Recipes « New Eden Community Garden

TONIGHT: Quick Pickles Workshop ~ June 27 7:00pm to 9:00pm

by Garden GAL

Quick Pickles ~ June 27, 7:00pm to 9:00pm: Chuck Shultz will make quick pickles out of an array of vegetables (no canning needed). Participants to are invited to take some home! To register for tonight’s class, please contact 978 465 5597.

New Eden Organic Cooking & Canning Workshops ~ Starting Wednesday, May 23, 2012

by Garden GAL

Gardeners and consumers interested in learning to cook and preserve locally grown produce simply and deliciously will want to attend these Organic Cooking and Canning Workshops. New Eden Collaborative of First Parish Church of Newbury welcomes local green thumbs and culinary aficionados, Kim Goodhue and Chuck Schultz to lead a series of cooking and canning workshops.

They will demonstrate various ways to cook and preserve native vegetables and fruits, including tasting, discussion, participation, and samples to bring home.

View the Workshop Schedule and registration information.

Workshops will be held in the kitchen at First Parish Church of Newbury, 20 High Road Newbury, MA 01951.

Erin’s Mom’s Famous Hungarian Mushroom Soup

by Garden GAL

I always look forward to tasting the tantalizing dishes that New Eden folks bring to our pot lucks. One of my winter standards is my late mother’s Hungarian Mushroom Soup recipe that she must have clipped out of a (now obscure) newspaper sometime in the 1970’s. I have had so many people ask for the recipe that I thought it best to go public. So here it is.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup in mid consumption

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

4 T butter divided

1 T tamari sauce

1 T Hungarian paprika

3 T flour

1 c milk

Freshly ground black pepper

2 t fresh lemon juice

1/2 c sour cream

1/4 c chopped parsley

2 c chopped onion

1 t salt or to taste

12 oz (3/4 lb) fresh mushrooms,

sliced

2 t chopped dill weed, divided

2 c beef stock, chicken stock or

water divided Continue reading Erin’s Mom’s Famous Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Brussels Sprouts: A Tale of Woe and a Recipe for Redemption

by Garden GAL

Brussels sprouts exposed! Trauma in my Winter garden

In the rush to salvage my last root vegetables and fall greens early last December before the first snow storm, I was filled with the sorrow over the end of my garden for the year. I had found solace in the belief ( thanks to a snippet in a gardening book) that I could leave my Brussels sprouts out in the garden and just pop them off frozen and cook them up. This worked well for my Christmas diner. The Brussels sprouts revived and were quite tasty. Now we that we had our first temporary thaw of 40 degrees I went to the garden to harvest another round of my precious little cabbage balls. To my horror, the Brussels sprouts had mostly gone brown from the icy winds and my garden stunk of fetid cabbage. It appears that Brussels sprouts do not survive the cryogenic freezing process. In triage mode, I amputated what little I thought was still viable with my trusty kitchen knife.

Back in the kitchen I was able to retrieve some passable sprouts at the top of my plants. My favorite recipe was still a success for this garden season’s last hurrah.

This is one of my most requested recipes. I modified this from one of those foodie websites. Alas I can’t remember which one to give credit too.

Brussesl Sprouts Supreme

1 1/2 lbs Brussels sprouts 3 TB olive oil

a pinch of salt 1 1/4 cup vegetable stock

4 TB brown sugar

3 TB apple cider vinegar Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil is heavy skillet over medium heat. When hot, add Brussels sprouts and sprinkle with salt. Saute and stir for about 5 – 10 minutes until the sprouts are slightly browned. Add 3/4 cup of vegetable stock and bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer, until the Brussels sprouts are tender much of the stock is cooked away, about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and add the remaining stock, brown sugar and the apple cider vinegar. Cook at medium heat stirring occasionally until the liquid is reduced to a syrup. Serve warm or hot.

2 Excellent Arugula Salad Recipes

by Garden GAL

Gillian Swart, New Eden gardener and uber scribe sent me several of her favorite recipes from her sister Sarah:

Two salad recipes using arugula (although for the one with fennel, I’ve used Boston lettuce with excellent results). From my sister Sarah …

I (Sarah) “invented” the one w/the arugula and bean sprouts…also the salad, since I had a hankering. I wanted to see what lemony soy sauce tasted like, since I liked soy w/bean sprouts, but lemon w/arugula, and I wanted both in a salad. So I mixed 1 Tb soy sauce w/1 Tb lemon juice, and whisked in some olive oil (not sure how much, probably about a Tb).

The other dressing (over 1 med fennel bulb and 1 small onion, both sliced paper-thin, and 0.5 lb arugula and shaved Parmesan) was a lemon one, too. 2 Tb veggie broth, 1 Tb lemon juice, 1 Tb olive oil, 1/4 tsp sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. I thought the veggie broth and sugar made it too sweet, but that’s me.

Tasty Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

by Garden GAL

Here is a great family pickle recipe from one of my all time favorite First Parish deacons and master bean supper lady. Jean Garnett:

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

1 gallon cucumbers cut paper thin

8 medium onions, cut paper thin

2 green peppers, cut paper thin

1/2 cup Kosher (canning) salt

10 pound bag of ice or the equivalent of ice from home freezer

5 cups white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

2 tablespoons mustard seed

1 quart apple cider vinegar

Prepare a kettle with canning jars, and tops. Completely cover with water and bring to a boil. Keep this pot simmering until all of the pickles have been put into jars..( This may require the replacing of one jar when one is taken out because the jars MUST be boiling hot when the mixture is put into them)

Mix salt with the cukes, onions and peppers. Cover with ice and let it sit covered and weighted down for 3 hours or overnight. (I’ve always done overnight) DRAIN THOROUGHLY.

Mix sugar, spices and vinegar with the veggies. Stir well with a wooden spoon and slowly bring to a boil, but DO NOT boil.

Put HOT pickles into HOT jars, wipe around the rim to ensure a clean seal of top to bottom and the jars will seal themselves

I have always used an old fashioned canning kettle to mix the veggies in and a smaller one to boil the jars. ( You’re welcome to use my big canning kettle)

This amount will make about 6-7 pints. When I put them into the jars I pour off most but not all of the liquid so the jar is full of a packed pickle and not only juice.

This isn’t as complicated as it may sound and after one time around, it will be much easier.