Garlic scapes, fennel and tomatoes over pasta

After I posted that I was eating garlic scapes for dinner, a friend asked me how I cooked them, so I wrote this up. It's not really a recipe, but more like my cooking methodology - if you can call it that.

This was very much a last minute, make-it-up-as-you-go dinner. That's what happens when you live alone and don't plan your meals in advance. It sounds horribly disorganized, but sometimes great things come from experiments like this. Many of my favorite dishes have resulted from me just throwing ingredients in with no plan.

I had garlic scapes* from the garden, and my fennel was getting bushy as well. I figured maybe I should cut the fronds on the fennel back a bit so that more energy would go into the bulb. (I love fennel, and have tried to grow it in the past, but never had any decent bulb, so I'm happy to report that it looks like it was a success this year.)

Several people had told me that garlic scapes can be eaten just like asparagus, so I thought I'd cut them up and saute them in butter, since butter always seems to improve garlic. The scapes looked a little lonely in the pan, and not much like a meal, so I decided maybe I should make a more varied veggie dish over pasta. I walked into the back yard and cut a big frond of fennel, chopped it up, and threw it in as well. Then, so pull it together and make it more sauce-like, I chopped up a few tomatoes and threw them in. Salt and pepper are often the only spices that are needed with veggies this flavorful, so that's all I added. OK, I actually also added a little bit of balsamic vinegar, which I find is like salt - it brings out the flavor in foods.

After the pasta was all cooked up, and I dumped the veggies in top, I decided that the parmesan cheese just wasn't rich enough, so first I added a bit of olive oil, and then a little cottage cheese to make it extra creamy.

Yup, that was just perfect.

The following day I made a similar dish, but this time just the veggies, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar in foil on the grill. Very tasty and quick addition to the burger and brats.

*More on garlic scapes.

Connecting people and food - Madison has it good

During my conference in Chattanooga, I participated in a mobile workshop - a chance to get out and see the city and discuss issues - called Connecting People and Food. Since I have been interested in food politics for awhile, I thought I'd see what the folks in Chattanooga felt were their local issues.

Free food on Fridays - delivered by bike

Yummy fresh produce, courtesy of the folks at the F.H. King Student Farm, is delivered by bike and given away each Friday at 1 PM on Library Mall.

I think I heard about this, and then forgot until today. There I was, enjoying a little lunch from the food kiosks, and here comes a woman on a bike, with a long bed trailer and eight 18-gallon plastic totes full of fresh produce.

Within a couple of minutes, more people come by with more veggies, a table and banner.

I had just stopped to take a few photos of how much stuff can be carried by bike, and asked what was up. "Oh, we give away produce every Friday."

I grabbed some great big bulbs of garlic, since mine's not ready yet. And fennel, which in now making my backpack smell like anise.

Connecting green thumbs with food pantries

Photo courtesy of GetRichSlowly.org

In wandering through the news sites today, I came upon this article on cnn.com about a web site that connects gardeners with extra produce with food pantries that would love to have the abundance of your garden. AmpleHarvest.org allows people with too much bounty in the garden to find a food pantry that can take it off your hands. Almost every home gardener has been in that situation. Too many tomatoes, zucchini, even spinach, beans, and peas can get a little out of control.

Magic mulch - but hold your nose

Thanks to my neighbor Paul, I discovered the wonders of "lake weeds" shortly after moving into my house. Paul has taught me a lot about gardening, and we trade advice, plants, and supplies on a regular basis. Thanks, Paul, you're a great neighbor!

So what are the lake weeds, and what do you do with them? Mostly it is Eurasian Milfoil, that stuff they cut off the lakes every summer, and we use it as mulch, or to start a new bed for planting the next year.

Speeding up the compost with coffee

Continuing the theme of free local resources for gardening, and making the garden more productive and easier, I'm going to share the secret to making those oak leaves decompose more quickly. At least I hope it works. Last year it worked very well for the marsh hay that was rotting in a corner of the garden. I thought all that hay would take forever to break down, especially mixed with the leaves (ash and maple) that had just come off the garden beds, but after adding the magic ingredient, that pile became hot. I took the lid off the bin, and I could feel the heat coming off the pile. Soon enough, the hay was almost gone, and all the other compost ingredients were also well on their way to being decomposed - and ready for the garden.

So what is this magic ingredient? Coffee grounds. Lots of them. 

Out in the garden again

One of the nice things about working at home is being able to take advantage of days like the last two to get outside a bit. It makes me more productive to get outside and move about anyway, and I can catch up on work when it starts raining or gets cold.

So for the last two days I've been out in my garden: cleaning up, moving compost to the garden, moving leaf mulch to the compost bins, turning over the soil, and generally getting the beds ready for planting later.