Good Food from the Farm

Carol assumes her position in the garden
Reed cools off in a water storage tank
"Our" thistle-free hayfield, ready to cut
There are much worse jobs than weeding the strawberry beds, I've found. Sitting on a garden cushion, pulling out the mauvaise herbes (weeds), and popping ripe strawberries in one's mouth, warm from the sun... well, as I said, things could be worse. For instance, strimming (weed whacking) an entire small orchard since the riding lawnmower is out of commission and the grass was too tall for the small push mower. Phew.

Last night some English friends of K & K's came over for dinner and K made a fabulous meal of stewed lamb (from their own lamb) with carrots and onions (fresh from the garden), couscous, and green beans (fresh from the garden). To make the lamb he just cuts it into small pieces and cooks it slowly for a long time with the onions, carrots, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and a small tin of tomato paste. It goes fabulously with plain cous cous. A nice touch for people who like a little heat is some harissa paste, which is a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern stuff made from chiles.

Then for dessert he made a vanilla sponge cake baked with cherries (from their own tree) underneath. Mmm. The unique thing about this sponge cake was that the recipe calls for it to be steamed - but K just cooks it in the microwave. There are few baked things that I would recommend actually doing in a microwave but this is one of them - it was delicious and done in just a few minutes.

Recipe: Vanilla Sponge Pudding (from Marguerite Patten)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
few drops of vanilla
3 Tbsp. milk

Cream together butter and sugar. Whisk eggs well and add gradually to butter mixture. Mix flour and baking powder, mix vanilla and milk. Fold the flour and milk alternately into the creamed mixture. Grease a 5 cup ceramic baking dish, pour in the batter, and cook on high in a microwave until risen and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Alternative: spread jam or fruit in the bottom of the baking dish before adding the cake batter. Serve warm with cream or creme fraiche. Serves 4 to 6. To make a lemon sponge add the freshly grated zest of a lemon to the butter and sugar, and replace some of the milk with lemon juice or a bit of lemon flavoring.

The other night we had some lamb and green beans and I also made some mashed potatoes, also with potatoes straight from the garden. I've never had brand new potatoes before, with the skins so thin they almost come off just scrubbing them in the sink. K & K have been waiting patiently for the tomatoes and they're almost ready - so hopefully we'll get to eat some of them before we leave in a few days. The artichokes seem to be done, but that's okay - three or four artichokes per person over the course of a couple of weeks in mid-summer is about perfect.

A good way of eating cold cooked green beans is in an olive oil/balsamic vinegar vinaigrette, with either finely chopped onion or shallot and some salt. You boil the fresh beans for a few minutes in salted water until they're perfectly tender and then immediately pour out the boiling water and replace with cold water. Pour off the warm water a few times and replace with cold. When the beans are cold, dress them with the vinegar, oil, salt, and onion, and voila - salad.

Because K and K have some good fruit trees we've been eating as much jam on our toast in the morning as we like, and sometimes we get canned peaches to mix in with our oatmeal. And for special occasions, elderflower champagne - delicately sweet and refreshing and bubbly; or for after dinner, vin de noix - a fragrant liqueur made from green walnuts. These recipes I do not yet know, but I will be seeking them out! The French and other Europeans have so many kinds of homemade cordials, liqueurs, wines, and sparkling drinks and everyone we've stayed with has had a supply tucked away in the pantry that they made at one time or another, along with the ever popular French drink called eau de vie - which is really strong homemade booze. I'm sure I couldn't drink more than a thimbleful of eau de vie, but elderflower champagne is a different story. Such a delicious alternative to the same old things from the store.