Scottish Cow: Ours, All Ours

Yes!

For dinner the other night we had a salad composed entirely of stuff that grew in our dirt. Our dirt! I realize this isn't terribly novel or earth-shattering, but it was the first crop out of our first real family garden - so I'm allowed some excitement.

For days Molly and I had been stealing lettuce leaves out of the garden when we were nearby, but then we noticed a red radish top sneaking out of the ground and decided it was time. The following night, we headed out with the basket to collect. The spinach is growing miserably - probably went in too late, possibly went in too close together, definitely wasn't thinned out. So we've got about half of it in that basket. The lettuce looks like a big leafy carpet, it having been seeded too closely also, but we've got a ton of it. I'm guessing the leaves would get bigger if they actually had some breathing room, but who knows. They are damn tasty in their current size, so I'm not complaining.

The arugula is growing like crazy too - it was a gift to Tina from another Buffalo blogger (thanks Josie!!) - so we had three different leaves, and some sliced radishes.

To go with that, we had a quick homemade vinaigrette and here's the plan for that...

A vinaigrette is supposed to be somewhere in the range of 3:1, oil to acid, with some salt and pepper. That's the important part. The rest is just adding additional flavors. A little mayo or mustard. Some garlic, chives, shallots, scallions and/or some herbs. You can use a whisk (more work), a blender (more creamy) or an old jar (ah, just right). This is how I always remember doing it, so sure enough, it's how I still do it. Put everything in and do the shake.

This one started with about 1/4 C of lemon juice and 3/4 C of oil (half grapeseed and half e.v. olive oil). Olive oil has a lot of flavor, grapeseed helps tame it. I love lemon juice. I actually ended up adding a little rice vinegar because it didn't have enough acidity. A couple good pinches of salt and pepper. Some minced green garlic and chives. And a little bit of mustard and a little bit of taragon. It may not have needed all those additions, but it was nice and bright and full of flavor (and not full of whatever it is that keeps bottled dressing alive in the fridge for months.) Just keep tweaking it until you've got what you want.

Here's it is, before and after the shake-a, shake-a, shake-a:

...

Not related, but for those that think the food writing in the Times is perhaps a bit snooty - they did a root beer tasting - I thought that was cool - their tastings are wine most of the time, beer sometimes (love those), but this was a first. Like the author, I rarely drink soda, but when I do, a nice root beer is always good. Yes, I said "soda." Any comments from the "pop" drinkers will be moderated swiftly and appropriately.

Finally, there's three new links included at the side - Amber's Ambry, Turkey Cookies and Angry Chicken - three crafty blogs. "Crafty blogs? WTF?!" You say, "Is he going soft?" Nope, actually I've always been. They are mostly focused on crafts, but all 3 often have thoughts about cooking, food and gardening as well. Food and crafts. There are some obvious parallels. They are both all about the homemade. They are both concerned with turning quality raw ingredients into something better. Creation and experimentation. Patterns and recipes. Immense satisfaction. Excessive and creative swearing when your equipment isn't cooperating.

Most importantly these blogs are all very funny, well-written, and personal. You get a real sense of the author through the words. It's why I read them and why you might be interested as well. Even if you, like me, don't get very excited about buttonholes and rolled hems.

Mmmm...rolled hams...

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

*Big Smile* I popped in and was reading away, dreaming of making a similar vinaigrette when I see my little blog! Thank you for including me and adding me to your list!!
Anyways, beyond that, this weekend I had my first real yummy home grown salad from the garden too. Before I've had to add my lettuce leaves to some organic lettuce bought at the market, but this week I had lots of lettuce so the salad was completely ALL MINE! For dessert, strawberries picked down the street. As the month goes on I'm adding more and more local foods to my dinner table-especially since I finished reading In Defense of Food.
I cannot wait to see a complete meal from biking distance on my table--it will happen soon enough, I'm sure!

Posted by: jessica | June 30, 2008 at 03:06 PM