Here at Crowded Earth Kitchen, we don’t toss around the Signature Dish moniker lightly. If we label a recipe as a Signature Dish, you can rest assured that the recipe is a guaranteed, crowd pleasing success. Savory Stuffed Pumpkin fits the bill! Continue reading
harvest
Autumn Plum Cake
Every autumn, the New York Times publishes the same plum torte recipe. It has something of a cult following. My friend Denise, a scratch cook who is rather particular about the recipes she endorses, raves about this torte. So, I gave it a try.
It’s good. Really good! The recipe is included here. I had larger plums on hand, so I used slices rather than halves. Whether this recipe is a “torte” or a “cake” is in the eye of the beholder. I’m going with “cake,” as for me the word “torte” conjures up images of complicated, many-layered German desserts. This recipe is blessedly simple. It is quite similar to Rustic Apple Cake, with different fruit. Enjoy this cake (torte?) with a cup of coffee as you watch the leaves fall.
Corn and Bacon Chowder
In my neck of the woods, sweet corn is in season. Hooray! The problem is, the season for fresh sweet corn seems to last about 5 minutes (OK, maybe 2 or 3 weeks) and then it’s all gone. 😦 Corn and Bacon Chowder freezes well, and is a great recipe for preserving the awesome flavor of fresh sweet corn to enjoy all winter long. I make BIG batches of this soup, based upon a recipe found in an old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, to stock my freezer. The recipe below makes a smaller quantity, but can be easily doubled. Let’s get started!
Ingredients (Makes 8 servings)
8 ears of corn (or 4 cups corn kernels) Continue reading
Spicy Refrigerator Pickles
Today I found about a dozen small (3 inches or so) cucumbers in my garden… perfect for pickles, but not enough of them to bother with canning. Instead, I quickly made a quart of Refrigerator Pickles. In one week, they’ll be crisp and delicious. Try a jar today!
Ingredients (Makes 1 quart jar)
Approximately 12 small cucumbers (about 3 inches long)
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 small hot pepper (Jalapeno or other hot chili pepper)
Directions
Step 1) Wash cucumbers and slice 1/8 inch off of each end. Pack cucumbers in a clean, quart size jar.
Step 2) Crush garlic with the flat side of a knife and add garlic to the jar.
Step 3) Slice hot pepper lengthwise from the bottom, leaving the stem end in tact. Add hot pepper to the jar.
Step 4) In a small saucepan, bring water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and carefully pour into jar over cucumbers. Cover and allow to cool before placing jar in the refrigerator.
Enjoy in one week!
In The Garden: First Harvests
Moving into late July, my Northern vegetable garden has been growing for almost eight weeks. This means – finally! – the first vegetables are being harvested here at Crowded Earth Kitchen! Weather permitting, we’ll enjoy increasingly bountiful harvesting for the next six to eight weeks. So exciting!
Here’s a peek at some of what’s happening In The Garden:
Banana peppers, always the first peppers of summer, are bountiful this year.
Ground cherries, a new garden addition, are coming along nicely.
The first of the hot peppers are turning red!
Broccoli heads are about six inches in diameter.
Zucchini are surprisingly late this year, but are finally growing strong.
We’ve picked about two quarts of beans so far.
With a new net to protect raspberries from the birds, we’ve harvested a whole quart of berries so far. Happily, we’ll be able to pick again tomorrow!
Poblano peppers, typically harvested near the end of summer, are already growing rapidly. So delicious…
Cucumber vines are just beginning to produce. We hope to begin canning pickles in another week or two.
The greens bed has exploded with chard and kale. Self-seeded tomato plants are peeking through the chard leaves, and will offer a cherry tomato bonus in September.
