The back porch smells like garlic…

July 10, 2016July 4, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 8 Comments

This is the first year either of us has ever grown garlic. So it seems kind of silly to do a DIY post on how to grow it, but I’m telling you, if all you’ve ever had is store bought cured garlic? Oh my. There is nothing like fresh garlic — it is mellower, tastier, and just all-round better.
fresh garlic harvest

We planted the cloves last fall in mid-October. Fall 2015, was incredibly mild for SW Pennsylvania. We didn’t even have a frost until mid-November (at least up here on our ridge — the valleys got it earlier). So the garlic grew. It was almost six inches tall and overwintered at that height. It made me nervous, and we mulched the plants heavily with straw, just in case. All the experts say not to worry, that garlic will overwinter fine, and it did.

In retrospect, I should have fertilized it more this spring. I added a light top dressing of mushroom manure, but I think I should have been heavier with it, because the outer leaves never did green up. The bottom couple of leaves always had yellow tips.

I planted a pound each of two different varieties of hardneck garlic — Polish White and Siberian — ordered from The Garlic Store. They sell organic seeds and they send your order just about when you should be planting it for your area. I think I should have ordered another pound; two pounds made for four eight-foot rows. I wanted more…

About early June the center stalk (called a scape) starts curling around. I cut them out — everything I read said the bulbs will get bigger if the plant doesn’t have to put energy into producing the scapes. I started poking around in the soil the last week of June, and the bulb I dug up wasn’t quite ready — it didn’t have nicely formed cloves yet, but I used it anyway by pressing chunks through my garlic press.

Turns out I was digging in the wrong section… The two rows of Siberian garlic had a shorter growing season. Yesterday, on July 3rd, I dug most all of those two rows up. They are huge and beautiful. The Polish Whites are not quite ready yet. (The experts say to dig the garlic when the lower third to half of the outer leaves have started to dry and turn brown.)

garlic and onions drying on the back porch

We are drying these beauties on a drying rack on an out-of-the-way spot on the back porch because we had the drying rack and we might as well use it. (It was originally made for onions and winter squash). Most folks braid the garlic and hang it. It is supposed to dry for 3-4 weeks before winter storage. This rack is full with the Siberian garlic, so I’m going to try braiding the next batch when I harvest it in a couple of weeks.

And it would be a sad garlic post without a recipe…

Roasted Garlic and Beets with Walnut/Rosemary Pesto

Beets. garlic, rosemary & walnuts Ingredients: 6-8 beets
8 unshelled walnuts, or 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts
1-2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 sliced onion
1 head of garlic
olive oil, salt & pepper (This recipe serves 6-8)

Choose a nice large garlic and slice the top of the end off so you can see the cloves inside. Also slice off the back root end if necessary. Peel back as much of the papery skin as you can, so you just have the cloves. Brush the top with olive oil, and wrap in a small piece of foil.

Put in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes. While the garlic is roasting, chop the walnuts, dice up the fresh rosemary, and peel the beets and chop them.

I know there are only 4 beets here — after I started the recipe and got the beets chopped, I went out to get a few more. I think two medium beets per person is about right.

When chopping the beets, the key is to keep the pieces uniform in size so they will all be done at the same time.

roasted whole garlic When the garlic has five minutes left, put the walnuts in and let them roast with the garlic for the remaining five minutes. The garlic should be aromatic and soft and starting to brown when you open the packets of foil. Let the garlic cool while you slice an onion, and toss the beets and onion with some olive oil and kosher salt. Place on baking sheet and put in the 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

roasted beets

Chop the walnuts finely. You should have about 1/2 cup.

Using a cocktail fork, separate the garlic cloves and remove the meaty garlic cloves from the skins. Discard the skins and put the cloves in a small bowl and mash them with the fork. Add the chopped rosemary, and mash together. Stir in the chopped walnuts. Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil and a dash of kosher salt.

When the timer rings at 15 minutes, take out the beets and stir them around well. Put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes. When they are fork tender, stir into a serving bowl and toss with the roasted garlic-walnut-rosemary mixture.

roasted garlic, beets, and walnuts

Looks like dessert, doesn’t it?

Some people might say this recipe begs for some goat cheese, but it absolutely doesn’t need it. Besides I was going for an all-home-grown side dish; and there are no plans to get a goat. But there are plans to try a pound of another type of garlic for this fall…

34. A Twist of Lime

November 10, 2012October 20, 2014 / Apple Hill Cottage / 7 Comments

I thought I had selected the accent color for the kitchen. Lime Twist. Benjamin Moore.

Yes Mr. H.C. complains about the price of Benjamin Moore, but it’s only an accent color; it’s not like we need 3 gallons! And they do have the best colors. So I bought a sample jar last week and painted in the kitchen with the Sample Lime Twist. (The clerk at the paint counter was quick to remind me it was NOT real paint).

I don’t like it. It looks like green Tums. I have a big paper sample taped on to the primed kitchen door, and it is more vibrant than the sample sample. This color is too milky, too minty. I usually like mint green, but what I think I have in mind is a clear apple green.

The paper sample looks darker…

Here is the cabinet door I painted — it is leaning against the real door that is awaiting its color, as soon as I find it… The cabinet door was just an extra door, as some of the cabinets will be hung on the wall sans doors. And the wall…well, I was just swathing paint so I could see the color. Anyone have any thoughts?

While I go get my next sample — Blooming Grove —
(Click here to see the color blooming grove)

here is a delicious recipe for an Apple Lime Twist:
Make a strong pot of Celestial Seasonings Apple Cranberry Zinger tea.
Sweeten with honey and let cool. Pour 3 cups into a measuring cup and add an equal amount of cider. Then squeeze in the juice of two limes and stir well. Pour into glasses with ice and garnish with a lime slice.

(This is good warm as well; just add an extra teaspoon of honey and not quite so much lime juice. Float the lime slice in the hot tea.)

28. The Walnut Harvest; or Nuts on the ground, Nuts in the house

October 6, 2012September 5, 2015 / Apple Hill Cottage / 1 Comment

We are considering changing the name of the cottage to Apple Walnut Cottage. No? Sort of sounds like a diet dessert, doesn’t it?

The nut harvest has been bountiful. In fact, the entire garage bedroom is filled with drying walnuts. Last week we thought we had an amazing amount, and this past weekend the nuts on the ground doubled. We had to go scrounging for more screens — sliding glass door screens do have a use after all!
The amazing fact about these English Walnuts is the husks dry in the trees and the walnuts fall from the husks ready to pick up.

This is what the ground looks like under the tree:

After doing some online research, I discovered that:

English walnuts will keep in the shell for several months.

(Good. It will take us that long to shell them.)

Store in a cool, dry place.

(I’ve always wondered if Everyone but Me has cool, dry places in their house…)

Shelled nuts can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 months and in the freezer for well over a year.

(Seems to me that keeping them in the fridge would make them soggy. I might try the freezer though.)

With all these apples and walnuts, a cake is calling out to me… I was about to make one of Mr. H.C.’s favorites. The recipe was given to his mother by Anna Hincy, one of the cafeteria ladies at East Franklin School, who also did cakes on the side. But after looking at the recipe, I think I’ll pass. I was willing to make it from unbleached white flour; I was willing to use sugar; but I draw the line at Crisco… So I will experiment with this recipe and give you the results later. (It sounds like it might be a Christmas Cake.) In the meantime, here is a snack cake you can eat with no guilt.

~~Apple Walnut Cake~~ Apple Walnut Cottage Cake

Gather together:

1 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 3/4 cup sprouted wheat flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

3 cups chopped apples

1 t. Vanilla

2 eggs

1 t. Salt

1 t. Baking soda

1 t. Cinnamon

Nutmeg to taste

Lemon juice to pour over the apples to keep them from browning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the honey into a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer for ten minutes. I had never done this before, but don’t eliminate this step. It makes the honey thick, light, and creamy.

I peeled most of the apples, but I left one pretty red one unpeeled for color.

While the honey is whisking, chop the apples and walnuts. Squeeze lemon juice over the apples

Just in case you are cracking your own walnuts, this is the tool to use. These Channelocks are fully open and they give the nut-cracker lots of control.

Add the coconut oil and beat until well mixed. Then add the two eggs and the vanilla and mix well.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture in two batches and just mix it in by hand with a large spoon. Mix in the nuts and apples by hand also.
Spread into a well-greased 9 x 9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Some important stuff about this weird recipe:
Coconut oil is the new miracle food. It’s pricey, but I just bought some at Trader Joes for $5.99 a jar. It may be overhyped — it is one of those good fats — but you can read about its health benefits at this website.
Sprouted wheat flour is not gluten-free, but the wheat is sprouted and then the sprouts are ground into this flour-like substance, which does give it much less gluten and makes it more easily digested. You can get it at health food stores, co-ops, and online at Shiloh Farms. (Note: Sprouted wheat flour is not completely gluten-free.) Of course, you can use regular flour — just increase the amount to two cups.

I could hardly wait to taste this cake so I cut a piece before it was cool. This is one cake that needs to cool a bit — it tasted much better a half hour later.

I adapted this recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. But I changed it enough that I’m giving it a new name — Apple Walnut Cottage Cake. Yep, a healthy diet dessert.

(Mr. H.C. thought this cake was delicious; but, truth be told, he is dessert-starved these days, and he would probably eat cardboard if it had honey or maple syrup on it.) Not that this cake tastes like cardboard! It is actually better the next day for breakfast. Enjoy!