June 24 is the Feast day for St. John the Baptist. This day represents three of my great loves. Foraging, vin de noix, and feasting! And every year I face the same dilemma, what to do with 20+ pounds of green walnuts. I always toy with the idea of pickling the walnuts but, quite honestly, I don’t like pickled walnuts! And since my daughter was born, I’ve had very little time to make things just for the sake of making them. This year, once again, all systems were a go for vin de noix.

Off I went with my baskets to my favorite and easily accessible grove of walnut trees. I had every intention of foraging even more walnuts than before since I am making preserves using vin de noix. But it seems the gods, or the saints, were conspiring against me! All the lower branches of my “secret” trees had been picked clean. Whereas it would normally have taken me about 30 minutes to fill my baskets, yesterday it took  an hour to get my pathetic haul… and it involved some tree climbing.  Anyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT CLIMB TREES! But I am not discouraged. I do have some friends with walnut trees on their property…

If you can get green walnuts, this is a simple recipe, and worth making. Here is the recipe for St. Jean’s vin. This year, to celebrate, I made crepes and filled them with walnut thyme butter… Oh, and the foraging wasn’t a complete loss. Nearby was my favorite pine tree, the Cedrus deodora, with it’s rosette like cones. I got a few of those…

Green Coriander Seeds

My favorite crop, hands down, is green coriander seeds. Quince are a close second but, whereas I can easily purchase quince, I have never seen green coriander seeds for sale. These seeds are a reminder to me of the greatest pleasure of gardening, and that is in having flavors that cannot be purchased. So every few months, when my cilantro plants bolt, I gather the precious green seeds and manage to make a few dishes. Green coriander seeds are nutty, earthy, sweet, and with the fragrance of the coriander leaf. They are not overpowering but surprisingly mild. This year I became obsessed with pickling the green seeds, to have year round. My first crop, after this decision was made, was lost to a very enthusiastic neighbor who was trying to lend a helping hand in the garden… Absolutely no fuss was made over this, after all, I knew there would still be time left in the year for another two crops.

Let your cilantro plants bolt. I harvest the seeds when they are plump and green. Keep a careful eye on them since once they reach a certain size, they will brown quickly. Snip the little sprig branches of seeds. Gather as many as possible, patience is required here, but since the preparation is so easy, harvesting as many as possible is worth the effort and time. Once you have gathered “enough,” place in a fine sieve and rinse. I made a brine, using the trusty floating egg method. To pickle, pack the seed sprigs in clean glass jars, add a clove of garlic (why not?), and cover with brine. Repeat… Place in refrigerator. Mine reached a level of pickled delight in 2 weeks.

I like to use green coriander seeds with chicken or fish dishes that are cooked in a tomato sauce., or mixed with harissa, in chicken soups, with a nicoise salad, etc…

Nasturtium officinale

Nasturtiums belong to the watercress family and are also known as the Indian cress. They grow profusely and are easy to identify by their flowers that range from bright orange to a fiery red.  The flowers are edible and quite peppery and it is nearly impossible to consume what the plant produces, so prolific in nature. The urban garden is a popular habitat for the nasturtium, I counted seven different patches within a one block radius, within minutes my basket was full.

Nasturtium Vinegar

1. Nasturtiums, enough to fill your chosen glass container
2. White wine vinegar
3. Garlic
4. Onion
5. Bay leaf

• Place a quarter of an onion in your clean jar.
• Add the garlic and bay leaf..
• Pack with the nasturtiums.
• Cover with the vinegar.
• Set aside for one month.
• After a month, run the vinegar through a fine sieve, and bottle your Nasturtium Vinegar.

Leonardo's St. John the Baptist

June 24 is St. Jean Baptiste day and it marks the beginning of the Vin de Noix making season! In France, green walnuts are picked between June 24 and Bastille Day. Vin de Noix is associated with a dear memory for me, a reminder of a lady named Nina from Belarus whom I met on a trip to Paris. For a few years I traveled to Lithuania regularly, and though it was not always my favorite place to visit, there are many wonderful things I remember from those days. The Russian Market in Vilnius, the quiet historical downtown, the bars that offered fried salted rye bread and pickled garlic as snacks. And then there was the countryside. Walking the woods, collecting mushrooms, berries, and linden blossoms. Drinking brandy and eating chocolate with friends, often. Taking a sauna once a week and then splashing cold well water on my  partner. The long days of Summer. The neighbor Jadze, or Jadzhavida, straight out of a Brueghel painting. Going to another neighbor, the “milk man,” for honey, eggs, and milk. I always remember the sweetness of the woods and the buzzing of mosquitoes, always. A Europe I thought was long gone but that I was fortunate enough to witness firsthand.

Another trip led me to Paris and the Parisian banlieue in search of rye bread. A suggestion from a man who works at the Musee de l’Homme lead to Nina the Belarussian. A short train ride later found me walking down a street with perfectly manicured gardens that ended with a grove of trees and a barely visible gate. This was Nina’s house. A house she lived in for many many years and a house and garden so strongly reminiscent of the Lithuanian forest and countryside. Broken cars in the garden, buckets collecting water from the gutters, potatoes cut and waiting to root in a bowl, the same trees and plants among that urban clutter. You see, Nina left Belarus during WWII and was part of the Belarussian resistance movement in Paris, it had been over fifty years since she last saw her beloved Belarus. And as she stood under her trees and looked up at the stars, she remembered her homeland. I remember this sweet little lady sang the saddest of songs in her garden. And when it was over, this frail lady with the secret smile and curious eyes invited me in for a glass of vin de noix.

This recipe is based on a combination of sources. Partly from Mireille Johnston’s Cuisine of the Rose, from the countless times I witnessed a friend making it, and from Nina’s description.

Vin de Noix

1. Green walnuts, soft enough that they can be cut
2. Red wine, I prefer a Syrah for this recipe
3. Turbinado sugar
4. Vodka or brandy
5. Oranges
6. Vanilla
7. Walnut leaves

This recipe is based on a ratio of 10 green walnuts to one bottle of wine. And remember, this is an infusion so please don’t spend a lot on money on the wine or the vodka!

• Wash the walnuts, cut in half and place in large glass jar
• Add 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• Add the zest of one orange
• Add one bottle of Syrah
• Add 3/4 cup of vodka or brandy
• Add the vanilla bean
• Add 4 to 5 walnut leaves
• Mix carefully, cover, and store in a cool dark place for 8 weeks, stirring occasionaly
• At the end of the 8 weeks, strain and bottle

the Elder

The Elder is  commonly used in the urban landscaping where I live. This time of year, the clouds of small creamy flowers are easily seen from a distance. The bark, inner bark, leaves, flowers, and berries have a long tradition of medicinal and culinary use. Today, I want to focus on the flower. The delicate scent and flavor of the elderflower has haunted me these past few weeks. While in Las Vegas, of all places, I had  the pleasure of a brilliant meal (food and company) that began with an amazing foie gras terrine on an elderflower infused aspic. A thing of beauty. Such delicacy, sweetness, and subtlety of flavor, aroma, and texture was not lost in that big, bold, and obvious environment. I knew that on my return home, the Elder tree would begin it’s beautiful blooming season…

Elderflower Syrup

1. 

   Elderflower Syrup, day 2

   Gather as many elderflowers as possible!

2. When home, dampen a clean kitchen towel and place elderflower clouds on top. Wrap and gently shake, goal is to remove dust.
3. Make a simple syrup, 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water.
4. Wash your glass jar(s).
5. Remove the zest of two lemons, cut lemons in half, and set aside.
6. Start packing your jar, layer by layer. I started with a layer of elderflowers (about 1/3 of the jar), added strips on lemon zest, and the juice of half a lemon.
7. Continue until the jar is full.
8. Add the prepared syrup and fill to the top. Cover.
9. Let stand at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
10. Put mix through a fine-haired sieve and jar the syrup.

The following recipes and uses are from A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve.

“Eau de Sureau: Fill a large jar with Elder blossoms, pressing them down, the stalks of course having been removed previously. Pour on them 2 quarts of boiling water and when slightly cooled, add 1 1/2 oz of rectified spirits. Cover with a folded cloth, and stand the jar in a warm place for some hours. Then allow it to get quite cold and strain through muslin. Put into bottles and cork securely.”

“Elder flowers, if placed in the water used for washing the hands and face, will both whiten and soften the skin – a convenient way being to place them in a small muslin bag. Such a bag steeped in the bathwater makes a most refreshing bath and a well-known French doctor has stated that he considers it a fine aid in the bath in cases of irritability of the skin and nerves.”

“Tea made from Elder flowers has also been recommended as a splendid spring medicine, to be taken every morning before breakfast for some weeks, being considered an excellent blood purifier.”

“There be nothing more excellent to ease the pains of the haemorrhoids than a fomentation made of the flowers of the Elder and Honeysuckle in water or milk for a short time. It easeth the greatest pain.”

“Elder flower ointment, made by infusing the flowers in warm lard, is useful for dressing wounds, burns, and scalds, and is used as a basis for pomades and cosmetic ointments.”

“Elder flowers, with their subtle sweet scent, entered into much delicate cookery, in olden days. Formerly the creamy blossoms were beaten up in a batter of flannel cakes and muffins, to which they gave a more delicate texture. They were also boiled in gruel as a fever drink, and were added to the posset of the Christening feast.”

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the beginning of a weeklong project...

The urban forager is all eyes, always. The success of the urban forager depends on a combination of a certain outdoorsiness, ability to identify edibles from afar, and friendliness. And yet non of these highly developed skills were required for this particular harvest. An invitation to lunch and a playdate with a friend and her twin boys was a reminder of the importance of keeping my little book of foraging addresses current. How could I have forgotten that magnificent orange tree?

The large sweet unidentified oranges with the amazing starlike segment kept me busy all week long. First, a simple orange syrup. And secondly, candied orange peels. The syrup is incredibly easy to make and a great thing to have during the summer. Perfect for cocktails or a spritzer. And I feel very fortunate to live in California, the citrus season has technically ended but my friend’s tree is still full of beautiful oranges. I may have to arrange for another play date soon, very soon.

                 

 

the rewards

Orange Syrup:

1. Oranges
2. Sugar 
3. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) 

• Wash and cut the oranges in half. Squeeze each half carefully, setting the juiced orange shells aside.
• Oranges are pulpy so strain the juice through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.
• The ratio for this syrup is as follows:                                                                                                                                                             1 cup juice : 1 cup sugar : 3/4 cup water
• Bring to a boil and let simmer for  1o minutes. 
• Remove from heat and add a large handful of lemon balm, leave to steep overnight.
• In the morning, remove the lemon balm and jar the syrup.

Candied Orange Peels, a Recipe from Medieval Spain

1. Juiced orange halves
2. Honey
3. Cardamon, mace, and dry ginger 
4. Sugar

Day 1:

• Place orange halves in a large bowl
• Cover with water, changing the water throughout the day
• N.B. if the day is hot, place bowl in the refrigerator. The rind will start to mold!

Day 2:

• Drain the oranges.
• With the serrated edge of a grapefruit spoon, scoop out all the membrane and remaining pulp from each orange half. If necessary, use a paring knife to finish removing as much of the pith as possible. 
• Set aside. When you are finished with the whole lot, place in a bowl, cover with a paper towel, and place in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Day 4:

• Remove bowl from refrigerator, orange peels should be soft enough to cut but significantly more dry
• Start cutting peels into slices, as you please
• This easy forage produced 1 3/4 pounds of peel.
• In a large pot, add 3 cups honey, 5 green cardamon seeds, and one tablespoon mace. Heat gently.
• When honey is evenly warmed, add the orange peels.
• Gently simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. Remove, let cool, and taste a peel. It should be soft, if not, simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Line cookie sheets with wax paper. Using tongs, carefully remove peels and place on cookie sheets, layering singly.
• Leave to “dry” for a full day. The goal is for the peels to be as dry as possible but, remember, they will be sticky.
• Place honey in a covered jar. This honey is infused with the orange oils and spices, perfect over vanilla ice-cream, ricotta cheese, cheesecake, in crepes…

Day 5:

• In a large bowl, combine 3 cups caster sugar, 2 tablespoons dried ginger, and 1 teaspoon mace. Mix well.
• Gently toss the orange peels, a handful at a time, and set aside.
• Once  all peels are complete, pack in airtight jars.

Both the syrup and candied peels are easy to make, the peels just take a bit longer. My daughter loves the syrup with fizzy water, she calls it her “special drink.” My special drink is syrup on ice with chilled vodka and a dash of fleur de sel, as a friend suggested. We’ve both been drinking our “special drink” all week, perfect at the end of a hot summer day. As for the candied peel, it is delicious all on it’s own but I’m sure it would make a great addition to most any dessert.

There is never any rest for the forager, especially the urban forager. Houses are sold, prior harvesting arrangements are cancelled, fences are built, trees are cut, and horror of all horrors, people start using the fruit on their trees. So, the urban forager must always seek new locations to, well, forage. Today was an absolutely glorious day here in Santa Cruz and I decided that is was the perfect day to go for a long meandering scouting expedition through the neighborhood in search of lemon, quince, walnut, kumquat, pineapple guava, fig, pomelo, and plum trees. The only real destination being West Cliff Drive, where my daughter likes to count the sailboats and watch the sea monkeys (surfers). With stroller (for the possible tired child and heavy baskets), plenty of water, and sunscreen, we set off. 

Santa Cruz has a large Italian and Portuguese population of emigrants from the 1950’s. Many are now retired and, trust me, they all like to garden and many were out today. Not only did I succeed in finding new trees for above list, but an unexpected world was opened as we were invited into gardens. So, I can now also include cherries, plums, apples, pears, asian pears, kiwis, and blackberries to my neighborhood foraging possibilites. All addresses carefully documented!

Three hours later  I arrived at my house with a basketful of lemons, pomelos, and nasturtiums. Oh, and a tired kid demanding lemon cake. This batch of lemons will be for making syrup and honeyed lemon peels. The lemon cake recipe is from Cucina del Sole by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Not to sweet, this is a perfect afternoon tea cake. My daughter could barely wait for it to cool, you can see she was very anxious for a taste!

Torta al Limone

1. 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2. 1/2 cake (pastry) flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5. 1 teaspoon sea salt
6. 4 large eggs
7. 1 cup sugar
8. Zest of 4 lemons 
9. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
10. 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
11. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12. Confectioners’ sugar for dusting the tpo

• Prepare baking dish, preheat oven to 325 degrees 
• Combine the flours, baking powder and soda, and salt in a large bowl and mix.
• Separate three of the eggs. Add fourth egg into the bowl with egg yolks. Combine with sugar and the lemon zest.
• Add lemon juice, olive oil, and vanilla to the bowl with the egg yolks. Mix well.
• Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
• Incorporate yolk mix with flour mix, do not overwork!
• Slowly and carefully start folding in egg whites into the cake mix, a third at a time until thoroughly combined.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Carefully remove from pan, let cool, and sprinkle with white confectionary sugar.

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a Sallat garden

Of Sallats. Simple Sallats, 2.II

First then to speak of sallats, there be some simple, and some compounded, some only to furnish out the table, and some both for use and adornation: your simple sallats are chibols peeled, washed clean, and half of the green tops cut clean away, so served on a fruit dish; or chives, scallions, radish roots, boiled carrots, skirrets, and turnips, with such like served up simply; also, all young lettuce, purslane, and divers other herbs which may be served simply without anything but a little vinegar, sallat oil, and sugar; onions boiled, and stripped from their rind and served up with vinegar, oil and peppar is a good simple sallat, so is samphire, bean cods, asparagus, and cucumbers, served in likewise with oil, vinegar, and peppar, with a world of others, too tedious to nominate.

The English Housewife, Gervase Markham 1615

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The mussel season has ended. A dinner to honor the Scrabble playing frugal forager…

~ Salad with mixed greens and herbs from the garden

~ Pasta with mussels, parsley, bread crumbs and Meyer lemon zest

~Blood orange sorbet with chocolate chips and brandy

The Kinks, Low Budget

Harvesting mussels, West Cliff Drive

Starfish...

After a few days of cleansing

variety of sizes, all good

croutons for breadcrumbs

salad, freshly harvested

A good game of Scrabble...

Bonny Doon, 2007 Metamorphosis, I, Aurora

dinner for the frugal foodie

The other day my daughter said, “Mama, we have too many lemons, no more” as we were harvesting from the neighbors 3 prolific Meyer lemon trees. I was surprised that she, of all people, was setting limits on her dear old Mama. When we returned home she helped me make a couple more jars of preserved lemons to add to the collection. We now have bottles of Limoncello and jars of preserved lemons, lemon chutney, and Meyer lemon with jasmine tea marmalade.

What more? Well, a couple of nights ago I made a syrup and set aside the peels. I was not certain what I would make with the peels but I had so many, I didn’t want to toss them in the compost. The syrup is a fantastic way to process a lot of lemons as it is fast, easy, and keeps well. I have been enjoying quiet time on my deck with a book and a glass of sparkly limonata. As for the peels, well, I was always curious about the Roman method of preserving in honey…

Lemon Syrup

1. Lemons
2. Sugar
3. Lemon zest

• Wash lemons, cut in half, and juice. If you plan on using the peels, be careful not to press too hard and break apart the peel
• This is the ratio: 1 cup lemon juice, zest of one lemon, 2 cups sugar.
• Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil or until sugar dissolves.
• Remove from heat, and pour into sterile container.
• When cool, pour into clean glass bottles or jars.

Lemon Peel, Roman style

1. Lemon peels
2. Honey

• After juicing lemons, reserve peels
• Place all peels in a bowl and fill with water
• Leave overnight, but remember to change the water at least once
• In the morning, pour water out
• With a grapefruit spoon (with a serrated edge), carefully remove the membrane and as much of the white pith and discard. Soaking overnight softens the lemon and makes it really easy to remove all unwanted bits,
• Continue with the rest of the lemon halves.
• Cut lemon peel as you fancy, in strips, triangles, coursely… as you wish
• Place in a sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and gently cook for about 20 minutes or until soft.
• Strain and let peels cool.
• Gather your clean jars and start with a layer of honey.
• Start filling jars by layering lemon peels and honey until the jar is full, ending with a layer of honey.
• Make sure not to overpack with lemon peels! You should have a ratio of 1:1.
• Make sure to remove all air bubbles.

The lemon syrup is delicious over sparkly water or in ice tea. A sprig of mint takes it to an entirely different level and I’m wondering how it would taste with alcohol… The lemon peels are really good as is, my daughter ate several as we were packing the jars. They can also be chopped and eaten with ice cream, scones, and on toast.

Enjoy!