Final Garden Review of the Season

 

It's amusing with what enthusiasm we look forward to starting the garden season each year, and with what wild - if enervated - enthusiasm we look forward to it ending. As I type this, I reckon we have 3 more days of concentrated effort and we will be done for the year. And how nice that will be! 

The garden is looking quite different from the way it started off, structurally speaking. In that there is a lot more - Mr. Ferdzy has the anti-deer and rabbit wall up; he wants to get another load of gravel next year to pile it higher but it is otherwise done. Of course, we didn't see a single deer this summer, although the rabbits continue very plentiful. One downside of the fence is that the voles have moved in in hordes - I guess it makes good protection from predators!

A closer look at the compost pile. Two-thirds of it is composting materials in various stages, the other third is woodchips from last years' tree cutting extravaganza. So also composting materials, really. They were mostly dumped on the lawn and Mr. Ferdzy - in his copious spare time, *cough* - has been moving them into the official compost complex. It's all off, and the lawn has been reseeded. I spent a little time pulling out all the weeds that were growing up around it and it is looking tidier than it has in a while, even though it is full to bursting with all the plants we've been pulling out as they are done.

I'm always amazed at how persistently this particular strawberry patch flowers. The latest strawberries are slow to ripen as the days shorten and temperatures cool, and the voles have gotten almost all of them. This flower is unlikely to end as a fruit at this point, although if I had a bit more good window space in the house I'd be very tempted to try some in a pot.

As for the main garden, it's getting to have that "done" look. We still have to dig leeks, rutabaga, and carrots. Brussels sprouts and cabbages will get harvested at the last moment, and for the Brussels sprouts at least, that may mean after it actually snows some.That lush patch of parsley in the middle will also be pickable right up to snow time.

Brussels sprouts are very battered by the now endemic swede midge, and they started late to form as a result of them as well. However, it looks like we will get some. This variety is Early Half Tall - a descriptive but not poetic name - and it has done notably better for us than the much more widely available Long Island Improved.

The sorghum looks spectacular but I am not at all convinced it is ripe yet. Time has run out, though. I will cut it at the last moment and put the stems in a bucket, and see if it will dry down to a usable state. I guess we could grow them better in a year with more heat units, but as we know, better years are by no means more prevalent than the kind we got this year. We'll see. It will have to be fabulous - very unlikely - for us to want to grow it again. 

Potatoes are out, onions are out, sweet potatoes are out, garlic is long out; all that's left in the root section are carrots and rutabaga, along with some spinach planted in the ex garlic bed. Actually, the photo shows some beets, on the far right, but they are out too - what the pestilant little voles didn't eat of them, anyway. 

We hoped to remove the old asparagus beds this year, seen in the background, but ho-hum. Better luck next year.

As usual, we got no kiwi fruit. The vines look better than they have yet, and we got a few (female only) blossoms last year. This year I think the late, hard frost we  had put paid to any idea of that. Maybe next year...!

I was able to get such a clear shot of the kiwi trellis because we have had a line of hazelnut shrubs cut down between it and the main garden. They were nice, and the squirrels loved them, but the last 2 vegetable beds nearest to them were becoming less and less productive every year. We got NO butternut squash last year, and a pretty feeble harvest of potatoes this year, and yeah. They had to go.

Pink celery! I haven't even tried it yet. It's smaller than regular celery but it sure is pink! I've planted it with some other celery and am going to leave them to cross next year. Let's see if it can't get to be a little bigger and possibly more tender. I may not have tried it, but it looks a little hard somehow. I may be wrong. I do need to try a few stems while it's still in good condition.

When I was cutting down the peony seedlings we found one of the voles nesting area. Mr. Ferdzy put out traps, but alas - it appears they have already vacated. Trying to trap the little buggers has been an exercise in extreme frustration, but we are going to have to find a way to do it next year; they are doing really quite impressive amounts of damage. 

And to end the year on a happy note: our biggest bean crop ever! To be fair, we did our biggest bean planting ever too. We got 30 2-cup jars (15 litres). That will give us 2 servings each, every week, all year, plus a little bit over. Kahnawake was the clear winner, with 4 jars produced in a 4' x 5' section, with Anseloni's Bologna hot on its heels with about 3 1/4. Dolloff dies down early - it can be relied upon in any season - and still produced a respectable 3 jars. Deseronto Potato was strangely poor, with less than one jar, and Octarora produced scads of beans - but they are small enough it amounted to only 2 jars. 

The later-planted bush beans (that go in after the early peas come out) didn't do so well, what with the cool, rainy later summer and fall that we have had, which allowed viruses and fungi to run rampant. However, Arikara Yellow did well enough, Iroquois Cornbread did well enought to be planted again, and Dutch Brown did quite well too, in spite of being near one of the vole nesting spots and being badly eaten. Kabarika also did quite well. All but the Arikara Yellow are new beans to us, so we'll see how they are for eating. I'm looking forward to it, as I inventory seeds and we plan next years garden.

Fennel, Beet, Orange, & Nut Salad

As always, I like my salads with fruit and nuts in them! This one also has rich earthy beets and fragrant fennel to go with the zingy orange and crisp lettuce and nuts. You could use other nuts, but I think hazelnuts are perfect here. Otherwise, there isn't too much to say about this - it's a perfectly balanced and delicious salad.  

 

You do need to cook the beet in advance; either wrapped in foil and baked at 375° for 45 minutes to an hour, or covered in water and boiled for about 45 minutes - in both cases until tender. It will then need time to cool and doing it a day ahead makes a lot of sense. 

 

4 servings

30 minutes prep time

NOT including cooking the beet 

Make the Dressing:

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup hazelnut OR walnut oil

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon anise seeds, ground

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Mix all the above ingredients in a small bowl or jam jar. Whisk or shake until blended. 

 

Make the Salad:

1 medium-small bulb of fennel

1 medium-small head of lettuce (hydroponic)

1 large beet, cooked

1/3 cup hazelnuts

1 large orange

 

Wash and trim the fennel, discarding the tough base and stems. You can save a few of the fronds for garnishing the salad, if you like. Wash and dry the lettuce, and tear into bite-sized pieces. Toss these 2 items together in a salad bowl. 

Peel and dice or slice the beet, and scatter it over the salad. Toast the hazelnuts gently in a dry skillet over medium heat, then turn them onto a plate at once. When they have cooled sprinkle them over the salad. Peel and segment the orange, and add it to the salad. Toss the salad gently with the dressing. 

Last year at this time I made Duck Red Cabbage Rolls.

"Shteffen" Apple Pie

I found this recipe in a cook book from 1904, where it was described as "Shteffun or Baked Apple Pudding". It turned out it came originally from an older, English kosher cook book from 1874, where it was described as Dutch Apple Pie.

The idea of meatless mincemeat is now standard, but even in the 1970s, when I first started to play around with mincemeat, it was pretty universal that it at least contained suet. I, and most of the modern mincemeat cooking world, quickly discarded it as excess to requirements. However, I believe this is one of the very first recipes intended to be mincemeat-like, but without added animal fats (or meat, even, although it was disappearing from it even then). Since suet was used in the crust, I'm not quite sure why this was an issue, but I suppose it did give cooks the option of putting it in a butter-based crust for a dairy meal even if the authors said nothing about it. I went with my favourite dairy-based crust but then I don't worry about keeping kosher.

After all that, when I first read the recipe I missed that it was supposed to be rich and mincemeat-like, and took it as an apple pie with a few enhancements. I decided I liked that idea better, and used more apples and less candied peel, raisins, and nuts than the original recipes called for. I was really happy with the results, although I also had to concede that no, I don't like cakes or pies to have chunky nuts in them, no matter how much I like cakes, pies, and nuts. Next time, I would leave them out but it's up to you; put them in if you do like them in your pastries. 

I also left out the sugar, feeling that the dried fruit and candied peel supply plenty, but taste your mixture and add a little if you like. I thought it was fine without. As always with apple pies, it's good to use a mix of varieties for some to be soft and juicy and some to stay chunky.

 

8 servings

2 hours - 1 hour prep time

Make the Filling:

7 or 8 large apples, several varieties

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup light raisins

1/4 cup dark raisins or currants

1/4 cup mixed peel

1/3 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, or pistachios)

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Peel, core, and slice the apples. Put them in a pot with the remaining ingredients. Bring up to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened and reduced in volume. Add a little water if they seem like sticking, but don't let them get too soupy (it will depend quite a bit on the varieties being used). When they are ready, remove them from the heat and keep them aside until ready to fill the crust and bake. This can be done up to a day in advance; keep refrigerated until needed.

Make the Pastry & Bake:

2 1/2 cups whole spelt flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl and mix. Grate in the butter. Stir in the buttermilk until it forms a stiff dough. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes, then divide into 2 pieces of about 60% and 40%.

Roll out the larger piece of dough on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Transfer it to a 10" pie plate. Roll out the remaining dough to fit the top. Put in the filling. Transfer the rolled out top to the pie, and pinch the edges sealed. Cut some holes in the top for steam to escape. 

Bake for 1 hour at 350°F until golden brown. Let cool before cutting. 

Last year at this time I made Slow Roasted Duck with Gravy.

Fennel & Peppers

A super, super simple and tasty vegetable side dish, if a bit late for me to be posting it. I've still got a big bowl of peppers in various degrees of ripeness sitting on the kitchen counter, but the peppers are definitely winding down, and local fennel is just plain hard to find at any season, although hopefully there is still some around from not too far afield. 

 

This goes with any kind of animal protein, but I think it is particularly nice with beef, and if the beef is in the form of steak, so much the better. For a vegetarian take, and I can see it going really well with something like macaroni and cheese.

 

2 to 4 servings

20 minutes prep time

1 medium bulb fennel

1 medium onion

1 medium red pepper

1 tablespoon mild vegetable OR olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

a few flakes of crushed red chile, if desired 

the juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons finely chopped fennel fronds

Wash and trim the fennel, putting aside a few of the finest, brightest green fronds for the garnish, but discarding the tough base and stems. Slice the remaining bulb into slivers. Peel and sliver the onion similarly. Wash, core and deseed, and cut the pepper into thin slices, then cut them in roughly the same length as the fennel and onion pieces. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onion and pepper pieces, and sauté them for a few minutes until the soften and begin to wilt. Season with the salt, pepper, and chile if desired. Add the fennel and continue cooking and stirring the vegetables for a few minutes more until they are all done to your liking. Add the lemon juice just a minute or so before you remove the vegetables from the stove, and mix it in well.

Turn them out at once into a serving dish and sprinkle them with the finely chopped fresh green fronds - this adds a great deal to the flavour of the vegetables, so be sure to chop them finely for easy mixing in, and sprinkle them broadly so everyone gets some of them. Serve at once. 

Last year at this time I made Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds, & Parmesan.

Veggie Breeding Final Assessment for 2021

 

This was an exasperating season for just about everything. A hot, dry start followed by wet and if not actually cool, then not particularly warm temperatures from July on made for a trying growing season. Most beans stopped producing by the end of August, overwhelmed with anthracnose. The good news is that the three crosses we've been growing out for the last few years all lasted longer than any of the traditional varieties. 

 

The Blue Lake x Cherokee Trail of Tears cross (not shown) continues to be surprisingly variable, and I'm having a hard time pinning down which plants to use. However, the Anellino Yellow x Cherokee Trail of Tears cross (on the right) is doing really well. It's a late starter though; I keep thinking we should drop it, but then it goes, and goes, and goes, and the beans are so tasty and tender, and it's back on the list for next year.

The ((Octarora x CToT f3 2016) x (Blue Lake x CToT f2 2019)) - on the left in the first photo - was another real winner this year. It only showed up as an F1 last year, so this was the first time we got to eat any. Really good beans, early, productive, and mostly quite resistant to anthracnose, although there was a little variability. The other variability I was pleased to see was that, in spite of the original seed being black, about 1/8 of the offspring had white seeds, which I like better. The final bit of noticeable variability was in the length of the beans - many of them were disconcertingly short. Fortunately, most of the white ones were also long, which again, is my preference. We'll be growing these again next year, in larger numbers. 

EDIT: I forgot to add that we found another cross this year... in the Anellino Yellow. It had smaller, darker, but still mottled seeds, in a curving pod, but green with red streaks. I wonder if the pollen parent was Octarora, but I will know more when we grow it out - and we will grow it out! Anellino Yellow has the best anthracnose resistance of any of the pole beans we've grown.

I don't have any photos of them, other than this blurry one of our earliest and most productive Northstar Lima bean, but the Lima beans did quite well this year. It wasn't that great of a year in terms of overall production, but when we first started growing them, a year like this would have yielded only a few for seed. In fact, we got about 9 cups of dried beans in addition to the ones saved for seed, so let's say about 10 cups overall. Admittedly, we planted a quarter of what we are planting now, but our first attempt to grow out King of the Garden Lima yielded 3 entire seeds.

In addition to the named varieties planted, we are getting a good number of crosses. It seems like Lima beans cross more readily than common beans. I'm sure we planted a fair few of Alabama, yet I have only seen about 6 on-type Alabama beans. I'm most interested though, in the crosses that involve King of the Garden. It's a classic green Lima bean of which I would love to have an earlier, more productive version. I'm thinking it could happen!

Since I'm not supposed to eat a lot of potatoes, we didn't plant any named varieties, only seeds and seedlings. The above beans are about half of the ones we saved from plants grown from seed this year. We'll see how they do at storing over the winter and try them again next year. As usual, most of the seedlings were discarded into the eating potato bin, but these ones seemed to be healthy plants with a respectable volume of potatoes already.

We are continuing to grow older seedlings as well. The one on the right, from 2016, was the only one that showed resistance to a virus that affected most of the others quite badly, stunting and yellowing the leaves. The potatoes were also in the worst bed in the garden, so the overall harvest wasn't great. It's fine! I'm not supposed to eat them anyway.

We were very excited about one of the zucchini crosses this year, from the interspecies cross that happened a few years back. This one plainly involved Reinau Gold (on the left) but produced larger fruits and considerably more of them. I really sad to report that my attempted self cross of this plant failed, and there is no seed. However, we're going to go back and try a planned cross between earlier generations of the interspecies cross and Reinau Gold next year, and hopefully that will work and there will be more plants to work with.

Two zucchinis did manage to get away from us, and we left them to ripen. The golden one is from one of the interspecies crosses, but unfortunately was a more ordinary green-fruited plant in the eating stage. The other one is a new variety we grew this year, called Jewel Green. I had no idea it was a very long, vining plant, and so it was easy to lose track of. No idea what it will have crossed with - usually multiple other plants - but I think I will save some seed and try it out. I'm less interested in the interspecies cross one, because it will be getting pretty diluted by now.

 

The watermelon were very frustrating. I shared them with people for the first time, and while they seemed to do alright in terms of growing - for those other people, at least; mine were fairly slow to get going and I was not impressed at all - we all agreed the flavour is weak. It does seem to have been going down the last few years, so here too we will need to go back a few years and try for better selections. Gah! 

 

That's about it on the breeding front. We still have to clean the leek seed, but they at least continue to look fatter and better every year. I should leave some seed out to overwinter once we have done that and see if it is still as hardy as it started out.

Spinach & Pistachio Soup

I made this a couple of times, but the first time I didn't purée it. The result was that we enjoyed it, but it wasn't as exciting as spinach and pistachio soup should be. The next time I made it exactly the same way, but I did purée it, and suddenly everyone was so much more thrilled with it. 

I'm calling for almond butter, but if you could get or make pistachio butter, I think that would be ideal. As usual with spinach, about 20 minutes of the prep time is set aside just for washing and picking it over. If you used frozen spinach, you would cut off quite a lot of time. This is otherwise really a fast and simple soup to make. It's rich and not inexpensive, though, so ideal for entertaining - or maybe just treating yourself.

 

4 servings

1 hour prep time

 

 

10 ounces cooked spinach (about 8 cups fresh)

1 large shallot

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup finely chopped shelled pistachios

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons almond butter

3 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup 10% cream

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped shelled pistachios

Wash and pick over the spinach, discarding any damaged leaves or tough stems. Wash and drain well again, then wilt them down in the soup pot, with a cover. Turn them into a strainer and rinse in cold water, then drain them, squeeze to remove as much water as possible, and chop finely. 

Peel and mince the shallot. 

Heat the butter in the bottom a large heavy-bottomed soup pot - there was one around here just a minute ago - and add the shallot. Cook gently over medium heat for about 5 minutes, sizzling gently. Add the chopped pistachios and continue for anther few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

 

While they cook, measure the almond butter out into a smallish bowl, and slowly mix in enough of the broth to make it quite loose and lump free. 

 

Add the prepared spinach to the pot, and cook for another few minutes. 

 

Add the almond butter mixture and the rest of the stock to the pan, and mix well. Puree the soup until very smooth, then return it to the pot and simmer for about 5 minutes. Mix in the cream, bring the soup back up to steaming hot, and serve at once, garnished with some coarsely chopped pistachios.

 

 

 

 

Last year at this time I made Mincemeat Pudding with Custard. 

Turkish Leek & Lentil Loaf

I'm always interested in a new take on the good old lentil loaf. They are so convenient, being usually straightforward to make (if requiring a certain amount of time) and large enough for several meals, and they usually freeze quite well. (Haven't tried with this one, but I don't see why not.) In addition to good taste, they are entirely healthy. Some leeks, Turkish seasonings, and yogurt sauce make this one very nice indeed. A little salad or green vegetable will round out the meal.

 

4 to 6 servings

1 hour - 20 minutes prep time

NOT including cooking the lentils OR cooling time

 

 

Advance Preparation:

1 cup green or brown lentils

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

Put these into a rice cooker, and cook.

Make the Loaf:

500 grams leeks

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 to 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

2 tablespoons chick pea or lentil flour

1/4 cup tomato sauce OR 1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 large eggs 

Wash and trim the leeks. Cut each one in half lengthwise, then chop into 1/4" slices. Put them in a colander and wash and drain them again. Peel and finely chop the onion. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion for about 5 minutes, until softened, then add the leeks and cook for another 10 minutes or a bit longer, until very soft but not browned. Add the salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper, and chick pea flour, mix in well, and cook for another minute or two. 

 

Add the tomato sauce or paste; if using paste it should be first dissolved in a little water. Mix in well and cook until the mixture is thick and not liquidy. Turn the vegetables into a mixing bowl and mix in the leeks and cooked lentils. When the mixture is cool enough, beat in the eggs. 

 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F, and oil a large (10") pie plate. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until firmly set. Let cool to warm or room-temperature before serving. Keep leftovers covered and refrigerated. 

Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup thick yogurt

1 clove garlic

1/4 teaspoon salt 

Line a strainer with a coffee filter. Place the yogurt in the strainer and strain, over a bowl, until the it is quite thick. Mince the garlic with the salt, then mix them into the yogurt. Keep refrigerated until wanted.

Last year at this time I made Lemon Mayonnaise Broiled Trout.

Golden Cauliflower

I love cauliflower, but it can be awfully pale and flabby looking. Just a little spice makes it look so much more appetizing and adds a lovely flavour.  (And nothing calls out for a little parsley over the top like cauliflower.) 

Four cups is an awful lot of cauliflower to have "left over", but it could absolutely be cooked in advance by a day or so, and re-cooked in the spices for about 5 minutes longer than called for in the recipe. In either case, it won't do the cauliflower any harm to get a bit browned in spots, in fact it's an improvement.

 

4 servings

20 minutes prep time

4 cups (1/2 a large) cauliflower florets

2 tablespoons sunflower OR olive oil

1/4 cup chicken OR vegetable broth

1/8 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon saffron threads

1/16 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika

1/16 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

 

Wash, trim, and cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Put a pot of water on to boil for them, and boil them for 5 minutes then drain well. 

 

Meanwhile, mix all the remaining ingredients except the parsley in a small bowl, rubbing the saffron between your fingers as you put it in. Give it a stir until well combined. 

 

When the cauliflower is draining, heat the mixture in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the drained cauliflower and cook for another 5 minutes or a bit longer, until the liquid is absorbed or evaporated and the cauliflower begins to brown slightly. Sprinkle it with the chopped parsley and serve at once.  

Last year at this time I made Costillas Guisadas con Patatas - Spanish Stewed Pork Ribs with Potatoes.

Fennel, Leek, & Potato Soup

This was a simple and tasty soup. I will note that I put the fronds on as a garnish, but I think they actually added a lot to the flavour - so don't do as I did and leave them in big chunks, but chop them finely and sprinkle them over the soup generously.

 

4 servings

45 minutes to 1 hour - 30 minutes prep time 

 

2 cups diced (1 medium) fennel bulb 

2 cups diced (2 medium) leeks

2 tablespoons butter OR chicken fat

3 cups diced (4 medium) potatoes

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

1 teaspoon fennel seed

2 tablespoons barley or wheat flour

4 cups chicken OR vegetable stock

1/4 cup chopped fresh green fennel fronds

Wash, trim, and dice the fennel, discarding the tough stalks and root plate. Save a frond or two to garnish.  Wash, trim, and dice the leeks.

Heat the butter or chicken fat in a large heavy, bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the fennel and leeks and cook gently stirring regularly, for 10 to 15 minutes until softened and reduced but not browned. Meanwhile, dice the potatoes. Add them when there is about 5 minutes more for the vegetables to cook.  Add the seasonings and flour, and mix in until no dry flour can be seen. 

Add the chicken stock and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. You may wish to mash them a bit before serving, or not. Serve each bowl garnished with a tablespoon of the finely chopped fennel fronds. 

Last year at this time I made Graham Muffins.

Macaroni & Blue Cheese

I went and bought some blue cheese on a whim (by which I mean it was on sale) and then I needed something to do with it. A look around the cupboards rounded up the usual suspects and a seasonal cauliflower, so macaroni and cheese it was. It's fairly different from the usual macaroni and cheese, but if you like blue cheese it's very good stuff. I'd have thrown some sautéed mushrooms in if I had had any mushrooms, but I didn't. You could. 

Also, I dare not refer to this as mac and cheese, as my mother screams with horror at the degeneracy of modern manners and morals every time she sees macaroni and cheese disrespected that way. It isn't even macaroni and cheese, really; I used rotini as it seems so hard to find good old elbow macaroni these days. Any small, stubby pasta will work just fine.

 

3 to 6 servings

1 hour 20 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

 

Cook the Macaroni & Cauliflower:

4 cups small cauliflower florets

225 grams to 250 grams (1/2 pound) macaroni or similar pasta

 

Wash, trim, and prepare the cauliflower. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Cook the pasta with the cauliflower for half the recommended time for the pasta; usually 5 or 6 minutes. (If for some reason the pasta cooking time is not 5 or 6 minutes, that's still how long to cook the cauliflower.) Drain well.

Make the Sauce:

200 grams (1/2 pound) cream cheese

3/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons barley or other flour

125 grams (1/4 pound) blue cheese

2 cloves of garlic

NO to 1/8 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

 

Mix the milk slowly into the cream cheese to make a smooth sauce. Mix in the flour, then crumble the blue cheese and mix it in. Peel and mince the garlic and mix it into the sauce with the remaining seasonings. Salt will depend on how salty your particular blue cheese is.

Make the Topping & Finish:

1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup fine bread crumbs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a shallow 2 quart baking dish (8" x 10" lasagne pan). 

Mix the Parmesan and the bread crumbs, and rub in the butter until they are evenly moistened. 

Mix the drained pasta and cauliflower into the sauce. Spread it all evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top evenly with the Parmesan bread crumbs. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly at the edges. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. 

Last year at this time I made Koresh Karafs - Persian Celery Stew.

Italian Tuna-Stuffed Peppers

This Italian dish is usually served at room temperature, as an antipasto, but it is also delicious hot as a main course. You could throw some other things into it, if you liked. Anchovies are a common addition, believe it or not. Good quality Italian tuna must not be quite as salty as what I buy at Costco, although to be fair, once the other ingredients were in it was not as salty as I feared it would be, and it could have absorbed an anchovy or two, especially if it was served as an appetizer. Capers or chopped olives could be used instead - just a few of them. 

I made a double recipe, and with three of us eating it, there was enough left over for another generous serving. The exact quantity of peppers is hard to pin down - it will depend very much on their size and configuration. Use tiny ones for an appetizer and larger ones for a main dish. If you use large peppers such as Red Shepherd, use smaller specimens of them  - they can get large enough that just one could swallow up an entire batch of the filling. 

You could omit the cheese if you don't want it. If you do use it, it should be a somewhat mild and lower salt cheese - aged cheeses tend to have a lot, and I think would be a bit too much with the tuna. I used Friulano, which I really like - it has all the delightful boingy qualities of mozzarella, with a more interesting flavour. I also threw in a few leftover potatoes to fill up the gaps around the peppers; if you want to add potatoes to your pan they should be at least par-cooked to be done in the same amount of time as the peppers.

 

2 to 3 servings

1 hour 15 minutes - 45 minutes prep time

 

 

Prepare the Peppers:

6 to 8 small apple peppers (such as Doe Hill)

OR 3 or 4 medium sized peppers (such as Bell or Cubanelle)

OR 2 larger peppers (such as Red Shepherd) 

Wash the peppers. Cut a slit lengthwise in each pepper, then down and around the stem. Remove the stem and any seeds, etc, from the core of the pepper, leaving a hollow shell. Be careful not to break them. 

Broil them under the broiler until slightly softened and blackened in spots. Turn to broil them evenly. Set them aside to cool while you make the filling, and turn the oven to 375°F.

Make the Filling:

1 tin (133+ g drained) chunk or solid tuna

1 slice stale bread

1 medium egg

1 small tomato (about 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped)

2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley 

the finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon

freshly ground black pepper to taste

75 grams (3 ounces) Friulano, mozzarella, ricotta or similar mild cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

Drain the tuna and put it in a small mixing bowl. Cut or tear the bread into coarse crumbs, and add them to the tuna. Break in the egg. Peel (if you like) and dice the tomato, and add it to the bowl. Wash, dry and mince the parsley, and add it. Season with pepper, and mix well. If the mixture does not seem moist, you may need to add a little water - just a spoonful. It should be moist, but not wet, and hold its shape. 

 

Grate or finely dice the cheese, and mix 2/3 of it into the stuffing. Divide the stuffing amongst the peppers, and lay them in a shallow baking pan that will hold them fairly snugly, and which has been greased with the olive oil. Divide the remaining cheese over the peppers, and cover the pan, with foil if it hasn't got a lid. Bake for 30 minutes at 375°F for 30 minutes, then remove the lid (or foil) and bake for a further 15 minutes. These can be served hot or at room temperature, as a main dish or, if you have stuffed a number of smaller peppers, as an antipasto or appetizer.  

Last year at this time I made Cauliflower and Pepper Sauté.

Almond, Plum, & Apple Pudding

What, apple and plum pudding again? Yes, there were leftovers, too many to just eat up in reasonable time. This take is closer to classic Apple Batter Pudding, with a Russian influence in the batter.  The yogurt and plums give it a rich, zesty tang that goes so well with the nutty cake. So good! I regret nothing, but I suppose I had better now behave myself until Christmas. 

I don't know about ice cream or whipped cream with this one; it seems a bit too much. Custard? Yes, for sure, or maybe coffee cream. But there's nothing wrong with just eating it slightly warm.

 

6 to 8 servings

1 hour 15 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

allow time to cool

 

Mix the Dry Ingredients:

1 cup ground almonds (almond flour)

1/2 cup barley flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

 

Measure the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well. 

 

Mix the Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup thick yogurt 

2 large eggs

1/4 cup mild vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

a few good scrapes of nutmeg

Measure the yogurt into a smaller mixing bowl, and break in the eggs. Whisk them in well then mix in the oil, almond extract, and nutmeg. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

 

Prepare the Fruit, Finish & Bake: 

2 cups pitted, halved Italian or German purple plums

4 large apples

1/8 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg

2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar, OPTIONAL

Wash, cut, and pit the plums, and put them in an 8" x 10" shallow baking (lasagne) pan or similar. Wash and peel the apples. Slice then thinly and core them, and mix them with the plums. Scrape over the nutmeg. Sweeten them if you like. Scrape the batter over them as evenly as you can (it will be a bit skimpy). Spread it out to cover the fruit. 

Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes. Let cool to warm or room temperature before serving.