At this point in the season, dinner plans are set in the morning by taking a quick stroll through the garden to perform vegetable triage. What do we have to eat immediately; what can wait a day or two, and what's in such abundance that it needs to be put by somehow -- either pickled or frozen? While Mr. Mulch still prefers something resembling a balanced meal, I could be quite happy eating mostly from the garden (with a bit of fish from time to time), and when the eggplant and tomatoes come in, I'm in near-vegan paradise.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We're not quite at veggie nirvana just yet, but we are at the point where the garden is either inspiration for, or the star of the meal. This past holiday weekend, with family and friends around, it totally strutted its stuff.
Turkey breast and herb medley in the sous-vide
Friday dinner kicked the weekend off with a subtle, but impressive herb turn. To accommodate those at the mercy of vacation getaway traffic, I wanted to make a cold dish that could hold until everyone had arrived. Vitello Tonnato is one of my favorite summer recipes (courtesy of Marcella Hazan); a veal shoulder poached and cooled, then sliced and slathered in a tuna/anchovy sauce. Sounds a bit wierd, but it's the perfect make-ahead summer dish, except that finding a veal shoulder is both difficult and very expensive. I make it with turkey breast instead and it's just as good, and I don't need a second mortgage. This time, however, I didn't poach the turkey; I used the sous-vide*, and packed the turkey breast in with lots of garden fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil. After a 4-hour bath, that turkey was cooked to perfection, tender, juicy, and far better than any I had poached. Herbs adorned the final product, which I served with some fresh crusty focaccia, a fresh garden salad, and scallions for some added crunch. Mr. Mulch supplied some Tocai Friuliano from the cellar, and we all dug in. No leftovers!
Dinner #1: The finished product -- Turkey Tonnato with scallions, salad, and focaccia.
Saturday dinner brought the garden to center stage. We had to clear the pea beds to make room for the next crop (corn), and we didn't have quite enough of them by themselves, so kohlrabi were pressed into service for a combination we stumbled upon a few years ago and found delightful.
We also had some early beets that had to be rescued from whatever bugs had been gnawing on them. Sadly, that meant no usable beet greens, but we may have better luck with the next batch which still look uneaten. I made some fresh potato salad using sage, rosemary, chives, and parsley from the herb garden, served scallions again on the side (for some reason, my family loves these and no matter how many I pull and trim, they always vanish), and voila! Dinner #2:
Dinner #2: Chicken, Kohlrabi and peas, beets, potato salad, scallions.
Sunday dinner didn't really feature garden goodies. It was our annual, totally decadent, lobsterfest. Years ago, we came upon a recipe for Butter-Poached Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim And Red-Beet Essence. They had us at "Butter-Poached Lobster" and we never bothered with the rest of the recipe, which sounded entirely too precious. The beauty of this is that you spend some time in prep dismantling the lobsters so that when it comes time to cook them, all the debris is gone and you only have to poach them in sinful butter sauce for 15 minutes. We do this every Fourth of July because that's when we have the usual crew here and -- more importantly -- lobsters are on sale at Stew Leonards! We serve them with Stew's fresh made sweet potato chips and my only contribution (apart from cracking the claws) is home-made cole slaw and (of course) scallions.
Butter-poached lobster, butter sauce, cole slaw, chips, and scallions
After that indulgence, we went a bit lighter for Dinner #3 on Monday. Just a simple hanger steak -- bathed in olive oil and garlic, salt, and pepper. I made a zucchini recipe from Marcella that I hadn't tried before -- 1/8" ribbons of zucchini in a light flour/water batter, fried till crisp, and served warm with sliced garlic and torn basil scattered on top. Add some gnocchi with a garden pesto made with cilantro, parsley, and basil, and you have what passed for a "light" meal this weekend!
Zucchini strips, hanger steak, and gnocchi with cilantro, parsley, basil pesto. You're wondering, "where are the scallions?" They just didn't make the photo!
We closed the weekend on Tuesday with another annual event; our traditional Fourth of July barbecue. We had burgers and two kinds of hot dogs, with multiple condiment options. I made some more fresh potato salad, and we cracked open one of the pints of zucchini pickles I made two weeks ago. Scallions, of course. It wasn't as fancy as some of our dinners, but it was a beautiful day; the sun was hot and the beer was cold. All in all, a great way to wrap up the weekend.
Cheeseburger, hot dog, scallions, potato salad, zucchini pickles, and a cold brew!
After a weekend of chowing down like that, I do think it's time to apply a little restraint; for the next few days, perhaps we'll cut down on the scallions...
* My Anova Sous-Vide was a gift from Mr. Mulch, who has a penchant for giving me kitchen appliances for holidays and birthdays, most of which enjoy a brief period of use and then go off to molder in the closet, forgotten. I have often suggested that I'd prefer gifts that don't have electric cords, but the Sous-Vide is an exception. I use it often, and have found that whether it is the sole cooking process, or a prelude to a quick sear before serving, vacuum/hot water bath cooking keeps foods that are easily overcooked tender and juicy, infused with whatever herbs or flavorings that have been sealed in with the meat or fish, and you have plenty of time while the sous-vide is running to get the rest of the meal pulled together.