Many of our finest restaurants are going out of their way to get special vegetables, carefully grown for superior flavor. Some restaurants in large cities even go so far as to have some of their produce flown in daily from France.
The restaurateur has many advantages, but so does the home cook. If you have space enough for a garden, you can grow your own vegetables, for fun as well as flavor. Rather than cajoling your nearest farmer to grow what you want, why not do it yourself?
Ironically, despite the appealing pictures in the popular seed catalogs, most of the seeds they offer are merely variations on the types of seeds commercial growers use. These vegetables have been developed to be
cosmetically perfect, to travel well over long distances, and ripen all at once to facilitate machine harvesting-the latter a definite disadvantage to the home cook.
But what about taste? It seems to have gotten lost along the way. Even when we grow our own much-touted beefsteak tomatoes, they`re not as flavorful as the tomatoes we`ve tasted abroad. This is primarily because the European grower is usually smaller and closer to his customers. He chooses to grow the most flavorful varieties because his patrons demand good taste above all.
There is a small seed company in Felton, Calif., that I`ve followed over the years because it`s dedicated to offering only those vegetable and herb varieties with proven market qualities, chosen for their fine flavor, tenderness and texture.
In the beginning, Shepherd`s Garden Seeds offered choice French vegetable varieties; today it offers seeds not only from France but also from Holland, Italy, England, Japan and America. And it also offers edible flowers, herbs and what they call ”old-fashioned fragrant flowers.”
”In the flower lore of the Middle Ages,” Shepherd`s charmingly understated seed catalog reports, ”scent was considered the soul of flowers.” Today, many of our flowers seem soulless. When was the last time you smelled a fragrant carnation?
The cooking gardener will delight in raising as many different varieties of vegetables and herbs-as well as flowers for the table-as possible. As a gardening cook, I look for what I cannot readily get at my local vegetable stands, including French haricots verts, the skinny and delicately tasty green (string) beans; chantenay carrots, with the superb flavor that carrots used to have; swiss chard, which is often hard to find; any of their extra-tasty specialties of corn because they`re incomparable; leeks; lettuces, especially ”mache”; charentais melons, the best of the so-called cantaloupes; chili peppers; and, of course, tomatoes.
The following vegetable recipes have been adapted from ”Recipes From a Kitchen Garden,” by Renee Shepherd (available from Shepherd`s Garden Publishing, 7389 West Zayante, Felton, Calif. 95018; $7.95, plus $1.25 for shipping).
CALIFORNIA STUFFED CHARD
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
This is halfway between stuffed grape leaves and stuffed cabbage but lighter than either of those dishes.
Meat filling:
1 1/4 pounds ground veal or turkey
1/4 pound lean ground pork
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 teaspoon each, fresh: oregano, thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon each dried)
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
Chard:
15 large chard leaves with stems removed and reserved
2 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons good fruity olive oil
Optional garnishes: lemon slices; fresh yogurt or sour cream
1. Mix filling ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Set aside.
2. Blanch chard leaves, 4 or 5 at a time, in a pot of boiling water until limp, about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well. Repeat with remaining leaves and drain. Discard water.
3. Lay chard leaves out flat. Mound several rounded tablespoons of meat filling on center of each leaf. Fold sides of leaf over center, then fold top and bottom down. Roll each leaf into a compact bundle.(Can be made ahead up to this point.)
4. Finely chop reserved chard stems. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Saute chopped onions and chard stems until soft, about 5 minutes. Lay chard bundles on top of sauteed vegetables, add chicken stock and sprinkle with lemon juice. Heat to boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil over bundles. Simmer over low heat until filling is cooked through, about 35 minutes.
5. Garnish savory chard bundles with fresh lemon slices, if desired, and pass fresh yogurt or sour cream for the top.
BABY ONIONS IN BASIL CREAM
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
This dish should be served over grilled fish, especially salmon, or over brown or wild rice as a side dish.
1 pound baby onions
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
1/4 cup each: fresh chopped basil, dry vermouth
1 cup whipping cream
1. Heat water to boil in a medium-size saucepan, then add salt. Cut tops of onions and discard. Put onions in boiling salted water and cook until tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Drain onions and allow to cool. Take each onion by the uncut end and squ eze onion out the cut end, to remove the skins. Trim root if desired. Reserve on ons.
3. Heat butter in a skillet or saute pan. Add shallots and basil, cook brie ly. Add vermouth and boil 1 minute, scraping the bits from bottom of pan with a ooden spoon. Add cream and onions. Reduce to desired consistency. Taste for seas ning.
BASIL PRESERVED IN PARMESAN CHEESE
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
This mixture can be used to flavor vegetable soups, or as a quick pasta sauce, combined with butter, garlic and fresh parsley. It will keep practically indefinitely.
2 cups tightly packed, washed and dried basil leaves
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Salt, pepper, olive oil
1 sterilized pint jar with lid
1. Mince basil leaves very finely and mix thoroughly in a bowl with cheese.
2. Pour a fine sprinkle of salt and pepper in bottom of jar. Add a 1/2-inch layer of the basil-cheese mixture. Press down to 1/3-inch thick.
3. Add another thin sprinkle of salt and pepper and another layer of basil mixture. Continue packing the layers tightly until jar is full.
4. Top the jar with 1/4-inch of olive oil. Seal and put in the refrigerator to use as needed.
ROSAMUND`S FRENCH CORNICHONS
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Standing time: Overnight, then 2 weeks
Yield: 2 cups
It`s rare to find a recipe for these small, tart, French pickles, which usually are served with rich foods, such as pates, cold cuts and savories of all kinds.
1 3/4 cups tiny cornichon cucumbers, cleaned and trimmed
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher (coarse) salt
2 small peeled garlic cloves
2 sprigs (3-inches each) fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried
2 sterilized 1/2-pint canning jars with caps and rings
1 1/2 cups mild white wine vinegar
2 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar
1. Combine cucumbers, salt and just enough water to cover in a small china or glass bowl; let stand overnight at cool room temperature; drain.
2. Put 1 garlic clove and a sprig of fresh tarragon in each drained, hot canning jar. Pack with cucumbers.
3. Heat vinegar, water and sugar to boil in a small nonaluminum saucepan over high heat. Cover cucumbers with this mixture and seal. Allow flavors to mature for 2 weeks before serving.
BABY CARROTS AND BEETS WITH TARRAGON-YOGURT DIP
Preparation time: 15 mintues
Standing time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Tarragon-yogurt dip:
1 1/2 cups yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 large cloves garlic, mashed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves (or 1 tablespoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
Vegetables:
1 pound each blanched baby carrots
and beets, arranged on a platter and chilled
1. Blend dip ingredients in a bowl and taste for seasoning. Allow to stand for 1/2 hour to develop flavor and serve with baby carrots and beets as a first course or appetizer. Leftover dip can also be used as a salad dressing. –
