One Potato, Two Potatoes

We made it.  After a slow dry growing season for potatoes at Heart & Sole Gardens, we enjoyed our first taste of this year's crop.  Soon, we will plow the harvest, but it is possible to dig a few hills to "rob" plants of some tubers that lie underground. It has been  years since I purchased supermarket spuds and the flavor of just-harvested potatoes never fails to delight.

GrandMom Tut holds a Purple Viking potato "head" from 2012

Gardening has a way of keeping one humble and Mother Nature's unpredictability means that crops that grow successfully one year may not do as well in other seasons.  Even with rotating crops, soil testing, sea kelp spraying, weeding and diligently hand removing Colorado potato beetles, too much rain can result in rotten tubers or, as in the case with 2012's crop, a flash flood that washed potato plants from the ground, exposing small tubers to damaging sunlight and destroying some of the crop.  This year, with several weeks of dry weather, the potato yield looks to be much lower than in years past and, judging by some hills we harvested last week, tubers are not only fewer in number, but smaller than expected.  If you would like to grow potatoes, but have limited space, try planting a few in a large container.  The plants have large leaves and the blossoms are beautiful, making potatoes both visually appealing and edible.

Colorado Potato Beetles are insect pests

Voles eat potatoes underground. After the tiller dug this one out, he ran away to eat another day!

Potatoes get a bad rep from folks who think they are a fattening food.  Actually, they are very low in calories and loaded with lots of nutritional benefits; it's butter, salt, cheese and other toppings we add that pack on pounds.  

Some of this year's first potatoes

For an eating experience that rivals true Nirvana, harvest a handful of fingerling potatoes or purchase some at the farmer's market, hours after they were still growing underground.  Choose potatoes that are very small, even for fingerlings.  Scrub them and note how the skin is tender and rubs off with only a little pressure.  Leave as much skin as possible and put potatoes, whole, in a glass baking dish.  Sprinkle with a bit of good quality olive oil (the kind that tickles the back of the throat) and use your hands to rub the oil into the potato skin.  Add a sprinkling of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper.  Maybe a bit of red pepper flakes or fresh thyme leaves, if you are in that sort of mood.  Place the dish in a preheated 400 degree oven and roast the potatoes for about 12 minutes, stirring halfway.  If potatoes are very fresh, they will cook quickly, so use a fork to check for doneness.  If flesh does not yield to the fork, roast a little longer, but take care not to overcook.   Ideally, potatoes will be cooked through, not mushy, and be slightly golden in color.  That's it.  All that's left is to enjoy one of the season's most delicious ingredients, simply prepared and served without fanfare.  After a taste, you may decide to eat them from the roasting dish.  With your fingers.  When food is that fresh and that good, there are no rules.

For more about Heart & Sole potatoes and a recipe for a great picnic salad, read "The Potato Lady," at Seedtales

Preserve the Season

When it comes to preserving a North Carolina harvest, it is never too soon to start.  Late winter's greens lead to asparagus, sugar snap peas and strawberries, followed by bountiful summer crops, like tomatoes, peppers, squash, okra, beans, corn and eggplants and early Autumn's cooler temps signal it's time to bring in winter squash, potatoes and peanuts.  As moons cycle though months, gardeners can almost always find something to cut, pick or dig.  Kitchens are Ground Zero madness with canning, freezing, pickling, drying and storing and exhausted preservationists seldom have time to admire the bounty until winter, when pantry shelves and freezers hold delicious preserved harvests. 
 

Preserved harvest, 2015: It's a start

Preserving food is a great way to save ingredients that work well with fresh harvests from other seasons.  For example, cilantro is a cool weather crop and when tomatoes ripen in western NC, cilantro has long since bolted, bloomed and gone to seed.  San Marzano, Amish Paste, Japanese Plum and other paste tomato varieties are easy to can and when cilantro thrives, in late fall or early spring, canned tomatoes are perfect for salsas that highlight the fresh herb flavor.  

Our family loves oyster stew and several years ago, I developed a recipe for soup base that uses summer squash.  Since squash plants are long gone when oyster season arrives, I can the soup base and add a small amount of cream and fresh oysters when I serve it.  It is a delicious way to preserve a lot of squash and the soup is also good without oysters. For the recipe and instructions to make this soup, visit Seedtales
 

Canned squash soup base is healthy and delicious

Blueberries are now in season and between the air (birds) and ground (deer, squirrels and insects) assaults currently being waged at my home, I am fortunate to claim any for my kitchen.  Aside from jam and herbed vinegar, I preserve blueberries by freezing them.  To enjoy blueberry flavor throughout the entire year, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place berries in a single layer on the paper.  Pop in the freezer until berries are frozen and feel like marbles.  Store in freezer bags and use the frozen berries for pies, breads or cakes, top hot or cold cereals or just eat from the bag.  

Blueberries are easy to freeze

Happy Preserving!

Heirloom Tomato Anticipation

My gardening journals are nothing fancy.  Spiral-bound, wide-ruled notebooks, pages spotted with raindrops and smudged with garden soil, this stack of tattered tomes records the mundane (hand weeded peanut row) and the exciting (hawk swooped by, trying to catch a Purple Martin) events of my farm workdays.  Occasionally, I flip back through a previous year's notes to compare planting dates, crop yield or weather.  Although some days I forget to write a note or two, I always, without fail, record the first ripe heirloom tomatoes I harvest.

Spiral-bound notebooks are my gardening journals

Last year, I picked a nice Great White on July 17th.  With a smooth creamy skin and slightly garlicky flavor, this tomato makes a delicious sandwich and its size can easily dwarf a slice of bread.  After celebrating the first harvest with candles and a place of honor, Richard and I savored the fruit of our labor.  

Harvesting a Great White, cause for celebration in 2014

It looks as if this year's tomato season will begin later than usual, but the plants look healthy and are holding numerous green fruits.  Each day, we remove tomato horn worms, add more plant supports, trim unnecessary leaves and search, hoping to spot the first color change that will indicate summer's delectable love apples are on the way.  

Tomato hornworms love heirlooms as much as we do

Mid-September will probably bring the typical madness of harvesting, sorting, washing and endless processing, but for now, tomato season is an entrancing mirage, a bright ray of rewarding deliciousness for all those months of work.  

Summer harvest from a single day

For those of you fortunate enough to hold your first home-grown tomatoes in your hand, warm from the sun and beckoning you to take a bite, I admit envy, but will, hopefully, soon join you in celebrating the harvest.  As I gather recipes and dream, I offer the following suggestion for cherry tomatoes.  For a beautiful presentation, be sure to use a variety of colors.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
In a medium saucepan, heat 2/3 cup dry red wine and 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar.  Simmer over low/medium heat until the mixture is reduced by 1/2, about 20-30 minutes.  Remove from heat.

In a medium-sized glass baking dish, drizzle about 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Add 2 pints cherry tomatoes and sprinkle them with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Stir to coat the tomatoes with the oil.  Pour the wine/vinegar mixture over tomatoes and stir to combine.  Scatter fresh thyme leaves over tomatoes.

Place dish in a preheated, 400 degree, oven and roast for about 20 -30 minutes, or until tomatoes begin to collapse.  *Stir once, halfway through roasting time.

Remove from oven and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons fresh shredded basil leaves over the tomatoes.  Serve warm or chill to add to cold salad.  

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes