in the garden...beets.

Pulling a beet from the ground does not inspire an immediate appetite.  It has long red or green stems, you grab hold, yank, and a dirty spade shape emerges.  I used to avoid cooking them as the whole peeling thing seemed like too much work.  That changed for me when I discovered roasting: wash and dry the beets, put them in a baking pan or pyrex pan, toss them in olive oil, dust them with kosher salt, cover the pan tightly with tin foil and bake in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes or until a knife can pierce the beet effortlessly.  Take them out of the oven, let them cool a bit and then use a knife to peel off the skin, they should slip off easily.  Your beets are ready.  My favorite preparations at this point are to eat them warm with butter and a squeeze of lemon or to cut them in chunks and drizzle with a simple vinaigrette.

Beets contain a wealth of health benefits.  They are high in potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorous, iron, vitamins A, B and C, beta carotene and folic acid.  Beets contain betaine, a substance used in some treatments for depression.  They also containe trytophan, which relaxes the mind, creating a sense of happiness, much like chocolate.  No wonder there is a cult following for red velvet cake, the original version was made with grated beets, imagine the double dose of happiness in each bite.  Beets are high in sugar (natural, pure sugar) but low in calories, so great for a boost of energy. 

Over the summer, I invested in a juicer, a small breville juicer, under $100.  It is just perfect for my home concoctions, usually concentrated around beets.  I am pretty much in a slump.  I juice beets, carrots, ginger, apple or pears and kale.  It is absolutely delicious and always comes out perfectly.  I cannot brag enough.

Here are a few beet recipes:

Beet and Quinoa Pilaf
I would omit the cherry tomatoes here.

Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad

Warm Beet Salad with a Parmesan Dressing

in the garden...tomatoes

We can now get tomatoes all year round.  Even in January, bright red tomatoes are prominently displayed in grocery stores.  But, try and make a caprese salad with one of these tomatoes, not so tasty.

Nurturing tomatoes in a garden takes time and attention.  They shoot up, they sprawl, they need constant tying and staking, they need lots of water.  When you bite into that juicy, ripe, home grown tomato, you are rewarded for all of that coddling.
 Mid-August to late September is tomato time.  Farmer's markets are brimming with all shapes, all sizes, all colors.  I like trying different ones like Purple Cherokee, Green Zebra, Sungold, Brandywine, the list goes on.  My favorite way to eat a tomato: cut one up into chunks (chunks seem juicier than slices), drizzle with a decent olive oil, grind some pepper on top and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Amazing.  I could eat tomatoes every day of their season like this.  Mozzarella, Basil and Balsamic Vinegar are fine additions, but not necessary.  A B.L.T. (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich) is another delicacy.  Toast some bread, crisp up some bacon, whip up some mayo (or open the Hellman's/Best Food's, slice some colorful ripe tomatoes and layer them in a sandwich with some garden fresh lettuce.

If you want to get fancy with your tomato, I recommend this lovely tomato tart.  It gets oohs and aahs at a buffet and is equally delicious.  You can slow roast your tomatoes to bring out the flavor and use them in braises and soups, and you can can your tomatoes, more on this in late summer.

Tomatoes are excellent sources of dietary fiber, minerals and Vitamins A, B and C.  They are also rich in Potassium that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. The lycopene, an antioxidant concentrated in red tomatoes, provides protection from skin cancer.  Additional antioxidants in tomatoes protect against colon, prostate, breast endometrial, lung and pancreatic cancers. 

in the garden...zucchini

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Growing up, my family had a small vegetable garden.  I don’t really remember anything about it, except for the ZUCCHINI, which was prolific those summers.  My mother would slice it and put it in a pot with some water and chopped onion.  It would simmer away on the stove top until it was pale green, mushy and pretty void of any flavor (sorry Mom).  Often, it would get the classic 70’s garnish of Lawry’s seasoning salt.  

It was not a top childhood memory.

Now, some 30 plus years later, I love zucchini.  In my opinion, the best way to cook it is to chop it up, making it bite size (about an inch or so).  I then take a sauté pan and heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Once that is hot, I add a tablespoon of butter and then toss in the chopped squash.  Stir or shake it around to get all the pieces glistening in the fats. Over medium high heat, let it brown and then stir it so that other sides get the golden look as well.  Honestly, I just use kosher salt (my salt of choice) and fresh pepper to season it and it is delicious.  Even my picky-ish kids and boiled-mush-loving mother like it.  If you want to jazz it up a bit, I think adding a squeeze of lemon, minced garlic, some chopped basil or chives would be nice additions.  Maybe a dusting of parmesan? Fine Cooking Magazine has a recipe where they roast it and add in paprika and manchego cheese (I think you could easily just saute the squash instead of roasting).  Nine times out of ten, I stick with the simple sauté.

Zucchini is very versatile.  It can be eaten raw, steamed, grilled, stuffed, fried, boiled, turned into bread, and the flowers can be stuffed and baked.  Although it is mostly prepared as a vegetable, botanically it is a fruit.  Each plant has male and female flowers: the male flowers best for stuffing as they are larger and more dramatic, the female flowers bearing the fruit.  Often, I have tried to grow zucchini, gotten a lot of blooms that then sadly drop off the vine.  A friend recently told me that some plants are under served by bees and need help pollinating.  Ehow’s link is very clear on how to do this.  I have high hopes for this year’s crop. 

Here are some simple recipes that I have tried this season and enjoyed very much:

smitten kitchen's zucchini bread, use the olive oil for the cake, much healthier, moist and yummy

my recipe for "soupe au pistou" a classic provencal soup, made only when it is the height of summer vegetables (like now)

a zucchini tart that would be great for a summer buffet, along with grilled chicken, some sliced tomatoes and a green salad

and then, a raw, shaved zucchini preparation by heidi swanson.  so light, so delicious:

shaved fennel salad

in the garden...beans

Beans are bursting on the vine right now...bush beans, pole beans.  Beans are rich in dietary fiber and they are a complex carbohydrate so they get processed slower, allowing you to feel fuller.  They are rich in vitamins A and C.   Beans can be simply prepared by putting them in a pot of salted boiling water until they are al dente.  Purists like to then fish out the beans with a slotted spoon, plunging them into an ice bath of water so they maintain their vibrant green color.  If you are lazy (like me), draining them in a colander and then dousing them with cold water also works.  At that point, drizzling them with melted butter and lemon juice, or throwing them in with some fresh salad greens makes a delicious and easy way to eat them.  Roasting them is another easy option: place the beans on a baking pan, toss them in olive oil and salt and pepper and put into a 450 degree oven for about 7 minutes, shaking them so they don't burn.  I recently made the following green bean recipes which were delicious. Perfect to serve with some simply grilled fish or chicken.  Green Bean and Israeli Couscous Salad and Green Beans with Parsley and Sesame Tahini Sauce

in the garden...the beginning