When the French chef Auguste Escoffier invented this dessert to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, it was only flaming cherries served on a silver plate. Today, it is most popular poured over ice cream. Chris and I discovered the following version in Wilderness Cuisine by Carole Latimer served over chocolate. We love this version so much, we haven’t bothered trying it any other way.

Cherries Jubilee
Ingredients

~1 cup cherries

2 Tb cornstarch

2 Tb sugar

¼ cup warmed kirsch (cherry liqueur)

1 bar of chocolate (the best you can get – Scharffenberger,

Ghirardelli, Lindt, etc.)

Process

Break up the chocolate into the bowls. Set aside.

Heat cherries in a small saucepan until they begin to give up their juice. Then add the cornstarch, and sugar stirring constantly. Bring the mixture just to a boil and turn off the heat. At this point, the juice should begin to thicken rapidly. Set aside.

Now, briefly heat the kirsch for about 30 seconds over low heat. BE CAREFUL, too much heat will cause the kirsch to ignite! If it does, everything is fine since you are aiming to ignite it anyway, but could be a surprise if you aren’t expecting it.

I have always admired how weed free the beds at small farm are. Really, it is amazing. It takes us forever to weed, yet in all of the times we have been there, we have never seen anyone weeding. I assumed they had a legion of nocturnal workers with tweezers that would work all night. On a recent trip, I decided to ascertain the secret.

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Everyone’s vegetables are getting massive! The plants have been showing the benefits of weeks soaking up the sun, some rain, and hard work.

If you are driving down Tuttle Lane at any time between sunrise and sunset you are bound to see at least one person lugging heavy buckets of water, tearing out weeds, or collecting the fruits of their labors. Stop by and have a look!

This book is fantastic! It is filled with tips, tricks, and organic techniques. There is a full listing of vegetables in the back and he offers loads of advice from sowing and growing to avoiding common pests.  It is an easy read and serves as an excellent reference. I highly recommend it.

This is probably the most awesome book of the year. It even has its own trailer:

Now available (for boys only!):

Last year our squash crops were devastated by the squash bugs and we harvested none. We were extremely excited, then, to find this beautiful summer squash waiting for us this morning. It is only about eight inches long. While it could certainly be left to grow MUCH larger, they taste better at this size and give the plant a chance to produce more!
We still find squash bug eggs under the leaves, but this year is looking to be a much more manageable season.

Orzo With Summer Squash and Toasted Hazelnuts
from Epicurious

serving size: Makes 8 servings.

ingredients

1 1/2 cups orzo (10 oz)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped shallot (6 1/2 oz)
2 medium zucchini (1 1/2 lb total), cut into 1/3-inch dice
2 medium yellow squash (1 lb total), cut into 1/3-inch dice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup hazelnuts (4 oz), toasted, loose skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel, and nuts coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest

preparation

Cook orzo in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain orzo in a colander. While orzo is cooking, heat butter and oil in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté shallot, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini, yellow squash, salt, and pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nuts, parsley, basil, and zest.

Add cooked orzo to skillet and stir gently. If mixture seems dry, moisten with some reserved pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Gourmet, August 2003

Gourmet Entertains

There are a lot of enjoyable aspects about gardening that I would never wish to automate. Harvesting for one, is incredibly satisfying. Weeding, on the other hand, is a task I would gladly give up to a robot. Especially one with lasers.

Popular Science Blog – The Robotic Weed-Puller
The new robot, called the Hortibot, would still need someone to operate it, but would be capable of doing the work of ten people. It could also be equipped with micro-sprayers that would drastically cut the amount of chemicals applied to kill the weeds, reducing the potential for environmental damage.

It isn’t often that Run DMC inspires farming decisions around here. Equally infrequent is the mention of vegetables in hip-hop. The trio mention this leafy produce more than once in their discography so how could I not buy some when I spotted some seedlings at the local farm stand.

A few weeks later, we pulled up to the farm with four massive collard green plants towering over everything else. Ever since, we have been harvesting the beautiful not quite cabbage, not quite broccoli leaves.

Most recipes call for ham hocks. Being vegetarian, I came up with a suitable version that was delicious.  Recipe after the jump…

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The squash bugs have joined the battle for our beloved vegetables. While they look harmless, they can prove deadly to our squashes and their relatives.  Rather than eat the leaves, they are more subtle sucking the juices out of the plant causing leaves to wilt and die eventually killing the plant.  Last year, we did not keep up with them and they decimated all of our squash, zucchini, and pumpkin plants.

Unfortunately, other than manually picking them off there seems to be few effective organic options to rid ourselves of these pests.

VegEdge: Squash Bug

If only a few plants are affected, it is most effective to hand pick and destroy squash bugs and eggs. Another option is to place boards or shingles on the ground next to the plants. At night the squash bugs will aggregate under the boards and can then be destroyed each morning. Using resistant varieties such as Butternut, Royal Acorn, or Sweet Cheese and maintaining a healthy plant through proper fertilization and watering are also important to limiting squash bug damage. It is also necessary to remove debris in and around the garden area that could possibly be used as shelter by the bugs. As stated above, by removing debris from the area, overwintering sites for the adults are reduced.