May 30, 2013 - Downingtown Farmers Market Dinner: Sage Lamb Sausage with Grilled Spring Onions and Couscous

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Sage Lamb Sausage with Grilled Spring Onions and Couscous

We got a grill last week for Memorial Day and I've used it every day since - so I think more things in the future are going to come off the grill for Thursday's Market Dinners.  The sage lamb sausage came from Lindenhof Farm and was excellent.  My initial idea was to grill the asparagus and use the spring onions in a 'sausage and onion sandwich' sort of thing. But Stacey gave me the idea to incorporate couscous, which took the meal in a whole different, more delicious direction.  

 

Here's today's spread. (I'm not sure why Blogger autorotates some pictures)

1. Grilled the lamb sausage first.  Then added some lightly oiled spring onions to the grill.  The sausages flared up pretty bad while I was starting the couscous so there was a bit of a char when I came back to the grill - lesson learned.  It turned out to be just fine as I let them cook the rest of the way through over some very low heat for a while.  

2. Diced up a tomato and some herbs from the garden.  The parsley and tomato was held until plating, but the sage and the thyme when in with the couscous. 

3. Toasted the couscous in some olive oil, and then added chicken stock, thyme, and tri-colored sage with a small amount of salt and pepper.  Let that cook down for a few minutes.

4. The onions cooked until they had some nice grill marks and were soft. The sausage doesn't look so great here, but trust me it was delicious.

 5. Plating with two types of mustard, onion greens, and thinly sliced radishes.  Piled the couscous in the center and surrounded it with diagonally sliced sausages.  Topped that with the diced tomatoes and parsley and laid the sliced grilled onions over the whole mess.  It turned out amazing!

6. Finished off tonight's dinner with salted caramel and brown sugar cookie dough cupcakes - both excellent.

May 23, 2013 - Downingtown Farmers Market Dinner

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Tomato and Basil Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Peppers, and Tomato served with a Multi-grain Baguette

The pasta and the baguette were the only ingredients in this dish from the market this week.  I had planned on adding the peppercorn chevre as a spread on the baguette but after a test slice it didn't work.  It wasn't bad really, and both the bread and cheese were great separate. I felt that the multigrain baguette was too strong a flavor to go well with the cheese, so it was served with a little butter.

This was a simple pasta dish with no sauce that Stacey found - it was super easy to make, and had a ton of flavor.  

1. Diced the peppers tomatoes. I used one of each  red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, and about 4 medium sized tomatoes

2. Diced the chicken sausage.

 3. Brown the sausage.

4. Add the diced peppers.  I cooked them until they softened.

 5. Add the tomatoes and the pasta back to the pan.  Stirred it all together and added some shredded parmesan cheese.

6.  Topped with basil and more parmesan cheese.

May 16, 2013 - Cold Snap Update

It looks like the improvised cold frame did its job - all the plants seem to have survived.  The Grenada Seasoning pepper plant  lost a few leaves that may have been a result of the cold.  Time will tell if they have been shocked or affected negatively, but for now they superficially look good.

I had an outdoor thermometer transmitting the temperature inside the cold frame  into the house.  The coldest night got down to 35 degrees outside, but under the frame it was only 40. The next day had some more afternoon sun that warmed it up even more keeping the temperatures into the mid-50's despite it being 40 outside. Not a perfect solution, but it was worthwhile.

Lots of warm Spring days ahead and I think the garden will be just fine.

May 16, 2013 - Downingtown Farmers Market Dinner

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:

Basil Shrimp with Lemon Penne, Goat Ricotta & Tomato Crostini, and Pea Shoot Salad

This week I bought snap peas, goat ricotta, baby pea shoots, and lemon penne pasta.

I started by sauteing some diced onions in butter and olive oil, and then adding some white wine.

Once clear, I added the peas and shrimp and cooked for a few minutes.  Once finished I added the grape tomatoes, basil, and the cooked lemon penne.

While they were going I sliced a baguette lengthwise and topped it with goat ricotta and sliced grape tomatoes. Cooked it until it was starting to crust a little, and then finished it with some basil.

The salad was simply the pea shoots tossed some oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper, and topped with a slice of lemon.

May 12, 2013 - Preparing for the Freak Cold

The forecast for the next two nights is unseasonably cold dropping into the mid-30's on Monday night.  After putting all my plants in last week I am concerned that I may have to start over if I didn't take action.  I spent some time this morning searching for solutions I opted to create some cold frames out of PVC and plastic sheeting.

I'm hoping that I can use this (or an improved version) of this system later in the season to extend the growing season late into the fall.

 

 Here's the before.  

My stapler was broken so used some roofing nails with large heads to secure the sides of the plastic to some 2x2s.  This weighed down the sides but also will let me pull up the plastic sheets for ventilation.

 This is the only trick for the whole operation: screwing these metal brackets into the wall of the raised beds, and then sliding the 10 foot sections of 1/2" PVC pipe into each side.  There's just enough flex on the pipe to make it across the four foot span.

 I had planned on putting cross beams in place but they weren't really necessary once I had all the PVC bent.

 There is actually quite a bit of head room.  I didn't even have to remove the tomato cages.

 I used two spring clamps to hold the plastic together and down in the middle of each bed.  If I had more clamps I would have used them.

All closed up for the night. I tied up the ends and weighed down the excess plastic with some rocks. I hope there's enough residual heat to make it through the night.  Tomorrow I plan to leave large rocks out in the sun and place them inside to give it a little more heat at night.

May 12, 2013 - Week One

Here are a quick couple of shots from my phone of how things are looking after the first week.  The quality is kinda poor...

Time-lapse of me filling the raised beds from April 16, 2013

May 9, 2013 - Downingtown Farmers Market Dinner

Tonight's Farmers Market Dinner:
Ramp, asparagus, spinach, and chèvre frittata with a lemon basil/black magic cupcake dessert.

Today was the first day of my weekly plan to cook a dinner from only ingredients purchased at the Downingtown Farmers Market - or at least mostly from the market. I plan to write down what I did each time, but we'll see how lazy I get.  Tonight was very successful despite not having a whole lot of produce variety available this early in the season.  The frittata turned out light and flavorful!

This is the first time I've ever eaten or cooked with ramps, and I am now a huge fan! It's the perfect onion garlic flavor mixture without being overpowering. I saved three of them for the garden just to grow them for their greens if nothing else.

1. Sauteed the diced ramps with the chopped spinach in a little butter, olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Tossed the asparagus in olive oil and salt & pepper, roasted at 400 F for about 10 minutes.

3. Separated 6 egg whites from the yolks, and added two additional eggs to the yolk bowl.  Whisked the yolks, and frothed the whites in the mixer.  Folded them together.

4. Added the diced asparagus, ramps, and chopped baby spinach to the pan on medium-high heat with some olive oil and butter.

5. Quickly added in the crumbled sharp chèvre cheese to the frothed egg mixture and let it sit until the sides became firm. Then put the whole pan in the oven for  at 400 F until it was firm and the top began to brown (about 20-25 minutes).

6. Garnished with chives, toasted herb peasant loaf, and ramp leaves.

May 4, 2013 - Growers Market and Garden

Thursday was the opening day for the first Downingtown Farmers Market. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the turn out was amazingly good - so much that most vendors sold out within 2 hours. I manages to get 4 tomato plants and 2 eggplants.

Saturday also marked the opening of the West Chester Growers Market where I purchased the rest of my plants. I'm all set now for the season and all but the peppers are in the ground.

  

Here's the line up this season: 

Tomatoes:

• Green Zebra
• Azoycha
• Sun Gold
• San Marzano x 2
• Cherokee Purple
• Juliet

Eggplant:

• Galine
• Orient Charm

Peppers:

• Italian Gourmet
• Grenada Seasoning
• Corno Di Toro x 2
• Italian Roaster
• Red Beauty x 2
• Early Sunsation

Other Vegetables:

• Yellow Squash
• Black Beauty Zucchini
• Sweet Burpless Cucumber
• Straight 8 Cucumber
• Green Comet Broccoli x 8
• Snow Crown Cauliflower x 8
• Spinach
• French Breakfast Rasishes

Herbs:

• Tricolor Sage
• Tarragon
• Italian Basil x2
• Rosemary
• Greek Oregano
• French Thyme
• Lemon Rhyme
• Dill
• Flat Lead Parsley