bee Balm (aka “honey plant”) in the hope that its blue-purple flowers, and fragrant scent will bring more bees by.  Bee Balm in the herb garden is also quite apt. Otherwise known as wild bergamot, the plant is a member of the mint family and like mint, rosemary, or sage, can  be widely used in the kitchen for all sorts of things.  To give you some idea of its versatility: The soft petals (separated from the calyx)  can go in salads. It can also be used, deliciously,  in jams and jellies (remove the leaves, however before bottling).  Leaves can be used in cooking (in tomato dishes you can use it as a substitute for oregano – in stuffings, you can use it instead of sage). Bergamot leaves can also brewed into a medicinal tea and can help relieve nausea, colds, headaches, and flatulence. To make a tea use one cup hot water, to 1 teaspoon leaves, steep for 5 minutes and sweeten with honey. In summer add lemon and serve iced. Wild bergamot, a native of North America,  is similar to, but not the same as the Italian Bergamot Orange (Citris Bergamica )– which supplies the distinctive flavoring in Earl Grey Tea. You can also add leaves to hot water and use as an inhalation to help soothe a sore throat or help ease bronchitis. There are various varieties of Wild Bergamot. The Scarlet Bergamot variety was wildly used by the Oswego Indians of Northern New York for making tea – hence this plants other nom-de-plume  – Oswego tea. We’d love some of the Scarlet variety in the garden, so if you see some around, let us know or add it to the herb plot!

 To Harvest :

Pick leaves for fresh use at any time. Collect leaves and blooms for drying in midsummer. Spread out the leaves on a wire rack in a shady, warm, ventilated location. If the leaveshaven’t dried in 2 or 3 days, place them on a cookie sheet in a warm oven, When dry, crush the leaves and decant to an airtight container.  Store in a dark place.Leaves can also be dried in a brown paper bag in a well-ventilated spot.Flowers and freshly chopped leaves can also be frozen for later use.
For pot pourri – pick flowers when blooms are almost completely open, then hang to dry.

 (However, don’t pick all the flower until we see some bees!)