Sauerkraut & Peanut Curry fail.

Last night I made a riff on this recipe at the strong recommendation of J & T. Except, as usual, I couldn't let myself just follow the god damn instructions. I added cauliflower, chickpeas, coconut milk and spices. Did not add tofu. It turned out kind of... flat. Like it needed more fat, or some umami. I'm not sure how following the original recipe would've remedied this. Ah well. The quest for a mind altering peanut stew continues. I think pulled chicken might have to be involved.

I've also made a "smoked mystery pepper sauerkraut". I haven't actually tried it yet, but the smokey smell might be a bit too much. It's been fermenting for a little over a week now, so I'll give it a taste & report back. I used a head of green cabbage, 6-7 shredded carrots, 2 TBSP smoked applewood sea salt, a few more TBSPs regular sea salt, and some mystery hot peppers from my garden that I failed to label. It fermented like mad for the first few days, but has settled down now. I will probably refrigerate for another week, then dole out to friends for taste tests. 

Garden log. 2014.

This year was my first full season of actually having a garden. Saying I was pretty enthusiastic would be an understatement. Here is a quick summary of the things I enjoyed and did well (short) and the things I disliked or failed at (looooong). 

A few households organized a "seed share" so we could grow a larger variety of plants. I ended up with about 30 tomato seedlings that I very unfortunately lost the labels for. Regret #1: DON'T F UP THE LABELS! Seriously. You're a goddamn scientist (sort-of). Get on that shit. Losing the labels and also not knowing what a specific variety resulted in 6-7 of the same stupid tomato plant. 1000's of the most useless TEENSY tomatoes I have ever seen. They are a pain to pick & a pain to eat. And they are everywhere. Regret #2: Know what the fuck you're planting. Bush beans? I had no idea. The aforementioned stupid tomatoes? NEVER AGAIN! Just say no to brussels sprouts. Regret #3: Take care of the tomatoes! Plant them farther apart, prune them appropriately, stake or cage them. They are growing wild & are such a PITA to pick. Honestly girl, that was just lazy. Also plant more large varieties, they are delicious on sandwiches. Side note: learn to bake bread. Regret #4: Spinach, kale and chard must be planted EARLIER. Plant so much more dill. Get rid of the lemon balm. That might be 3 regrets, but I couldn't bring myself to have more than 5 in this list. Regret #5: The straw bale experiment was a failure. Use old straw as base for yet another raised bed next year. 

Win #1: Radish. Plant early, plant often. Use them to make kimchi, and also roast them. They are so goddamn good and are fully grown before you know what's happened. Plant them under and around the tomatoes that will be properly staked and spaced. Win #2: BEETS!! Except the rainbow variety. They are pretty, but useless. Instead plant more of the rosebud to pickle & more of the big dudes to borscht. Wow. Only 2? uh... Win #3: Good job! You planted a garden!

Things to do next year: find out what variety of cucumber, zucchini and EGGPLANT Haddas & Eric are growing. They are amazing & prolific. Plant so much eggplant. It is beautiful to look at and tastes good in ratatouille. Start the peppers EARLY, they take forever to grow. Only grow hot peppers, the others are boring. Jess Milano also opened my eyes to the ground cherry. Definitely get on that. Also, mulch. 

Ratatouille

I've made this recipe a few times before & it is always delicious. Today I'm quadrupling it... mostly due to a plethora of zucchini, squash, eggplant and tomatoes that are available in my and various others (Haddas & Eric's) gardens.

I peeled the tomatoes using the water bath/ice method, but next time I might try the broiling method as it should add a nice smokiness to the dish.

If you've ever cooked with me, you know I find it impossible to not add spice to everything. In this recipe, I've added about 3 Tbsps of red pepper flakes to the red pepper puree. Maybe more if I'm being honest. Nadia knows. Also added some garlic in this step as well.. you can never have too much!

The result? Amazing. Again. But it definitely takes most of the day to caramelize the onions, red pepper puree & cook down the tomatoes. I'll pressure can it later this week (if there's any left). I also made roast chicken on a bed of potatoes, fennel, shallot & garlic. 3 chicken legs, salt & pepper with some fresh thyme and lemon shoved under the skin. Cooked the entire thing at 425 for about 25 minutes, not touching a god damn thing. It was delicious, the chicken was cooked perfectly, but I'd like to have less chicken fat in the veggies. Maybe if I put it on a grill.. or something? Any ideas?