Garlic Harvest, 2007

We have a tentative tradition of harvesting garlic during the last weekend of June. Tentative as rain or scalding heat may delay the actual harvest day. This year, we had a perfect morning to pull those glorious garlic bulbs.

We also had a delightful crew; a couple CSA members and a few friends came to enjoy getting their hands dirty, their brows a bit sweaty and their senses satiated with the look, feel and pungent aroma of fresh garlic.

As much as we would love to sample and roast a big bunch of garlic, it needs a couple weeks of curing to concentrate the flavors. In the meantime, we sauté our scapes in stir-fries or nibble them raw in salads.

We planted extra garlic this year as we are encouraging our neighborhood groceries and restaurants to buy and /use more local produce. Because we have so much this year, I didn’t get all of the scapes or garlic tops snapped off.

Part of our crew finished topping the scapes as the rest of us started pulling the bulbs. We worked in teams, one with a fork, loosening the soil (clay) around the head. The next person pulled the garlic out, brushed the soil off its roots and set them in a pile. A full wagon was taken to the barn where the garlic was bundled into 10 and hung to cure.

Around noon the sun was hot and so were we. 950 head of garlic hung in the barn, the aroma stimulating our appetites, we headed in to the cool kitchen for a well deserved potluck lunch.

Garden lovers are good cooks! We had delicious fresh salad with broccoli, radishes and a balsamic/garlic dressing (ok this garlic clove was from last year’s harvest. It needed the vinegar to soften and release the flavor). There was a wonderful black bean and corn salad, couscous salad with golden raisins, nuts and curry, some pesto and sun dried tomato dip, blueberry/pear cobbler and carrot cake for dessert.

Top it all off with a big glass of minted iced tea and we were ready for a nap!

I’m looking forward to our next potluck, when the garlic is ready to roast!

 

Safe Home Farm Salad
Simple and delicious

Baby lettuce leaves, tossed in a bowl

The rest is optional, as the season progresses, dress up the salad.

Snip in fresh herbs of your choice: dill, tarragon, oregano, Lovage, basil, parsley

Chop or slice fresh veggies: asparagus, broccoli, radishes, peas, carrots, summer squash, tomatoes, kohlrabi …

Top individual servings with his simple dressing:

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (more or less, to taste)

Shake dressing and add to your salad. We keep a bottle of this on the counter and use it all summer.

Pesto and Sun dried Tomato Dip

This is quick and easy if you use frozen pesto that you put up last summer. Fresh pesto is fine, it just takes a little longer to prepare.

1/2 cup pesto (see recipe below)

1 cup sun dried tomatoes

Cover tomatoes with boiling water and let sit until soft; about 15 minutes. Drain, saving liquid for soup.

Combine pesto and sun dried tomatoes in a food processor and chop.

Serve as a dip with breadsticks or as a topping for crostini or pasta.

PESTO

3 Tbsp walnuts 

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled (If fresh, start with one and taste)

1 tsp coarse salt

3 handfuls basil leaves, washed

1/3 cup olive oil

Stuff basil leaves into the bowl of a food processor. Add nuts, garlic, salt and olive oil. Process until coarsely mixed.

Marinated Broccoli Salad with Scapes

1 small crown broccoli, cut into florets

1/4 pound snow or sugar snap peas

2 cups prepared beans (kidney, Vermont cranberry, Brown Dutch, etc.)

4 to 6 radishes, stemmed and thinly sliced

1 small Walla walla onion, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

4 scapes (garlic tops), sliced into 1-inch pieces

2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 quart baby lettuce leaves

Put one inch of water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Steam broccoli until just tender, about 4-5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Drain pot.

Refill pot with fresh water. Blanch peas for 2 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water. 

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add scapes and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove scapes.

Combine mustard and lemon juice in a large salad bowl. Whisk in olive oil from the skillet, salt and pepper. Put all blanched and raw vegetables into marinade bowl. Toss and refrigerate. After at least one hour, toss again.

Veggies may be served separately or over a bed of mixed salad greens.

Serves 4

Minted Iced Tea

In a one gallon jar, add 20 tea bags, one big handful of fresh mint and cover with 3 quarts not-quite boiling water. Let steep for 5 minutes.

Chill and serve over ice.

I make this strong so the ice doesn’t dilute the tea.