Peas of the Year - Large Manitoba, Champion of England & Carter's Daisy

Large Manitoba

So as usual, I could not resist adding some new varieties of peas to the garden this year, even though I have so many old favourites. This one came from Heritage Harvest, although I note that Prairie Garden Seeds also carry it. Heritage Harvest describes it as a great pea "that originated in Manitoba many years ago" and that seems to be about as much about its history as anyone has. As you can see by the photo, while the peas are certainly a good substantial size, it is the pods that are really eye-popping. Eight to 10 peas per pod makes it one of the most productive per-pod peas I have grown (only Dual beats it, and not by much).

The peas are not the sweetest, but they have a rich, fairly strong and well-balanced flavour. I thought they were really quite delicious. These are described as very short plants, with the figure 9" being mentioned, but mine grew much taller, up to 3' ultimately. Mine were shaded on the west side, but even so 9" strikes me as unrealistic, unless there is another strain out there. These were, unfortunately, very determinate and not outstandingly productive, although again, their poor placement may have prevented them from optimum production. The leaves are very dense and rather large for peas, and Mandy recommends growing it out in the open for good air circulation. The implication is that mildew may be a problem, and given the denseness and succulence of the leaves, I can believe it. However, as noted, they were quite determinate so I don't see this being a big problem. These were early, but not the earliest of my peas. I would say about 60 days to maturity, although I admit to not keeping good records.

I like these, and will give them another try. Their relatively low productivity does give me a little pause. They may go onto the list of potential parents for my sporadic and thus-far not very successful attempts at breeding peas. I'd like to see what they do crossed with Dual, or 1st and Best #2, or Spanish Skyscraper.

Champion of England - Woodbridge Strain

I also got this one from Heritage Harvest, and it's important to note that it's the Woodbridge strain - there is at least one other version of Champion of England out there. I haven't grown it, but it sounds quite different. This version is tall, although mine have grown to about 5' or 6', which makes them one of the shorter of my tall peas. Of course, they are also growing closest to the grass, and I have realized that that has a definite stunting effect on plants. Descriptions put them at 5' to 10' tall.

The peas themselves have been sweet and rich tasting, and produced in reasonable abundance. I have not selected the seeds for optimum production yet, since this is the first year I have grown them, but I see enough peas being produced at 2 to a node to think that they can be improved by selection.  I suspect as I select the seed the plants will also grow taller for me (and I will give them a better position too, if I can).

The original Champion of England pea dates back to the 1843, bred by William Fairbeard. There is a description of it in Fearing Burr's wonderful book on (now) heirloom vegetables, Garden Vegetables and How to Cultivate Them. Here's what he had to say:

"Plant of strong and luxurious habit of growth, with a stem from five to six feet in height. The pods are generally single, but sometimes in pairs, about three inches and a half long, and contain six or seven quite large peas, which are closely packed together and compressed. The ripe seed is wrinkled, and of a pale olive green.

Sown the 1st of May, the plants were in flower June 25th, and pods were gathered for use the 12th of July.

This is, without doubt, one of the most valuable acquisitions which have been obtained for many years, being remarkably tender and sugary, and, in all respects, of first-rate excellence. The rapid progress of its popularity, and its universal cultivation, are, however, the best indications of its superiority." 

In spite of the popularity this pea once had, it was very nearly lost. The Real Seed Catalogue, in England, looked for it for many years, and finally received some seed from Robert Woodbridge, who's family had been saving the seeds since the 1940's. This strain does indeed match the original as described by Fearing Burr, and I like it enough that I will be growing again in the future as a regular. By the way, the peas in the photo are stragglers - I did not think to take a picture when they were in full flush, and so the pod showing the peas is a bit scanty. Most of them do better than that.

Rebsie Fairholm has also reviewed this pea, and you can read her review here. She had problems with both mould and virus; something to keep in mind although I suspect that those are both more likely to be a problem in a damper climate than mine.  

Carter's Daisy

This is another one that was planted in small quantities and in a crowded and slightly shaded position. Actually, I'm afraid that's pretty much life in the pea bed around here. Still, it stood out as a tasty and productive pea. Like the others, I got it from Heritage Harvest.

Daisy was bred by Carter and Co, a very well-known British firm of seed suppliers, around 1890 and introduced in 1892. Its parents were Stratagem and Giant Marrow. Stratagem was one of 4 varieties selected out of Telegraph, a variety bred by William Culverwell in 1872. Apparently Telegraph was quite variable. The other 3 varieties selected out were Telephone, Pride of the Market, and Duke of Albany. Only (Tall) Telephone is still widely available, and it is the one that most resembled the original Telegraph. Without wading through scads of old documents, I get the impression that there was a lot of controversy related to these peas. Giant Marrow was obscure even by 1900, but it too was a variety bred by Culverwell. Carter's Daisy is also sometimes known as Dwarf Telephone.

At one point, this was another very popular pea, but by 1934 the U.S.D.A. publication, Descriptions of Types of Principal American Varieties of Garden Peas, was quite dismissive of it. It is not in the fashionable dark green shade that has since prevailed in peas, but instead the pale celery green that was preferred in Victorian times. The pods are also not hard enough for shipping. I can't say I care about either of those things, and my impression - hard to be sure from such a small planting - is that it is quite productive, with most plants bearing 2 pods at each node, and definitely very good tasting; not just sweet but quite a distinctive flavour. Peas are pretty consistently about 6 per pod, though as usual it does vary a bit.

Daisy is a short plant, finishing up at about 2' high, and as usual with short peas I had quite a lot of problems with some animal, probably raccoons, eating or at least chewing many of the peas. I like Daisy a lot, but I may not be able to continue to grow it because of this problem.

Midsummer in the Garden

Well I am thoroughly off cooking these days, but the garden is going on as scheduled. Tomatoes are trellised, although I need to get out there and do some tying up. Peppers and eggplants are flowering, and indeed some peppers are starting to form. We've had some cool nights, so they are still getting covered  up sometimes.

You can see our sweet potato bed behind and to the right of the peppers; it's been cool enough we just open up the ends of the hoop house on warm days. They like it really hot! We have some new and unusual varieties this year, which we got from Burt's Greenhouses, and we are looking forward to seeing how they are. They are looking really healthy and growing well.

This bed contains cucumbers, and few stray melons and squash, all of which will need to be trellised. Yes, they are way behind. However, I'm hopeful that they will produce at some point this season. The snarled mess in the foreground is a Brussels sprout/kale cross, which was the only brassica to survive our winter, apart from a few stems of straight Brussels sprouts. I'm planning to save the seeds, but I'm hoping they don't smother my squash before they are done.

This section is looking good as long as you don't look too closely. Swiss chard is late but ready to start picking, celery and celeriac are growing nicely but so are the weeds, leeks have just been transplanted to their final positions, squash are noodling along, and this year's brassicas are doing okay, mostly. Lettuce (in lower right corner) is over - gone bitter and starting to bolt.

The herb bed isn't doing well, but we do have some of last year's leaf celery bolting. I expect to have 10 year's supply of celery seed by fall. The one other thing that is coming up here and flourishing is the potatoes we missed when harvesting last year, although there are a couple of nice stalks of dill. These are offspring of the dill seed I brought back from Turkey, I believe, which has been extremely shy of germinating, but has managed to produce a few plants each year so far, and so I stagger on with it. Still hoping I get more and better seed this year.

There are two beds behind the herbs and watermelons, which are supposed to be perennial flowers for cutting, and which have fallen to the bottom of the weeding list for 4 years straight. Now they are completely overgrown with weeds and will need to be completely re-dug. Mind you, they are still at the bottom of the to-do list...

These are the seed-grown potatoes we did this spring. We had given up on them ever sprouting, and supposed that we had not kept them dormant long enough. However, we weeded them out the other day and discovered that there are a few coming up. Somewhat to my confusion, there seem to be self-seeded potatoes (like, from seeds, yes) in this bed as well, which we haven't had  happen before. Confusing! But amusing.

Our watermelon mass-cross breeding project continues; no melons to be seen  yet and not for a while, but the vines have stopped sitting there blinking, and are now stretching out more and more every day. A few are making their first test flowers.

First zucchini should be ready any day. Yes, they are rather late but that's our life these days, as already noted.

Through the application of money and shameless begging amongst my internet friends, I was able to get some onion and carrot seeds from France this year that I have wanted for a while. The carrots are 5 or 6 open polllinated heirloom strains, and the onions are 3 different strains of Rose de Roscoff sweet pink onion. They are all flourishing and I am excited!

Last year we planted early determinate peas, pulled them out by July 1st, and replaced them with short-season dry beans. Last year was so cool and rainy, especially in the second half, that the beans did not quite make it to harvest for the most part. However, they came close enough that we are giving it another try this  year. The bed with the long rows will need to be trellised soon, while the other bed is bush beans. Most of these are to be used dried, but a few are for fresh use. The fresh use should be no problem, but we'll see about the others. I am quite hopeful though, since already this summer looks like being hotter than last year by a fair bit.

On which note, our rain also seems to have stopped. We have had mostly adequate rain up to this point, from which I deduce that everyone else is contemplating building an ark, but we have had to start watering this week. It's a pain, but at least we made it this far along before it was required.

Strawberry - Haskap Jam

Oh dear, more jam. And the haskaps are pretty much over, at least around here. Still, I haven't seen any other recipe for haskap and strawberry jam so I'd like to get this out there for future reference.

Since strawberries and haskaps have an overlapping season, this seems a natural combination. I thought it worked very well. The strawberries make the haskaps sweeter and more mellow, although the haskap flavour was quite predominate. The strawberry flavour comes through in the finish though, and the two flavours certainly work well together. As ever, I suspect you could add a bit more sugar although I found this to be plenty.

4 to 5 250-ml jars
1 hour prep time

3 cups haskap berries
3 cups strawberries
3 cups sugar
the juice of 1/2 lemon

Put the necessary jars (and one or two extra; I like to have one 125-ml jar available in case of odd quantities) into a canning pot and cover them with water to come an inch over the tops. Bring them to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, remove the stems from the haskaps and the strawberries, and discard any bad ones or bits of debris. Cut the strawberries in halves or quarters if they are large.

Put the berries, sugar, and lemon juice into a large, shallow but heavy-bottomed pot (jam kettle) and bring to a boil. Boil steadily for 20 to 30 minutes, until the jam is ready to set. The jam should run off a spoon slowly lifted and tilted in a wide sheet. It can also be tested on a glass or china plate kept chilled in the freezer.

If your lemon was seedy, the seeds can be tied in a little piece of muslin or cheesecloth, or put in a spice-ball and boiled with the jam. This will help the jam set. Of course, remove them, press out any jam around them, then discard them before you bottle the jam. 

When the jam is almost ready, put the lids and rings into another pot and bring them to a boil. Drain the prepared jars and place them on a heat-proof surface. Fill them with the jam to within half an inch of the top, wipe the rims with a bit of paper towel dipped in the boiling water, then seal them with prepared lids and rings. Return  the jars of jam to the canning pot and boil for 5 minutes. Remove them to the heat-proof surface and let cool. Check the seals, label, and keep in a cool, dark place. Refrigerate once opened.




Last year at this time I made Lamb with Peas & Garlic Scapes.

Haskap Jam

Wow, this was a surprise! We've been growing haskaps for three years now, and for the first time we had a sufficient quantity to make jam. If you read my description of haskap berries, you will know we were not wildly excited by them as a fruit, although they are easy to grow and produce at a convenient time. It's also pretty impressive that it has taken only 3 years to get to this point. Mind you, we do have 5 bushes producing fruit.

But the surprise is how much we really like this jam. It's delicious! Far more delicious than I would have supposed from eating the fruit raw, or having a few tossed in muffins. The flavour is hard to describe; most people describe haskaps as tasting like a cross between blueberries and raspberries, but I don't see it. They don't taste like blueberries at all to me, raspberries maybe a little, but mostly because they are both quite tart. A little plummy, maybe. But whatever it is they taste like, as jam they taste like mysterious essence of fruit.

I looked up haskap jam recipes before I made this, and most of the ones I saw were standard old-school combinations of one part berries to one part sugar, with a little lemon juice. The lemon juice seemed like a good idea but even with haskap berries being as tart as they are, equal amounts of sugar seemed like way too much for me. I cut it in half, and I'm happy with the results. It is still a quite tart jam, but I like it that way. In fact, this is still more sugar than I use in most of my jams. I would not use any less with haskaps though, and if you want your jam sweeter, you can obviously use more.

p.s. Am I back? Maybe. A little bit. The blog will continue to be on the back burner for a while, but I'm hoping to post occasionally. 

Makes 3 250 ml jars
2 hours - 1 1/4 hours prep time

4 cups haskap berries
2 cups sugar
the juice of 1/2 lemon


Put the empty jars in a canning kettle and cover with water. Turn on the burner and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, wash and de-stem the haskap, and pick out any bad ones or debris. Put them in a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the sugar is dissolved. Keep at a rolling boil, stirring only occasionally, until the mixture reaches the gell stage; about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and skim off any obdurate foam that may have formed. Ladle into the jars, which may be removed from their boiling water bath once they have been boiled for 10 minutes. Wipe the lips and seal with lids and rims which have been brought to a boil.

Return the sealed jars to the boiling water bath, and boil for 5 minutes. Once the jars have sealed, label them with the month and year of their production, batch number if you are making more than one batch, and name. Keep them in a cool, dark place, but once opened, keep in the fridge.




Last  year at this time I made Radish Gazpacho and Creamy Asparagus Quiche with Ham & Cheddar. 

Update, Garden & Other

Well, as undoubtedly noted, there has not been much action around here lately. And by around here, I mean the blog, not my life. There has been plenty going on in my life, some of it not good. The last 3 weeks in particular have been crazy. It started with the long-awaited visit from Ireland of Dad's partner's brother and his wife, who stayed with us for a week. That was exciting, but since it happened at the end of a quarantine at the nursing home and with the notice that Dad and T were to be transferred to their preferred nursing home back in their home town, it was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. At one point we were afraid they would be transferred in the middle of the visit, but fortunately not.

The next week was taken up by moving them both down, and naturally they were not able to go down on the same trip thanks to the joys of bureaucracy. There are still lots of loose ends to be taken care of there; moving is a big job. However, while we were making the second trip down, Mr. Ferdzy's mother's housemate - who does a lot to keep things on track around here - suffered a stroke, and is still in the hospital, outcome not completely known although it looks like there will be quite a bit of recovery. Still, a long road of rehab ahead with even more chauffeuring of parental units required, along with many other modifications to daily life.

Not surprisingly the blog is not the only thing being neglected. Why do these things always happen in May? We are 3 weeks behind in a gardening season that has only been about a month, so far. Peas are in, one trellis is up, but we have scarcely had time to look at anything since then.

On the bright side, peas are looking good, including some peas which are cross between Dual and Spanish Skyscraper. I found them in the garden last year and I am looking forward to growing them out and seeing if any of them are of interest. Last year they were an F1 hybrid and so very uniform. This year they should start segregating out into a wider range of phenotypes, although so far they look pretty uniform too.

Mr Ferdzy snatches a moment to week the asparagus. We are so behind on weeding we will likely hire someone for a day to come in and help us. Mr Ferdzy is quite grumpy about this; he says we have a garden so we can garden, not for someone else to do it. I agree, but... this year, I think it is required to get some help.

A walk in the woods showed that the wild leeks (ramps) we planted a couple years back are established and doing well, but not really spreading yet. None for us to pick, unfortunately.

More bad news - the prolonged cold snap this winter has killed a number of the fruit trees that we planted in the last few years. Saddest to me is the death of our quince, but all the paw-paws, an apple, and a cherry have also died. Our peaches and nectarines - 4 trees - are about 90% dead, but show signs of sprouting on some lower branches. This will put them back for years, assuming they manage to struggle through this season. We are debating whether to replace these trees or not - we are getting old enough that we are not sure we will see them to maturity.

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, watermelons and melons, and a few other things were seeded in pots and are ready to go out as soon as it warms up. We were thinking of doing it last week, but the prediction of this week's cold snap dissuaded us. Hopefully next weekend, though, most of these will go into the garden, ending 2 months of dragging these trays in and out according to the weather.

One of those trays contains tomatoes from a chance hybrid found in the garden a few years back. I have been growing it out, a few plants every year, and I am very pleased with it. This year I am giving 20 plants or so to a local market gardener, with the proviso I get the first ripe fruit from each plant. This will let me know if this is as stable as I think it is, and give me a lot of seed. If it is found to be a success, it will be a new variety and I will need a name for it! You will be hearing more about this, assuming it works out.

And finally, we do have some garden besides vegetables. Of the ornamental plants, peonies are my favourite, and we now have over 30 varieties in the garden, about half of which are well established enough to put on a good show. The first to bloom this (and most) years is Nosegay. Peony blooms are rather fleeting, but it is hard to imagine any flower more spectacular. I will try very hard this difficult year to get out and take the time to look at them.

Stewed Rhubarb & Figs

Rhhhuuuubarb! It's just starting up, so it's not a bad idea to stretch it out with something else. Dried figs provide sweetness and a complementary flavour.

Like rhubarb, figs are a sufficiently high-fibre food that this recipe should perhaps be thought of in terms of dosages rather than servings. I ate most of this for breakfast over a week, with plain yogurt. Very good.  

8 to 12 servings
30 minutes prep time

3 cups chopped rhubarb stems
200 grams dried figs
2 cups water
a stick of cinnamon (2 to 3inches)
1/4 cup honey

Wash, trim, and chop the rhubarb. Trim the stems from the figs and cut them into 3 or 4 pieces each. Put the figs in a pot with the water and cinnamon, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes until softened, then add the rhubarb and honey. Continue to simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes, until the rhubarb is cooked and the figs quite soft. Stir frequently. 




Last year at this time I made Oyster Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce. 

One-Pot Creamed Spinach with Mushrooms

'Cause if there's anything I hate, it's a 3-pot side dish, although I will admit to having posted a few. I really try not to, though. This still requires a fair bit of attention, and so is best served with things like steamed rice or barley, baked potatoes, baked chicken or fish, or other simply cooked dishes which do not require much in the way of last minute attention.

6 to 8 servings

8 cups loosely packed spinach
225 grams (1/2 pound) button mushrooms
2 to 3 green onions OR shallots
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup 10% cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Wash the spinach, discarding any bad leaves and tough stems. Chop it roughly and drain it well. Clean, trim, and quarter the mushrooms. Wash, trim, and finely chop the green onions, or peel and chop the shallots. Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Cook the mushrooms until lightly browned and reduced in volume, stirring regularly. Add the green onions or shallots and the garlic, and cook until wilted. Sprinkle the flour over mushrooms, and mix in well until no white flour can be seen. Cook for another minute or two, stirring, then add the chicken stock.

Bring the mixture to a simmer, then add add the spinach by handfuls, stirring after each addition and adding more as the spinach wilts down until it is all in. Simmer until the spinach is done to your liking, then add the cream. Bring the mixture back up just to the simmer. Keep stirring all the while to keep it from getting lumpy. The sauce should be just thick enough to coat the spinach and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper - the amount of salt suggested assumes the chicken stock is unsalted.

Herbed Goat Cheese Pasta

Apart from  the time spent wandering around the garden, gathering a bit of this and that, this is as quick and simple a dish as you are likely to find.

I had both green onions and chives, parsley, sorrel, and the tops of leaf celery that overwintered very nicely. I really don't know if it will go to seed soon (it seems likely) but right now it is a lovely addition to salads and other things. The cream should be just enough to make the cheese coat the pasta smoothly, rather than staying a bit sticky. I like whole wheat pasta for this, but I suppose it is not absolutely required - regular will do very well.

Daffodils, I should add, are strictly a decorative plant.

2 to 4 servings
20 to 25 minutes prep time, not including gathering the herbs

2 to 3 cups mixed fresh herbs and greens
1 clove garlic, OPTIONAL
250 grams (1/2 pound) whole wheat spaghetti, spaghettini, or cappellini
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
150 to 200 grams (1/3 pound) soft goat cheese (chevre)
2 to 3 tablespoons light cream
salt & freshly ground black or green pepper to taste

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.

For the herbs, use a mixture of chives, green onion, garlic, or shallot tops, wild leeks (ramps), parsley, sorrel, spinach, or arugula. Stronger herbs such as thyme, dill, or oregano can be added in small quantities. Overwintered leeks or celery shoots can also be used, as could pea shoots. Wash them well, pick them over, chop them finely, then set them to drain thoroughly. If you like, peel and mince a clove of garlic.

When the water boils cook the pasta according to the directions until just done. Drain well, but leave the stove on.

Immediately return the empty pot to the stove, and add the butter, chevre, and cream to the pot. Stir well, breaking up the chevre, until you have smooth mixture. Add the herbs (and garlic, if using) and cook  until they are just wilted. Add the drained pasta, toss until thoroughly and evenly coated in the cheese and  herb mixture. Season with salt and generous quantities of fairly coarsely ground pepper, toss again, and serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Steak & Mushroom Pie.

Martin's Jerk Chicken Adobo

The recipe for this fusion dish came from my brother-in-law Martin. I've made both Jerk chicken and Adobo before, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to combine them. It works well though - I love all the intense flavours. I love them so much I pass the cooking liquid as a sauce with the chicken, but it really is strong so be cautious with it. Rice or noodles would soak it up beautifully.

2 to 4 servings
8 to 12 hours marinade time
30 minutes cook time

Make the Spice Rub & Marinate the Chicken:
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 teaspoon thyme
4 to 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
OR other pieces of chicken
the juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime

Grind the allspice and pepper, and mix them with the remaining spices. Rub the spice mix evenly over the chicken pieces, and put them in a container with a lid. Pour the lemon or lime juice over them, cover them up, and refrigerate them for 8 to 12 hours  until ready to proceed.

Cook the Chicken:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
2 to 3 bay leaves
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
2 to 3 slices fresh ginger
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Mix the water, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, peeled and trimmed garlic, and ginger slices in a bowl and have them standing by.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed pot that will hold the chicken in a single layer, but snugly. Brown the chicken pieces well on the skin side (7 to 10 minutes) then turn them over. Pour in the sauce, trying not to wet the tops of the chicken much. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, without a lid, for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicken is done.

Remove the chicken to a serving dish with a slotted spoon. The remaining liquid should be quite reduced in volume; you may either discard it or remove the bay leaves, garlic, and ginger, and pass it with the chicken. It will be very salty and intense, so it should be applied with discretion.




Last year at this time I made Egg Fu Yung.

Potato Waffles

I haven't made waffles for ages! I gave up on my old waffle iron, which always seemed to produce limp, floppy waffles, assuming I could even pry them from the waffle iron at all, in spite of the "nonstick" coating. However, my brother-in-law has given up eating much in the way of carbohydrates, and so I now have his old waffle iron, dating back to the 1940's by the look of it, which he acquired in a yard sale. It works much better, and without any of that nasty nonstick coating!

These are not a traditional light, fluffy waffle; they are more like boxty or potato scones, cooked into a waffle shape.  All the better to hold the butter. I don't think they go with syrup - bacon or sausage sounds like a much better idea - but Mr. Ferdzy likes them with applesauce.

6 waffles; 2 to 3 servings
40 minutes to make mashed potatoes
plus 30 minutes to make the waffles

Make the Mashed Potatoes:
500 grams (1 pound) russet potatoes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup buttermilk or thin yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wash, trim, and cut the potatoes into even chunks. Put them in a pot with water to just cover them and boil them until tender; about15 to 20 minutes. Drain them, and let them sit in the pot with the lid off for a minute or so to get quite dry. Mashe them with the butter, buttermilk, and salt.

Or, use 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes. 

Make the Waffles:
mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
1/2 cup soft unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
about 1/3 cup buttermilk or thin yogurt

Brush the waffle iron lightly with oil, and heat it.

Clean, dry, and chop the chives very finely. Put them in a mixing bowl and mix them with the flour and baking powder. Beat in the eggs. Mix in the mashed potatoes, and the buttermilk. Add a little more if the batter is to thick to spread out easily.

Cook the batter in the waffle iron in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of the waffle iron. Each batch will take about 10 minutes to cook; they are done when the amount of steam coming off them diminishes to a noticable degree. Re-oil the waffle iron between each batch, and keep the prepared waffles hot in a 200°F oven.




Last year at this time I made Spicy Parsnip & Tomato Soup.

Creamy Sorrel Soup

I promised the first new vegetables of the spring in my next recipe, and here they are! It's official! Spring and a new season are here.

You will be lucky to find leeks, but there may be some at the farmers markets. That's what I  used; but they come from my garden and I don't mind that at this time of year they need a fair bit of trimming. I would think shallots would work fine too. The green onions were walking onions, but welsh onions would also work, and I suppose if you could get your hands on them wild leeks (ramps) would be an excellent choice as well.

The butter, red lentils and yogurt make this soup seem quite creamy without the use of any actual cream, and the sorrel and yogurt give it a lovely delicate sour tang. We enjoyed this very much.

4 servings
40 minutes - 20 minutes prep time

2 small leeks
OR 4 to 5 shallots
3 or 4 green onions
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup red lentils

2 cups chicken stock
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 cups loosely packed sorrel leaves
1/2 cup thick yogurt

Wash and trim the leeks or shallots, and chop them finely.

Heat the butter gently in a heavy-bottomed soup pot, and cook the leeks or shallots until softened and reduced, but not browned. Add the lentils and chicken stock.  Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind how much, if any, salt is in the chicken stock. If there is none, I suggest about 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Simmer the soup, with the lid on, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the lentils are quite soft. Stir regularly. This can be done in advance, if you want. The soup can then be puréed, if you want as well, although I didn't bother. It's fine with a bit of texture.

Wash, trim, and chop the green onions. Add them to the hot soup. Wash the sorrel leaves, and remove any tough stems or other undesirable bits (such as snails... yeah, they're already at it). Chop it finely, and add it to the hot soup along with the yogurt. Stir well, while the sorrel wilts and cooks, but do not let the soup boil again - just get it steaming hot. I suppose you could purée it at this point too, if you wanted a very smooth puréed soup. I liked the little bits of green though, even though the sorrel quickly turns brownish.





Last year at this time, I had just had my gall bladder removed, and my life was about to go completely to pot, although I didn't know it yet... how quickly time flies. I guess.

Endive & Mushroom Salad

Well, here I am. Trying to get back into a routine that includes this blog.

Everyone is back from their winter vacations meaning that Mr. Ferdzy and I have much more chauffeuring and visiting of parents to do, and on top of that there is a quarantine in the nursing home while we make an attempt to sell the cottage belonging to Dad and his partner. It makes arranging for the offers and counter-offers to be signed a bit of production, but hopefully it will happen and we can get on to the next project, whatever that will be.

I'm struggling with my usual late winter/early spring depression, but I expect that to lift fairly soon. We've started cleaning up the garden, and have planted peas, along with lettuce and spinach. We planted spinach and lettuce in the fall, too, which is when we usually plant it, but it didn't come up. Or rather, I suspect it did come up but was eaten by last years bumper crop of slugs and snails so quickly that it seemed like it didn't. The rhubarb is starting to unfurl and the welsh and walking onions, parsley, and sorrel are all coming along nicely; in fact I believe this will be the last "winter" recipe of the year, and the next one will use some garden greens. I may be a bit overly optimistic about that, but we shall see.

2 to 6 servings
20 minutes prep time

Make the Dressing:
1/4 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon apple butter
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Make the Salad:
200 grams (1/2 pound) Belgian endive (2 medium heads)
100 grams  (1/4 pound) button mushrooms
2 cups finely shopped Savoy cabbage
50 grams (2 ounces) chopped walnuts
50 grams (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
2 to 4 tablespoons dried cranberries (optional)

Wash, trim and chop the endive. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Finely chop the cabbage.

Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl and toss with the dressing. Reserve a few of the cranberries and walnuts to sprinkle over the top of the salad.




Last year at this time I made Lamb Steak & Kidney Pie, and Rhubarb & Carrot Muffins.