Apricots! in May

 Three years ago I planted a dozen fruit trees.  Some have grown faster than others and have produced wonderful fruit.   Last year I harvested about 50 apricots but this year was a bounty for sure.....well over 40 pounds which equates to about 9 fruit per pound.  When is the last time you had an apricot that tasted like an apricot? What to do with all these?  I certainly don't have enough friends to share them with but they did help me make use of a lot. 

One morning harvest

My apricot tree is a gorgeous three year old tree. 

The first thing I made not knowing how many fruit I would have was jam/preserves.  Ingredients: just halved apricots, sugar and lemon juice.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 pounds apricots, halved and pit removed

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Method:

Place apricots in a wide bottom pan.  Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes

Add sugar and lemon juice.  Cook an additional 40 minutes or until jam is thick.

Place in clean glass jars.

If you want to can in large batches.  Use your favorite equipment and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.  If you are new to canning I highly recommend Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan or jump to her website  Food in Jars

I usually fill a couple of jars and then store the rest in the fridge.

I also tried a second of her recipes from her book Naturally Sweet Food in Jars  that uses honey as the sweetener and added vanilla

Ok What else?  I halved and pitted about 10 pounds, vacuum packed them and put them in the freezer.  Next I dried about another 20 pounds in my food dehydrator and vacuum packed them.  And for dessert: tarts.  When I was a student at the Cordon Bleu in Paris we made tartes aux abricot

Tartes aux abricots

I used a sweet pate sucre (sweet pastry dough), a traditional pastry cream. and placed quartered apricots on top.  Oh yes an a sprinkling of powdered sugar both before and after baking.  These are a perfect serving size and can be popped in the freezer.  Here is the book that I use for tart recipes:

not an abundance of pretty pictures but authentic recipes

French Tarts by Linda Dannenberg

I was really fortunate this year to have such a huge crop.  Next year could be a dud.  My other fruit trees are about ready

The nectarine tree is next - about the first of July

Satsuma plum - maybe ready late July

Sally - who is the official orchard kitty

February 1st in the garden

Lots of leafy greens ready to make into something wonderful!  Each day my chickens give me a few eggs.  

They are much fewer on these short days of winter.  They will go back to full production in a couple of months.  Poppy provides about 2 cups each day of delicious milk. This month I made cheddar, Feta and "fresh" chèvre.  I thank her after each milking for her delicious milk and she thanks me for the treat of fresh and crunchy apples that she eats during the chore.

Tetsoi - Asian spinach 

This grows in a gorgeous florette about 12 inches across.  You can pull leaves off or I think that I will just steam the whole burst

It's winter but in Southern California a garden can still give you a plethora of fruits and vegetables.  Citrus is the dominant fruit here right now.  I planted a few small trees when I moved here 3 years ago but this tangerine tree of my neighbor's is absolutely amazing:

Even in a year of draught this beauty is loaded with fruit.  Often neighbors share their abundance with others   Last month I posted my tiny grapefruit tree.  I still have a dozen fruit left to pick but they do well on the tree.  I also have a Meyer lemon tree- with about 8 gorgeous lemons, a blood orange tree (no fruit yet) and a kumquat tree.

I have trained many of my friends and family how to eat these.  The fruit is tiny  - about an inch oblong.  The skin is very sweet.  The pulp is very sour with a few soft seeds.  How to eat? Commit to eating the whole darn thing at once.  Don't think about it.  The blend of sweet and sour is delightful.  These little gems are great made into a sauce with wine and honey.  Try this:https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/05/17/narsai-david-recipe-chicken-breasts-sauteed-with-kumquats-and-honey/

Believe it or not I have one last tomato on the vine.  It's a Berkeley tie dye beefsteak tomato.  I planted it new last February and it gave me a beautiful production but then it reseeded and gave me another huge crop starting in October

Today I combined my freshly picked tomatoes with some of Poppy's cheese to make 

Baked goat cheese and tomato pasta- recipe at the end of today's post

There are lots of other greens:

Arugula : try making a salad with walnuts, cranberries and a balsamic dressing

Tuscan kale - love in a salad or quick stir fried in olive oil, add pine nuts for a minute and then balsamic vinegar,  I love to add a piece of grilled white fish or steak to the top

And red freckled lettuce

There's still plenty of passion fruit

And my very first strawberries

But also there is a lot of HOPE:  The fruit trees are bare, pruned and starting to blossom

Nectarine

Then the apple tree is starting too:

Here come the nastursiums.....flowers soon.....lovely and spicy in a salad or under a crab cake

And this is my first artichoke plant :

This morning my friend Linda Avignon shared with me her recipe for baked goat cheese and tomato pasta.  I had all the ingredients on hand and decided to make it for lunch.  It is so good.

Baked goat cheese pasta:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup good olive oil - is there really any other kind?

11 oz goat cheese- unflavored

20 oz cherry or small heirloom tomatoes

3 garlic cloves - peeled and sliced thin

1 shallot - peeled and sliced thin

10-12 oz dried pasta

10 large leaves of basil

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

salt and pepper

cooked pancetta for a top of garnish.  I didn't have any but I wish that I did.  It would be perfect!

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

In a 3 quart casserole dish (that will take high heat) pour in the olive oil.  Then add all of the goat cheese to the center of the dish.  Add the tomatoes, garlic and shallot.  Place 4 leaves of basil and the thyme on top and then add salt and pepper:

Bake in 400 deg oven for 20-25 minutes.  The corners of the dish should be lightly brown and bubbly.

Meanwhile cook the pasta according to box directions.  Use any kind you want....gluten free would be nice too.

Optional: cook under broiler for 2-3 minutes to crisp up the cheese.  I didn't do this step.

Drain the pasta reserving some of the water in case you want to thin the sauce.  Add the pasta to the sauce. Finish with the remaining 6 leaves of basil and pancetta.

Enjoy!

Serves 6

Serve with a leafy green salad for vitamin A and C

Would be perfect with a citrus based dessert or throw a little citrus into the green salad.

This will keep in the fridge a few days or freeze

This recipe was inspired by The Dizzy Cook, by Alicia Wolf

Happy 2022 - January in the garden

 Happy New Year!  Another new beginning and hope for a great year!  It's time to clean out the pantry and the doors to the fridge.  Do your storage containers all have lids?  Toss out the pieces that don't have their mates!  It's time to start fresh.

Even though it's winter I have gifts from the garden and farm.  Of course I have eggs.....fewer on the short days of winter.  Poppy gives me about 2 cups of delicious milk each day...plenty for my lattes and making cheese and ice cream.  I think I'll try buttermilk this week!  The deciduous fruit trees have all dropped their leaves and are waiting to be pruned but my citrus trees....as young as they are ...are my benefactors this month.  Surprisingly I am still enjoying fresh tomatoes....but my garden's abundance is leafy greens,  Here's what nourishing me this month:

Ruby Red grapefruit.  There are about 20 of these beauties even though this tree is only about 2 feet tall

Leafy greens: Mizuna lettuce, red freckle lettuce, kale, arugula

Swiss chard, rainbow...such pretty red ribs....filled with nutrients

A new crop for me this year: celery.  I know it sounds boring but celery from the garden is delicious

Oh yes and I will harvest my first sugar snap peas today

definitely too pretty to eat

and the never ending stream of passion fruit

Enjoy your January and your New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!! Cookies and Crackers

 This year's theme is based on a pastry chef nutcracker made in the region of Erzgebirge, Germany- the Christmas region  by Christian Ulbricht.  Nutcrackers are hand made from the local forest.  They have the tradition of bringing good luck to the home and are perfect housewarming or hostess gifts.  Judge Drosselmeier, godfather to Clara and Fritz, brought one to their Christmas Eve party which became the setting for The Nutcracker Suite. These carving also are rumored to ward off malevolent spirits or in 2021 viruses

pastry chef nutcracker

This was my muse and then it just became fun:

And of course the cookie part

Peppermint bark turned into some really scary nutcracker soldiers

I had to watercolor some nutcrackers

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous grateful and healthy 2022

Love Denise

 Rose

Bullet

Poppy 

LuLu

& Charlotte